The Sun.
London, England, 1866-07-09 00:00:00

The Dramatic Fete.

As the lofty Chang stalked through the Crystal
Palace on Saturday his surprise must have been
more intense than even that of Goldsmith's China-
man when he paid his first visit to Drury Lane. On
Saturday tragedy and comedy joined in partnership,
and the players and playgoers of the great metropo-
lis held a united revel. The Palace itself was
turned into a fair, at which our leading actors
figured as showmen, and the whole body of metro-
politan actresses levied blackmail in the cause of
benevolence. To add to the funds of the Dramatic
College was the object in view; and it is due to the
ladies and gentlemen of the profossion to say that
they kept it incessantly before the visitors. A ba-
zaar at which amateur saleswomen preside is pro-
verbially dangerous ground for a man with money
,in his pockets. What, then, must it be, when the
presiding deity at each stall is a lady whom every
one has seen on the stage and whom all are anxious
to see and speak to off the stage, and when, among
the articles you are asked to admire is a portrait of
the fair one herself, which she offers to present you
with on condition that you make her a small pre-
sent, not for herself, but for the orphan and the
helpless ? There they were, in a brilliant galaxy
round the great transept, with all manner of fancy
wares. Miss Lydia Thompson was strong in scarfs
and neckties ; Mrs. Stirling was proprietor of a
shop that would have done honour to the Bur-
lington-arcade or the Palais Royal ; and Mrs.
Howard Paul was enthroned in " a pavilion of
pincushions." To give the names of all the ladies
who traded on the occasion would be to publish a
directory of the leading actresses. Like our great
city firms, they all had travellers on the road—
ladies who waylaid you with samples, and would in-
sist on having your names in their order-books, while
you were yet at a long distance from the houses for
which they did business. The plea of "no assets"
is an effectual one with commercial men seeking to
open accounts, but in every instance it was demurred
to by those lady-traders. They told you flatly that
they did not believe you. Surely you had not come
there without money ? At least you could buy a
newspaper, the Dramatic College Annual, which was
being printed on the premises, and of which they
could let you have an unstamped copy, as you were
so poor, for the small charge of a shilling. Consider-
able assurance enabled some of the visitors to fight
shy of the amateur news hawkers, but from the lady
flower girls there was no possibility of escape.
Armed with the tiniest of little baskets, and wearing
the most coquettish of little hats, they had the pret-
tiest of little nosegays, which they had just prepared
for your buttonhole. Perhaps you tried to put them
off by sayingyou " hadmade so many purchases you
really could not," &c. It was of no avail. They
had learnt how the flower-girls of Naples do when
you tell them you will not buy. They
.presented
you with the nosegay, and then followed you for
payment. Most of the actors adhered to " the
boards ;" but Mr. Buckstono and Mr. Sothern cast
their lot in with " Aunt Sally," and Mr. H. Widdi-
combe, Mr. F. Matthews, Mr. J. Povey, and Mr. W.
Worboys followed their example. Lord Dundreary
showed an admiring crowd that he could " shy" a
stick with the best of them ; and on seeing Mr. Buck-
stone fix a pipe between Aunt Sarah's teeth—he
would call her Sarah—one would have supposed that
he had been brought up to the business. Many of
the booths were admirable. When you stood before
" Richardson's Show" it was difficult to keep your-
self from imagining that you were at a country
fair, and in presence of " the strollers." There
was the rough-looking yokel at the foot of the steps,
keeping off the small boys with flourishes of the
blackthorn ; half way up the ladder stood the man
with the white hat, high shirt collar, and knee
breeches, who cried out, " Walk up, walk up, ladies
and gentlemen ; decidedly the best show in the fair;
just going to commence ;" on each side of the gang-
way to the green baize door were a pair of tradi-
tional clowns, moving up and down, now walking,
now dancing ; young ladies in white, with pink
stockings ; in one corner a big drum and three brass
horns, " discoursing" music sufficiently noisy, but
not " most eloquent ;" a fat woman and a seedy
man at the box-office ; and an infant prodigy doing
the acrobat here and there and everywhere. The
get-up outside was wonderfully true to the original
article. Having paid your shilling, you descend to
see " The Mysterious Monk ; or, the Secret of the
Ircn Pillar." The orthodox delay in raising the
curtain evokes the usual kicking, which produces
the desired effect. The curtain rises and the villain
of the piece enters boldly, in ample boots, slouched
hat, and grizzly beard of ebony hue. Having de-
livered himself of sundry imprecations on all man-
kind, he is joined by ruffians No. 2 and 3, who,
after fully coinciding in the malevolent views of
their chief, disappear to allow of a tote-ct-tete be-
tween him and a venerable gentleman with flowing
white hair, who has an only daughter, whose hand
caitiff No. 1 demands. Then follows a Romeo and
Juliet scene, in which a young gentleman with pip-
ing voice makes love to the old gentleman's beloved
child. The three wicked wretches again appear; as
do also a monk, a ghost, the aged father, and the
maiden. There is a general fight with short swords
—" hacks"—the entire strength of the company
taking part in the conflict; and amid blue fire every-
body kills everybody else—youth and age, innocence
and guilt, ruffianism and religion, all finding one
common grave, over which the curtain drops, the
stage manager at the same instant emerging to the
footlights and expressing his confident hope that
the enlightened audience on their departure will re-
commend the public outside not to lose a moment in
rushing in to witness a repetition of the thrilling
and powerful tragedy. Next door to Richardson's
is Addison and Robin's waxworks, with a chamber
of horrors " containing over two hundred thousand
of the most distinguished murderers." Mr. Toole,
Mr. Paul Bedford, Mr. J. Billington, Mr. J. Ashley,
Mr. R. Romer, and Mr. C. J. Smith appear in
" Professor Toole's Chinese Exhibition of the Golden
Pay-goda of the Thousand and One Devices." The
Professor himself delivers a lecture on China ; and
Mr. Paul Bedford and the other members of the
company illustrate the manners and customs of the
inhabitants of the Celestial Empire. In this they
arc assisted by Che-Mah, the Chinese dwarf, a real
native. The droll earnestness of Mr. Took and the
mock gravity of Mr. Bedford and Mr. J. C. Smith
in the performance are to the last degree comic.
Mr. Took, taking the audience into his confidence,
announces that it is all a " sell." It certainly is to
the only Chinese in the company, the child Che-
Mah, who evidently does not know what to make
of it. Outside Messrs. Toole and Bedford's booth
is a musician, made up as a Chinaman, who pre-
tends to play on four penny whistles at one time.
During his peregrinations round the building Chang
frequently stopped and gazed on this whistle player
with an extremely perplexed expression of counte-
nance. One of the best things in the fair is "Mr.
Phillips's astounding and extremely rare cat
show." On the walls inside are some very clever
sketches illustrative of " catsup "—a cat sitting on
a mushroom; " catalogue "—two cats rolling a log ;
and other words of which " cat" forms a part.
The exhibitor
pledges himself to produce " a I
cherry-coloured cat," and redeems his pledge
by introducing a black cat, whose coat he
shows you is of the same tint as black cherries,
which he holds in bis hand. Another of his curiosi-
ties is " a live Hibernian Chameleon." He asks in-
dividual spectators to tell him the colour of the ani-
mal ; but the moment he receives au answer, he
gives the chameleon a poke to make him turn a dif-
ferent quarter, which is sure to be of another colour.
lie states that the genus of the brute is unknown,
the only thing pcsitively ascertained on the point
being that he is not a Fenian. Some of h
audi-
ence suggest that it is a juvenile pig painted in
party colours. The showman assures them that they
are mistaken, though he feels bound in candour to
admit that one ill-informed zoologist had previously
been rash enough to suggest that the animal did
belong to the porcus vulgarts tribe. Mr. J. Bland
exhibits in his Temple of Magic " a living head
without a body, surpassing the famous Sphynx."
This ghastly object discourses from a box, and on
a table after the box is removed. The trick is an
excellent one. In another part of the building Mr.
Bland shows a beautiful and very ingeniously-con-
structed singing bird, whose caretaker is Miss God-
-6411 of the Adelphi, A humorous competitionis