The Lord Chamberlain has issued a circular to the managers
of the theatres under his control, calling on them to aid him in repressing indecent dances and immodest dressing. He will, he says, withdraw the licence from any theatre in which indecent dances are allowed, as he has already done in one case, but he wants the managers' assistance about dresses. "It is im- possible by any act of official authority to prescribe the dimensions of a dress, or to regulate details of costume, and any attempt to do so would be attended with ridicule, and consequently failure." Managers, however, know exactly what is required, and can control their own subordinates, and they must, or see their licences withdrawn. Lord Hertford, we suspect, will find it necessary to trust chiefly to himself and his paid staff. The managers who think stripping pays, will not help him heartily, unless indeed they are allowed to inform against their rivals. He himself appends to his circular the one issued by Lord, Sydney in 1869, which was precisely similar in tone, and as the Lord Chamberlain acknowledges, produced no effect at all. On the contrary, the practices which were then declared " a scandal " have now ruched, Lord Hertford says, "a climax." He must do his own work, and steadily repress what he dislikes, with as little chatter as may be, and no regard for expostulations till they come from persons not interested in the state of theatrical treasuries.
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