I have seen _The Barrister_ at the Comedy, and want to see him again,
because he is a most amusing gentleman and figures in a case full of
good things. There are two authors--as there should be--a Leader and his
Junior. Mr. GEORGE MANVILLE FENN (a very excellent novelist) is the
"silk," and he has for his junior Mr. DARNLEY. This latter gentleman be
it understood, represents only the best kind of "stuff," for the play is
good throughout. It is in three Acts, and there is not a dull moment
from commencement to finish. I do not feel equal to describing the plot,
which is bustling and clever, nor to jotting down the jests which are
funny and novel, nor to criticising the acting, which is all that it
should be. My time was fully employed on the first night, in laughing,
an occupation shared by the entire audience. The play was never in
danger. There was not a weak spot. No, not even the space covered by Mr.
DARNLEY'S moustache. It may be said that an earnest Barrister should be
clean shaven, but the remark would only emanate from those who are
bachelors. The married advocate has not only to consider his Judge and
Jury, but also his wife, and nine times out of ten she combines in her
own person the judicial functions with the power of the executive. Where
all are good it seems invidious to particularise, but had I to call
witnesses for the defence, I think I should choose Miss SUSIE VAUGHAN,
and Messrs. MERVIN, CAFFREY AND PRINCE MILLER. Another great merit of
_The Barrister_ is that he is closely associated with the word "brief."
He makes his appearance every evening at nine and has retired for the
night before eleven. I fancy, that unlike many other "gentlemen of the
long robe," he will have plenty of work to do during the Long Vacation
and after.
* * * * *
Illustration: Winning a Verdict.
* * * * *
Illustration: A Witness for the Defence.
* * * * *
Mr. BEERBOHM TREE, who has become lessee of the Haymarket, has commenced
his management by producing a one-act romantic play, called _The Ballad
Monger_, a version (capitally adapted by the two WALTERS--POLLOCK and
BESANT) of M. THEODORE DE BANVILLE'S _GRINGOIRE_. I remember the same
piece was "done into English" some twenty years ago at a Gaiety
_matinée_, when the translator, Mr. ALFRED THOMPSON, appeared himself as
the principal character, with the probably unlooked-for result of
shelving the drama, so far as London was concerned, from that distant
date until last Thursday evening. However, the _motif_ of the play is
pretty well known. _Gringoire_, a revolutionary "Poet of the People,"
with the connivance of _Louis the Eleventh_ of France, is induced to
recite an anti-Royalist song in His Majesty's presence, and is then
promised his forfeited life by the same amiable sovereign if he can woo,
and win, a maiden who has never set eyes on him before, within a quarter
of an hour. In the scene at the Haymarket a table is discovered spread
with a meal (I could not quite make out from the text whether it was
intended to represent breakfast, dinner, supper, or tea), including some
wine, a few grapes, and a freshly-cooked goose redolent of savoury
perfumes. Mr. BEERBOHM TREE is the poet, and were his method of
performance only equal to his power of imagination, he would be very
good indeed. Unhappily his excellent ideas are not carried fully into
action, and consequently, after seeing him for forty minutes, or
thereabouts, sniffing at a property goose, staggering about the stage
with a wine-cup, and declaiming poetry of unequal merit to Miss MARION
TERRY, one feels that the piece could only have "a happy ending" were
_Gringoire_ to be carried away for immediate execution. It is a little
unfortunate, too, that the maiden to be wooed and won should be the
charming actress I have just mentioned. Miss MARION TERRY, in a "piece
of absurdity" called _Engaged_, made a great hit some years ago by
appearing as a young lady with a chronic appetite for food, that she was
for ever seeking to satisfy. Since then I have always looked upon her as
one craving for her meals. Consequently when I found her within easy
reach of a goose and in an atmosphere of herbs of a savoury character,
it seemed unnatural to me that she should deliberately turn her back
upon all these good things to listen to Mr. TREE'S poetically (but
lengthily) expressed views upon liberty. I could but wonder why her
choice had not fallen upon the goose on the table. Mr. BROOKFIELD as
_Louis the Eleventh_, incidentally suggests that that wily monarch was
guilty of a crime with which he has not hitherto been credited--a
proneness to give imitations of Mr. IRVING in the character of
_Mephistopheles_. For the rest, the piece itself is most interesting, is
capitally staged, and in the subordinate characters, fairly acted. In
the _Red Lamp_, which followed the _Ballad Monger_, Mrs. TREE appeared
as _Princess Claudia_, the part originally played, and excellently
played, by Lady MONCKTON. Although probably accustomed to _rôles_ of a
lighter kind, she was fairly equal to the occasion. As for her husband,
as _Demetrius_, he was simply admirable and inimitable.
* * * * *
Illustration: Beerbohm Tree-son.
* * * * *
Illustration: A Shooting Party in September.
* * * * *
At the Olympic Mr. WILLARD has made his mark as the _Pointsman_. Since
this clever actor first attracted attention by his wonderfully striking
assumption of a "gentleman-burglar," in one of the earlier successes of
Mr. WILSON BARRETT at the Princess's, he has never had so good a chance
of showing what he can do in the polished-scoundrelly line. He is the
most accomplished murderer on the modern stage, and really, if one were
forced to die a violent death, Mr. WILLARD seems to be the individual
one would naturally select to perform the necessary, but unpleasant,
operation. It does not in the least matter to an Olympic audience how
he comes to be the proprietor of a low Thames-side tavern when he seems
better qualified to lead a _cotillon_ in quite a fashionable West-End
Square. All that is required of him by the Pit and Gallery, ay, and the
Private Boxes and Stalls--is to do his little assassinations and kindred
villanies in an educated and refined manner that can be appreciated by
those who have benefited either from the good offices of the School
Board or the careful tuition of the leading Universities. Mr. WILLARD is
so good that no one pays particular attention to the efforts to please
of his fellow-actors and actresses. The scenery of the _Pointsman_ is
sufficiently ingenious to satisfy the cravings for sensation of a
typical British audience. The Railway collision worked as a sort of
transformation scene,--the interior of a signal-box changes into the
site of a fatal accident--creates much enthusiasm, but the winsome if
vindictive WILLARD still remains the centre of attraction. In the last
Act a good deal of gunpowder is burned advantageously to the
simplification of the issue. It is scarcely necessary to say that, when
the Curtain falls, what remains of Virtue is triumphant, and all that is
left of Vice is on the road to justly merited punishment. _The
Pointsman_ is likely to remain on the line of the Olympic bills for many
a week to come. I should not be surprised to find him still there at
Christmas.
Exhausted with the labour of looking in at all the principal London
Theatres,