The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1866-04-12
stage Impromptus.

a most pitiful ambition in the fool tha
f uses it. True, o Shakspeare Gag
: ging is a pitiful vice. but il has KEEP
the stage, and will keep it, protest a
we may. Some o. the funniest bits in
the '1Critic,, as acted, are not to be
found in any printed copy of that ad
mirsble burlesque and we are vastly
mistaken if thst popular noblemsni
my Lord Dundreary, is not almost en-
tirely creature Of gag
When 0'Neills company played at
Dundalk, an Influential patroness com
manded "Pizarrc and the managers
were compelled u engage R0lla from
Dublin for the occasion. lie did not
think 1t necessary to make the star
aware that the state both of treasury
and wardrobe forbade the employment
Of the usual force Of supernumeraries ;
so, when the repr sentative Of Atakba' s
army appeared Of ha scene. kafa ys.lE
paraly2ed with astouishment, aud
stopped short in lis invocation. Quick.
ly recovering himself, however, he ex.
claimed, "Wha. al slain but thee2
Come brave assoc ate. kc.-a piese Of
gag pardonable under the circum-
stances.
Hardly so exc sable as that perpetra-
ted by Emery in the same play at
Drury Lane. TIE rising of the curtain
had been delayed beyond the usual
time the audience grew impatient,
and Kemble, in no very good temper,
informed the honse that they were on
/ ly waiting Mr.. Emerys arrival 10 90 on
] Ug1fh tho fadrf1rr,, - Aosr,
sentinel of the evening. AT length the
tardy actor came, and easily made his
peace by explaining that he had been
detained at ho1ne BY an interesting do
mestic event. The well known prison
scene came, and the following colloquy
took place between RolLa and the sold
ier: HAST thou a wifeP' 81 have"
Hast thou childrenG' 81 had two this
morning. / haze got three no,0r Exit
Rolla in passion, amid loud and pro-
longed laughter. For that night at
least Emery was the hero of the play.
Equally successful in bringing down
the house BY illegitimate means was an
actor who, pla, ing BqrJarossa at sea-
port, appealed to the sympathies of his
nautical hsterers by explaining:
''Did not I,
By.that brave knight, Sir syoney Smiths assist.
And II copjnc6on tilh the gallant Nelson,
! Drive BOnsparte sad his fierce mars1ders
| FIom Eeypts sherest
''Met me play CateSby to your Rieh~
arc" said a country tailor with a soul
above buttons, to George Frederick
Cooke, "and I viii make you a coat for
nothing" The bargain was struck.
CatssJy got on well enough till he came
to the tent-seene; but rushing on the
stage at Richards challenge of "Whos
theTef' he was so startled at the great
actors glance, that he stood transfixed,
only able TO stammer out "'Tis l, my
lord, the early village cock" and there
he stuck fast, while the people shouted
with delight, and Cooke growled out,
"Why the deuce dom you crow, Them
An interpolation of Quin's brought
him into serious trouble Playing Cato
at DTury Lane, Williams, who acted
the messenger, in delivering the sea-
tence, Cesar sends health to Cato,
gave such q peculiarly ludicrous pro-
nunciation to the last word, that Q0in
Indignantly replied, "Would he had
sent better messenger" This SO en-
ragged the Weichman, that ne challeng-
ed Quin, Who tried TO laugh him out of
his passion. Williams, however, was
determined to revenge his outraged
dignity, and attacked Quin as he was
leaving the theatre. The latter was
obliged to draw in self-defence, and the
hot-headed Welchman paid for his folly
with his life.
Prologues are never heard nova
days, but play-goers used to resent
their omission, and it took some time
TO reconcile them to the new fashion
When Cato" was revived at the Coyent
Garden some years ago, it was resolved
to dispense with the prologne. Mr..
| Wignell as Portiits, was suffered 10 pro-
nounce his opening lines:
''The dawn is overcast the morning lowers,
And b, ayiy in clouds brings one tbs day
and then cries Of Prologue, prologue" |"
rang through the house. Unaffected
by the uproar, the actor, without paus-
ing or changing his voice, went on
Ladies and gentlemen, there has been no
| Prologue spoken to this play these twenty years
| The great, the impOrtsnt day, big with the fate
/ or Cato and Cf Rome y
which go tickled the fancy Of the audi
ence that they allowed the play to go
on without further interruption. Still
better and worse was the Nottingham
managers speech as Richard III:
'Hsuce, babbling dreams you threaten here in
| vain.
That man in the broirn 'Sig has got IA iritoa paying
Richards himself sgsinl'
Nor did the marring of Shakspeare's
text stand in Stephen kembls's way,
when he wanted to rebuke noisy oc-
cupant of the boxes at the Dublin The
atre, who annoyed Stephen by applaud
ing everything, and did it by making
lSivloek assure Gratiano "Till thou canst
rail the seal from off this bond, thou
and that noisy tslj0i0 in the boreS yoRd6r,
but offend your lungs to speak so loud.
Some of the most comioal interpola-
tions have come from the audience
itself When Spranger Barry's Romeo
drew all the town to Covent Garden,
Garrick, in defence, took to playing the
same character at Drury Lane. On the
first occasion of his doing so, upon the
love-loTn Julist ezclsiEiing, 20, Romeo,
Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo r
good-natured auditor saved Gsrrick the
necessity of replying, by calling out,
Because Barry is gone to the other
house Bernard, in his Autoblog-
raphy, relates a good story of Hayden,
the PAINTER. zone evening / was play
ing Sharp in the Lying Valet, when
my friend Benjamin Hayden and his
little son (B. K. II. were in the stage
box, and on my repeating the words,
/ Il have had nothing to eat since last
Monday was a fortnight young Hay
den exclaimed, in a tone audible
through the House What whopper
You dined at my fathers house this
afternoon The same actor IS also
responsible for the following Our
principal actress, s Mrs. Kirby, playing
| Queen Anns, inquired very piteouslH
'Oh, when shall / have resi''
A ruthless grocer started up in the
pit and shouted out, Not tlll you nave
paid me my one pound one ana ten
pence, mann Quite as matter,of
fact in bis way was the Yankee Who
strolling into a theatre On tie evening
Of the arrival of the news Of the fall Of
the Crimean stronghold, could not hear
Hamlsfs complaint
81 die Horatio
Tee potent spirit cutie o'ercrows ny sP'Iiii
cannot i7e 10 nsar The ness from Engiana -
without easing his mind by shouting
across the pit; "Die away, old hoss
Sebastopors taken IA piece of grstu-
itOus information thai probably sur
prised the representative Of the Danish
prince GO much ss an English OthsAo
was astonished by girl tGmbiing irolF-
gallery to pit as he pronounced the
words
ats Ike she comes to speak Of ossso's death r
A review OF nearly s,0G0 troops took
place last week st Jefferson Barracks,
near St Louis Bragg's Battery, which
won 50 much fame st Buena Vista, vas
present and attracted much attention,