k place--the enraged orator was pelted
off the stage, and poor Purcell had to come forward and make an apology.
In this extemporaneous effort, his success was as splendid as in his
performance of Othello. He hoped, he said, the ladies and gentlemen
would not go for to say, for to do, for to think that he was at all to
blame--that it was all Dr. Vaughan's fault--for though he had promised
to keep sober till the play was over, he had got as drunk as David's sow
before it began. This elegant harangue produced the desired effect, and
appeased the angry passions of the gods and goddesses. A parley ensued.
Peace was made. A promise was given that Vaughan should be allowed to
proceed without hissing--and he accordingly came out and recited the
epilogue, now and again looking among the audience to discover who was
murmuring a slight hiss, which the keen ears of the speaker would not
let escape. As soon as he was done, he had the high gratification of a
universal hiss from almost every individual in the house, and was once
more pelted off in spite of all his ire and loudly vociferated threats.

* * * * *

VANDERMERE.

This performer was the most complete Harlequin that ever trod the
British stage. His agility was to the last degree astonishing. He has
leaped through a window on the stage, when pursued by the clown, full
thirteen feet high. Whenever he was in the play-bills in Dublin, he
attracted crowded houses. One night, when he had a prodigious leap to
perform, the persons behind the scenes who were to have received him in
a blanket, were not prepared in time, and of course he fell on the
boards, and was miserably bruised. He then took a most solemn oath, that
he would never leap again on the stage. Nor did he violate his oath.
Thenceforward, when he performed Harlequin, George Dawson, another
actor about his size, and very active, was attired in the party-coloured
robes. Whenever in the course of the pantomime a leap was requisite,
Vandermere passed off on one side--Dawson came in on the other, and
leaped. Then Vandermere returned and went through the Harlequinian
tricks.

* * * * *

A TRUE STORY.

In days of yore, th' historic page
Says, women were proscrib'd the stage;
And boys and men in petticoats
Play'd female parts with Stentor's notes.
The cap, the stays, the high-heel'd shoe,
The 'kerchief and the bonnet too,
With apron as the