ORAL MUSIC-HALL DRAMAS.

No. IV.

Our present example is pure tragedy of the most ambitious kind, and is,
perhaps, a little in advance of the taste of a Music-hall audience of
the present day. When the fusion between the Theatres and the
Music-Halls is complete--when Miss BESSIE BELLWOOD sings "_What Cheer,
'Ria?_" at the Lyceum, and Mr. HENRY IRVING gives his compressed version
of _Hamlet_ at the Trocadero; when there is a general levelling-up of
culture, and removal of prejudice--then, and not till then, will this
powerful little play meet with the appreciation which is its due. The
main idea is suggested by the Misses TAYLOR'S well-known poem, _The
Pin_, though the dramatist has gone further than the poetess in working
out the notion of Nemesis.

THE FATAL PIN.--A TRAGEDY.

DRAMATIS PERSONAE.

_Emily Heedless._ By either Miss VESTA TILLEY or Mrs. BERNARD BEERE.

_Peter Paragon._ Mr. FORBES ROBERTSON or Mr. ARTHUR ROBERTS (only he
mustn't sing "_The Good Young Man who Died_").

_First and Second Bridesmaids._ Miss MAUDE MILLETT and Miss ANNIE
HUGHES.

SCENE.--EMILY'S _Boudoir, sumptuously furnished with a
screen and sofa,_ C. _Door,_ R., _leading to_ EMILY'S
_Bed-chamber. Door,_ L. EMILY _discovered in loose
wrapper, and reclining in uncomfortable position on
sofa._

_Emily_ (_dreamily_). This day do I become the envied bride of PETER,
justly surnamed PARAGON; and much I wonder what in me he found (he, who
Perfection so personifies) that he could condescend an eye to cast on
faulty, feather-headed EMILY! How solemn is the stillness all around me!
(_A loud bang is heard behind screen._) Methought I heard the dropping
of a pin!--perhaps I should arise and search for it.... Yet why, on
second thoughts, disturb myself, since I am, by my settlements, to have
a handsome sum allowed for pin-money? Nay, since thou claim'st thy
freedom, little pin, I lack the heart to keep thee prisoner. Go, then,
and join the great majority of fallen, vagrant, unregarded pinhood--my
bliss is too supreme at such an hour to heed such infidelities as thine.

[_Falls into a happy reverie._

_Enter_ First and Second Bridesmaids.

_First and Second Bridesmaids._ What, how now, EMILY--not yet attired?
Nay, haste, for PETER will be here anon!

[_They hurry her off by_ R. _door, just as_ PETER
PARAGON _enters_ L. _in bridal array. N.B.--The
exigences of the Drama are responsible for his making