Punch (86.1884)

218

PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.

[Mat 10, 1884.

HAPPY THOUGHT.

He. “In America, you know, we have no Standing Army.”
She. “What? are they all Mounted?” * I

English so plainly you would not be surprised to hear him suddenly
•defy Mr. Stanford and hurst into “ Ah bravo, Figaro, bravo
bravissimo ' ” The Pilgrims' comedy-dialogue never drops into farce
or burlesque ; there are no jenx de mots in it; and so both Author
and Composer may be congratulated on being consistent contra-
puntists.

Mr. B. Davies, as Hubert Lovel, the apprentice in love with
Cicely (Miss Perry—“with whom,” says Mr. Wag staff, “ he pairs
off oh ! yes, pre-Cicely so!) might belong to any operatic company,
and is of no distinct nationality.

For my part, or rather for his part, I liked Mr. Ludwig, as he made
the most of any chance which the Composer had left untouched, or
had (for a. wonder) brought out into prominence. The Author must
have studied very hard to have so completely imbued his work with
the mediceval phraseology. For instance, when Hal o' the Chepe (a
•sort of “ ’Arry on the cheap ” of those times) has put a chalk-mark
on a door, instead of telling the knight, “That door I chalked,”
which would be. our modern prosaic fashion, he says, “ The door
chalked I ”—which is, you must own, my dear Mr. Gye, infinitely
superior, and so poetic, too ! How far preferable is “ A cab took I ”
to “ I took a cab ” ! That’s my style in future. “ Scurvy knaves ”
is good too. I don’t quite know to what sort of persons to apply it,
and should be sorry to be incorrect in a first attempt. But I ’ll risk
it with a street-boy who insists on opening my cab-door for me. But

I will not try it on a cabman who won’t take his proper fare, and is
inclined to be abusive and physically demonstrative. Marry! that
will I not!

Then, too, the Dramatist has thoroughly mastered the manners and
customs of those times; as, for instance, when the old Innkeeper enters
at night, and seeing young Hubert in a sort of domino, with the hood
up, playing a diminutive banjo (then known as “a lute”), and, in
fact, evidently serenading his daughter Cicely, he accepts the mildest

possible explanation, and says to himself, “’Tis a pious Monk.”
Now, if being out late at night and playing on a lute were in these
times the sign of a “ pious Monk,” why, the subsequent Reformation
might have well taken place a little earlier than it actually did. Let
me know when you are bringing out the English Opera by Messrs.
a Beckett and Stanford in German at the Italian Opera-House,
and I ’ll be there. I know you will do your best to get Carl Rosa
to stay and continue the series, but he can’t. He ’ll stop longer next
time. Meanwhile, when Carl Rosa’s away, Savonarola will play.
Success to you and yours, Mr. Gye, is the sentiment of your sincere
'well-wisher, Nibbs.

Rlicliac! Costa.

Born, Naples, February 4, 1810.

Died, Brighton, April 29, 1884.

Drape it in mourning, the Conductor’s seat,

Where over Music-land he ruled so long.

Sound woke to triumph at his magic beat,

And softest prelude sweetened into song !

Enthroned he sat, in the grand days of old,

Beloved and trusted by the men he led.

What memories that life-time could unfold!

Art’s children, who no more Life’s stage shall tread!
Great Costa’s dead;

Throw no more garlands on the empty stage,

Hang them with love around his vacant chair ;

Of mighty Opera he closed the page,

Then went to lead sweet voices in the air!

Changed is the scene ! Musicians of the past
Will rise to greet his coming ; and the sigh

Of half-forgotten melody will cast
Shadows of love! Friends left can only cry
Costa ! good-bye!

THEORY AND PRACTICE.

Lord Dalhousie has recently spent a couple of nights and days
on board a trawler in the North Sea, in order to qualify .himself
by practical knowledge for sitting on a Commission to examine into
the grievances of Fishermen.

This excellent example suggests various ways in which otherj
members of the Ministry might usefully employ any leisure they!
possess. For example :— |

1. Mr. Gladstone, after a fortnight in Dartmoor Convict Esta-;
blishment would be able to inform the world whether he felt any
“ disability to return ” to Downing Street when “ hemmed in ” (but
not “surrounded”) by dozens of stern Warders, and walls twenty
feet high.

2. Mr. Dodson would perhaps be the better for a few happy days
spent at Deptford in company with an infuriated British Farmer and
an imported bullock suffering from foot-and-mouth disease.

3. Mr. Trevelyan, as an amateur Detective, “made up,” let us
say, as Mr. BiggaR, might learn something of the new “Impregnable
Invincibles” by a little money judiciously spent upon the “Head
Centres ” in New York. This might be called a Head Centralising
policy.

4. Mr. Chamberlain obviously ought to take a voyage round
the world in the hold of a> well-found merchantman, with screw-
propeller. Grand ceremonies on crossing the (load) Line. (Board of)
Trade-winds in the Tropics.

5. The Irish Attorney-General should pay a clandestine visit to j
Mr. Parnell’s Tenants, and give them a little (gratuitous) legal
advice, and some copies of Hoiv to Fight a ^Revolutionary Landlord
in the Land Courts.

6. And, finally, of course, Sir William Harcourt ought, under
proper police protection, to preside at every meeting of the unre-
formed Common Council, the Clerkenwell Yestry, and the Holborn
Board of Guardians, between now and next November.

Orangeism in London.—The stupidity of scattering orange-peel
on the pavement about the streets. Wanted. Beadles or Policemen
provided with canes, for the purpose of putting a stop to that dan-
gerous practice on the part of Orange Boys. But the Authorities are
too much accustomed to “ let things slide,” and so they’ll probably
allow any opportunity for dealing with this Orangeism to slip.

Motto for the Interviewer of a certain Influential Even-
ing Paper.—Iloni soit qui Pall Mall y pense.