Punch (98.1890)

February 22, 1890.] PUNCH, OK THE LONDON CHARIVARI. _ 87

" The thoughts of youth, they are long, long thoughts;

Exceedingly true, most mellifluous Longfellow !
But later come crosses, oft leading to noughts,

And " Phomme necessaire " often finds he's the wrong
How many debuts have occurred, on the Stage [fellow.

With various set scenes, and with properties varied ?
Sensationalism, the vice of the age,

To extremes has been carried.
A good situation all actors desire,

All playrights approve, and all managers glory in.
He has struck out his own with decision and fire.

What part will he play a more serious story in ?
Who knows ? For the moment the cue is applause.
" FtDe.Roscius!" ItmaymeanmerecZa?ue, empty chatter.
And whether the youngster will further the Cause

Is a different matter.
A coup de theatre is not everything,

As well he's aware, that tragedian troubled
Who is gliding so gloomily off at the wing.

Hope's cup at his lips lately hrimmingly bubbled,
Now foiled by a novice, eclipsed by a boy I"

Is the thought in his mind. The reflection is bitter—
Theatrical taste often craves a fresh toy,
And is captured by glitter.
What thinks Madame France of the attitude struck

By this oonfident slip of good stock histrionic ?
Though dames swear their dear Petit Due is a duck,

The smile of old stsgers is somewhat ironic.
But " Bravas!" resound. A lad's " resolute will,'
The "wisdom of twenty years," stir admiration,
The political Cafe Chantant pluck will thrill
In a Btage-loving nation.

Royal Berkshire.—Go to Dowdeswell's, in Bond
Street, and they will show you how County-history is
written in the present day. It is altogether different to
the dull, old, dry volumes, " the musty histories," which
our grandfathers exhibited on their shelves, but never
took down to read; and these County-historians are of a
much more entertaining character. Those who know
Royal Berkshire well—as most of ns do—will be glad to
have their memory refreshed by the fresh, bright, breezy
pictures by Yeend King, John M. Bromley, and J.
M. Mackintosh. KeeleyHalswellb's superb painting
of "Royal Windsor" occupies the place of honour in
the room. It is one of the best pictures—and at the same
time one of the most unconventional—ever produced of
this oft-painted subject.

A WOMAN'S REASON.

Cousin Jack. " Then why did you Marry him, Effie ?"

Effie. "Oh, well—I wanted to see the Paris Exhibition, you know I

My dear Lennox Browne, and my good Dr. Smith,
There is probably truth, there is certainly pith,

In your Kensington talk about Rational Dress.
Dr. Garson and Miss Leffler-Arnim also,
Talk sound common sense, but they '11 find it no go;

The Crusade they have started canH meet with succei
No, sage Yiscountess Harberton, sweet Mrs. Stopes,
You had better not nourish ridiculous hopes
About " rationalising" our fi™v<. -r.A ™-

SHOOTING ARROWS AT A SONG.
Dear Mr. Punch,—I observe, that a gentleman has written, in a book called
In Tennyson Land, an account of the exact localities of " the Moated Orange."
THE ROOT OF THE MATTFT? I and other well-advertised places—statements, which however, have been promptly

(The Tyrrical Wn-mr,*,'* x?™7 t * challenged by the Poet's son in the Athenceum. As there seems to be some doubt

liafonal n v A.rgwments °fthe upon this subject, perhaps, you will allow me to give a few notes anent the
■■ nat jjress Society.) interesting objects which Lord Tennyson has so obligingly immortalised in song.

The Owl.—The name of a bright little newspaper which, amongst other items
of news and flashes of humour, gave a list of proposed marriages—hence, no
doubt, the refrain of "To wit and to woo." It owed its temporary success
both to its fun and its matrimonial intelligence.

The Dying Swan.—Probably, suggested by the condition of one of these
interesting creatures on the Thames, whose plumage had ohanged from white
to blue, owing to the River being made the temporary repository for the
outcome of some chemical works.

TW«?=5 r,auonaHsing" our frocln. o^rl ™. „v,„„„ Oriana.—This name, there is every reason to believe, was suggested by a
°ne 1Ilvil">iMe thing aX>,°?r %°et- i character in the opening of a pantomime at one of the minor theatres, very
lhat object of every true woS'/0What s-rasnlon^ popular some twenty or thirty years ago.

yam to attack, and absurd to »^£aSSMm' The Miller's Daughter.—Avery touching reference to the domestic life of a

hero of the Prize Ring.

Lady Clara Vere de Vere.—Tradition has it that this aristocratic sounding
title was originally intended for a new sort of velveteen, that would have been
sold at a profit at three-and-sixpence a yard, double width.

The May Queen.—Believed to have been changed at the last moment from
" The Jack-in-the-Green," a subject that had already been used by a poet of
smaller fame than Alfred Tennyson.

The Lotos Haters.—No doubt adapted from the English translation to a
German picture of some children playing at a once well-known game called
" The Loto Seaters."

The Northern Cobbler.—Suggested by a favouiite coal, supplied to this day

from Newcastle.

The Moated Grange.—-The site of the original still exists at Haverstock Hill,
and was fifty years ago more remote than it is now. Hence the title of one of
the most pleasing little poems of comparatively modern times.

Trusting that these hints may be of service to those who take an interest in
Lord Tennyson's very entertaining works, I remain, my dear Mr. Punch, yours
sincerely, A Scotch Cousin (Thrice Removed against His Will) of

Brain Cobwebby, Hatchley Colwell, Baron De Book-Worms.

You may say what you please about feminine " togs,"
That they 're ugly, unhealthy, are burdens or clogs,

Too high, or too low, or too loose, or too tight,
There is just one reply (but 'tis more than enough)
To such " rational," but most irrelevant stuff:—

If not in the Fashion, a Woman's a Fright! ! !

From the Zoo.—The Tapir, the Daily Telegraph stated
in one of the paragraphs of its useful and amusing diary
of " London Day by Day,"—" The Tapir," at the Zoolo-
gical Gardens, is a specimen of a species now " verging
on the brink of extinction. He was an old Tory; the
world changes, but change he would not." He should be
known as the v Red Tape-ir."

The Seas-on.—Mr. J. L. Toole, until he reaches
Australia.