Third Lecture on French Drama.

M. Deschamps delivered the third lecture on the modern French drama yesterday afternoon on the subject, "Le Theatre Satirique; Henri Lavedan, Maurice Donnay, Alfred Capus." M. Deschamps spoke briefly of these dramatists and told the story of their chief works. In addition he discussed Mm. Abel Hermant and Pierre Weber.

The field of these five satirists is rather limited. It describes "Parisian life," or rather the life of a comparatively few cosmopolitan Parisians.

In "Le Prince d'Aurec," M. Henri Lavedan reached the height of a grand comedy of "moeurs." Like the great majority of his works which deal in the peculiar world of "viveurs," "Le Prince d'Aurec describes vividly the experiences of a French nobleman of illustrious family, who tries the life of the "fetards" and "boulevardiers."

M. Maurice Donnay's chief works are: "La Douloureuse," "L'Affranchie," "Le Torrent," and "Les Amants." This last, which was published in 1895, shows a great deal of charming philosophy and poetry,

M. Capus started his literary career as a novelist, and published many little works full of irony, such as "Qui Perd Gagne," "Faux Depart," and "Annees d'Aventure." His "Brignol et sa Fille," a study of the French business man, has been acted on the vaudeville stage. "La Bouse et La Vie," which is now having a great success at the "Gymnase," is a clever satire on the new and luxurious French prisons.

"L'Amante" and "les Transatlantiques" are the chief works of M. Abel Hermant. The latter is a mild satire without malice on the customs of modern Frenchmen and Americans. It tells of the different characteristics of the families of a French nobleman living in Paris, and of his wife the daughter of an American millionaire.

In conclusion the lecturer touched on the work of M. Pierre Weber, a clever satirist of snobs.

M. Deschamps will lecture today at Williams College, on "The French Press of the Nineteenth Century."