(Grotesque pas de deux.)
II.
Dantès. Our wardrobe has long since run to seed,
For ci-devant swells we are sights indeed!
Noirtier. I shiver and shake, and the creeps I've got—
I'd give the world for a "whiskey hot!"
Dantès. And as in my lonely cell I lie,
I think of her and the by-and-by.
Noirtier. Don't buy or sell, or you'll come to grief,
And never get out of the Chateau d'If!
Both. Poor prisoners we! etc.(Dance as before.)
After "Monte Cristo Junior" there came, at the same theatre and from the pens of the same writers, a travestie of "Frankenstein," produced in 1887, with Miss Farren as the hero, and Mr. Leslie as the Monster that he fashions. Here much ingenuity was shown in the management of the pseudo-supernatural business connected with the Monster. Previous to the vivifying of the figure, Frankenstein thus soliloquised:—
Frankenstein. At last I am alone—now let me scan
My wondrous figure fashioned like a man.
All is now ready—every joint complete,
And now to oil the works—and then—toute suite!
O Science! likewise Magic! lend a hand
To aid the awful project I have planned.
(Sings) I've invented a figure
Of wonderful vigour,
A gentleman-help, so to speak;
A chap automatic
Who'll ne'er be erratic,
Who'll live upon nothing a week
It will fetch and will carry,
And won't want to marry,
Or try on the wage-raising plan;
It will do all my bidding
Without any kidding—
My Patent Mechanical Man.
Now to my cell I'll post with due cell-erity,
And do a deed that shall astound post-erity.
But thrills of horror now run through my veins.
What if I fail in spite of all my pains?
A nameless dread doth in my bosom lurk.
My scheme is good—but what if it won't work?
The Monster's first utterances were as follows:—