mitable Scotchwoman, to slip out as
quick as lightning, and appear in the side-box shaking hands with our
old friend Jack Bannister. It adds to our surprise at the versatility
of his changes of place and appearance, and he had been before us in
his own person during a great part of the evening. There was no
harm done--no imaginary spell broken--no discontinuity of thought or
sentiment. Mr. Mathews is himself (without offence be it spoken) both
a cleverer and more respectable man than many of the characters he
represents. Not so when

O'er the stage the Ghost of Hamlet stalks,
Othello rages, Desdemona mourns,
And poor Monimia pours her soul in love.

A different feeling then prevails:--close, close the scene upon them,
and never break that fine phantasmagoria of the brain. Or if it must be
done at all, let us choose some other time and place for it: let no one
wantonly dash the Cirecan cup from our lips, or dissolve the spirit of
enchantment in the very palace of enchantment. Go, Mr. -----, and sit
somewhere else! What a thing it is, for instance, for any part of an
actor's dress to come off unexpectedly while he is playing! What a _cut_
it is upon himself and the audience! What an effort he has to recover
himself, and struggle through this exposure of the naked truth! It has
been considered as one of the triumphs of Garrick's tragic power, that
once, when he was playing Lear, his crown of straw came off, and nobody
laughed or took the least notice, so much had he identified himself
with the character. Was he, after this, to pay so little respect to the
feelings he had inspired, as to tear off his tattered robes, and take
the old crazed king with him to play the fool in the boxes?

No; let him pass. Vex not his parting spirit,
Nor on the rack of this rough world
Stretch him out farther!

Some lady is said to have fallen in love with Garrick from being present
when he played the part of Romeo, on which he observed, that he would
undertake to cure her of her folly if she would only come and see him in
Abel Drugger. So the modern tragedian and fine gentleman, by appearing
to advantage, and conspicuously, _in propria persona,_ may easily cure
us of our predilection for all the principal characters he shines in.
'Sir! do you think Alexander looked o' this fashion in his lifetime, or
was perfumed so? Had Julius Caesar such a nose? or wore his frill as you
do? You have slain I don't know how many heroes "with a bar