are happy
havens.--_Shakespeare_

XII.--There are more things in heaven and earth,
Horatio.--_Shakespeare_

XIII.--Life is mostly froth and bubble.--_The Hill_

XIV.--Nature hath fram'd strange fellows in her time.--_Shakespeare_

XV.--Come what come may, time and the hour runs through the
roughest day.--_Shakespeare_

XVI.--A new way to pay old debts.

XVII.--The actors are at hand.--_Shakespeare_

XVIII.--Twinkle, twinkle little star.--_Nursery Rhymes_

XIX.--Experience is a great teacher--the events of life its
chapters.--_Sainte Beuve_

XX.--I am not an imposter that proclaim myself against the level of
my aim.--_Shakespeare_

XXI.--I'll view the town, peruse the traders, gaze upon the
buildings.--_Shakespeare_

XXII.--Is this world and all the life upon it a farce or
vaudeville.--_Geo. Elliott_

XXIII.--All the world's a stage and all the men and women merely
players.--_Shakespeare_

XXIV.--There's nothing to be got nowadays, unless thou can'st fish
for it.--_Shakespeare_

XXV.--Joy danced with Mirth, a gay fantastic crowd.--_Collins_

XXVI.--Say not "Good Night," but in some brighter clime bid me "Good
Morning."--_Barbauld_

_A Pirate of Parts_

CHAPTER I

"Is all our company here?"
--MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM.

Yes, he was a strolling player pure and simple. He was an actor by
profession, and jack of all trades through necessity. He could play any
part from _Macbeth_ to the hind leg of an elephant, equally well or bad,
as the case might be. What he did not know about a theatre was not worth
knowing; what he could not do about a playhouse was not worth
doing--provided you took his word for it. From this it might be inferred
he was a useful man, but he was not. He had a queer way of doing things
he ought not to do, and of leaving undone things he should have done.
Good nature, however, was his chief quality. He bubbled over with it.
Under the most trying circumstances he never lost his temper. He laughed
his way through life, apparently without care. Yet he was a man of
family, and those who were dependent upon him were not neglected, for
his little ones were uppermost in his heart. Acting was his legitimate
calling, but he would attempt anything to turn an honest penny. In turn
he had been sa