They Had A Thousand Odd Stories And
Jokes About The Events Of The Day, And Burlesque Descriptions And
Mimickings Of The Spectators Who Had Been Admiring Them.
Their
conversation was full of allusions to their adventures at different
places, where they had exhibited; the characters they had met with in
different villages; and the ludicrous difficulties in which they had
occasionally been involved.
All past cares and troubles were now turned
by these thoughtless beings into matter of merriment; and made to
contribute to the gayety of the moment. They had been moving from fair
to fair about the kingdom, and were the next morning to set out on
their way to London.
My resolution was taken. I crept from my nest, and scrambled through a
hedge into a neighboring field, where I went to work to make a
tatterdemalion of myself. I tore my clothes; soiled them with dirt;
begrimed my face and hands; and, crawling near one of the booths,
purloined an old hat, and left my new one in its place. It was an
honest theft, and I hope may not hereafter rise up in judgment against
me.
I now ventured to the scene of merrymaking, and, presenting myself
before the dramatic corps, offered myself as a volunteer. I felt
terribly agitated and abashed, for "never before stood I in such a
presence." I had addressed myself to the manager of the company. He was
a fat man, dressed in dirty white; with a red sash fringed with tinsel,
swathed round his body. His face was smeared with paint, and a majestic
plume towered from an old spangled black bonnet. He was the Jupiter
tonans of this Olympus, and was surrounded by the interior gods and
goddesses of his court. He sat on the end of a bench, by a table, with
one arm akimbo and the other extended to the handle of a tankard, which
he had slowly set down from his lips as he surveyed me from head to
foot. It was a moment of awful scrutiny, and I fancied the groups
around all watching us in silent suspense, and waiting for the imperial
nod.
He questioned me as to who I was; what were my qualifications; and what
terms I expected. I passed myself off for a discharged servant from a
gentleman's family; and as, happily, one does not require a special
recommendation to get admitted into bad company, the questions on that
head were easily satisfied. As to my accomplishments, I would spout a
little poetry, and knew several scenes of plays, which I had learnt at
school exhibitions. I could dance - , that was enough; no further
questions were asked me as to accomplishments; it was the very thing
they wanted; and, as I asked no wages, but merely meat and drink, and
safe conduct about the world, a bargain was struck in a moment.
Behold me, therefore transformed of a sudden from a gentleman student
to a dancing buffoon; for such, in fact, was the character in which I
made my debut.
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