TRAVELLERS' EXPERIENCES 215 



This made a sensation. 



"Why you must be a very remarkable man to be going 

 to Brougham Hall!" 



"I am a very remarkable man, ma'am," Sydney Smith 

 confirmed. 



The ladies asked many more questions, vainly tried 

 to discover their companion's name, and, as it was still 

 dark when they left the coach, they did so under the 

 impression that they had left behind them a perfeft 

 Adonis, and a nobleman at least. 



Charles Matthews, the comedian, likewise used his 

 inventive faculties for the bewilderment of fellow 

 travellers, for on the way to Portsmouth he took it 

 into his head to pretend that he was a madman. His 

 companion, entering into the joke, posed as his keeper, 

 and gravely informed the landlord of the inn where they 

 halted that his friend, a major in the army, had been 

 wounded in the head in Spain, which had quite deranged 

 him. Matthews afted the part of madman so realistically 

 that the people at the inn were terrified out of their 

 lives. In the midst of the general excitement Lord 

 Ormond arrived, and as a treat was allowed to have a 

 peep at the lunatic, carrying on in an amazing manner. 

 Lord Ormond recognized the aftor, and nearly betrayed 

 him, but, managing to control himself, he played up to 

 Matthews and his friend in a manner which caused 

 infinite merriment to all three. 



Matthews' profession necessitated much moving 

 about from place to place, and in consequence he had 

 intimate acquaintance with the coaches of the time. 



