Now granting the critic to be right--and,
on referring to others, I find a _consensus_ of opinion backing him
up--at whose door lies the responsibility of having deliberately
selected a failure? Under what compulsion could so clever and
experienced an autocrat, sharp as a needle and with the "heye of an
'awk" in theatrical matters, as Mrs. JOHN WOOD, have made so fatal a
mistake--that is, if the critics are right, and if it be a mistake?
"_To err, is human_"--and, including even Mrs. JOHN WOOD, and the
critics, we are all human,--"_To forgive, divine_"--the critics
not being divine could not forgive; the public apparently, did
forgive--and, will, of course, forget. 'Tis all very well to fall
foul of the unhappy author--whom we will not name--_after_ the event;
but why was the piece ever chosen, and why was not the discovery of
its unfitness made during rehearsal? No! "as long as the world goes
round" these things will happen in the best regulated theatres, and
experience is apparently no sort of guide in such matters.--Yours
faithfully,

"NOT THERE, NOT THERE, MY CHILD!"

* * * * *

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End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Punch, or The London Charivari, Volume
101, October 31, 1891, by Various

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