Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 14.pdf/442

 Rh The Guildhall Museum, says the Law Times, has just been enriched by a very grim collection, presented by the authorities of Newgate Prison. It is a miniature chamber of horrors, including a whipping-block, a set of leg irons, an iron waistbelt, old chairs from the prison chapel, a leaden cast of the City arms, dated 1781, used within the precincts of the gaol; the magistrates' book, 1 8 1 4; the minutes' book, with the mournful record of the visiting justices, 1843-1878; and a bust of Sir John Sylvester, who, on account of the severity of his sentences, was known in his day as "Black Jack." There were several other gifts, such as casts of the heads of notorious murderers, but the library authorities, being cheerful and generous, thought they had got enough reminders of the worst side of human character, and sent these gruesome physiogno mies on to Scotland Yard, where they proved very acceptable. The writer knows a well-meaning young jus tice who has a considerable marrying business and who, when he took the office, wrote out a nice little speech to be delivered to the bride and groom just before collecting the usual two dollars. This speech he can say backwards and forwards and he can begin in the middle and say it both ways. The other day he joined a couple in the holy bonds of matrimony and threw in the customary enthusiastic and inexperienced advice of a bachelor, free of charge. His pero ration ran something like this: "I hope you realize the full seriousness of the important step you have taken. It shall be your duty, sir, to guard and protect and cher ish; and yours, madam, to love and respect and obey. This is the greatest event that can hap pen in the life of either of you — an event that stands out as the preeminent event of your lives. Henceforth those lives will run together until one of you shall lay down the burden of life to cross the dark waters, and there wait for the coming of the other. You are now one through life, with one heart, one purpose, and one destiny. I hope and trust you realize all these things. I hope you understand the step you have taken." "I 'd ought to," replied the blushing bride. "I 've been married three times and divorced twice."

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In his recently LITERARY published NOTES. Reminiscences of a Dramatic Critic1 Mr. Henry Austin Clapp — equally well known to the Boston bar as the Clerk of the Justices of the Supreme Judicial Court, and as the dramatic critic, for many years, of the Advertiser — has recorded, in his usual graceful manner, much that is of interest concerning the stage and the leading actors of the last half century. Mr. Clapp's criticism of the great Shakespearean actors — Fechter, Booth, Salvini, Irving; Charlotte Cushman and Ade laide Neilson—is of exceptional value, because it is the work not only of an experienced dramatic critic,' but also of a profound' Shakespearean scholar. To the Bostonian the volume is of especial interest, for Mr. Clapp traces the dramatic history of the town from the spectacle, farce, melodrama and minstrelsy of fifty years ago, down through the Robertson ian period and through what our author calls, happily, the "Great Dramatic Quinquennium," quinquen nium mirabi/e, — the half decade between 1870 and 1875 i the happenings of later years he touches on more or less incidentally, especially in his excellent chapter on William Warren. Most of Mr. Clapp's volume is of more than local interest, however. What he has to say of the influence of the " business end " on news paper dramatic criticism is decidedly frank and refreshing, though not more frank than his con clusion — unquestionably true — that of our theatre audiences only a small proportion — say a quarter — have any intelligent appreciation of, or interest in, good dramatic art. Particularly good is his chapter on " The Ephemeral Drama and the Enduring Drama," in which he declares that only the plays that pass into literature — that, like the old Greek tragedies and comedies and like the Shakespearean plays, can " endure reading and rereading,"— can be enduring. In these pages Mr. Clapp advocates, as he has advocated elsewhere for many years, the estab lishment of an endowed theatre, which he believes would make for the betterment of dramatic art; although he sees that improve ment must, of necessity, be slow. ' Reminiscences ofa Dramatic Critic By Henry Austin Clapp. 1902. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Company. Cloth: Si.75 net. (pp. viii 241.)