had a small farm near Reading, in Berkshire, and the
countryman came, in the time of Bartholomew fair, to pay his rent. Mr.
Betterton took him to the fair, and going to one Crawley's puppet-show,
offered two shillings for himself and Roger, his tenant. "No, no, sir,"
said Crawley, "_we never take money from one another_." This affronted
Mr. Betterton, who threw down the money, and they entered. Roger was
hugely diverted with Punch, and bred a great noise, saying that he would
drink with him, for he was a merry fellow. Mr. Betterton told him he was
only a puppet, made up of _sticks and rags_. However Roger still cried
out that he would go and drink with Punch. When Master took him behind
where the puppets hung up, he swore he thought Punch had been alive.
However, said he, though he be but _sticks and rags, I'll give him
sixpence to drink my health_. At night Mr. Betterton went to the
theatre, when was played the Orphan, Mr. Betterton acting Castalio, Mrs.
Barry Monimia. "Well," said Master, "how dost like this play, Roger?"
"Why, I don't know," said Roger, "_it's well enough for sticks and
rags_."

This anecdote is falsely related of Garrick.

DRAMATIC CENSOR.

I have always considered those combinations which are formed in the
playhouse as acts of fraud or cruelty. He that applauds him who does not
deserve praise, is endeavouring to deceive the public. He that hisses in
malice or in sport is an oppressor and a robber.

_Dr. Johnson's Idler, No. 25._

_Master Payne's performances concluded._

Of the characters represented by this young gentleman, those in which he
has evinced greatest powers are Douglas, Tancred, and Romeo, while that
in which he is least exceptionable, is Frederick in Lover's Vows. In his
Octavian, which followed next after Douglas, some of the pathetic
passages were beautifully expressed. Mrs. Inchbald, in her prefatory
remarks to the play of the Mountaineers, says, "_This true lover
requires such peculiar art, such consummate skill in the delineation_,
that it is probable his representative may have given an impression of
the whole drama unfavourable to the author. Nor is this a reproach to
the actor who fails; for such a person as Octavian would never have been
created, had not Kemble been born some years before him. But,
notwithstanding the difference of their ages, it is likely they will
both depart this life at the same time." While the difficulty of
delineating Octavian, and the