wo shillings. Pass on, Tom Fool!" for so
on busy nights she invariably addressed her patrons of all classes.
To a woman who had to quit the theatre, owing to the cries of the
child she bore in her arms disturbing the audience, Mrs. Baker
observed, as she returned the entrance-money, "Foolish woman! Foolish
woman! Don't come another night till half-price, and then give your
baby some Dalby's Carminative." "I remember," writes Dibdin, "one very
crowded night patronised by a royal duke at Tunbridge Wells, when Mrs.
Baker was taking money for three doors at once, her anxiety and very
proper tact led her, while receiving cash from one customer, to keep
an eye in perspective on the next, to save time, as thus: 'Little
girl! get your money ready, while this gentleman pays. My lord! I'm
sure your lordship has silver. Let that little boy go in while I give
his lordship change. Shan't count after your ladyship. Here comes the
duke! Make haste! His royal highness will please to get his ticket
ready while my lady--now, sir! Now your royal highness!' 'Oh dear,
Mrs. Baker, I've left my ticket in another coat-pocket!' 'To be sure
you have! Take your royal highness's word! Let his royal highness
pass! His royal highness has left his ticket in his _other_
coat-pocket.' Great laughter followed, and I believe the rank and
fashion of the evening found more entertainment in the lobby than on
the stage."

On the occasion of Grimaldi's engagement, "for one night only," it was
found necessary to open the doors of the Maidstone Theatre at a very
early hour, to relieve the thoroughfare of the dense crowd which had
assembled. The house being quite full, Mrs. Baker locked up the box in
which the receipts of the evening had been deposited, and, going round
to the stage, directed the performances to be commenced forthwith,
remarking, reasonably enough, "that the house could but be full, and
being full to the ceiling now, they might just as well begin at once,
and have business over so much the sooner." Greatly to the
satisfaction of the audience, the representation accordingly began
without delay, and terminated shortly after nine o'clock.

It should be added that Mrs. Baker had been a dancer in early life,
and was long famed for the grace of her carriage and the elegance of
her curtsey. Occasionally she ventured upon the stage dressed in the
bonnet and shawl she had worn while receiving money and issuing
tickets at the door, and in audible tones