1830.] The Golden Cily. 395 



They now adjourned to the theatre, and reaching it half an hour 

 before the commencement of half-price, spent the interval in a sepul- 

 chral gallery, listening to sounds of mysterious import. The compa- 

 nions of Maurice were not, however, unoccupied, for with commend- 

 able forethought, they proceeded, like persons preparing for an expe- 

 dition to the Pole, to lay in stores of provisions, sufficient, if properly 

 economized, to last them a year or two. But ere many minutes had 

 elapsed, their resolution failed them, and first one, and then another, 

 released from his distended pocket an apple, an orange, or a biscuit ; 

 and then ensued a scene of great variety, accompanied by sounds which 

 seemed sufficient to maintain the principle of suction against all philo- 

 sophy. 



When the first rage of appetite had subsided, they began to pelt each 

 other with orange-peel, and practise many other witty jokes, far above 

 the capacity of country people. But the greatest mirth was excited by 

 one of them knocking off the hat of his neighbour, from which there fell 

 a handkerchief, a pair of gloves, two oranges, a cigar and a half, a bill 

 of the play, and some biscuits : a feat which the sufferer took very easily; 

 and while he replaced the rest of his possessions, politely offered Mau- 

 rice one of the biscuits which had been broken by the fall. At length 

 the third act concluded, and the doors being opened, the expectant mul- 

 titude rushed with useless eagerness towards the crowded pit. 



In the midst, however, of the crush and vapour, Maurice perceived 

 a vacant standing-place, and hastily occupying it, looked with an air of 

 triumph at his companions ; but, while he was at the height of his self- 

 gratulation, a good-natured person advised him to take off his hat, 

 whichj on examination, he found covered with the droppings of a candle 

 placed above. Then one of the gods thought proper to send down a 

 glass bottle on the heads of those below ; fortunately it alighted on that 

 man whose comprehensive hat was before mentioned. 



Maurice, overpowered perhaps by the odour of gas and the exha- 

 lations of human bodies densely crowded together, thought it just such 

 a play as he had seen performed in the country, and though the theatre 

 was huge, and the performers more elegant, the superiority was not so 

 striking as he expected. Nor could he disguise it from himself that 

 there were many points in the representation more vulgar and wicked 

 than he should have supposed so brilli-.nt an assemblage would tolerate, 

 especially as he had been informed of the notable fact, that, a little time 

 before, a celebrated performer had been hissed off the stage, because he 

 had been found guilty of a breach of the seventh commandment a 

 circumstance which had struck him forcibly, and naturally led him to 

 conclude, that, as known adulterers were not only endured but courted 

 in every other department of public life, the stage must be superior to 

 them in morality and decorum ; nor did it then occur to him to con- 

 sider it as a mark of detestable hypocrisy in the age, and of petty 

 tyranny in a vicious public over those on whom three-and-sixpence gave 

 them the power of censure. 



He had not, however, a complete opportunity of judging on the 

 merits of London theatricals, for while he was almost stunned with the 

 applause lately bestowed on a double entendre, and now given to a 

 sentiment of preposterous national vanity, his arm was seized by a spec- 

 tator, who, having lost his handkerchief, charged him with the theft, 

 and committed him to the custody of an officer, thus putting a suitable 

 conclusion to the pleasures of the day. 



3 D 2 



