AustLit

Buggins begins his weekly article with a reflection on the 'reckless drivers and mad headed riders' travelling along Sydney's George Street each day and endangering the public. He also addresses the subjects of snakes and of suicide.

Buggins then reports on a speech given by Sir Alfred Stephen in support of the Sydney Female Refuge. At the conclusion of Stephen's speech, the Bishop of Sydney addressed the gathering. The bishop attributed the careers of 'young thieves' to the reading of tales about Jack Shepherd and Dick Turpin and the careers of 'young prostitutes' to reading the 'bigamous and adulterous novels that disgrace our modern literature'.

Buggins's final topic is the recent crop of theatre offerings in Sydney. He comments briefly on the Royal Victoria Theatre's production of Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins's No Thoroughfare and on an amateur production of Dion Bouicault's Colleen Bawn; or, The Brides of Garryowen. Buggins notes that Walter Cooper, author of Colonial Experience, will 'take a benefit' at the Victoria in the coming week.