Loyalty to old favourites was another matter, as when _Punch_, under the heading "Little Nell," pleaded in support of the "Nellie Farren" Benefit on behalf of that famous Gaiety heroine in 1898; or when in 1899 he offered his parting salute to Mrs. Keeley, who throughout her long career in burlesque, melodrama, and legitimate drama had never been vulgar or tawdry, but always brave and gay, and who lived to the patriarchal age of ninety-four. Sardou's _Robespierre_, written for Sir Henry Irving and his company, gave _Punch_ the opening for a graceful compliment to father and son, for Mr. Lawrence Irving translated the play and appeared in the part of Tallien. Sarah Bernhardt's _Hamlet_ is regarded rather as a _tour de force_ than a legitimate interpretation, and _Punch_, who could not accept her reading of the Prince as a mischievous, spoilt and conceited boy of eighteen, suggested, in a whimsical picture, that she ought to get Irving to play the part of Ophelia. The same year, 1899, was notable for the coming of the _Revue_. The pioneer effort, which was launched at the Avenue Theatre, was more or less on French lines, but even at the outset the Variety element was prominent in a series of imitations of popular actors and actresses. Tree's production of _King John_, with Lewis Waller as Falconbridge and Miss Julia Neilson as Constance, is pronounced "a superb revival," but the English version of _Cyrano de Bergerac_ failed to convert _Punch_ to the majority view, though he now admitted that the piece contained brilliant poetry. He preferred Wyndham to Coquelin, but liked neither of them in the title _rôle_, and he sums up by declaring the piece to be a fine dramatic poem _not_ to be acted, but read. Still, _Punch_ was never wholly insular or inaccessible to new and foreign influences. He describes in 1900 how an enthusiastic friend accosted him in broken Anglo-Italian and swept him off to see Mme. Duse in the Italian version of _The Second Mrs. Tanqueray_. _Punch_ began by scoffing at the grotesque costumes of the cast, but succumbed to the magic of this wonderful actress, who owed nothing to physique, discarded all make-up, even in a part where artificiality was in keeping with the character, and triumphed by sheer force of genius. [Illustration: CONVERSATIONALIST: "Do you play Ping-Pong?" ACTOR: "No, I play _Hamlet_!"] The vogue of musical comedy was now at its height. _Punch_ has some amusing suggestions in 1900 for adapting _The School for Scandal_ and Mr. Henry Arthur Jones's _Mrs. Dane's Defence_ to suit the fashion of the hour, with appropriate casts, including Dan Leno and Miss Marie Lloyd. His rhymed extravaganza on "The Evolution of Musical Comedy" accurately describes the prevalent method in this quatrain:-- In musical comedy books (Chiefly frivol and froth) You do not spoil the broth By employing a number of cooks.