“Our Van.”

Racing.

If Newmarket looms largely in this month’s budget it is not necessarily because of any phenomenal success attained, for if any conclusion could be formed upon the proceedings of the Craven and First Spring Meetings it would be to the effect that things are by no means too flourishing. We may take it that, nolens volens, the old conservative idea that the public are not wanted at Newmarket, which I have heard expressed by several of the old school of owners and habitués (also by officials) has had to undergo some modification in recent years. No doubt, amongst the Newmarket old-timers there are still some who would be prepared to put their hands in their pockets and pay for the exclusiveness of their hearts which is denied them. But that kind of person, nowadays, forms but a small and still decreasing class; the majority are bred to get as much as they can for as little as possible. Amongst such bargains the entry to the Jockey Club enclosure holds a not unimportant position, for, in return for a payment of £12, commutable into a payment of £5 down and ten shillings for each day’s attendance, one is entitled to twenty-nine days’ racing. What a bargain this is we realise when we consider that the visitor to Tattersall’s who attended on each day’s racing for a season, as members do, would be mulcted in the sum of £29, not counting an extra ten shillings for the paddock on certain days, which those in the Jockey Club do not pay. I am quite prepared to hear that some would gladly pay double the £12 demanded if they could once more have the place to themselves; but the process of popularisation, if that be the correct expression, has already been long in progress. Whatever may once have been the case, and however the public, judging from the only available data, may have been induced to think the contrary, the Jockey Club, regarded as a purveyor of racing, is by no means indifferent to its patronage. Indications, mere straws blown by the prevailing wind though they be, are not lacking of a desire to ameliorate the public lot, and it has even been realised at last that visitors to Tattersall’s are civilised enough to appreciate the provision of something else to sit upon than the hard and dirty beams of which the stand is constructed. Half a dozen garden chairs have created a departure from Newmarket traditions that might well make some of the old stagers wonder whether they dreamt; and it is not necessary to dwell upon the fact that the seats fulfil another purpose than that of affording seating accommodation by interfering with the operation of “runners” who dash about the rings in a manner discomposing to others anxious to take things more quietly. There are those who insist that the convenience of the public was far from being the sole consideration in pulling down the Old Cambridgeshire stand. There were even a few leather cushions on Tattersall’s stand for the use of the public.

When the time comes to race on the July course, strong evidence of the desire of the Jockey Club to attract the public will be found in the shape of an entirely new stand, so large that the best wish I can offer it is that the Club may live to see it filled. What the attraction is to be that is to accomplish this is, however, not clear. I do not suppose that the Jockey Club have a surprise in store in the shape of reduced ring charges. So long as meetings, presenting very indifferent programmes, are able to demand £1 per day, Newmarket cannot very well lower its prices; not that I ever heard of any intention in this direction, or that I should think it wise. If it were desirable to have our race meetings all of a pattern it could only be on the lines of a general levelling up.

But, within limits, it is convenient and proper that there should be different grades of race meetings, and Newmarket, I affirm, will be best served by always aiming at the highest. The “ifs” that contribute to schemes for the resuscitation of Newmarket as a popular racing resort, are numerous.

“If” the railway company would only reduce the fares, is one, for instance. With Newmarket 69½ miles from London by rail, cheap fares do not seem compatible, and I doubt whether a slight reduction in price would make any difference. What we want and expect at Newmarket is good racing; but although horses in plenty are trained on it, some people say—the racing for the heath—more than is good often falls far below the desired standard.

When we reassembled at the Craven Meeting, the attendance in the town was very small. Delightful, of course, for those who were there, and one could desire nothing better, from the point of view of personal comfort, but, as evidence of the popularity of racing at headquarters, depressing enough. The customary cards were gone through, and on the first day M. Ephrussi, stealing a march by more than three months on his racing compatriots, who may not run two-year-olds in their own country before the first of August, won the Fitzwilliam Stakes with a very nice bay filly by War Dance, out of Illusion, named Ile (not Isle as one wanted to write it at first) de France, who beat the hare-like Satirical filly by three-quarters of a length, with something to spare, besides. Melayr failed by a neck to carry home 9 st. in the Crawford Handicap; Challenger, carrying 9st. 5lb., failing by the same distance in the Babraham Handicap, on the second day. Gingal, whose running was watched with a view to the Two Thousand Guineas, won the Wood Ditton Stakes easily enough, but had nothing to beat. The appearance of Cicero on the third day in the Forty-Sixth Biennial made up for much. He was giving 10 lb. to his only opponent, Shilfa, and not more than 5 to 1 on had to be laid. Cicero, looking the picture of health and spirits, romped home.

Five-and-twenty years ago anything in the shape of fault-finding with Epsom would have been regarded as rank sacrilege against Turf traditions. We took things as we found them there because we knew of nothing better, but racing comforts have so increased that we now find people either wondering why they ever go to Epsom, or congratulating themselves that the meeting is over.

Visitors to Epsom divide themselves into two great parties, those that enter the stand and those that stay outside. To the frequent racegoer not much satisfaction is derivable from either course, but no doubt those who rarely visit a racecourse may derive amusement from the novelty of the scene on the hill, provided one does not take too much note of the conglomeration of hopeless ne’er-do-weels and do-no-works that assemble on the occasion, although, to their credit be it said, they are merely passively and not actively objectionable. The contrast between the thousands that spread themselves over the hill or range themselves several deep along the rails, from Tattenham Corner to winning post, and the attendance one meets with on Doncaster Town Moor is great, for in the north the vast concourse is composed mainly of factory hands and other genuine workers enjoying a holiday with money that has been honourably earned, whereas at Epsom we find gathered together the scum of the metropolis, attired mostly in rags, enjoying one phase of the existence of the drone. This is the crowd which the police officials would have us believe they cannot control to the extent of keeping them off the course during the intervals between races. Any one who has been caught on the course at the moment when the police have had orders to clear it have had ample experience of the thoroughness with which the constables do their duty. One might as well be a midnight brawler as a belated strayer upon the fairway. The question one naturally asks is, Why have the police the power to clear the course at one moment and not at another? It may be as well to premise that the divine right of the public to do as they please on Epsom Downs does not exist, although the wisdom of the expediency with which the Lord of the Manor, and those paying him rent, hide away their rights, need not be doubted. If the Lord of the Manor had no rights to sell, it is not likely that an astute body like the directorate of the Epsom Grand Stand Company would pay him £20,000, as they did not long since, for another lease of ninety-nine years. What the police authorities are so squeamish about I cannot imagine. It would surely be much to their advantage if they prevented people from congregating upon the course in the first instance, instead of having to clear them off six or seven times in an afternoon. It is not the police one thinks of in this connection, but of the course, which starts a meeting as second to none in England, but by the second day is trodden into a brown adamantine substance, an army of boys having to be employed to clear up the paper, orange-peel, and other rubbish that is distributed between each race. Another evil that arises from the alternate action and inaction of the police is the unpunctuality that is so much a feature at Epsom. People, knowing no better, naturally blame the Clerk of the Scales, or the jockeys, or both, when the horses are late in coming out, but in the majority of cases the police are to blame, for the police refuse to allow the horses to emerge from the paddock until, in their opinion, the course is clear. The prevention of accident is a good cause, but if people were not allowed upon the course there would be nothing to clear. It is not as though, in being kept off the course, the rabble were being deprived of anything. As a matter of fact, what there is to be seen, such as the return of the horses to weigh in, could be very much better seen on a clear course than on one covered by thousands of people, through whom the horses find it difficult to pass.

As a spectacle much would be gained; and there is no reason whatever why the racing should not be kept up to time.

The course was in almost perfect condition when racing began for the Spring Meeting, thanks to the care that is expended upon the turf during the entire twelve months. Harmony Hall should have won the Great Metropolitan Stakes, but he made such a display of his inveterate dislike to begin as to lose many lengths at the start, and, pluckily as he ran the race, he just failed to make up the ground, Whinbloom, purchased out of a Selling Plate, beating him by a neck. In the City and Suburban Dean Swift at last put an end to a series of defeats with an almost easy victory. Rightly or wrongly, he has been credited with the faint heart which just fails when the supreme effort is required, but on this occasion he was not pushed at all, coming right away in the straight. Certainly he had never looked so well as now. In the sprinting department Melayr won the Tadworth Handicap under st. 12 lb.

Perhaps the most interesting event at Sandown was the Stud Produce Stakes, still worth a considerable sum in spite of the rule as to added money; the winner netting £1,763 on this occasion. It was won by Auber, a bay or brown colt by Islington out of Umbrosa, which cost Sir Edgar Vincent only 165 gs. at Doncaster in September. He may or may not have beaten anything of merit, but what struck me was the way he won. After showing a bold front he appeared beaten to the world, but a hundred and fifty yards or so from the finish Maher brought him with such a rush that he won by a length. The sensational finish may have been due to Maher, who did something very similar at Newbury when he brought up Bridge of Canny in the nick of time to catch the Gressoney colt in the Kingsclere Stakes. This kind of finish was common enough a few years since, but it has apparently gone out of fashion, jockeys having learned to win their races all the way from the fall of the flag. The Cobham Two-year-old Maiden Plate introduced a youngster that will be heard of again in Slieve Gallion, a black colt by Gallinule out of Reclusion, whose appearance made a very great impression. Crossed soon after the start, he made hay of the opposition when once set going. Slieve Gallion is one of Captain Greer’s breeding, and is, of course, trained by Sam Darling.

Although more people went to the First Spring Meeting at Newmarket than to the Craven, the attendance was really much below par, that on the Two Thousand Guineas day being the smallest I can remember. That the three-year-olds are very ordinary had been agreed for some time. Black Arrow was the paddock king amongst the dozen for the Two Thousand. For him he behaved not so badly at the gate, although unruly enough to disturb more than one of his opponents, and it seems clear that he and his kidney should be made to stand behind the others at the start. He got away well and ran generously for six furlongs, when he was beaten. Moral: Black Arrow cannot stay. The charges of cowardice against him are resented by his jockey and others who know, and henceforth he must be regarded merely as a sprinter. Black Arrow beaten, we saw such as Gorgos, Ramrod, Beppo and the Dame Agneta colt by Diamond Jubilee, fighting out the issue, Gorgos, despite a bad swerve, getting the best of it. With a man on his back The White Knight ran very differently in the Three-year-old Handicap from what he did in the City and Suburban, winning quite easily. Pretty Polly’s appearance in the March Stakes on the third day was a very welcome interlude in a poor day’s racing. Had she not won she would have been more or less disgraced; as it was she cantered home in her own well-known style, and as she left the weighing-in enclosure the people streamed home.

It was strange that Flair’s running last year had not created a greater impression, for on last year’s form it was difficult to see what could possibly beat her. Only slight odds had to be laid on, and after the Bushes there was only one in it, Flair coming away at will. Melayr did another good thing in winning the Bretby Handicap under 9 st. 7 lb. The Ely Plate, the evening before, resulted in a catastrophe, it being too readily taken for granted that Xeny had lost his form and so could be no match at even weights for Imperial II.: 6 to 1 was laid on Imperial II., who, however, was always second best, Xeny beating him by a length.

Chester has been so phenomenally successful since it became an enclosed meeting that a little adversity could be put up with, and it came this year in the shape of a wet first day. The second, or Cup day, made amends, however, and with a crowd about midway between 40,000 and 50,000 a few thousands decrease of the previous record could be endured. No fault could be found with the result of the race which was quite in accordance with anticipations, Feather Bed having shown double winning form at Newbury, which made his chance second to none. Favoured by nothing, he won in handsome style. The jockey of Torpoint, the second, had got off a matter of 4 lb. overnight, and one has yet to be convinced that this policy is a good one. There is no meeting in the Calendar more redolent of life than Chester or one which gives visitors greater pleasure. An innovation was the appearance on the inner portion of the Roodee of motor omnibuses bringing visitors from distant places, vice the horse vehicle.

Not since the Cambridgeshire has His Majesty been on an English racecourse until he made a welcome reappearance on the first day of the Kempton Park Jubilee meeting, this being the popular sub-title of the more formal Spring Meeting. We did not see much, for there was little interest in knowing that the moderate, though good-looking Ramrod was from 5 lb. to 7 lb. better than Gingal who, not beaten before the start, as he was in the Two Thousand, now had a fair chance of showing what he is not. The Jubilee itself was a triumph for the “horses for courses theory,” for Donnetta followed the footsteps of Avington and Sirenia in adding this race to the Duke of York Stakes. It had already been acknowledged that Donnetta is one of the truest-running animals ever trained. Her limitations were shown in the City and Suburban, but at Kempton she and Ambition ran that race over again to a pound, so far as they were concerned, Ambition being beaten a couple of lengths at the same weights. There were fewer shilling people than usual, but the attendance in the members’ enclosure was very large.

Polo.

The polo season commenced in anything but cheerful weather, but in spite of climatic conditions a number of good games were witnessed during the first week. Better weather and more summerlike surroundings were enjoyed during the second week, when several important events were decided. At Hurlingham, on May 5th, the Royal Horse Guards beat Hurlingham by 4 goals to 3. The Guards’ team consisted of Lord Ingestre, Lord Herbert, Captain Fitzgerald, and Captain H. Brassey; their opponents being Captain Lockett, Mr. F. C. G. Menzies, Major Egerton Green, and Mr. E. B. Sheppard. The same evening a Roehampton team consisting of Mr. Nigel Baring, the Hon. Ivor Guest, M.P., Mr. A. R. Leys, and Mr. A. de Las Casas drew with Hurlingham, represented by Captain Rose, Mr. F. Belville, Captain S. Gosling, and Mr. H. Scott Robson, the score being 5 goals all. Other notable games played at Hurlingham during the first fortnight of the month were Aldershot v. Hurlingham and Eaton Hall v. Hurlingham, both of which were won by Hurlingham; the Cavalry Club v. Hurlingham won by the Cavalry; and the match between the Beavers and Hurlingham, which resulted after an exciting game in a draw of 7 all.

At Ranelagh, the handicap tournament concluded with the game between C team, made up of the Earl of Harrington, Mr. R. Fleming, Mr. A. R. Dugdale and Mr. N. Furlong, and B, comprising Mr. E. Barbour, Lord Longford, Mr. J. C. Las Casas, and Mr. T. B. Drybrough. A good game resulted in B team finally winning by 5 goals to 2. Matches were played by the Club against the Wanderers (Mr. F. Barbour, Lieut.-Colonel W. S. Sparkes, Mr. G. A. Lockett, and Major A. M. Pirie), ending in a draw; the Parthians (Mr. R. J. L. Ogilvy, Mr. E. B. Horlick, Mr. B. P. Schreiber, and Captain M. Lannowe), won by the Parthians by 4 goals to 1; the Magpies, won by Ranelagh by 7 goals to 5; Aldershot, won by Ranelagh by 8 goals to 2; and the 2nd Life Guards (subalterns), won by Ranelagh by 6 goals to 3. In the match between Moreton Morrell and a Ranelagh side, the teams consisted of Mr. C. P. Nickalls, Mr. E. B. Sheppard, Mr. W. S. Buckmaster, and Lord Wodehouse for the former, and Mr. A. Las Casas, Mr. F. A. Gill, the Hon. F. Guest, and Mr. H. Scott Robson for the latter. A fast game ended in the Moreton Morrell team being victors by 10 goals to 4.

The chief event at Roehampton during the first fortnight of the season was the match played by teams representing England and Rugby, which took place on May 12th. The England four consisted of Mr. C. R. Nickalls, Mr. M. Nickalls, Mr. W. S. Buckmaster, and Mr. P. W. Nickalls, and Rugby of Mr. Walter Jones, Mr. G. A. Miller, Captain E. D. Miller, and Mr. C. D. Miller. A magnificent exhibition of polo was seen, and although England won by 6 goals to 1, it looked at one time as if it would have been a close finish. Roehampton drew with the 21st Lancers, the teams being represented by Mr. D. W. Godfrey, Mr. C. N. Reynolds, Mr. C. H. Delmege, and Major A. M. Pirie for the soldiers, and Mr. E. C. Robson, the Duke of Westminster, Mr. E. B. Horlick, and Mr. H. Scott Robson for the Club. Other teams that were beaten early in May by a Roehampton combination included Eaton Hall and the Wanderers. The Royal Horse Guards met and defeated Roehampton by 6 goals to 5, after the England and Rugby match was finished.

The London and Stoke D’Abernon Clubs have begun the season well, and many of the provincial clubs show plenty of life and vigour.

Golf.

The spring meeting of the Royal and Ancient Club of St. Andrew’s was less well attended than usual this year, and the scores were somewhat higher than on recent occasions, but the meeting excited its accustomed interest, and was productive of several excellent contests. Mr. Edward Blackwell carried off the medal with a score of 82, while for second place there tied with 83 strokes Mr. Robert Maxwell, Mr. J. Stuart Paton, and Mr. W. Herbert Fowler. When the tie was played off Mr. Maxwell won with a score of 81, which proved the best of the meeting. Among the notable absentees were Mr. A. G. Barry, the Amateur Champion, the Hon. Osmond Scott, John E. Laidlay, and Mr. Cecil K. Hutchison. For the captaincy of the Club Mr. Balfour-Melville has been nominated.

The Southern Section of the Professional Golfers’ Association held a successful prize meeting on the Ashford Manor Club’s course at Ashford, Middlesex. There were seventy-two competitors, including Jack White, Rowland Jones, James Kinnell, and A. H. Toogood. Neither Braid nor Taylor was, however, able to play. The Tooting Bee Challenge Cup was won by W. R. Lonie, of Warlingham, whose score was 77 and 75 = 152, while Robert Thomson, of Romford, won the prize for the best single round with a score of 74, which constitutes the medal record of the course. The high wind which prevailed affected the scores. At the spring meeting of the Midlands Section of the Association at Derby the first prize was carried off by J. W. Fulford, of Birstall, with a score of 76 and 77 = 153.

Mr. Cecil K. Hutchison distinguished himself during the Easter holidays by doing the full round at Sandwich in 69 strokes.

The Oxford and Cambridge Golfing Society sent a strong team to Ireland during the Easter holidays. Three matches were played, and of these two were won by the Society, while the third resulted in a tie. The links played over were Dollymount and Portmarnock.

In a professional tournament at Radlett, in Herts, first place was taken by J. Bradbeer, while Tom Vardon and J. H. Taylor tied for second place, and James Braid came last.

At Westward Ho, J. H. Taylor and James Braid played a 36-holes match. The former led most of the way, and at one time stood 7 up, but Braid towards the finish played magnificently, and succeeded in halving the match.

A new combination of scratch players called the Edinburgh Twenty Club played a match at Leven, in Fifeshire, with the Leven Thistle Club, and won by 9 matches against 7. The defeated club is one of the strongest in Scotland.

The annual match between the Bar and the House of Commons was played at Woking. The former won by 7 points against 4, being successful both in singles and foursomes.

The Hunt Secretaries’ Association.

Mr. Philip Barnett, Hon. Secretary of the Association, informs us that an annual meeting will be held on the Monday of Derby week, at Tattersall’s Rooms. Mr. Barnett has changed his residence, and his new address is Yewden Manor, Henley-on-Thames.

Ascetic.

A correspondent kindly informs the writer of the article on Hermit in last month’s number that although the Stud Book is responsible for the statement that the Rev. J. King (Mr. Launde) was the breeder of Ascetic, it is not quite correct; Mr. King gave the mare Lady Alicia to one of his tenants, Mr. Charles Clark, of Ashby, as he could not get her to breed for several seasons. Mr. Clark sent her to a half-bred horse, and that was successful. Subsequently Mr. H. Chaplin gave her a free service to Hermit, and the result was Ascetic. Mr. Clark was, therefore, the breeder of the famous sire of steeplechasers, and, as a good old sportsman, and for long years a follower of the Belvoir and breeder of horses, he is very proud of it. He has retired from farming, and some few years back his friends subscribed a £1,000 testimonial for him, as a proof of their goodwill and esteem. It is rather singular that Ascetic was absolutely Hermit’s first produce.

Field Trials of Pointers and Setters in Shropshire.

Following the very successful meetings of the International Gun Dog League and the Kennel Club, which were held on the Orwell estate of Mr. E. G. Pretyman early in April, the spring trials of pointers and setters were resumed at the end of the month at Aqualate, and finished the first week in May on the Duke of Sutherland’s fine preserves at Lilleshall, in the same neighbourhood, near Newport, Salop. Aqualate had been visited more than once by the English Setter Club. Sir Thomas Boughey (who made the Albrighton pack of foxhounds what it is) is a staunch supporter of working trials, and, although he was unable to superintend the beating arrangements as he had done at the earlier meetings, because of serious illness, the best of the Aqualate and Forton ground was placed at the service of the stewards; no trials could have been more thorough. A drawback, in a certain sense, as regards Sir Thos. Boughey’s ground is that it swarms with hares; and, although they were not so numerous at the recent meeting as they had been in 1901, when the Club last visited the estate, they proved to be troublesome, and one which was caught in its form by the Derby winner, Colonel Cotes’s Pitchford Carol, was the downfall of the latter. Although he is a thoroughly broken puppy, he is self-willed, and it would have been almost unnatural had he not pinched the hare, although the proceeding meant his dismissal from the stake. Colonel Cotes, however, had other strings to his bow, for he won the first and second honours in the Setter Puppy stake with Pitchford Dear and Dorothy; and later the former beat the winning pointer, Mr. W. L. Nicholson’s Factor, in a competition for a special prize. This finished the first day’s work on the Aqualate side of the estate. As the brace competition and all-aged stake were the only events which were left on the card, there seemed to be a chance of our getting away early in the evening of the second day; but a snowstorm put a stop to all work, and the judges decided to postpone operations until the following morning. Then the card was quickly run through, although, with the exception of the performance of Mr. Herbert Mitchell’s Lingfield Beryl in winning the all-aged stake, the work done was very moderate indeed. Mr. Mitchell’s Beryl and Linda also won the brace competition; the judges, however, declared that no single item of brace work had been done, the dogs having worked independently instead of assisting one another. The meeting was a great triumph for Mr. Mitchell, but a greater one awaited him, for the next week his bitch, Lingfield Beryl, won the Champion Stake on the Lilleshall ground, and then with Linda won another brace competition, the third they had secured during the campaign. Beryl was, undoubtedly, a little stale towards the finish, but she won easily enough, and brought her owner’s winnings to £256 in three weeks. Colonel Cotes, with a mixed team, won more money, his puppies being a very choice lot, and a contest between his Derby winner, Pitchford Carol, and Mr. Abbott’s Bold Alice, the winner at Lilleshall, would have been very interesting could it have been brought off. The Duke of Sutherland’s ground was excellent, a lot of the work being done on the old Lizard racecourse, where Sir Hugo was galloped by Wadlow in his training for the sensational Derby of 1892, when he won classic honours for Lord Bradford, with odds of 40 to 1 freely betted against him.

Theatrical Notes.

We must reluctantly confess to finding ourselves in the sorry plight of the pitcher that went too often to the well. When we saw “Captain Brassbound’s Conversion” we realised that we have been just once too often to the well of humour at the Court Theatre, of which Mr. Bernard Shaw is the copious spring. Generally one of the most attractive features of the productions at the Court Theatre is the happy way in which the parts appear to fit the artistes to whom they are given. But in the case of Captain Brassbound we have sustained a disappointment in this respect. The only lady in the caste is Miss Ellen Terry, and for her saving presence we are most thankful, and we consider it one of her greatest triumphs that she should galvanise Lady Cecil Waynflete into a very attractive human being. Mr. Fred Kerr is seldom found in a misfit part, but the title rôle of the play, Captain Brassbound, the modern but still bold buccaneer, is scarcely worthy of his art; and a still greater disappointment to us was to see Mr. Edmund Gwenn, who in “Man and Superman” was the very prince of chauffeurs, playing the part of Felix Drinkwater, the prolix cockney adventurer, who to our mind possesses no semblance of humanity. There are a variety of foreign characters in the play uninteresting enough, and altogether we can only hope that Captain Brassbound is an early effort of Mr. Bernard Shaw which we may use as an example to point the advance he has shown in his more recent works, and not as an instance of his present ability.

Having fortified for many a day and night the Garrick Theatre with “The Walls of Jericho,” the fertile pen of Mr. Alfred Sutro was called upon to provide a fresh theme for Mr. Arthur Bouchier and his talented company.

“The Fascinating Mr. Vanderveldt,” a comedy in four acts, is a skit upon a phase of Society—with a big S, when so many members of the peerage are concerned. The motive of this smartly written play is that of an adventurer, who in order to force a lady into marriage endeavours to compromise her by compelling her to pass, unchaperoned, a night at a village inn, at which he also is staying. You can all take your choice about the play. If you are serious you may regard it as a melodrama of the motor-car; if you are flippant you may laugh at the farce of the sparking-plug; but however you take it, you must regard yourselves and the play as very chic and up to date, and then everybody will be pleased. Mr. Vanderveldt is labelled “fascinating” in the promiscuous fashion that some eggs are labelled “new laid,” perhaps with just as slight veracity, and in this matter much depends upon faith. To some of us he appears to be a colossal cad, but to the ladies in the play he is made to appear irresistible, although even to some of them, may be, highly ridiculous.

There are a couple of dull old gentlemen suing the Lady Clarice for her hand, and there is a very proper colonel who has the cheek to give her good advice, but not the nerve to keep on asking her to marry him, and there is the fascinator who can do more with a lady in ten minutes than many a man in a lifetime. And greatest and most novel creation of the author’s brain, we have the Deus ex machinâ in the proper person of the clergyman who drives the motor and saves the reputation of the light-hearted lady, by his ready adaptation of the sparking-plug. And so the alleged fascinator is left in the parlour of “The Cow and Calf Inn” to the novel experience of drinking a bottle of champagne to his own solitary cheek, and the tongues of the gossips are silenced, and there is a prospect of wedding bells in honour of the alliance of the coldblooded colonel with the laughing Lady Clarice.

This same Lady Clarice is played by Miss Violet Vanbrugh, and that, to our mind, is the best of the play, for she gives a very charming rendering of what cannot be regarded as a very great part.

Of so-called musical plays there are just now a large variety in London, no less than eight West End theatres being devoted to that form of entertainment. Mr. George Edwardes has in “The Little Michus” at Daly’s Theatre what appears to be a perennial success, and certainly the charm of Miss Denise Orme, the music of Messager, and the mirth-compelling humour of Mr. George Graves, with a fleeting appearance of the great Genée, combine to provide a delightful evening’s amusement. At the Prince of Wales’ Theatre “The Little Cherub” has grown into “A Girl on the Stage,” with much the same company as before, including those very funny men, Messrs. Willie Edouin and W. H. Berry. Miss Ruth Vincent is a valuable recruit with her charming voice, and Miss Zena Dare and Miss Gabrielle Ray are as beautiful as ever.

Wyndham’s Theatre now finds itself the home of “The Girl behind the Counter,” a musical comedy by Leedham Bantock and Arthur Anderson, with music by Howard Talbot. It affords us an opportunity of welcoming back to the stage that popular singer, Mr. Hayden Coffin, who is great in the part of a millionaire miner just returned to London society in full mining kit, and an imperial arm tattooed with the Union Jack. He is supported by Mr. J. F. McArdle, who supplies most of the comic element in a manner pleasantly suggestive of Mr. George Graves. Mr. Horace Mills as an office boy apparently has based his methods upon those of Mr. Edmund Payne, and there is a family likeness between the work of Mr. Laurence Grossmith and his brother Mr. George Grossmith, junior. Moreover, Mr. Hayden Coffin always seems to us to be imitating himself, so that a mind keen upon imitations can revel in its fancy at Wyndham’s Theatre just now, although about the best mimic of them all, Miss Marie Dainton, who brightens the caste, did not, when we saw the piece, give any of her celebrated imitations. Miss Isabel Jay sings and masquerades charmingly as the girl behind the counter, and Miss Coralie Blythe is once more at her best in a soubrette part. There are several good musical numbers and some amusing lines, and altogether we can recommend “The Girl behind the Counter” as a capital entertainment.

Another amusing entertainment is “The Dairymaids” at the Apollo Theatre, with those charming ladies, Miss Carrie Moore and Miss Agnes Fraser, disguised first as dairymaids and then as athletes. They have a half-sister in Miss Florence Smithson, and as Miss Phyllis Broughton and Miss Gracie Leigh are also in the caste, it will be seen that there is no lack of fair ladies in “The Dairymaids.” Mr. Walter Passmore supplies some fun, although, personally, we dislike his dressing up as a woman; but the hit of the evening was made by Mr. Dan Rolyat, who, we believe, is a new-comer to London. As a comic sailor-man he at once won the hearts of his audience by his funny methods and agile clowning, and probably by this time his part has been expanded to allow him better opportunities than he at first enjoyed.

The last scene of the play takes place in a ladies’ gymnasium, which is a clever set, and bids fair to make “The Sandow Girl” very popular.