Punch (76.1879)

Mat 3, 1879.] PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI. 193

ORTHODOX!

The Rev. Alexis Tonsher {going round his new Parish). " Of course, you
observe Lent, Mrs. Rickyard ? "

Mrs. Mckijard. " Oh, yes, Sir, we alltjs hev Pancakes o' Shrove
Tuesday ! "

OUR REPRESENTATIVE MAN.

The Girls—The Hunchback.

Sir,—Of course it was absolutely necessary to go and see The Girls as soon
as possible. Mistrusting the enthusiasm, or prejudice, of a first night, I waited
till the third representation; but I could not shake off the feeling that, play
what they would, it couldn't help being, somehow or other, a pendant to Our
Boys. Up to the very last I indulged in a vague hope that Mr. David James
would throw off his wig, whiskers, and moustache, and appear as Perkyn
Middleivick, acknowledging that, after all, he had only been "purtendin."
When in the last Act he actually did take off his sham whiskers and beard, I
began to think my anticipations were on the point of being realised. But no,—he
never reappeared as Perhyn Middlewich, but remained Mr. Plantagenet Potter to
the end. As to Mr. Thorne, I had seen him in some such part before—in what I
forget—but I think in some piece of Mr. Albery's, where as a carpenter, or a
bookbinder, or something between the two, he got up a ladder in a library,
and from the top of it informed the company generally that he was guilty of
some frightful crime, which had really been committed by Mr. David James—
familiarly known in the piece as "Old Snowball"—and then slid down the ladder,
had a fit, and the Curtain descended on this touching tableau. "Well, whatever
was the character in that piece, Mr. Thorne's part in The Girds is much the
same as the one just mentioned, only without the ladder, the accusation, and
the tableau.

The character of Plantagenet Potter is a libel on the ordinary City man.
So let us hope he is not a City ordinary, but an importation from some
''Thikthty-per-thent-my-boy" establishment. He is not even a type of the
class to which he is supposed to belong. Then what people he knows ! as for
example " Alderman Jumbo" !—which sounds as if the Corporation of the City
of London had selected as a member of their Order one of those London blacks
who do always perform out of St. James's Hall, and generally on the Downs
and at the doors of public-houses.

The names are not in the Author's happiest vein. Potter recalls Old Potter
in Still Waters, and Judson is to everyone unfortunately suggestive of " dyes."
Long life to The Girls,—but Judson dyes. Absit omen !

The Girls has not that genuine touch of nature in it which undoubtedly

made the success of Our Boys. The title, unfortunately,
invites comparison, to the advantage of our old friend.
Yet Mr. James is so irresistibly droll as this Israelitish
Thikthty-per-thent-my-boy cad, that everyone in search
of several hearty laughs—at intervals—will undoubtedly
get them at the Vaudeville. The best Scenes in the
piece are in the First Act, where the bashful Judson—
(here Judson blushes, and his cheeks are dyed,—it's
inevitable) — proposes to Mr. Farren for one of The
Girls, is accepted, and immediately afterwards Potter,
the Mock - aucthion - thikthty - per - thent-muthic -'all
Thvell, enters to propose for the other.

The contrast is striking, and the entire scene between
the moneyed Muthic-all- Arry and Clench would be
still funnier, and might be even true to nature, were
Mr. James representing the sort of man I have just
named. But to be quite true to nature, Mr. Clench
would have kicked him out of the house. Even as it is,
Mr. Byron has been forced into making Clench say,
aside, "I could strike him," or words to that effect,
and hesitate about accepting such a thorough-going re-
pulsive cad for his son-in-law, so as to tone down, to some
extent, the outrageous character of an amusing scene.

Miss Larkin is as good as ever —always staid, yet
always larkin' ; and Miss Kate Bishop plays the elder
of the girls charmingly, and Miss Cicely Richards is,
of course, the Chambermaid in the usual Third Act
poverty-stricken scene, where all begins miserably, and
ends happily.

What has induced Mr. Irving to produce the Lady
of Lyons f His success as the Courier of Lyons f Or
is it that he is in training for Borneo, and is getting at it
via Claude Melnotte f However, this must stand over.

The Woman of the People was a good start for Easter,
for the Olympic, under the management of Miss Fanny
Josephs, and the success of The Hunchback is not one
whit abated at the Adelphi, where it will continue its
career with four nights of Miss Keelson as Julia, and
two of Miss Bella Pateman in the same character; then
three nights of Mr. Neville, then three nights of Mr.
Yezin, as Master Walter. A mad world, my masters !

Messrs. Gatti should publish a theatrical version of
Who's Who in 1879. Hoi Adelphoi are Messrs. Neville
and Vezin. With which I commend myself to your
graces, and am Your Representative.

SHALL LORD BYRON HAVE A STATUE?

Not if the Vestry of St. George's, Hanover Square,
know it—that is, within their district. They resolved on
this last week, by 33 to 20. It is probably no loss to
London, unless the statue could be guaranteed as far
better than anything of the sort we possess at present, or
than all ^the specimens shown at the Byron Memorial
Exhibition in the Albert Hall. But the ground of the
refusal—causing the refusal of the ground by its pro-
prietors—was that a great poetic genius holding such
opinions as were held by this great poetic genius ought
not to have a memorial in any Christian parish. What
a howl would this very Vestry have raised against Papal
intolerance, had the Cardinal-Vicar in Rome opposed
the erection of a statue of Ltjther within the Square of
St. Peter's ! Lord Byron should have a statue, as a poet,
not as a distinguished member of the Established
Church.

Quoth, the Jolly J.P.'s of Aberystwith,

" Sir W. Lawson asked the Secretary of State for the
Home Department whether his attention had been called to
the proceedings of certain Magistrates at Aberystwith, who are
alleged to have attended a supper which was lately held at the
Lion Hotel in that town, and, when the hour of eleven ap-
proached, are stated to have there and then signed an order
for an extension of hours for the sale of drink on the premises,
iii order to conclude the festivities of the evening."

Who with Law should make free,

If not your J.P.—•
Being Cymric of blood and convivial of habits ?

The statute let's shelve,

And keep open till twelve
The house where Welsh lions wash down their Welsh
rabbits!

Back again prom Baveno !—London to Victoria—
" Welcome, little stranger ! "

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