these refuges for
the destitute for three guineas a-week, exclusive, however, of wine,
servants, flirtation, and other extras.
A result of this branch of study, and an example of such a mode of
studying it, is the farce with the above title, which has been brought out
at Covent Garden. _Mrs. Walker_ (Mrs. Orger) keeps a boarding-house, which
also keeps her; for it is well frequented: so well that we find her making
a choice of inmates by choosing to turn out _Mr. Woodpecker_ (Mr. Walter
Lacy)--a mere "sleeping-apartment" boarder--to make room for _Mrs. Coo_
(Mrs. Glover), a widow, whose demands entitle her to the dignity of a
"private sitting and bedroom" lodger. _Mr. Woodpecker_ is very
comfortable, and does not want to go; but the hostess is obstinate: he
appeals to her feelings as an orphan, without home or domesticity; but the
lady, having been in business for a dozen years, has lost all sympathy for
orphans of six-and-twenty. In short, _Mrs. Walker_ determines he shall
walk, and so shall his luggage (a plethoric trunk and an obese carpet-bag
are on the stage); for she has dreamt even that has legs--such dreams
being, we suppose, very frequent to persons of her name.
You are not quite satisfied that the mere preference for a better inmate
furnishes the only reasons why the lady wants _Mr. Woodpecker's room_
rather than his company. Perhaps he is in arrear; but no, he pays his
bill: so it is not on _that_ score that he is so ruthlessly sent away. You
are, however, not kept long on the tiptoe of conjecture, but soon learn
that _Mrs. W._ has a niece, and you already know that the banished is
young, good-looking, and gay. Indeed, _Mrs. Walker_ having perambulated,
_Miss Fanny Merrivale_ (Miss Lee) appears, and listens very composedly to
the plan of an elopement from _Woodpecker_, but speedily makes her _exit_
to avoid suspicion, and the enemy who has dislodged her lover; before whom
the latter also retreats, together with his bag and baggage.
There are no classes so well represented at boarding-houses as those who
sigh for fame, and those that are dying to be married. Accordingly, we
find in _Mrs. Walker's_ establishment _Captain Whistleborough_ (Mr. W.
Farren), who is doing the extreme possible to get into Parliament, and
_Captain Pacific, R.N._, (Mr. Bartley,) who is crowding all sail to the
port of matrimony. Well knowing how boarding-houses teem with such
persons, two men who come under the "scheming" category a
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