[Illustration: Arthur Cecil's Collard Head à la G.O.M.]

Then, in the last Act of _The Guardsman_, if we have a French room
with half-a-dozen doors, leading to half-a-dozen different places,
with which arrangement not a few of us are familiar in pieces brought
over fresh from the Palais Royal, and occurring in farces of which
_Bébé_, _Anglicè Betsey_, at the Gymnase and Criterion is a type,
shall we complain? Shall we not rather laugh heartily over the good
old game of Hide-and-Seek, which on the stage is invariably the cause
of much amusement to one person for whom, at all events, I can answer?
What does it matter if to some it recalls a few farcical comedies all
excellent material? Not a bit! I gather from the genuine laughter and
applause of the crowded house at the Court, that this amuses and will
continue to amuse some hundreds nightly, as long as it is all done so
well, and at such high pressure, as it is now in _The Guardsman_. The
First Act is good; the Second is the best; but the Third is like the
last figure in an after-supper early-in-the-morning Lancers, ending
in a whirligig _galop_, when everything is fast and furious, and just
the tune and its measure taken _prestissimo_ and _fortissimo_ keep the
couples going till everybody is breathless and exhausted.

[Illustration: Miss Ellaline Terriss with her Special Train--to be
continued in our next.]

WEEDON GROSSMITH is excellent. In brief, he plays the part of a
thorough donkey, who wishes to appear "horsey." ARTHUR CECIL is
admirable as the Ex-Judge of the Divorce Court--suggesting the idea
of a gay old gentleman, who is still a bit of a dog--but a dog who
has had his day. If this is not his character, how is it he is on such
friendly terms with the _Modiste_, carefully played, and with great