recorded, that, notwithstanding her situation, she lost no time, but caused strict inquiry to be made after the rash adventurer, and his family; and finding that he had, in no respect, deceived her, she raised him, with the assistance of some of her friends, the sum of sixty pounds.

LISTON'S LORD GRIZZLE, IN TOM THUMB."

AT the little theatre in the Haymarket, many years ago, Liston frequently acted Lord Grizzle, in the burlesque tragedy of "Tom Thumb ;" and, among other drolleries which he displayed, in the course of this admirable affected piece of acting, was a dance, which accompanied his song to Huncamunca. One night, he was encored in this ballad and dance, and performed them a second time; and so entertaining was the repetition, that the audience called loudly for a third performance. But Liston had made his exit; and though the universal uproar of shouts and applause prevented the piece from proceeding, he did not choose to gratify the spectators by returning. The clamour became louder and louder, and he actually hid himself, to avoid the third effort. But the discontent of the people, who were now quite unruly, at length brought him forward;

and, coming down to the lamps, he very calmly told the audience, that " he had been, really, too much fatigued to repeat the dance." The people were, some of them, displeased, and some of them diverted, and the piece went on very quietly, till, in the fight, some wag, from the front of the house, called out to the actor, who was fencing with Liston, "Don't do too much, you'll fatigue him." This, of course, occasioned a universal laugh; and, the next day, a bulletin was stuck up in the green-room, stating, that "Lord Grizzle's physicians were happy to declare his Lordship greatly recovered from his fatigue."

THE COVENT GARDEN PATENT.

MOODY, the comedian, in a letter to a periodical, in March, 1798, states," Mr. C. Rich, a younger brother of John Rich, the late patentee of Covent Garden Theatre, told me, that Sir Thomas Skipwith's patent fell into his father's hands in the following manner :—

"Mr. Rich, the father of John and Christopher Rich, was an attorney. He had a client, to whom Sir Thomas stood indebted in a large sum of money, and Mr. Rich, meeting the attorney of the latter, made his demand. The other replied,

'there were no means of paying him but a patent to act plays by. They then agreed to put it up by auction. They did so, and Mr. Rich bought it in for fourscore pounds. This patent sold, in the life-time of C. Rich, after the rate of FourSCORE THOUSAND!! for the proprietors gave Mr. Colman twenty thousand pounds for his quarter.'"

HIGH LIFE BELOW STAIRS, IN SCOTLAND.

"THE practice of giving vails to servants at one time universally prevailed in Scotland. Nothing can be conceived meaner, on the part of a master, than permitting his servants to be paid by others, nothing more inhospitable towards guests, than suffering them, in a manner, to pay for their entertainment. Nothing can tend more to make servants rapacious, insolent, and profligate, than to allow them to display their address in extracting money from the visitors of their masters; yet this custom had crept in, universally. Its bad effect had already been severely felt, when an outrage of the footmen in the playhouse displayed the evil in so strong a light as to occasion its redress. Although it is the province of the stage to lash the vices, and to ridi

cule the follies of the people, in all ranks, yet, soon after the farce of " High Life below Stairs" was published, the footmen, taking it in dudgeon, that a farce, reflecting upon their fraternity, should be exhibited, resolved that it should no more be performed. Accordingly, on the second night of its being announced, at Edinburgh, in the bills, as part of the entertainment, Mr. Love, one of the managers, came upon the stage, and read a letter, containing the most violent threatenings, both against the actors and the house, in case the piece should be represented; declaring, that above seventy people had agreed to sacrifice fame, honour, and profit, to prevent it.

Notwithstanding this fulmination, the performers were ordered to go on. That servants might not be kept in the cold, nor induced to tipple in the adjacent ale-houses, while they waited for their masters, the humanity of the gentry had provided that the upper gallery should afford gratis admission to such servants as were attending the theatre. Yet, did the only part of the spectators, who were admitted for nothing, presume to forbid the entertainment of their masters, because it exposed the vices of their own order. No sooner was the piece begun, than a prodigious

noise was heard from the footmen's gallery. They were ordered to be silent, but ineffectually. Many of the gentlemen discovered, amongst the noisy crew, their own servants. When they would not submit to authority, their masters, assisted by others in the house, went up to the gallery; and it was not till after a severe battle, in which the servants were fairly overpowered and thrust out of the house, that quietness could be restored. So daring an insult made it not only necessary that servants should be deprived of the freedom of the play-house, which they had so grossly abused, but that the practice of giving vails, so pernicious to their morals, should be, abolished.

"The gentlemen of the county of Aberdeen had the merit to be the first to make a resolution, neither to give, nor allow their servants to receive, any money from their visitors, under the name of drink-money, card-money, &c.; and, instead of it, to augment their wages. They were followed by the gentlemen of the county of Edinburgh, by the faculty of advocates, and other respectable bodies, and the practice was abolished all over Scotland."-Scotsman's Library.