The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1855-08-28 00:00:00

HISTRIONIC DILEMMA,

Another event occurred at Quebec, daring the perform-
ance of " liaising the Wind," which may be worth record-
ing ; and again was I, who acted Jeremy Diddler, the
hero of it.

The second scene of the second act opens, and discovers
the all-accomplished " Diddler," under the disguise of
Fainwould, at the table of Mr. Plainway, at which are
assembled that antiquated piece of virginity, Miss Laurelia
Durable, and the "paragon of premature divinity," Peggy.
According to the stage directions, Diddler is to sing a
verse of The Beautiful Maid '—now addressing himself
to the young, then to the old lady.
In the acting edition, the following note is given :
" The singing, on account of Mr. Lewis's inaptitude at
turning a tune, is omitted in representation." The above
being equally applicable to myself, as it was to the late
popular comedian, the song was to have been omitted,
when an idea occurred to me, which I lost no time in act-
ing up to. Among our corps was a gentleman, who, in
addition to great dramatic powers, possessed a most beautiful
voice ; and, anxious to give every effect to the scene, I
prevailed upon him to place himself immediately behind
the scene, at the front of which I vi as sitting, and sing
the verse through a slit in the canvas.
The scene opened, and Jeremy Diddler, with open mouth
and appropriate action, appeared to be singing the stave.
There was considerable surprise among my own friends,
who were fully aware that singing was not one of my accom-
plishments ; the rest of the public listened with attention,
and rewarded me with shouts of applause !"
"Bravo!" shouted one from the upper boxes. "Encore,
encore !" cried two enthusiastic admirers in the pit.
" Encore !" echoed a dozen voices, stamping and beating
with their feet and sticks. In vain I attempted to go on
with the part. "Encore, encore !—The Beautiful Maid !"
shouted the entire pit—for the verse had been exquisitely
sung.
I now tapped at the back of the scene, and asked in a
low voice whether my double was ready to give the verse
again; but unfortunately, the real Simon Pure had run off
to his dressing-room at the upper end of the theatre. I
now bethought me of what was to be done • the house was
uproarious; nothing but the song would satisfy the audience.
While in this dilemma, I rose from the table, advanced
towards the lights, and, in a manner in which I attempted
to imitate the great Robert William Elliston, that prince
of apologists, said—
" Ladies and gentlemen—"
"Silence—hear him—song—bravo !"
" Ladies and gentlemen—nothing would give me greater
pleasure than having it in my power to comply with your
flattering wishes ; but, unfortunately, within the last two
minutes I have actually lost my voice, and I could not sing
a note if my life depended upon it."
"Bravo—go on !" shouted the Quebec public. At
length silence was obtained, and I again took place—when
at the very moment, the gentleman with the voice, who
had been made aware of the cause of the disturbance, and
had not quite caught the words of the apology, thinking
an encore, even at the eleventh hour, was better than none,
warbled forth the last verse of the " Beautiful Maid."

For a moment I was completely upset; but recovering
my self-possession, I opened my Ups, put my hand to my
heart, appeared to labour in singing—and, at the end,
drew forth such a shout as made the welkin ring. Miss
Durable, instead of keeping to the text and saying, " Mr.
Diddler, you sing delightfully," congratulated me on the
sudden recovery of my voice, which drew down another
round of applause, and the farce went off admirably.

The preceding is a fair average sample, to speak
commercially, of the dramatic incidents *ith
which the book abounds. Horses appear to have
been especial favourites with our " noble" author,
and he discourses of them with much eloquence and
spirit. They appear among his dramatis persona,
and enact their role in the 'progress of the scene

with as much spirit as many of the biped cha-
racters, and frequently play their-part with more
propriety. His partiality for horseflesh, and his
intercourse with " dealers," furnish material for
several racy anecdotes, among others for the
annexed scene with