day would come that should bring me honors greater than this.

I had now begun the race, and I look back with pride on this part of my life. Young, newly married, with a small salary, and the prospect of something else small, soon to be added, I was still full of hope and ambition. I struggled manfully, cheered by the encouraging smiles of my wife, against the influences which retard, and too often subdue, the young aspirant for reputation, as he enters the avenue to dramatic fame.

CHAPTER VIII.

"Change makes change."

"A plague on both your houses !”

"A song-a song!"

LEAVE ALBANY-VISIT CHARLESTON-IDEAS OF YANKEE CHARACTERMY SONG I VISIT PHILADELPHIA-FIRST APPEARANCE IN THAT CITY IN A PROMINENT YANKEE CHARACTER.

FROM the time I left the Albany theatre until my appearance in Philadelphia, under the management of Duffy and Forrest, the incidents of my life, however full of interest to me, cannot be so to the reader or the auditor, who has seen and heard me in the sphere of professional duty only.

In the desert through which my path lay, there were green spots; and that sun, which so often sustains the traveller in adversity, cheered my path, and gave me strength and courage to combat with and surmount the difficulties of life.

I studied diligently to fill up such gaps in my education as were caused by early indolence and aversion to books, and as were made apparent, as my intercourse with men became enlarged, and my acts and conversation were objects of scrutiny.

I found, among my associates of the theatre, men of superior practical education--well versed in the history

of nations, ancient and modern-some of them, of both sexes, with refined tastes, scholars and students; still, the nature of the art they profess requiring them to be familiar with the men and things of all time.

My journeyings had placed me in favorable positions for the study of rustic life; and, from boyhood, I noticed the dialect of farm boys, and the peculiarities of character since identified with stage Yankees.

When I had really acted in the theatre, I noticed an occasional look or position, borrowed from some Yankee original, and introduced into a comic part of another kind, would tell with the audience. The roar of applause which once followed my giving the phrase "git eout,” though not strictly in keeping with the part I was acting, convinced me that a whole Yankee character—a thing then scarcely known to the stage-would be effective and profitable to whoever should undertake it. Of course, I refer to my conception of the Yankee character, and to its presentation in a new form, with more distinctive peculiarities than any yet given.

American plays had been written and produced, in which country boys were introduced-somewhat after the models of the Yorkshiremen, so happily conceived and delineated by the authors of English comedy; and these copies of nature, as illustrated by well-known actors, were received with marked favor by American audiences.

I had played two or three Yorkshiremen; but Yankee stories and comic songs supported my claim to the title of comedian. In the winter of 1831 and '32, I was engaged in Charleston with Faulkner's company. It will be remembered that these years were marked by the great

event of nullification in South Carolina. These measures gave to politicians notoriety of different kinds. Nullifi. cation gave me a notoriety of a less national character, which convinced me that I knew little of politics, or the doctrines of expediency, and caused me to make a resolution to "take no heed of the politician's study."

I became popular, and made aquaintances among persons whose political views differed on the question of nullification.

The friends of the movement, and their opponents, gave a supper, and I received a card of invitation to each. I knew I should be expected to contribute to the enjoyment of the evening, in the shape of song or story; and I was anxious to retain the good will of both parties, more particularly as I was soon to take a benefit. I counted largely on the patronage of nullifiers, as well as the antis, when this should come off-I mean my benefit.

I wrote, that is, I vamped up from an old song, the "Bundle of Nails," a new original song for the occasion; and this I sung, with great applause, at the table of the friends of nullification.

The local allusions to "State Rights," and their defenders, were received with shouts.

The same song, again altered and tinkered with the convenient hammer of poetical licence, I sang at the table of the other party. General Jackson and his proclamation were so used, with such other allusions and strokes of merriment, as to elicit thunders of applause from my friends, who believed not in the doctrine so warmly advocated in my first edition of the "original," adapted, and improved "Bundle of Nails."

My song ended, the feast over, I thought my fortune made. The papers of the following day, in giving the proceedings at the festive boards of the two parties, published the song by Mr. Hill, entire.

Dogberry says:

Comparisons are odorous."

When my songs were compared, it was plain that I had wished to please both parties. My object, in so doing, might be guessed. I made a blunder, and no benefit. I dare say the same thing has been done by others, and, perhaps, with results no more beneficial than were the results of my speculation to me. I have no copy of this double song, and I am glad that I have not preserved it; and, although I wish no harm to the paper publishers, or to my associates of that day, I hope there is not a paper in existence containing this evidence of my sagacity and poetical powers combined. Whenever any person talks to me of politics, I say, with Mercutio,

I yield not the right for myself to think and vote. That I am in a profession, which has for its purpose the amusement of the million, is no reason why I should lose the rights and privileges of citizenship. Whigs and democrats will laugh at us if we are comedians, and cry with us if we are tragedians. In times of excitement, if the actor becomes too much a noisy politician, he will make as many enemies as friends; and, if he tries to play Jack on both sides, he loses something of his dig