and research could give. Again, was it desirable
that the Democracy should derive their ideas of the family life of
crowned heads from being admitted into the scandalous secrets of the
household of _Hamlet_? Or did they wish to see an injured husband
following the example of _Othello_? A thousand times no. These things
must be stopped. The Council was very far from taking a Puritanical view
of the question--(_applause_)--they fully recognised that the stage was
a necessary social evil, and, as such, must be tolerated until the
public taste was sufficiently purified to refuse it further countenance;
but, in the meantime, the Council must insure that such exhibitions as
they were prepared to sanction were of a kind consistent with the
preservation of good manners, decorum, and of the public
peace--(_applause_)--none of which conditions, in the unanimous opinion
of the Committee, was fulfilled by the class of entertainment which the
appellant IRVING had, by his own admission, persisted in providing. On
those grounds alone the Committee dismissed the Appeal, and declared the
Lyceum Theatre closed till further notice. He might say, however, that
they might possibly be induced, after a certain interval, to reconsider
the question, and allow the theatre to be reopened on MR. IRVING'S
undertaking to produce dramas of an entirely unobjectionable character
in future. (MR. IRVING begged for some more definite leading as to the
dramas alluded to.) The Chairman said that he had been informed that an
illustrated periodical called _Punch_ was publishing a series of Moral
Dramas, in which the sentiments and incidents were alike irreproachable.
Let MR. IRVING promise to confine himself to these, and the Council would
see about it. ( MR. IRVING then withdrew, without, however, having given
any definite undertaking, and the Committee adjourned.)

* * * * *

[Illustration: "PUTTING HIS NOSE OUT OF JOINT."

_Engineering (to Little Tour Eiffel)._ "WHERE ARE YOU, NOW, MY LITTLE
MAN?"]

"The Eiffel Tower is 1000 feet high; if the Forth Bridge were put up
on end, it would be 5280 feet in height. The tower has in its
construction 7500 tons of iron; the bridge has 53,000 tons of the
best steel. The tower was made in about six months; the bridge has
required seven years. The Eiffel Tower is a wonderful thing; but,
then, how much more wonderful is the Forth Bridge!"--_Illustrated
Londo