Punch (77.1879)

ONE OF THE FAMILY.

Wife. " Tim, ye'll not let thim Porters ketch hould o' the Pig, and stick it in the Van? The poor Cr'atdr'll be

kilt intirelt ! "

Tim. " 'Deed I will not ! The whole fower iv its'll go thegither !"

Shipping Agent will inform you, "You are not permitted to Lloyder
about the room."

LONDON CRYSTAL PALACE.—(See The Beadle.)

LONG ACRE.-Spelt originally "Long Acher," and inhabited
only by Dentists, to whom any one troubled with a tooth that had
long ached went, and had his long acher extracted.

LORD CHAMBERLAIN'S OFFICE.—Well worth a visit on
Licensing Day, when all the Theatrioal Managers go down in proces-
sion with the corps de ballet in full costume. The ceremony is a
very pretty one, enlivened by dances, songs, and a Transformation
Scene brought about by a touch of the Lord Chamberlain's wand.
As for the Lord Chamberlain himself, he always speaks in rhyme,
wears knee-breeches, doublet, and large rosettes on his shoes, and
invariably enters a room to a martial strain, being accompanied ex
officio by a band, and sings a short song, finishing with a comic
dance by way of an effective exit. At Christmas time he wears a
large head, and is paid extra. The Lord Chamberlain has always
been a comic character, and it is only necessary to refer to burlesques
and extravaganzas for a sketch of the manners and customs of this
distinguished official.

A GOOD EXAMPLE.

If prophets have seldom honour in their own country, still sel-
domer have artists. "When they have, it usually comes when they
are dead, and unable to reap the material benefit of it. It is too
often with them a case of honour versus profit. But one class of
Artists—Actors—usually receive all their honours, and profits, too,
in their lifetimes. It is rarely that they obtain posthumous honours,
and profits to boot. It is still more rare when both come from those
for whom the Actor-Artist has spent himself in efforts less for the
advancement of himself than of his Art.

Last week witnessed a memorable example of such rare posthu-
mous recognition of an Actor's services to the community among
whom and for whom his best labours had been bestowed, in the

memorial performances at the Theatre Royal, Manchester, in honour
of Charles Calvert, prematurely cut off, and for the benefit of his
widow and family. He was less famous as an Actor—though as] an
Actor he had many and rare merits—than as a Manager. In the
latter character he did more for the elevation and development of
the higher drama, historical and imaginative, than any provincial
Manager on record, and than any metropolitan Managers, except
Macreadt, Charles Kean, and Phelts. The Prince's Theatre,
under his direction, was an arena for the tasteful and thoughtful
combination of all the Arts—scenic, musical, pictorial—which unite
with the work of the dramatist to make the Stage the meeting-place
of all the Arts, visible, audible, and intellectual. In this way,
Charles Calvert in the course of his ten years' management of the
Prince's Theatre did more for the imaginative and artistic education
of Manchester, and its densely-peopled neighbourhood, than any
other agency did or could have done.

Punch may rush in where a Bishop has not feared-/to tread, in
paying this honour to his memory. And last week's memorial per-
formance of As You Like It, in which Miss Helen Faucit was
proud to associate herself with a body of amateur Actors, including
metropolitan and provincial notables in Art and Literature, is not
less worthy of record, as a tribute of Artists to an Artist, than for
the active part borne in organising and conducting it by a Com-
mittee including the leading citizens of the manufacturing capital.
Civic worthies have rarely been so ready to recognise a worthy con-
ception and fulfilment of the educational and intellectual functions
of a well-directed Stage. Still more rarely Bishops. _ Manchester s
civic and ecclesiastical dignitaries are, in Punch's opinion, alike to
be congratulated. ,

Punch notes this performance for all these reasons, and that ne
may say, in conclusion, both to Bishops, Managers, and municipal
worthies, " Go ye and do likewise."

Pons Asinorttm. — London Bridge, the worse for its proposed
disfigurements.