IT was only what might have been expected that a large audience should
assemble in the National Theatre to see the new piece by Messrs. PAUL
MERRITT and AUGUSTUS HARRIS. The very title was inviting, and when to
that title were added scenes in Oxford, Monte Carlo, Nice and
Gloucestershire, who could refuse the invitation? Certainly not I. So I
accepted, with pleasure, and was present at the initial performance. I
refreshed my recollection of college life at Oxford where men certainly
were not quite as serious as _Mr. Jack Lovell_, in the long since of the
"fifties." I could not help regretting that the Oxford of thirty years
ago had not the unconventional Mr. NICHOLLS amongst the Undergraduates.
Had he been there at the period to which I refer, I undoubtedly should
have sought the honour of his acquaintance, but on the condition that he
did _not_ introduce me to the aforesaid _Jack Lovell_, who on
matriculating at Drury Lane was about as lively as a mute at a funeral.
I was not at all surprised to find him rather out of sorts. Frankly,
_Mr. Jack Lovell_ in _Pleasure_ is not a nice young man. He reads for
the Church and gets plucked, as indeed he should, as he seems to have
employed the time that he ought to have occupied in hard reading, in
behaving in the most disgraceful manner to _Miss Jessie Newland_,
otherwise the ever charming Miss ALMA MURRAY. Very properly refused a
family living, he succeeds to a peerage, and immediately publishes the
story of his betrothed and refuses to marry her.
[Illustration: Bringing Down the House.]
Personally, I must admit that I received with joy the news that he was
drinking himself to death, and only felt the deepest regret when I
learned that he had not perished in an admirably contrived Earthquake.
[Illustration: Sweets to the Sweet.]
But, in spite of _Mr. Jack Lovell_, Oxford, at Drury Lane, contained a
number of interesting persons. The _Doddipotts_, father and son, with
their American relative (Miss BROUGH), were most amusing, and I was
quite satisfied to accompany them to Nice and Monte Carlo, to see the
Battle of Flowers, the Carnival Ball, and last, but not least, the
Earthquake. This latter effect, in more senses than one, "brought down
the house." In _Pleasure_ the stage-management is excellent throughout,
and, of the joint authorship of the piece, I think I may safely say that
its chief merit lies in the name of HARRIS. Not a mythical "HARRIS,"
like unto the friend of _Mrs. Gamp_, but some one far more substantial,
the great AUGUSTUS DRURIOLANUS himself. Whether one is gazing upon the
Sheldonian Theatre (the background to an Oxford Mixture of no common
kind), or the Barges, or the Promenade des Anglais, or the Carnival
Ball, the presence of an excellent master of effect is seen in every
group, in every detail.
[Illustration: An Oxford Mixture.]
_Pleasure_ is described as a Comedy-Drama, and the plot is not, perhaps,
as strong as some of its predecessors. As "strength" at a theatre
invariably spells "murder" or "sudden death," I am not at all sure that
this absence of the ultra-melodramatic is not to be welcomed, in spite
of the taste for the horrible which is supposed to be the characteristic
of those who patronise the pit and gallery. But what the People (with a
capital initial letter) lose in the ghastly, they certainly gain in the
beautiful. If the scenery at Drury Lane of the Riviera does not cause
"Personally conducted tours" to be more numerously attended next year
than ever, I shall be more than surprised--I shall be disappointed. Even
the Earthquake should not be a deterrent, for as far as I could learn
from "the incident" at Drury Lane, no one was a penny the worse for the
shaking. Even the unworthy _Lovell_ escaped--I fancy up the chimney. If
this were so, it would only be in keeping with his character.
In the first Drury Lane success, _The World_ (by the same authors as
_Pleasure_), there was a wonderful clergyman, played by the late Mr.
RYDER, whose cynicism was equal to his audacity. This strange
ecclesiastic I remember, having sown an unusually large crop of wild
oats in his youth, on his return from Evening Service in his middle age,
imperiously refused to allow a lady to remain in his parish because she
had once been deeply attached to him, and had loved him "not wisely, but
too well." I shall never forget the dignified earnestness of the late
Mr. RYDER as he explained to this lady his position as a married man,
and sternly ordered her to move on. Had _Mr. Jack Lovell_ been ordained,
I fancy he would have made an excellent curate to this reverend
gentleman, and that between them they would have formed what is
satirically termed a "pretty pair."
It is possible that the original intention of the authors of _Pleasure_
may have been to have conferred on the hero of their piece a Deanery, or
even an Archbishopric, and that the recollection of this prior clerical
creation may have influenced them to alter their contemplated Church
patronage into a temporal peerage linked with twenty thousand a-year. Be
this as it may, _Jack_ and his prototype will rest in my memory as
companion pictures, of what a clergyman might, could, would (but should
not) be. The scenery and the admirable stage-management make _Mr.
Lovell_ and his doings bearable. They pull him through. For the rest,
_Pleasure_ is an amusing play, well mounted, and capitally acted, and
should keep the boards until December brings to Drury Lane and a
delighted world the Christmas Pantomime. On the first night all went
well up to the end of the Fifth Act; but the last, after the excitement
of the Riviera scenes, came as rather an anti-climax.--I beg to sign
myself, in compliment to and emulation of the Earthquake, ONE WHO HAD
GONE TO PIECES.
* * * * *
A Hint to the Howlers.
BETWIXT Paddies who kick up wild hullabaloo,
And rude Radical raffs who will play the Yahoo,
There apparently is not a Tanner to choose;
Though the Irishmen boast of the better excuse!
Rads the Message of Peace will not hasten, I trow,
By taking a hand in this Donnybrook row.
To "trid on their coat-tails" is policy mad,
But to help them to swing the shillelagh's as bad.
To ape angry Pats in their weakness for fights,
Is the very worst way to get Ireland her "rights."
* * * * *
AN ADDRESS TO PARLIAMENT.--Shut up!
* * * * *
[Illustration: SEA-SIDE WEATHER STUDIES. SET FAIR. WHITBY.]
* * * * *
"ON HIS OWN HOOK!"