he elaborately
gorgeous Variety Shows given at the Empire and Alhambra, seeks for
awhile a resting-place wherein to enjoy his postprandial cigar, and be
amused, if such an one will drop into the classic Tivoli, he will find
excellent entertainment, that is as long as their present programme
holds the field. The Holborn and the Oxford may delight him on other
nights, for it seems that much the same Stars shine all around; but
for the present, taking Tivoli as synonymous with Tibur, he may, with
Horation humour, say to himself ("himself" being not a bad audience as
a rule):--

"Holborn Tibur amem ventosus, Tivoli Holborn,"

and he can then enter the Tivoli, now under the benign rule of that
old Music Hall Hand, CAROLUS MORTONIUS, M.A., Magister Agens, while
the experienced Mr. VERNON DOWSETT--"_Experientia Dowsett_"--manages
the stage. Good as is the entire show, and especially good as is
the performance of Mr. CHARLES GODFREY as an old Chelsea Pensioner
recounting to several little Peterkins a touching and heart-stirring
tale of the Crimean War, yet for me, the Costermonger Songs of
Mr. ALBERT CHEVALIER are the great attraction. His now well-known
"_Coster's Serenade_," and his "_Knocked 'em in the Old Kent Road_,"
are supplemented by a song and dialogue about a Coster's son, a
precocious little chap, about three years old, and "only that 'igh,
you know," in whom his father takes so great a pride that it works
his own temporary reformation. It is so natural as to be just on
the borderland between farce and pathos, and recalls time past, when
ROBSON played _The Porter's Knot_, and such-like pieces. Now what more
do Music Halls want than what Mr. CHEVALIER gives them? This is the
very essence of a dramatic sketch of character, given in just the
time it takes to sing the song,--that is, about ten minutes, if as
much. The compact orchestra, under the directorship of Mr. ASHER,
discourses excellent accompaniments, and the music of the CHEVALIER's
songs--composed, I believe, by himself--is not the least among the
attractions. The CHEVALIER, who, as he takes more than one turn every
evening, may be termed a Knight Errant, is certainly the Coster's
Laureate and accepted Representative in the West; the mine, which is
his own, is inexhaustible. He is a magician in his own peculiar line,
and may write himself ALBERTUS MAGNUS.

* * * * *

"AL FRESCO," the Lightning Artist, whose full name is "AL