3-021-344 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Scene from "The Watch-Cry," at the Lyceum Theatre, 1865. London stage production. 'The performance by Mr. Fechter and his company, at the Lyceum Theatre, of Mr. Palgrave Simpson's new historical play has proved more acceptable to a London audience than the critics were at first disposed to predict. The scene represented in our Illustration is that of the prison where Silvio, the son of Bianca d'Albizzi, is confined by the tyrant, with orders to put him to death, if the signal be given by the omission of the usual watch-cry from the archers who guard the palace. The hero, Leone Salviati, personated by Mr. Fechter, being aware of this murderous design, himself utters the watch-cry at the window, though he has long feigned to be dumb; and the youth is thus rescued and joyfully recognised by his mother'. From "Illustrated London News", 1865.