The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 12, No. 333, September 27, 1828Various
General
The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 12, No. 333, September 27, 1828
Various
Popular literature -- Great Britain -- Periodicals
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POOR-MAN-OF-MUTTON
Is a term applied to the remains of a shoulder of mutton, which, after
it has done its regular duty as a roast at dinner, makes its appearance
as a broiled bone at supper, or upon the next day.
The late Earl of B., popularly known by the name of _Old Rag_,
being indisposed in a hotel in London, the landlord came to enumerate
the good things he had in his larder, to prevail on his guest to eat
something. The earl at length, starting suddenly from his couch, and
throwing back a tartan night-gown which had covered his singularly grim
and ghastly face, replied to his host's courtesy; "Landlord, I think
I _could_ eat a morsel of a _poor man_." Boniface, surprised alike at
the extreme ugliness of Lord B.'s countenance, and the nature of the
proposal, retreated from the room, and tumbled down stairs precipitately;
having no doubt that this barbaric chief, when at home, was in the habit
of eating a joint of a tenant or vassal when his appetite was
dainty.--_Jamieson's Diet_.
* * * * *
THE GREEN ROOM.
Nothing can be more striking than to hear a lady, who has just been
figuring upon the stage as a coquette or a romp, explaining to some
friend the distress she is labouring under in consequence of the serious
illness of her mother or aunt; or to see a gentleman fresh from the
boards, upon which he has been amusing the audience as Caleb Quotem or
Jeremy Diddler, with tears in his eyes, and a low comedy wig on his
head, giving an account of the melancholy state of his wife and three
children, all dying of scarlatina; but such is too often the case: too
often, while the player is tortured with physical pain, or sinking under
moral distress, he is obliged in his vocation to wear the face of mirth,
and distort his features into the extremes of grimace. The actress,
writhing under the pangs of ingratitude in man, or insult from woman, is
similarly driven to strain her lungs to charm the ears of an audience,
or exhibit her graceful figure to the best advantage in the animated
dance, for the amusement of the half-price company of a one shilling
gallery, while her heart is bursting with sorrow; add to all these
inevitable ills, the constant labour of practice and rehearsal,
the caprice of the public, the tyranny of managers, the rarity of
excellence, the misery of defeat, and the uncertainty of health and
capability, and then might one ask, Who would be an actor, who could
be any thing else?--_Hook's Gervase Skinner_.
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Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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