Punch (45.1863)

246

PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.

("December 19, 1863.

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THE FETTERS AND THE FLEECE.

S a rule, an exhibition of
specimens of the inferior
creation is regarded as in-
structive. The monkeys at
the Zoological are not mo-
dels, in any respect, but we
all go to see them, Sundays
and workadays and all. And
it may not be amiss that, we
should occasionally see Pic-
tures of the Trench Drawn
by Themselves. M. Scribe
drew one of these pictures
in a comedy callejl A Chain,
which Mr. .Leicester
Buckingham lias “adapted”
for the Haymarket Theatre,
and called Silken Fetters.
Mr. Punch perceived that it
was harmless, for reasons
stated hereafter, and there-
fore has not interfered with
a run now over for the pre-
sent. Subject to what we
are going to say, Mr.

Buckingham has done his
work very cleverly. He has condensed the Trench talk into ex-
tremely neat English, preserved the striking situations and con-
trivances of the author, and shown his own ingenuity by a bold device
for getting rid of the immorality, in which he has entirely failed, as was
inevitable. You might, as well hope to remove the flavour of garlic
from a Spanish dish. We have, however, one crow to pluck with him,
and it, is a crow as big as an ostrich. If he had a cage of gorillas to
exhibit, we are sure that he would be too conscientious a naturalist not
to label them as gorillas. He would not put them into trousers and
crinoline, and say they were Irish people. Then why has he called
M. Scribe’s monkeys by English names, and transferred the scene of
their antics 1o this country. Such creatures and such feats would
simply be impossible here. M. Scribe keeps them in the right place.

Tor, see here. A great English lady, wife of an English Earl, who is
a gallant and distinguished sailor, and also a politician of note, hears
that her husband has been drowned. She falls in love with a young
concert-singer, and marries him clandestinely. On their return from
church they hear that the Earl has not been drowned, and is coming
home. They separate on the instant. But they meet in society, and
the Earl, who is a splendid fellow, takes a strong liking to the concert-
singer, whom the lady’s influence has raised into a great literary position
(mind that, young singers, and please the ladies, and you may come to
write in Punch some day), and insists on his being invited to the house,
plans a capital marriage ior him, and is his generous benefactor. The
young man appreciates this kindness, and, having discovered that he
never really loved the lady, and that he very much loves a pretty little
cousin—the girl the Earl destines for him—is most anxious to break
off with the Countess. Break off what? asks an astonished reader.
Why, the secret of the futile marriage is well kept, but the Countess
goes on loving the artist with intrusive intensify, hates her brave
husband, and speculates on the chances of his death, talks love to the
young man whenever she can get a hearing (though the Earl is walking
about the house at the time) tries to break the match with the cousin,
and finally wants the artist to elope with her. She is beaten out of the
field only by the most convincing proof that the young man detests his
Silken Fetters. So she goes to sea with the deluded Earl, and we hope
she will be awfully sea-sick, and have serious talk with the chaplain
on board.

That is the French lady whom Mr. Buckingham has called by an
English name. Tire purpose of the stage being, according to William
De Strateord, “ to show Vice her own image,” the drama is purpose-
less, because in England we have no such types of Vice who can come to
the Haymarket and be improved. Trench Vice, however, if M. Scribe
be trustworthy, is abundantly exemplified in this comedy. On the above-
stated zoological precedent, there is no objection to such an exhibition,
and as the good taste as well as the morals of everybody in the house
set the audience from the beginning to the end dead against the
obtrusively immoral woman, and make them hope she will be blown
overboard, that the brave Earl may be free to inarrv an honest lady,
the piece can do no harm. Me are glad to say that Mrs. Charles
Mathews, though she takes immense pains with the part, cannot
enlist our sympaUiies for Lady Windermere, and our admiration is
strictly limited to her careful efforts aud her faultless costume. The
most difficult and unthankful part we have, perhaps, ever seen, is
allotted to Mr. William Barren, who, as the artist, is in a false
position through the whole play. The audience can never be with him,
and Mr. Farren shows no little artistic talent in working up such

CAmLjSHG'W /

material. He shows all the manliness and self-respect which his
authors will allow him, and fights determinately with the continuous
difficulty of maintaining a gentleman’s bearing amid the most com-
promising situations. Ungrateful as the partis, it has demonstrated the
actor’s great ability. Mr. Mathews, as an impossible attorney, has a part
which seems to be good, but of which neither he nor anybody else
can make much. Mr. Wright, at the Adelphi, turned it into broad
farce, but even so we remember it as a failure. Miss Maria Harris
will be a charming little actress, one of these days, if people will only
let her alone, and not teach her conventionalities.

Mr. Punch's best thanks to . Mr. Buckstone, Mr. Mathews, and
everybody who had a hand in reviving Mr. Blanche’s admirable
burlesque, the Golden Fleece. It acts as freshly as ever, because its fun
does not depend upon allusions to topics of the day, and because its wit
is unlorced, and its humour true. The jokes, good ones, ring out as of
old, and there are epigrammatic lines which are better than jokes. And
we never saw Mrs. Charles Mathews to so much advantage. She laid
hold of the character of Medea—no, she has clutched it in a vice, and
holds it as a discounting attorney holds an overdue bill. She is some-
thing more than tremendous in it—a tigress in a fever were a purring
kitten compared to Medea when she has worked herself up to a com-
plete sense of her wrongs,
it is worth while going to
the t.healre to hear the
“No” which answers Mr.

Charles Mathews’s hope
that she won’t stand Jason’s
conduct; and the two furi-
ous songs, especially the
second—that, capital exit
with the white arms waving,
must be something like the
sounds and sigtit, which
greeted Orpheus, when the
Bacchanals were coming
down to return him to
Hades by instalments. Let
us add that her Grecian gar-
ments are charming, and
ought to make women in
crinoline think what they
might be if they would.

Mr. Mathews’s chorus is a
Greco-Atiglican institution,
and Mr. Compton, as the
two Greek Kings, makes us
glad that we kept him, in-
stead of sending him to
Athens as Henry the
First. Miss Louisa Kee-
ley is a very dainty Jason, and it is a comfort to hear her fresh young
voice in the music she gives so spiritedly. The two show scenes are
excellently mounted, but the Fleece, though Golden, does not depend
on glitter.

Mr. Mathews is like Cerberus, three gentlemen at once, or at least
in one evening. He finishes with the inimir.able effrontery of Plumper,
in Mr. Blancuard Jerrold’s farce of Cool as a Cucumber.

„ - ^

LIMITED LIABILITY.

The following paragraph, from an ecclesiastical paper, calls for a little
explanation:—

“ At the monthly Meeting of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge on
Tuesday, the Rev. C. Lane in the Chair, the motion, ‘ That it is desirable that a
version in Latin of the Book of Common Prayer be put forth by the Society, and
that the Standing Committee be requested to take steps for that purpose,’ was
carried.”

Firstly, why is Christian knowledge to be promoted on Tuesdays
only ?

Secondly. What is the difference between a Latin Prayer-book and
a Missal ?

Thirdly. As the Committee is standing, it can easily take steps, but
what, is the “first position” for the purpose required?

That is Mr. Punch's fun. Now that he may not be supposed to be
unaware of the good sense of the arrangement recorded in such queer
English (may the Latin be better), he begs to say that he knows the
object of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge on Tuesday.
It is that all Roman Catholics, and especially Roman Catholic priests,
may be able to re d our prayer-book, and so discover that we are not
exactly the atheistic wretches we are supposed to be. The move is a
sensible one, am I worthy of educated gentlemen like the Society for
Promo' ing Christian Knowledge on Tuesdays, and we wish them
success, “Eridays, Saturdays, and all,” as a Divine of the name of
Williams has remarked.