80 DEEPER AND DEEPER.

the clergyman, because she was less violent. He
talked of the theatre as the “ devil’s house,” called
theatricals the “‘ work of hell,” and denounced all
such as, after thus being warned, wilfully aided and
abetted them, “as heirs of damnation.” It was quite
awful to hear him talk. Miss Joanna, on the
contrary, spoke in love and tenderness, pitied the
“poor, benighted creatures,” the players; who, she
said, were more to be lamented over than pagan
Hottentots, and she besought people, for the love of
their own souls, not to give them encouragement ; nor
would she at all go the length that the clergyman
did, in saying that it would be a good thing if every
copy of Shakspeare had been burned publicly by the
hand of the hangman. No, Miss Joanna, in all her
zeal, talked like a tender-hearted Christian, and
people listened toher. But, spite of all that she said,
and spite of all the clergyman thundered forth, the
little theatre was crowded night after night.

Mr. Maxwell, the red-faced manager, said that he
liked nothing so well as the opposition of a parson ;
it always did the house good, and he did not know
whether he should not introduce Mr. Goodman some
night on the stage.

All this time the rivalry between Tom Bassett and
our apprentice went on as hotly as ever. Each
thought himself the favoured lover, yet still each
hated and feared the other. Between these two
young men, however, there was one great difference.
Bassett had plenty of money, Williams had none.
All that he had of his own had long been gone; the
pound that had been given to him by his aunt to pay
the poor bootmaker had been spent in tickets, as we
know. He had borrowed since then every farthing