The new theatre looks like a railway station, and the stage arrangements are considerably more elaborate than they were nine years ago. The crowd, too, was infinitely greater, but its behaviour was on the whole decent, except for some attempts to applaud (emanating, I fear, from our countrymen), {164} which were extremely distressing. The play itself was not less impressive than I remember it; and I was pleased with the simplicity and piety of the people, who seem unspoilt by the leap within recent years of their retired village into fame. I ventured to express, through a German-speaking friend, my satisfaction on this point to one of the most respected inhabitants of the place (one of the principal actors); and his reply (of which my friend gave me a translation) pleased me very much. "God be thanked," he said, "that is true; but it would not be so if we accepted the many offers made to us to give representations of the Passion-play in various cities of Europe. Also it is well for our people that the play is given but once in ten years; for in the intervals we lead our accustomed quiet life in this valley, and a new generation of children has time to grow up in the old traditions of the place."[4] Bute refers later, in letters written from Bayreuth, to what he calls the "outrage" of applause from the audience during the performance of _Parsifal_, in terms which indicates how strongly he felt the religious appeal of the Wagnerian drama: Bayreuth, _July_ 23, 1888. On Sunday the illiterate part of the audience insisted on applauding Acts II. and III. of _Parsifal_, in spite of all the protests of the cultured hearers; and the effect was most distressing and shocking. The {165} allusions to the Eucharist are of such a nature that it was almost as unseemly as it would be to clap a church choir during the Communion Service; and putting aside the gross irreverence and unseemliness of such conduct, it is an outrage and fraud on the public, who are at these moments wrapped in religious thought, and whom it is brutal and shameful to disturb by a revolting noise. In his diary for 1891, Bute notes that he had written a letter to Frau Wagner, begging her to take steps to prevent any applause during the representation of _Parsifal_; but it is not recorded if this appeal had the desired effect. [Sidenote: Incognito in Sicily] The travels on the Continent were carried out without any sort of ostentation; and Bute found it even expedient occasionally to preserve his incognito when abroad. Thus he wrote on one occasion to one of his oldest friends: _Ascension Day_, 1882. Aci Reale, Sicily.