Punch (73.1877)

August 25, 1877.]

PUNCH, OK THE LONDON CHARIVARI.

83

CE3SANTE CAUSA CESS AT EFFECTUS.

Good and gallant Gordon Pasha writes from
Darfour to say, that though he has put down the
importation into Egypt of great caravans of slaves
with shebas * round their necks, he can't prevent
their importation in driblets of four and five. No
wonder, while there is a brisk demand in the
Khedive's dominions for the imported article, that
there should be a steady supply from Darfour and
Kordofan. If the Khedive really wishes, in deed
as well as word, to stop slave-hunting in Dar-
four, he has only to stop slave-owning in Egypt.
Can he—and, if he can, will he ? These are the
two questions. There is little good in Gordon
spending his life to stop the main channel of this
foul stream, while its tributaries are allowed to
dribble their "fours and fives" into the recep-
tacles of the Egyptian slave - dealers, and the
hareems of the Egyptian slave-owners.

* Heavy wooden yokes, made of tree-stems. The
wretched slaves have to carry their own trunks.

HOSPITALITY.

" Oh, Sir—Sie ! " " Beg tee Pardon, Miss ?:'

"Would you—a—would tod like to Wash your Hands in Papa's Dressing-

Room ?"

DE PROFUNDIS.

Here is a genuine, plain-spoken, and modest
utterance of gratitude, which it does one good
to read in these high-falutin' times:—

To the Hiitor of the Times.
Sir,—I should be much obliged if you would be so
kind to put these few lines in your newspaper. I wish
to thank Her Majesty the Queen for the First Class
Albert Medal which Lord Aberdare was commissioned
to present. And next, I thank Major Duncan for pre-
senting me with the Medal of the Order of St. John of
Jerusalem. Then I wish to thank the Lord Mayor
and the subscribers to the Mansion House Fund, and
others, for the money I have received from them ; and I
wish to thank the Members of Parliament for their kind-
ness in presenting me with a watch and chain. I wish
to say I am very proud of the rewards that I have re-
ceived ; and little did I think the public would take as
much interest in it as they did when we were working
to rescue the men. IsAAC pRIDE) CoUier>

Forth, Rhondda Valley.

Of course, Isaac, you didn't think it. If you
had, you wouldn't have done it. You 're the sort
of Pride to be proud of.

The First Thing we wish to Hear of the
Obstructives next Session.—Their Amendment.

OUR REPRESENTATIVE AT THE SUMMER
THEATRES.

(At the Adelphi—Gaiety—Criterion—Brief Report.)

Sir,—Of course every Mr. Funnyman who sees Mr. Paul
Meritt's Melodrama of The Golden Plough, at the Adelphi, will
say that there is a good deal of Meritt in the piece. And Mr.
Funnyman is right. There is considerable merit in the piece con-
sidered as an " Adelphi Drama of the good old school." But why
the good old school ? The essence of a Drama of this type is and
must be seduction and murder, which scarcely belong to any school
deserving the epithet " good ;" and however dissatisfied an audience
might be, should Virtue not triumph over Vice, yet the sympathy
of the spectators, such is human nature, whether at the Adelphi, or
elsewhere, is invariably with the Villain, if he be only clever enough,
and if, which is a great point, he give evidence of a certain amount
of geniality. Robert Macaire is an example in point. He is
clever, he is genial; and once, in the well-known piece (adapted
by Mr. Selby long, long ago), this model Villain shows signs of a
heart. At the end of that exciting Drama (which of late has
degenerated into a One-Act Farce) the audience were glad that
Robert Macaire should be shot in attempting to escape, and should
thus fall to " the bloodhounds," represented by three determined
Supers, dressed as Gendarmes, instead of dying "by the hand of
the executioner."

So it is with Shadrach Jones, the Highwayman, played by
Mr. Emery in The Golden Plough. By the way, if this part were
not played by Mr. Emery, it would be simply nothing, and as it is
it goes for very little. Story ? Bless you! Mr. Merbitt, unlike
the needy Knife-grinder, has plenty to tell—too much, in fact; but

of dialogue worth hearing he has very little. And as for the comic
scenes, which, in the hands of the late Messbs. Wright and Paul
Bedford (who were "the light" and heavy "of other days"),
served as a foil to the villany, and relieved the tragic gloom of the
murderous Mr. 0. Smith (Alas! Fogie Junior wonders what on
earth Mr. Fogie Senior in the Stalls is talking about when he men-
tions these names) —of this relief, I say, there is absolutely nothing,
for the part of the Doctor cannot be considered as a relief—except
when he has an exit. The Golden Plough will in time come to be a
regular stock piece for the Provinces, and is sufficiently exciting to
keep the interest of an audience alive for two hours and a quarter,
so that the Adelphi management is to be congratulated on
possessing an attraction at this time of the year. The Children's
Pantomime is played first, and is worth the children's attention.
It is played by juvenile Pantomimists, by little Clowns, Harle-
quins, Columbines, and a pair of little Pantaloons. "I suppose,"
observed a small Boy who had been intensely delighted with the
performance, " I suppose they '11 grow up by Christmas." He was
looking forward to Boxing-night, when he should see the real
thing, full grown, full blown, of which this daringly out-of-season
but excellent Summer Pantomime was only the infancy.

The Gaiety gives "nichts wi'" H. J. Byron, playing his Weak
Woman and his burlesque of the Bohemian G-yurl. Miss E. Farren
comes back as fresh as a daisy, and as welcome as the flowers in
May. Mr. Boyce is capital as ever as Count Smiff, who cannot get an
opportunity of singing " The Heart bowed down "—a first-rate bur-
lesque idea—and Mr. E. Terry immensely funny as " another good
costermonger wrong," accompanied by his performing dogs. Miss
Kate Vaughan is more charming and graceful than ever,_ if that be
possible; Miss M. West, who takes steps to please, and invariably
pleases by the steps she takes ; and sprightly little Miss Amalia,