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and read the "bill of fare" audibly, with comments upon every part of it. "During the performance," Mrs. Mathews relates, "while the rest of the party were satisfied with the usual mode of testifying approbation, her surprise and delight at what she saw and heard refused to be confined to mere action; words, as well as laughter and applause, were necessary to express her measureless content, so that at the close of every point her voice was raised in audible exclamations of wonder and admiration; such as Excellent !-Delightful!- Admirable ! - Charming! Now and then she appealed to her friends with- Did you ever hear anything so good? Ha ha ha! Capital! How very fine that was! He's a wonderful man! greater than I could have believed. Charming charming, indeed! All these verbal indications of the lady's approbation were very flattering, but my husband found some difficulty in controlling the risible muscles of his face, while it was evident to him that the respect in which she was generally held by the rest of the room,' precluded any visible effects on their part. The patroness' wonder, however, was not at its climax until the Old Scotch Lady appeared, hooded and shawled, before her. The effect of Mr. Mathews's sudden transformation seemed to exceed possibility itself, and during the 'Leetle Anecdote' the lady seemed transfixed; all expression was denied her. She was absorbed, and remained totally silent for the time; her eyes distended, her lips apart, her cheeks pale, and her hands upraised-the image of wonder turned to stone! But, when the story was over, the hood and shawl thrown back, and the performer stood before her in propriâ persona, she dropped her hands heavily upon her knees, fell back in her chair, took a long breath, and, recovering her wonted power of utterance, cried out, exultingly, And there he is, a handsome man again! This was too much for Mathews; he was so upset, as he said, by this novel instance of feminine partiality, that he was compelled to retire for a few minutes behind his screen, to hide his blushes, and to give way to the irrepressible laughter into which his newly-discovered beauty had surprised him.

MATHEWS AND THE HOTTENTOT VENUS.

The "Hottentot Venus," as a matter of course, attracted Mr. Mathews, who was a professed seeker of sights. In those days, when bustles were not, she was a curiosity, for English ladies then wore no shape but what Nature gave and insisted upon; and the Grecian drapery was simply thrown upon the natural form, without whalebone or buckram to distort or disguise it. Well, then, a Hottentot Venus being in that day a novelty, Mr. Mathews of course went to see her.

"He found her surrounded by many persons, some females. One pinched her, another walked round her; one gentleman poked her with his cane, and one lady employed her parasol to ascertain that all was, as she called it, 'nattral.' This inhuman baiting the poor creature bore with sullen indifference, except upon some great provocation, when she seemed inclined to resent brutality, which even a Hottentot can understand. On these occasions it required all the authority of the keeper to subdue her resentment. At last her civilized visitors departed, and, to Mr. Mathews's great surprise and pleasure, John Kemble entered the room. As he did so he paused at the door, with his eyes fixed upon the object of his visit, and advancing slowly to obtain a closer view, without speaking to my husband, he gazed at the woman, with his under-lip dropped for a minute. His beautiful countenance then underwent a sudden change, and at length softened almost into tears of compassion.

"Poor, poor creature!' at length he uttered, in his peculiar tone; very, very extraordinary, indeed!' He then shook hands silently with Mr. Mathews, keeping his eyes still upon the object before him. He minutely questioned the man about the state of mind, disposition, comfort, &c., of the Hottentot, and again exclaimed, with an expression of the deepest pity, 'Poor creature!'

"At the time Mr. Mathews entered and found her surrounded by some of our own barbarians, the countenance of the 'Venus' exhibited the most sullen and occasionally ferocious expression, but the moment she looked in Mr. Kemble's face, her own became placid and mild-nay, she was obviously pleased; and patting her hands together, and holding them up in evident admiration, uttered the unintelligible words, 'Oh, ma Babba! Oh, ma Babba!' gazing at the face of the

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tragedian with unequivocal delight. What does she say, sir?' asked Mr. Kemble, gravely, of the keeper, as the woman reiterated these strange words; 'does she call me her papa?' 'No, sir,'answered the man ; ' she says you are a very fine man.' Upon my word,' said Kemble, drily, with an inclination of his head, as he took a pinch of snuff for the first time since he entered, which he had held betwixt his finger and thumb during his suspended admiration and surprise upon my word, the lady does me infinite honour!' Whether his fine

face in reality struck the fancy of the lady, or whether Mr. Kemble's pitying tones and considerate forbearance of the usual ceremonies, reached her heart, it is certain that she was much pleased with him. The keeper invited Mr. Kemble to touch the poor woman, but he declined the offer, retreating, and again exclaiming in tones of the most humane feeling, 'No, no, poor creature, no!' And the two actors went away together, Mr. Kemble observing, when they reached the street, 'Now, Mathews, my good fellow, do you know, this is a sight which makes me melancholy. I dare say, now, they ill-use poor creature! Good God! how very shocking! And away he stalked, as if musing, and totally forgetting his companion until the moment of separation recalled his recollection."Life and Correspondence of Charles Mathews.

A PROFITABLE SPECULATION.

In 1818, Mr. Arnold pledged himself, by bond, to pay Mr. Mathews £1000 a-year for life (liable to the deductions mentioned), on condition of Mr. Mathews' exerting his talents in any manner or place dictated by Mr. Arnold, four times every week for seven years-an undertaking which, judging from the first effects upon his health, and considering the constant and regular call upon his strength exacted by his employer, all the year round, would probably have limited Mr. Arnold's responsibility to the term of his own receipts. Assuredly, Mr. Mathews felt occasional rest indispensable from his uncommon exertions, and, but for such intervals, his constitution must have failed much earlier than it did.

By the second agreement, Mr. Arnold took to himself the first forty pounds of every night's receipts, after, which he shared equally the remainder of it with Mr. Mathews, who was required, out of the sum paid to him, to contribute an equal part with Mr. Arnold to the cost of authorship, dresses, scenery, and other incidental expenses. Mr. Arnold, it was

calculated, made by this speculation thirty thousand pounds, independently of after arrangements with Mr. Mathews, also of a highly lucrative nature.

MATHEWS'S IMITATION OF CHILDREN, AND PARTIALITY TO THEM.

Mr. Mathews had been a tolerable billiard-player; but his lameness made it latterly too fatiguing an amusement to be pursued, even when he found a table in a private house. He did not rightly understand any other game: cards he did not like, unless he found himself, at any jovial season, in the country, amongst a party of young people; then his enjoyment of a round game was even childish. He would be noisy and full of all sorts of absurdity, and gather up his earnings with boyish delight, in order, when the game was over, to give them away; or else, sometimes, to pocket his gains with affected triumph, in imitation of a child's chuckle, though he would not till the end part with his fish for money, however he distressed the table by his monopoly. Indeed, like Goldsmith, his behaviour with children was that of the most simple child. He generally addressed them in the tones and manner of childhood, always making himself the age of those to whom he talked. At first the little creatures would look surprised, sometimes frightened; but this effect soon wore off as he persevered, and it always ended in his being accepted as a playmate. The first wonder over, ever after he was considered by them as a boy, for such was his voice and

manner.

Travelling into Suffolk once, with Mrs. Richard Wilson, on a Christmas visit, and stopping at a village inn for refreshment, soon after, Mathews was seen near the door, with half a dozen boys, of about eight years old, playing at marbles, bawling and wrangling about the game, in their childish and rude manner, and every one of his companions as grave and earnest with him as if they were all of the same age, and had been used to him all their lives. There he was squab. bling. "You, Bill Atkins! I say you've no right to that taw."-"I have," said Bill. "I say you haven't!"-" I say I have!" "Ah! you cheat! I won't play with you no more. And thus eventually he picked a quarrel with one of them, and taking off his coat, offered to fight. He was met with spirit by the boy in question, and, finding this, he re

sumed his good humour, and made a present to his adversary of the marbles he had won, and left them all pleased with the "large boy."

This was how he became so regularly installed amongst these urchins in so short a time. He went up to them as they were playing, and, assuming the tone and words suited to their age and the occasion, asked if he might play with them. They all looked with something like alarm, mixed with wonder, and stared at him in silence for a minute. He reiterated his wish to join them, and they all looked gravely and sheepishly at each other. He still urged them, till, at last, after some demur, the smallest of the party boldly cried, "Let him play; what harm?"--" Very well," said another, encouraged by his friend's example, "very well; but has he got any marbles?"-" No," said the new comer; "but I've a penny." "Well, then, let him buy some of yours, Tom; you've got plenty to sell." The bargain was completed, and he knuckled down, soon learned several of their names, and was thus found with them. It was most diverting to observe how completely the boys had ceased to regard him. as anything but what he represented: no giggling, no suspicion, but a thorough confidence at last in the reality of his being a child, though of "larger growth" than themselves. As he quitted them, he said he must go to his " Ma," the boys looking after him, and with curiosity, for a moment, but immediately resuming their play, seemingly without any further reflection upon the incident.

With some children (at the houses where he familiarly visited) he never allowed himself to appear other, when they were by, than one of their own age, and after the first surprise, alarm, or, perhaps, laughter, they fell into the notion as completely as if they had forgotten his size. In fact, his face bore little contradiction to his tones, language, and manner: such was the wonderful power he possessed over his features, that he had command of every possible expression that belongs to the human countenance, from puling infancy to impotent old age, from inanity to the highest point of intellectual meaning. A little girl of Mr. Rowland Stephenson's, for several years never doubted his being what he pretended to be, and invariably called him "that boy-man."