character of Falstaff. Actors
have laid hands on characters which usually were deemed the exclusive
property of the actresses--as when Mr. Dowton resigned his favourite
part of Sir Anthony Absolute and donned the guise of Mrs. Malaprop.
The Kembles have sought to make their solemn airs and sepulchral tones
available in the reckless scenes and hilarious utterances of
farce--and exuberant comedians of the Keeley and Liston pattern have
ventured to tincture with whimsicality the woes of tragedy. To draw a
crowded house and bring money to the treasury was the only aim.
Benefits, in fact, followed the argument of the old drinking
song--merriment at all costs to-night, and sobriety, somehow, on the
morrow--until the benefit season came round again, and then--_da
capo!_

CHAPTER XXVIII.

THUNDERS OF APPLAUSE.

Addison devotes a number of "The Spectator" to a description of "The
Trunkmaker in the Upper Gallery"--a certain person so called, who had
been observed to frequent, during some years, that portion of the
theatre, and to express his approval of the transactions of the stage
by loud knocks upon the benches or the wainscot, audible over the
whole house. It was doubtful how he came to be called the Trunkmaker;
whether from his blows, resembling those often given with a hammer in
the shops of such artisans, or from a belief that he was a genuine
trunkmaker, who, upon the conclusion of his day's work, repaired to
unbend and refresh his mind at the theatre, carrying in his hand one
of the implements of his craft. Some, it is alleged, were foolish
enough to imagine him a perturbed spirit haunting the upper gallery,
and noted that he made more noise than ordinary whenever the Ghost in
"Hamlet" appeared upon the scene; some reported that the trunkmaker
was, in truth, dumb, and had chosen this method of expressing his
content with all he saw or heard; while others maintained him to be
"the playhouse thunderer," voluntarily employing himself in the
gallery when not required to discharge the duties of his office upon
the roof of the building. The "Spectator," holding that public shows
and diversions lie well within his province, and that it is
particularly incumbent upon him to notice everything remarkable
touching the elegant entertainments of the theatre, makes it his
business to obtain the best information he can in regard to this
trunkmaker, and finds him to be "a large black man whom nobody knows;"
who "generally