Old Drury Lane : Fifty Years' Recollection of Author, Actor,
and Manager, 2 vols. By Edward Stirling. (Chatto and Windus.)—It is very clear that Mr. Stirling has been more of an actor and manager than of an author. Order, arrangement, and proportion are entirely dis- regarded. in so far as the work has reference to Drury Lane Theatre, it has boon preceded and surpassed by such well-known works as " Galt's Lives of the Players " and Dr. Doran's " Their Majesties' Servants." It would have been better had Mr. Stirling confined himself to writing his recollections and making a selection of his anecdotes, some of which aro really good and fresh, others aged and pointless. One of the anecdotes about the Robertson family is worth quoting:-'-" It was the custom of the landlord of the Bull Hotel, Gainsborough, to present Robertson, senior, with a cask of ale on the occasion of his biennial visit to the town. Old Mrs. Robertson, noticing that the ale disappeared uncommonly fast, re- solved to watch Master Tom (the dramatist), whose office it was to draw the ale for dinner and supper. She found him drinking heartily. An ingenious invention of the old lady's stopped Master Tom's in- dulgence. She always waited at the top of the collar stairs, and if she heard a pause, called out, Whistle, Tommy, whistle.' The poor lad was done. Many a mournful ditty answered grandmother's ' Whistle.' " Mr. Stirling is wrong in stating that Mr. Byron's Cyril's Success was produced by Mr. Montagu ; it was revived by him, produced by Mr. Sefton Parry at the opening of the Globe Theatre. With a protest against Mr. Stirling's inaccurate quotation from Hamlet, we must take leave of a work that might easily have been more compact and more attractive.
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