 Vance toured Cornwall in 1880.Writing in "The Cornishman" newspaper (14 October 1880), a reporter described him as a broad, not to say vulgar singer who should not be allowed to dispense to the people such songs as the London Music Halls encourage; and suggested that,

The feelings of well-disposed and peaceful citizens are outraged by the so-called improvised songs or topical allusions of this very low comedian.Respectable people are held up to ridicule.