Excerpt from The Theatrical Observer and Musical Review, With Daily Bills of the Play: Jan 1, 1876-Jun 30, 1876

Christmas comes round and finds Rip Van Winkle perhaps the most popular stage character of the day, against whose excellences not a note of disparagement will be heard. And, if those who frequent our theatres desired to choose a play less for the delicate art that it unfolds than for the sentiment it contains, there would be few more strikingly illustrative of kindness and good-fellowship than the old romance of Washington Irving. If at this season of the year the prodigal is to be forgiven and welcomed, if just now we turn our attention to the comforts of home and the love of little children, if we pity the wretched driven out into the dark and the cold, if our thoughts dwell with the sprites and pixies and goblins of marvellous mountains, if we are more than ever inclined to pardon the spendthrift and the ne'er-do-well, to hush the nagging voice, and to rejoice when families are re-united - why then, perhaps, Mr. Jefferson, in Rip Van Winkle, can suggest all this with as much effect as can now be witnessed. Of Mr. Jefferson and his acting nothing remains to be said. The criticisms of ten years ago have run into a second edition. The subject-matter has not been altered in the least, but new and copious notes have been added. Thanks to Mr. Jefferson, Mrs. Mellon, the clever little children, and the painstaking company', we are well provided with an interesting] and popular play for many months to come, and, although Christmas will preserve t e attraction, it cannot possibly add to the success of both Mr. Jefferson and Rip Van Winkle. In order to sustain the character and tone of the evening's amusement, Planche s comedietta Faint Heart Never Won Fair Lady has been recently revived, and it brings forward for very favourable notice both Miss Gainsborough And Mr. Osmond Tearle, promising artists both of them.

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