' In short, I would have him a
due composition of Hercules and Apollo, and so rightly qualified for
this important office that the trunkmaker may not be missed by our
posterity."
Addison's paper doubtless possessed an element of fact and truth,
enriched by the fancifulness peculiar to the writer. It was his manner
thus to embroider commonplace; to enhance the actual by large
additions of the ideal. There probably existed such a personage as the
trunkmaker; some visitor to the upper gallery was in the habit of
expressing approval by strokes of his cudgel upon the wainscot; and
his frequent presence had obtained the recognition of the other
patrons of the theatre. It was an easy and a pleasant task to Addison
to invest this upper-gallery visitor with special critical qualities
to attribute to his "oaken plant" almost supernatural powers. In any
case, the trunkmaker was a sort of foreshadowing of the _claqueur_. It
was reserved for later times to organise applause and reduce success
to a system. Of old, houses were sometimes "packed" by an author's
friends to ensure a favourable result to the first representation of
his play.
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