gedy and comedy. In comedy, the plot turns on marriage; in tragedy, it turns on murder. The whole intrigue, in the one and the other, turns on this grand event:-will they marry? will they not marry? will they murder? will they not murder? There will be a marriage; there will be murder; and this forms act the first. There will be no marriage; there will be no murder; and this gives birth to act the second. A new mode of marrying and of murdering is prepared for the third act. A new difficulty impedes the marriage or the murder, which the fourth act discusses. At last, the marriage and the murder are effected for the benefit of the last act.

FOOTE.

DR. Barrowby, a famed dramatic critic of that day, spoke of him, we are told, in the following

terms:

"He came into the room in a frock suit of green and silver, bag-wig, sword, bouquet, and point ruffles, and immediately joined the critical circle at the upper end. Nobody knew him; but he soon entered boldly into conversation, and by the brilliancy of his wit, the justness of his remarks, and his unembarassed freedom of

manners, attracted the general notice. The buz of the room went round-Who is he? Whence came he?' which nobody could answer, until a handsome carriage stopping at the door, to take him to the assembly of fashion, they learned from the servants, that his name was Foote, that he was a young man of family and fortune, and a student of the Inner Temple."

ILL-TIMED MIRTH.

A GREAT actress travelling with her son through a village, where they stopped for the night, in a journey to the north, by way of passing their time, they went to see the play of "Pizarro" enacted in a barn, and displayed their merriment on its representation rather ill-naturedly, and to the great mortification of the abashed performers. On the conclusion of the first act, the fiddler, who composed the orchestra, struck up very appropriately :—

"Through all the employments of life,
Each neighbour abuses his brother."

SHERIDAN'S WAY OF SATISFYING ELEctors.

WHEN Sheridan first stood for Stafford, he made abundant promises to procure places for such electors as would vote for him; and, won

derful to relate! he kept his word, for numbers of them were appointed to offices in Drury Lane Theatre and the Opera House. By this munificence he gained his election; but, in a very short time, he found opportunities to oblige new friends, most of the others being obliged to relinquish their situations, from receiving no pay.

PUFFING BURLESQUED.

THE following whimsical account of Mrs. Siddons's first appearance in Dublin, is extracted from an old Irish newspaper :-" On Saturday, Mrs. Siddons, about whom all the world has been talking, exposed her beautiful, adamantine, soft, and lovely person, for the first time, at Smock-Alley Theatre, in the bewitching, melting, and all-tearful character of Isabella. From the repeated panegyrics in the impartial London newspapers, we were taught to expect the sight of a heavenly angel; but how were we supernaturally surprised into the most awful joy, at beholding a mortal goddess. The house was crowded with hundreds more than it could hold, with thousands of admiring spectators, that went away without a sight.

"This extraordinary phenomenon of tragic ex

cellence! this star of Melpomene! this comet of the stage! this sun of the firmament of the Muses! this moon of blank verse! this queen and princess of tears! this Donnellan of the poisoned bowl! this empress of the pistol and dagger! this chaos of Shakspeare! this world of weeping clouds! this Juno of commanding aspects! this Terpsichore of the curtains and scenes! this Proserpine of fire and earthquake! this Katterfelto of wonders! exceeded expectation, went beyond belief, and soared above all the natural powers of description! She was nature itself! She was the most exquisite work of art! She was the very daisy, primrose, tuberose, sweet-brier, furze-blossom, gilliflower, wall-flower, cauliflower, auricula, and rosemary! In short, she was the bouquet of Parnassus !

"Where expectation was raised so high, it was thought she would be injured by her appearance; but it was the audience who were injured: several fainted before the curtain drew up!

"When she came to the scene of parting with her wedding-ring, ah! what a sight was there! the very fiddlers in the orchestra," albeit, unused to the melting mood," blubbered like

hungry children crying for their bread and butter; and when the bell rang for music between the acts, the tears ran from the bassoon players' eyes in such plentiful showers, that they choked the finger stops, and making a spout of the instrument, poured in such torrents on the first fiddler's book, that, not seeing the overture was in two sharps, the leader of the band actually played in one flat. But the sobs and sighs of the groaning audience, and the noise of corks drawn from the smelling-bottles, prevented the mistake between flats and sharps being discovered.

"One hundred and nine ladies fainted! fortysix went into fits! and ninety-five had strong hysterics! The world will scarcely credit the ' truth, when they are told, that fourteen children, five old women, one hundred tailors, and six common-councilmen, were actually drowned in the inundation of tears that flowed from the galleries, the slips, and the boxes, to increase the briny pond in the pit; the water was three feet deep, and the people that were obliged to stand upon the benches, were in that position up to their ankles in tears! An act of parliament against her playing any more will certainly pass."