Punch, Or The London Charivari | Page 6

and rises._) White Horses would not
induce me! (_With her hand on door-handle._) Now you _know_!
[_She goes out._
Rosmer (_sits up, stares thunderstruck at the stove, and says to
himself_). Well--I--_am_-- [_Quick Curtain._
[The remaining two Acts of this subtle psychological study
unavoidably held over.]

* * * * *
"KEEP YOUR HARE ON!"
[Illustration: Hare's Theatre.]
In not following the advice given in the headline to this article, clever
Mr. PINERO has made a mistake. Lady Bountiful with only a very little
HARE is a disappointment. The majority of those who go to "Hare's
Theatre" (they don't speak of it as "The Garrick") go to see the Lessee
and Manager in a new part: and they go to see a lot of him: they don't
ask merely for a small piece of HARE, if you please, though they might
be satisfied with HARE in a small piece. Everyone goes expecting to
see him in a good part in a good Comedy, his good part being equal to
the better part of the whole entertainment; and if they don't so see him,
they are disappointed. Why was Mr. GRUNDY's happy translation of
Les Oiseaux peculiarly successful? because it was a light, fresh, and
pretty piece, wherein the occasional phrase in a minor key was so
artistically introduced as to be a relish to our enjoyment of the humour
of the characters and of the situations; but all this would have gone for
comparatively little had it not been for the excellence of Mr. HARE's
rendering of the first-rate part of _Goldfinch_, which did not consist of
occasional flashes, only to collapse and disappear in the penultimate
Act, but continued right through to the end, dominating everything and
everybody. This is not so with Lady Bountiful. The appearance of
_Roderick Heron_, who is no creation of the Author's, as he admits, but
merely _Mr. Skimpole_ under another name, raises hopes at the
commencement, which are blighted long before the finish. The part
gutters out, as does Mr. CHARLES GROVE's _John Veale_, another
"promise of spring." Young Mr. GILBERT HARE makes a most
creditable first appearance as _Sir Lucian Brent, Bart_. He is easy and
natural.
For the greater part of the educated audience, it might have been more
useful if _Sir Richard Philliter, Q.C._, had gone about with an old Eton
Latin Grammar in his pocket, instead of a _Horace_; and if Miss KATE
RORKE had divided with him the quotation, "_Nemo mortalium
omnibus horis sapit._" He, being rejected, might have commenced,

"_Nemo mortalium_," and she might have continued, "_omnibus
horis_;" then, both together, "sapit." Or when she had snubbed him, he
might have made some telling remark about "_Verbum personale_,"
and so forth. The introduction of a quotation from Horace is likely
rather to be resented than appreciated by the victims of a superior
education. What a bad quarter of an hour or so Paterfamilias will have
when Materfamilias asks him for the translation of these lines from
_Horace_! Poor Pater will pretend not to have "quite caught them;" or
"not been attending;" but to himself he will own how entirely he has
forgotten his Latin, and perhaps he will make a good resolution to
himself to "look up his Horace again." Then the learned young lady
will be asked by her Mamma, or by her sharp young bothering sister,
"what that Latin means," and though she might be able to construe it
when she sees it, to translate it offhand at one hearing is a difficulty,
and she will evade the question by saying, "Please, don't talk! I want to
listen to the piece."
The youth in the Stalls, fresh from college or school, will be about as
much equal to the translation offhand as is young Sir Lucian Brent
when asked by Mr. CATHCART to give the meaning of the Latin on
the ancient brasses in the old church, and they won't thank you for
bringing school studies into playtime. On the whole, nothing is gained
by this Dr. Panglossian introduction of Latin quotation; it doesn't help
the action, nor emphasise a character, nor does it strengthen a situation,
to bring in even the most appropriate lines which are not "in a language
understanded of the people." _Sir Richard Philliter, Q.C._, might be
known in private life to his friends as Sir HORACE DAVUS (_Non
Oedipus_). Mr. CATHCART's _Pedgrift_, parish clerk and sexton, is
an excellent little character-sketch, as is also that of _Mrs. Hornutt_,
the pew-opener.
As for Mr. FORBES ROBERTSON and Miss KATE RORKE, they
seemed to me to be what the author had made them--i.e., stagey. Miss
DOLORES DRUMMOND, as _Mrs. Veale_, is very good, and Miss
MARIE LINDEN, except in one stagey bit in the Third Act, plays with
great care and judgment. The interior