Miss Mephistopheles: A Novel: (Sequel to Madame Midas.) — David Hume — John Shaqi
Miss Mephistopheles: A Novel: (Sequel to Madame Midas.)
David Hume · en
After a medley overture, containing a number of taking melodies in the
piece, the curtain rose on the study of Miss Faust, a blue-stocking of
the deepest dye, who, after devoting her life to acquiring knowledge,
finds herself, at the age of fifty, an old maid with no one to care
for her. The character was played by Toltby, who was a genuine
humorist; and he succeeded in making a great deal out of the part,
without ever condescending to vulgarity. His appearance as a lank,
long maiden, in a dingy sage-green gown, with wan face and tousled
hair, was ludicrous in the extreme.
The opening chorus was sung by a number of pretty girls, in caps and
gowns, and on their going out to meet their lovers, Miss Faust,
overcome with loneliness, summons to her aid the powers of evil, and
in response "Miss Mephistopheles" appears.
Kitty looked charming as she stood in the centre of the red limelight.
She was arrayed in the traditional dress of red, but as a female demon
wore a petticoat, and her face was also left untouched. Miss Faust
fainted in her chair, and Miss Mephistopheles, with a bright light in
her eyes, and a reckless devil may-care look on her expressive face,
whirled down to the footlights, and dashed into a rattling galop song,
"Yes, this is I," which melody ran all through the opera.
With the assistance of various cosmetics, new dress, and sundry other
articles of feminine toilet, which were brought in by a number of
small imps, Miss Mephistopheles succeeds in making Miss Faust young;
shows her a vision of Mr. Marguerite, a young athlete; and finally
changes the scene to the market-place, where there was a chorus of
young men in praise of athletic sports.
It would be useless to give the plot in detail, as Keith followed the
lines of the legend pretty closely. Miss Faust meets Mr. Marguerite,
who is beloved by Miss Siebel, a sporting young woman. There was the
garden scene, with a lawn tennis ground; a vision on the Brocken, of
the future of women, with grotesque ballets and fantastic dresses; the
scene of the duel, which was a quarrel scene between Mrs. Valentine
and Miss Faust, after the style of Madame Angot; then Miss
Mephistopheles runs off with Mr. Marguerite, having fallen in love
with him; the lovers are followed and thrown into a prison, which is
changed by the magic power of Miss Mephistopheles to a race-course, in
which scene there is a bewildering array of betting men, pugilists,
pretty girls, and fortune-tellers. Miss Mephistopheles then resigns
Mr. Marguerite to Miss Siebel, and wants to carry off Miss Faust to
the nether regions, when a flaw is discovered in the deed, and
everything is settled amicably, the whole play ending with the galop
chorus of the first number.