Punch (90.1886)

March 13, 1886.] PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.

125

"Bishop's Hostel" (so kind of them to have this written up), then
through New Court, which I don't remember is " New Court," hut
am only certain it isn't Neville's, where we are now, in the Cloisters,
and I am explaining the topography.

" But there doesn't seem anyone about! " objects Squtbbs, discon-
tentedly. Sqtjibbs always wants a crowd and colour, for effect. He
had evidently expected rioting and merriment, and young men in
caps and gowns, and old Dons in academicals, and Fmen with silver
pokers, and the whole place astir, instead of such a City of the Dead
as the College I said was Trinity Hall was when we looked in, and as
Neville's Court Trinity is at this moment.

I own I can't understand it. Have I made a mistake ? Isn't it

was not so in our time, Sqttibbs" and I bewail the departure from
ancient tradition), but no ladies have as yet trod these classic boards,
as the A. D. C. still clings to the practice in the time of Shakseeake
whose heroines were beardless youths. The plays on the occasion
of our present visit are, I find, an old-fashioned farce, and the
Courier of Lyons, the latter specially arranged for men only; so
that, except in the farce, the female representatives hadn't a chance.
This again is a matter of regret, as the plot of the drama suffered
by the alterations, and the ladies in the first farce, specially Araminta,
were remarkably good.

Sqtjibbs is delighted with the scenery, which merits all the',praise
he bestows on it. We visit the Green-room, which serves as the common

dressing-room for Stars
and Supers alike; and we
are invited to see the
" Ladies' dressing-rooms,"
where we are welcomed by
Aramintax who is just put-
ting on his smoking-coat
and lighting a cigarette
preparatory to going up-
stairs into the Club-room.

The makes-up are very
artistic, and not overdone.
After the performance I
find myself giving my
opinion on the acting of
Choppard to the gentle-
man himself, who on the
stage had appeared a most
desperate villain of over
fifty, but is now, as he
stands talking to me, a
most amiable and pleasant
youth of about twenty.
There were some very
—-aac^vv* i" ood bits of chara ter

" This is the place where they wait for their Call, 1 "Which serves them for Dressing-room, Green-room, and all." acting' Then the ™ar

Term time? Are all the men down? "Were Missis's party last
Toosday ?" Or have I misread my invitation, which may have
been for next term ?

Here is the Hall. Here are the butteries. Ah! signs of life. A
dinner is just commencing in hall. Not many men at it. Several
hurrying in. Now Sqotbbs is satisfied : he has seen real live youths
in real caps and gowns—and there are a lot of them—flying in like
sparrows at feeding-time.

But our own dinner-time is approaching, so I take Squtbbs through
Trinity Q,uad, and then I point out to him Little Trinity, '' which
didn't exist in my time," I tell him; and, with an air of sadness
tinged with annoyance at their having taken such confounded liberties
with the place directly after I had quitted the scene, and having
actually gone so far as to destroy the very house in which I first had
rooms—though perhaps as they've built a portion of Little Trinity
on this site, I might take it as a sort of complimentary memorial—
I walk him towards Bridge Street, show him the exterior of John's, and
then am myself suddenly startled by Squibbs drawing my attention to
the Bound Church, the existence of which I had entirely forgotten.
" Come along, Sqtjibbs," I say; and teUing him that we '11 see Mag-
dalen and the other CoUeges to-morrow, we pass through Green Street,
where I recognise some more old rooms, and wonder how many have
lived there since, and who is " keeping " there at this minute—and
then we turn round by Rose Crescent, have a look at the Home of
Immortal Bacon (the Cambridge Tobacconist^ who, if true to his
name, ought only to have dealt in "pig-tail"), and across the
market-place to our temporary residence, which, after all my
lionising, is the "Bull."

Dress; and dinner with the Master of Scroope Hall—who is a Clarke
not in Orders, unless theatrical ones, having been the guide, philo-
sopher, and friend of the A. D. C, and the energetic patron of every-
thing dramatic in the University for ever so many years. Then to the
entrance of the Club-House. It is somewhat dark and mysterious.
We pass several stalwart policemen ("in my day, Squtbbs, there
were no policemen"), we proceed under an awning where there is a
mysterious man holding a light ("we kept it quite dark in our time,
Sqtjibbs, on account of the Proctors "), and then up the staircase.
'' Here are the old rooms, Sqtjibbs ; here are all the portraits of cele-
brated A. D. C. actors, groups, and scenes, dating back to the first
performances in the May term of 1855." On the walls I point out
portraits of distinguished bandits, magistrates, comic men in farces,
serious heroes in tragedies, and also lovely heroines, coquettish
maidens, and pert chambermaids, who have since become Judges,
Bishops, Cabinet Ministers, Attorney-Generals, Colonial Governors,
scientific Soldiers, Authors, Actors, Bankers, Merchants—in fact, all
sorts and conditions of men.

Ladies are admitted every and any night among the audience ("It

per-
formance being over at a reasonable hour, we were hospitably
entertained at supper. At Oxford, where theatricals have still the
charm of freshness, the men were enthusiastic; but, at Cambridge,
the A. D. C. performances seem to be taken as part of the ordinary
routine. " You see,"the polite President of the Club explained., " The
University
Greek Play has

rather taken it < W^%><\ \M ' Z> <£!T, i
out of us, and
then there's ij j'l
a Theatre open 1|
in the town. »||
Miss Twenty- M
two, with her r-
Company, is
playing there
this week." .
Oh, indeed;
that explains a
good deal.
"And our bill
is only a re-
vival of an old
piece." Quite
so. Then he
takes us to sup-
per, which is
not by any
means the

worst part of Drinking a Toast. Oxford fashion. Cambridge fashion
the evening's ix ,

entertainment. Sqtjibbs and myselt are both on m this scene : not
too much " on," of course, but" on " quite enough. The proceedings
are of a most orderly and pleasant character. There are no pipes,
few cigars, but plenty of cigarettes. We have no idea of not going
home till morning, but, on the contrary, the sooner we are in bed at a
reasonable hour the better. Nothing can exceed their hospitality or
their politeness, but there is an absence of enthusiasm; it all seems,
whatever they do, a regular matter of course. The Master of Scroope
Hall, who walks home with us, explains that most of these men are in
for honours and the tripos, and the study of the Drama is not their
first consideration. "In my day, and for some time after," I tell
Sqtjibbs, "there used to be an immense excitement about the theatri-
cals. And such a rush for tickets ! But then there was no theatre in
the town. Theatricals were tabooed, our dramatic pleasures were stolen
ones, our suppers were "-but here we are at the Bull. We '11 re-
turn in the merry May. You '11 come back with your Nibbs.