32 
LAND & WATER 
December 19, 191 8 
John Lane's New Books 
Illustrated Xmas Catalogue sent on application 
Prints and Drawings by Frank 
Brangwyn 
Witb some other Phases of his Art. 
Bv WALTER SHAW SPARROW. Demy 4to. Profuaely Illustrated 
in Colour and Hlack and White, with Reproduction* of Drawings and 
Pictures by FRANK BRANGWYN. £2 l2s. 6d. net. 
Also Largo-Paper Edition, limited to 60 coiiics, with special Litho- 
graph and an etching by FRANK BRANGWYN. t Price on application. ) 
The Rough Road 
By WILLIAM J. LOCKE. 6s. 6d. net. 6th edition in the Press. 
• From my own point of Tiew, ' Tho Rough Road ' Is Iht moat charming book that 
Mr. !...< Ico ha» ever written."— Kichard King In the Tatter. 
The Third Eve Book 
Pictures by "FISH." Written and designed by " FOWL." Uniform 
with "The New Eve." 4s. 6d. net. 
" These pictorial and textual records of the eternal feminine In war daya are replete 
with humour In'eTcry dotail and sentence. . . The inimitable grotesqueneas of 
■ Piab'a ' drawinga is a cooatant delight."— i)oi(j( Oraphic. 
Rhymes of the Red Triangle 
Pictures in Colour by JOYCK DENNYS. with Verses by HAMPDEN 
GORDON. Uniform with "Our Hospital A B C/' etc. 4s. 6d. net. 
**The drawings in this beautifully printed bfok are very clever. Sum© of the line 
work, IB admirable and the artist's sense of humour undoubted. . . On the whole 
the humour of the Y.M.C.A. at home and abroad 1b most amusingly portrayed."— 
New Witneu. 
A Little Chaff 
Verses by MARGARET LAVINGTON. Illustrated by HELKN 
URQUHART. Authors of "Cackles and Lays." 3s.6d.net. 
" The lilting rhymes are quite faaclnating, and the humour of the varioua anirnula 
depicted mirthp>"vcking. Miss Urquhart's quaint, clover drawings in colour arc 
dell^httiil " — R>-'ferff. 
JOHN LANE, The Bodley Head, VIGO ST., W.l 
The Training Ship "ARETHUSA" 
APPEALS FOR 
Special Christmas and New Year Gifts 
AS 
A ThanMering for Peace 
Paircns: THEIR MAJESTIES THE KING AND QUEEN. 
Chairman &• Treasurer: C. E. MALDEN, Esq., M.A. 
Chairman of Ship Cofnmiltee : HOWSON F. DEVITT, Esq. 
2,500 have entered the Royal Navy. 
6,500 have entered the Merchant Service. 
This patriotic work deserves generous support. 
War Prices have greatly 
increased Upkeep Expenses. 
National Refuges and Training Ship 
"ARETHUSA." 
1,100 Boys and Girls now being maintained. 
London Offun: 164, SHAFTESBURY AVENUE, W.C. 2. 
/.v. ■>>«.,• W. BRISTOW WALLEN, HENRY G. COPELAN'D. 
The Theatre 
By W. J. Turner 
^~^ CAN DAL is one of those plays over which^stock- 
^L • brokers become facetious and dramatic critics ever 
^^^ so faintly deprecatory. It is an occasion for wit in 
k ^ the clubs and giggles in the suburbs, but the precise 
^^m^ reason for either giggling or wit is simply that it 
contains a bedioom scene. There is something funny about 
bedrooms, undoubtedly ; some people feel uneasy whenever 
they enter a bedroom and gaze away at the chairs, the dressing- 
table, the rugs, the windows, the fireplace ; anywhere but at 
the bed. 
The vulnerable point in Scandal is not that it contains a 
bedroom scene, or that this scene is the climax of the play, 
but that it depends for what merit it has and what pleasure 
itjgives entirely upon the physical and temperamental charm 
of the actress who plays the part of the Hon. Beatrix Hinch- 
cliffe. As these, in the case of Miss Kyrle Bellew, are con- 
siderable, I got a large amount of pleasure from what is a 
wretched thing — considered as drama. I cannot deny that 
I would a thousand times rather hear Miss Leah Bateman 
speaking half a dozen of Viola's lines to Olivia, than look at 
Miss Kyrle Bellew in the most bewitching frocks for a whole 
night, but that does not alter the fact that Miss Bellew is 
delightful to look upon, and that she has an exquisite taste 
in|clothes — two virtues whose importance I should be the 
last to belittle. Therefore I can honestly recommend Scandal 
as worth seeing for the sake of Miss Bellew. The plot is 
simple and extremely intelligible. The bedroom scene 
is effectively played by Miss Bellew and Mr. Bourchier. 
Mr. Bourchier stamps about, pokes the fire and makes 
gruff noises in the good old way, and when she realises 
that she is in his power — for Miss Bellew makes her the 
sort of minx that can be in a man's power — ^gallantly 
retires, as she, of course, would have known all along 
was the only result possible, leaving her to contemplate 
the situation. 
Naturally nothing matters in a play like this except the 
actors ; when Miss Bellew is not on the stage the whole thing 
is incredibly dull, except, indeed, for a brilliant piece of acting 
by Miss Gladys Ffolliott, as Lord Wickham's sister, and the 
real head of the family. Miss Ffolliott's acting in the last 
scene en board the millionaire's yacht is an instance of what 
can be done by a clever actress on a bare suggestion from 
the dramatist. 
Some time ago in an article on the " Old Vic," I referred 
somewhat disparagingly to the London Opera House as a 
building, and said that much of its persistent ill-success was 
probably due to its out-of-the-way position. I have received 
a letter from a lady informing me that the London Opera 
House, now open as a moving picture house, is packed daily 
to its utmost capacity nearly every hour. I am far from 
pleased to hear this, as I have a violent dislike to moving 
pictures. This lady courteously invites me to inspect the 
building again under her guidance in the hope that I may 
change my opinion of its beauty, as, she says, the majority 
of people think it the most beautiful as well as the'jnpst 
comfortable theatre in London. 
I must politely but firmly decline this invitation. I am 
determined to go on thinking that the London Opera House 
is a building in the worst possible taste, and if there be so 
many Londoners who admire it, I can only say that it is 
not surprising, considering the badness of our modem buildings 
generally, and the lack of any opportunity to form a standard 
by which to judge them. What does my correspondent 
think of the row of ladies and gentlemen in various attitudes 
of grief and despair posed along the' parapet? The first 
thing for her to do, if she wants me to admire the building, 
is to climb up on to the roof and knock them all down into 
the mud with her umbrella. There is a decent bit of stone 
carving, if you want something to compare them by, on the 
right (facing the doorway) of the entrance to Australia House, 
not a hundred yards off in the Strand. After they have been 
all knocked down I should require her to whitewash over 
those wonderful frescoes on the ceiling, where if my memory 
does not deceive me, it is a matter of great difficulty to fit 
some of the nymphs with their proper legs. Next, I cannot 
think a building to be worthy even of consideration that is 
stone in one street and brick in another, looking like a man 
having lunch in a dinner jacket and a pair of flannel trousers. 
The London Opera House is a big, flashy building put up 
for show. The fact that it is comfortable inside and 
that, possibly, you can hear well there, is insufficient com- 
pensation. 
