If ever more, before the critics’ eyes,
The curtain on such cruel sacrilege would rise?
The Figaro, February 26, 1876.
These lines refer to the first appearance of Mr. Henry Irving in the Character of “Othello.” The success he met with then, induced him to revive it some time afterward, and proves how reliable these verses were as a criticism. But at that time The Figaro persistently and indiscriminately ran down all Mr. Irving’s impersonations.
London’s Inferno.
There is a sound of revelry by night,
For England’s capital has gathered then
Her lowest and her foulest and too bright
The gas shines o’er frail women and fast men!