We are getting in a good heap of money for the Guild. The comedy has
been very much improved, in many respects, since you read it. The scene
to which you refer is certainly one of the most telling in the play. And
there _is_ a farce to be produced on Tuesday next, wherein a
distinguished amateur will sustain a variety of assumption-parts, and in
particular, Samuel Weller and Mrs. Gamp, of which I say no more. I am
pining for Broadstairs, where the children are at present. I lurk from
the sun, during the best part of the day, in a villainous compound of
darkness, canvas, sawdust, general dust, stale gas (involving a vague
smell of pepper), and disenchanted properties. But I hope to get down on
Wednesday or Thursday.
Ah! you country gentlemen, who live at home at ease, how little do you
think of us among the London fleas! But they tell me you are coming in
for Dorsetshire. You must be very careful, when you come to town to
attend to your parliamentary duties, never to ask your way of people in
the streets. They will misdirect you for what the vulgar call "a lark,"
meaning, in this connection, a jest at your expense. Always go into some
respectable shop or apply to a policeman. You will know him by his being
dressed in blue, with very dull silver buttons, and by the top of his
hat being made of sticking-plaster. You may perhaps see in some odd
place an intelligent-looking man, with a curious little wooden table
before him and three thimbles on it. He will want you to bet, but don't
do it. He really desires to cheat you. And don't buy at auctions where
the best plated goods are being knocked down for next to nothing. These,
too, are delusions. If you wish to go to the play to see real good
acting (though a little more subdued than perfect tragedy should be), I
would recommend you to see ---- at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. Anybody
will show it to you. It is near the Strand, and you may know it by
seeing no company whatever at any of the doors. Cab fares are eightpence
a mile. A mile London measure is half a Dorsetshire mile, recollect.
Porter is twopence per pint; what is called stout is fourpence. The
Zoological Gardens are in the Regent's Park, and the price of admission
is one shilling. Of the streets, I would recommend you to see Regent
Street and the Quadrant, Bond Street, Piccadilly, Oxford Street, and
Cheapside. I think these will please you after a time, though the tumult
and bustle will at first bewilder you. If I can serve you in any way,
pray command me. And with my best regards to your happy family, so
remote from this Babel,
Believe me, my dear Friend,
Ever affectionately yours.
P.S.--I forgot to mention just now that the black equestrian figure you
will see at Charing Cross, as you go down to the House, is a statue of
_King Charles the First_.
[Sidenote: The Earl of Carlisle.]