A SPOKE IN THE WHEEL. 765

position he was now placed in. This, then, was
what he had been brought for; he had been made
a cat’s-paw of, and he felt vexed ; besides this, he
was very honourable and religious in his principles
and notions; and the hurried and candid confession
of his companion had utterly shocked and confounded
him. For his part, he would as soon have thought
of falling in love with his grandmother as with a
player—for so he called her, not “actress,” as
Williams did, let her be as beautiful as she might :
and then to make appointments with her at night ;—
there was something quite frightful to him in it.
And all at once the whole scene before him lost its
attraction. It was a wicked place! that which they
had just seen performed was low and disgusting—a
burlesque, a coarse caricature! He was offended
—ashamed—angry with himself @r having been
amused ;—and now this “ after-piece” was worse
and worse—there was not even the beauty of Jessie
Bannerman to set it off ; the women were painted,
gaudy creatures ; the men fit associates for them.

It was in this spirit that Reynolds sat out the
*‘ after-piece.”

When the company dispersed from the theatre,
there was not one man but three who distributed their
little printed papers. Everybody had one, some two
or three ; and everybody, on reading them, exclaimed
—“ This is Mr. Goodman’s doing ;” or “ This is the
parson’s doing ;” or “ We shall have a sermon against
the players on Sunday.” |

And all these exclamations were right. There
was a sermon against them on Sunday, and a severe
one, too; and not alone against players and play-
houses, but against all playgoers, also. But before