AN AMUSING MISTAKE. 201 



bearing a lantern, on the opposite side of the bridge. He crosses it, 

 goes to his door, and the curtain falls as he stands knocking at the 

 empty house. 



Portia was admirable, and her swagger off the stage as Balthazar 

 was excruciatingly droll. The care which was taken with the 

 smallest parts was evident to everyone who was familiar with the 

 stage. Even the general public behind the barrier was as carefully 

 dressed and drilled as any of the actors. After Shylock leaves the 

 hall the public rushes after him, and you can hear their hoots and 

 hisses following him and melting in the distance. 



In the evening I got a note from H. Irving, asking me to supper 

 at 11.30. Miss Terry was good enough to come from her own hotel, 



and was accompanied by two well-known ladies, Mrs. L and 



Miss S . The manager of the company was there, together with 



another gentleman, whose name I did not catch. It was very funny. 

 In the course of supper, mention was made of a rattlesnake as thick 

 as a man's thigh. Naturally I suggested that there must be a mistake, 

 whereupon Irving said that probably his thigh was intended as the 

 measure. Then there arose a discussion, in the course of which I 

 showed the distinction between venomous and constricting snakes. 

 They were all greatly taken with the description, and Irving said 

 that I had learned a good deal about snakes from my father ! This 

 led to an explanation, and utter astonishment fell upon all, mixed 

 at first with evident incredulity. 



Such misapprehensions, by the way, were by no 

 means infrequent, and for many years towards the end of 

 his life my father was constantly taken for his own son. 

 Perhaps the funniest blunder of this kind was that of a 

 lady who imagined that the Eev. J. G. Wood was con- 

 temporary with Goldsmith ! 



