Well, if we must have forged for us the sword of a
three-Act parable, we should like it with one edge, not two.
Mr. JONES was evidently bursting with the desire to give some irritating
people a very hard knock--witness the barbed dedication with which the
normally peaceful theatre-announcement columns have bristled some little
time past; and I think I dare say that we were interested in his first
Act. He did really work out his analogies with some skill. But we soon
came to feel that he was essentially doing something between flogging a
dead horse, so far as we were concerned, and shooting a sitting rabbit.
I suspect too that we realised the issues were too tragic for this kind
of buffoonery. The tribute of our applause was a tribute of loyalty to
one who has often deserved well of the republic, and partly the desire
to show that our hearts were in the right place. I don't see _The
Pacifists_ as a pamphlet making many converts. As a kick on the shins it
has points.
I confess the thing that pleased me most was a gay little piece of
burlesque by Mr. ARTHUR CHESNEY as the red-haired shop assistant who was
_not_ a pacifist. Mr. CHARLES GLENNEY so thoroughly enjoyed the
robustious sea-captain that we had to enjoy it too--a sound notion of
entertainment, that.
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