through the red rent of a quantity of white linen sufficient to make
a Bourbon flag, which was visible whenever he turned round. This was
at first supposed to be a wilful offence against common decency, and
some disapprobation was evinced; but the utter unconsciousness of the
odd creature was soon apparent, and then urestrained mirth reigned throughout
the boxes, pit, and gallery. The total want of flexibility of limb,
the awkwardness of his gait, and the idiotic manner in which he stood
still, all produced a most ludicrous effect; but when his guttural voice
was heard, and his total misapprehension of every passage in the play,
especially the vulgarity of his address to Juliet, were perceived, everyone
was satisfied that Shakspeare's Romeo was burlesqued on that occasion.

The balcony scene was interrupted by shrieks of laughter, for in the
midst of one of Juliet's impassioned exclamations, Romeo quietly took
out his snuff-box and applied a pinch to his nose; on this a wag in
the gallery bawled out, "I say, Romeo, give us a pinch," when the impassioned
lover, in the most affected manner, walked to the side boxes and offered
the contents of his box first to the gentlemen, and then, with great
gallantry, to the ladies. This new interpretation of Shakspeare was
hailed with loud bravos, which the actor acknowledged with his usual
grin and nod. Romeo then returned to the balcony, and was seen to extend
his arms; but all passed in dumb show, so incessant were the shouts
of laughter. All that went on upon the stage was for a time quite inaudible,
but previous to the soliloquy "I do remember an apothecary," there was
for a moment a dead silence; for in rushed the hero with a precipitate
step until he reached the stage lamps, when he commenced his speech
in the lowest possible whisper, as if he had something to communicate
to the pit that ought not to be generally known; and this tone was kept
up throughout the whole of the soliloquy, so that not a sound could be heard.