--A Rehearsal--The Spanish Censor--A Cuban
Audience--Dramatic Performances--Between Acts--Behind the Scenes--A
Denouement in Real Life.

A Call for seven A.M. would hardly meet with a punctual response were
such an announcement posted behind the stage-door of a London theatre;
but in Cuba the more important business of the day is transacted during
the cool hours of the morning, and it does not surprise Roscius of the
West Indies when he finds himself summoned to a theatrical rehearsal
some three or four hours before breakfast. After that meal, Roscius
makes up for lost sleeping-time by taking a long siesta till the hour of
dinner.

During rehearsal, in the theatre I am describing, the doors are open to
the public, and, there being nothing to pay for admission, the stalls
and private boxes are always well filled by a not very select audience.
Gentlemen of colour are not inadmissible on these occasions; hats may be
worn at pleasure, and smoking is so far from being strictly prohibited,
that manager and actors themselves set the example. I am tempted to
stroll into the theatre during rehearsal, because it is a refreshing
lounge after toiling up the stony, hilly, Cuban streets, and because I
may gather a new fact or two connected with life behind the Cuban
curtain, from my friend who is popularly known as El Marquesito del
Queso. El Marquesito is a great authority in matters theatrical. He
resides permanently in the building itself, and is paid for taking care
of it by night and by day. He is, besides, property-man, costumier, and
a good mimic, often obliging the manager by imitating the bark of a dog,
the crow of a cock, or the bray of a donkey behind the wings. At the end
of the season he is allowed half a benefit, on which occasion only he
delights his numerous patrons by enacting the fore-paws in a dancing
donkey, to the tune of the Zapateo, a popular negro double-shuffle. In
carnival time, El Marquesito lets out dominoes and masks of his own
manufacture, or faded theatrical costumes and properties; and whenever
the Captain-General honours the town with his august presence, it
devolves upon my friend to superintend the decorations of the houses and
those of the theatre, where a grand ball to celebrate the event is held.

His imposing nickname of El Marquesito del Queso, is derived from the
fact that the property-man is in the habit of supping on 'queso' or
cheese, and of afterwards making believe that he h