riumph.
Besides, there are too many people. They are uncomfortable. The angles
of their neighbours' elbows do not dispose them to good-nature. I hope
the benches will not give way. We shall be the victims of an incensed
population. Oh, if our friend Tom-Jim-Jack were only here! but he never
comes now. Look at those heads rising one above the other. Those who are
forced to stand don't look very well pleased, though the great Galen
pronounced it to be strengthening. We will shorten the entertainment; as
only 'Chaos Vanquished' was announced in the playbill, we will not play
'Ursus Rursus.' There will be something gained in that. What an uproar!
O blind turbulence of the masses. They will do us some damage. However,
they can't go on like this. We should not be able to play. No one can
catch a word of the piece. I am going to address them. Gwynplaine, draw
the curtain a little aside.--Gentlemen." Here Ursus addressed himself
with a shrill and feeble voice,--

"Down with that old fool!"

Then he answered in his own voice,--

"It seems that the mob insult me. Cicero is right: _plebs fex urbis_.
Never mind; we will admonish the mob, though I shall have a great deal
of trouble to make myself heard. I will speak, notwithstanding. Man, do
your duty. Gwynplaine, look at that scold grinding her teeth down
there."

Ursus made a pause, in which he placed a gnashing of his teeth. Homo,
provoked, added a second, and Govicum a third.

Ursus went on,--

"The women are worse than the men. The moment is unpropitious, but it
doesn't matter! Let us try the power of a speech; an eloquent speech is
never out of place. Listen, Gwynplaine, to my attractive exordium.
Ladies and gentlemen, I am a bear. I take off my head to address you. I
humbly appeal to you for silence." Ursus, lending a cry to the crowd,
said, "Grumphll!"

Then he continued,--

"I respect my audience. Grumphll is an epiphonema as good as any other
welcome. You growlers. That you are all of the dregs of the people, I do
not doubt. That in no way diminishes my esteem for you. A
well-considered esteem. I have a profound respect for the bullies who
honour me with their custom. There are deformed folks amongst you. They
give me no offence. The lame and the humpbacked are works of nature. The
camel is gibbous. The bison's back is humped. The badger's left legs are
shorter than the right, That fact is decided by Aristotle, in his
treatise on the walking of animals. There ar