On this occasion Joan was impersonated by Mr. Thomas Thorne, Mr. David James being the Duke of Burgundy, Miss Eleanor Button the King, Miss Bella Goodall the Dunois, and Miss Amy Sheridan the Lionel. In the present year Joan of Arc has again become the subject of "respectful perversion,"--this time by Messrs. J. L. Shine and "Adrian Ross," and after a fashion to which I shall draw attention in my final chapter. Of foreign notabilities, the only other subject of burlesque worth mentioning is Christopher Columbus, who gave the title to, and was the principal character in, a piece written by Mr. Alfred Thompson, and performed at the Gaiety two-and-thirty years ago. He was also the hero of a travestie by John Brougham, played in America. The first English personage in burlesque, in point of historical order, is the legendary King Arthur, who was the chief figure in an "extravaganza" produced at the Haymarket in 1863.[33] Of this the author was William Brough, who owed considerably more to Malory than to Tennyson. There was a scene in which, as in the "Idylls," Vivien makes Merlin the victim of his own spell; but otherwise the laureate's withers were unwrung. Arthur (Miss Louise Keeley) becomes King of Britain by virtue of his power to draw the magic sword from the stone in which it is embedded. He is looking forward to wed Guinevere (Miss Wright), when suddenly she is captured by Cheldric, the Saxon invader, from whom, however, she is successfully re-captured by the aid of Vivien (Miss Romer) as the wielder of Merlin's wand. Sir Launcelot (Miss Lindley) is exhibited less as the lover of Guinevere than as a warrior; another prominent knight is the cowardly Sir Key, represented by Compton. Of direct parody, as I have said, the piece has little; of punning, as usual, it is all compact. Vivien says to Merlin:-- [33] "King Arthur, or the Days and Knights of the Round Table." Teach me your art. In magic I'd excel; In studies deep I'd plunge, a _diving belle_. And again,-- Now for my lesson. It's a curious thing, But knowledge is _increased_ by _lessoning_. Arthur says to Guinevere:-- Fortune us has made alike; I've acted like a _spoon_--while you act _ladle_-like! Also, when he has lost his _ladle_-love:-- My Guinevere made prisoner, Merlin too! Both I've to rue, if 'tis indeed _ter-rue_. To cope with all these horrors can I hope? What evil stars affect my horrors-cope! No one can I, the slightest aid to lend, see; I'm in a frenzy since I can no _friend see_. My wits, unstrung, hang loose my head inside, What should be Christmas feels like _wits-untied_. Guinevere, on her part, is equally afflicted with the punning mania. While immured in Cheldric's castle, she soliloquises:--