[Illustration]

What! when _London Assurance_ is going off so well every night,
isn't it a pity that it should go off altogether? CHARLES WYNDHAM
as _Dazzle_ is delightfully flashy, and FARREN as the old beau, _Sir
Harcourt_, admirable. Miss MOORE charming, Mrs. BEERE bright and
sparkling; BOURCHIER quite up to "the Oxonian" mark of _Tom and
Jerry_; BLAKELEY delicious, and GIDDENS as good a _Dolly Spanker_ as
you'd wish to see. It's too good to be "taken off." Not that the piece
itself is a perfect gem, but the acting! _Tout est là._ Oddsfish,
your Majesty, CHARLES REX, Merry Monarch of the Cri, don't remove it
altogether, but let us have it just once or twice a week during the
season. CHARLES, "our friend," do! It's worth while, if but to see you
sitting carelessly at the end of the piece in that chair, R.H., as if
you didn't care for anything or anybody. Only--cut the tag and come to
the Curtain.

* * * * *

THE ETHICS OF MATCH-BOXES.

BY COUNT DOLLSTOI.

(_INTENDED FOR A CONTEMPORARY, BUT FOUND TO BE TOO SHORT._)

I.

What is the true explanation of the use which people make of
matches--of safety matches, wooden matches, wax matches, and, less
commonly, of fusees? Ask any man why he uses such things, and he will