ry '80
_tres sec_?--Or what was it? Impossible to see: it was not mentioned
in the dialogue, so "Mumm" might have been the word. But at all
events, if the wine is one which requires advertisement, the guests
should be told to be very careful to leave the bottles in the same
position as in the old prefatial stage-directions "the reader of the
play" is supposed to be; i.e., "_on the stage, facing the audience_."

_Wednesday._--_Rigoletto_. M. MAUREL as the Jester; acting good, voice
too loud. ALBANI, as _Gilda_, overwhelmed with encores. M. MONTARIOL's
_Il Duca_ is _Alfredo_ over again, only confirmed in a vicious career.
To obtain an encore for the great but now hackneyed song, "_La Donna
e mobile_," a wonderful rendering is absolutely essential, and somehow
something seems wanting to the success of _Rigoletto_ when this song
goes for nothing and is passed without a rapturous "_bis, bis!_" which
makes a Manager rub his hands and smilingly say to himself, "Good
bis-ness."

_Thursday._--_Lohengrin_ I believe, but wasn't there. Hope the Opera
went all right without me. Can't be in more places than one at the
same moment. Same remarks apply to Friday and Saturday.

* * * * *

TO MISS ALICE ATHERTON AT THE STRAND THEATRE.

To see her in _Our Daughters_! worth the money!
She 'ATH ER "TON" so genuinely funny!
Yes, ALICE, in such acting, dance, or song,
We recognise thy talent _et ton_ "_ton_."

* * * * *

Of the Modern Bill of Costs, the Ancient "Bill of the Play,"
SHAKSPEARE, and the present representative of the Ancient Mariner,
L.C.J. COLERIDGE, both observe, "Oh, reform it altogether!"

* * * * *

[Illustration: WHAT OUR FIN-DE-SIECLISTS ARE GROWING TO.

"OH, OH, OH! CONFOUND IT!"

"WHAT _IS_ THE MATTER, ALGY?"

"I JUST LET MY FOOT OUT ON THE STIRRUP, AND THIS BEAST OF A PONY'S
TROD ON MY TOE!"]

* * * * *

HYMEN AND CUPID.

(_FIN-DE-SIECLE VERSION, SOME WAY AFTER MOORE._)

HYMEN, late, his love-knots selling,
Called at many a maiden's dwelling;
But he found too well they knew him;
None were prompter to pooh-pooh him.
"Who'll buy my love-knots?
Who'll buy my love-knots?"
Soon as that old cry resounded.
How his baskets were surrounded!

Maidens mocked, with laughter dying,
Those fool-knots of HYMEN's tying;
Dames, who once with him had sided,