ment, we will write opinions more favourable than we really
hold, for fear lest what we think our true opinions have been unjustly
affected by our ill-treatment. Since this was written, one of us heard
something quaint about the craft. He was in the torture chair of the
dentist, who was talking of the theatres, ignorant of the fact that his
victim was a dramatic critic--such is fame--and he spoke about the
difficulty of getting tickets for a first-night, and said that most of
the seats are given to the press and the only way is to go to the box
office on the evening of the first night, since some tickets are
generally sold back to the management by the poor hacks anxious to earn
a dishonest penny. The sufferer did not contradict him or tell him that
most of us get only one ticket and have to use it. You see, no wise man
disputes with his "gum architect," who has too many methods of avenging
himself if defeated in a controversy. No man is a hero to his dentist.

His Abolition

The sun was on and the fish were off. Strenuous efforts had failed to
put the angler in the position of the gentleman _qui peut bramer ses
amis_. Dr Tench, the fresh-water physician, whose medical powers have
been somewhat overrated, though he can keep himself alive for an
astonishing length of time out of the water, declined the most
abominably tempting baits. The pike were only represented by baby
jacklets: the rudd and the roach were rare and almost microscopic; as
for the carp, of course one did not expect to catch the sly, shy
creatures. The friend who had been lured to fish in the big lake,
modestly called a pond, put down his rod, and, after a few remarks about
the fish, which ought not to be set out in print, said in a meditative
way, "I wonder what would happen if there were no dramatic critics." To
which came the reply, that there would be no performances, since
performances without an audience are almost unimaginable, and every
spectator acts to some extent as a dramatic critic.

By the way, it is a curious distinction of the actor's art that he needs
an audience more than any other artist. The singer, violinist, and other
executants of music, if they really love music, can to almost the full
extent of such love enjoy performing to themselves alone as much as
before a crowd. The painter and sculptor have a keen pleasure in doing
their work and seek no spectator save a model; it is true they desire
the world to see the child of their