Punch (77.1879)

226

PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.

[November 15, 1879.

SNOBBINGTON AND SHODD.

Lady Snobbington {nee Shodd). "Ah! how do you do, Herr Schultz ? I want you

to dine with me on tuesday next."

Herr Schultz, the great Philosopher [whose acquaintance with her Ladyship is of the slightest).

"you are fery vrently, madam ! BeRMIT ZAT i INTRODUCE to you madam schultz."

Lady Snobbington (ivJio thinks great Philosophers are all very well, but doesn't want to be
bothered with their womankind). "A—delighted, I'm sore! Madam Schultz, I want
this dear clever husband of yours to dine with me, and meet the duchess of
Clapham, and the Bishop of Loughborough, and my sister-in-law, Lady Guinevre
moseley, you know,—and you will spare him to us for one evening, won't you?"

Madam Schultz. "Oh, certainly, if he wishes it."

Herr Schultz {in his innocence of the ways of Shodds and Snobbinglons). "You are fery
vrently, Madam ! Pot zese Laties zat you mention, zey are zen peehaps not
exactly besbeotable, zat you haf not also invited my Wife?"

in this Portia. Has she prepared that speech about mercy ? has Bellario crammed her
for it ? or is it the sudden outburst of her own generous nature ? If the speech be pre-
pared, then it should be a rhetorical display; which it is not. If it is a happy thought
on the spur of the moment, then it is delivered with sufficient force and emphasis, and

yet with a certain modesty consistent with the
position of so young a barrister in so important
a case.

On the first night there were two distinct
and equal triumphs, that of Shylock, and that
of Portia. The piece is beautifully placed on
the stage, every scene being a perfect picture.

For the rest of the dramatis personce,—Mr.
Beaumont was not half a Doge—perhaps if he
were Beaumont and Fletcher together, he
might have been stronger. Mr. Tyars as the
Prince of Morocco, or the other Moor of
Venice—Othello the Less, instead of Othello
the Moot—was very good. Antonio was like
the Anthony in the old song of " Froggee
would" whose lay is always " Heigho! said
Antonio Rowley" Mr. Barnes decidedly
"stood out" as Parnes-anio—I mean Pas-
sanio—and posed a bit too much, under the
impression that he Avas exhibiting " gallant
bearing." lie was also too impatient and off-
handed in the Trial Scene—a defect which, no
doubt, by this time he has remedied, and has
become deeply interested in what is likely to
be a protracted case. Lorenzo is "nice."
The Gobbos, pere et fits, are not particularly
humorous ; their old - fashioned, wearisome
traditional stage business ought to be re-
arranged. Jessica obtained a laugh when she
throws a good-sized casket, apparently across
a canal, at Lorenzo's head, which might have
induced an exclamation of "Well fielded!"
from the irrepressible, and imperilled the
situation.

The last Act always disappoints me—not by
its language, which is beautiful; not by its
comedy, which is amusing; but because poor
old Shylock does not reappear. I should like
him to drop in on that happy party in rich
Venetian evening dress—not as he went out to
supper with Salarino & Co., like Gay Fawkes,
with a lantern and tinder-box—to express his
sorrow for the trouble he has caused, and then
speak the lines which Nerissa now speaks, about
the deed of gift to Lorenzo and Jessica—adding,
of course, " Take her, you young dog of a
Christian, and be happy."

The late Mr. Calvert used to end the play
with a poetically conceived scene of moonlit
silence in the great hall of Belmont, with Portia
and Passanio looking on the still night from a
window in the gallery. It was very effective,
and would have offered a really good excuse
for the return of Shylock, who, out of reve-
rence for "the Bard," might have expressed
everything in dumb show, and handed over the
deed of gift in pantomime. In fact, the deed,
and not the word, is the only thing required.
But these changes cannot be properly effected
until the piece is reproduced in Our National
Theatre of the Future by

Your Representative.

P.S. The Rivals as presented at the Imperial
Theatre has not been rivalled by any recent
revival of the admirable old play, in the
leading parts of Lydia, 3Lrs. Malaprop, Sir
Anthony, and Captain Absolute. First and
foremost, Miss Litton' gives a feminine charm
all her own, in look, movement, and manner, to
the sentimental heroine. I can recall few more
bewitching stage apparitions than hers, as she
interrupts the duel in the Abbey Fields, in her
black mantua and muslin fichu worn enfanchon
and infinitely becoming to her fair face.

Of the veteran Mrs. Stirling's Mrs. Mala-
prop, and Mr. Farren's Sir Anthony, what
need to speak ? They both belong to a good old
time, and act accordingly. Mr. Kyrle Bel-
lew's Captain is quiet, graceful, and pleasant,
not a tone of it overdone, which is a great
virtue. This young man promises to go far in
light comedy; may he never find worse fare than
Sheridan-. I am glad to note his progress for
his father's sake, as well as his own.

Mr. Brough's Pob Acres is capital in the