that nobody could discern their favourite actor. But, in the third act, as if roused from a lethargy, to the most animating vigour, he displayed such uncommon fire and force, that the players and the audience seemed to be equally electrified by this sudden exertion of his powers. The act being concluded, the Moor and his companions withdrew into the green-room, when Cibber, who personated The Ancient, said to him, "Pr'ythee, Barton, what was the charm that inspired you so all on a sudden ?”—“ Why, Colley, I saw, by chance, an Oxford Man in the pit, whose judgment I revere more than that of a whole audience." This Oxford Man (according to Davis, in his Dramatic Miscellanies,) was a Mr. Toolie, of Queen's College, Oxford, between whom and Mr. Booth there was an intimate and inviolable friendship. When Mr. Toolie went to London, those whom he chiefly visited were Dr. Rawlinson and Mr. Booth, He had a strong passion for the stage, from the indulging of which he was finally dissuaded by the latter, on account of his many personal defects. SHE STOOPS TO CONQUER." THE subject of this comedy is attributed to Some the following adventure of Goldsmith. friend had given the young poet a present of a guinea, on his going from his mother's residence in the town of Ballymahon, to a school in Edgeworth's town, where, it appears, he finished his education, of which he had received the rudiments from the Rev. Mr. Hughes, vicar of the parish of Ballymahon; he had diverted himself on the way, by viewing the gentlemen's seats on the road, until night-fall, when he found himself a mile or two out of his direct road, in the middle of the streets of Ardagh. Here he inquired for the best house in the place, meaning, an inn; but, being wilfully misunderstood by a fencing-master named Kelly, who boasted of having been the instructor of the Marquis of Granby, he was directed by him to the large old-fashioned residence of Sir Ralph Featherstone, as the landlord of the town; where he was shewn into the parlour, and he found the hospitable master of the house sitting by a good fire. His mistake was immediately perceived by Sir Ralph, who, being a man of humour, and well acquainted with the poet's family, encouraged him in the deception. Goldsmith ordered a good supper, invited his host and the family to partake of it, treated them to a bottle or two of wine, and, on going to bed, ordered a hot cake to be prepared for his breakfast; nor was it until his departure, when he called for the bill, that he discovered, that while he imagined he was at an inn, he had been hospitably entertained in a private family of the first respectability in the country. This story, the narrator says, was confirmed to him by the late Sir Thomas Featherstone, bart., a short time before his death. This anecdote rests upon the authority of the poet's niece, Mrs. Catherine Hudson, daughter of the Rev. Henry Goldsmith, of Lissoy. BURNING OF THE LONDON THEATRES. IN June, 1789, the splendid fabric of the Italian Opera house, in the Haymarket, was totally destroyed by fire; and from the nature of its materials and its construction, a more awful conflagration has been seldom witnessed in the metropolis. In September, 1806, Covent Garden Theatre was also totally destroyed by fire, with several adjoining houses; and a number of persons having assembled in the passage leading from the piazza to the Theatre, the doors were closed against them by the falling in of the buildings, and upwards of twenty persons who were unable to escape, were either burnt to death or buried in the ruins. In the February following, a similar catastrophe befel the splendid Theatre of Drury Lane, which had been built but a few years before. This being the largest and most elevated building in the metropolis, and being composed of materials peculiarly combustible, exhibited, during the two or three hours in which it became a prey to the flames, one of the most sublime spectacles ever witnessed. In every street within half a mile of the Theatre the light was intense, and the energy of the flames was so great, that pieces of burning wood of a foot superficies were carried, by the direction of a moderate wind, above two miles, the whole atmosphere in the same direction being filled with small pieces, in a state of combustion. All the music in score, and hundreds of manuscript plays, and a great variety of theatrical curiosities, which had been preserved under successive managements, were lost by these fires. In no case was it ascertained how they originated; but it was at the time feared that they were occasioned by some religious fanatic of that class who imagine that, in spite of their salutary effect in refining the taste, and improving the manners of the people. Theatres are merely temples of Satan, and, therefore, destruction is an acceptable service to God. LIFE'S TRAGEDY, BY SIR WALTER RALEIGH. That country which he lives in :-Passions, rage, Folly, and Vice are actors.-The first cry, |