The Confessions of Harry Lorrequer — CompleteLever, Charles
General
The Confessions of Harry Lorrequer — Complete
Lever, Charles
Fiction
“But where is the necessity for so doing?” said I, “surely, where there
is so much of novelty as a large city presents to a visitor for the
first time, there is little occasion to draw upon imagination for your
facts.”
“Ah, my dear Harry, how little do you know of life; there is a kind of
man whose appetite for the marvellous is such, that he must be crammed
with miracles or he dies of inanition, and you might as well attempt to
feed a tiger upon pate de foie gras, as satisfy him by mere naked
unvarnished truth. I’ll just give you an easy illustration; you saw his
delight this morning when the ‘Duke’ rode past; well I’ll tell you the
converse of that proposition now. The night before last, having nothing
better to do, we went to the theatre; the piece was ‘La Perouse,’ which
they have been playing here for the last two months to crowded houses,
to exhibit some North American Indians whom some theatrical speculator
brought over ‘expres’, in all the horrors of fur, wampum, and yellow
ochre. Finding the ‘spectacle’ rather uninteresting I leaned back in my
box, and fell into a doze. Meanwhile, my inquiring friend, Mr. Burke,
who felt naturally anxious, as he always does, to get au fond at
matters, left his place to obtain information about the piece, the
audience, and, above all, the authenticity of the Indians, who
certainly astonished him considerably.
“Now it so happened that about a fortnight previously some violent
passion to return home to their own country had seized these
interesting individuals, and they felt the most irresistible longing to
abandon the savage and unnatural condiments of roast beef and
Guinness’s porter, and resume their ancient and more civilized habits
of life. In fact, like the old African lady, mentioned by the
missionary at the Cape, they felt they could die happy if they ‘could
only once more have a roast child for supper,’ and as such luxuries are
dear in this country, stay another week they would not, whatever the
consequences might be; the manager reasoned, begged, implored and
threatened, by turns; all would not do, go they were determined, and
all that the unfortunate proprietor could accomplish was, to make a
purchase of their properties in fur, belts, bows, arrows, and feathers,
and get them away quietly, without the public being the wiser. The
piece was too profitable a one to abandon, so he looked about
anxiously, to supply the deficiency in his corps dramatique. For
several days nothing presented itself to his thoughts, and the public
were becoming more clamorous for the repetition of a drama which had
greatly delighted them. What was to be done? In a mood of doubt and
uncertainty the wretched manager was taking his accustomed walk upon
the light-house pier, while a number of unfortunate country fellows,
bare legged and lanky, with hay ropes fastening their old grey coats
around them, were standing beside a packet about to take their
departure for England, for the harvest. Their uncouth appearance, their
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account