Punch (12.1847)

194

PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.

ITALIAN OPERA FASHIONS.

While we

admit, in com-
mon with our
contemporaries,
the merit of
most of the mu-
sical arrange-
ments at the
Royal Italian
Opera, Covent
Garden, we
must (also in
common with
some of our
contemporaries)

call attention to the anomalies in fashion and dress that prevail in the
new establishment. Decorum is commanded by a printed notice at
the door, and violated inside ; while " top-coats, white hats, and
umbrellas " are placed under a ban, in a placard, which is wholly set at
defiance by those visitors who, armed with the powers of renters, deny
the existence of any authority to regulate their costume. They
accordingly rush into the house in attire of the most miscellaneous
description. Paletots, registered and unregistered, are rife in the pit ;
while there are two hundred Taglionis amoDg the audience, to mak
up for the deficiency of one Taglioni in the ballet.

should be sorry to hear a cry of " Give your orders, gentlemen : the
waiter's in the stalls ;" but who knows what it is all tending to f

The applause bestowed upon the singers very often smacks of the
umbrella-ferrule, and we frequently recognise the sound made by the
end of an ash stick beating in concert with Costa's bdton. Many a
virtuoso, not content with standing up for his favourite performer in a
moderate degree, must needs stand up on the cushions of the pit seats,
to show the extent to which his dilettanteeism is carried. We do not

blame the management of this establish
ment for the defects of which we complain ;
if there is an intractable public to be
dealt with, there is, of course, no remedy.
Every effort is made by the lessees to "keep
the thing respectable ;" but if some per-
sons will adopt peculiar notions of a crush
hat for what they
call " Common
opera hat. Garden wear,"

and if they choose
to adopt the early and uncivilised highlow of
our ancestors, for the "patent polish of a
brighter age," it is not the fault of the cod-
ductors of this establishment. opera boots.

The virtuoso in ankle-jacks will insist on sranding upon his rights a3
pertinaciously as the aristocratic habitue will take his ground upon a
chaussure of superior quality.

We don't see how the rights of the public are to be interfered with,
if an attempt should be made to turn the stalls into a Grecian Saloon,
or something of the sort, and to intersperse the enjoyment of "liquid
harmony " with indulgence in liquids of a different character. We

By the way, we may (also in common with some of our contempo-
raries) as well call attention to the blockade of the pit, which is one
among the curious features of this establishment. The entrance to it
is usually occupied by a double or treble file, through which it is diffi-
cult to force a passage to get in, and impossible to force a passage to
get out again. One rush is quite enough trouble to be put to in
getting into one theatre ; but to encounter the same awful struggle
every time one passes and repasses the back of the pit, is rather more
than the entertainment is worth, whatever may be its intrinsic
attraction.

A PARISIAN PiEAN.

Boo- Maza is taken, huzzah ! huzzah !
Bou Maza is taken, huzzah !

Bou Maza is taken,

No longer his bacon
Can he manage to save, Hip, huzzah !

But, where's Abd-el-Kader, I say, I say ?
But, where's Abd-el-Kader, I say ?

Eh ? where's Abd-el-Kader ?

Why, brave Bugeaud, with ardour,
Is trying to catch bim, they say.

To Paris he 11 get him, some day, some day,
To Paris he.'il get him some day ;

To Paris he '11 get him,

That is, if he '11 let him—
For that's all that stands in the way.

We had an umbrella, so gay, so gay,
We had an umbrella, so gay }

We had an umbrella,

But a live Arab fellow
We never have had till to-day.

Then a cheer for Due D'Islt, huzza 1 huxsa 1
Then a cheer for Dec D'Isly, huzza!

A cheer for Due D'Islt,

So grim and so grisly,
And a fig for the base Albionnaisl

royal harvest.

It seems that grass is allowed to grow along the fortifications of
Paris, and that it is cut every year.— Louis Philippe is determined to
make hay as long as the sun shines.