ted enough; little more than his
head can be permitted to emerge from the hole cut for him in the
stage. But his situation has its advantages. He cannot possibly be
seen by the audience; he can conveniently instruct the performers
without requiring them "to look off" appealingly, or to rush
desperately to the wing to be reminded of their parts; while the
sloping roof of his temporary abode has the effect of directing his
whispers on to the stage, and away from the spectators. It seems
strange that this system of posting the prompter in the van instead
of on the flank of the actors has never been permanently adopted in
this country. But a change of the kind indicated would certainly be
energetically denounced by a number of very respectable and sensible
people as "un-English," an objection that is generally regarded as
quite final and convincing, although it is conceivable, at any rate,
that a thing may be of fair value and yet of foreign origin. "Gad,
sir, if a few very sensible persons had been attended to we should
still have been champing acorns!" observed Luttrell the witty, when
certain enlightened folk strenuously opposed the building of Waterloo
Bridge on the plea that it would spoil the river!

It is certain, however, that with the first introduction here of
operatic performances came the gipsy-tent, or hut, of the prompter.
The singers voted it quite indispensable. It was much ridiculed, of
course, by the general public. It was even made the special subject of
burlesque on a rival stage. A century ago the imbecility was indulged
in of playing "The Beggar's Opera" with "the characters reversed," as
it was called; that is to say, the female characters were assumed by
the actors, the male by the actresses. This was at the Haymarket
Theatre, under George Colman's management. The foolish proceeding won
prodigious applause. A prologue or preliminary act in three scenes was
written for the occasion. The fun of this introduction seems now gross
and flat enough. Towards the conclusion of it, we read, a
stage-carpenter raised his head through a trap in the centre of the
stage. He was greeted with a roar of laughter from the gallery. The
prompter appears on the scene and demands of the carpenter what he
means by opening the trap? The carpenter explains that he designs to
prompt the performers after the fashion of the Opera House on the
other side of the Haymarket. "Psha!" cries the prompter, "none of your
Italian tricks