Punch (55.1868)

21

I

July 18, 1868.] PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.

MEDEA” AT DRURY LANE.

ACT THE FIRST. We perceive on the rise of the curtain,
That Dirce considers her future uncertain,

Tor though she’s expecting her Jason, and he
A wonderful hero is well known to be,

And is going to wed her, the fact that her J.

Has another wife living although far away.

Whom he’s left, makes her fear that he may not prove steady,
And she turns all white, knowing he’s married all-reddy.

Tor, after all, heroes should not commit bigamy:

It’s right to be Young, but it’s wrong to be Brigham-y.

However, when Jason and Creon appear

With the famed Golden Fleece, she gets over her fear,

And whilst the procession files grandly before us.

She seems to be much re-assured, by the Chorus.

But in midst of the general congratulation.

There enters Medea in great agitation,

And there, in the hearing of swells of the nation,

She calls Jason “ Ingrate ” in-great perturbation.

Medea says, “Jason, this match mustn’t be.

You know you are lawfully wedded to me,

And surely one wife is enough, sometimes more ;

You’d be married by two, you’ve been married be-fore.”

Says Creon to Dirce, who’s cut to the core,

“ I’ll see to it, calm a if tuo terror:

Medea, at Jason’s attempt t’wards the lady,

You needn’t take umbrage-admitting it’s ‘ shady; ’

But leave us this instant, for though p’rhaps we may
Have shortly a dance, or charade, or a play, _

Whichever the bride and her spouse may desire,

A dull mourning consort we do not require.”

Medea then kneels, and hi seena pathetic
Appeals, then indulges in language prophetic;

But Creon, the father, is blind to her kneeling.

Is deaf to entreaty, and dead to all feeling:

He’s a stony olMpsre—so it’s no use ap-pealing.

Then dee]) threats of revenge at the party she flings,

And the Act Drop descends on this nice state of things.

I ask you to pause in this act you’d commit.”

Says Creon, “ The Bridal put off! Not a Bit.

Leave the place - you shall punished be, Ma’am, if you stay.”
Thereupon she appeals for another short day,

Which lie grants ; then to Jason, who’s really unkind.

She gives a most liberal “ bit of her mind,”

And she asks for her children, which Jason, denies her:

To her threat’ning he turns a deaf ear, and def-ies her.

And then until unlimited heartlessncss goes
And marries a second wife under her nose.

Whilst wrathful Medea, the right mood for crime in,
Exclaims, “ Hymen, aid me, for such a rage I’m in! ”

And.seizing a brand all alight in her hand,

(Which proves her wrath’s genuine—witness the brand.

With revenge in her eye, as the dullest can see,

Rushes off in a tempest of passion 0. P.

In the THIRD ACT we find out her dreadful intention.

Of which in the previous one she’d made mention.

It is to present to the young bride as present
A mantle and crown steeped in poison, which pleasant
Acceptable gift Jason’s children, no other,

Hand their father’s new wife with the “Compts ” of their mother.
And then poor Medea determines to slay
Her innocent boys as a lesson to J.

But feelings maternal asserting their sway,

She finds that she can’t put them out of the way;

And her sorrows in wild plaintive music out-pour
Such an air ! It commences, “ Del Rio Dolor.”

At length she determines she will do the deed,

And vainly doth Jason with sword intercede ;

Too late to defend either Dirce or those
Who called him “ Papa,” we are left to suppose
That the dreadful design of the ill-treated wife
Is accomplished, and so for the rest of his life
We feel pretty sure as the curtain descends
That Creon is safe to be cut by his friends;

Whilst Jason, no longer a husband or pappy.

Can’t even expect to be mol’rately happy.

And the moral conveyed by the airs which abound
In this beautiful work are in two senses sound;

Whilst the lesson that’s taught by the author’s libretto,

Is, that once on a bad road who knows where you ’ll get to r

Medea is, for instance, seized by Turies,

Which forms a most effective “ situation,”

Although the densest of provincial juries
Would find in her case some extenuation.

But we confess, as given at old Drury’s
Grand house, the climax meets with approbation;

And as a change from Yebdi and Bellini,

We welcome very warmly Cherubini.

“ Two stars keep not their motions in one sphere,”

The Poet sang, but we saw ’tother night
Three stars at Drury Lane, each brilliant, clear.

One really dazzling, but all very bright.

Punch could not yield the palm; and so, to steer
Clear of mistake, gave both palms—left and right.

To finish with a vile pun—oh, a base ’un—

He saw two suns, too—Maple-son and Ja-son.

Never Waste your Time.—Waste Somebody Use’s.