audience; but I did not see any way of making it less intellectual than it was—I have no objection to state its name—it is a burlesque called Tom Tiddler.
Thomas Wilkinson.—I am a medical student. I hissed the Prisoner's play because I thought it one of the worst I ever saw. I objected, among other things, to the fact that Miss de Vere had to die in Act I. I did not know at the time that she was not really dead, but would reappear in Act III., or I should not have hissed. I thought it bad art. I thought it monstrous to interest an audience in a singularly beautiful and talented young lady, and then dispose of her finally at an early stage in the play. If the author allows the audience to suppose that a person is dead who is only insensible, he must take the consequences of the imposition he has practised upon them.
Cross-examined.—No doubt I am engaged to Miss De Vere; but that fact does not affect my opinion. I certainly consider myself a judge of a play. I have written several plays; they have not been produced—not yet.
Jacob Shuttleworth.—I am a clerk in the Home Office. I have seen the Prisoner's play. I think it distinctly a dull play. I did not hiss simply because I do not see the necessary connection between a bad play and a hiss. We do not hiss bad speeches in the House of Commons. Perhaps it would be better if we did; but we don't. I would hiss indecency and profanity, and even outrageously bad taste, with all the energy at
