The prospect for the American manager was now not very encouraging. He had made a serious mistake at starting. In a few weeks he had replaced it by a version of _Pickwick_, with a view of utilizing his chief comedian’s talent as “Jingle.” The play was but a rude piece of carpentry, without any of the flavour of the novel, hastily put together and acted indifferently; the actors were dressed after the pictures in the story, but did not catch the spirit of their characters. Irving in face and figure and dress was thoroughly Pickwickian, and reproduced Seymour and Hablot Browne’s sketch, very happily catching the recklessness and rattle of the original. Still, it was difficult to avoid the suggestion of ‘Jeremy Diddler,’ or of the hero of ‘A Race for a Dinner.’ The reason, perhaps, was that the adaptation was conceived in a purely farcical spirit. It has always seemed to me that “the Immortal Pickwick” should be treated as comedy rather than farce, and would be more effective on the stage were the Jingle scenes set forth with due seriousness and sincerity. The incidents at the Rochester Ball, for instance, belong to pure comedy, and would be highly effective. Some years later Irving put the work into the not very skilful hands of Albery, who reduced it to the proportions of a farce with some pathetic elements. It was called ‘Jingle.’ At this time there was “hanging loose on” the theatres, as Dr. Johnson once phrased it, one Leopold Lewis, who had been seduced from an office by the enchantments of the stage. He had made a translation of a very striking French play, ‘Le Juif Polonais,’ which had been shown to the new actor. This, as is well known, was by the gifted pair Erckmann-Chatrian, whose realistic but picturesque stories, that call up before us the old “Elsass” life, show extraordinary dramatic power. This ‘Juif Polonais’ is more a succession of tableaux than a formal play, but, like ‘L’Ami Fritz’ of the same writers, it has a charm that is irresistible. It is forgotten that a version of this piece had already been brought before the public at one of the minor theatres, which was the work of Mr. F. C. Burnand, at that time a busy caterer for the theatres, chiefly of melodramas, such as the ‘Turn of the Tide’ and ‘Deadman’s Point.’