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The Grand Panmelodium Polka
Oh! Sure the world is all run mad, The lean, the fat, the old, the Rad, All swear such pleasure they ne’er had, As the Grand Panmelodium Polka.
First cock up your right leg so, Balance on your left great toe, Stamp your heels and off you go, The Grand Panmelodium Polka.
Quadrilles and waltzes all give way, Machine-made music bears the sway. The chimney-sweeps on the first of May, In London dance the Polka.
If a pretty girl you meet, With sparkling eyes and rosy cheek, She’ll say, young man we’ll have a treat, If you can dance the Polka.
Professors swarm in every street, To hear the Panmelodium sweet, And every friend you chance to meet, Asks if you dance the Polka.
And so the row-de-dow we dance, And in short skirts and brass-heels prance, Ladies won’t you spare a glance, For the boys what spin the Polka.
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The Tatler
We learn with mingled regret and amazement of the recent departure, aboard the Great Eastern, of the well-liked and many-talented Mr. Laurence Oliphant — author, journalist, diplomat, geographer, and friend of the Royal Family — for America, with the stated intention of residing in the so-called Susquehanna Phalanstery established by Messrs. Coleridge and Wordsworth, thereby to pursue the Utopian doctrines espoused by these worthy expatriates! -” ‘ROUND TOWN,” a column, September 12, 1860.
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A London Playbill, 1866
THE GARRICK THEATRE, Whitechapel, Newly Rebuilt and Refurbished, Under the Management of J. J. TOBIAS, Esq., presents The First Nights of a New Kinotropic Drama Monday, Nov. 13 and During the Week The performance will commence with (FIRST TIME!) an entirely new national, local, characteristic, metropolitan, melodramatic, kinotropic drama of the day, in five acts, correctly exhibiting modern life and manners in innumerable novel and interesting phases, called the
CROSSROADS OF LIFE!! or THE CLACKERS OF LONDON
The Groundwork of the drama founded on the celebrated play, “Les Fils de Vaucanson,” now attracting the attention of all France, and applied to the circumstances and realities of the present moment.
With kinotropic scenery by MR. JJ TOBIAS and Assistants The New Flash Medley Orchestra, led by MR. MONTGOMERY The Action of the Piece arranged by MR. CJ SMITH The Dresses by MRS. HAMPTON and MISS BAILEY The Whole Produced Under the Direction of MR. JJ TOBIAS
Dramatis Personae
Mark Riddley, alias Fox Skinner, (a swell cove, and King of the London Clackers) …….. MR. H.L. MARSTON. Mr. Dorrington (a wealthy Liverpool Merchant, on a visit to London)………………. MR. J. ROMER. Frank Danvers (a British Naval Officer, just arrived from the Indies) ………………. MR. WM. BIRD. Robert Danvers (his younger brother, a ruined roue, pigeoned by the clackers) ………….. MR. L. MELVIN. Mr. Hawksworth Shabner (Principal Proprietor of a West-End Clacking-Hall, Bill-Discounter, and Anythingarian where there is Anything to be Got) . . . MR. P. WILLIAMS. Bob Yorkner (a Duffer, tired of the Lay) . . . MR. W. JONES. Ned Brindle (the Magsman, a half-and-half cove) …………………… MR C. AUBREY. Tom Fogg, alias Old Deady, alias The Animal, (a laudanum fiend suffering under delirium-tremens) MR. A. CORENO. Joe Onion, alias The Crocodile, (a bully-rock, and creature of Shabner’s). ………….. MR. G. VELASCO. Dickey Smith (the Wakeful Bird, a young Engine-clerk in no ways particklar, pecking out a living as best he can) ………………….. MR. G. MASKELL. Ikey Bates (Landlord of Rat’s Castle, proprietor of two-penny dabs and a scandalous bagatelle board, having cut the bumblepuppy as too low!) ………MR. GOTOBED. Waiter at the Cat-and-Bagpipes Tavern . . . MR. SMITHSON. The Bow Street Special Inspector ……. MR. FRANKS. Louisa Truehait (the Victim of an ill-requited attachment)………………. MISS CAROLINE BARNETT. Charlotte Willers (a young lady with her cat from the country) ……………….. MISS MARTHA WELLS
DRESS CIRCLE, 3S. BOXES, 2S. PIT, 5D. GALLERY, 2D. BOX OFFICE OPEN DAILY FROM TEN O’CLOCK UNTIL FIVE.
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A Poem of Farewell
[Mori Yujo, a samurai and classical scholar of Satsuma Province, wrote the following ceremonial poem upon his son’s departure for England, in 1854. it is translated from Sinicized Japanese.]
My child rides the unfathomable deep, In pursuit of noble ambition; Far must he sail — ten thousand leagues — Outpacing the breezes of spring. Some say that East and West Have naught in common; But I say the same heaven Overarches both. His own life he risks, on command of his han. Braving great danger to learn from far places; For family’s sake, he spares no effort, Seeking for wisdom in face of great hardship. He travels far beyond The fabled rivers of China; His scholarly labors shall someday Bear fruit in splendid achievement.