, lay me in a
plain white jelly-pot, with a parchment cover, and on the label
write----but come nearer, I have a secret for your ear alone ... there
are strange things in some cupboards! Demons should keep in the
dust-bin. (_With a ghastly smile._) I know not what ails me, but I am
not feeling at all well.

[JOE'S Mother _stands a few steps from him, with her hands twisted in
her hair, and stares at him in speechless terror._

_Joe_ (_to the Chorus_). I would shake hands with you all, were not my
fingers so sticky. We eat marmalade, but we know not what it is made of.
Hush! if JIM-JAM comes again, tell him that I am not at home.
Loo-loo-loo!

_All_ (_with conviction_). Some shock has turned his brine!

_Joe_ (_sitting down on floor, and weaving straws in his hair_). My
curse upon him that invented jam. Let us all play Tibbits.

[_Laughs vacantly: all gather round him, shaking their heads, his_
Mother _falls fainting at his feet, as Curtain falls upon a strong and
moral, though undeniably gloomy denoument._

* * * * *

THE SAVOYARDS.

MESSRS. GILBERT AND SULLIVAN'S _Gondoliers_ deserves to rank immediately
after _The Mikado_ and _Pinafore_ bracketed. The _mise-en-scene_ is in
every way about as perfect as it is possible to be. Every writer of
_libretti_, every dramatist and every composer, must envy the Two
Savoyards, their rare opportunities of putting their own work on their
own stage, and being like the two Kings in this piece, jointly and
equally monarchs of all they survey, though, unlike these two
potentates, they are not their subjects' servants, and have only to
consider what is best for the success of their piece, and to have it
carried out, whatever it is, literally regardless of expense. And what
does their work amount to? Simply a Two-Act Opera, to play
two-hours-and-a-half, for the production of which they have practically
a whole year at their disposal. They can go as near commanding success
as is given to mortal dramatist and composer, and for any comparative
failure they can have no one to blame but themselves, the pair of them.

[Illustration: "Once upon a time there were two Kings."]

Whatever the piece may be, it is always a pleasure to see how thoroughly
the old hands at the Savoy enter into "the fun of the thing," and, as in
the case of Miss JESSIE BOND and Mr. RUTLAND BARRINGTON, absolutely
carry the audience with them by sheer exuberance of spirits.

Mr.