[Illustration: "Very sorry, my dear Sir Ivanhoe, but you're rather
too heavy for this Carte. We shall get along better with a lighter
weight."]
It seems impossible to support a Royal English Opera House with its
special commodity of English Opera, that is, Opera composed by an
Englishman to an Englishman's _libretto_, and played by English
operatic singers. _Ivanhoe_, a genuine English Opera, by a genuine
English Composer (with an Irish name), produced with great _éclat_,
has, after a fair run and lots of favour, been _Doyl-écarté_, in
order to make room for the _Basoche_, an essentially French Opera,
by French Composer and Librettists, done, of course, into English,
so as to be "understanded of the people." The _Basoche_ has "caught
on," and our friends in front, including Composer, Librettist, and
Middlemen--DRURIOLANUS, who bought it, and DOYLY CARTY, who bought it
of Sir DRURI--are all equally pleased and satisfied. Considered as
a matter of business, what signifies the nationality as long as the
spec pays?--_tout est là._ Only why retain the differentiating title
of "English" for the establishment? Why not call it "The Cosmopolitan
Opera House"? Of course this applies, nowadays, to Covent Garden
Theatre, which is no longer the Italian Opera House, but simply the
Covent Garden Opera during the Operatic Season, when French, English,
Italian, and German Operas are played by a Babel of singers. By the
way, while on the subject of nomenclature, why not "The Royal Babel
Opera House"?
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[Illustration: A LUCID INTERVAL.
(_THINGS ONE WOULD RATHER HAVE EXPRESSED DIFFERENTLY._)
_Doctor._ "HOW IS THE PATIENT THIS MORNING?"
_Nurse._ "WELL--HE HAS BEEN WANDERING A GOOD DEAL IN HIS MIND. EARLY
THIS MORNING I HEARD HIM SAY, 'WHAT AN OLD WOMAN THAT DOCTOR IS!'--AND
I THINK THAT WAS ABOUT THE LAST REALLY _RATIONAL_ REMARK HE MADE."]
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