It may seem strange, to a generation possessing only an experience of the chastened variety theatre of the period, to learn that in my day a person entirely lacking in education should attain to a foremost position on the music-half stage. But the thing was by no means uncommon. An amusing case in point occurs to me. Hollingshead, of the Gaiety, was always on the lookout for “talent,” and he was not at all particular as to the source from which he drew it. Calling on him one day at the theatre, I found him considerably upset by a discovery which he had just made. He had long admired the performance of a certain music-hall artist, and, when an opportunity arose, he offered him a part in a burlesque then in course of preparation. Good terms were offered. The music-hall artist was flattered, and the offer was accepted. But when his part was handed to him by the stage-manager, it was found to be of no earthly use to him, for he could not read! Fortunately, the artist’s ignorance in other matters came to Hollingshead’s assistance in determining the engagement. For the contract had been signed in the gentleman’s name by a friend, and was invalid! One of those incidents by which one may note the progress of an evolution comes in its natural order in this place. Albert Chevalier had failed to obtain from the general public supporting the theatre the amount of attention and critical admiration that was accorded to him freely by the judicious few. For years he was known at club banquets and the like as the writer, composer, and singer, of those coster songs which have since won for him fame and fortune. In a burlesque of “Aladdin” put on at the Strand Theatre by Edouin, Chevalier introduced his famous “’Armonic Club.” Its humours appealed for the moment, but it did not make one of those “hits” the impact of which sets all the town tingling. And for a long time after the run of the Strand “Aladdin” Chevalier was unable to obtain “a shop.” He was one of the many unfortunate artists whose peculiar vein of talent had not found the proper assay.