Punch: Punch (103.1892)

November 5, 1892.] PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI. 209

REFRESHERS.

"The Loitn Chief Justice
said, ' The extent to which
Refreshers are carried in these
days makes my historical
mouth water. In my younger
days at the Bar '-•"

(Cup. for Song.)

: In my younger days at the
Bar, Tra la la la! " &c.

THE NEW BROOM, AND THE
BLACK PEERAGE.
(Rhyme by a Rad.)

[Lord Salisbury, in his article in the
National Review for November, makes fun
of Mr. Frederic Harrison's assertion that
the Government could, at a pinch, secure a
majority in the Upper Chamber by elevating
five hundred Sweeps (which Lord S. calls the
"Black Peerage") to the House of Lords,
with the assent of the Crown.]

Five Hundred p Good gracious ! there's

no need of that.
"Black Peerage," indeed I Though as

black as my hat,
They could hardly be blacker than
Salisbury's lot; [rot.
But to talk of such sooty recruits is sheer
That bad Upper House to reform—or

degrade— [Dark Brigade.

We don't want the charge of this queer
Five hundred ? Fred Harrison, you

are a green one !
J'd settle the business with one sweep—

a clean one !

THE COURT JESTERS.

Thanks to Messrs. Sims and Raleigh and the Court Company for
a good hearty laugh, and many of them at their new three-act
farcical comedy, The Guardsman. It Raleigh is good, and Sims

likely to be in for a long run.
Therefore, congratulations to Mr.
CnuDLEiGir, who is in the proud
position of " Sole Lessee and
Manager," of the Court. Odd, as
a correspondent remarked in a
letter to Mr. Punch last week,
is the coincidental resemblance of
the master-motive of the plot to
that of Incognita at the Lyric;
viz., the young man refusing to
marry the girl with whom he is
really in love, because he is in love
with the very same young lady
without knowing her name or
anything about her. But hath not
the old Spanish Comedy - writer.
Gonzales, used it three times ?
hath not his fellow-countryman,
Vega Morvega, used it in his now
obsolete play of The Distressed
Mother? and hath not Yodendol,
the Norwegian dramatist, abso-
lutely nauseated us with it, not to
mention its constant use by that
imitation of Goldoni, Count
Erfito D'Aluminio ? And to
come nearer home, did not the

. T\ Vt i pv i , , , German — but why pursue the
An Inhabitant of Aoah s Ark. 44 <-n J * .

motive until you run it to

earth, and even then it won't be killed, but will be nourishing thou-
sands of years hence, when the New Zealand playwright among the
ruins of London shall take

up his note-book and com- ..
mence a scenario on the vv yvA^Ac^.L

old, but to him, quite
original idea.

Then, in the last Act of
The Guardsman, if we
have a French room with
half-a-dozen doors, lead-
ing to half-a-dozen differ-
ent places, with which
arrangement not a few of
us are familiar in pieces
brought over fresh from
the Palais Royal, and occur-
ring in farces of which2?e&<?, J^
Anglice Betsey, at the Arthur Cecil's Collard Head a la G. 0. M.
Gymnase and Criterion is a

type, shall we complain ? Shall we not rather laugh heartily over the
good old game of Hide-and-Seek, which on the stage is invariably
the cause of much amusement to one person for whom, at all events,

I can answer ? What does it matter if to some it recalls a few
farcical comedies—all excellent material ? Not a bit! I gather from
the genuine laughter and applause of the crowded house at the Court,
that this amuses—and will continue to amuse some hundreds nightly,
as long as it is all done so well, and at such high pressure, as it is
now in The Guardsman. The First Act is good ; the Second is the
best; but the Third is like the last figure in
an after-supper early-in-the-morning Lan-
cers, ending in a whirligig galop, when
everything is fast and furious, and just the
tune and its measure taken prestissimo and
fortissimo keep the couples going till every-
body is breathless and exhausted.

Weedon Grossmith is excellent. In
brief, he plays _ the part of a thorough
donkey, who wishes to appear "horsey."
Arthur Cecil is admirable as the Ex-
Judge of the Divorce Court — suggesting
the idea of a gay old gentleman, who is still
a bit of a dog—but a dog who has had his
day. If this is not his
character, how is it he
is on such friendly
terms with the Modiste,
carefully played, and
with great spirit too, by
Miss Agnes Thomas?
Mr. Elliot is all go
and bustle ; if he were
not so, pop would go
the piece. The make-
up of Mr. Little for
the old Captain is un-
commonly good; it is
a small part, but, with
a Little in it it is ^ss Eualine Temss with her .Special Tram—
big. Mr. Namby, as to be continued in our next,

the Irishman, Miles, first-rate; quite Miles gloriosus. But I can't
go on with praise, they 're all so good, and Ellaline Terriss charm-
ing. Miss Caroline Hill, fresher than the proverbial paint, makes
a rattling part of Lady Jones, and, as the motto of this Company is
that of Racing Eights, " Swing, swing together! "—which might, in
another sense, have been the refrain sung by a brazen band of
Highwaymen in the good old times—it is likely that they'll keep the
Court-Boat going the pace, with the tide of popular favour, for
many months to come.

As a Postscript, I may add a letter on the subject addressed to
Mr. Punch.

Dear Mr. Punch, Oct. 26th.

In the admirable letter of " An Old Soldier" in your paper
this week, there are a few unimportant errors—due, no doubt, to
your Correspondent's age, and the shortness of memory consequent
upon it—that mar, in a measure, the trenchant force of his criticism.
I feel sure he will pardon my reminding him that the Coldstream
Guards do not wear varnished or patent-leather boots with a tunic,
except in " Levee dress;" that Mr. Charles Warner did
not play a private soldier in "the same distinguished regi-
ment," but in the Grenadiers; that a Captain could never,
by any possibility be "on guard" at the Tower; that the
officer on duty at the Tower is called the " Picquet," and not
the " Orderly " officer, and is never a Captain ; that no Guardsman
has ever, in the memory of man, worn a " scarf" in uniform; and
that no soldier, worthy of the name, considers the mess of his own
Battalion " an odd sort of place to dine at," even " in the height of
the Season."

I may add that my mother tells me she has often had her Court-
dress altered on the very morning of the " Drawing-Room." With
these few trifling exceptions, "An Old Soldier's" letter is most
accurate and just. I am, Dear Mr. Punch,

Your enthusiastic Admirer, A Present Guardsman.

"Here we are Again!"—Last Friday, a Correspondent of the
P. M. G., onboard the Angola, interviewed "the Marine-mystery,
the Sea-serpent," off the West Coast of Africa. It showed "two
tremendous green eyes." The narrator counts upon there being a
considerable amount of green in the eyes of those who don't happen
to be Sea-serpents—unless after using very strong glasses (hot) and
plenty of 'em. _

"We are Nothing if "not Correct."—In last week's number
the title of Picture, p. 198, should have been " Studies in Contra-
puntal (not 4 Continental') Perspective ; " and at p. 201, in Effie's
reply to the Governess, "an" was a misprint for "no." This
information will relieve a vast number of perplexed inquirers.