Had the stern
law-makers had their way thirty years ago, how many pretty sights
should we have missed! Little Marie Wilton would not have romped about
the stage in her childish glee (she enjoyed the work from the first,
and even liked playing in a draughty booth when the company of roaming
"artists" could get no better accommodation). Little Ellen Terry, too,
would not have played in the Castle scene in "King John," and crowds
of worthy matrons would have missed having that "good cry" which they
enjoy so keenly. We are happy who saw all the Terrys, and Marie the
witty who charmed Charles Dickens, and all the pretty mites who did so
delight us when Mme. Katti Lanner marshalled them. Does any reader
wish to have a perfectly pleasant half-hour? Let that reader get the
number of "Fors Clavigera" which contains Mr. Ruskin's description of
the children who performed in the Drury Lane pantomime. The kind
critic was in ecstasies--as well he might be--and he talked with
enthusiasm about the cleanliness, the grace, the perfectly happy
discipline of the tiny folk. Then, again, in "Time and Tide," the
great writer gives us the following exquisite passage about a little
dancer who especially pleased him--"She did it beautifully and simply,
as a child ought to dance.
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