Saved by the Bottle.
Certainly this talented lady has vastly improved since she made her first appearance in Man and Wife, and has only to continue at the same rate of progress to become in a very short time a really admirable actress. Loyal Love is rather a foolish piece, and reminded me equally of the Lady of Lyons, Romeo and Juliet, and Box and Cox. The plot was feeble in the extreme; and had not Mrs. Brown-Potter made a decided point by calling a rude and ancient king, who would wear his hat in the presence of ladies, "Old Man," I really think the performance would have fallen rather flat. As it was, the phrase (which was accepted by the "first-nighters" as a colloquial "Americanism") put everyone in good humour, and the last Act, with its amusing mock poisonings, and comical arrests and counter-arrests, went with every token of genial satisfaction. By the way, the "bottle trick" (by which poison is turned into wine) should be treated more avowedly in a spirit of burlesque. Were a decanter of pantomimic proportions introduced, the effect would be excellent. Loyal Love is not a good name for this funny little—it is only in four Acts—play. It is a pity, as the hero and heroine are always declaring that they would like to live and die together on a desert island, that it was not called Mr. and Mrs. Robinson Crusoe, with an explanatory subtitle of the Purposeless Plotter, the Death-Dealing Wine-Cellar, and the Grand Old King.
