[27] Miss P. Marshall, Ganem; George Honey, Hassarac; Miss Bufton, Cogia; Miss F. Hughes, Zaide; Miss C. Saunders, Morgiana (Strand, 1863).
_Abdal._ From all you say, my friend, you see it's plain That vulgar violence is on the wane; Therefore become more polished in your style, And, like King Richard, murder when you smile. I go into society, and none Know I'm a thief, or could conceive me one; I start new companies--obtain their pelf, And, having started them, I start myself; Swindle the widow--the poor _orphan_ do-- And then myself become an _off 'un_ too.
_Hassarac._ Bother! that's not of villainy my notion; Give me the tangled wood or stormy ocean-- A knife--dark lantern--lots of horrid things, With lightning, every minute, at the wings; A pistol, big enough for any crime, Which never goes off at the proper time; Deep rumbling, grumbling music on the drums-- A chord whenever one observes "She comes"; An opening chorus, about "Glorious wine"; A broadsword combat every sixteenth line; Guttural vows of direst vengeance wreaking, And thunder always when one isn't speaking. That was the style--exciting, if not true, At the old Cobourg;
_Abdal._ Oh, _coburg_lar, do--(_crosses to R._) You're horrifying me!
_Hassarac_ (_draws_). Spoon! sappy! duffer! Ha, ha! lay on, you milk-and-water muff-a, And _hem'd_ be he who first cries hold enough-a!
In 1872 Mr. Reece wrote for the Gaiety a piece called "Ali Baba à la Mode"; in 1880 he prepared for the same theatre another version called "The Forty Thieves."[28] This latter, if I remember rightly, was the first of the burlesques in three acts. It presented in Mr. Terry (Ali Baba), Miss Farren (Ganem), Mr. Royce (Hassarac), and Miss Vaughan (Morgiana), a quartett which is specially well remembered for the _verve_ and vivacity of its performance.
[28] A burlesque on the subject of "Ali Baba" was written by Mr. Gilbert Arthur a'Beckett.
The fortunes of Prince Camaralzaman have been pictured on the burlesque stage by the Brothers Brough, by Messrs. Bellingham and Best, by H. J. Byron, and by Mr. Burnand.[29] "Camaralzaman and Badoura, or the Peri who loved the Prince," was the Broughs' title, and they had the assistance of Mrs. Keeley, of Keeley (as a Djinn), of Bland (as the Emperor Bung), of Miss Reynolds (as Badoura), and of Miss Horton (as the hero). Dimpl Tshin was the name given to one of the characters, and Skilopht that of another. The original story was followed in the main. Camaralzaman declines to marry at his father's request, and is incarcerated. In that position he soliloquises:--