The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1875-10-08

.ury--:5I"" EI,ay Played s1nd Fought
STnss, T3"si%S i!,,, ImGidS"lS in lI,c Lives o.
ana Father O'LCGry. Etc. Etc.
Around the heroes and hcroines of the
stage there is a sort Of personal glamour
that gives to the story of their lives a
Kind Of cnchantment. They seem to
live in mimic world, apart from others.
and we seem to know them not as them
selves, but as the characters i'm which
they are famous. You cannot look
upon the face Of Edwin Booth without
asSociating him with Hamlet. In vour
mimi. eye he is not dressed i'm every dav
costume; he wears the sablcs Of the
philosophic prince; and. wherever we
may meet Adelaide Nelson. we do not
only look upon lovely woman. but also
upon the fair "Capulct" The charac-
tiers hey have assumed are ever present
to the memory, for they have endowed
then with more potent individuality
than their own.
For this reason books that are filled
with anecdotes of actors are always read
able and Interesting. In the last issue
of Scribncr's "BTic-a-Brac" scrics-for
q copy of which we are indebted 10
GRAY, Baker & Co, 4O7 North Fourth
strcCt-thCre are some very interesting
cana from the autobiographies of
O'keefe, Kelly and Taylor.
John O'KCcfc was an actor. born i'm
Dublin in l7f7. He was educated for
an artist, but hc turned his attention to
the drama and became a dramatic writer
of some celebrity. Constantly assscia-
ting with the famous actors of his time,
he tells some very amusing anecdotes
concerning them.
UEOADSWOED PLAYERS
One of the favoritc summer resorts of
actors. about 1865, was to Ringsend. to
eat cookies at a very good tavern of the
sign of the Highlander and to play bill
lizards at Mrs. Shcrlock's, the price two
pence a game to the table. The owner
of the table always remained i'm the
room, ~ she was herself the marker, and
the givcr of Judgment when appealed
to. She was the sister of the Sherlock
who many years before had been victor in
every hroIdswnrd contest of Importance.
at the time when skillful management of
that weapon was considered of impor-
tanCe i'm London. \ highly distinguished
military commander, and patron of the
art-or, us it was called, the science of
dcfCncc-not much liking the idea of
Sherlock being the winner of all the
stawc-fought Iaurcls, imported into Lon
don from the continent Il grand broad
sword PLAYER of the name of Figg. and
the word was, "a Fi~g for the Liffev
lO-.' Emulation arose to animositv.
and on the day of trial the place of ac-
tion WAS thronged by both civil and mil
itary. Expectation and bets ran high,
but mostly in favor of the foreign cham
pion.
The two combattants ON the stage
with their swords drawn, Sherlock shook
hands with his opponent. "Mynhecr
Fi-g.' rs he called him, and said:
"Guard as well as you can, I'll cut off
the third button of your coat To it
they went. the foreigner parried. vet
Sherlock. with the admirable slcight of
his art, had the third button on the point
of his sword. Now said he, IL have
been told and | believe il. that under
the show of mere contest for superior
skill III our weapon, you intend to put
u finish to me ut once. | have proved to
YOU that | could take your third button,
and now. if | choose, I'll take your up
per button: 80 guard your head"
While his antagonist was cudeavOring to
guard his heard. Shcrlock's sword took
little slice off the calf of his lee, and
thus hy the terms of the encounter,
Sherlock, having drawn the first blood, |
was declared the Conqucror. Thousands
of guincaS were sportcd ON this broad
sword match.
Glover. Nos-op, Barry, Garrick, Mack
lin and others of dramatic note, come i'm
for pleasantly told stories Illustrative
not only of their individual character.
but also of the manners and habits of
the time. TOwnIey, a clergyman and the
author of Z: High Life Below Stairs"
was ne unwilling cause of closing the !
gallery to the servants. At that dav
there WAS IN the London theatres a gal |
Icrv for servants, where they were ad- |
mittcd free if their masters had places |
in the boxes When Townlcv's farce |
was plavcd. the servants became Cnragcd |
Mt what they conceived would he their /
ruin: they hisSed and groaned and threw |
at the actors upon the stage. This tu- |
multi lasted several nights, when Garrick |
made an excuse of it to shut the galleries
from the servants; and since that time
they have never been admitted free.
GarricL wrote a piece and called it
&" Bon Ton, or High Life Above Stairs
as a sort of set off To the other. and speak
NO of the first night that it was acted in
Dublin. OEccle describes the
HEAD DRESSES THEN WORN
by the ladies:
"Brcretou spoke the prologue to the
r,Iay-. and nj the words Bon Tons the !
thing the feathers Of a lady's head |
dress caught fire from the chandelier |
hanging over the box; it was soon in a
blaze and her life hardly saved. Atthis
time a lady could not 90 in a coach; a
sedan chair WIS her carriage, and this |
had a cupola. The seat was in grooves, |
to be raised or lowered according to the |
altitude of the head-dress. have seen
a lady standing on the street, the chair
man looking up at her feathers and
capwings. and several times raising or
lowering the seat; at last, he thrust it
not above three inches from the floor
and then the belle was obliged to squat,
the feathers rising three feet perPendicu-
lar. and the face the centre figure, with
her hoop on each side Of her ears; and
there she sat laughing like the lady in
the lobster; nay, even the foretop Of the !