To hiss, or not to hiss, that is the question; Whether ’tis nobler in a gent to suffer The ten-act plays of Alexandre Dumas; Or to take arms against a _troupe_ of Frenchmen, And by opposing, smash them? To shout――to row―― No more; and, by a row, to say we end This Monte Christo, which so strangely shocks The blush I’m heir to;――’tis a consummation Devoutly to be wished. To shout; to row;―― To row! and go to Quod?――ay, there’s the rub For if that be the case, what fine may come Next day, for kicking up this great turmoil, Must give us pause; there’s the respect That makes these foreigners of so long life. For who would bear the whips and spurs of the _Cirque_ Franconi’s stud within Old Drury’s walls, The jokes of foreign clowns, and all they say, Their insolence in coming, which, in turn, These fresh arrivals do but imitate, When he himself might a quietus make With a mere cat-call? Who would quietly sit, And nothing understand of ten long acts, But that the dread of something after quod―― That well-discovered country, from whose bourn The van so oft removes,――puzzles the will, And makes us rather bear this foreign trash Than walk to Bow-street, ’twixt two New Police! Thus Jardine does make cowards of us all; And thus our stock in trade of resolution Goes oozing out at his most dreaded name; And all our plans and projects, in a moment, From great regard for it are all my eye, And, what’s more――Betty Martin. _The Puppet Show_ June 24, 1848. (The production of Mr. Alexandre Dumas’ Drama, _Monte Christo_ by the French Company of the _Theâtre Historique_, at Drury Lane Theatre, gave rise to most discreditable scenes of disorder, owing to the jealousy then felt of foreign dramatic talent.) THE HUNTER’S SOLILOQUY.