O DOCTOR KOCH, if you can slay
Those horrid germs that kill us,
You'll be _the_ hero of the day,
Great foe of the Bacillus!
What champion may we match with you
In all the world of fable?
St. George, who the Great Dragon slew,
The Knights of ARTHUR's Table,
E'en gallant giant-slaying JACK,
The British nursery's darling;
Or JENNER, against whom the pack
Of faddists now are snarling,
Must second fiddle play to him
Who stayed the plague of phthisis,
And plumbed a mystery more dim
And deep than that of Isis.
For what are Dragons, Laidly Worms,
And such-like mythic scourges,
Compared with microscopic germs
'Gainst which the war he urges?
Hygeia, goddess, saint, or nymph,
We trust there's no big blunder,
And hope your votary's magic lymph
May prove no nine days' wonder.
We dare not trust each pseudo-seer
Who'd powder, purge, or pill us;
But pyramids to him we'll rear
Who baffles the Bacillus.
* * * * *
STRANGE TRANSFORMATION.--From the _Times_ Correspondent, U.S., we
learned, last week, that somebody who had been "a Bull," was now "a
Bear." What next will he be?--A donkey? Or did he begin with this, and
will he end by being a goose?
* * * * *
PROSPECT FOR CHRISTMAS.--"TUCK," i.e., RAPHAEL of that ilk. The
"Correct (Christmas) Card."
* * * * *
"A PAIR OF SPECTACLES."
[Illustration]
The first spectacle classic and Shakspearian: t'other burlesquian,
and PETTIT-cum-SIMS. The one at the Princess's, the other at the
Gaiety. _Place au_ "Divine WILLIAMS"! _Antony and Cleopatra_ is
magnificently put on the stage. The costumes are probably O.K.--"all
correct"--seeing that Mr. LEWIS WINGFIELD pledges his honourable
name for the fact. We might have done with a few less, perhaps, but,
as in the celebrated case of the war-song of the Jingoes, if we've
got the men, and the money too, then there was every reason why the
redoubtable LEWIS (whose name, as brotherly Masons will call to mind,
means "Strength") should have put a whole army of Romans on the stage,
if it so pleased him.
[Illustration: The Last Scene of Antony and Cleopatra.]
For its _mise-en-scène_ alone the revival should attract all
London. But there is more than this--there is the clever and careful
impersonation of _Enobarbus_ by His Gracious Heaviness, Mr. ARTHUR
STIRLING; then there is a lighter-comedy touch in the courteous and
gentlemanly rendering of _Octavius Cæsar_ by Mr. F. KEMBLE COOPER--one
of the best things in the piece, but from the inheritor of two such
good old theatrical names, much is expected. And then there is
the _Mark Antony_ of Mr. CHARLES COGHLAN, a rantin', roarin' boy,
this _Antony_, whom no one, I believe, could ever have made really
effective; and finally. Her Graceful Majesty, Mrs. LANGTRY, Queen of
Egyptian Witchery. Now honestly I do not consider _Cleopatra_ a good
part, nor is the play a good play for the matter of that. I believe
it never has been a success, but if, apart from the really great
attraction of gorgeous spectacular effects, there is any one scene
above another which might well draw all London, it is the death of
_Cleopatra_, which to my mind is--after the fall of WOLSEY, and a long
way after, too,--one of the most pathetic pictures ever presented on
the stage. So lonely in her grandeur, so grand, and yet so pitiable in
her loneliness is this poor Queen of Beauty, this Empress-Butterfly,
who can conquer conquerors, and for whose sake not only her noble
lovers, but her poor humble serving-maids, are willing to die.
[Illustration: The Run of Cleopatra.]
Her last scene is beyond all compare her best, and to those who are
inclined to be disappointed with the play after the first Act is
over I say, "Wait for the end," and don't leave until the Curtain has
descended on that gracious figure of the Queen of Egypt, attired in
her regal robes, crowned with her diadem, holding her sceptre, but
dead in her chair of state. _Ça donne à penser_.
_The Gaiety_.--In calling their burlesque _Carmen up to Data_,
possibly the two dear clever boys who wrote it intended some
crypto-jocosity of which the hidden meaning is known only to the
initiated in these sublime mysteries. Why "_Data_"? On the other hand,
"Why not?"
However attractive or not as a heading in a bill of the play,
the Gaiety _Carmen_ is, on the whole, a merry, bright, and light
burlesque-ish piece, though, except in the costume and make-up of Mr.
ARTHUR WILLIAMS as _Captain Zuniga_, there is nothing extraordinarily
"burlesque" in the appearance of any of the characters, as the
appearance of Mr. HORACE MILLS as _Remendado_ belongs more to
Christmas pantomime than to the sly suggestiveness of real burlesque.
[Illustration: Scene from the Cigarette History of _Carmen_.]
As Miss ST. JOHN simply looks, acts, and sings as a genuine _Carmen_,
I can only suppose that her voice is not strong enough for the real
Opera; otherwise I doubt whether any better operatic impersonator of
the real character could be found. She is not the least bit burlesque,
and though the songs she has to sing are nothing like so telling
as those she has had given her in former pieces, yet, through her
rendering, most are encored, and all thoroughly appreciated.
[Illustration: In for a good Run on the "Bogie" System.]
Mr. ARTHUR WILLIAMS as _Zuniga_ is very droll, reminding some of us,
by his make-up and jerky style, of MILHER as the comic _Valentine_
in _Le Petit Faust_. Mr. LONNEN is also uncommonly good as the spoony
soldier, and in the telling song of "_The Bogie Man_;" and in the
still more telling dance with which he finishes it and makes his exit,
he makes _the_ hit of the evening,--in fact the hit by which the
piece will he remembered, and to which it owes the greater part of its
success.
In the authors' latest adaptation of the very ancient "business" of
"the statues"--consisting of a verse, and then an attitude, I was
disappointed, as I had been led to believe that here we should see
what Mr. LONNEN could do in the Robsonian or burlesque-tragedy style.
The brilliancy of the costumes, of the scenery, the grace of the four
dancers, and the excellence of band and chorus, under the direction
of that ancient mariner MEYER LUTZ, are such as are rarely met with
elsewhere.
Mr. GEORGE EDWARDES may now attend to the building of his new theatre,
as _Carmen up to Data_ will not give him any trouble for some time to
come.
* * * * *