FRANCES STARR AS _JAUNITA_, IN “THE ROSE OF THE RANCHO”] and indolence in the fibre of contrasted races is conveyed in two casual remarks in this play: “Civilization,” says the “land-jumper,” _Kinkaid_, with blatant vulgarity of manner, when announcing his purpose of legalized robbery, “must progress”; and when it is found that certain muskets which have been collected for use in defending the _Castro_ ranch are useless because of lack of powder, the Spanish cavalier is heard to murmur: “I meant to have got that powder _to-morrow_.” Charles Richman, as the intrepid _Kearney_, and John W. Cope, as the sinister _Kinkaid_, gave performances of sterling merit, because true to life and symmetrical and fluent in expression,--the one presenting, in a notably earnest spirit, a sonsy, healthful, interesting, thoroughly good fellow: the other assuming, in a painfully natural way, the obnoxious characteristics,--including a repulsive personal appearance,--commonly, and correctly, ascribed to the Western breed of ruffian. Belasco has, in drama, made use of the element of natural accessories,--meaning peculiarities of climate, cloud, sunshine, rain, storm, calm, the sound of the sea, the ripple of leaves in the wind, the swirl of dust, the gentle falling of flower petals, the incessant variations of light according to place and time, whether morning or evening, noonday or midnight, and so following,--with an unerring skill akin to that of Wilkie Collins in the writing of fiction. In “The Rose of the Rancho” he took almost unparalleled pains to render his effects perfect. Writing of this work, he has recorded: “To get the strong sunlight of my beloved California and the wonderful shades and tones of sunset, night, and dawn as they come out there I had my electrician, Louis Hartman, carry our experiments to the point of making our own colors for our lamps, as we could find none on the market that would give me the desired result. At the present time we mix all our own colors for the lights used in my productions, but in those days this had not been done. I took _twenty-five electricians_ with me to Boston, for the opening of ‘The Rose’: usually, two or three are enough with any company....” A NEW PROJECT:--THE SECOND BELASCO THEATRE.