DOI issue:
April 19, 1862
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16869#0167
April 19, 1862.]
PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.
159
OUR DRAMATIC CORRESPONDENT.
5AR PUNCH,
“ I think while
the St. Stephens
theatre is open you
cannot have much
room for myremarks
about the others;
and so 1 shall con-
tent myself through-
out the Session with
giving you a letter
once a month or so,
and recording only
the more striking of
the pieces which may
chance tobe brought
out. What is pro-
duced at the S\
Stephens’ house is
doubtless of more
consequence and in-
terest to the nation
even than a Peep-o'-
Day or a Colleen
Bawn, and I make
no doubt that the
sayings of Lord
Palmerston are
looked for still more
eagerly than those ot Lord Dundreary. Its patrons must however be
somewhat disappointed to find, from the prospectus issued by the
manager, that there are but few novelties in prospect at this house, and
that the season seems to promise to be a sadly dull one. Even that
extremely clever actor, Mr. Gladstone, who has been playing his old
part in Raising the Wind, has failed in warming up his audience from
the apathetic coldness with which all efforts to excite them have been
hitherto received. Strange as it must doubtless have appeared to old
habitues, but little interest was awakened by the drama of The Budget,
or How to Settle Accounts with your Chancellor of the Exchequer, which
was revived the other night before the fullest house this season, in
whose presence Mr. Gladstone took a most tremendous header into
J such a sea of ligures as would have clearly overwhelmed an actor of
| less strength.
Spring's delights are now reviving,’
’Spite of East wind, rain, and hail:
And, 'bout the country, foiks are striving
To hear the Swedish Nightingale :
—whose sweet throat, it is whispered, is next month to be delightful
to the ravished sense,’ of JENNY-Ioving London. But alas ! in vain I
search through Mr. Gye’s prospectus for her name, although Roberto
and La Figlia are both to be revived. Might not a petition, signed by
Mr. Punch as the mouthpiece of All England, persuade her to exhibit,
in this year of Exhibition, her marvellous creations of operatic art ?
To hear Jenny Lind accompanied by Mr. Costa’s band was a treat
we were denied when she was singing on the stage, and who that has a
soul for music would not give his ears to hear the combination ? I
know there is a rumour about her M. Otto, and a music hall. If true,
this were something, for there is somebody to whom Jenny Lind’s
husband would, I think, offer an engagement
“ Meanwhile, the nightingales of Italy have winged again their flight
to us ; and as this Exhibition year is a year of peace and harmony, the
Battle of the Operas will this year again be fought. General Maple-
son has issued orders to ms army, bidding them assemble at Her
Majesty’s on Saturday the ’26th. General Gye has. however, been
the first to take the field, and as his forces are still under the command
ot Captain Costa, we may be pretty sure of the success of their
campaign. It augured well, I thought, that Rossini took the pas of
Verdi the first night; and lovers of good music must surely have
rejoiced to see. how William Tell was relished by that crowded au-
dience. I hardly saw a single vacant box or stall, and, while the music
was proceeding, there was scarce a single face that showed a vacant
look. Say what sceptics may, we English are improving in our taste
for music; and men like Mr. Gye, who hold a musical] command, will
do well to note the fact, and assist in our improvement.
“ Friends or Foes at the St. James’s, and the World of Fashion,
played at the Olympic, are two pleasant little pieces, both taken from
the French, . and far more to my liking than the picturesque slow-
poisonings, for which ‘our lively neighbours’ entertain such love.
One might really be inclined to put some faith in homoeopathy, were its
practitioners as skilful, ready-witted, and well-bred, as the young doctor
Mr. Dewar so well plays in the first piece : and however much, as fox-
hunters, we may condemn the act of vulpicide on which the curtain
tails, we cannot but be pleased to see a happy ending brought so sud-
denly about. As for the Olympic, when I say that a Court Milliner is
the heroine of the play, and that the audience is permitted to see her
on her throne—I mean sitting in her shop—I have surely said enough to
make your lady-readers auxious for a peep at her, in the hope that they
may spy out some new fashion for a dress.
“To stamp this in our memory as an Annus Mirabilis, the Lord
Chamberlain has graciously been pleased to clear away the interdicts
of Cant, and to suffer all the theatres in the week preceding Easter
(Friday properly excepted), to keep open their doors. How many a
poor actor will thank him for his courage in making this wise change,
and in no longer letting the Casinos, Poses Plastiques, and Singing
Supper-rooms be the only public pleasures throughout the Holy Week !
It is no small loss to a manager to lose a week’s receipts, and still less
ca i a poor actor bear the loss of a week’s salary, compelling him to fast
more than he wills it during Lent. Cantabit vacuus—that is to say,
Cox, the empty head will cant-a-bit; but I put very little faith in such
old obsolete devices for making folks devout, as this of keeping
theatres all shut up during Passion Week, while dancing shops and
concert-rooms were flaring in full force. << qne who pAYS ”
“ P.S. I must just add a word of thanks to Mr. German Reed for
his smart rap at the Spirit-rappers in his bright new entertainment.
To see a Spirit visibly embodied, coolly smoking a cigar, and fiddling
a fantasia of our fashionable airs (such as the Great Sensation and the
Perfect Cure), is surely far more entertaining than to hear one’s old
dead friends rapping underneath a table to misspell their own names,
or to see the words ‘John Smith,’ or else ‘ Belinda Brown’ faintly
scrawled by means of phosphorus on a Medium’s bared arm.”
A ROMAN HOLIDAY.
For daring to publish the pastoral which announced the intended
celebration of the tercentenary of the massacre of 4,000 unarmed
Huguenots in cold blood and violation of a solemn pact, on the day
of Pentecost, the 17th of May, 1562, at Toulouse, all honour to the
Archbishop (of that see. Consistency for ever!. All honour to the
Pope for not having condemned the pastoral of his consistent prelate.
This was none of your hypocritical effusions of rigmarole, affecting
Christian love and compassion for poor lost sheep. It was a bold vin-
dication of what, according to the Archbishop’s creed, and the creed of
the Romau See, which has sanctioned its publication, is an act of faith,
but what the world in general calls an act of murder.
The French Government has prohibited the celebration of the
Massacre of St. Bartholomew the Less, so to speak, which the brave
old Archbishop intended to commemorate. Herein it has perhaps
acted with prudence. It is possible that enemies and persecutors of
the Saints, it there are any in Toulouse, would have hissed the holy
man, and pelted him at the head of Iris procession with rotten eggs;
thus converting the triumph of the Church into a profane ovation.
The disapproval, however, of the contemplated ceremony, which has
been published in the Moniteur, must of course be understood with due
reservation. The Archbishop op Toulouse and the Holy See have
adopted the Huguenot massacre of 1562—are what we wretched
heretics call accessories after the fact. The ex-KiNG op Naples sub-
sidises the Neapolitan brigands; the Pope harbours the ex-Ring op
Naples, and French troops uphold the Pope. The Emperor op the
French cannot be considered serious in censuring the Archbishop op
Toulouse, whilst his arms maintain the temporal power of the Holy
Father.
CURIOSITIES OF NATURAL HISTORY.
Sir Edwin Landseer, who recently appeared before the public in a
new suit, is now, it appears from Mr. Cowper’s statement, “ studying
the habits of the Lion.” The best place for studying the habits of the j
latter, would be, we should say, not the Zoological Gardens, but rather
some fashionable haunt, like the Horticultural Gardens, where Lions j
most do congregate, and where you can admire them in all the splendour 1
of their bran-new habits, still lustrous from the master-touch of either
Buckmaster or Poole. So dilatory is Sir Edwin over his commis-
sion, that we would recommend Admiral Walcott to suggest to
the House that Jules-Gerard, the notorious Algerian tueur de lions,
should be appointed in the talented but procrastinating R.A.’s stead,
for it is well-knowu that Monsieur Jules is the readiest hand of any
one of the present day in having a brush with a lion, and besides has
the knack of bringing down the greatest number in the smallest possible
space of time. It would only be a morning’s work for him to knock
you up the four that are wanted for that most unfinished work of art in
the metropolis, the Nelson’s Column—which, unfinished as it has long
been, is placed, inappropriately enough, in the society of that “ most
finished gentleman in Europe,” George the Fourth
The Latest (and the Greatest) Act op Legal Reform.—
Chancery Lane is closed !
PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.
159
OUR DRAMATIC CORRESPONDENT.
5AR PUNCH,
“ I think while
the St. Stephens
theatre is open you
cannot have much
room for myremarks
about the others;
and so 1 shall con-
tent myself through-
out the Session with
giving you a letter
once a month or so,
and recording only
the more striking of
the pieces which may
chance tobe brought
out. What is pro-
duced at the S\
Stephens’ house is
doubtless of more
consequence and in-
terest to the nation
even than a Peep-o'-
Day or a Colleen
Bawn, and I make
no doubt that the
sayings of Lord
Palmerston are
looked for still more
eagerly than those ot Lord Dundreary. Its patrons must however be
somewhat disappointed to find, from the prospectus issued by the
manager, that there are but few novelties in prospect at this house, and
that the season seems to promise to be a sadly dull one. Even that
extremely clever actor, Mr. Gladstone, who has been playing his old
part in Raising the Wind, has failed in warming up his audience from
the apathetic coldness with which all efforts to excite them have been
hitherto received. Strange as it must doubtless have appeared to old
habitues, but little interest was awakened by the drama of The Budget,
or How to Settle Accounts with your Chancellor of the Exchequer, which
was revived the other night before the fullest house this season, in
whose presence Mr. Gladstone took a most tremendous header into
J such a sea of ligures as would have clearly overwhelmed an actor of
| less strength.
Spring's delights are now reviving,’
’Spite of East wind, rain, and hail:
And, 'bout the country, foiks are striving
To hear the Swedish Nightingale :
—whose sweet throat, it is whispered, is next month to be delightful
to the ravished sense,’ of JENNY-Ioving London. But alas ! in vain I
search through Mr. Gye’s prospectus for her name, although Roberto
and La Figlia are both to be revived. Might not a petition, signed by
Mr. Punch as the mouthpiece of All England, persuade her to exhibit,
in this year of Exhibition, her marvellous creations of operatic art ?
To hear Jenny Lind accompanied by Mr. Costa’s band was a treat
we were denied when she was singing on the stage, and who that has a
soul for music would not give his ears to hear the combination ? I
know there is a rumour about her M. Otto, and a music hall. If true,
this were something, for there is somebody to whom Jenny Lind’s
husband would, I think, offer an engagement
“ Meanwhile, the nightingales of Italy have winged again their flight
to us ; and as this Exhibition year is a year of peace and harmony, the
Battle of the Operas will this year again be fought. General Maple-
son has issued orders to ms army, bidding them assemble at Her
Majesty’s on Saturday the ’26th. General Gye has. however, been
the first to take the field, and as his forces are still under the command
ot Captain Costa, we may be pretty sure of the success of their
campaign. It augured well, I thought, that Rossini took the pas of
Verdi the first night; and lovers of good music must surely have
rejoiced to see. how William Tell was relished by that crowded au-
dience. I hardly saw a single vacant box or stall, and, while the music
was proceeding, there was scarce a single face that showed a vacant
look. Say what sceptics may, we English are improving in our taste
for music; and men like Mr. Gye, who hold a musical] command, will
do well to note the fact, and assist in our improvement.
“ Friends or Foes at the St. James’s, and the World of Fashion,
played at the Olympic, are two pleasant little pieces, both taken from
the French, . and far more to my liking than the picturesque slow-
poisonings, for which ‘our lively neighbours’ entertain such love.
One might really be inclined to put some faith in homoeopathy, were its
practitioners as skilful, ready-witted, and well-bred, as the young doctor
Mr. Dewar so well plays in the first piece : and however much, as fox-
hunters, we may condemn the act of vulpicide on which the curtain
tails, we cannot but be pleased to see a happy ending brought so sud-
denly about. As for the Olympic, when I say that a Court Milliner is
the heroine of the play, and that the audience is permitted to see her
on her throne—I mean sitting in her shop—I have surely said enough to
make your lady-readers auxious for a peep at her, in the hope that they
may spy out some new fashion for a dress.
“To stamp this in our memory as an Annus Mirabilis, the Lord
Chamberlain has graciously been pleased to clear away the interdicts
of Cant, and to suffer all the theatres in the week preceding Easter
(Friday properly excepted), to keep open their doors. How many a
poor actor will thank him for his courage in making this wise change,
and in no longer letting the Casinos, Poses Plastiques, and Singing
Supper-rooms be the only public pleasures throughout the Holy Week !
It is no small loss to a manager to lose a week’s receipts, and still less
ca i a poor actor bear the loss of a week’s salary, compelling him to fast
more than he wills it during Lent. Cantabit vacuus—that is to say,
Cox, the empty head will cant-a-bit; but I put very little faith in such
old obsolete devices for making folks devout, as this of keeping
theatres all shut up during Passion Week, while dancing shops and
concert-rooms were flaring in full force. << qne who pAYS ”
“ P.S. I must just add a word of thanks to Mr. German Reed for
his smart rap at the Spirit-rappers in his bright new entertainment.
To see a Spirit visibly embodied, coolly smoking a cigar, and fiddling
a fantasia of our fashionable airs (such as the Great Sensation and the
Perfect Cure), is surely far more entertaining than to hear one’s old
dead friends rapping underneath a table to misspell their own names,
or to see the words ‘John Smith,’ or else ‘ Belinda Brown’ faintly
scrawled by means of phosphorus on a Medium’s bared arm.”
A ROMAN HOLIDAY.
For daring to publish the pastoral which announced the intended
celebration of the tercentenary of the massacre of 4,000 unarmed
Huguenots in cold blood and violation of a solemn pact, on the day
of Pentecost, the 17th of May, 1562, at Toulouse, all honour to the
Archbishop (of that see. Consistency for ever!. All honour to the
Pope for not having condemned the pastoral of his consistent prelate.
This was none of your hypocritical effusions of rigmarole, affecting
Christian love and compassion for poor lost sheep. It was a bold vin-
dication of what, according to the Archbishop’s creed, and the creed of
the Romau See, which has sanctioned its publication, is an act of faith,
but what the world in general calls an act of murder.
The French Government has prohibited the celebration of the
Massacre of St. Bartholomew the Less, so to speak, which the brave
old Archbishop intended to commemorate. Herein it has perhaps
acted with prudence. It is possible that enemies and persecutors of
the Saints, it there are any in Toulouse, would have hissed the holy
man, and pelted him at the head of Iris procession with rotten eggs;
thus converting the triumph of the Church into a profane ovation.
The disapproval, however, of the contemplated ceremony, which has
been published in the Moniteur, must of course be understood with due
reservation. The Archbishop op Toulouse and the Holy See have
adopted the Huguenot massacre of 1562—are what we wretched
heretics call accessories after the fact. The ex-KiNG op Naples sub-
sidises the Neapolitan brigands; the Pope harbours the ex-Ring op
Naples, and French troops uphold the Pope. The Emperor op the
French cannot be considered serious in censuring the Archbishop op
Toulouse, whilst his arms maintain the temporal power of the Holy
Father.
CURIOSITIES OF NATURAL HISTORY.
Sir Edwin Landseer, who recently appeared before the public in a
new suit, is now, it appears from Mr. Cowper’s statement, “ studying
the habits of the Lion.” The best place for studying the habits of the j
latter, would be, we should say, not the Zoological Gardens, but rather
some fashionable haunt, like the Horticultural Gardens, where Lions j
most do congregate, and where you can admire them in all the splendour 1
of their bran-new habits, still lustrous from the master-touch of either
Buckmaster or Poole. So dilatory is Sir Edwin over his commis-
sion, that we would recommend Admiral Walcott to suggest to
the House that Jules-Gerard, the notorious Algerian tueur de lions,
should be appointed in the talented but procrastinating R.A.’s stead,
for it is well-knowu that Monsieur Jules is the readiest hand of any
one of the present day in having a brush with a lion, and besides has
the knack of bringing down the greatest number in the smallest possible
space of time. It would only be a morning’s work for him to knock
you up the four that are wanted for that most unfinished work of art in
the metropolis, the Nelson’s Column—which, unfinished as it has long
been, is placed, inappropriately enough, in the society of that “ most
finished gentleman in Europe,” George the Fourth
The Latest (and the Greatest) Act op Legal Reform.—
Chancery Lane is closed !