Edinburgh Theatre. A fishmonger, named Stirling, who was ambitious of displaying his powers in the character of Hastings, obtained leave from the manager to gratify his vanity. When he had got nearly half through the part, amidst the din of catcalls, hisses, and roars of laughter, he retired, but it was supposed he would return to finish the part which he had so ludicrously represented; when, to the utter disappointment of the laughter-loving critics, Mr. Bland, uncle of Mrs. Jordan, made his appearance, and thus addressed the audience :

"Ladies and Gentlemen,

Mr. Stirling, a very good fishmonger, has been so much mortified by your disapprobation of his performance in Hastings, that he has not only made his escape suddenly from the Theatre, but I vow to God, Ladies and Gentlemen, he has taken away with him Mr. Ross's best pair of breeches."

SHAKSPEARE'S PLOTS AND CHARACTERS.

"OUR great dramatist" (says Mr. Skottowe,) "almost invariably selected for the plot of his drama an event of history, a romantic tale, or some previous dramatic composition, and imposed upon himself an almost implicit adherence to his authorities, even in cases where great improvement might have been effected with little pains.

For the alterations which he chose to make, he is not often to be praised; his additions to his originals are, however, almost always excellent; and so beautifully has he blended the separate actions, that they appear always to have formed one consistent whole.

The characters of Shakspeare's absolute creation are as many as those which he prepared on previous hints; and, though his serious dramas far outnumber his comedies, his comic portraits are somewhat more numerous than his tragic. In point of importance, however, the preponderance is greatly on the side of the tragic characters, and the fact is easily accounted for: the materials borrowed were mostly serious fables, or grave historical events; the personages en. gaged in their transaction were of a corresponding tone of mind, and the poet was compelled to concede them a prominence on the scene in some degree commensurate with their prominence in the narrative.

Scarcely one of Shakspeare's tragic characters was conceived by himself; a singular fact, considering that his comic characters, with the exception of about half-a-dozen, were entirely his own. The conclusion is inevitable, that the bent

of his mind was decidedly comic. Why, with such a disposition, so large a majority of the subjects selected by him were serious, it is in vain to inquire; but it appears, that he eagerly sought every opportunity which such a selection left him, to indulge his fancy's course. His predilection for the ludicrous required a wider field for its display than was afforded him in his few comedies; and, with the mask and sock, he gaily rushed upon the consecrated ground of the tragic muse, engrafting incidents purely comic on subjects the most serious."

SHERIDAN'S "PIZARRO."

IN 1799, Sheridan's fortunes became desperate, and the debts of the Theatre were so overwhelming that something required to be done out of the ordinary course. Kotzebue was the most versatile and ingenious of modern dramatists, and the shortest course was for the author of "The School for Scandal" to dress up one of the most showy dramas. His "Spaniards in Peru" was the one adopted, and two translations were printed at the same moment. It became, therefore, an object to stop their publication, and get a copy for use. Hence the argument with the

publisher of one of them of which we have given a fac-simile, the conditions of which were not literally fulfilled. However, as publication was threatened, the fifty pounds were paid in bags of shillings, sixpences, and halfpence, the receipts on successive nights of the shilling gallery; but though 650 guineas was offered for the piece, Sheridan preferred publishing on his own account, and was to receive a net 801. per 1000 from the publisher. It is said 45,000 were sold, but we do not know whether Sheridan got the 36007. Indeed, it is reported that it was chiefly absorbed by a debt to a livery-stable keeper.

After all, the piece was nearly damned. It halted several times, and the curtain did not drop till half past twelve. Such was the inveterate indolence of the editor, that some of the performers only received their parts the day before: Mrs. Jordan did not get the words of the song in Cora, till the same evening. A friend carried Sheridan to an Inn at Bagshot, and there he composed Rolla's speech, plagiarism as it is. The piece, however, answered its destined purpose, and though it came out in June, it produced overflowing houses for several weeks.

WRITINGS ON THE WALL, IN SHAKSPEARE's

BIRTH-ROOM.

THESE, in 1818, had accumulated to such an extent as to leave no corner unfilled, and the names included all the genius and celebrity of the last fifty years. Indeed, they added so much to the interest of the premises, and brought in so many shillings and half-crowns to the Widow Hornby, who paid the Landlord of the Swan but ten pounds a year for them, that he resolved to turn her out, after she had been accumulating Shakspeare's relics, real or pretended, for five and twenty years. A few days before the visit of Sir Richard Phillips, the old widow had received notice to quit, and, to enforce it, of an advance of rent to thirty-pounds: she exhibited this, with tears in her eyes, and Sir Richard undertook to negociate for her with the Landlord, but found him inexorable. Among other things, the Landlord quoted the value of the writings on the wall, when it unluckily occurred to Sir Richard that Mrs. Hornby would be justified in white-washing the room, if she were obliged to leave it; and this power he afterwards mentioned to the widow, in the hope of strengthening her case. Nothing, however, moved Boniface; and as he persisted

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