_Juliet_, she is more charming as _Hermione_,
and most charming as _Perdita_. Nothing prettier than her dance in the
"Pastoral Scene" has been seen in a London Theatre for many a long
year.

[Illustration: Young and Harpy.]

And my reference to the "Pastoral Scene," (by Mr. HAWES CRAVEN) recalls
the fact to my mind that all the scenery is excellent. The _Palace of
Leontes_ by Mr. W. TELBIN, is only equalled by Mr. W. TELBIN'S _Queen's
Apartment_, and a wonderful cloth of a roadside with a view of a flock
of sheep grazing on the brow of a hill (again by Mr. HAWES CRAVEN, who
seems to have become Artist in Ordinary to Arcadia), is not more
remarkable than Mr. HANN'S Court of Justice. In the last stage-picture
it is possible, but not probable, that the hypercritical might suggest
that the accessories are slightly suggestive of a kitchen, on the score
that the altar is something like a silver grill, and the Court Herald
appears, during a portion of the action of the piece, to be cooking
chops. Personally, I think this idea rather far-fetched, although, of
course, there is some resemblance (no doubt purely accidental) between
the helmets of the soldiers and the brass coal-scuttle of a modern
drawing-room. And I will even go further, and admit that, to a careless
observer, some of the warriors may appear to be wearing the garb of
Harlequin; but when it is hinted that _Leontes_, in his first attitude
on his throne, is not unlike a Guy on the Fifth of November, I feel that
the wish must be father of the thought, and that the resemblance is
purely imaginary.

[Illustration: A Scene on its Metal.]

Leaving the scenery to come to the acting, I may say that the play is
generally well cast. Mr. MACLEAN and Mr. CHARLES COLLETTE are both very
amusing, the first as _Camillo_, and the last as _Autolycus_, and Mr.
GEORGE WARDE is quietly humorous with the baby. When I say quietly
humorous, I do not mean that he trenches in the least on the ground
occupied by either the Clown of Pantomime or the Clown of SHAKSPEARE. He
does not sit upon the infant, or throw it about--no, nor even sing to it
a little comic song. He gets all his effects by merely carrying it
quietly about, and showing it, with an assumption of gravity that is
killing, to Mr. FORBES-ROBERTSON. To turn to the less important
characters of the play, Mr. DAVIES as a gaoler suggests that in "those
days" prison officials were sometimes whatever happened to be the
equivalent o