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Page 6
[Illustration: Arthur Cecil's Collard Head � la G.O.M.]
Then, in the last Act of _The Guardsman_, if we have a French room
with half-a-dozen doors, leading to half-a-dozen different places,
with which arrangement not a few of us are familiar in pieces brought
over fresh from the Palais Royal, and occurring in farces of which
_B�b�_, _Anglic� Betsey_, at the Gymnase and Criterion is a type,
shall we complain? Shall we not rather laugh heartily over the good
old game of Hide-and-Seek, which on the stage is invariably the cause
of much amusement to one person for whom, at all events, I can answer?
What does it matter if to some it recalls a few farcical comedies all
excellent material? Not a bit! I gather from the genuine laughter and
applause of the crowded house at the Court, that this amuses and will
continue to amuse some hundreds nightly, as long as it is all done so
well, and at such high pressure, as it is now in _The Guardsman_. The
First Act is good; the Second is the best; but the Third is like the
last figure in an after-supper early-in-the-morning Lancers, ending
in a whirligig _galop_, when everything is fast and furious, and just
the tune and its measure taken _prestissimo_ and _fortissimo_ keep the
couples going till everybody is breathless and exhausted.
[Illustration: Miss Ellaline Terriss with her Special Train--to be
continued in our next.]
WEEDON GROSSMITH is excellent. In brief, he plays the part of a
thorough donkey, who wishes to appear "horsey." ARTHUR CECIL is
admirable as the Ex-Judge of the Divorce Court--suggesting the idea
of a gay old gentleman, who is still a bit of a dog--but a dog who
has had his day. If this is not his character, how is it he is on such
friendly terms with the _Modiste_, carefully played, and with great
spirit too, by Miss AGNES THOMAS? Mr. ELLIOT is all go and bustle; if
he were not so, pop would go the piece. The makeup of Mr. LITTLE for
the old Captain is uncommonly good; it is a small part, but, with
a LITTLE in it, it is big. Mr. NAMBY, as the Irishman, _Miles_,
first-rate; quite _Miles gloriosus_. But I can't go on with praise,
they're all so good, and ELLALINE TERRISS charming. Miss CAROLINE
HILL, fresher than the proverbial paint, makes a rattling part of
_Lady Jones_, and, as the motto of this Company is that of Racing
Eights, "Swing, swing together!"--which might, in another sense, have
been the refrain sung by a brazen band of Highwaymen in the good old
times--it is likely that they'll keep the Court-Boat going the pace,
with the tide of popular favour, for many months to come.
As a Postscript, I may add a letter on the subject addressed to _Mr.
Punch_.
_Oct. 25th._
DEAR MR. PUNCH,
In the admirable letter of "AN OLD SOLDIER" in your paper this
week, there are a few unimportant errors due, no doubt, to your
Correspondent's age, and the shortness of memory consequent upon it
that mar, in a measure, the trenchant force of his criticism. I feel
sure he will pardon my reminding him that the Coldstream Guards do
_not_ wear varnished or patent-leather boots with a tunic, except
in "_Lev�e_ dress;" that Mr. CHARLES WARNER did not play a private
soldier in "the same distinguished regiment," but in the Grenadiers;
that a Captain could never, by any possibility be "on guard" at the
Tower; that the officer on duty at the Tower is called the "Picquet,"
and not the "Orderly" officer, and is never a Captain; that no
Guardsman has ever, in the memory of man, worn a "scarf" in uniform;
and that no soldier, worthy of the name, considers the mess of his own
Battalion "an odd sort of place to dine at," even "in the height of
the Season."
I may add that my mother tells me she has often had her Court-dress
altered on the very morning of the "Drawing-Room." With these few
trifling exceptions, "AN OLD SOLDIER's" letter is most accurate and
just.
I am, Dear _Mr. Punch_, Your enthusiastic Admirer,
A PRESENT GUARDSMAN.
* * * * *
"HERE WE ARE AGAIN!"--Last Friday, a Correspondent of the P.M.G.,
onboard the _Angola_, interviewed "the Marine-mystery, the
Sea-serpent," off the West Coast of Africa. It showed "two tremendous
green eyes." The narrator counts upon there being a considerable
amount of green in the eyes of those who don't happen to be
Sea-serpents--unless after using very strong glasses (hot) and plenty
of 'em.
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