At the end, when Mephistopheles (Mr. E. J. Lonnen) comes to claim Faust, it turns out that Faust and Marguerite have been duly married, but have been obliged to conceal the fact because Marguerite was a ward in Chancery. Moreover, Old Faust reappears, and insists that, as it was he who signed the bond, it is he and not young Faust who ought to suffer for it.
"Faust up to Date" includes some clever songs and some excruciating puns, of which these are perhaps the most excruciating:—
Marg. These sapphires are the finest I have seen.
Faust. Ah! what I've sapphired for your sake, my queen!
Marg. An opal ring, they say, bad luck will be;
This one I opal not do that for me.
Again:—
Mephis. Along the Riviera, dudes her praises sing.
Val. Oh, did you Riviera such a thing?
"Atalanta," the travestie by Mr. G. P. Hawtrey brought out at the Strand in 1888, was fitted with prose dialogue, much of which was very smart and amusing. The songs were numerous and well-turned, and certain details of the travestie were ingenious. Hippomenes, the hero, wins the race he runs with Atalanta, by placing in her path a brand-new "costume," of modern cut and material, which she finds it impossible not to stop for. For the rest, while possessing a decidedly "classical" flavour, "Atalanta" was, in essence, a racing burlesque, abounding in the phraseology of the turf, and introducing in the last scene counterfeit presentments of a number of well-known sportsmen.