you will see dropping into the
pit at half-price, or swaggering into the back of a box, if the price of
admission be a reduced one, divers boys of from fifteen to twenty-one
years of age, who throw back their coat and turn up their wristbands,
after the portraits of Count D'Orsay, hum tunes and whistle when the
curtain is down, by way of persuading the people near them, that they are
not at all anxious to have it up again, and speak familiarly of the
inferior performers as Bill Such-a-one, and Ned So-and-so, or tell each
other how a new piece called _The Unknown Bandit of the Invisible
Cavern_, is in rehearsal; how Mister Palmer is to play _The Unknown
Bandit_; how Charley Scarton is to take the part of an English sailor,
and fight a broadsword combat with six unknown bandits, at one and the
same time (one theatrical sailor is always equal to half a dozen men at
least); how Mister Palmer and Charley Scarton are to go through a double
hornpipe in fetters in the second act; how the interior of the invisible
cavern is to occupy the whole extent of the stage; and other
town-surprising theatrical announcements. These gentlemen are the
amateurs--the _Richards_, _Shylocks_, _Beverleys_, and _Othellos_--the
_Young Dorntons_, _Rovers_, _Captain Absolutes_, and _Charles
Surfaces_--a private theatre.

See them at the neighbouring public-house or the theatrical coffee-shop!
They are the kings of the place, supposing no real performers to be
present; and roll about, hats on one side, and arms a-kimbo, as if they
had actually come into possession of eighteen shillings a-week, and a
share of a ticket night. If one of them does but know an Astley's
supernumerary he is a happy fellow. The mingled air of envy and
admiration with which his companions will regard him, as he converses
familiarly with some mouldy-looking man in a fancy neckerchief, whose
partially corked eyebrows, and half-rouged face, testify to the fact of
his having just left the stage or the circle, sufficiently shows in what
high admiration these public characters are held.

With the double view of guarding against the discovery of friends or
employers, and enhancing the interest of an assumed character, by
attaching a high-sounding name to its representative, these geniuses
assume fictitious names, which are not the least amusing part of the
play-bill of a private theatre. Belville, Melville, Treville, Berkeley,
Randolph, Byron, St. Clair, and so forth, are among