The Sun.
London, England, 1865-10-05 00:00:00

(The Times.)

The second act, representing the interior of a prison,
with the horrors of penal servitude, heightened by abuses
on the part of the governor, was so exceedingly revolting to
the more refined portion of the audience, that it nearly led to one
of those theatrical " rows" that were familiar in the times of
our fathers, but are almost unknown to ourselves. Two or
three gentlemen in the stalls vigorously, and correctly, de-
nounced the performance as "revolting ;" and the manager
showed admirable " pluck " while pleading on the side
of the defence, though he hazarded two or three expres-
sions which in cooler moments he might not have uttered.
The piece has been magnificently put upon the stage, and
a mountainous view in Australia, with a fall of real water,
may rank among the wonders of modern stage manage-
ment. But it would be folly to commend a piece the second
act of which is almost as repulsive as an accurate represen-
tation of the tortures of the Spanish Inquisition. Whether
the abuses exposed belong to the past or the present is of
little moment, neither is mere truth a -sufficient reason for
stage representation. Lithotomy is a fact, but we do not
wish to see it imitated in the hours set apart for recreation.
Fortunately this detestable second act may be cut out with-
out detriment to the plot of the piece. It is the mistake of
an extremely clever novelist, who, in his honest hatred of
abuses, has been mistaken in the tribunal before which
they are to be tried. Easily may ho profit by the title of
his own play,lt is Never Too Late to Mend.

(The Star.)

The piece, which is in four acts, occupied more than five
hours in representation, though at one period it seemed
probable that its performance would be brought prema-
turely to a close. The repulsive brutality of sundry elabo-
rate details of prison tyranny in the second act elicited
from a large proportion of the audience very hearty mani-
festations of indignation and disgust, and the features thus
protested against were in themselves so objectionable that
the applause with which it was sought to drown the voices
of the malcontents could be ascribed only to the indiscre-
tion of friendly zeal.

(The Daily NewB.)
It is quite impossible, in recording the production of the
piece, to say more at present than that it may be pro-
nounced successful ; but this result was much alloyed by
some strongly expressed objections that were raised by a
portion of the audience to certain scenes in the second act,
representing in a painfully practical manner the supposed
errors in the prison system of this country. At this junc-
ture, Mr. Vining, the manager, was compelled to come for-
ward to pacify the dissentients, and at the end of the play
the applause was unmingled with expressions of condem-
nation.

The Daily Telegraph.
The second part, which shows how Robinson has paid
the penalty of his loose life, is devoted to a minute illustra-
tion of the horrors of prison discipline under asystem which
is certainly not practised at the present day, and which the
audience indignantly refused to recognise as belonging to
any period whatever. The convicts aro exhibited working
on the treadmill, the brutality of the "governor" and the
warders is depicted in the coarest and most repulsive
style, and the penalties of oakum-picking and weaving
aro practically shown in operation for the instruction of
those who happily require to be enlightened as to the
economy of a prison interior. The prisoners, with their
names absorbed in the registered numbers, are introduced
with their black masks on their faces, and their brass badges
on their breasts, marched into their cells, to show the coin-
bined machinery of the silent and the solitary system ; and
the whole details of penal servitude are exposed to view in
a manner more likely to shock the sensibility of the spec-
tators than afford the sensation that was evidently antici-
pated. The protracted presentation of cruelties that have
ceased to be practised, not having the only excuse that could
be made of exerting an influence to check an existing
at last aroused the strong remonstrances of the audience,
and enforced an expostulatory address from the manager.

(The Morning Advertiser.)
The details of this scene were so dismal and revolting,
and so evidently one-sided in their representation, that the
better part of the audience were disgusted with it, and the
critical were equally annoyed at this episodical and politi-
cal diatribe being thrust into the middle of the piece to
the entire suspension of the dramatic interest and story.
The expression and contest of opinion became so strong
that the, performance waa for a time 'suspended.