I do hope Mr. IRVING, Mr. HARE and Mr. BEERBOHM TREE
will come in--I'm sure they'll be only too _anxious_ to secure it!
_Author._ I don't know that I should care for it to come out at the
Lyceum, but of course if the terms were very--oh, they're beginning
at last! I hope this light comedy scene will go well. (_Curtain
rises: Comic dialogue--nothing whatever to do with the plot--between a
Footman and a Matinee Maidservant in short sleeves, a lace tucker, and
a diamond necklace; depression of audience. Serious characters enter
and tell one another long and irrelevant stories, all about nothing.
When the auditor remarks,_ "Your story is indeed a sad one--but go
on," _a shudder goes through the house, which becomes a groan ten
minutes later when the listener says:_ "You have told me _your_
history--now hear _mine_!" _He tells it; it proves, if possible,
duller and more irrelevant than the other man's. A love-scene follows,
characterised by all the sparkle and brilliancy of "Temperance
Champagne"; the House witnesses the fall of the Curtain with apathy._)
_Author.
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