or fame once expressed his extreme dislike to
what he was pleased to term "the sham wine-parties" of Macbeth and
others. He was aweary of the Barmecide banquets of the stage, of
affecting to quaff with gusto imaginary wine out of empty pasteboard
goblets, and of making believe to have an appetite for wooden apples
and "property" comestibles. He was in every sense a poor player, and
had often been a very hungry one. He took especial pleasure in
remembering the entertainments of the theatre in which the necessities
of performance, or regard for rooted tradition, involved the setting
of real edible food before the actors. At the same time he greatly
lamented the limited number of dramas in which these precious
opportunities occurred.

He had grateful memories of the rather obsolete Scottish melodrama of
"Cramond Brig;" for in this work old custom demanded the introduction
of a real sheep's head with accompanying "trotters." He told of a
North British manager who was wont--especially when the salaries he
was supposed to pay were somewhat in arrear, and he desired to keep
his company in good humour and, may be, alive--to produce this play on
Saturday nights. For some days before the performance the dainties
that were destined to grace it underwent exhibition in the green-room.
A label bore the inscription: "This sheep's head will appear in the
play of 'Cramond Brig' on next Saturday night. God save the King!" "It
afforded us all two famous dinners," reveals our veteran. "We had a
large pot of broth made with the head and feet; these we ate on
Saturday night; the broth we had on Sunday." So in another Scottish
play, "The Gentle Shepherd" of Allan Ramsay, it was long the custom on
stages north of the Tweed to present a real haggis, although niggard
managers were often tempted to substitute for the genuine dish a far
less savoury if more wholesome mess of oatmeal. But a play more famous
still for the reality of its victuals, and better known to modern
times, was Prince Hoare's musical farce, "No Song no Supper." A
steaming-hot boiled leg of lamb and turnips may be described as quite
the leading character in this entertainment. Without this appetising
addition the play has never been represented. There is a story,
however, which one can only hope is incorrect, of an _impresario_ of
oriental origin, who supplying the necessary meal, yet subsequently
fined his company all round, on the ground that they had "combined to
destroy ce