Hold your tongue, Ha, Ha

Whilst this whimsical, and sadly anonymous, depiction of two actors may illustrate William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Act III, the same phrases appear in 'Whackham and Windham, The Wrangling Lawyers', by Jane Scott, 1814 and 'The Lady of Lyons' or 'Love and Pride' by Edward Bullwer Lytton. However, it is more likely that this painting illustrates a scene from another of Lord Lytton's plays "Not So Bad As We Seem" or "Many Sides to a Character", an 18th century pastiche which played an important role in Victorian literature. The cast reads like a who's who of Victorian arts and letters and included: Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, John Tenniel and Augustus Egg. It was first performed on May 16th 1851 before the Queen and the Prince Consort at Devonshire House, Piccadilly. Dickens and Wilkie Collins met for the first time during a reading of the play in March 1851. The latter had the minor part of Smart the valet and in 1852 took over the important part of Shadowly Softhead when the company took the play on a successful tour. Bulwer-Lytton's hero, Lord Wilmot, poses as a rake and a wastrel, but Bulwer-Lytton has named him for John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester (1647-80), duellist, wit, crony of Charles II, and notorious among Victorians for his "indecent" verses.