A Sportsman 219 



depressed from an incident which had occurred, and I carried it 

 to my wife and said: "Is this not fine? it encourages me " I 

 thank you from my heart, and remain 



Sincerely yours, 



GEORGE GROSSMITH. 



Some weeks afterwards my wife and I were invited 

 to dine in Portland Place, by some English intimate 

 friends of ours, and at dinner we were told that our 

 entertainers were to give at midnight a musical party, 

 which would be attended by about a hundred friends, 

 among whom would be several artists of note, and Mr. 

 George Grossmith was mentioned as one. I was very 

 much amused at the prospect of meeting Mr. Grossmith 

 in this manner, and told my amiable hostess of the 

 incidental correspondence I had with him, and she 

 said she had known him for years, would present 

 me to him upon his arrival, and it would be interesting 

 and amusing. This she did, introducing my wife also. 

 During the following amusements, Mr. Grossmith im- 

 provised a song with piano accompaniment, in which 

 he went over our affair, with so many ludicrous inter- 

 polations, in which I appeared as a North American 

 Indian, that we screamed with laughter, and one young 

 lady was so amused that we had to rest for a while 

 upon her approach to a hysterical condition. 



I am reminded here of the elder Sothern, the actor 

 whose part as Lord Dundreary was so amusing, who 

 visited me at the lake with Holland the actor and two 

 other friends, perhaps twenty years ago. Sothern was 

 a great joker, and put up a good many, but was rather 

 sensitive when they were put on him. He wrote a 

 very amusing book, entitled Birds of a Feather Flock 

 Together. One day Holland said to me : 



