Upon his
mispronouncing the name of Lady Kennegad, Macklin stepped up to him
and demanded angrily, "What trade he was of?" The player replied that
he was a gentleman. Macklin rejoined: "Stick to that, sir! stick to
that; for you will never be an actor."
In Farquhar's comedy of "The Inconstant," when Bisarre is first
addressed by Mirabel and Duretete, Miss Farren, playing Bisarre, held
a book in her hand, which she affected to have been reading before she
spoke. Mrs. Jordan, we are told, who afterwards assumed the character,
declined to make use of the stage-book, and dispensed with it
altogether. She sat perfectly still, affecting to be lost in thought.
Then, before speaking, she took a pinch of snuff! Half a century ago a
heroine who indulged in snuff was deemed no more objectionable than is
one of our modern heroes of the stage, who cannot forego cigars or
cigarettes.
There is a stage-book to be seen in "The School for Scandal." Joseph
Surface affects to pore over its pages immediately after he has
secreted Lady Teazle behind the screen, and while Sir Peter is on the
stairs.
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