VOL. XXXVII.-NO. 923.

SADLER'S WELLS.-CRUSOE, HIS WARM MA, AND HIS PAR- OT.

Pavilion pieces (which I have not seen), and Sadler's Wells (which I have seen) is certainly a case in point. There is a want of finish about the ballet dancing, and a want of washing about one or two of the costumes, but the principals are mostly up to their work. Mr. Robson is a host in himself, and his Maude contains the humorous charac. teristics of a good comedian, and though the introduction of the spirit-bottle is both a joke in which there is not much intrinsic fun, and one of which most of us are growing tired as the centuries roll on, there are audiences that would feel lonely without it.

Mr. Giovanelli's Friday gives some Monday-niable entertainment, and Mr. Stretton shows both the Will(Atkins) and the way. Notwithstanding an imitation of an American "plantation song and dance" (a species of entertainment which threatens to be as much "done to death" as the late "æsthetic " craze), the individual dancing will compare favourably with some at more pretentious houses; that of Miss Alice Rogers, who impersonates Crusoe with considerable spirit, being especially lively, varied, and full of élan. A really good idea is the procession of children

the Olympic. Miss Genevieve Ward still gives her wonderfully skilled and powerful impersonation of Stephanie, which has suffered surprisingly little from its constant repetition, and Mr. W. H. Vernon's Sir Horace is very complete. Miss Lucy Buckstone is a very pleasing and sweet, if not very strong, Alice Verney. There is no "plantation song and dance" in this piece.

An Adamless Eden at the Opera Comique is a marked im

THE IMPERIAL.-MORE MANEY-ACTRESSES- -I MEAN, MA-
NIAC-TRESSES-THAT IS, MANY-HACK-TRESSES, WHICHEVER
YOU LIKE.

provement upon the first piece presented by Miss Clay; the dialogue is decidedly pointed, although it has a little too much of the character of a satirical and comic paper, the songs rhythmic, the music tuneful, and if it were adequately acted throughout would no doubt be a very effective little piece. Misses Emily Cross, Fanny Howell, and Cicely Richards are good, particularly in their singing; and Miss Amalia's manner, appearance, and dancing are very pleasing; while Miss Jonghmans brings a good deal of liveliness and observation to bear upon the part of Peter the "Masher." The "Postman Ballet "is novel and funny. There is a "plantation song and dance in this piece.

CH, FLEASE MR CRITIC DON'T BE ANGRY

& WE'LL

TURN IT

CINTO

A PANTO

ANY MORE

The pantomime at the Imperial is remark. ably original in one respect: it follows the story it pretends to unfold-Jack the Giant Killer-with something like faithfulness, which, if pantomime is really intended for children, would seem to be the principal desideratum, though it is by no means generally regarded as such. The production has other claims to support in its bright costumes, songs, and dances. Miss Marie Longmore is a sprightly Jack, Mr. Sam Wilkinson a comical Mamma, Mr. Frome a sufficiently ferocious Giant Cormoran, and Mr. T. F. Nye an almost too kindly-looking Giant Blunderbore, who, with a Nye to effect, the authors have made an Nyelander. The remainder of the perform. ers are almost uniformly good; but the principal attraction is undoubtedly the now famous "Ballet of Equestriennes," in which the full resources (or race-horses) of the manage

MIME

000000

HER MAJESTY'S.-THE PANTER AND THE MIME.

ment in the way of Jockey-larity (or Jock-hilarity) and grace are pre

A Greeting to the Glorious One. FOR many months London has languished and pined, Disconsolate, dreary, and minus all glee,

For a Being, combining both Beauty and Mind,

Has been shedding effulgence on lands o'er the sea.
No need to ask "Who is the being here named?"
For all over the world great renown has he earned;
So we'll merely remark that this Personage famed
Has to England returned !

Oh, joy! oh, delight! With what rapturous hearts
We welcome that Great One again to our shores!
Too long has he "flopped " in American parts,

Where some dared to call him "the biggest of bores." Some laughed at his locks, and some grinned at his garb, And his "merit artistic" they cruelly spurned.

Too long he there suffered from calumny's barb,
But (oh, bliss !) he's returned !

Then let us be merry, yea, let us be gay,

For a weight is removed from the national breast.
Let us bang the big drum, let us holloa "Hoorray!"
The Esthetic Apostle let's greet with a zest.
With "too-too-consumately-utter" deep sighs,
To behold him again have we frequently yearned;
Though his picturesque guise many people despise,
We rejoice he's returned.

Though certain prosaic ones doubtless will sneer
At seeing us welcome our Wonderful Wilde,
We have reason why Oscar we proudly revere,

Although on occasions, perchance, he 's reviled.
We'll tell you the reason: 't is not that we 'd hint
That he's witty or wise, or that art he has learned;
'Tis because he is useful to "get at " in print
That we're glad he's returned.

HOW TO PASS A FAIRLY COMFORTABLE (K)NIGHT. Bide your time in Cheapside, and then go by Sir John Bennett.

IN THE CONSERVATORY.

OUR EXTRA-SPECIAL AND MISS LOUISE MICHEL.

I FOUND Miss Michel quite as black as she has been painted, Sir, when, one afternoon last week, I saw her for the first time at the Steinway Hall; for not only was she clad in deep mourning, but her looks, when she realized the fact that her audience numbered but twenty, were so black that it required a very strenuous effort on my part to make light of them.

With my usual gallantry I did my best to encourage the lecturess by sitting about in different places and hurrying in and out as though I were a lot of fresh people arriving, but it was all no use. Miss Michel could not make more than twenty of her audience, so that she had reason to complain upon that "score," I admit. Nor was my effort to impress upon her that what the audience lacked in numbers it made up in ExtraSpecial intelligence successful. My command of idiomatic French failed at a critical moment, and I had to leave my sentiments unexpressed. A second attempt of mine to suggest that our money had better be returned at the door was also a failure for a similar reason; and, soon after three, the "woman of the people "-the outward and visible sign of a secret and widespread "Mary Anne," so to speak-began to address us in French on the wrongs and rights of women.

Miss Michel, like several French persons I have had the misfortune to meet or drink with, gabbled at such a rate that she altogether overtaxed my powers of following her language. But I am not sure this was a fact to regret, for I may add that much of this language of hers, judging by the excited demeanour of a hirsute and communistic patriot near me, went completely home. So if I had followed it I must have arrived at home too, Sir, mustn't I? And then clearly I should not have had my money's worth, should I? for I may tell you that I did not go in as the

For Cupid (who is e'er despotic)
Surely such a fay would snare;
Love, you know, is no exotic-
Love can flourish anywhere.

It should ne'er, though, like some flowers,

Fade and be no longer seen; In her case, Love, show lasting powers, Be to her an evergreen!

Press (how could I, as one of twenty only ?), but paid my sixpence like a man-though, for that matter, I could not very well do anything else, for Louise would naturally have objected to my paying my threepence as a child under twelve.

As far as I could "gather" (and I have never been much of a hand with my needle), Miss Michel is anxious to raise her fellow-countrywomen- -especially those who make slop shirts at Lille; she is still more anxious to raise the banner of Social Revolution; but she is most anxious of all, as you'll find these friends of the people usually are, to raise subscriptions. I know this because she spoke much more earnestly and slowly when she came to this portion of her speech, and I noticed that all the more communistic of the audience fixed their gaze on me, as though eager to see what I meant to do to help on the Social Revolution -or the Soho-cial Revolution, as I in my Extra-Special quippy way call it and the cause of the Communard refugees.

But I was not to be rushed, Sir, into extravagance in this way; so, when Miss Michel had quite done, I rose, and, keeping my hand sug gestively rattling my keys in my trouser pocket, offered, àpropos to the Lille needlewomen, to recite "une traduction Française de cette belle poême de Hood's, 'Le Chanson de la Chemise.""

But as the audience noisily declined to hear me, I resumed my seat, turning a deaf ear to the various offers of tuition in idiomatic French rudely urged upon me by several of the Communards around me.

As for Miss Michel, she looked daggers and Orsini bombs at me, and made me feel so uncomfortable that I took an early opportunity and my hat, which a patriot had tried to annex, and departed with a determi nation not to waste any more time in watching the development of the "Soho-cial Revolution."