"KEEP YOUR HARE ON!"
In not following the advice given in the headline to this article, clever Mr. PINERO has made a mistake. Lady Bountiful with only a very little HARE is a disappointment. The majority of those who go to "Hare's Theatre" (they don't speak of it as "The Garrick") go to see the Lessee and Manager in a new part: and they go to see a lot of him: they don't ask merely for a small piece of HARE, if you please, though they might be satisfied with HARE in a small piece. Everyone goes expecting to see him in a good part in a good Comedy, his good part being equal to the better part of the whole entertainment; and if they don't so see him, they are disappointed. Why was Mr. GRUNDY's happy translation of Les Oiseaux peculiarly successful? because it was a light, fresh, and pretty piece, wherein the occasional phrase in a minor key was so artistically introduced as to be a relish to our enjoyment of the humour of the characters and of the situations; but all this would have gone for comparatively little had it not been for the excellence of Mr. HARE's rendering of the first-rate part of Goldfinch, which did not consist of occasional flashes, only to collapse and disappear in the penultimate Act, but continued right through to the end, dominating everything and everybody. This is not so with Lady Bountiful. The appearance of Roderick Heron, who is no creation of the Author's, as he admits, but merely Mr. Skimpole under another name, raises hopes at the commencement, which are blighted long before the finish. The part gutters out, as does Mr. CHARLES GROVE's John Veale, another "promise of spring." Young Mr. GILBERT HARE makes a most creditable first appearance as Sir Lucian Brent, Bart. He is easy and natural.
For the greater part of the educated audience, it might have been more useful if Sir Richard Philliter, Q.C., had gone about with an old Eton Latin Grammar in his pocket, instead of a Horace; and if Miss KATE RORKE had divided with him the quotation, "Nemo mortalium omnibus horis sapit." He, being rejected, might have commenced, "Nemo mortalium," and she might have continued, "omnibus horis;" then, both together, "sapit." Or when she had snubbed him, he might have made some telling remark about "Verbum personale," and so forth. The introduction of a quotation from Horace is likely rather to be resented than appreciated by the victims of a superior education. What a bad quarter of an hour or so Paterfamilias will have when Materfamilias asks him for the translation of these lines from Horace! Poor Pater will pretend not to have "quite caught them;" or "not been attending;" but to himself he will own how entirely he has forgotten his Latin, and perhaps he will make a good resolution to himself to "look up his Horace again." Then the learned young lady will be asked by her Mamma, or by her sharp young bothering sister, "what that Latin means," and though she might be able to construe it when she sees it, to translate it offhand at one hearing is a difficulty, and she will evade the question by saying, "Please, don't talk! I want to listen to the piece."
The youth in the Stalls, fresh from college or school, will be about as much equal to the translation offhand as is young Sir Lucian Brent when asked by Mr. CATHCART to give the meaning of the Latin on the ancient brasses in the old church, and they won't thank you for bringing school studies into playtime. On the whole, nothing is gained by this Dr. Panglossian introduction of Latin quotation; it doesn't help the action, nor emphasise a character, nor does it strengthen a situation, to bring in even the most appropriate lines which are not "in a language understanded of the people." Sir Richard Philliter, Q.C., might be known in private life to his friends as Sir HORACE DAVUS (Non Oedipus). Mr. CATHCART's Pedgrift, parish clerk and sexton, is an excellent little character-sketch, as is also that of Mrs. Hornutt, the pew-opener.
As for Mr. FORBES ROBERTSON and Miss KATE RORKE, they seemed to me to be what the author had made them—i.e., stagey. Miss DOLORES DRUMMOND, as Mrs. Veale, is very good, and Miss MARIE LINDEN, except in one stagey bit in the Third Act, plays with great care and judgment. The interior of the old country church (Act III.) is a masterpiece of scenic art and stage arrangement,—a perfect picture by Mr. W. HARFORD. I wish I could say the same of the dénoûment of the interrupted marriage, which strongly reminded me of a pictorial heading to some exciting chapter in a penny novelette or The London Journal. It is a very weak finish, and not strengthened or improved in any way by the line Sir Richard Philliter, Q.C., has to say, on which the Curtain descends. And what does everybody exclaim afterwards? Simply, "Why there's nothing for HARE to do in it. We thought we should see him again, and that he would come out all right at last." That's the feeling. They can't bear the idea of their favourite first-class Comedian being a sordid, swindling old villain, unless the character be exceptionally amusing. Lady Bountiful might be termed "A bald piece," because it has so little HARE.