Tom Mead was famous in his later years amongst his comrades for making strange errors, and when he had any new part they always waited to see what new story he would beget. Once on a voyage to America when we were arranging the concert for the Seamen’s Orphans, he said he would do a scene from _Macbeth_ if Mrs. Pauncefort would do it with him. She, a fine old actress, at once consented and from thence on the members of the company were waiting to see what the slip would be. They were certain there would be one; to them there was no “might” or “if” in the matter. The scene chosen was that of the murder of Duncan, and all went well till the passage was reached: “And Pity, like a naked new-born babe Striding the blast, or heaven’s cherubim, horsed Upon the sightless carriers of the air.” This noble passage he repeated as follows: “And Pity, like a naked new-born babe Seated on the horse. No! Horsed on the seat! No! What is the word?” Once before, during the first run of _Macbeth_, he played one of the witches; when circling round the cauldron he had to say: “Cool it with a baboon’s blood.” This he changed to: “Cool it with a dragoon’s blood!” As the words are spoken before Macbeth enters, Irving, standing ready in the wings, of course heard the error. Later in the evening he sent for Mead and called his attention to the error, pointing out that as the audience knew so well the words of the swinging lines they might notice an error, and that it would be well to read over the part afresh. This he promised to do. Next night he got very anxious as the time drew near. He moved about restlessly behind the scenes saying over and over again to himself, “dragoon, no baboon—baboon!—dragoon!—dragoon!—baboon!” till he got himself hopelessly mixed. His comrades were in ecstasy. When at last he came to say the word he said it wrong; and as he had a voice whose tones he could not modify this is what the audience heard: “Cool it with dragoon’s blood—No, no, baboon’s. My God! I’ve said it again! baboon’s blood.” When we did _Iolanthe_, a version by W. G. Wills of _King René’s Daughter_, Mead took the part of Ebn Jaira, an Eastern Wizard. At one part of the piece, where things look very black indeed for the happiness of the blind girl, he has to say: “All shall be well in that immortal land where God hath His dwelling.” One night he got shaky in his words and surprised the audience with: “In that immortal land where God hath His—Ah—um—His apartments!” Such mental aberrations used to be fairly common in the old days when new parts had to be learned every night, and when the prompter, in so far as the “book” was concerned, was a hard-worked official and not an anachronism, as now. Macready had an experience of it once when playing Hamlet. The actor who took the part of the Priest in the graveyard scene was inadequately prepared and in the passage;