114 RECORDS OF OLD TIMES 



by opening and shutting the door. By the way, 

 there is a very good old story of these worthies 

 that I fancy is worth repeating. He was called the 

 ' waterman,' whose duty it was to give the horses 

 water. The story goes that the following colloquy 

 took place : ' I say, Bill, vy do they call us vater- 

 men ? ' ' Veil, I don't know, Jem, I suppose 'tis 'cos 

 ve opens the hackney-coach doors.' I think the 

 fare from the ' Old Bell ' to Drury Lane was two 

 shillings. I well remember on one occasion seeino- 

 Macready in ' Macbeth,' and either Miss Helen 

 Faucit or Miss Huddart in the character of Lady 

 Macbeth — and finely that character was played. I 

 was much impressed with the fight and Macduff's 

 triumph. I shall never forget Macready's wonderful 

 expression of countenance when Macduff told him 

 'he was not of woman born.' His hand, clutchinof 

 his sword, fell powerless by his side, his eyes glared, 

 his face seemed to turn pallid, his mouth half opened 

 his tongue lolled from his mouth, and he looked a 

 complete idiot. But when Macduff accused him of 

 cowardice, in an instant the whole man changed, 

 the idiotcy left him, and the torrent of his voice, 

 ' Lay on, Macduff,' fairly electrified me, as also did 

 the fine performance of Lady Macbeth. I heard 

 a good story of old Mr. Robert Vernon, the generous 

 connoisseur who left his priceless collection of pic- 

 tures to the nation, the collection that is known as 

 the Vernon Gallery. He was a great patron of the 

 drama, and often received parties of distinguished 

 actors and actresses on a visit to his beautiful 



