"CHARIVARIETIES."
_Punch's_ Influence on Dress and Fashion--His Records--As a
Prophet--As an Artist--As an Actor and Dramatist--Benefit
Performances--Guild of Literature and Art.
The man who glances at _Punch's_ current number and throws it aside can
have but little appreciation of the influence of the paper, not only in
matters political, but in social subjects of every kind. That the Baron
de Book-Worms can make or mar the success of a new book, as completely
as the "Times," "Athenæum," or "Spectator," has been testified to by Mr.
Hall Caine and others; and in some quarters at least _Punch's_
bâton-strokes are as effective as ever, and recall the times when he
could, and did, drive a semi-public man into obscurity, which, but for
the fame of his onslaught, would have been absolute oblivion.
But it is in dress, in fashion, and in manners that _Punch_ has gained,
if anything, in weight and influence. In such subjects, treated as
"charivarieties," as Mr. Arthur Sykes has called them, he has always
been supreme, and fulfils an unquestioned destiny. John Leech determined
that there should be no Bloomerism in the land, and there was
none--only, by the charm of his drawings, he came very near making it
popular, and converting British young womanhood to Turkish trousers. Mr.
du Maurier thought that it would look pretty if every little lady in the
land were to wear black stockings; and every little lady did: as
unfalteringly as when Miss Kate Greenaway imposed upon them smocks and
poke-bonnets, or when Mrs. Hodgson Burnett clad mothers' darlings in
black velvet Fauntleroy suits, with bright-coloured sashes wound round
their middles. As the volumes are examined, the reader becomes aware of
the enduring value of _Punch_ as a History of Costume in the Victorian
Era. Even men's dress is noted with minute truthfulness--the violently
variegated shirts of 1845; the Joinville ties, with their great fringed
ends, out of which Thackeray made such capital in 1847; the pin-less
cravats and cutaway coats of 1848; the ivory-handled canes of 1850, for
sucking purposes--the fashion which came round thirty years later with
the advance of the "crutch and toothpick brigade;" the big bows and
short sticks of 1852; the frock-coats and weeping whiskers of 1853, with
the corresponding inability to pronounce the "r" otherwise than as a
"w," or to converse but with a languid, used-up drawl; the smaller ties
and growing collars, when a wasting youth complains that "She is lost to
him for ever" (_she_, the laundress!); the schoolboy's Spanish hat of
1860, that was soon developed into the "pork-pie," and was to be adopted
generally for country wear with baggy knickerbockers; the full-blown
Dundreary of 1861, with long weeping whiskers, long coat, long drawl,
and short wits; with the sudden change for the better in the following
year. All this is to be found clearly recorded year by year, season by
season, with all the peculiarities of "form;" of umbrella and
umbrella-carrying; of dancing, energetic and invertebrate; of
handshaking, sensible and high-level (which was invented, of course, by
the ballroom girl who was holding up her train in the dance); of hirsute
adornment and æsthetic craze--every shade of fashion is followed in its
true development and in its wane--down to the recent phase of 1893 and
1894, when the swell lets out his collar for an advertisement hoarding,
or, safe in the perfection of its starching, marches quietly across the
desert while fierce Orientals turn the edges of their swords in vain
across his linen-shielded neck.
And the ladies! The coal-scuttle bonnet and the incipient crinoline of
1845; the growing crinolines of 1851, larger in 1860, largest of all in
1864; the hair in bands or side-curls of 1852, and in nets in 1862; the
bonnets worn almost off the head in 1853, more so in 1854, until Leech
drew a picture of two ladies walking out, with footmen carrying their
headgear behind them; the "spoon-shaped bonnet" of 1860--"the latest
Parisian folly," which the street-boys mistake for "a dustman's 'at;"
the archery of 1862, the pork-pie hat, the croquet, the tennis, the
golf--every sport, every habit and custom, every change of dress, down
to the minutest detail--all is recorded with faithfulness and humour,
first by Leech's pencil, and then, in chief measure, by Mr. du
Maurier's.
* * * * *
It is curious in turning over _Punch's_ volumes to see how on occasion
he could use his power of prophecy with an accuracy that spoke well for
the common-sense, sometimes even the statesmanship, to be found among
the Staff. "There is but one Punch, and he is his own prophet." It is
rather as a social reformer than as a politician that he has exerted his
gift, though an example of the latter class of foresight may be pointed
to in the cartoon of Sir John Tenniel of April 7th, 1860. This was
entitled "A Glimpse of the Future: A Probable and Large Importation of
Foreign Rags," in which King Bomba of Naples, the Emperor Louis
Napoleon, and the Pope were shown landing on British shores in very
sorry plight. And in due time England was to see--at least, as far as
the two monarchs were concerned--the realisation of the oracular couplet
combined:--
"The time will come when discontent
Will overthrow your Government."
Then the number of inventions and innovations forestalled by _Punch's_
pen are many. In December, 1848, much is made of a proposed "opera
telakouphanon"--a forecast of the telephone, phonograph, and
theatrophone combined:--
"It would be in the power of Mr. Lumley," says _Punch_, "during the
aproaching holiday time to bring home the Opera to every lady's
drawing-room in London. Let him cause to be constructed at the back
of Her Majesty's Theatre an apparatus on the principle of the Ear
of DIONYSIUS.... Next, having obtained an Act of Parliament for the
purpose, let him lay down after the manner of pipes a number of
Telakouphona connected--the reader will excuse the apparent
vulgarism--with this ear, and extended to the dwellings of all such
as may be willing to pay for the accommodation. In this way our
domestic establishments might be served with the liquid notes of
JENNY LIND as easily as they are with soft water, and could be
supplied with music as readily as they can with gas. Then at a
_soirée_ or evening party, if a desire were expressed for a little
music, we should only have to turn on the _Sonnambula_ or the
_Puritani_, as the case might be," etc.
--a thirty years' prophecy. The following year he represented a lady
listening to music by telegraph; and the kinetoscope is only now waiting
to fulfil Mr. du Maurier's forecast of many years ago. If Mr. Edison has
not yet done quite all that Mr. Punch foretold, is not that rather Mr.
Edison's than _Punch's_ fault?
In an unhappy moment in 1847 _Punch_ proposed the use of umbrellas and
house-fronts for advertising purposes, and the hint was promptly taken.
In the previous year he foretold the use of the Thames Tunnel as a
railway conduit; and his sketch of a zebra harnessed to a carriage in
the streets of London was realised forty years later. The great "Missing
Word Competition" of 1892 was forestalled by _Punch_ by four-and-thirty
years (p. 53, Vol. XXXV., August 7th, 1858). Leech's "Mistress of the
Hounds," too--how fantastic the idea was thought in those days, and
laughed at accordingly!--has since become a hard, astraddle,
uncompromising fact; and the lady's safety riding-skirt, that attached
itself to the saddle when the lady lost her seat, anticipated by thirty
years the patent for a similar contrivance taken out in 1884. Indeed,
_Punch's_ picture of November, 1854, was put in as evidence before Mr.
Justice Wright in April, 1893, when an action between two sartorial
artists turned upon the point of anteriority, and the picture won the
case.
Common-sense, and shrewdness of observation and judgment, which are at
the root of amateur prophecy, brought as much honour to _Punch_ as ever
Old Moore obtained through one of his lucky flukes. In December, 1893,
the Prince of Wales opened the Hugh Myddleton Board School, the finest
in London, which had been erected on the site of the old Clerkenwell
prison; and on the invitation card to the ceremony appeared a
reproduction of the _Punch_ picture of May, 1847, which accompanied an
altercation between "School and Prison, who've lately risen As
opposition teachers." This was published nearly a quarter of a century
before Mr. Forster's Education Act, and concludes with the prophecy
curiously fulfilled in the case of this particular institution. To this
picture, in which the county gaol, untenanted, looks scowlingly at the
crowded school, the Prince feelingly referred when he spoke of the
scepticism with which the statement was regarded, that the institution
of "free" schools would shut the prisons up. But a volume might be
filled with instances of the occasions on which _Punch_ has seen with
his eyes, and thought with the front of his brain--how his demands for
necessary innovations (such, for example, as fever carriages in 1861)
were quickly acted upon, and how his serious mood has enforced the
respect which mere geniality might have failed to secure.
He is not, of course, entitled to invariable congratulation for his
attitude towards art; but he has suffered as well as acted ill. When he
derided the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, and joined in the storm of
ridicule that swirled round the heads of Rossetti and his devoted and
courageous friends, he doubtless acted within his _rôle_; but he utterly
failed to see below the surface of the apparent affectation of the
artists, and all he had to say of Sir John Millais' "Vale of Rest," in
the lines descriptive of the year 1859, was
"Year Mr. Millais came out with those terrible nuns in the
graveyard."
In the following year, however, Mr. Eastlake, afterwards of the National
Gallery, made his mark in the paper as "Jack Easel," and a more
intelligent view of art prevailed.
But neither has Art, as personified by the Royal Academy, recognised
_Punch_, save by a couple of seats at the annual banquet. It is true
that several of its members have drawn for it--Sir Frederic Leighton,
Sir John Millais, Sir John Gilbert, Mr. Briton Riviere, Mr. Stacey
Marks, Mr. G. A. Storey, and Fred Walker. But _Punch's_ art has gone
unnoticed, otherwise than by a square yard or two of wall space in the
Black-and-White room at the annual exhibition. While the Academy has
canonised many members whose names half a century later are forgotten,
or are remembered only to be called up with a smile or a shrug, it has
persistently ignored those who have employed the pencil instead of the
brush, or have used ink instead of misusing paint. But it is unnecessary
to pursue the subject farther; that the names of Keene, Leech, and
Tenniel are not on the roll of the Academy is surely far more to the
discredit of the institution than of the artists themselves, who
presumably, from the Academic point of view, are "no artists." As Mr. du
Maurier has pointed out, _Punch's_ artists will have their revenge: "If
the illustrator confine himself to his own particular branch, he must
not hope for any very high place in the hierarchy of art. The great
prizes are not for him! No doubt it will be all the same a hundred years
hence--but for this: if he has done his work well, he has faithfully
represented the life of his time, he has perpetuated what he has seen
with his own bodily eyes; and for that reason alone his unpretending
little sketches may, perhaps, have more interest for those who come
across them in another hundred years than many an ambitious historical
or classical canvas that has cost its painter infinite labour,
imagination, and research, and won for him in his own time the highest
rewards in money, fame, and Academical distinction. For genius alone can
keep such fancy-work as this alive, and the so-called genius of to-day
may be the scapegoat of to-morrow."
[Illustration: THE DRAUGHTSMAN'S REVENGE.
(_Drawn by George du Maurier._)]
_Punch_ was born, so to speak, upon the stage, between the four canvas
walls of his own and Judy's show. His heart and soul were with and of
the drama, and plays have rained from the prolific pens of his literary
Staff. Many of his contributors acted in public--a few professionally,
most of them as amateurs--and more than one has linked his life with a
lady who had trodden the stage or concert platform. From the first he
proclaimed that Music and the Drama were to be amongst the most
prominent features of the work; and to that declaration he has ever
since faithfully adhered. As a record of the London stage, the pages of
_Punch_ are fairly complete; as a dramatist he has, through the members
of his Staff, been prolific, and on the whole highly successful; as an
actor he has at least enjoyed himself; and just as Falstaff was the
cause of wit in others, he has unwittingly served the pirates of the
stage, and to better purpose, too, than they deserved.
With "readings," lectures, and "entertainments," the members of
_Punch's_ Staff have often come strikingly before the public; so much
so, indeed, that they have stepped from their studies and studios on to
the platform as by a natural transition. Albert Smith's "Overland Mail"
and "The Ascent of Mont Blanc," with the extraordinary success that
attended them, doubtless set the fashion to the band of men who were
always, in one sense at least, before the public. Thackeray's "Four
Georges" and the "English Humorists" raised the standard of quality at
once; and to that standard more than one of his contemporaries and
successors has aimed at attaining, even though they never hoped to
succeed. Every Editor of _Punch_--except perhaps Stirling
Coyne--delivered such lectures in his day. Henry Mayhew took for his
subject that of which he had a complete mastery, "London Labour and
London Poor." Mark Lemon, whose knowledge of the metropolis was probably
even more extensive and peculiar than Sam Weller's own, lectured on it
in "About London," and gave recitals of "Falstaff" with a certain
measure of success. Shirley Brooks spoke, as he was so well qualified to
do, on "The Houses of Parliament;" and discourses were similarly
delivered by Tom Taylor. Mr. Burnand's bright "Happy Thoughts" readings
could be forgotten by none that heard them. James Hannay, laying humour
aside, lectured on the more serious aspects of literature; and Cuthbert
Bede talked of the literary and artistic friends of his Verdant Green
career. Mr. Harry Furniss, with his delightful entertainments on
"Portraiture" and "The Humours of Parliament," achieved a success
undreamed of by the earlier _Punch_ reciters; and Mr. du Maurier in his
"Social Pictorial Satire" touched a literary and critical height that
charmed every audience by its humour, its delicacy, and its admirable
taste.
The theatrical stars of half a century march through _Punch's_ pages in
long procession, and matters of high theatrical politics engage the
attention from year to year. _Punch's_ interest in theatricals is hardly
surprising when it is remembered how closely identified with the drama
have been many members of the Staff. Douglas Jerrold was a successful
playwright before ever _Punch_ was heard of, and as the author of
"Black-Eyed Susan" and "Time Works Wonders" he made his name popular
with many who had hardly heard of his connection with "the great comic."
It has been computed that the _Punch_ writers, from first to last, have
contributed no fewer than five hundred plays to the stage; and it may be
mentioned as a curious fact that to "German Reed's" each successive
Editor of _Punch_ has contributed an "Entertainment." The Staff has on
several occasions been seen upon the boards; and on countless occasions
_Punch_ has figured there, usually against his will. It but sufficed for
_Punch_ to make a hit for hungry provincial actors, either of stock
companies or on tour, to pounce upon it and work it up into a play or an
entertainment. Jerrold's brother-in-law, W. J. Hammond, who was at one
time manager of the Strand Theatre, travelled with what must be
considered the authorised show, thus described:
* * * * *
"A new Entertainment, called a
NIGHT
with
PUNCH!
Founded on the Series of Celebrated Papers of that highly humorous
Periodical, from the pens of the acknowledged best Comic Writers of the
day. Adapted and Arranged by R. B. Peake, Esq. As performed by Mr. W. J.
Hammond Forty-two successive nights at the New Strand Theatre.... After
which, a Monopolylogue entitled the
LAST MAN;
or,
PUNCH OUT OF TOWN"
--with five characters, all performed by Hammond, the whole reaching its
climax when _Punch_, in _propria persona_, appeared and sang an
"Epilogue Song."
But it was Mrs. Caudle, of course, that offered a bait too tempting to
be resisted. There was Mrs. Keeley's authorised "Mrs. Caudle" in town;
but simultaneously Mrs. Caudles cropped up in every town in the country.
One of these was enacted by Mr. Warren, and his playbill of the Theatre
Royal, Gravesend, dated August 7th, 1845, is before me as I write. "The
REAL MRS. CAUDLE," he asserts, "having received an enthusiastic welcome
from a Gravesend audience, and being pronounced far superior to any of
the _counterfeit Representatives_, will have the honour of repeating her
Curtain Lecture this and to-morrow evenings." "Mrs. Caudle at Gravesend"
was, in fact, a "Comic Sketch" by C. Z. Barnett; and the programme
decorated with a common engraving in impudent imitation of Leech's
immortal cut, contained all the _dramatis personæ_ of Jerrold's little
domestic drama, including "Mrs. Caudle (the Original from _Punch's_
Papers), Mr. WARREN."
Six years later Mr. Briggs himself was lifted from _Punch_ on to the
stage (amongst others) of the Royal Marylebone Theatre, which then
assiduously cultivated the equestrian drama. On November 14th, 1851, for
the benefit of a lady called MRS. MORETON BROOKES, there was played a
"new grand dramatic equestrian spectacle, entitled the MAID OF
SARAGOSSA; OR, THE DUMB SPY AND STEED OF ARRAGON--realising Sir David
Wilkie's Celebrated Picture." As the Arragon Steed remained on the
premises when the curtain fell on the first piece, it was obviously a
pity to waste him; so, after he had finished realising Wilkie's picture,
and had rested awhile, he stepped out of romance into high comedy, or,
as the playbill simply put it--"After which will be presented from
Sketches furnished from PUNCH'S Domicile, Fleet Street, a New, Grand,
Locomotive, Pedestrian, Equestrian, Go-ahead Extravaganza, entitled
=MR. BRIGGS=!
Or, HOUSE KEEPING _versus_ HORSE KEEPING"--
in which Mr. Briggs was played by Mr. Crowther, and Mrs. Briggs by the
fair _beneficiaire_.
The first dramatic effort of _Punch_, in his individual quality and
personality as a jester, was the pantomime of "King John, or Harlequin
and Magna Charta." _Punch_ had at that time become so popular, and was
so generally regarded as the incarnation of all that was witty, that a
commission was given for a pantomime that was to surpass for wit and
humour any pantomime that had ever been written or thought of before.
"They have given out," said Alfred Bunn in his vituperative "Word with
Punch," "in distinct terms that none but themselves can write a
pantomime, and modestly entitled the one they _did_ write '_Punch's_
Pantomime' ... which they laboured so lustily, but so vainly, to puff
into notoriety." It was written in 1842, by Lemon, Jerrold, and Henry
Mayhew; but when it was read by the first-named to the Covent Garden
Company, by whom it was produced, it was found to contain a great deal
of wit, but very little fun. It was extensively amended in response to
the representations of the pantomimists, and W. H. Payne managed to make
a good deal of his part. The wit, however, militated greatly against the
"go" and success of the piece, the prestige of its writers did not help
it, and the experiment of a "_Punch's_ Pantomime" was accordingly not
repeated.
The cordial sympathy that has bound together so many of _Punch's_ Staff
in life has more than once taken the form of kindly charity in death or
misfortune. To the performance given on behalf of the unhappy Angus
Reach reference is made where the man and his work are considered. For
Leigh Hunt--although he was not of the band--a theatrical performance
was also given, and realised a large sum, and the benefit in aid of
Charles H. Bennett's widow and children was even more successful. That
interesting event is described later; but for the sake of history it may
be well to reproduce the programme here:--
AMATEUR PERFORMANCE AT THE THEATRE ROYAL, MANCHESTER,
(kindly placed at the disposal of the committee by John Knowles,
Esq.,)
MONDAY EVENING, JULY 29, 1867.
To commence with an entirely new and original Triumviretta, in one
act and ten tableaux (being a lyrical version of Mr. Maddison
Morton's celebrated farce of "Box and Cox"), by Mr. F. C. BURNAND,
entitled--
COX AND BOX;
OR, THE LONG-LOST BROTHERS.
The Lodging, including the Little Second-floor Back Room, has been
furnished with
ORIGINAL MUSIC by Mr. ARTHUR SULLIVAN.
John Cox, a Journeyman Hatter Mr. QUINTIN
James Box, a Journeyman Printer Mr. G. DU MAURIER.
Bouncer, late of the Hampshire Yeomanry,
with military reminiscences Mr. ARTHUR BLUNT.
Scene--An elegantly furnished apartment in Bouncer's Mansion.
[Illustration: FOR CHARLES H. BENNETT'S BENEFIT. (See p. 132)
MR. ARTHUR LEWIS MR. TWISS SIR JOHN TENNIEL R. T. PRITCHETT
SHIRLEY BROOKS MARK LEMON ARTHUR CECIL (BLUNT) HENRY SILVER
SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN MISS ELLEN TERRY MR DU MAURIER MISS KATE TERRY
TOM TAYLOR
(_By Permission of the London. Stereoscopic Company._)]
Tableaux--1. Cox at his looking-glass.--2. Cox and Bouncer, the
trial of the hat.--3. The beauties of bacon.--4. Revenons à nos
moutons.--5. The stranger!--6. The duel!!--7. The gamblers. The
hazard. The false die.--8. "Reading of the will."--9. (A classical
study.) Penelope.--10. Knox! et præterea nil.
Mr. SHIRLEY BROOKS will deliver an ADDRESS.
After which will be performed Mr. Tom Taylor's popular Drama,
A SHEEP IN WOLF'S CLOTHING.
Colonel Percy Kirke, of Kirke's Lambs Mr. MARK LEMON.
Colonel Lord Churchill, of the Life Guards Mr. JOHN TENNIEL.
Master Jasper Carew Mr. TOM TAYLOR.
Kester Chedzoy Mr. F. C. BURNAND.
Corporal Flintoff } { Mr. HORACE MAYHEW.
Hackett } of Kirke's Lambs { Mr. HENRY SILVER.
Rasper } { Mr. R. T. PRITCHETT.
John Zoyland, a Locksmith Mr. SHIRLEY BROOKS.
Dame Carew, Wife of Jasper Carew (by the kind
permission of B. Webster, Esq.) Miss KATE TERRY.
Dame Carew, Mother of Jasper Carew Mrs. STOKER.
Sibyl, Daughter of Jasper Carew Miss FLORENCE TERRY.
Keziah Mapletoft, Servant to Anne Miss ELLEN TERRY (Mrs. Watts).
To be followed by J. Offenbach's Bouffonnerie Musicale,
LES DEUX AVEUGLES.
Stanislas Giraffier Mons. G. Du Maurier.
Giacomo Patachon Mons. Hal. Power.
To conclude with Mr. John Oxenford's Farce, in one Act,
A FAMILY FAILING.
Characters by Messrs. ARTHUR BLUNT, MARK LEMON, TOM TAYLOR, HENRY
SILVER, and Miss ELLEN TERRY.
Tickets for the Dress Circle and Stalls, One Guinea each, may be
obtained from any Member of the Committee; at the Theatre Royal;
from Messrs. Hime and Addison, and Mr. Slater, St. Ann's Square;
and Messrs. Forsyth, St. Ann's Street.
On this occasion, says an anonymous writer, "The celebrated cartoonist
received the reception of the evening. The audience rose _en masse_ and
cheered. Tom Taylor, playing in his own piece the principal character,
was, comparatively speaking, nowhere. The most interesting personality
of the _Punch_ Staff was unquestionably Tenniel."
Affiliated with _Punch_, in its membership at least, was that "Guild of
Literature and Art" of which Charles Dickens was the father. Its
theatrical career began in 1845 at the Royalty Theatre, Soho, at that
time called Miss Kelly's, the initial performance being Ben Jonson's
"Every Man in his Humour," with Mark Lemon as Brainworm and Dickens as
Bobadil. (_See p. 137._) On May 15th, 1848, much the same company, in
aid of the fund for the endowment of the perpetual curatorship of
Shakespeare's house at Stratford-on-Avon, gave the "Merry Wives of
Windsor," when Dickens played Shallow; George Cruikshank, Pistol; John
Leech, Slender; Mark Lemon, Falstaff; and other characters were
represented by George Henry Lewes, John Forster, Dudley Costello,
Augustus Egg, R.A., and Mr. Cowden Clarke--a goodly company. Mr. Sala
says that Lemon's conception of Falstaff (which was also known to the
public through the jovial editor's "readings"), though well understood,
was "the worst he ever saw;" but Mrs. Cowden Clarke declared it "a fine
embodiment of rich, unctuous raciness, no caricature, rolling greasiness
and grossness, no exaggerated vulgarisation of Shakespeare's
immortal 'fat knight,' but a florid, rotund, self-indulgent
voluptuary--thoroughly at his ease, thoroughly prepared to take
advantage of all gratification that might come in his way, and
thoroughly preserving the manners of a gentleman accustomed to the
companionship of a prince. John Leech's Master Slender," she continues,
"was picturesquely true to the gawky, flabby, booty squire.... His mode
of sitting on a stile, with his long ungainly legs dangling down ...
ever and anon ejaculating his maudlin cuckoo cry of 'Oh sweet Ann Page,'
was a delectable treat." Without disrespect to Leech's memory, it may be
said that others of his friends did not form a similarly favourable
opinion of his histrionic powers.
A company quite as notable in its way was that which played "Not so Bad
as We Seem," by Lytton (with whom _Punch_ had made his peace), at
Devonshire House, on May 27th, 1851, before the Queen and the Prince
Consort, at the instance of the Duke of Devonshire. The playbill
deserves to be preserved here, although the only _Punch_ names among the
actors are those of Jerrold, Lemon, and Tenniel--the last-named of whom
is the only survivor of them all.
MEN.
The Duke of Middlesex { Peers Attached To the Son } Mr. Frank Stone,
A.R.A.
The Earl of Loftus { of James II., Commonly } Mr. Dudley Costello
{ Called the First Pretender
Lord Wilmot { a Young Man at the Head } Mr. Charles Dickens
{ of the Mode More Than a }
{ Century Ago, Son To Lord }
{ Loftus }
Mr. Shadowly Softhead { a Young Gentleman From the } Mr. Douglas Jerrold
{ City, Friend and Double }
{ of Lord Wilmot }
Mr. Hardman { a Rising Member of } Mr. John Forster
Parliament
{ and Adherent To Sir }
{ Robert Walpole }
Sir Geoffrey Thornside{ a Gentleman of Good Family } Mr. Mark Lemon
{ and Estate }
Mr. Goodenough Easy { in Business, Highly } Mr. F. W. Topham
Respectable,
{ and a Friend of Sir }
{ Geoffrey }
Lord le Trimmer } Frequenters of Wills' { Mr. Peter Cunningham
Sir Thomas Timid } Coffee House { Mr. Westland Marston
Colonel Flint } { Mr. R. H. Horne
Mr. Jacob Tonson a Bookseller Mr. Charles Knight
Smart Valet To Lord Wilmot Mr. Wilkie Collins
Hodge { Servant To Sir Geoffrey } Mr. John Tenniel
{ Thornside }
Paddy O'sullivan Mr. Fallen's Landlord Mr. Robert Bell
Mr. David Fallen { Grub Street Author and } Mr. Augustus Egg,
{ Pamphleteer } A.R.A.
Lord Strongbow, Sir John Bruin, Drawers, } Coffee House Loungers
Newsmen, Watchmen, &c. &c. }
WOMEN.
Lucy { Daughter to Sir Geoffrey } Mrs. Compton
{ Thornside }
Barbara Daughter to Mr. Easy. Miss Ellen Chaplin
The Silent Lady of Deadman's Lane.
Date of Play--The Reign of George I.
Scene--London.
Time supposed to be occupied, from the noon of the first day to the
afternoon of the second.
And, lastly, may be mentioned the performance of Ben Jonson's play at
Knebworth, in which, says Vizetelly, Douglas Jerrold, as Master Stephen,
showed real talent and power. But the piece is not an entertaining one,
as Lord Melbourne--with his bad habit of thinking aloud--bore
disconcerting witness in his stall: "I knew well enough that the play
would be dull, but not so damnably dull as this!"
KNEBWORTH.
ON MONDAY, NOVEMBER 18th, 1850,
WILL BE PERFORMED
BEN JONSON'S COMEDY
OF
EVERY MAN
IN
HIS HUMOUR.
Costumiers. Messers. NATHAN, of Titchborne Street. Perruqiuer. Mr.
WILSON, of the Strand.
Knowell, (_an Old Gentleman_) Mr. DELME RADCLIFFE,
Edward Knowell, (_his Son_) Mr. HENRY HAWKINS,
Brainworm, (_the Father's Man_) Mr. MARK LEMON,
George Downright, (_a Plain Squire_) Mr. FRANK STONE,
Wellbred, (_his Half-brother_) Mr. HENRY HALE,
Kitely, (_a Merchant_) Mr. JOHN FORSTER,
Captain Bobadil, (_a Paul's Man_) Mr. CHARLES DICKENS,
Master Stephen, (_a Country Gull_) Mr. DOUGLAS JERROLD,
Master Matthew, (_the Town Gull_) Mr. JOHN LEECH,
Thomas Cash, (_Kitely's Cashier_) Mr. FREDERICK DICKENS,
Oliver Cobb, (_a Water-bearer_) Mr. AUGUSTUS EGG,
Justice Clement, (_an old merry Magistrate_) The HON. ELIOT YORKE,
Roger Formal, (_his Clerk_) Mr. PHANTOM,
Dame Kitely, (_Kitely's Wife_) Miss ANNE ROMER,
Mistress Bridget, (_his Sister_) Miss HOGARTH,
Tib, (_Cob's Wife_) Mrs. MARK LEMON,
(Who has most kindly consented to act, in lieu
of Mrs. CHARLES DICKENS, disabled by an accident.)
THE EPILOGUE BY MR. DELME RADCLIFFE.
To conclude with MRS. INCHBALD'S Farce of
ANIMAL MAGNETISM.
The Doctor Mr. CHARLES DICKENS,
La Fleur Mr. MARK LEMON,
The Marquis de Lancy Mr. JOHN LEECH,
Jeffery Mr. AUGUSTUS EGG,
Constance Miss HOGARTH,
Lisette Miss ANNE ROMER.
Stage Manager, MR. CHARLES DICKENS.
The Theatre will be open at HALF-PAST SIX. The Performance will begin
precisely at HALF-PAST SEVEN.
=GOD SAVE THE QUEEN!=
FOR THE GUILD OF LITERATURE AND ART. (_See p. 135._)