the centre of the pit, requires much skill and judgment. The captain
of the _claque_ is an important personage, respected by his
subordinates, courted by the actors, and skilled in the strategy of his
profession, which yields him a handsome income. A tap of his cane on the
ground is the signal for applause. The _chatouilleur_, or tickler, a
variety of the genus _claqueur_, is in vogue chiefly at the smaller
theatres. His duty is to laugh, and, if possible, infect his neighbours
with his mirth. He stands upon a lower grade of the social step-ladder
than the _claqueur_; very unjustly, as it appears to us, his scope for
the display of original genius being decidedly larger. How delicately
may he modulate his merriment, and control his cachinnations,
establishing a regular gamut, rising from the titter to the guffaw,
abating from the irrepressible horse-laugh to the gratified snigger. He
may himself be a better actor than those for whose benefit his mirth is
feigned. And when, with aching ribs and a moist pocket-handkerchief--for
an accomplished _chatouilleur_ must be able to laugh till he cries--he
retires from the scene enlivened by his efforts, it is with the proud
consciousness that his contagious chuckle, as much as author's _jokes_
or _buffo's_ comicalities, has contributed to set the theatre in a roar.

Boileau said that

Le Francais, ne malin, crea le vaudeville,

and Boileau was right, although, when he wrote the line, he referred to
a particular style of satirical song, and not to the farces and
comedies, intermixed with couplets and snatches of music, that have
since borne the name. The Frenchman not only created the vaudeville, but
he reserved to himself its monopoly. Essentially French, it is
inimitable on any other stage. Of the many attempts made, none have
succeeded in catching its peculiar spirit. The Englishman has his farce,
the German his _possenspiel_, the Spaniard his _saynete_, but the
vaudeville will only flourish on French soil, or, at least, in the hands
of French authors and actors. Piron and Lesage were its fathers; their
mantle has been handed down through succeeding generations, worn
alternately by a Piis and a Barre, by a Panard, whom Marmontel called
the La Fontaine of the vaudeville, and a Desaugiers, until, in the
present day, it rests upon the shoulders of Scribe, and his legion of
rivals and imitators. With the exception of the four theatres royal and
the Italian opera, there is no