KSHANK. _From "The Universal Songster."_

"By this take a warning, for noon, night, or morning,
The devil's in search of attorneys."]

[Illustration:
ROBERT CRUIKSHANK. _From "The Universal Songster."_

"With her flames and darts, and apple tarts, her ices, trifles,
cherry-brandy, O, she knew not which to choose, for she thought them
both the Dandy."

_Face p. 110._]

One night a stranger entered the private box of the Duke of York at the
Adelphi, and seated himself immediately behind his Royal Highness,
who took but little notice of the intruder. The mysterious stranger had
been brought in and was fetched by a plain green chariot; and the few
that saw him said that he was a portly gentleman, wrapped in a long
great coat and muffled up to the eyes. Keeping himself well behind his
Royal Highness, the portly stranger took a deep but unostentatious
interest in the performance. In his Haroun al-Raschid character he had
been present, with his friend Lord Coleraine (then Major George Hanger),
at some of the actual scenes represented; and in particular, by virtue
of the fact of his wearing "a clean shirt," had been called upon by the
ragged chairman at a convivial meeting of the "Cadgers" to favour them
with a song, which had been sung for him by his friend and proxy the
Major. The mysterious stranger in fact, as the reader has already
guessed, was his gracious Majesty King George the Fourth, and his visit
_incognito_ having been made by previous notice and arrangement, the
passages were kept as clear of the general public as possible.

The scenery of the Adelphi version was superintended by Robert
Cruikshank himself. "Tom and Jerry" brought a strange mixture of
visitors to attend the rehearsals. Corinthians (men of fashion)--members
of the turf and the prize ring, who found a common medium of
conversation in the sporting slang which Mr. Egan has made so familiar
to us. Naturally there was a mixture. Tom Cribb, whom the Cruikshanks
had temporarily elevated into the position of a hero, was indispensable;
and the silver cup which figures in Robert's sketch was every night made
use of in the scene depicting the champion's pot-house sanctum. Among
the frequenters at these rehearsals was a quiet man of unusually
unobtrusive deportment and conversation,--this man was Thurtell, the
cold-blooded murderer of Mr. Weare.

Since the days of the "Beggars' Opera," a success equal to that which
attended the "Life