like those of all the composer's French operas, was by
Eugene Scribe, is a strange tissue of absurdities, though from the
merely scenic point of view it may be thought fairly effective. Robert,
Duke of Normandy, the son of the Duchess Bertha by a fiend who donned
the shape of man to prosecute his amour, arrives in Sicily to compete
for the hand of the Princess Isabella, which is to be awarded as the
prize at a magnificent tournament. Robert's daredevil gallantry and
extravagance soon earn him the sobriquet of 'Le Diable,' and he puts the
coping-stone to his folly by gambling away all his possessions at a
single sitting, even to his horse and the armour on his back. Robert has
an _ame damnee_ in the shape of a knight named Bertram, to whose malign
influence most of his crimes and follies are due. Bertram is in reality
his demon-father, whose every effort is directed to making a
thorough-paced villain of his son, so that he may have the pleasure of
enjoying his society for all eternity. In strong contrast to the
fiendish malevolence of Bertram stands the gentle figure of Alice,
Robert's foster-sister, who has followed him from Normandy with a
message from his dead mother. Isabella supplies Robert with a fresh
horse and arms; nevertheless he is beguiled away from Palermo by some
trickery of Bertram's, and fails to put in an appearance at the
tournament. The only means, therefore, left to him of obtaining the hand
of Isabella is to visit the tomb of his mother, and there to pluck a
magic branch of cypress, which will enable him to defeat his rivals. The
cypress grows in a deserted convent haunted by the spectres of
profligate nuns, and there, amidst infernal orgies, Robert plucks the
branch of power. By its aid he sends the guards of the Princess into a
deep sleep, and is only prevented by her passionate entreaties from
carrying her off by force. Yielding to her prayers, he breaks the
branch, and his magic power at once deserts him. He seeks sanctuary from
his enemies in the cathedral, and there the last and fiercest strife
for the possession of his soul is waged between the powers of good and
evil. On the one hand is Bertram, whose term of power on earth expires
at midnight. He has now discovered himself as Robert's father, and
produces an infernal compact of union which he entreats his son to sign.
On the other is Alice, pleading and affectionate, bearing the last words
of Robert's dead mother, warning him against the fien