and it is to the pen of this one that we probably owe the able and sympathetic obituary notice which appeared in the Daily News. But neither neglect, nor literary spite, nor cold half-hearted appreciation will affect the merits of the dead actor, who will live in the history of the stage so long as it has a history. It is some consolation to know that Mr. Irving, who is perhaps best fitted to succeed to the position of Phelps, as Phelps did to that of Macready, has never been ashamed to proclaim his admiration and respect for his illustrious predecessor. Theatres, to use the language of the city article, have been more lively of late; new business has been done, and more changes are in prospect. An adaptation of the French comedy Les Fourchambault, written by Mr. Albery, is to be produced at the Haymarket early in December, and a "new and original" drama, by Mr. Albery and Mr. Hatton, was announced at the Princesses for the last Saturday in November. Burlesques on Proof and Fra Diavolo, have been produced at the Royalty and Gaiety; an original play, or rather the suggestion of a play, called Retiring at the Folly; a drama in five acts, stated to be original, but bearing traces of French origin, at the Olympic, under the title of A Republican Marriage, and an American actress, Miss May Howard, has appeared at the Duke's in Miss Multon, which is apparently an American adaptation of the French play founded on the English novel of East Lynne. If this list of changes is suggestive less of quality than of quantity, it is at least a sign that the stagnation of the last few months is at an end. More satisfactory still is the announcement that Pink Dominos has run its course, and is about to be shelved, and amongst other coming events none excites more pleasant anticipation than the opening of the Lyceum under the management of Mr. Irving. The death of Mr. Phelps has once more attracted attention to his eventful and courageous management of Sadler's Wells, and it is a curious coincidence that almost at the time of his death the Lyceum, a theatre better situated than Sadler's Wells for the majority of playgoers, is to be started on the same principles by Mr. Irving, who, as we have said, seems the man best fitted to succeed to Phelps' place. That Mr. Irving does not possess the rich voice and physical power of Phelps, when the latter was in his prime, is very true, but some of his Shakesperian efforts, especially his Hamlet, are perhaps superior to those of the old school in conception if not in excecution. But it is as a manager, with all the opportunities that a conscientious manager has of causing the stage to become an intellectual and educational force, that Mr. Irving has now the chance of making his name famous and respected. Let him collect together, like Phelps, a strong company of actors, not grudging them, after the manner of "stars," their chances of distinction, and recruiting his force from time to time with promising novices, and it is almost certain that he will find authors to write for him and an audience to support him, in addition to any reward that fame may bestow upon him. This policy, though often professed at Drury Lane, has never been really attempted there, and Mr. Chatterton's failure to popularise Shakespeare at Drury Lane must be attributed in a great measure to his inadequate staff. This has been again proved in the present season, and the theatre in question languishes until the joyful advent of pantomime. The Lord Chamberlain and the Examiner of Plays are not to be envied when their office brings them under the necessity of refusing to pass the work of the British dramatist, more especially when that work is not original, but a translation or adaptation of a French play. They have no sooner secured a little breathing time from the attacks of Mr. Matthison than they fall into the hands of Mr. Grundy, whose little finger is thicker than Mr. Matthison's loins. This gentleman has written a long, excitable, egotistical, occasionally eloquent but more frequently ranting, and terribly inconsistent letter to the press, attacking the Lord Chamberlain on the general ground of his office, and for the particular reason that this official has rejected a French adaptation done by Mr. Grundy and a colleague. This letter, which is dated from the Temple, and is evidently modelled on the style affected by barristers in addressing a jury in a seduction or breach of promise case, abounds in the most fearful denunciations of the Lord Chamberlain. He is a national calamity; he is eating the heart out of dramatic literature; he blights at a breath the work of the dramatist who has spent arduous days upon the highest of arts. He mutilates and proscribes not only the flower of French dramatic literature, plays which to see well placed on the stage are events to be remembered in our prayers, but also the flower of English dramatic literature, and worse than that, he mutilates and proscribes plays which have not yet been written. Our drama is slain, and the suns and moons (Grundys and Matthisons) are blotted out, and only rushlights (Messrs. Gilbert and Byron for example) allowed to flicker. In this way, and to a much greater extent, does Mr. Grundy relieve his soul, but when we come to his own personal grievance, we find that it is no original play of high moral purpose that the Lord Chamberlain has proscribed, but an adaptation from a French play, which Mr. Grundy confesses to be bad in moral, and which, by the way, took him and a colleague "two or three months" to adapt. If this adaptation caused Mr. Grundy and his fellow-workman so much time to "strip it of its obscenity" and "to put in it some sense and moral meaning," the inference is obvious that the original is not one of the masterpieces of French literature, and that nobody has been injured. Never did such an immense mountain of invective produce so small a mouse of a grievance. We do not uphold the Lord Chamberlain's decisions in toto. On the contrary, the fact that Pink Dominos, Madame Attend Monsieur, and others have been passed, whilst many worthy plays have been condemned, argues a lamentable inconsistency. The theory of the Examiner is, we believe, that vice may be presented from a comic but not from a serious view on the stage. Practically the theory is only applied to one vice, for murder and robbery are represented in serious plays; and as to the particular vice in question, the theory is unsound, for when presented comically, people more often laugh with it than at it. But, as a rule the Lord Chamberlain's control is beneficial to the stage, and were he abolished by Mr. Grundy with “his sword in his right hand," we should see and hear many repulsive sights and sounds at the theatres. If Mr. Grundy will devote his talents and his arduous days to the production of an original play instead of to the adaptation of a French work which he admits to be obscene and without sense, he will probably find the Lord Chamberlain complaisant. At the very time that he was tearing his passion to tatters, an unheralded, unadvertised play, by a new author, was produced with deserved success at the Olympic. That A Republican Marriage is French in its origin, as well as in its scene and characters, is very probable, but its story is as interesting and dramatic, as its moral, in spite of scenes capable of being treated from the metaphysically-nasty point of view, is unexceptionable. A Republican Marriage is not without faults of construction. The first three acts are well devised and follow each other with logical consistency, but the fourth is unnecessarily crowded with new and subordinate characters, whilst the fifth, not being properly led up to, stands as it were isolated from the rest of the play, and seems, therefore, too brief and hurried. And though we do not object to the hero being kept alive, and the play thus prevented from being a tragedy, it is in contradiction of true sentiment, as well as marring the clearness of the story, to make him a Royalist masquerading as a Republican. But in spite of these defects, which are not grave, A Republican Marriage is the most interesting play produced for some time. The story is charming, it is well told, and the scenes where the hero and heroine, though married, are living as brother and sister, are treated with much delicacy by the author, and acted by Mr. Neville with ease and force, and by Miss Marion Terry with grace and refinement. Miss Terry, indeed has never acted so well as in this play, and displays more feeling, intelligence, and originality than we believed her to be capable of. The rest of the month's list requires little comment. Retiring, at the Folly, is a not unamusing farce, in three acts, but the attempt to elevate it to the rank of drama, by the introduction of a serious interest, at once baseless, slight, and obscure, detracts from its merits as a farce, unless it is the most farcical incident of the piece. Mr. Burnand's burlesque on Proof, entitled Over-proof, produced at the Royalty, is noticeable chiefly for the unanimous compliment paid by the critics to Mr. Burnand for his good nature in satirising his own work. We are not aware that Mr. Burnand is the author of Proof, and we recollect at the time of its production that it was distinctly stated on behalf of Mr. Burnand that he had not even adapted the French original, but merely translated it. Where then is his good nature? The burlesque on Fra Diavolo, written by Mr. Byron for the Gaiety, is inferior as a humorous travestie to the burlesque on the same subject written by him for the Strand some years ago; but it displays the Gaiety company, and especially Mr. Royce, to advantage. The Duke's Theatre in Holborn appears to be one of those unfortunate establishments at which enthusiastic and crowded audiences assemble on first nights, but are empty caverns on other nights. We have read of the enthusiasm over the Barricade and the Octoroon at this theatre, but those plays have not enjoyed a long run. The American actress, Miss May Howard, appears to have been received in this way on her first appearance; on her third, as we can testify, the attendance was about equal to that at the Court during the run of Memories. The play in which Miss Howard appears, is, as we have said, an adaptation of the French play founded on Mrs. Wood's "East Lynne." Readers of Mrs. Wood's novel will recollect that the repentant Lady Isabel being reported to be dead returns as a governess to her divorced husband's house plain and disfigured, her beauty having been destroyed in a railway accident, and that she is content to watch over her neglected children. But in Miss Multon, the scene being laid in France, no divorce has taken place; and the heroine, who has lost neither her beauty nor her taste for dress, is able, after much display of French sentiment, to beard the second wife with success by telling her that she is only their common husband's mistress. The heroine dies of course in the end, as in the novel, but she made her point in this warfare of wives. Miss Howard, whose face, voice, and figure are all in her favour, is an actress rather above the average in intelligence, the average being low at present in this country; but she is not likely to draw crowds to the Duke's, more especially in such a flimsy production as Miss Multon, an English dramatisation of "East Lynne" being tolerably well known to playgoers. She does not increase her chances of success by adopting the absurd and illogical fashion, in which she is followed by one or two of her companions in this play, of using a French accent, the reason being, we suppose, that the scene of the play is laid in France. If this plan were followed in every London theatre, a great demand would arise for instructors in broken English. ANSWERS WHIST. ΤΟ CORRESPONDENTS. H. C. (Ramsgate).-No card enclosed. A and B are partners against C and D. B deals, turning up the Queen of Clubs. A makes the first trick, with some card which has no reference to the question. He then leads the Queen of Spades; C puts on the King, B the Ace, and D trumps it. B, never expecting the suit to be ruffed the first round, and having all the best Spades and seven Trumps, led his Ace of Trumps at once, He of course thereby leading out of turn, it being D's lead. left the card on the table. D led the King of Trumps, and said to B, "Pass it." This B disputed, saying that, by Rule 62 in "Cavendish on Whist," the only penalties incurred were that the exposed card might be called, or that whenever he or his partner might next have to lead, their adversaries might call a suit. D persisted, and, to save a wrangle and trouble, A and B yielded the point; but bets were made on the subject.-Ans. A player exposing a card by dropping it, or by leading out of turn, cannot be prevented from playing the exposed card in due course. If A or B had got on, either could have been called on to lead a suit. C and D could also call the exposed card, but there is nothing in Rule 62 or any other Rule that permits the opponents to say, "Pass it." T. A.-It is no bet, you cannot bet on a certainty. W. B., D. M. S., S., AND P. J. B.-We have no August numbers left except those reserved for binding in volumes. September number sent. I. It is a misdeal. He M. B. P. (Charleston).-Please let me have your opinion on this case --At Whist, one of the players, after the cards are dealt, but before the play has commenced, gets into a discussion with another, say one of the adversaries, and, in a moment of thoughtlessness, lays his hand (cards) on the table, face upward. Only the top card can be seen; but the adversaries demand that his hand be all spread out, and called as they please. objects, on the ground that only the top card can be called. Who is right? Ans. This point arose many years ago, before these PAPERS were in existence. Bell's Life decided that all the cards were exposed. We protested against the decision at the time, but without effect; and, although we think the decision harsh, we have never found any satisfactory milder punishment, and we have been obliged to follow the decision. The law cannot be altered until we get a fresh code, and the time is ar distant before we shall get fresh laws. R. C.-We cannot refer to the subject whilst the case is sub judice. It is removed to the Queen's Bench, and will not be heard for 6, perhaps 12 months. Any Journalist can ruin any one whom he may please to attack, whether the victim be innocent or guilty. Will Mr. Attorney-General or Mr. Cross look to this? It is quite time that something was done to enable the Recorder or Judge, at the Central Criminal Court, to try any case with the assistance of a Special Jury; or that an extra Judge should be required to assist the Chief Justice in keeping down the removed cases. The question of expense is not an immaterial one, for poor men will not prosecute if the prosecution is to end in pecuniary ruin, and the press will become as great a nuisance here as on the other side of the Atlantic, unless prompt measures are taken to prevent abuse. T. A. We have requested Hunt's Company to prepare cards by which men could not cheat by passing a card; but we doubt if there is sufficient demand to justify the expense of producing them, although the designs are ready. EXMOUTH.-A leads the best trump, and without waiting for the others to play, he puts down another trump (no other trump in), and then a third card. Are these cards callable ?— Ans. No. In the case stated there is no penalty. If A's partner could have won the first trick, or the second, he could have been made to win, and the card or cards on the table would have been callable. R. B., MADRAS.-The remittance received, postage to India 2s. a year. Many thanks for the interest you take in the PAPERS. We should be very glad if India would give us more support. CAPTAIN S. W., CEYLON.-Book sent as requested. S. & S.-A leads out of turn. Z says leave the card on the table. He then says, " Partner, will you exact the penalty, or shall I!" X says there is no penalty, because you have told the player to leave the card on the table. You have exacted the penalty, and you can only now call the card. Is this so? -Ans. No. Z tells his adversary to leave his card on the table. He simply tells an adversary to do his duty. Z exercises no judgment. He was quite right to ask his partner who should exact the penalty. Z or his partner could have called a suit, and then, and then only, is the exposed card released. B. R. S.-A leads out of turn, X and B follow suit, Z finds out the blunder. B takes up his cards, aud X objects that B cannot take it up because he is answerable for his partner's blunder.-Ans. All cards except A's can be taken up, R. The ball is a good ball, and must be played although it touches the net. E. J.-A and B want two tricks to make the game, there being but two cards left in each hand. The former being now the leader, having the two best Spades and knowing his partner B to have the long trump with a losing card, lays down on the table, face upwards, his two Spades and calls game," X and Z thereupon call upon B to win the trick. The argument urged by them was that A by claiming the game and laying down his cards as he did, amounted to his playing several winning cards without waiting for his partner to play, and thus brought himself within the penalty of rule 57. A and B on the other hand insisted that there is no penalty for calling out "game" before it is actually finished, and the cards he so put down were merely exposed cards, so that B could throw away his losing one. Your opinion on this point will oblige.-Ans. A has led two cards that are winning cards as against the adversaries, and the case therefore comes within law 57, and A's partner can be called on to win the first trick. If it is contended that A led one card, and then another, the first is imperfect. In the case stated there may be no advantage or disadvantage, but at the end of a hand it often happens that the leader may have two cards, both winning cards, but which his partner may forget, and it would be obviously unfair to permit a player to put down two cards and thus give the information to his partner necessary to convey to his mind that both cards are good; surely saying "game' meant that A had played two cards. Until both were played he was not game. Ordinarily there is no penalty for saying "game." NAPOLEON. JOHN PYE.-1. What is the penalty if a player makes a revoke ? 2. What is the penalty if the stand hand makes a revoke? 3. When can a revoke be claimed ?-Ans. 1. A player revoking pays three to the stand hand, and the cards are re-played. If stand goes for Napoleon, revoker pays double. The revoker does not receive the stakes if the dealer loses. 2. Stand hand loses. 3. At any time before the cards are cut for the next deal; but the fact may be difficult to establish after the cards are mixed. LOO. P. C. Is not an Ace of a plain suit equal in value to the 191 two of trumps?-Ans. No, the two of trumps will beat any one of the three Aces and therefore it must be of more value than a named Ace. We probably do not understand your question, or you have not expressed your meaning. R. T.-It is the duty of the pone to see that the pool is right. If wrong, he makes up the deficiency. If no error were ever committed, the pone would have nothing to do. The money would always be there, ready to be divided. The pone's responsibility only arises when the score is deficient-i.e., when some one has forgotten to put in, and each player is on an equality. IDEM-If a captain is appointed, and he gives a decision, that decision must be absolute. Nobody expects that a captain will always be right. We have to bow when he is wrong. P. L. T. —The leads in the book may not always be the best, but you may rely on their being generally right. The experience of many is more likely to be right than the judgment of one who confessedly knows nothing about it. If the books say, "Lead the top of a sequence, and win with the bottom," they must have some reason for the rule. Thus, if the Queen is led | from Q, Kv, 10, if you lead the 10, and your partner has the King, he must put on the King; but if you lead the Queen, he need not put on the King unless he pleases. In leading the 10 you sacrifice two cards of equal value where one would do. The second hand may have King, and your partner Ace. By leading the Queen the second hand will put on King; third hand, Ace; and you have the two best of the suit led. If you lead the 10, second hand will not put on King, third hand will put on Ace, and the best of the suit is left against you. PIQUET PUZZLE. Take out of a Piquet pack twelve cards, and make the bes Piquet hand for your purpose. Let the second player take any of the remaining twelve cards -seeing yours. No discarding. Can you prevent the first player getting 90? What is the most each side can get? B. N. If you win with the Queen and return the King we should not expect that you had the Ace. SECRETARY (2).-1, 2,3. They associate with a shady lot, and you are better without them, 4 and 5 good. G. Z.-Yes. If you Peter in a suit, of which you have 6, 5, 4, play the 5 first, so that if the adversaries get the lead in that suit, you may play the 6 next time without divulging your previous intentions, if you see reason to change your mind. The idda is so far good, but we prefer the old rule. We Peter when in our judgment if trumps are led we can get a good We Peter only when we are sufficiently strong to dictate to our partner, and say to him, "Sacrifice your hand," and we answer, "For a good result." This is old fashion now, but there are many old things worth preserving. score. DOUBLE DUMMY. PEMBRIDGE.-A and B 2re playing Double Dummy: A had five tricks arranged in the usual way, one projecting beyond the other; he made the sixth trick, on which he revoked; placed it with the others, and taking them all up, stacked them. After he had done so, while holding the cards in his hand, B claimed a revoke; is this claim good? That is, was the trick quitted ? ECARTE. G. B." At Ecarté" the dealer having dealt in the manner prescribed by the laws of the game, turns up a small Spade, the non-dealer then leading plays the King of Spades, and having quitted it contends that he can still mark the King upon the ground that it is the first card played, and his adversary has not yet played to the trick. The adversaries contend that the non-dealer having played and quitted the King, cannot now claim to mark it. What say you? Ans.-The laws differ. If the question is to be finally judged by us, we decide that a player leading the King can count it as long as it remains uncovered by the adversary's card. CHESS. The New Zealand exchanges come with great irregularity. By the Francisco mail reaching here 25th November not a single paper arrived. R. W. P. (New York.)-1. We have complied with your request. 2. We are not booksellers, but we have written to the author, and no doubt the book will be sent by his pub. lishers. R. STEEL. Your letter to us had been much appreciated. It has been printed in several American papers. Try again. J. M. (Leipsic).-We have expressed by letter our obligation to you for your interesting letter and the enclosures. AS YOU LIKE IT.-It is much to be regretted that a mistake so easily remedied should have occurred. We condole with you in the circumstances. R. H. S. (Holyoke, U.S.A.).—The missing number has been sent to you after some little delay, owing to its being scarce. The number is now out of print, save in the volumes. A. M. (Nottingham).-A tourney of the Counties Chess Association was held in London last August. We cannot say whether there will or will not be a meeting of that body during the winter months. G. B. K. (Philadelphia).-Thanks for the catalogue. shall be glad to assist in every way in our power. We J. S. (Grove Vale).-It is not our custom to publish the solution of problems extracted from other journals, because we think it unfair to the other journals to do so when the solution can be obtained by subscribing to them. The solution of Mr. Loyd's problem is IR to K B 5. J. W. S. (Montreal).—A very excellent jest. this key to it. Thanks for B. S. W. (St. Louis). We received one carté from you when at St. Louis, and gave that to Mr. A. as requested. In your letter of February last, you proposed to send some for exchange, but we never received any. Your problems shall begin to appear next month. RES IPSA. The diagram has been compared with your original draft, and is found to correspond therewith. In No. 1085, the pawn at W K 6 should be a Black one. We constantly NOTICE TO CHESS EDITORS. Will these gentlemen be so good as to note the address beneath. receive papers directed Westminster Papers, "London," and " England." This gives the Post Office authorities unnecessary trouble. All communications should be addressed "Editor, Westminster Papers, Civil Service Printing and Publishing Company, 8 Salisbury Court, Fleet Street, London, E.C." The Westminster Papers. 1st JANUARY, 1879. THE CHESS WORLD. "The whisperings of our petty burgh." We have always regarded the invention of new Chess notations as a harmless outlet for misdirected ingenuity, interesting to contemplate, but wholly futile from a practical point of view. During the past twenty years the writer has prepared for the press many hundreds of games and solutions of problems, and the result of his experience is that whatever advantages the English notation may lack in respect of brevity, there is full compensation in the superior clearness and directness with which it conveys to the mind of the student a picture of the board, and the position of each piece in relation to the others. We have so frequently expressed our objection to any change in the English notation that we were surprised last month to find several of our contemporaries, assuming that we approved or are disposed to adopt either of the systems set forth in the letters of Mr. Pierce and Mr Anthony in our last number, and take the earliest opportunity of setting them right on the matter. We are no so intolerant, however, as to refuse to listen to the advocates of change, and therefore give them in these pages a fair field, but no favour. As we go to press Mr. Taylor's collection of "Chess Chips" has come to hand, too late for criticism, if indeed such a modest offering calls for any. It is published by the Civil Service Publishing Company, 8, Salisbury Court, Fleet Street, at the price of 2s. 6d. 查 BLACK. The Rev. A. Cyril Pearson has a selection of his problems in the press, and it will be issued in the course of the current month by the Civil Service Printing and publishing Company. The following letter and diagram speak for themselves : 33, Fellows Road, N.W., London, DEAR SIR, I take the liberty of asking the favour of a few lines in your paper for a question which I wish to put respecting Mr. Healey's (Bristol) prize problem, which I enclose. In this problem there is a White R at K B 3 which has nothing to do with the solution, and which might, apparently, equally well be replaced by a White P. My question is, Why would it be a great mistake to have had in this place a White Pawn instead of a Rook? I should be glad if you would, through your paper, give a few of our English friends an opportunity of giving an answer to this question. Believe me, Dear Sir, very sincerely yours, To the Editor of "THE WESTMINSTER PAPERS." Mr. JUDD. G. SCHNITZLer. Capt. MACKENZIE. P I P to K 4 Captain Mackenzie is travelling through the Western States of America, and visited St. Louis on the 30th November last, where he encountered Mr. Max Judd, one of the strongest players in the Union, besides many of the members of the local Chess club. The Champion played eleven of the latter simultaneously, winning with a score of nine games to two, the winners being Messrs. Merrill and Moody. The score with Mr. Judd on the four games played is equal, each having won two. These games must have been rather of the "skittling" character, but one of them, which is given in the margin, is of some value and deserves to be recorded, if only as another illustration of the mistakes of great Chess players. Captain Mackenzie's visit to St. Louis was shortened, we regret to say, by sudden illness, which incapacitated him for play, but the Turf Field and Farm announces his rapid recovery and his arrival at Buffalo on the 7th ultimo, where he is engaged to play a match on special terms with Mr. Richmond, of that city. Mr. W. A. Shinkman, the well-known composer of problems, has assumed the direction of the problem department of the Holyoke Transcript. In October last we alluded to the General Meeting of the City Club, which took place on the 25th of 2 Kt to KB 3 8 Castles 7 Q to Kt 3 8 P to Q 4 9 P takes B |