Of course, to speak with theological accuracy, _The Tempter_, being the "very devil incarnate," ought to be "damned." That this has not been his fate at the Haymarket is owing to Mr. BEERBOHM TREE primarily, to his company secondarily, and to the author remotely. To treat in any fresh dramatic form the story of _Faust and Marguerite_, a dramatist must be the subject of a special and peculiar inspiration. Now what this play lacks is inspiration. What in this piece ENRY HAUTHOR JONES mistook for the "divine afflatus" is mere long-windedness. His _Tempter_ may be an entertainer assuming various disguises, and more and more like himself on every occasion, but a real devil he is not, except so far as Mr. TREE with wonderful art makes him; and, even then, the question is forced upon us, would any devil with any sort of self-respect, pick up a cross-handled dagger just as if it were an ordinary walking-stick, and politely return it to its owner? This is the first time that a devil on the stage hasn't shuddered and grovelled at the sight of a cross-handle. Again, how far more effective would some of the supernatural movements of this irreclaimably wicked personage have been had they been performed by means of some clever arrangement of "wires," such as that with which Mlle. ÆNEA used to astonish the public? Where are the stage mechanists who assisted GEORGE CONQUEST, that unique representative of sprites and gnomes, who achieved success by "leaps and bounds?" Fortunately the piece does not depend for its success on mere mechanism, but on the acting of Mr. TREE, which is in all respects admirable in its diabolical variety; much depends, too, on Mrs. TREE, who is charming and sympathetic in a small part. Mr. TERRY, who occasionally, in tone and look, reminds me of HENRY IRVING, contributes his share towards the general histrionic excellence, as also does Miss JULIA NEILSON, who in tone and action frequently makes me wish that once and for ever she would give up attempting an imitation of ELLEN TERRY. But be it said that the acting of this couple is remarkably good in the love scene, as it is also in the very trying death scene, which could have been so easily and so utterly ruined. [Illustration: "Arbor in Arbore." A Wood Engraving.]