act.

This, however, did not seem to satisfy the audience, as many voices called loudly for the manager. In the midst of the storm, Mr. King made his appearance; and, on silence being obtained, delivered the following poetical address, or epilogue, so very apposite to the fate of the farce, that many were convinced it had been written in the sagacious anticipation that the piece could not succeed. Whether this was the case or not, we cannot determine.-It is very ingenious, and runs thus :

(To the Gallery.)

Here's, "Long-trotting Tom;" here's" Finger the reins ;"
And tip all the go-by, from London to Staines.
I say, how d'ye relish my foul-weather rug?
My wig, too, is that all tight, clever, and snug?
(To the Pit.)

This is coarse kind of humour for you to connive at ;
And you'll wonder, no doubt, what the d――l I drive at ;
To be brief; 'tis at this when an authorling dreams
Of Parnassus's mount, and Pierian streams,

He, in metaphor, utters his joys and his hopes;

Eats, drinks, coughs, and sneers, in figures and tropes.

In this style, our bard, with his comedy, came,
(For farce is a term modern authors disclaim ;)
'Tis true, that Miss Farce is Dame Comedy's child,
And all her manœuvres are skittish and wild;

Much given to giggling and hoydenish airs,

While she's always a crying, or saying her prayers.

Why she whines thus of late, many things have been said; Some pretend, 'tis because wit and humour are dead.

Be that as it may, says the Bard-'Mr. King;

My diligence, here, is a slight little thing;
But slight as it is, perchance, it may thrive,
Could I get such a coachman as you are, to drive.'
'First,' said I, let me ask, if your tackle's all tight;
If your cattle have wind to run through a third night?
For we know but too well, 'tis confounded dull working,
Where all must depend on our flogging and jerking;
Besides, on the road, there is nothing that cheers
Your tits, like a few jingling bells at their ears;
And the d--l a crotchet have you of a song,
To help either driver or cattle along.

'Tis with coachmen, as well as with authors, the way
To whistle and sing, if they've little to say;
These are tokens of old, ever known to portend,
That the wit, on the journey, draws near to an end.
You, young scribblers, too, think you never can fail.
Gee up! off at once! all the way like the mail!
While the critics lie by, 'till you totter and reel,
When one of them sticks a d-d spoke in your wheel;
Then over you go, 'tis in vain that you hollow
To the patron of poets and coachmen-Apollo.
Just as Cornishmen flock round a wreck on the shore ;
In a trice you're surrounded by critics a score;
Who, while you are struggling, in vain, to get loose,
Will pluck you as bare as a Lincolnshire goose;

In that case, as you're whips, for one stage, I'll agree;
But the d--l1 may drive it a second for me."

MR. T. P. COOKE'S NAUTICAL ADVENTURES.

THIS SON of Thespis, when a boy of ten years old, in consequence of seeing a nautical spectacle at one of the Theatres, imbibed a predilection for the sea, which became very speedily gratified. In the year 1796, he embarked on board His Majesty's ship, "the Raven," and sailed immediately, viâ Gibraltar, for the blockade of Toulon. Being ordered to the Mediterranean, he was with the Earl St. Vincent, in the great and distinguished victory which gave the gallant admiral his title, and partook in many minor actions: the bravery he displayed in boarding an Algerine corsair, procured him the thanks of his captain, for his coolness and intrepidity. Accident alone prevented him from being present at the battle of Camperdown; for, having sprung her mainmast, in a violent gale, “ the Raven" bore away towards Cuxhaven, and, upon the coast adjacent, underwent the horrors of being wrecked in a season of peculiar inclemency.

For two days and nights the crew of this ill-fated vessel were subject to incredible misery; the cold

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was intense; and while clinging to the fragments of the shattered ship, many brave seamen, wasted with toil, dropped, in the chillness of death, to a dark and stormy grave. Mr. Cooke contrived, by dint of great exertion, to reach the shore alive; when, being carried to a barn adjacent, he was recovered, and soon after was sent home. The fatigue he underwent during the calamity, had impaired his health, and he became severely afflicted with a rheumatic fever; which, from its long duration, had nearly proved fatal: when recovered, he listened to the wishes of his friends, was invalided, and left the Royal Navy.

MRS. MATTOCKS.

MRS. Mattocks, the Actress, was as much celebrated for the taste and elegance of her dress, as for her histrionic talents. Before her marriage, when Miss Hallam, she appeared in the character of Bertha, in the "Royal Merchant." Bertha was the niece of the Governor of Bruges, and Miss Hallam, with great judgment, dressed exactly in the style of Ruben's wife, (Helena Forman,) as she appears in a celebrated picture by that artist

The Flemish female costume, though common in England during the reign of the Stuarts, was, at this period, unknown to the English stage; and, therefore, the revival of the " Vandyke dress," as it is called by the ladies, who afterwards. adopted it, came forth with all the attraction of novelty.

The metropolitan fashions did not, in the beginning of the late reign, take such rapid flight from the centre to the extremities of the island, as they have been accustomed to do in modern times; therefore, the various dresses of Mrs. Mattocks, after they had passed the ordeal of the female critics in the Theatre, and been there displayed to the admiration of the town, were frequently sent for by the principal ladies of Liverpool, and other towns in the country, who adopted and spread the fashion.

WESTON.

THIS Comedian, being in the continual dread of bailiffs, was frequently obliged to make the Theatre his place of residence. When living in the Haymarket Theatre, he was accustomed to shut the half-door of the lobby, which had spikes at the top, and to bring a table and chair that he might take the air, and smoke his pipe. To