Punch (67.1874)

A FANCY (BALL) SKETCH.

King Charles. “ Ya-as ! A Fella’ with a Figa’ had some Chance then /

Legal University, where sucking barristers and attorneys are to be
brought up together, like little lions and tigers, in the same den,
till they develope each his distinctive teeth, claws, and colours, and
take to seeking whom they may devour each after his own clienti-
vorous kind. As for conferring degrees on Lawyers, have they not
their degrees already—says a ribald—bad, worse, worst ” ?

Mu. Childses did a little amateur budgetting, and trotted out
the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who declined to re-consider his
Estimates, or to be in a depressed state of mind over the prospects
of the Revenue.

After a cheerful morning of light financial gossip, the House gave
itself a count-outing at the evening sitting. It was really too hot
for talking by gaslight.

AU PUBLIC.

(A Word or two on the Present French Difficulty at the Princess's

Theatre.)

Messrs. Valnay and Pitron, the energetic Managers of the
French Company, have a very fair ground of complaint. In effect
it is this ‘ We have entered into engagements with certain Artistes
to appear in certain pieces. But the Licenser has refused to sanction
their production, and we are forced to break our contracts, and
bear the consequences.” One consequence of importance to the
London play-going Public will be the collapse of this enterprise,
after two years of hard struggling up-hill work, in order to establish
one First-class French Theatre in London.

To this it has been replied, “Well, but you knew the sort of
piece for the entertainment of the British Public before you started.”
The answer of Messrs. Valnay and Pitron should be this:—“ Le
Peveillon, Tricoche et Cacolet, and Gavaut Minard et Cie, have
all been licensed by the Lord Chamberlain. If these can be pro-
duced, with the sanction of the Censor Morum, surely the permission
will not be refused to plays far less objectionable.

Without expressing an opinion as to whether the above-named
pieces ought or ought not to have been allowed, it is clear that
the Managers were logical in their deduction, and it seems very hard

that they, and their hard-working and excellent company, should
have to suffer for the want of proper prevision in official quarters.

And now to express onr opinion.

Surely judicious expurgation of dialogue is all that is necessary in
such farces as Tricoche and Le Peveillon, while the third piece
above-mentioned should have been “ reformed altogether.”

A purely French audience can listen to these things with impu-
nity. They laugh at the wit of a double entendre, and are amused
for the moment by the absurd complications represented as arising
out of an immoral intrigue. They cannot take seriously what was
never meant to be seriously taken. The light drama is pour passer
le temps ; and as you must either mourn over, or laugh at, the errors
and follies of mankind, the French choose the latter course in their
amusements, and leave the former for their devotions. That we are
not inclined to be so strictly moral in our theatrical tastes may be
gathered from the popularity of wild, brutal dancing, which would
not be permitted in Paris, of scant drapery, and of stupidly gross
imitations of all that is worst on the French stage.

Messrs. Valnay and Pitron would have a right to point to these
Exhibitions, and favourably compare their own representations with
such coarse Extravagances. Theirs is certainly a hard case; and it
is to be hoped that the attempt to establish a French Theatre will
not be allowed to drop; but that from small beginnings we may,
with high aims, arrive at the best form of French Dramatic Art,
and that Messrs. Valnay and Pitron may, by the timely aid of their
Patrons, be enabled to tide over present difficulties, and for the
future to come to a clear understanding with the Lord Chamber-
lain as to the exact point where the line is to be drawn. We
thank them for the past, and wish them success in the future.

Such. Impudence!

Sir,—“Virgin Vinegar.” Such is a staring advertisement on
a Chelsea Omnibus. Will you turn your weekly weapon against
the odious alliteration? It is true, I am an Old Maid; but if there |
be any acidity in any of us, 1 am not aware that any of it is yet j
in the Market, or likely to be. Your Constant Reader,

Evergreen Cottage, Verjuice Road. Jane Crabbe.