Many of our readers must be aware, that in pantomimic pieces, the
usual mode of making the audience acquainted with anything that cannot
be clearly explained by dumb-show, is to exhibit a linen scroll,
on which is painted, in large letters, the sentence necessary to be
known. It so happened that a number of these scrolls had been thrown
aside after one of the grand spectacles at Astley's Amphitheatre, and
remained amongst other lumber in the property-room, until the late
destructive fire which occurred there. On that night, the wife of one
of the stage-assistants--a woman of portly dimensions--was aroused
from her bed by the alarm of fire, and in her confusion, being unable
to find her proper habiliments, laid hold of one of these scrolls, and
wrapping it around her, hastily rushed into the street, and presented
to the astonished spectators an extensive back view, with the words,
"BOMBARD THE CITADEL," inscribed in legible characters upon her
singular drapery.