Within The Shadow Of The Shaft.

a philosophical corollary as applicable to the state of life they were then presumed to contemplate as to the exploit they immediately proposed to perform . When I was a boy , it appears to me now , that summers were more summery , winters more winterly , and pantomimes more pantomimic than they are at the present time . I have an idea that well-knoAvn familiar scenes AA ere more frequently represented in the harlequinade then than IIOAV . There is

something too drearily abstract in seeing a pair of carpenter ' s flats representino-Mr . Suet , Butcher ; Mr . Cabbage , Greengrocer ; ancl Mr . Lather , Barber ; but there is an enjoyment clelieiously concrete in beholding an accurate representation of—say , the Thames Embankment , or Covent Garden Market , or Monument Yard . If theatrical managers burn Avith anxiety to adopt the hint , and their consciences impel them to a material expression of apjiretiation

, cheques and Post Office orders made payable to theirs truly may be addressed to me , under cover to the editor . Well , in one of the first pantomimes I ever saw , Monument Yard was represented . The clown was a A ery funny man—clowns are never funny now . He was an avowed imitator of Grimalcli—ancl that veteran was even then alive —ancl he sung a song , a verse from Avhich , remembered after a lapse of more

than forty years—for I have never seen it in print—I have taken as one of the texts of this discourse . It was to the tune , well known to our grandfathers called " Madame Fig ' s Gala , " which , again , was the air of the old Irish sono ' , " The night before Larry was stretched , " and in our father ' s time was adopted for" George Barnwell stood at his shop door , A customer hoping- to find , sir ; His apron was tucked up before ,

And the tails of his coat were behind , sir . A young ' ooman came by that way ; ¦ Says she , " George , I ' ve deserted your shop o' lata , But look sharp , young feller , I say , Ancl just tip us two penn ' orth o' chocolate . Ei-fol-lol-de-idity , Ki-fol-lol-de-ido , " etc . * Why'twas only the other evening I heard Lionel Brougbthe best Tony

, , Lumpkin I have ever seen , troll forth the old air , in praise of " The Three Jolly Pigeons , " in the wonderfully perfect reproduction of little Goldy ' s immortal comed y at the Royal Imperial ( late the Aquarium ) theatre . In Eastcheap , " within the shacloAV of the shaft , " dear reader , you shall see the true effigies ancl presentment of the larceny my text records , sculptured , actually carved out of cork , ancl displayed under a glass ease in the shop

window of an artificer in the mystery of bark-cutting , Alas for my burlesque attempt at reproducing my juvenile impression of this work of art in the rough vignette to this chapter . But , please , kindly " piece ont my imperfections with your thoughts " as Chorus implores in Henry V . ; ancl if you feel any curiosity to see how the cork-cutter has treated the ballad , go ancl look for yourself , for , as Maeaulay ' s Roman ballad hath it in downri ght terms : — " And there it stands unto this day , To witness if I lie . "