It was a pleasant sight, on the _première_ of _King Arthur_, to see
Mr. COMYNS CARR, poet, _littérateur_, art-critic, theatrical manager,
orator, journalist, dramatist, and not a few other things beside,
gravely bowing his acknowledgments as "_the_ Arthur of the piece" at
the Lyceum. Beshrew me, and by my halidome, he hath done his work with
so deft and cunning a hand as to puzzle not a little those who have
their GOETHE, their TENNYSON, and some of the most favourite plays of
WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE at their fingers' ends, and who are also more or
less acquainted with Wagnerian trilogies.
We all know "KETTLE began it." Well, WAGNER begins this, in the
Prologue, with spirits and water, _i.e._, mere spirits getting along
swimmingly in a kind of Niebelungen lake-and-cavern scene. Not until
the curtain rose was any sort of attention paid to the music, which
might have therefore been the composition of NOAKES or STOKES, instead
of having been exquisitely written by King ARTHUR SULLIVAN.
Enter _King Arthur Irving_ and _Merlin_ ("Charles his friend"),
suggestive of _Macbeth_ and _Banquo_, to see Wagnerian water-witches
in _The Colleen Bawn's_ cave. Wagnerian water-witches, disturbed by
the approach of gentlemen, swim away to regain, presumably, their
bathing-machines. Then Charles-his-friend _Merlin_ undertakes the
part of a kind of half-converted _Mephistopheles_, and shows the
_Faust-King-Arthur_ a "living picture" of _Guinevere_ as _Marguerite_
in a vision. After this up comes a hand out of the water, bearing a
magnificently jewelled scabbard, in which, of course, is that blade of
the very first water, "_Excalibur_."
_Arthur_ accepts the sword with thanks, observing that "if necessary
he will use it to make any cuts the piece may require." More chorus
of water-sprites, and end of prologue. _Merlin_, or a spirit, ought to
have sung "_Voici le sabre_." This chance was lost.
The next scene is at Camelot, when in come a lot of knights in armour,
and the story begins in real earnest. Here is ELLEN TERRY, sweet and
majestic as the Burne-Jonesian _Queen Guinevere_, and here, too, is
FORBES-ROBERTSON as _Lancelot_, a part which he plays and looks to
perfection. The order has been given "All wigs abandon ye who enter
here," that is as far as the male principals are concerned; so they
all "keep their hair on," and thus HENRY IRVING in armour looks more
like the "Knight of the Woeful Countenance," or a moustachioless
_Don Quixote_, than the glorious Chairman of the Goodly Round Table
Company.
_Sir Lancelot_ is compelled by "circumstances over which he has no
control" to remain behind at court, all through the selfishness of
_King Arthur_ (so unlike him, too, for once!), who fancies the Round
Table will be a trifle dull when all his "blooming companions have
faded and gone," and so the unfortunate young knight has to say to the
Queen, as Mr. CHEVALIER'S Coster sings to his "lidy-love," "_I'm
bound to keep on lovin' yer! d'yer 'ear?_" and he is watched by
_Macbeth-Mordred_ (Mr. FRANK COOPER) and his be-witching mother _Lady
Macbeth-Morgan-le-Fay_ (Miss GENEVIEVE WARD).
[Illustration: _C-m-ns C-rr (rising to the occasion out of the mystic
mere)._ "Up I come with my little plot!"]
In Act Two, while _Ellen-Guinevere_ and girls are out a-maying in one
of the most lovely of "As You Like it" woodland scenes (with a fool in
the forest, too) ever beheld on any stage, _Lady Macbeth-Morgan_ and
_Macbeth-Mordred_ overhear the love-making of _Guinny_ and _Lancy_;
and in Act Three these "two clever ones," as poor _Affery_ was wont
to style _Flintwich_ and _Mrs. Clennam_, reveal the truth to
_Arthur-Othello_, who has taken from the hand of the suicided
_Ophelia-Elaine_ (Miss LENA ASHWELL) a note, which assists him in
discovering the wickedness of sly _Sir Lancy_ and the giddy _Guinny_.
_Sir Lancy_ cries, "Strike on!" and _King Henry Irving Arthur_ is just
"on strike" when he exclaims "I cannot kill thee," and _Excalibur_, a
notably sharp blade on occasion, fails him now. _Lancy_ is banished;
and takes it very quietly, going out like a lamb. _King Arthur_ and
all the knights go off to the wars, leaving _Guinevere_ in charge of
_Sir Macbeth-Mordred_ and _Mrs. Morgan-le-Fay_, female professor of
necromancy, table-turning-medium, "parties attended," &c.
In Act last _Guinevere_ is imprisoned in a tower, and is made love to
by that awfully Bad Knight, _Sir Mordred_, who seizes this chance of
playing _Sir Brian de Bois-Guilbert_ to _Guinny's Rebecca_, only that
there is no window from which she can threaten to throw herself: and
so the wicked wooing comes to a rather tame conclusion. In the last
scene _Macbeth-Mordred_ and _Lady Morgan-Macbeth_ are now King and
Queen, and poor _Rebecca-Guinny_ is going to be burnt _à la Juive_,
when the herald's challenge is answered by a very Black Knight,
who keeps himself awfully dark, and who does not say, "I am RICHARD
C[OE]UR DE LION," but lifting his steel nose-protector (most useful
except when the Knight has a bad cold), reveals "The King!" Then comes
the fight--and ah, would that here one of the swords could have been
poisoned, and that _Mordred_, after slaying _Arthur_, should himself
have been stabbed to death by his own weapon, while at the same time
_Mrs. Morgan-le-Fay_ might have shouted, "See the Queen drinks to
_Arthur_," and then she could have drained a poisoned cup, and so
obtained her "_coup de grâce_."
But no! COMYNS CARR would have none of this. The wicked flourish.
Someone said that _Sir Lancelot_ was killed "without," but I don't
believe it. My private opinion is that the sly dog _Lancy_ sneaked out
quietly, waited for _Guinevere_, and then they both went off together,
to Boulogne, or Monte Carlo maybe; that _Morgan-le-Fay_ took to
walking in her sleep and washing out little sanguinary spots on her
hand; and that _Mordred_ got an engagement in the provinces to play
_Iago_; while all that the audience know of _King Arthur_ is that he
went off with three Queens of the Night (perhaps signifying that
he ventured on a water-party with only three sovereigns) in a
barge,--perhaps "the craft of _Merlin_" mentioned by TENNYSON,--to
some place down the river, where he was said to be interred, and at
whose grave kept guard the well-known "Waterbury Watch." However all
this is but surmise. One thing is certain--that _King Arthur_ is still
alive, very much alive, and, like Lord ARTHUR of _Pantomime Rehearsal_
fame, "going strong," at the Lyceum, for very many Arthurian nights to
come. _Le Roi Arthur est mort! Vive le Roi Arthur!_
Bravo, COMYNS! Well may he say to HENRY IRVING, "Eh, mon, whar's your
WULLIE SHAKSPEARE _noo?_"
* * * * *
[Illustration: THE SWORD EXCALIBUR.
(_Scene from "King Arthur" up to date._)
_Sir Bedivere M-rl-y_ (_timidly, but politely_). "SHALL I THROW THE
SWORD INTO THE MERE?"
_King Arthur_ (_Sir W. V. H-rc-urt--disdainfully_). "'THROW THE SWORD
INTO THE MERE!' WHY, I HAVEN'T LOST THE SCABBARD YET, STOOPID!"]
* * * * *
[Illustration: SOMETHING LIKE A CHARACTER.
_Huntsman_ (_on being introduced to future Wife of M. F. H._). "PROUD
TO MAKE YOUR ACQUAINTANCE, MISS! KNOWN THE CAPTING, MISS, FOR NIGH
ON TEN SEASONS, AND NEVER SAW 'IM TURN 'IS 'EAD FROM HANYTHING AS
WAS JUMPABLE! KNOWS A 'OSS AND KNOWS A 'OUND! CAN RIDE ONE AND 'UNT
T'OTHER; AND IF THAT AIN'T AS MUCH AS CAN BE LOOKED FOR IN A 'USBAND,
MISS, WHY, I'LL BE JIGGERED!"]
* * * * *