Part 56

Whether M. Blanc will do as well this season with his three-year-olds as he did last year and the two preceding ones remains to be seen, but the odds are that he will not, and if he gains a victory in one or other of the French classic races it will probably be with one or other of his two fillies, Blue Fly and Belle Fleur, while the former may possibly come over to England and run for the Oaks at Epsom, though she would have powerful opponents to quash in Flair and Waterflower, both of whom would have the advantage of being on their own ground. It is a great handicap for a horse to have to make the journey across the Channel, as we have so often seen, but there will be no representative of the French stables in the Derby this year. Whether Jardy will come over later for the Gold Cup at Ascot, or the Princess of Wales’ and the Eclipse Stakes, will depend, of course, upon the progress he makes between now and then, but there is another good race in which Jardy can run at home, there being the Prix de President de la Republique of £4,000, with no penalties or allowances, which is run for at Maisons-Laffitte, and in which such English celebrities as Pretty Polly and St. Amant are engaged. It will be remembered that Pretty Polly’s sole defeat was sustained in France, when she was beaten by a French colt that ought never to have finished in front of her, and it will be interesting to see how he fares when he meets her again in July, always provided that the encounter does not take place a month before at Ascot.

The three-year-olds in France this season do not appear, with two or three exceptions, to be more than moderate, the best of them all being Mr. W. K. Vanderbilt’s Prestige, a colt by le Pompon (bred by M. Edouard Blanc) who has won all his engagements, seven as a two-year-old and four this spring, in most decisive fashion, but he is not, unfortunately, engaged in any of the “classic” races at home or abroad; the best of the others being M. Edmond Blanc’s Blue Fly who ran second to him upon one occasion, and who is in the French Derby, the Epsom Oaks, and the Grand Prix de Paris. She would be favourite for the Chantilly Race were there any betting on future events, and she is well bred enough for anything, being by Flying Fox—Bluette, dam of that good horse Omnium II. The best of the colts engaged in the French Derby are Organiste, the property of M. de Brémond, whose colours were carried at Epsom seven years ago by the ill-fated Holocauste, who fell and broke his leg, and Ganelon II., who is owned by Count de Moltke; the latter colt is a grandson of St. Simon, his sire, Lauzun (by St. Simon—Merrie Lassie) having been bred by the King at Sandringham, and having won a good race or two before being sold to a French breeder. Ganelon II., who is one of the first of his get, looks like being a credit to his sire, for he has now won all his three engagements in a canter (beating, in one of them, Organiste), and gives one the impression of being a colt of high class, though Organiste may have made more improvement from two to three, as he was very backward when he finished second to Ganelon II. last autumn.

HUNTING.

There are but a few words needful to wind up the story of the season of 1905–6. It has been one of the most open ever known. Sport has varied, since scent has, of course, not been equally serviceable everywhere, and accounts range from the Heythrop, which has had a notably bad scenting season, up to the Badminton, the Cottesmore, the Fitzwilliam, and the Albrighton, all of which packs have had extraordinarily good seasons. The last named, hunting over a country not generally remarkable for carrying a scent, have had an unusually good season. The Master, Colonel Goulburn, and the huntsman, Morris, are new to the country, so that the record of kills—sixty-five brace—accounted for is all the more creditable, especially as it represents a number of quite remarkable runs. There must be a certain feeling of regret in the thought that the Quorn hounds will leave their old kennel this season. The new establishment at Pawdy Cross Roads may have more convenience, but it cannot have the associations of the old one, which invited the admiration of our grandfathers. “The kennels and stables at Quorn are superb,” wrote one who saw them in Mr. Meynell’s time; “they are within easy reach of the forest of Charnwood, and we hunt there long after the good country is shut up, in fact, until May-day.” Men make shorter seasons in the Midlands now than they did in Mr. Meynell’s day, but we kill more foxes; as in the five years from 1791 to 1796 the Quorn Hounds only averaged 36½ brace of foxes. The new kennels have every convenience, and we may be sure that Captain Forester and Tom Bishopp will not fail to have an always improving pack to live in them. No country has afforded more sport than the Fitzwilliam, which has found foxes for three other packs besides the Milton. Mr. Fernie’s hounds had a final day in the woods near Colly Weston on April 10th. There were plenty of foxes, seven being viewed in one covert, but there was not much scent to hunt them with. Such a show of foxes at the close of the season makes it clear what honest and careful preserving can do, since no less than four different packs have been in these coverts during the season. The ideas of people on fox preserving differ in an amusing way. I was discussing the other day the prospects of a certain country whose very existence hangs in the balance with two men. The hunting man thought there were very few foxes. The shooting man assured me there were plenty. But I think, perhaps, the late masters would differ from him.

The season of 1905–6 has been remarkable for the small number of changes of mastership, and the ease with which vacancies have been filled up. The two most important alterations do not, indeed, arise out of vacancies at all, but from the masters being joined by partners. Thus Lord Charles Bentinck becomes joint master of the Blankney, and Lord Algernon Percy returns to his former post with the North Warwickshire as joint master with Mr. J. P. Arkwright.

Among the new masters’ appointments since I wrote last are Mr. Swire to the Essex, and Mr. Neven du Mont to the East Sussex. The last-named gentleman is not an Englishman, but he is a very good sportsman, and he is to have the support of Sir Anchitel Ashburnham-Clement, to whom Sussex foxhunters owe so much. But if masters have not changed, many huntsmen and whippers-in are shifting. Gillson, who has been for some years with Mr. Preston Rawnsley in the Southwold country, has been appointed to succeed F. Gosden with the Meynell. Gillson’s brother goes to the Bedale from the South and West Wilts, with which pack he has shown good sport. There was no huntsman more respected and admired than the late George Gillson of the Cottesmore, and it is pleasant to see his two sons doing so well. An excellent servant, too, is George Shepherd, who is to be kennel huntsman to Lord Southampton with the Grafton. He has just finished a most enjoyable season with the Blankney. That pack has scarcely missed a single day. A promising man, too, is J. Baker, who has been first whipper-in to the Fitzwilliam, and is said to be going to the Cambridgeshire, a country where a good man can show much excellent sport. Then Freeman goes to the Pytchley in place of John Isaacs, who retires with a testimonial after twenty-six years in service with the Pytchley.

Exmoor stag-hunting closed on April 11th, after an unusually brilliant season. The final fortnight after spring stags was a most successful close to the sport. The best run was on Friday, 6th, from Venniford Cross. Sir Thomas Acland’s coverts, as usual, when this fixture is on the card were drawn, and at one o’clock a stag was found, or rather two, but one soon disappeared, while the other went on. There had been just a sprinkle of rain the day before, and in spite of an east wind and brilliant sunshine hounds ran well, even over the plough. The first part of the run from Selworthy to Venniford Cross was bright and full of dash, and hounds swept on to Tivington Plantations, hard on their stag, which by this time had shed one antler. Then he laid down and allowed the field to go close to his lair, till hounds were too near to be pleasant, then he sprang up with a tremendous crash and literally hurled himself through the bushes and trees. He did not stop again till he reached Stonley Wood, some seven or eight miles from the start. Twice he came down to the stream below Monkham Wood, and we all thought the end had come. But in the course of the hunt in Monkham he shed the other horn, and thus lightened climbed the steeps of Langridge, and taking a line past Treborough Church, one of the highest placed buildings on the Brendon Hills, he went down to the water in Haddon coverts. Strange to say all trace of him was lost here, and he was given up. As hounds ran they covered about fifteen miles, and the pace was good. The field, including a good many strangers, was scattered, and only a few got to the end—the Master, the hunt servants, and one lady from Minehead, Mrs. Blofield. For my part, I could not get beyond Stonley, and not a few were left here. The day was warm, the pace was good, and fourteen stone riding the line honestly was bound to come to the end of the horse.

I am able on good authority to assure the readers of BAILY that there are plenty of stags and hinds for next season and for many more after that. This season was better than last, and the next will be even better if the weather is favourable. There are, as I have said, plenty of stags for sport, and not so many as to interfere with hounds. They have been thoroughly and systematically hunted, and thus are more likely to run. Mr. R. A. Sanders remains Master of the Devon and Somerset, Mr. E. A. Stanley and Sir John Amory provide the subsidiary packs, and in these three masters are three men who can hunt a red deer with a skill, keenness and science well worthy of the sporting traditions of Exmoor.

The close of the season has been clouded by several rather serious accidents and one fatal one (Mr. Bovill was killed while hunting with the Warnham Staghounds). The cause of this last fall was said to be wire. At all events, the summer is the time to try to lessen this scourge. I am firmly convinced that wire should never be marked in countries where the use of this fencing prevails. There is sure to be some place where there are no warning signs, and it is here that fatal accidents so often happen. There is one step that might be taken and ought to be taken. Men who hunt and are favourable to hunting should remove all the wire that is under their control from their own properties, whether they themselves hunt in the country or not. Then those who have influence with their tenants should endeavour to reduce the quantity on land they own but do not occupy. There is nothing more certain than that if all the wire was taken down by hunting men and hunting landlords on land in their own occupation it would greatly reduce the quantity and would set an example sure to be followed.

Mr. David Ker, who has held the mastership of the County Down Staghounds for two seasons, has retired, much to the regret of his followers. Captain Hugh Montgomery, only son of Mr. Thomas Montgomery, D.L., of Ballydrain, co. Antrim, has been elected as Mr. Ker’s successor, and he should do well, as he is popular, a keen sportsman and fine horseman.

SOME SPRING PRODUCTIONS AT THE THEATRES.

At the Adelphi Theatre Mr. Otho Stuart is scoring heavily with his series of Shakesperian productions. Miss Lily Brayton and Mr. Oscar Asche are the aptest pupils of the Benson school, and the immortal Bard in their hands shows to very great advantage.

“The Taming of the Shrew” made a great hit, and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” was delighting the town when it was withdrawn to make room for “Measure for Measure.” It seems rather a bold venture to put up this play, as the original text makes it a play to which every young girl might not like to take her mother. But as arranged and produced by Mr. Oscar Asche there is slight risk, and the comedy runs along through its ten scenes in the nicest way.

To Miss Lily Brayton belong the chief honours of the evening, and her study of Isabella, sister of the guilty Claudio, is as charming as is her appearance in the white uniform of the probationer. Mr. Oscar Asche is as virile as ever in the part of Angelo, the demoralised deputy, with a passion and beard happily reminiscent of Mr. Pinero’s Maldonato—who gave the cheque book to Iris and finally smashed the furniture of the flat. Who shall say that Maldonato was not a lineal descendant of the determined Deputy of Vienna?

Mr. Walter Hampden presents a Duke full of dignity, considering that the conduct of Vincentio in lurking about his city disguised as a friar, when he is supposed to be out of town, is as undignified an act for a potentate as one can well imagine.

Miss Frances Dillon makes the best of the ungrateful part of the slighted Mariana, who in the gloomy shades of the “Moated Grange” brings off a _coup_ of which Monte Carlo might well be proud.

“Measure for Measure,” written by Shakespeare, is undoubtedly strong meat, as produced by Mr. Oscar Asche it is in every way a digestible, and better still, a most palatable dish.

“The Beauty of Bath” at the new Aldwych Theatre is probably the most successful show in London at the present time, and our thanks are due to Mr. Seymour Hicks for a most delightful entertainment.

It is all against the canons of so-called musical comedy that either the music or the comedy should be too fresh or original, and probably any adventurous spirit who attempted to deal in such dangerous goods as an entirely new and original comedy-opera would speedily find himself amongst the registrars and receivers in Carey Street, W.C.

And Mr. Seymour Hicks is at the head of his profession, and knows what his public wants. From the story of Cinderella he fashioned the phenomenally successful “Catch of the Season,” and now from an idea in “David Garrick,” and the marked resemblance in personal appearance of his brother, Mr. Stanley Brett, to himself, Mr. Hicks has evolved the story the “Beauty of Bath,” who comes to town, falls in love with a prominent actor, and finds herself at the end of the play engaged to marry his double, a dashing naval officer.

Miss Ellaline Terriss makes a perfect beauty from Bath, Mr. Stanley Brett is the distinguished actor, and Mr. Seymour Hicks is breezy Dick Alington the sailor hero of the story, with a large fortune and a long and exacting and admirably played part. Mr. Hicks is at his best in a pathetic scene between Dick and his mother upon the return of the former from China. And in the second act his scene of pseudo-drunkenness _au_ David Garrick is very well done.

In “Bluebell” he was not on the stage nearly enough to satisfy his admirers, who, in the present production, are delighted to see more Hicks. Amongst other members of a long cast, that accomplished actress, Miss Rosina Filippi, does wonders with a part which seems scarcely good enough for her; and Master Valchera as a call-boy, adds to the popularity he won as Bucket, the page-boy, in the “Catch of the Season,” and Miss Barbara Deane sings as charmingly as ever.

Beautiful ladies in beautiful costumes form a prominent and most attractive feature of the entertainment, and the Twelve Bath Buns, as they are styled, might any of them challenge the “Judgment of Paris.”

The two scenes, representing the foyer of a theatre and a ballroom, are very fine, and reflect the greatest credit upon Mr. W. Hann, the painter: and altogether there seems to be nothing but praise for everyone concerned in this handsome production.

Why the Comedy should not be a more lucky theatre is a problem which we have never heard solved in a satisfactory way. It is very conveniently placed and is a nice enough house, and yet a long run there is more or less a rarity. Following the short run of “The Alabaster Staircase,” a revival of “A Pair of Spectacles” presented those consummate artists, Messrs. John Hare and Charles Groves, in their original parts, but even this did not fill the bill for long, and upon April 5th, Mr. Chudleigh reverted to an old-time method of his at the Court Theatre, and put up a triple bill. The first piece is by Mr. Austin Strong, the author of “The Little Father of the Wilderness,” which a few months ago afforded Mr. Huntley Wright a good opportunity of displaying his ability as a pathetic actor.

“The Drums of Oude” deals with an incident in the Indian Mutiny, where a small body of English troops are in peril and it is a question of death before dishonour when, at almost the last desperate moment reinforcements spell rescue. The chief feature of this little drama was the very telling performance of Mr. Matheson Lang as the resolute Captain Hector Macgregor. The rest of the evening was devoted to two pieces by Mr. J. M. Barrie—“Punch,” a toy tragedy in one act, and “Josephine,” a _revue_ in three scenes.

“Punch” deals with the misfortunes and ruin of the senior dramatists before the growth of Superpunch. Besides Punch and Judy, the other two characters in the tragedy are ὁ χαριεις a fishmonger’s boy, who announces that he represents the voice of the public. Mr. Barrie is such a profound and elaborate jester that one looks closely for a joke in his every word, but this ὁ χαριεις is too perplexing for us, unless, indeed, the explanation offered by a super-Scotchman be the correct one, that a fishmonger’s boy would, of course, carry ice. This is bad enough, but we would rather adopt that view than believe Mr. Barrie to have put up a fishmonger or butcher’s boy to represent δι χαριευτες the Attic “men of culture and taste.” However that may be, the other character in the tragedy is not so involved, and before Superpunch had come on the stage we were prepared for the notorious Bernard Shaw beard, and for the complete triumph of the new man. We should think it improbable that “Punch” will enjoy such a long run as is usually the case with anything from Mr. Barrie’s fertile pen.

“Josephine” is called on the programme “a Revue,” but this is unfair to a distinguished institution which belongs to Paris, and we prefer to call “Josephine” a political skit. The story is of the household of sleepy Mr. Buller, where his three Scotch sons take it in turns to play at being eldest son, and mismanaging everything, with flirtations with Mavourneen Blarney to pass the time, and more serious engagements with Josephine. Bunting is a youngest son, representative of the growing Labour Party, and Fair and Free are two beautiful ladies who each claim to assist in the housekeeping, with disastrous results.

The three scenes are made up of personalities at the expense of Lord Rosebery, Mr. Balfour, Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, and, of course, Mr. Joseph Chamberlain, who is represented in woman’s clothes by a male actor. This might be regarded as an error of judgment, were it not that Mr. Dion Boucicault plays this difficult part with the best of taste and discretion; at the same time we see no reason why the part should not have been played by a lady, as is the case with Mavourneen Blarney, who is admirably represented by Miss Eva Moore. We cannot find much to say in praise of “Josephine,” but there is much to be said in praise of the company who play it.

As we have said, Mr. Dion Boucicault does wonders for the part of Josephine. Mr. Graham Browne is excellent as James, whose golf-clubs and dilettante attitudes proclaim him the late Prime Minister; and Mr. Kenneth Douglas and A. G. Matthews are excellent respectively as C. B. and Lord Rosebery.

Mr. Louis Calvert is nicely sleepy as John Bull, and Miss Grace Lane and Miss Mabel Hackney, as Fair and Free, look very charming, and indulge in some Grigolati work on a wire, although we cannot quite make out why they should. It seems impossible that Mr. Barrie’s jokes should ever be anything but successful, so probably these will enjoy a long vogue, but personally we would prefer to see such an excellent company of actors and actresses playing in something in which they have a chance of showing to better advantage.

At the Haymarket Theatre the welcome revival of “The Man from Blankley’s” is proving a great success, and eight times a week Lord Strathpeffer has been dining with the Tidmarshes and their strange acquaintances.

Mr. Anstey’s story of how his lordship found his way into the wrong house in Bayswater, and being mistaken for the hired guest from Blankley’s emporium, spent a perplexing evening amongst strangers, is extremely funny. And it is made funnier still by the fine company playing at the Haymarket. Mr. Charles Hawtrey is immense in his original part of Strathpeffer, and Messrs. Henry Kemble and Aubrey Fitzgerald as the pompous uncle, Gilwattle, and the brainless Poffley are inimitable. Moreover, Mr. Arthur Playfair resumes his part of the hired butler, out of which he extracts any amount of undignified fun. Mr. Weedon Grossmith now plays the host, and fits the part to perfection. Of the ladies Miss Fanny Brough is as humorous as ever in the _rôle_ of the worried hostess, and Miss Dagmar Wiehe, a new-comer, is very charming and natural as the Governess.

“The Man from Blankley’s” is just about the most amusing unmusical entertainment in London nowadays, and is a very prominent example of the success which can attend a revival of a popular play done by a first-class company.

We were interested by the remark of a very wise woman who traced a great similarity between “The Man from Blankley’s” and that great masterpiece, “His House in Order.”

In each case there is a girl very much out of her element amongst the strangest beings that imagination could depict, and in each case there comes to her rescue a man of distinction. The Tidmarshes live in Bayswater, and Mr. Jesson lives in the provinces. It was amusing to hear the comparison of the two plays, but we have no space now to do more than make a passing reference to the ingenuity of our wise friend.

At the Lyric Theatre, Mr. H. B. Irving is to be complimented upon his good work as the adaptor, producer, and interpreter of a very interesting play.

“Jeunesse” is the name of the work by Mr. André Picard, as produced at the Odéon Theatre, but since the title “Youth” has already been appropriated for an English play, Mr. Irving has been well advised to call his production by the name of the heroine, “Mauricette,” for she is the keynote of the whole composition.

It is a pathetic little story, this, which comes, unlike most French successes, healthily enough into a London theatre without any excision or operation of the scalpel of the censor.

Roger Dautran is a senator in the prime of life—that is, from the point of view of a man of fifty—he has a most devoted wife, past the prime of life—from the point of view of the man of fifty—and childless. Dautran has a large heart and a great yearning for sympathy from the other sex, and he frankly admits that if ever he has made a telling speech in debate, his only inspiration has been the presence of a sympathetic spirit in the ladies’ gallery. So the impressionable senator, finding home-life somehow incomplete, has drifted into the habit of consistently dining out, and leaving his devoted wife to the desert, of tedium of an improving book to read in nice large print.