large sum. Well now, pray, what security can you give for that money?". "No other than my own."—" Here's a pretty fellow," said the Roscius, turning to Mrs. Garrick; "he wants to borrow a thousand pounds upon his personal security! Well, come, I'll tell you one thing for your comfort; I think, I know a man that will lend you a thousand pounds." He immediately drew upon his banker for that sum, and gave the draft to his friend. Mr. Garrick never asked for, or received, a shilling of it.

STEPHEN KEMBLE.

SOME twenty years ago, this unwieldy son of Thespis first appeared at Drury Lane Theatre, in the character of Falstaff, and was introduced by the following ingenious address, written by himself:

"A Falstaff here to night, by nature made,
Sends to your favourite Bard, his pond'rous aid;
No man in buckram he! no stuffing gear!
No feather bed, nor e'en a pillow bier!

But all good honest flesh, and blood, and bone,
And weighing, more or less, some thirty stone!
Upon the Northern coast, by chance, we caught him,
And hither, in a four-wheel'd waggon, brought him,
For in a chaise the varlet ne'er could enter,

And no mail coach, on such a fare, would venture;

Blest with unwieldiness, at least, his size
Will favour find in every critic's eyes:
And should his humour and his mimic art
Combine to fit the Actor for the part,

As once 'twas said of MACKLIN, in the Jew-
This is the very Falstaff Shakspeare drew;
To you, with diffidence, he bids me say,—
Should you approve, you may command his stay,
To lie and swagger here another day;

If not, to better men he'll leave his sack,
And go, as ballast, in a collier back.”

CHERRY'S WIT.

THE late Andrew Cherry, having been offered an engagement by a manager, who had, on a former occasion, behaved not altogether well to him, the performer wrote the following laconic answer to the manager's epistle :—

"SIR,-You have bit me once, and I am resolved you shall not make two bites of,

"A. CHERRY."

JOSEPH TREFUSIS, THE ACTOR.

JOE was the reputed natural son of Oliver Cromwell, but he did not seem to have any resemblance of features to those of his father, if we may judge by the pictures of the Protector; he had a long chin, and, naturally, a most foolish looking sort of face, by nature formed for suitable characters; yet he was a person of infinite hu

mour, and shrewd conceits, with a peculiar tone of voice and manner that gave a double satisfaction to what he said. Adhering strictly to honesty, without guile or falsehood, he acquired the appellation, from all who knew him, of Honest Joe, a character which he did justice to. Joe, by the following account of himself, must have been a volunteer on board the ship in which the Duke of York commanded, when in the channel, at that memorable sea engagement with the Dutch Fleet, under the command of Van Tromp, in the year 1673. When the preparations were making for the battle, Joe, though a volunteer, confessed that fear began to invade him; but when the man at the top-mast cried a sail!" then," two sail !" and, afterwards, "zounds, a whole wood!" Joe's terrors augmented; but his fears came to the full, when a sailor asked him if he had not performed on the stage? Joe acknowledged that he had: "Why then," replied the blunt tar," to morrow, if you are not killed by the first broadside, by G―d, you will see the deepest and bloodiest tragedy you ever saw in your life."

CHINESE PLAY.

The following account of a Chinese Play is translated from the Description of Siam, by M.

de la Loubere. "I was present at a Chinese comedy, which I would willingly have seen to an end, but they put a stop to it, after a few scenes, in order to go to dinner. The Chinese actors, whom the Siamese are extremely fond of, without understanding a word they say, tear their throats most horribly. All their words are monosyllabic; and I never heard them pronounce a single one, without a new exertion of the chest; one might fancy, by the noise they make, that they were having their throats cut. Their dress was such as is described in the relations of China, very similar to that of the Chartreux, being fastened on the side, by means of three or four hooks, from the shoulder to the hip, with large square placards before and behind, on which dragons were painted, and with a girdle of three fingers breadth, on which were placed, from space to space, a number of little squares and circles of tortoiseshell, horn, or some sort of wood; and as these girdles were loose, they were attached on each side by a buckle. One of the actors, who represented a Magistrate, walked with the greatest gravity: first, he placed his heel upon the ground, then successively and slowly the sole of his foot, and lastly his toes, and this was done with such re

gularity, that when he supported himself upon his sole he raised his heel, and when he supported himself upon his toes, his sole no longer touched the ground. On the contrary, another actor, running about like a madman, threw his feet and his arms about in all directions, out of all measure, and in a threatening manner, like, but infinitely more outré than, our Gascons and Matarores. He was a General; and, if the relations of China deserve credit, this actor represented with fidelity the affectations of the warriors of his country. While these things were passing on the stage, in another part of the court in which these entertainments were given, the jugglers were exhibiting their tricks, some of which were most extraordinary. One of them, in particular, planted upon the ground a very high ladder, the two sides of which were composed of bamboos, and the steps of sabres with the edge directed upwards. He mounted to the top of this ladder, where he balanced himself and the ladder together, and danced, without any support, on the cutting edge of the uppermost sabre, while the ladder shook more than a tree in a high wind; he then descended head-foremost, passing quickly, backwards and forwards, between the sabres. I saw him