, , Kevenge, wordnetdesire, and Avarice by 
turns in the prompter's box ? A tiresome comedy 
sometimes, with di-eary, talkee-talkee front wordnetanger 
which come to nothing, but only serve to make 
the audience more impatient as they wait while 
the stage is set and the great people change 
their dresses ; or a "  " comedy, with 
unlooked-for tableaux and unexpected denoue- 
ments; but a comedy to the end of the chapter, 
for the  which seem tragic to us are very 
funny when seen from the other side of the foot- 
lights ; and our friends in the pit are as much 
amused with our trumpery  as the Hay- 
market Jiabitues when Mr. Box finds his gridiron 
empty, or Mr. Cox misses his rasher. What can 
be funnier than other people's  ? Why do 



EEJECTED AND ACCEPTED. 127 

we enjoy Mr. Maddison Morton's farces, and laugh 
till the tears run down our cheek at the comedian 
who enacts them? Because there is scarcely a 
farce upon the British stage which is not, from' 
the rising to the dropping of the curtain, a record 
of human  and undeserved . Yes, 
undeserved and unnecessary   there is the 
special charm of the entertainment. If the man 
who was weak enough to send his wife to Cam-