AustLit

An advertisement for a lecture, to be delivered by Mr R. W. M. Johnson, at the Temperance Hall on 21 July 1868. The lecture, on the subject of Douglas Jerrold, is to be accompanied by 'illustrative readings (embracing contrasts of style of Sydney Smith and Albany Fonblanque)'.

An advertisement for the Royal Victoria Theatre production of Walter Cooper's Colonial Experience and Thomas Morton's Sink or Swim on 20 July 1868. The evening was a 'complimentary benefit ... to Walter H. Cooper'.

The advertisement notes that characters in Sink or Swim are to be 'sustained by gentlemen connected with the Sydney press' and that 'a prologue written for the occasion by Frank Hutchinson, Esq., will be delivered by Miss Rosa Cooper.'

The writer for the Empire expresses disquiet over the value of colonial Schools of Arts, particularly given their dependence on the public purse. 'Failure is written upon the records of almost every one of these institutions, and it remains now to see what is to be done with our "elephants," and to suggest the best course to adopt with regard to their future management.'

The writer for the Empire notes the continuing poor attendance at the Royal Victoria Theatre production of Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins's No Thoroughfare and also draws attention to the benefit evening for Walter Cooper (at which Cooper's Colonial Experience will be performed).