The American stage has a
highly-coloured story of an English melodramatic actor with the
pseudonym of Bill Shipton, who, "enacting a British officer in 'The
Early Life of Washington,' got so stupidly intoxicated that when Miss
Cuff, who played the youthful hero, had to fight and kill him in a
duel, Bill Shipton wouldn't die; he even said loudly on the stage
that he wouldn't. Mary Cuff fought on until she was ready to faint,
and after she had repeated his cue for dying, which was, 'Cowardly,
hired assassin!' for the fourteenth time, he absolutely jumped off the
stage, not even pretending to be on the point of death. Our indignant
citizens then chased him all over the house, and he only escaped by
jumping into the coffin which they bring on in Hamlet, Romeo, and
Richard." The story has its humour, but is not to be implicitly
credited.
Broad-sword combats were at one time very popular interludes at minor
theatres. They were often quite distinct performances, prized for
their own sake, and quite irrespective of their dramatic relevancy. It
cannot be said that they suggested much resemblance to actual warfare.
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