ssical, in
their way, as Macready's Roman mob. Then there was no make-believe
puffing of empty pipes, and fictitious drinking of small-beer for punch;
every nose among the audience could appreciate the genuineness of both
liquor and tobacco; and the hearty encore which the song, with its
stentorian chorus, was honoured with, gave all the parties engaged time
to enjoy their punch and their pipes to their satisfaction. It was quite
a pity, as was unanimously agreed, when the entrance of Marlow and
Hastings, as in duty bound, interrupted so jovial a society. But "all
that's bright must fade"--and so the Three Pigeons' scene, and the play
too, came to an end in due course. The curtain fell amidst universal
applause, modified only by the urgent request, which, as manager, I had
more than once to repeat, that gentlemen would be kind enough to
restrain their feelings for fear of disturbing the dons. The house
resolved itself into its component elements--all went their ways,--the
reading men probably to a Greek play, by way of afterpiece; sleepy ones
to bed, and idle ones to their various inventions; and the actors, after
the fatigues of the night, to a supper, which was to be the "finish." It
was to take place in one of the men's rooms which happened to be on the
same staircase, and had been committed to the charge of certain parties,
who understood our notions of an unexceptionable spread. And a right
merry party we were, all sitting down in character--Mrs Hardcastle at
the top of the table, her worthy partner at bottom, with the "young
ladies" on each side. It was the best tableau of the evening; pity there
was neither artist to sketch, nor spectators to admire it! But, like
many other merry meetings, there are faithful portraits of it--proof
impressions--in the memories of many who were present, not yet
obliterated, hardly even dimmed, by time; laid by, like other valuables,
which, in the turmoil of life, we find no time to look at, but not
thrown aside or forgotten, and brought out sometimes, in holidays
and quiet hours, for us to look at once more, and enjoy their beauty,
and feel, after all, how much what we have changed is "_coelum
non animum_." I am now--no matter what. Of my companions at that
well-remembered supper, one is a staid and orthodox divine; one a rising
barrister; a third a respectable country gentleman, justice of the
peace, "and quorum;" a fourth, they tell me, a semi-Papist: but set us
all down together