56 



body had just snatched at a medal which Britannia 

 wore round her neck, and had endeavoured to force 

 it away. I asked her who had done so? " Oh, 

 one of the Red party, of course ! " The Red party 

 was evidently Miss Edwards's Mrs. Grundy. John- 

 Canoe made no part of the procession ; but he and 

 his rival, John-Crayfish (a personage of whom I 

 heard, but could not obtain a sight), seemed to act 

 upon quite an independent interest, and go about 

 from house to house, tumbling and playing antics 

 to pick up money for themselves. 



A play was now proposed to us, and, of course, 

 accepted. Three men and a girl accordingly 

 made their appearance; the men dressed like the 

 tumblers at Astley's, the lady very tastefully in 

 white and silver, and all with their faces con- 

 cealed by masks of thin blue silk ; and they 

 proceeded to perform the quarrel between Douglas 

 and Glenalvon, and the fourth act of " The Fair 

 Penitent. 5 ' They were all quite perfect, and had 

 no need of a prompter. As to Lothario, he was 

 by far the most comical dog that I ever saw in 

 my life, and his dying scene exceeded all de- 

 scription ; Mr. Coates himself might have taken 

 hints from him ! As soon as Lothario was fairly 

 dead, and Calista had made her exit in distraction, 

 they all began dancing reels like so many mad 

 people, till they were obliged to make way for the 

 Waterloo procession, who came to collect money 

 for the next year's festival ; one of them singing, 



