tkratrts out ain't.
The peculiar talent of Mr. Robson in giving tragic expression to the dilemmas of mere farce is amply shown in a new piece produced at the Olympic with the title Tire .Pounds Reward. The story, which is not without ingenuity, turns on the terror of a married man, who having lost his watch under circumstances that might bring his conjugal fidelity in question, is perpetually apprehensive lest it should be restored in such a way as to open the eyes of his wife, and at the same time expose him to the vengeance of a certain infuriated husband. Lightly treated, this little farce, which occasionally wanders into the most startling improbabilities, Nvould be a mere piece of intrigue, like fifty other adaptations from the French, in which a relaxation of the matrimonial tie, real or apparent, is recognized as a legitimate basis for action. But in the hands of Mr. Robson, the tale of the weak Mr. Bostlethwaite and his loss becomes an exhibition of the most appalling terror, in every form of which the human mind or body is susceptible ; the overwhelming emotion some- times spurring on its victim to frantic activity, sometimes casting him down, paralyzed and powerless, into blank despair. The amateur of histrionic art should make a point of witnessing this performance, if only for the sake of seeing how an artist of genius can strike out a path for himself, where an ordinary talent would see nothing but an occasion for commonplace drollery. The French original of the piece is a new vaudeville by MM. Marc Michel and Moreau, entitled ifuntre Perdue.
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