He is, as Members of Parliament are fond of saying, "in the hands of
the house," and may be ill-considered by it. Anyone can hiss, and one
goose makes many. Lamb relates how he once saw Elliston, sitting in
state, in the tarnished green-room of the Olympic Theatre, while
before him was brought for judgment, on complaint of prompter, "one of
those little tawdry things that flirt at the tails of choruses--the
pertest little drab--a dirty fringe and appendage of the lamp's
smoke--who, it seems, on some disapprobation expressed by a 'highly
respectable' audience, had precipitately quitted her station on the
boards and withdrawn her small talents in disgust. 'And how dare you,'
said the manager, 'how dare you, madam, without a notice, withdraw
yourself from your theatrical duties?' 'I was hissed, sir.' 'And you
have the presumption to decide upon the taste of the town?' 'I don't
know that, sir, but I will never stand to be hissed,' was the
rejoinder of Young Confidence. Then, gathering up his features into
one significant mass of wonder, pity, and expostulatory
indignation--in a lesson never to have been lost upon a creature less
forward than she who stood before him--his words were these: 'They
have hissed ME!'"
It is understood that this argument failed in its effect, for, after
all, a hiss is not to be in such wise excused or explained away; its
application is far too direct and personal.
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