being daubed with dregs of wine, or, according to Suidas, painted with ceruse and vermillion, intended for the satyrs who were represented with a red and high coloured visage. The Episode meeting with a kind reception among the people, Eschylus introduced two actors; and Sophocles added a third, which brought Tragedy to its full perfection.

AMATEUR ACTING,

THE following ludicrous relation of a curious. incident, which occurred during an amateur performance of the "Distressed Mother," is to be found in a pamphlet, called "The Present State of the Stage in Great Britain and Ireland, 1753."

"Andromache was of an extraordinary size, her representative being a blacksmith, about six feet high, rather slim than corpulent; his complexion suited to his profession; his face very long and meagre, his eyebrows black and large, and his audible voice rather less than treble, although, by sudden transitions from one to the other, he gave it a vast variety. This wonderful personage succeeded well in the three first acts; but malice, in the shape of hisses, attacked this incomparable heroine, which he (excuse the confusion of the

VOL. I.

genders, and take them as they come) bore with heroic grace, till, in a most pathetic speech, a half-sucked orange hit her over the eye with such force, that the spread pulp over-smeared and closed the luminary. The son of Vulcan started, and, with rage, dropped all his pomp and energy of rant, and, with that handkerchief which late had wiped tears from royalty distressed, freed himself from the incumbrance of the hostile orange; then, with collected fury in his looks, and anger darting from his open eye, he tore his tragic trappings from his head, and a bare skull presented to the view, which bore the indented mark of many a wound; then, with a tremendous frown, terrific voice, and attitude strong fixed, by Broughton taught, in words like these to the gallery spoke;

"Whatever scoundrel threw the orange at me, I tell him he's a rascal to his face; and if he dare do me justice, let him come down, and I'll box him for the amusement of the good company; for, d-n my blood, if any rascal shall use me ill, or put me on the footing of a common stage player. I would have you to know, dogs, I am no such person. I play for my diversion, and can afford to give any such low-lived fellows as

you a bowl of punch at any time; for, though I'm a blacksmith, sirrahs, I never want money;-look here, you scoundrels!'-At these words he whipped his hand under his petticoat, to feel for his money; when, lo! such a tatterdemalion of breeches appeared, as to excite the whole assembly to laugh. The injured Andromache, not knowing the true cause of this impolite treatment, which looked like the effect of malice and party, foes to her vast merits, stalked off, cursing men, women, and children, for their impertinence, but muttering, that he deserved this usage for demeaning himself so much as to go on the stage."

GARRICK'S EPITAPH ON QUIN, IN BATH
CATHEDRAL.

THAT tongue, which set the table in a roar,
And charm'd the public ear, is heard no more.
Clos'd are those eyes, the harbingers of wit,
Which spoke, before the tongue, what Shakspeare

writ.

Cold are those hands, which, living, were stretch'd

forth,

At friendship's call, to succour modest worth.

Here lies James Quin! Deign, reader, to be

taught,

Whate'er thy strength of body, force of thought,

In nature's happiest mould however cast,
To this complexion must thou come at last.

TRADITION has handed down a remarkable anecdote, concerning the introduction of this comedy at the Globe Theatre. Ben Jonson presented his "Every Man in his Humour" to one of the leading players of that company, of which Shakspeare was a member. After casting his eye over it, carelessly and superciliously, the comedian was on the point of returning it to the author, with a peremptory refusal, when Shakspeare, who, perhaps, had never, until that instant, seen Jonson, desired that he might look into the play. He was so well pleased with it, that he recommended the author and the work to his fellows. The success of the comedy was considerable, and we find that the principal actors were employed in it ;-Burbadge, Kempe, Hemminge, Condel, and Sly. Shakspeare himself, by his name being first in the Drama, is generally said to have acted the part of Old Knowell. He was, at that time, in the thirty

fourth year of his fourth.

age,

and Jonson in his twenty

A SUBSTITUTE FOR THE SCRIPTURES.

WHEN Woodward, the actor, resided in Dublin, about the year 1760, a mob one morning beset the parliament-house in that city, in order to prevent the members of it from passing an unpopular bill. Such as were supposed to belong to the court party experienced the grossest insults; and some of the ringleaders, thinking it necessary to make their representatives swear that they would not assent to the bill, surrounded Mr. Woodward's house, which was opposite to the parliament-house, in College-green, and called repeatedly to the family to throw them a Bible from the window. Mrs. Woodward was greatly alarmed at the request; unluckily, not having, at the time, such a book in her pos session. Her husband, however, in the midst of her agitation, snatched up, with great presence of mind, a volume of Shakspeare's plays, which, tossing out of the dining-room window, he told the insurgents they were very welcome to. Upon this, they gave three cheers; and the ig