The piece is well played all round, especially by the men. Mr. TREE is excellent, except in the ultra-melodramatic parts, where he is too noisy. The very best thing he does is the perfect finish of the Second Act, when, without a word, he sits in the chair before the fire lost in dismal thought. This is admirable: as perfect in its dramatic force as it is true to nature. It is without exception the best thing in the whole piece. Mr. F. KERR as _Reginald Slingsby_, achieves a success unequalled since Mr. BANCROFT played the _parvenu_ swell _Hawtree_. It should be borne in mind that Mr. KERR only recently played admirably the poor stuttering shabby lover in _The Struggle for Life. Il ira loin, ce bon_ M. KERR. Miss JULIA NEILSON looks the part to the life: when she has ceased to give occasional imitations of Miss ELLEN TERRY, and can really play the part as well as she looks it, then nothing more could be possibly desired. All the others as good as need be, or can be.
Triumph of the Artful Agent and his lame Duck of a Daughter, Sybil Slyboots, _alias_ Becky Sharp, afterwards the Merry Duchess of Gooseberry.]
(_RETORT OF A LADY-PLAYER WHO PLAYS "FOR LOVE."_)
["No game was ever yet invented which held the female mind in thrall save by indirect means. Where would croquet have been, so far as the Ladies were concerned, without its Curates, or lawn-tennis without its 'Greek gods' ... If men played for nothing, they would find it dull enough."--JAMES PAYN]
'Tis mighty well for Menfolk at Womankind to gibe, And swear they do not care for games without some lure or bribe, But e'en in JAMES PAYN's armour there seems some weakish joints; He does not care for "glorious Whist" unless for "sixpenny points!" Whist! Whist! Whist! It charms the Bogey, Man: Whist! Whist! Whist! He'll play it when he can. But "pointless Whist," as PAYN admits, is not at all his plan; You must have "money on" to please the Bogey, Man!
Now, Ladies like to play "for love," a fault male hucksters blame, But only sordid souls deny _that_ is the true "grand game." Man's vulgarer ambition's not just to play well and win; His eye is ever on the stakes, his interest on the "tin." Whist! Whist! Whist! That blatant Bogey, Man! Whist! Whist! Whist! He'll flout us when he can. "Indirect means" though, after all, are portions of _his_ plan; For all his brag he loves the "swag," the Bogey, Man!