ous to recognizing Mr. Spout in his
room in the afternoon of the following day, when he inquired of that
gentleman if he wouldn't be so kind as to prevent the nigger boy from
striking him on the head with a poker, as he thought he had done it long
enough.

A vote of forgiveness to Mr. Quackenbush was carried, after which the
entire club went to sleep.

"The Hamlet Night."

"Murder most foul, as in the best it is;
But this most foul, strange, and unnatural."

[Illustration]

A few days after the events recorded in the last chapter, a new trick
was invented to obtain under, false pretences, the money of the public.
A number of needy and seedy individuals having been told that in England
several of the most distinguished literary men in that country had
given a few theatrical exhibitions with great success, conceived the
plan of exhibiting, in a similar manner, in the city of New York, a
number of authors, artists and other celebrities, admitting the public
at twenty-five cents per head. That it might look less like a humbug,
and by way of hiding, as far as possible, the swindle which was only too
transparent, after all, it was announced that the living poets and
painters would be shown all alive in secure cages, undergoing a
periodical stirring-up by the keeper, and being benevolently fed in the
presence of the spectators afterward.

Preparations had been made to secure the services of the biggest
authors, the most notorious painters, the largest sized sculptors, the
most melodious poets, and the most sanguinary editors the country could
produce. The anxious world expected nothing less than to see the author
of "Thanatopsis" appear as _Hamlet_ in black-tights and a slouched
hat--and he who invented "Evangeline" and "Hiawatha" come on as the
_Ghost_ with a pasteboard helmet and a horse-hair beard. Who should be
_Laertes_ but he who "skulped" the Greek Slave, or what editor could
play "the king" like the democratic conductor of the _Tribune_? who, in
assuming the crown, was to doff the white hat, "positively for one
night only?" The _Queen of Denmark_ would of course be represented by
the architect of "Uncle Tom's Cabin," whose familiarity with courts and
royalty would enable her to invest the character with life-like
interest. The public had made up its mind to be content with no
_Ophelia_ except Ruth Hall, for no one else could play the crazy scenes
so admirably. But alas for the expectations of the