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 Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins's No Thoroughfare and John Maddison Morton's The Two Buzzards on 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18 July 1868.

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.'

An advertisement for a new publication One Word, 'lines by Miss Parkes', with 'music by C. W. Rayner'.

The publishers of the Times advise that they have become the proprietors of the newspaper 'hitherto known as the Evening Mail'. From 20 June 1868, the newly acquired newspaper will be known as The Mail and published twice weekly.

A brief note commending the lecture on the subject of Douglas Jerrold, to be delivered by R. W. M. Johnson at the Temperance Hall on 21 July 1868.

The 'Flaneur' directs his attention to contemporary issues of interest to the citizens of New South Wales. His subjects include the new poem 'Lucretius' by Alfred Tennyson (which the 'Flaneur' declares to be 'a satire of wonderful power'), the Bishop of Sydney's censure of all works of fiction, and the visit of Lord and Lady Belmore to the Albury region of the colony.

In his comments on fiction, in response to the Bishop of Sydney, the 'Flaneur' counters with a commendation of the works of Charles Dickens. He concludes his defence of fiction with the biblical quote, 'and he spake a parable unto them' [Luke 18.1].