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No. 93.] LONDON, FEBRUARY 13, 186 9. [Pr...
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TO OUR OWN MOST FROPER POLONTUS.
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My Liege and Madam, to expostulate What ...
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Transcript
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
L .I ¦¦— ¦ - ¦ — !¦¦¦— ¦ ¦¦ - . — . ¦¦¦—...
l . I ¦¦— ¦ - ¦ — !¦¦¦— ¦ ¦¦ - . — . ¦¦¦— — ¦ . ¦ . . - ^—^— ... i — . 1 ¦ - . . j . . - .. __^________^^ —_ -. — . ^ .. ... - i - , i i -. i ¦ ¦ i ni—^_ iu I i ¦ ¦ . THE TOMAHAWK : A SATURDAY JOURNAL OF SATIRE . ® YxUii i % grt & wr tf ' gtthttt "INVITAT CULPAM QUI PECCATUM PRETERIT . "
No. 93.] London, February 13, 186 9. [Pr...
No . 93 . ] LONDON , FEBRUARY 13 , 186 9 . [ Price Twopence .
To Our Own Most Froper Polontus.
TO OUR OWN MOST FROPER POLONTUS .
My Liege And Madam, To Expostulate What ...
My Liege and Madam , to expostulate What modesty should be , what beauty is , Why legs are legs , tights tights , and flesh is flesh , Were nothing but to waste legs , tights , and flesh . Thereforeas vagueness is the soul of wit
And seriousness , the J limbs and outward - flouris , hes , I will be vague . Your actresses are nude . Nude call I it ? for to define true nudeness , What is it but to be nothing else but nude ? More purpose and less talk , my good Polonius ; you have
waited a long time before rousing yourself into this paroxysm of propriety , and now you have done it , I don ' t quite see but what you matter mig wfiuld ht have have held been your none tongue the , worse or rather as it yo is ur pen , and ne the the better . You know I managed to goad your , predecessor into a faint show of authority as regards Finettewhose performance
, was really a disgraceful outrage on decency j and I don ' t mean to say for one moment but that at some of our theatres there have been lately exhibitions of the female form more open than honest . But , my excellent fussy old friend , if you have any judgment , if you have any power , why do ] not you first use
your judgment to decide what is indecent , and then use your power to put an end to it ? If it is the province of the officials under you tp see that nothing improper is produced upon the stage , why have they not prevented the introduction waiting of th o s ^^ e for ™~ improp ^ ^ the ^ - ^^ - ^ v r Press ^ ieti ^ v v es ^ to ^ in ^^ d hunt h r wwh ess v ^ , them w of ^ v which « v mm out ^ r ^^ mm ? « you You mmt ^ c omp « v ^ must ^ flB ^ lain mw ^ ^ be w , ^^ without ^ a ^^ very W ' ^^ W
simple child of nature , if you think that you can safely leave it to what the th ey scre have tio been n and at such od ta pains ste of to produce e manag . ers to suppress for any ur th independence eatrical manag of e character rs are , as . Their rule , not only very object remarkable is to put discretion on the stage or " —— what taste w—w » w w p could vw ays w »*« w best ' % * w - , + 0 mm and j £ ~ w »» « # not * r their ¦»** even W >«» sense kJV their * tMW ^ of utter » self WVA * - want A interest 4 AVWJi « # of *^ l » overpower
formance so much which as to drove make them rather continue than for attracted one week audiences any per . If - any indecency which your away fatherl , y authority must have , indirectly countenanced is admitted on our stage , and attracts spectators , it than Polonius is the of the fa are ult managers of tho children se or wh the o go performers it is see for , and . stay to The to public approve what , is my , rather dear or improper , for your them to see ; in the you way of say amusement proper ; and and surely swallowing it is rather camels strainin in g at the gn shap ats in e of music shape -hall of a dances ballet , songs and frequenters , to put forth such a very vague and feeble
remonstrance as you have in your famous letter of advice to the managers of the theatres . Besides , your Lordship is unfair upon those directors or directresses of theatres , at which the entertainment appeals to the intellect and not to the senses onlyin classing them
unceremoniously with those of their contemporaries , , who turn their establishments into advertising marts for notorious courtezans . What earthly application can your letter have to the Prince of Wales ' , let us say ? The ballets at nearly all our theatres are perfectly free from any impropriety of costume or gesture .
Would you do away with the delightful dance of the Tribes at Covent Garden because the pretty savages are not completely cased in mail ? The Poses Plastiques in Leicester square are of course beyond your province , so are the anatomical museumsand those hotographs which adorn some of the
, p windows in our chief thoroughfares , and the originals who promenade so elegantly at certain hours in certain casinos ; but why did not you induce the official , whoever he may be , who is responsible for the continuance of these virtuous institutions , to issue a sim — ultaneous ^___ appeal _ to the discretion and , good _ , taste
XJL of the proprietors of those places of amusement alluded to above ? I am afraid that you are chastising those whom you really love , you wicked dog , you ; and that by the generalising tone of your circular you hope to secure immunity to individuals . No ? you really are in earnest . Then set to work and
reform our theatrical entertainments altogether . Let mad Ophelia wear her hair in curl papers , not indecently flowing down her back ; let Juliet wear a thick crape veil and an ugly , that she may blush unseen ; let Imogen case ^ he H ^ v ^ mw "r ^ " dai ^ w . * v h ^ b n ^ v ty ^ m ^ m ^ li h ^ h m ^ v ^ hc bs ^^ r v ^> ^ in m ^ mmm ^ a p ^ r diver ^^^^ m * ^^ ^^ '^ s ^^ dress - ^—^^— ^^ ^^ ^^ , h ^ not k ^ b - ^^ ^^ ^ i » ^ n —^^ n ^—^— aug — — — ~ ^^^ m hty — ^ m boy ' ^^ ^ M ' s —^
hose and tunic ; let Portia wear a muff always , lest her hands peep out o £ her lawyer ' s sleeves ; let Desdemona always enter in a Bath chair with the window down , lest we catch sight of her ravishing features—let Rosalind be tied up in a sack , and Beatrice wear goloshes , lest the
sight of her feet should be too much for our new-born modesty . And as for our ballet dancers , I refer you , most proper Polonius , to my Cartoon , from which your propriety will doubtless derive much satisfaction . No , my excellent good Lord , you are not i' the right this time .
If you want to kill any monster strike not so wildly ; let your blows fall where they ought to fall . If you have not courage to do your duty , don ' t tell all the world so , and go a-begging for some one to do it for you ; for if vague squeamishness is the nearest approach which you can make to stern discretion , take Hamlet ' s advice to thy daughter , and get thee to a nunneryand quickly too . Farewells Tomahawk .
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Citation
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Tomahawk (1867-1870), Feb. 13, 1869, page unpag, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/t/issues/ttw_13021869/page/1/
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