we have a charming type, nor could Mr. NUTCOMBE GOULD's _Dr. Latimer_
be improved upon as an artistic performance where repose and perfectly
natural demeanour give a certain coherence and solidity to the entire
work. Mr. YORKE STEPHENS as _Mark Denzil_ is too heavy, and his manner
conveys the impression that, at some time or other, he will commit
a crime, such, perhaps, as stealing the money from the Doctor's
desk; or, when this danger is past and he hasn't done it, his still
darkening, melodramatic manner misleads the audience into supposing
that in Act III, he will make away with his objectionable wife,
possess himself of the two hundred pounds, and then, just at the
moment when, with a darkling scowl and a gleaming eye, he steps
forward to claim his affianced bride, _Scollick_, Mr. ALFRED HOLLES,
hitherto only known as the drunken gardener, will throw off his
disguise, and, to a burst of applause from an excited audience, will
say, "I arrest you for murder and robbery! and--I am HAWKSHAW the
Detective!!!" or words to this effect. In his impersonation of _Mark
Denzil_ Mr. STEPHENS seems to have attempted an imitation of the light
and airy style of Mr. ARTHUR STIRLING.

[Illustration: "The Shadow," but more like the substance. Collapse
of Mr. Yorke Stephens into the arms of Miss Marrying Terry, on
hearing the Shadow exclaim, "Yorke (Stephens), you're wanted!"]

The end of the Second Act is, to my thinking, a mistake in dramatic
art. Everyone of the audience knows that the woman who has stolen
the money is _Mark Denzil's_ wife, and nobody requires from _Denzil_
himself oral confirmation of the fact, much less do they want an
interval of several minutes,--it may be only seconds, but it seems
minutes,--before the Curtain descends, occupied only by _Mark Denzil_
imploring that his wife shall not be taken before the magistrate
and be charged with theft. This is an anti-climax, weakening an
otherwise effective situation, as the immediate result of this scene
could easily be given in a couple of sentences of dialogue at the
commencement of the last Act. It is this fault, far more than the
unpruned passages of dialogue, that makes this interesting and well
acted play _seem_ too long--at least, such is the honest opinion of A
FRIEND IN FRONT.

* * * * *

THE BURDEN OF BACILLUS.

Is there no one to protect us, is existence then a sin,
That we're worried here in London and in Paris and B