general encore, and with
which, with great good humor, he immediately complied. MATTHEWS
always held a conspicuous position at these dinners, and made a
point of giving an original song, selected from his forth-coming
entertainment. The amount collected at our first dinner was
extraordinary; no less a sum than one thousand eight hundred and
seventy pounds. The Drury-Lane Fund in the following year adapted
our plan of the dinner, and both these institutions now annually
derive a very large sum from the volunteer subscriptions of the
Friends of the Drama. The same Royal patronage is most graciously
continued by her present Majesty, and Royalty continues to preside
at the festival. With this accumulation of patronage the actor may
fearlessly look forward to the close of his mortal career without
the dread of eleemosynary contributions, and also feel the proud
gratification that he has personally contributed to support so
interesting a Fund.'

As a specimen of Mr. ABBOTT'S stock-breaking and gambling experiences, we
quote the subjoined passages:

'A friend of mine connected with the Stock Exchange on one
occasion pointed out to me the great advantage of occasionally
purchasing five thousand consuls on time, knowing that I had
capital unemployed; the certain profits were placed before me in
such an agreeable point of view, that I could not resist the bait.
In the course of two days I received a check for fifty pounds, a
sum by no means unpleasant, considering that I had not advanced
one farthing. The natural consequence was that I repeated the dose
with various success until I was ultimately well plucked. I
sustained a loss of one thousand pounds. I then began to be very
uneasy, until I fortunately discovered that by one _coup_ I had
made two hundred pounds. My broker had waddled of course, without
being able to make up his differences. The parties of whom I had
purchased, through my agent, refused to pay me, as they had no
knowledge of a third person, and were themselves considerable
sufferers by the aforesaid broker. I could not understand the
justice of this measure, for I had always paid my losses to the
moment; so I walked to Temple-Bar, pulled off my hat most
gracefully to that venerable arch, and vowed never again to pass
it in the pursuit of ill-gotten wealth. I had always a pe