tion as the auctioneer himself.

It is a received

thing here, that a person of that profession is to play the buffoon, and amuse his customers with exaggerated and fantastical descriptions of the things he offers for sale, odd digressions, and burlesque earnestness, particularly when he deals in objects of taste, of no very definable value, as china, pictures, antiques, &c. What he says does not persuade any body; it is not meant to be believed, but merely to amuse the crowd of rich idlers who go there to kill time, and, being there, buy, what they might not otherwise have thought of buying,—precisely as the mountebanks at fairs attract the populace. These have a politer audience to entertain, and need more refinement in their jokes, and really shew sometimes a good deal of humour, and strokes of real wit. It must be owned, that the anxious solicitude of amateurs about trifles, the importance they attach to certain conventional beauties and merits of their own creation, and which none but the initiated in the mysteries of taste can discover; the little tricks they practise against each other, in pursuit of their common game, and manœuvres of various sorts, afford ample field to ridicule, and materials to amuse the amateurs at their own expence. Foote, who wrote farces, and played in them with equal success, drew for the stage a dilettante auctioneer from nature; the wit,

and general application of the satire, has survived the mere personal mimickry intended; as the Tartuffe of Moliere, (if I may be allowed to compare these two writers) remains an incompa rable picture of hypocrisy,-while the original who sat for the portrait is forgotten.

Another collection has been sold, that of Mr Greville. The object of this connoisseur was to exhibit the progress of the art from its origin, by a series of pictures of successive ages; many were very bad, but it was at least an acknowledged consequence of his plan.

We have just seen Madame Catalani ;-she is a bewitching creature, and, notwithstanding our high expectations, she has exceeded them. Her voice, which is strong, clear, and harmonious, and produced without effort or contortions, is the least of her attractions. The grace and the modesty of her appearance, the naiveté,-the archness of her smile, tender and playful at the same time, charmed us still more than her voice. Des Hayes and Vestris are winged Mercuries; this Vestris is, however, said to be inferior to the others. Some of my countrymen have assu red me, in confidence, that he would not be en dured at Paris ;-it may be so,-I have not had the honour of being lately at Paris. The Operahouse of London is, like all the theatres I have seen in England, in the shape of a horse-shoe.

The side-boxes are ill turned to see, and the front ones too far to bear. The height of the ceiling is so great that the voice is lost. It seems strange that the semicircular shape should not have occurred, or should not have been adopted. Each spectator would have the actors precisely in front of him, and at a mean distance equal for all. Such a theatre would moreover contain more spectators. I would lower the ceiling onethird at least, dispensing with the two upper tiers of boxes. It would be a very small pecuniary sacrifice,this high region being always but thinly filled, and by spectators whose presence, or behaviour at least, is either a great scandal, or very inconvenient that is to say, in the sidegalleries, certain ladies, who carry on their trade quite openly, selling and delivering the articles they deal in under the eye of the public, and with a degree of shamelessness for which the inhabitants of Otaheite alone can furnish any precedent. That part of the upper region which fronts the stage is occupied by a less indecent, but more noisy sort of people; sailors, footmen, low tradesmen and their wives and mistresses, who enjoy themselves, drinking, whistling, howling as much as they please. These gods, for so they are called from their elevated station, which is in France denominated the paradis, assume the high prerogative of hurling down their thunder

on both actors and spectators, in the shape of nut-shells, cores of apples, and orange-peel. This innocent amusement has always been considered in England as a sort of exuberance of liberty, of which it is well to have a little too much, to be sure that you have enough. Some persons complain even that the gods are become much too tame and tractable, and like the French tenants of the paradis,a good thing in itself, but a bad omen. Surprised to see centinels with fixed bayonets at all the avenues of the playhouse, I inquired, whether, in case of disorders and violence, these soldiers might make use of their arms. By no means, I was told. A murder by the bayonet would be like any other. Why then have bayonets? Is it to accustom the people to the sight of the thing before it is used?

The former turbulence of the lower ranks seems to have reached the upper. There were, some months ago, certain riotous proceedings, which shook the very foundations, if not of the state, at least those of the playhouse. As it was before our arrival, I only speak from hearsay. The manager of the Theatre-Royal of CoventGarden had become, it seems, guilty of two crimes of lese parterre: first, of having raised the prices a little, under pretence of their being no higher than in the reign of Queen Anne, although every thing else had risen threefold: se

condly, of having let some boxes by the year. The pit demanded the restoration of things to the old footing. The manager insisted; the pit hissed, and made a noise every night; the disturbance increased in violence; nobody went but the Guelfs and Ghibelins. The pit faction took the name of O. P. (old prices.) Some individuals, who had gone farther than the others, were arrested. The resentment of the O. P.'s knew no bounds; and they proceeded one night to the entire demolition of all that was demolishable in the interior of the house,-lustres, seats, cushions, violins, base and counterbase, &c. Some persons were again arrested by the officers of po. lice, (no bayonets ;)—these were young men of good families, and all of them above the common people, who took no share in all this. These gentlemen had to pay the fiddlers; but the manager's situation was not the better for that. He had to yield, after having held out six weeks; and was obliged to ask pardon for having done what he had a right to do, and for (as to the private boxes,) what was no loss to the public, as they were the worst places in the whole house; but the public thought they saw in it that aristocratic pride which wants to be apart from the multitude. The contagion spread, and ran the round through the country theatres. The O. P.'s committed the same depredations everywhere,