Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-06-05
TERMS OF THE DISPATCH.
PITTsBURG, FRIDAY, JUNE 5, 1891.
THE BURLEsQUE OF TRANBY CROFT


1t is well at least that the pretense of
Divine right which doth hedge in some
monarchies is no longer kept up in Eng
land. Otherwise what is now merely the
polite comedy, or, as you WILL melodrama,
of the Princes Card Party, with Sir Will
lam Gordon-C Cumming as heavy villain,
Albert Edward as low comedian and
Juvenile and utility parts all thrown in
secundqtnp drt6ns, would inevitably present
itself to the public as roaring burlesque
of the first water.
There is a serious phase to the case upon
which the wiseacres and philosophers as
to small things have been duly expending
themselves this serious phase can
quickly be disposed of. 1t turns wholly
upon the wickedness and folly of betting
and the circumstance that British statute
makes that wickedness penal; and further,
that if a London policeman only caught a
costermonger indulging in a two-penny
game at the nearest ale-house the humble
offender would be hailed forthwith before
a bench of indignant magistrates to be
lectured for the enormity and subjected to
fine or sent to prison in vindication of the
law. The mercilessly critical say why
should the Prince and his set fare better?
But they forget to take into account the
desperate straits to which the royal and
titled aristocracy must frequently be re-
duced to kill their leisure time. The moral
which the case conveys in its serious as
poets is not so much that Albert Edward
and his aristocratic friends are inherently
more wicked or worse than Others as that
when a nation exempts a class from the
responsibilities of ordinary toll, it should
have the wisdom to provide the exempts
with other duties sufficiently engaging to
keep them out of mischief.
That the elements of broad burlesque
enter ridiculously enough into the Tranby
Croft affair and its sequel in the courts
has been illustrated in way not to be for
gotten in the court proceedings of the past
three days. The spectacle of the future
. King of Great Britain and ireland, En-
peror of India and Defender of the Faith,
instructing a solemn British judge, a
solemn British jury and a solemn British
public, how the game of baccarat is played,
and enlightening them upon the functions
of a 'fbanker'' and dealer therein would
be too much for the risibilities of any
audience less constitutionally and irresist-
IDLY solemn and impervious to the sugges-
tions of broad humor. Nothing in the
''Merry Monarch, ""The Field of the Cloth
of Gold" or other travesties which profess
siOnals have put upon the stage, excels
this in breadth of incongruous conception.
No dialogue in these farces sounds more
strangely on the ear than the disputes be-
tween Cumming and the Prince over
''fivers'' and 'tenners''-the five-pound
and the ten-pound bets. Finally, the
'Dear Chappie, ""Dear Fellow" and ffOld
Boy interview between young Wilson
and Lieutenant Leyett in which they COM
municated to one another their discovery
of Sir William Gordon's sharp play beats
hollow the famous interlude of the three
Athenian dudes in the new comic opera of
"Apollo," which has lately been convuls-
ing theater-goers.
On the whole, the proceedings are most
curious and instructive. Americans will
feel strongly inclined to laugh at them,
but there is apt to be large number of
English folk who will take them seriously
to the extent, least, Of inquirlng whether
there is not good deal of other humbug
about the royalty business, too. Cousin
John will be widely laughed at for this
business, and when he awakes to that fact
he will not like it.