In general the
noise was great, though not disagreeable; sometimes a bell
rang and there was comparative silence, while a curtain drew
up at the further end of the room, opposite to the entrance,
and where there was a theatre, the stage raised at a due
elevation, and adorned with side scenes from which issued a
lady in a fancy dress who sang a favourite ballad; or a
gentleman elaborately habited in a farmer's costume of the old
comedy, a bob-wig, silver buttons and buckles, and blue
stockings, and who favoured the company with that melancholy
effusion called a comic song. Some nights there was music on
the stage; a young lady in a white robe with a golden harp,
and attended by a gentleman in black mustachios. This was
when the principal harpiste of the King of Saxony and his
first fiddler happened to be passing through Mowbray, merely
by accident, or on a tour of pleasure and instruction, to
witness the famous scenes of British industry. Otherwise the
audience of the Cat and Fiddle, we mean the Temple of the
Muses, were fain to be content with four Bohemian brothers, or
an equal number of Swiss sisters. The most popular amusements
however were the "Thespian recitations:" by amateurs, or
novices who wished to become professional.
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