DOI Heft:
January 6, 1866
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16877#0012
I
PUNCH. OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI. [January 6, 18(6.
THEATRICAL CHRISTMAS.
r,—Drury Lane first
and foremost. Master
Percy Roselle as
King Pippin; he is,
as poor Robson used
to say, “ a wo-o-o-on-
derful bo-o-o-o-y ! ”
Mr. Barsby, as the
Count of Flanders,
executes some won-
derful steps that will
astonish some of our
burlesque friends,
and make the irre-
pressible niggers turn
up the whites of their
eyes. He dances very
nearly as well as Mr.
D. James, at the
pretty little Strand
Theatre, who plays
NelusJco in H Afri-
caine, and that’s say-
ing a great deal, mind
you. if the august managers of Old Drury were approachable, 1 would suggest
that a few more efficient box-keepers might be obtained; for, with an anxious party
of small folks I had to wait five (or more) minutes before I could get any one
to show me my box. It was the omnibus box when I did get into it, and our
situation reminded me of poor Leech’s picture of the children creeping to the
edge of the circus, and seeing, with great delight, “the’oofs of the ’orses !”
The omnibus (to which as I have said we had great difficulty in finding a
conductor) is not the best box for those who wish to get a good view of the
pantomime. However, Old Drury was crammed, and there was no getting another.
It had its advantages in the children’s eyes; for from our situation they were let
into all sorts of stage secrets. They saw the little fairies before they appeared on the
stage; they saw King Pippin's miniature courtiers crowding behind the wings ; they
saw Miss Rose Leclercq, as a Queen, pinning the dress of Miss Augusta Thom-
son, who plays Fortunatus: they saw the grimy carpenters moving behind the
bright canvas clouds; and, privileged mortals that we were, we saw, we saw (oh,
rapture ! joy ! ecstasy !) we saw the Clown before he came on.
I have only one fault to find with Drury Lane : its orchestra. The music was
not sufficiently lively for a pantomime, and the style of its execution could scarcely
have been pleasing (I am speaking of the first night, mind), to the ear of Mr.
Barnard, the conductor. I am afraid that my children
will henceforth become materialists, and date their realistic
notions from the evening when they were spectators of
Harlequin King Pippin from the omnibus box of Old Drury.
Covent Garden and the Paynes ! of course a pantomime
supported by the King and Princes of Christmas fun cannot
be anything but good; so being perfectly certain on this
score, I’m going there next week, and will tell you all about
it. Society goes to see what Mr. T. Robertson calls,
generically, society at the Prince of Wales’s, and society
is much pleased with what it does see. I must visit Little
Don Juan. Then there’s the Haymarket, with Mr.
Planche’s adaptation of Orphee aux Enters: neatly done,
sweetly done. But you do want some singers besides
Miss Louise Keeley; and Miss Louise Keeley, good
as she is, is not the Eurydice that all Paris went to see;
but then Mr. J. B. Buckstone will say, we ’re not in
Paris : and it’s Orpheus in the Haymarket. The public is
satisfied with Rip at the Adelphi, and Benjamin, their
ruler, ought to be content with the great plum in his Christ-
mas pudding; so here’s his health and his family’s, including
Little Paul and Master Toole come home for the holi-
days, and Mrs. Mellon, and may they all live long and
prosper. The best pantomime for children is to be seen
at Astley’s; where the transformation scene will consider-
ably astonish even the oldest boys.
There’s a burlesque at the New Royalty, lieu! prisca
hdes ! which being translated by my own private schoolboy
means, “Alas, the old fiddle ! ” How hath the glory de-
parted from Soho since the reign of Ixion, King of Thessaly.
The talented author of the new piece has, with remark-
able originality, entitled his play Prometheus, or the Man on
the Rock, which of course does not in the least remind one
of Ixion, or the Man at the Wheel. Imitation is the sin-
cerest flattery. It is no doubt commendable in a young
author to rely for the success of his bantling upon the
established reputation of his predecessor. It is, I believe,
Mr. Rice’s first attempt, so as Mr. Weller said to Mr.
Blazes, at the Swarry, perhaps he’ll “try a better by-and
by.” I ’ll go and see all the Christmas entertainments.
Send me Boxes. Yours, Snooks.
Parochial Toast and Sentiment. — Church and
Stocks.
THE KILKENNY CATS.
As we prophesied, but sooner than we bargained for, the Irish
Republic has resolved itself into an Irish Row ! The Head Centre is at
loggerheads with the extremities. The mighty O’Mahony is at drawn
daggers with the Senate of the brotherhood. And all about the dirty
dollars! It seems that the Head Centre has issued some £68,000
worth of Fenian bonds, without the authority of the agent confirmed by
the Senate, and a Committee of the Senate, whom the Head Centre
christens “ten malcontents,” having issued a notification to the brother-
hood and sympathisers with it, that all such bonds are invalid and
illegal, the Fenian Senate has formally impeached and deposed its
President and his Secretary of the Treasury, for high crimes and mis-
demeanours, and elected another President in his place.
Now the “malcontents” certainly speak in the name of the Senate,
though they are declared by the Head Centre to be “ no better than a
domestic faction instigated by corrupt motives or British Gold.” When
the late ingenious Mr. Yates was Manager of the Adelphi, it occa-
sionally happened to him, as it will to all Managers, to bring out pieces
that drew down what the actors call “goose.” Those were days when
the British public was still capable of damning a play which displeased
it. But more than once, when both pit and gallery were gradually
growing to full hiss, Mr. Yates has been known to avert conclusive
j damnation by coming forward and indignantly claiming the protection
i of the public from the unseemly interruption of “ that ruffianly miscreant
in the gallery.” He had found that the chances were that this courageous
apostrophe converted hisses into cheers.
Head Centre O’Mahony seems determined to play the same game
when he appeals against a resolution of his Senate, in full session, as
the daring act of “ten malcontents.” It is a very pretty quarrel as it
stands, and it is not to be regretted—though we don’t wish to give rope
[ to the Fenians at home—that they should have enough of it to hang
themselves with, on the other side of the Atlantic.
TITLE FOR A TEMPERANCE TRACT.
“ Muzzle Loaders converted.” By Gunmaker, Oxford Street.
ON THE DOWNFALL OF THE MARMORA AND SELLA
CABINET.
Dear Mr. Punch,
We have just been acting the Trimmmus, and sending round
the hat, as usual, at the conclusion of the performance. 1 should be
very glad if you consider the following worthy of the Trinummus, that
is, threepence, a line, instead of the traditional nummus, or penny.
That will make just a florin, which please remit by Post-Office order.
I give you the English.
Your constant reader. Young Westminster.
Marmora cum Sellapiopcit Ausonia.
Durior Ausonise pullus, qui sustinet idem
Marmora cum Sella : ne nimium sit onus !
Ah, levis Ausonise pullus, qui calce proterva
Marmora cum Sella, proruta, fracta, terit.
Or, Euglished,
On the Upset of La Marmora and Sella in the Italian Parliament.
A rare nag this Italian colt, if he moves
Under burden of saddle* and marbles* to boot:
Grant, ye gods, he mayn’t shy ! Ha! a shyer he proves,
And saddle and marbles are trod under foot!
Idem aliter redditum.
Ausonii panem poscunt: dat marmora prseses.
Quid mirum Ausonii marmora si renegaut ?
Frsenum indignantes sellam tolerare molestam:
Quid mirum sellam marmora abacta sequi ?
Or, Englished,
To give marbles to those who ask bread, is a blunder.
For the marbles are sure to be overboard slung :
Will a horse that scorns reins brook a saddle ? JSo wonder,
If after the marbles the saddle is flung.
Mr. Pimch’s readers hardly need the information that marmora in Latin mean*
“ marbles," and sella, “saddle.”
PUNCH. OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI. [January 6, 18(6.
THEATRICAL CHRISTMAS.
r,—Drury Lane first
and foremost. Master
Percy Roselle as
King Pippin; he is,
as poor Robson used
to say, “ a wo-o-o-on-
derful bo-o-o-o-y ! ”
Mr. Barsby, as the
Count of Flanders,
executes some won-
derful steps that will
astonish some of our
burlesque friends,
and make the irre-
pressible niggers turn
up the whites of their
eyes. He dances very
nearly as well as Mr.
D. James, at the
pretty little Strand
Theatre, who plays
NelusJco in H Afri-
caine, and that’s say-
ing a great deal, mind
you. if the august managers of Old Drury were approachable, 1 would suggest
that a few more efficient box-keepers might be obtained; for, with an anxious party
of small folks I had to wait five (or more) minutes before I could get any one
to show me my box. It was the omnibus box when I did get into it, and our
situation reminded me of poor Leech’s picture of the children creeping to the
edge of the circus, and seeing, with great delight, “the’oofs of the ’orses !”
The omnibus (to which as I have said we had great difficulty in finding a
conductor) is not the best box for those who wish to get a good view of the
pantomime. However, Old Drury was crammed, and there was no getting another.
It had its advantages in the children’s eyes; for from our situation they were let
into all sorts of stage secrets. They saw the little fairies before they appeared on the
stage; they saw King Pippin's miniature courtiers crowding behind the wings ; they
saw Miss Rose Leclercq, as a Queen, pinning the dress of Miss Augusta Thom-
son, who plays Fortunatus: they saw the grimy carpenters moving behind the
bright canvas clouds; and, privileged mortals that we were, we saw, we saw (oh,
rapture ! joy ! ecstasy !) we saw the Clown before he came on.
I have only one fault to find with Drury Lane : its orchestra. The music was
not sufficiently lively for a pantomime, and the style of its execution could scarcely
have been pleasing (I am speaking of the first night, mind), to the ear of Mr.
Barnard, the conductor. I am afraid that my children
will henceforth become materialists, and date their realistic
notions from the evening when they were spectators of
Harlequin King Pippin from the omnibus box of Old Drury.
Covent Garden and the Paynes ! of course a pantomime
supported by the King and Princes of Christmas fun cannot
be anything but good; so being perfectly certain on this
score, I’m going there next week, and will tell you all about
it. Society goes to see what Mr. T. Robertson calls,
generically, society at the Prince of Wales’s, and society
is much pleased with what it does see. I must visit Little
Don Juan. Then there’s the Haymarket, with Mr.
Planche’s adaptation of Orphee aux Enters: neatly done,
sweetly done. But you do want some singers besides
Miss Louise Keeley; and Miss Louise Keeley, good
as she is, is not the Eurydice that all Paris went to see;
but then Mr. J. B. Buckstone will say, we ’re not in
Paris : and it’s Orpheus in the Haymarket. The public is
satisfied with Rip at the Adelphi, and Benjamin, their
ruler, ought to be content with the great plum in his Christ-
mas pudding; so here’s his health and his family’s, including
Little Paul and Master Toole come home for the holi-
days, and Mrs. Mellon, and may they all live long and
prosper. The best pantomime for children is to be seen
at Astley’s; where the transformation scene will consider-
ably astonish even the oldest boys.
There’s a burlesque at the New Royalty, lieu! prisca
hdes ! which being translated by my own private schoolboy
means, “Alas, the old fiddle ! ” How hath the glory de-
parted from Soho since the reign of Ixion, King of Thessaly.
The talented author of the new piece has, with remark-
able originality, entitled his play Prometheus, or the Man on
the Rock, which of course does not in the least remind one
of Ixion, or the Man at the Wheel. Imitation is the sin-
cerest flattery. It is no doubt commendable in a young
author to rely for the success of his bantling upon the
established reputation of his predecessor. It is, I believe,
Mr. Rice’s first attempt, so as Mr. Weller said to Mr.
Blazes, at the Swarry, perhaps he’ll “try a better by-and
by.” I ’ll go and see all the Christmas entertainments.
Send me Boxes. Yours, Snooks.
Parochial Toast and Sentiment. — Church and
Stocks.
THE KILKENNY CATS.
As we prophesied, but sooner than we bargained for, the Irish
Republic has resolved itself into an Irish Row ! The Head Centre is at
loggerheads with the extremities. The mighty O’Mahony is at drawn
daggers with the Senate of the brotherhood. And all about the dirty
dollars! It seems that the Head Centre has issued some £68,000
worth of Fenian bonds, without the authority of the agent confirmed by
the Senate, and a Committee of the Senate, whom the Head Centre
christens “ten malcontents,” having issued a notification to the brother-
hood and sympathisers with it, that all such bonds are invalid and
illegal, the Fenian Senate has formally impeached and deposed its
President and his Secretary of the Treasury, for high crimes and mis-
demeanours, and elected another President in his place.
Now the “malcontents” certainly speak in the name of the Senate,
though they are declared by the Head Centre to be “ no better than a
domestic faction instigated by corrupt motives or British Gold.” When
the late ingenious Mr. Yates was Manager of the Adelphi, it occa-
sionally happened to him, as it will to all Managers, to bring out pieces
that drew down what the actors call “goose.” Those were days when
the British public was still capable of damning a play which displeased
it. But more than once, when both pit and gallery were gradually
growing to full hiss, Mr. Yates has been known to avert conclusive
j damnation by coming forward and indignantly claiming the protection
i of the public from the unseemly interruption of “ that ruffianly miscreant
in the gallery.” He had found that the chances were that this courageous
apostrophe converted hisses into cheers.
Head Centre O’Mahony seems determined to play the same game
when he appeals against a resolution of his Senate, in full session, as
the daring act of “ten malcontents.” It is a very pretty quarrel as it
stands, and it is not to be regretted—though we don’t wish to give rope
[ to the Fenians at home—that they should have enough of it to hang
themselves with, on the other side of the Atlantic.
TITLE FOR A TEMPERANCE TRACT.
“ Muzzle Loaders converted.” By Gunmaker, Oxford Street.
ON THE DOWNFALL OF THE MARMORA AND SELLA
CABINET.
Dear Mr. Punch,
We have just been acting the Trimmmus, and sending round
the hat, as usual, at the conclusion of the performance. 1 should be
very glad if you consider the following worthy of the Trinummus, that
is, threepence, a line, instead of the traditional nummus, or penny.
That will make just a florin, which please remit by Post-Office order.
I give you the English.
Your constant reader. Young Westminster.
Marmora cum Sellapiopcit Ausonia.
Durior Ausonise pullus, qui sustinet idem
Marmora cum Sella : ne nimium sit onus !
Ah, levis Ausonise pullus, qui calce proterva
Marmora cum Sella, proruta, fracta, terit.
Or, Euglished,
On the Upset of La Marmora and Sella in the Italian Parliament.
A rare nag this Italian colt, if he moves
Under burden of saddle* and marbles* to boot:
Grant, ye gods, he mayn’t shy ! Ha! a shyer he proves,
And saddle and marbles are trod under foot!
Idem aliter redditum.
Ausonii panem poscunt: dat marmora prseses.
Quid mirum Ausonii marmora si renegaut ?
Frsenum indignantes sellam tolerare molestam:
Quid mirum sellam marmora abacta sequi ?
Or, Englished,
To give marbles to those who ask bread, is a blunder.
For the marbles are sure to be overboard slung :
Will a horse that scorns reins brook a saddle ? JSo wonder,
If after the marbles the saddle is flung.
Mr. Pimch’s readers hardly need the information that marmora in Latin mean*
“ marbles," and sella, “saddle.”