Mr.
Bunn had again to meet the angry expostulations of the Chamberlain. On
the 14th of February he wrote to Lord Belfast: "The passages bearing
reference to the Queen Matilda in conjunction with Struensee having
been entirely omitted, will, I trust, be satisfactory to your
lordship. Until the evening of performance I was not aware what style
of wig Mr. Farren meant to adopt, such matters being entirely at the
discretion of performers of his standard. I have since mentioned to
him the objections which have been pointed out to me, but he has sent
me word that he cannot consent so to mutilate his appearance, adding
that it is a wig he wore two years ago in a comedy called 'Lords and
Commons.'" If this was true there can be little doubt that the wig had
been dressed anew and curling-ironed into a Talleyrand form that had
not originally pertained to it. Meantime King William IV. had stirred
in the matter, despatching his Chamberlain to the Lords Grey and
Palmerston. "They--said to be exceedingly irate--instantly attended
the performance. In the box exactly opposite to the one they occupied,
sat, however, the gentleman himself, _l'homme veritable_, his
Excellency Prince Talleyrand, _in propria persona_, and he laughed so
heartily at the play, without once exhibiting any signs of annoyance
at the appearance of his supposed prototype, that the whole affair
wore a most absurd aspect; and thus terminated a singular specimen of
'great cry and little wool.
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