The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-05-16

NleAA WoAo oNAhAAdbl1 dudDNtu lUI us purpose
You didn't want breakdown nigger dance,
or an infant prodigy, or an optical illusion to
set them off. The days of Vestris the DAYS
of Harley, of Mad'lles ST. George Reynolds,
and Horton-that was the golden age of bur
lesque writing and burlesque acting. Those
artists played their parts as If they enjoyed
the tun themselves. Your modern actors and
actresses seem only to condescend to theirs.
They enunciate those wretched little milk
and-water puns as if they were ashamed of
them-and well they may be, for, as a rule.
weaker balderdash has never passed for wit.
Jokes indeed why you might make a gross
of them in an hour. They are not Jokes
they are not even puns-but a silly Jingle
of sounds. The audience don't iaugh
at this stuff; they can't. defy any one with
a grain of sense to do so. They only utter a
dismal grOan, which runs around the dress
circle like banshee's wall.
But pantomime, a real, genuine. we'll
organized pantomime, with a regular trans
formation scene and plenty of harlequinade.
is national institution which | trust NAV
never become extinct. It is not an intel
lectual amusement, perhaps to enjoy it
you need be familiar neither with politics
nor the pages of DR.. Lempriere's dictionary.
II Is simple nonsense, if you will - but
then 1t pretends to be nothing else We
can't always (thanl goodness) combine in
struction with amusement, like the amiable
pedagOgues who invent geographical games.
and playfully beguile little boys into the rule
OF three. No; q pantOmime is solely in
tended to make us laugh, and the man who
refuses to laugh at it once year. and in the
presence of children, must be gloomy mis-
anthTope. For my part / confess to no little
sympathy with Mr.. Merryman in his various
escapades. l like to see him purloining
sausages, geese, and legs of mutton, and
admire the adroitness with which he transfers
those comestibles to his capacious pocket. l
am pleased when he divides the fish with
Pantaloon, and, with a great semblance
of fairness, reserves by far the larger
share for himself. | rejoice when
he is fired out of a cannon or pressed
flat in mangle, because l know by
experience that his constitution can stand
these trials, and that ten to one he will be
livelier for them i'll the next scene. AS for
Columbine, have always regarded her as
one of the most fascinating women in Chris
tendon, and could desire no better fare than
to go through life with such a partner, pi-
rouetting up and down the world dressed in
a tight suit Of spangles, like that lucky dog
Harlequin, who can leap into a clock-face,
or disappear through shop shutter as quick
as ightning-whenever it suits his convent
ence.
hale of intense respect surrounds
the memory of those old Cimbrians
as / picture llem 10 myseu, seated
on sturdy windsor chairs, in that
homely but hospitable parlor pannelled high
with English oak, and bearing on its walls fair
copies of the Lely portraits at Hampton Court.
They were very strong in politcs-those stout
and ancient Britons-a subject which, Judging
from my own experience, interests the art
student but very little. So we let them say
their say, and wag their venerable old heads
with solemn earnestness, as they discussed the
merits of Sir Robert Peel, and entered at
length upon the great Chartist question.
As for nous GutreS, we kept our
conversation pretty much to our
selves. Sometimes a dozen of us-painters,
sucking barristers, Governmental clerks,
and medical student or two-would form a
little conclave at one end of the table, and,
content for once to spend a quiet evening,
would sit ON, gossipping, long after the old
haJitufS of the place (the extra ordindrieS, as
we used to call them in playful allusion to
the nature of the banquet) had toddled home.
1t was at ] o'clock, think, when Robert, the
head waiter, used to come in, rubbing his
eyes, with "Now, gentlemen, if you please I"
the usual form OF warning which he gave
us previously to turning off the gas
| fear, good deal of what mill
tary men call "pipeclay," and civilians
'shop," was talked ON all sides, and the
artists had the best of it.. 1t will, | believe,
be admitted that the failing is natural to us as
class. Scarcely any other calling can be
said to furnish theme for work and play to
the same devotees. When Mugwell, the
rising young lawyer, goes off to Swift
zerland for the long vacation, do you
! suppose he troubles his head with Black
stone on the Wengern Alp, or pops brief
| into his pocket before stepping on board the
| boat at Lucerne You might travel all day
| with those eminent medical celebrities. DR.,
! Pillington and Mr. Lancelot Probus and never
find out that one gentleman obtained liveli-
hood by writing hieroglyphics at a guinea
page, and that the other would be ready al
any moment to cut you up-not meta.
phorcally, but in the fesh-without the
slightest remorse l have known even sober
and unimpeachable divines modify their cos
tune to no small extent as soon as they hav,
crossed the Channel, exchange the conven
tional white choker for an easy silk necker
chief replace the stern chimneypot with
comfortable wideawake, and wear an ordinar,
shooting-coat instead of the more orthodo;
paletot. Barring a slight tendency to inton
his conversation, you would hardly recogniz
his reverence in the frank and genial talker VIII
sits next you at the table d'h6te. If on
young clergy have their little failngs, the
certainly do not intTude ecclesiastical intelli
gence upon you between the wine and wal
nuts, that is unless you begin the subject
But what does an artist like to talk about S
much as his art How delighted he is sure t
be il, agreeing with the theories which h
propounds, you endorse his opinion tha
Madder Brown is a great genius With wha
mingled pity and contempt he will regard yo,
If you happen to admire the landscapes q
Stippler "What, my dear fellow, that man
F work like nature Nonsense
tell you there isn't a bit of nature Il