Funny Folks. February 3, 1877.
Another burlesque was produced at the Gaiety Theatre, London, in October 1878, entitled The Lady of Lyons Married and Settled, by Herman C. Merivale, with Miss Nelly Farren, and Messrs. Edward Terry, Royce, Maclean and Squire, in the principal characters. In this, Claude Melnotte, instead of describing an imaginary palace, sings a patter song to his wife, Pauline, in praise of the Darwinian theory of the evolution of species. As might be expected, the humour of this is somewhat ponderous.
——:o:——
THE SEA CAPTAIN;
OR, The Birthright.
A Drama in five Acts, by Sir E. L. Bulwer, was first performed at the Haymarket Theatre, London, October 31, 1839, with the following cast:—
| Lord Ashdale | Mr. J. Webster |
| Sir Maurice Beevor | Mr. Strickland. |
| Norman | Mr. Macready. |
| Falkner | Mr. Howe. |
| Onslow | Mr. Phelps. |
| Gaussen | Mr. O. Smith. |
| Luke | Mr. Gallott. |
| Lady Arundel | Mrs. Warner. |
| Violet | Miss Helen Faucit. |
| Mistress Prudence | Mrs. Clifford. |
Notwithstanding all the efforts of these famous actors and actresses the play had little success. When Sir E. L. Bulwer published it, he attempted to excuse its comparative failure by asserting that the critics had condemned the play from a dislike of his political opinions, with other equally weak statements, which Thackeray exposed and ridiculed in a humorous critique in Fraser’s Magazine. A few extracts only can be given of this epistle from
CH-S Y-LL WPL-SH, ESQ., TO SIR EDWARD LYTTON BULWER, BART.
Mayfair, Nov. 30, 1839. Midnite.