The Sun.
London, England, 1844-09-27 00:00:00

THEATRICAL CRIMPING.

Nearly a century after this period (1663) David
Garrick purchased a share of the property (Drury-
lane Theatre). He discovered that the company re-
quired considerable recruiting in the very lowest rank
of actors ; and in the choice of these, he employed a
whimsical fellow about the theatre—his name was
Stone. He was a sort of theatrical crimp ; he had
much humour, but never could be prevailed upon to
open his mouth on the stage. Whenever this caterer
brought a person who was permitted to make an
essay, whether successful or not, he had a cer-
tain sum given for his trouble, and, for some years
this man (who had acquired the name of Gar-
rick's crimp sergeant) made, in this kind of ser-
vice, a tolerable subsistence. A variety of letters
passed between Garrick and Stone during the course
of their professional negotiations; some of which let-
ters are extant, and in the hands of the curious col-
lectors of such literature. Amongst them are the
following, which we have seen, written in 1748 :
" Thursday, noon—Sir, Mr. Lacy turned me out of
the lobby, and behaved very ill to me. I only axed
for my two guineas for the last bishop, and he swore
I shouldn't have a farthing. I can't live upon the air.
I have a few cupids you may have cheap, as they be-
long to a poor journeyman shoemaker, whom I
drink with now and then.—l am, your humble
servant, W. Stone." The following is the answer
in Garrick's well-known hand :—" Friday, noon—
Stone, you are the best fellow in the world.
Bring the cupids to the theatre to-morrow. If
they are under six and not bandy-legged, you
shall have a guinea a piece for them. Mr. Lacy will
pay you himself for the bishop. He is very penitent
for what he has done. If you can get me two mur-
derers, I will pay you handsomely, particularly the
spouting fellow who keeps the apple-stall on Tower-
hill—the cut across the face is quite the thing we
want. Pick up an alderman or two for Richard the
Third if you can, and I have no objection to treat
with you about a Lord Mayor, in case Dunstan
should be absent without leave. The barber
will not do for dumb Brutus, although I shall
make use of him as Crooked. fingered Jack.—
David Garrick." There is another of Mr. Crimp-
Sergeant Stone's letters, to the following effect :
" Sir, the Bishop of Winchester is getting
drunk at the Bear, and swear's he'll not dis-
grace his family by going on the stage with you to-
night. Pm yours, W. Stone." To which Garrick
sent the following very laconic reply :—" Stone, the
bishop may go to the devil ; I don't know a greater
rascal—except yourself." The person alluded to as the
bishop was procured by Stone, and had rehearsed the
part of the Bishop of Winchester, in the play of Henry
the Eighth, to the satisfaction of the fastidious Gar-
rick ; the fellow, however, never played the part, for
the reason assigned in the laconic epistle.—Anecdotes
of Actresses.

MURDEROUS ASSAULT.—LIVERPOOL, WEDNESDAY.
—This morning, at an early hour, a most murderous as-
sault was committed in the workhouse by a pauper
named James Winters, upon another pauper named
Thomas Leeds, whose life has thereby been placed in
imminent danger. It appears, that at dinner time yes-
terday, during the temporary absence of the ward-in-
spector, there was a fight in the day-room between
Winters and another man, and that Leeds interfered to
preserve peace. This interposition seems to have ex-
cited considerable animosity in Winters, for this morn-
ing, whilst Leeds was sitting quietly at breakfast, un-
conscious of danger, Winters silently approached from
behind, and struck him three tremendous blows with a
maule, one upon the ribs, another upon the right temple,
and a third upon the back part of the head. A maule is
a wooden instrument, three-fourths of a yard in length,
and three inches in circumference, supplied to the paupers
for the purpose of breaking and crushing :sand. The
blows immediately rendered Leeds insensible, in which
state he was removed to the surgery by two other inmates
of the house, both of whom witnessed the assault. The
unfortunate man by the aid of powerful restoratives re-
covered his faculties in the course of two or three hours;
and he became so well as to be able to appear against his
assailant at the police-court, where he was conveyed in
a coach. The circumstances were deposed to before
the stipendary magistrate, who, in the first instance,
ordered the prisoner to be committed for trial at the
assizes, but Mr. Graham, the surgeon, stating that the
temporal bone was fractured, and the patient's life in
considerable danger, he was remanded until the issue is
known.

THE HARVEST IN THE MANSION-HOUSE.--It is re-
ported there is a capital crop of grass this year in the
Lord Mayor's kitchen. His Lordship, however, will not
commence cutting before the 9th of November.—Punch.

The Swiss Council of education has demanded that
smoking shall be forbidden to youth; they consider the
practice to be useless, in bad taste, injurious to health,
expensive, and hazardous to the public edifices, which
are in constant danger from the sparks thrown about by
smokers.

The Lancaster archers had their gala day on
Thursday. The cup and Sir 11. ood's gold arrow
were won by M. J. Band ; the bow, we, by Mr. E. I).
Salisbury ; the large arrow, won by Mr. Kirkes ; the
small arrow, won by Mr. Llowitt ; the gold medal, won
by Mr. Dodson.