I was resolved to show them all
my accomplishments. Litchfield frequently whispered 'Enough!' but I
thought with Macbeth, 'Damned be he who first cries, Hold, enough!' I
kept him at it, and I believe we fought almost literally a long hour
by Shrewsbury clock. To add to the merriment, a matter-of-fact fellow
in the gallery, who in his innocence took everything for reality, and
who was completely wrapt up and lost by the very cunning of the scene,
at last shouted out: 'Why don't he shoot him?'"
The famous Mrs. Jordan was, it seems, unknown to Mathews, present
among the audience on this occasion, having been attracted from her
residence at Bushey by the announcement of an amateur Richard. "Years
afterwards," records Mathews, "when we met in Drury Lane green-room, I
was relating, amongst other theatrical anecdotes, the bumpkin's call
from the gallery in commiseration of the trouble I had in killing
Richard, when she shook me from my feet almost by starting up,
clasping her hands, and in her fervent, soul-stirring, warm-hearted
tones, exclaiming: 'Was that you? I was there!' and she screamed with
laughter at the recollection of my acting in Richmond, and the length
of our combat.
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