ge for the better. Mr.
HARRY NICHOLLS and Mr. HERBERT CAMPBELL are, of course, funny to look
at as the conventional proud sisters; only, as they admit in one of
their duets, "it's been done before," in _Cinderella_, for example;
and, by the way, in choosing this subject of _Beauty and the Beast_,
all resemblance between the two stories should have been got rid of,
as, up to the Ball Scene, except for the absence of the Pumpkin and
the Mice, it is difficult to distinguish between the two fairy tales.
But, when last I saw _Cinderella_, wasn't ROSINA VOKES the sprightly
heroine, and her brother with the wonderful legs the _Baron_? I think
so: but I will not be too much of a _laudator temporis acti_, and will
be thankful that one of the youthful Commissioners thoroughly enjoyed
this Pantomime, though he was not absolutely certain as to what might
be the effect of ghosts and skeletons on his very little brother,
aged five or six, if he were brought to see this show. For my part,
had I at an early age seen these skeletons which pervade the piece,
and of whom two become elongated ghosts, I should have lain awake o'
nights, seen horrible reproductions on the wall by the glimmer of the
fire-light (spectral rush-lights were used when I was a small boy),
screamed for help, and perhaps given my own private and practical
version of the Ghost Scene in _Richard the Third_ by _not_ leaping out
of bed and shouting, "Give me another horse!" (there was only one in
the nursery, and that was a towel-horse), but by putting my head under
the bed-clothes and shivering with fear till my nurse returned from
her supper. Such on me, your present brave First Commissioner of
Theatres, was the effect of merely seeing the interior of the _Blue
Chamber_ in _Skelt's Scenes and Characters_, with which I used to
furnish my small theatre on the nursery table.

[Illustration: Troubled Trots.]

Well, this is all private and personal, and not much about the Drury
Lane Pantomime, it is true; but, as everyone will see "The Only
Pantomime" (we have reached the era of the "Onlys"), and be only too
delighted, what need I say more than that the _libretto_ is written by
Mr. BILL-OF-THE-PLAY YARDLEY conjointly with Mr. DRURIOLANUS AUCTOR,
and I daresay it was very witty and rhythmical and poetical, though I
didn't catch much of it, and the songs were neither particularly well
sung, nor remarkably humorous,--one, introduced by Miss VESTA TILLY
(and, therefore, for t