n be accepted, as I didn't
see the _premiere_, Mr. SUGDEN must have immensely improved his
_Touchstone_. He plays it now with much dry, quaint humour, and when I
saw him in the part last week, every line told with a decidedly
discriminating but appreciative audience. His scenes with that capital
_Audrey_, Miss MARION LEA, and with _William_, were uncommonly good. I
confess I was surprised. Mr. BOURCHIER--but now an amateur, now
thus--gives _Jaques'_ immortal speech of "All the world's a stage," in a
thoroughly natural and unconventional manner, chiefly remarkable for the
absence of every gesture or tone that could make it a mere theatrical
recitation by a modern professional reciter at a pic-nic. Mrs. LANGTRY'S
_Rosalind_ is charming, her scenes with _Orlando_ being as pretty a
piece of acting as any honest playgoer could wish to see. And what a
pretty Lamb is she they call BEATRICE who plays _Phoebe_! What a
sweet, gentle, restful play it is! How unlike these bustling times! To
witness this idyllic romance as it is put on at the St. James's, is as
if one had stepped aside out of "the movement," had bid adieu for a
while to the madding crowd, and had plunged into the depths of the
forest of Arden, to find a tranquil "society of friends," among whom,
under the greenwood tree, one can rest and be thankful.

I was curious to see how ALEXANDER "the (Getting) Great" would comport
himself as the hero of light farce, associated as he has always hitherto
been with heroes of romance and high comedy. The theatre-going public
and his admirers--the terms are synonymous--may breathe again. ALEXANDER
is surprisingly good as _Dr. Bill_, and the serious earnestness with
which he invests the part intensifies the drollery of the complications.
And to think that the adapter of this gay and festive piece should be
none other than the sentimental troubadour, song-writer and composer,
author of a Lyceum Tragedy and other similar trifles, Mr. HAMILTON
AIDE!! "Sir," in future will HAMILTON AIDE say, when being interviewed
by a Manager, "I will now read you my Five Act Tragedy entitled----"
"Hang your tragedies!" will the Manager exclaim, "Give me a farce like
'_Dr. Bill_,' my boy!" And once more will the poet put his pride and his
tragedy in one pocket, and all the money which the Comic Muse will give
him in the other. I back the _argumentum ad pocketum_ against the Tragic
Muse.

[Illustration: The Kan-Kan (-garoo) Dance.]

How capitally it