No one is more assiduous in expressing hearty satisfaction at
the friendship of England and France than Mr. Cooke of Astley's. His ele- phants symbolize the entente cordiale by continually passing over from London to Paris and from Paris back again, as if to perform the office assigned to olive-bearing doves by popular allegory ; and for upwards of a twelvemonth, his dramas, with few interruptions, have been so many festivals in honour of international alliance. He alone of the London managers successfully recorded the glories of Alma ; and the excitement • that generally proved injurious to the caterers for public entertainment sent crowds to a theatre where tales of battle could be illustrated by real horses. Whitsuntide finds Mr. Cooke true to his text, and he recalls from the past the story of the Field of the Cloth of Gold—for there in early days did France and England shake hands. To be sure, the friend- ship manifested on that glittering spot did not last very long ; but here- the curtain drops before the unpleasant change takes place ; and the au- dience have no business to draw morals from more than is set down for them, especially as they are treated to a first-rate tournament, and some very well-contrived scenes, and therefore are bound to see everything en couleur de rose.
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