ndant of the Garrison,
who very readily lent them a company of; I believe, the eighty-eighth
regiment.

The worthy Director had sad work to drill his troops; for unhappily he
couldn't speak a word of English; and as they knew little or no Italian,
he was reduced to signs and pantomime. When the piece, however, was
going forward, and the two rival Armies should alternately attack and
repulse each other, the luckless Director, unable to make them fight and
rally, to the quick movement of the orchestra, was heard shouting
out behind the scenes, in wild excitement, "Avanti Turki!--Avanti
Christiani!--Ah, bravo Turki!--Maledetti Christiani!" which threw the
whole audience into a perfect paroxysm of laughter.

Come then, thought I, who knows but this may be as good as Corfu. But
lo! here he comes, and now the Director, dressed in the character of the
"Herr Berg-Bau und Weg-Inspector" came to the front of the stage, and
beginning thus, spoke, "Meine Herren und Damen--there are _no_ ladies,"
said he, stopping short, "but whose fault is that?--Meine Herren, it
grieves me much, to be obliged on this occasion------Make a row there,
why don't you?" said he, addressing me, "ran-tan-tan!--an apology is
always interrupted by the audience; if it were not, one could never get
through it."

I followed his directions by hammering on the bench with my cane, and he
continued to explain that various ladies and gentlemen of the corps were
seriously indisposed, and that, though the piece should go on, it must
be with only three out of the seven characters; I renewed my marks of
disapprobation here, which seemed to afford him great delight, and he
withdrew bowing respectfully to every quarter of the house.

Kotzebue's Krahwinkel, as many of my readers know, needs not the
additional absurdity of the circumstances, under which I saw it
performed, to make it ludicrous and laughable. The Herr Director played
to the life; and Catinka, a pretty, plump, fair-haired "fraulein," not
however, exactly the idea of Maria Stuart, was admirable in her part.
Even Stauf himself was so carried away by his enthusiasm, that he laid
down his candles to applaud, and for the extent of the audience, I
venture to say, there never was a more enthusiastic one. Indeed to
this fact the Director himself bore testimony, as he more than once,
interrupted the scene to thank us for our marks of approval. On both
sides, the complaisance was complete. Never did actors and aud