ghtful than to let
themselves be wondered at and admired as chameleontic marvels, in
that they change their costume and appearance in the most varied
manner in the course of the same evening. Right out of the very
depths of my being have I been compelled to roar with laughter over
the self-apotheosis of self-sufficiency with which, after passing
through a marvellous series of soul-transmigrations, the true _ego_ of
the performer takes its enfranchised flight, like a beautiful insect.
Generally speaking, this is done in the shape of a pretty, elegant
night-moth, dressed in black, with silk stockings, and a three-cornered
hat under one arm, having, from the moment of its appearance as such,
only to deal with the admiring public, not troubling itself about that
which previously had been doing it soccage-service. As (_vide_ Wilhelm
Meister's 'Lehr-jahren') a special line of parts may so bind and
enslave to it some given actor, who, for instance, plays all the
characters who have to be cudgelled, or otherwise maltreated, every
stage must possess a _sujet_ who undertakes all the parts of the
character of _souffre douleur_, and consequently plays those
indispensable theatre managers, &c.; at all events, every starring
actor has a part of the kind in his pocket, by way of entrance-pass, or
letter of credit."

"What you say," answered Lothair, "reminds me of a most extraordinary
fellow whom I met with in a theatrical troupe in a small town in the
south of Germany, who was the exact image of that 'pedant' (to speak
technically) in Wilhelm Meister. Insupportable as he now was on the
stage in his little minor parts, _praying_ them out in the most direful
monotony, it was said that formerly, in his younger days, he had been
a capital actor, and used to play, for instance, those sly, scampish
inn-keepers which, in older times, used to occur in almost every
comedy, and over whose total disappearance from the stage the host in
Tieck's 'Verkehrter Welt' complains. When I knew this man he seemed to
have completely accepted his fate, which truely had been a pretty hard
one, and, in complete apathy, to place no value on anything in the
world, least of all on himself. Nothing penetrated the crust which the
heaping up of the most complete wretchedness had formed over the
surface of his better self, and he was perfectly satisfied with himself
under it; and yet there often beamed out of his deep-set, clever eyes
the gleam of a higher intellig