Morning journal and courier., 1893-06-17

eess certain sociological and literary in- tsreet when confined to the charscterful clsss from which 1t emanAtes; but every one of those pretentious cockneys, wheth- CT met in London or on their ruffanly travels about the world, should be set down for precisely wha. they are. They are no more representative Englishmsn than New York dude, carrying the man. ner, epithets and clothing of Bowery boy about the world, would be typical Amer ican. They are simply cads; disgrsce to intelligent English people and an insulting human parody upon the ignorant though sturdy and genuine oostermongers they sad ly mimic, possessing more than all their vioea and totally lacking the least of their humble virtues.
 The longer one studies these curious low ly folk of London the greater is the won- der that they have not proven more fruit ful subject for the novelist, or at least for such masters of character painting as Thackeray, Reade and Dickens. They have always been utilized as the butt of quips and quirks by the penny liner, the wits of Punch. the newspaper paragraph CTS, and, In low sort of way, to raise the loudest guffaws at the myriad music-halls of London. But not until quite recently has their character been seriously studied by man of real genius, or their weak
  vereal human recognition, been portrayed by man of subtle perception and ardent sympathies.
 That man is Albert Cheyslisr. Of French, Welsh and Irish extraction, he was destined by his parents for the priest hood. But instead he became 6 successful actor of the legitimate comedy under the Bancrofts, the Kendals and later at the Court Theater under manager Hare. In time he found himself a popular leading comedian without an engagement. Offers came to him for engagements in burlesque as second comedian. This was going back ward; something London actor cannot afford tp do. Some of his work in come dy hadbrought him among the cestermon- gers for character study; and he renem- bered that any song he had sung In his VA rious characters b. bsaring on these droll folk had been received with peculiar favor. He suddenly resolved to turn music-hal singer. resolution which carried out in London ordinarily means complete social ostracism. But from the time this de- termination was reached Chevalier must be considered in the light of poet, com poser and singer. He continued his cos- ter studies with a positive genius, 8 splen- did education and 6 successful sctor's alert perception of what is necessary, as with the painter, to not only reveal by true realism, but to reveal in the subtler power of suggestion, behind them; and the result was that since his first singing of HThe Coster's Serenade" at the London Pavilion, in February, 1891. he had held the extraordinary position of being the only performer upon any stage, SO unique in his line of rendition and so masterful in his artistic skill as to prevent the slightest at tempt at rivslry.
 He Is but thirty years of sge, yet his in- come from his nightly performances at four leading London music halls and from roy alties on his songs is from $500 to $1 ,000 per week-nearly equsling the salary of the President of the United States; and all this from merely discovering the costermongers of London and revealing them to the people of London. It has been done in @ way to reach their hearts ss we'll as their sense of humor lastingly, as Is shown in the fact that his present engagements are perma- nent for a period. of five years. He Is quiet, studious fellow, and while his in comparable success has opened to him the doors of the great and noble houses in Lon don, where his genuine scholarship and re. fnement would render him social aoqui- sition without the glamour of success, he leads a modest life in his own pretty home alongside the Thames, almost under the shadow of Windsor Castle, where his books, his punt and fshing-rod are h's chief companions.
 This much regarding the mans person. ality. To convey to others who are un- acquainted with costermopgers themselves, the peculiar conditions of London life and society which make 1t possible for man to derive princely income from creating and interpretine-for Chevslier is more thsn a mere singer upon the stage-two or three oah fo ar1f toaE London is almost 8 great world in itself. It's costsrs, distinctive in character, vocation, speech, traits, habits and ous- toms, had previously remained an almost unknown people to what may be regarded as intellectual London. If Charles Dickens were living and had written 8 great work of fiction in which coster life and love had been delineated so powerfully that all Lon don stood amazed at its own ignorance of its own lowly, the coster man and woman could not have been more firmly get upon the pedestals of sentiment than has Chevalier placed them. through his strong flash lights and bold, bread strokes of de- liueation in character representation and song. He has brought to almost universal attention ths mirthtul and serious sides of coster character. He has shown that there are coster comedy and tragedy like that possible to your life and mine. In one after another of his marvellous song imperson- ations like "The Coster's Serensde," "The Coster's Courtship." "rha Future Mrs. 'Awkins," "Wot Cher" "The Nasty Way E sez It." and "Our Little Nippsr," he has brought the very heart throbbipgs of this uncouth class, often through pathetic tenderness, so close to those of his hearers, that the great London public, from prentice boy to prince, have awakened to the fsct that costers are actually human creatures, possessing at least some of the common attributes of humankind.
 Cheyslier found that the posters really made love to each other; that there were rude Romeos and Juliets among them; and such hints ss these are given of the gentle passion between pearl-buttoned Jsckeys and their "donahs:"-
 You ain't forgotten yet that night in May,
 Down at the Welsh Arp, w'ich is 'Eudon wsys -Four 'ah," murmured, "'s good enough fo.
 me;
 You prods me gently with the winkle pin:
 We was as 'appy as could be that day,
 Down at the Welsh Arp, wien Is 'Endon way.
 "Wot Cher" Is an inimitable delineation of the coster in his roystering. hilarious mood. "rhe Nasty Way 'E Sez It." which has been pirated and put to ignoble use in America, though told in the uncouth coster way of a snesring, fault finding "psl, is a most wonderful satire on that omnipresent class of croakers who descend like hsrpiss upon all well earned comfort and content. His latest creation, "Our Little Nippsr," discloses the ooster parental love for and pride in tue ooster boy, who is sssiduously taught" by his radiant father
 "Nos in books, of course, for them e can't
 abiie"-
 "But In artful little keys little ways
 AS makes the people sit up were re stays"
 Chsvslier's ipfiueno4 has been healthful and good. While, ss In London parlsnce, soster stock is looking up, there Is decidedly less of initiated eockneyism and coster slang among the lowly, and less every. day buGoonery among the ccckney cads of London. Defining and revealing costers as 6 class have brought them into line for social and literary contemplation. This of itself gradually tends to confine imitators to @ very low class of minds whose in- fuenes upon manners and speech is with out weight, and delinsators to. s very high order of intellect, as with Chevalier, with painters and with novelists, who will do the costers no harm, and who will mist the pablie's eye or touch thepublic's heart in e way that always makes 1t better for thill of mirth or sadness.
 Ohevaller's ooster dialect Is admirably clean; too clean to be the real thing; but Lz- ars 4 st~t- H.