Merry bells, roasted rumps, the roar of cannon, the crackling of bonfires, and the long-continued shouts of popular ecstacy proclaimed his downfall; the Maypole was crowned with the garlands of spring; in the temples devoted to Thalia and Melpomene * were again heard the divine inspirations of the dramatic muse; the light fantastic toe tripped it nimbly to the sound of the pipe and tabor, and St. Bartholomew, his-- * The Hamlet, Macbeth, 0thello, and Sir John Falstaff of Betterton. The character of this great master of the histrionic art is thus drawn by an eminent contemporary author:-- “Roscius, a sincere friend and a man of strict honor: grown old in the arms and approbation of his audience: not to be corrupted even by the way of living and manners of those whom he hourly conversed with. “Roscius born for everything that he thinks fit to undertake, has wit and morality, fire and judgment, sound sense and good nature. Roscius, who would have still been eminent in any station of life he had been called to, only unhappy to the world, in that it is not possible for him to bid time stand still, and permit him to endure for ever, the ornament of the stage, the delight of his friends, and the regret of all, who shall one day have the misfortune to lose him.” --rope-dancers, and trumpeters, * were all alive and merry at the fair. The austere reign of the cold and selfish William of Nassau diminished nothing of its jollity. Thomas Cotterell “from the King's Arm's Tavern, Little Lincoln's Fields,” kept the King's Arms Music Booth in Smithfield; and one Martin transferred his sign of “The Star” from Moor-fields, to the Rounds. At this time flourished a triumvirate of Bartlemy heroes too remarkable to be passed lightly over, Mat Coppinger, Joe Haynes, and Thomas Dogget. The pranks, cheats, and conceits of Coppinger are recorded in an unique tract ** of considerable freedom and fun. * In the Loyal Protestant, Sept. 8, 1682, is an advertisement forbidding all keepers of shows, &e. to make use of drums, trumpets, &e. without license from the Serjeant and Comptroller of His Majesty's trumpets. And there is a notice in the London Gazette, Dee. 7, 1685, commanding all “Rope Dancers, Prize Players, Strollers, and other persons shewing motions and other sights,” to have licenses from Charles Killigrew, Esq. Master of the Revels. ** “An Account of the Life, Conversation, Birth, Education, Pranks, Projects, Exploits, and Merry Conceits of the Famously Notorious Mat. Coppinger, once a Player in Bartholomew Fair, and since turned bully of the town; who, receiving sentence of death at the Old Bailey on the 23rd of February, was executed at Tyburn on the 27th, 1695. London, Printed for T. Hobs, 1695.”