quy, 'Show me
the thief that stole my fame,'--when his Excellency commenced hissing!
Now, when the Governor-General hisses, all the staff hiss; then the
President of the Council and all his colleagues hiss; then come
the bishop and the inferior clergy, with the judges and the
Attorney-General, and so on; then all the loyal population of the house
joined in, with the exception of a few in the galleries that hated the
British connection, and who cried out, 'Three cheers for Con Cregan and
the independence of Canada!' In this way went on the first act; groans
and yells and cat-calls overtopping all I tried to say, and screams for
the manager to come out issuing from every part of the house. At last
out he did come. This for a while made matters worse; so many directions
were given, questions asked, and demands made that it was clearly
impossible to hear any one voice; and there stood the manager, swinging
his arms about like an insane telegraph, now running to the stage-box at
one side, then crossing over to the other, to maintain a little
private conversation by signs, till the sense of the house spoke out by
accidentally catching a glimpse of me in the side-scenes.

"'Is it your pleasure, my lords, ladies, and gentlemen, that this actor
should not appear again before you?'

"'Yes--yes. No--no--no.'were shouted from hundreds of voices.

"' What am I to understand?' said he, bowing, with his arms crossed
submissively before him. 'I submit myself to your orders. If Mr. Cregan
does not meet your approbation--'

"'Throw him into the dock!--break his neck!--set him adrift on a log
down the Gulf-stream!--chip him up for bark!--burn him for
charcoal!'--and twenty other like humane proposals burst forth together;
and so, not waiting to see how far the manager's politeness would carry
him, I fled from the theatre. Yes, Cullinane, I fled with shame and
disgust from that fickle public, who applaud with ecstasy today that
they may condemn with infamy to-morrow. Nor was I deceived by the vain
egotism of supposing that _I_ was the object of their ungenerous anger.
Alas! my friend, the evil lay deeper,--it was my Irish name and family
they sought to insult! The old grudge that they bear us at home, they
carry over the seas with them. How plain it is: they never can forgive
our superiority. It is this they seek revenge upon wherever they find
us."

I own that in giving this peculiar turn to my narrative I was led by
perceiving that