Baron de Book-Worms.
A NEW "ARNOLD'S EXERCISE."
My Dear Mr. Dacre,
I have seen your Play, and, since then, I have not seen any other like it. "When will I come again?" To see it twice within a week would be too ecstatic a joy for a dweller—may I say a Liver—in London, who is more at home as one of the Lights of Asia. So, for the present—to paraphrase what I believe were the words of a popular poet whose name has passed from my memory—such, alas! is popularity—I will say to you, "Not to-day. Dacre"—(I fancy the last word was "Baker" in the original Syriac)—but, some other day, when, as one of the Lights aforementioned, I shall, at a Matinée be day-lighted to re-witness your admirable performance.
Yours ever most sincerely sincere,
Edwin Tails-lose, C.B.
P.S.—"C.B." is not "Commander of the Bath," but stands for "Cox and Box," in which piece (have you ever played it? I forget—but how perfect you would be as Sergeant or Corporal Bouncer!) you will find the immortal quotation which precedes these descriptive initial letters.