§ MR. BRADYsaid, he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, If his attention has been directed to a paragraph which has appeared in several of the daily papers, to the effect that the Lord Chamberlain had refused to licence a play dramatised by Mr. Oxenford from Mr. Dickens's celebrated work of "Oliver Twist," and that all plays from the same Work were interdicted in London as being offensive to parish beadles; and, whether he approves of the 835 Lord Chamberlain's consideration for the feelings of the parish authorities?
§ MR. GATHORNE HARDY, in reply, said, the fact was that, many years ago, two plays, which were supposed to be doing a great deal of harm—one of them named Oliver Twist and the other Jack Sheppard — were prohibited. The play referred to by the hon. Member, which had been dramatised by Mr. Oxenford, had been licenced by the Lord Chamberlain, who, he could assure the hon. Member, had not been petitioned by the parish beadles; consequently, the Question of the hon. Member was altogether founded in a mistake.