old, who had long been with persons of a different description, and by whom, had he remained with them, his genius for the stage would have been ruined. This thought affected Molière; and he asked the boy, "what he most desired ?" "To stay with you, for ever," replied Baron," that I may show my gratitude."- "If so," answered Molière, " you shall have your wish I have already obtained his Majesty's order for that purpose."-Molière was as intimate, and as much a favourite with the King, as a man so situated could possibly be. The mistress of Baron, enraged at the loss of such a source of wealth, furiously entered the chamber of Molière, with a pistol in each hand, declaring, that she would shoot him through the head, if he did not give her back the boy. Molière, tranquil and unmoved, said to the servant, Take that woman away. His fortitude had such an effect on her, that she suddenly dropt the pistols, threw herself at his feet, implored him with tears to restore Baron to her, and drew a picture of the misery to which herself and family would be reduced, should he not comply. Molière showed her the order of the King; and finding she had no hope, she entreated Molière to let Baron play three days for her profit." Not only three, but eight," replied Molière," on condition, that he do not go home with you, and that the person I send with him shall bring him back to me, each day, as soon as the play is ended."-By these eight performances, she obtained a sufficient sum to settle herself at Paris. The kind and virtuous Molière took no less care of the morals than of the education of the boy, who became a worthy man, and, after his benefactor's death, long continued the chief support of the stage. THE RED BULL THEATRE. THIS was a large house, standing on a plot of ground, called Red Bull Yard, near the Northern end of St. John's Street, Clerkenwell. This place retained its name till the beginning of the last century, when it was christened Woodbridge Street; it is a narrow, dirty avenue, the first turning on the left above Aylesbury Street. The poor players, when suppressed by the Puritans, frequently assembled at this place, during Christmas and Bartholomew Fair, on the summons of Alexander Goffe, the celebrabrated Woman-actor of the Blackfriars Company. During the suspension of stage-plays, under the Commonwealth, this house was highly celebrated for its Drolls, which consisted in selections from the comic scenes of Shakspeare, Fletcher, &c. and which were put together by one Robert Cox. This was the nearest approach to the regular drama on which they dared to venture, and even this was done at the risk of imprisonment, which they sometimes actually suffered for their performances. A collection of these Drolls, published in 1672, exhibits a highly curious and interesting Frontispiece, representing the interior of the Theatre, with a singularly incongruous variety of characters upon the stage. These consist of Sir John Falstaff, and Dame Quickly; Clause, in the " Beggars' Bush ;" the French dancing master, from the Duke of Newcastle's "Comedy of Variety," and the Changeling and the Simpleton, from a piece written by himself. A figure advancing from behind the curtain, with a label in his mouth, represents Green, in the character of Bubble, in Croker's Comedy afterwards called, in honour of that celebrated Actor, and in allusion to the phrase which he has constantly in his mouth during the play, "Green's Tu quoque." This Collection is extremely scarce, and hardly procurable at any price. Previous to the suppression of the Theatres, the Red Bull appears to have been of an inferior rank, for, in a Poem addressed to Sir Wm. D'Avenant, in 1633, it is described as "That degenerate Stage Where none of th' untuned kennel can rehearse A line of serious sense!" Some months before the Restoration, the Theatre was re-opened for the performance of plays; and, on the King's arrival, the Company took the name of the King's servants. They soon after removed to Vere Street, Clare Market; and, at length, fixed themselves at the Cock-pit, in Drury Lane. MR. KEAN. ACTORS and Actresses, when they make their debuts before the Audiences of this polished metropolis, are complimented by the Managers of the Theatre they perform at, with a certain number of free admissions, that they may have the benefit of being supported, in their perilous undertaking, by those on whose friendship they can rely; but so unknown and so destitute of these valuable auxiliaries was Kean, that his wife actually burnt, with her own hands, fifty "Orders," sent to him by Mr. Arnold, on the morning of the night he first made his bow on the boards of Drury Lane. NAT. LEE, IN a letter to Dennis, the Critic, Dryden relates the following anecdote of Lee, the Dramatic Poet, who was confined in Bedlam four years; after which, though he regained his liberty, yet he never completely regained his senses. "I remember poor Nat. Lee, who was then upon the verge of madness, yet making a sober and witty answer to a bad poet, who told him, It was an easy thing to write like a madman.' 'No,' said he, it is very difficult to write like a madman; but it is a very easy thing to write like a fool." SHAKSPEARE, AND THE BLACKSMITH. DR. DRAKE, in his amusing work of " Shakspeare and his Times," has preserved the following repartee of the immortal bard of Avon. "A drunken blacksmith, with a carbuncled face, reeling up to Shakspeare, as he was leaning over a mercer's door, exclaimed, with much vociferation "Now! Mr. Shakspeare, tell me, if you can, VOL. I. K |