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Tale " into halves. He invariably played Cibber's adaptation of Richard, and " Romeo and Juliet," with adulterations from Otway ; Victor's version of "The Two Gentlemen of Verona" and, frequently, " Hamlet," with the omission of the Oratediggtrs, Osric, and all reference as to the fate of Ophelia, There was a change also in the scenes between the King and Laertes, "so as to make the character of the latter more estimable;" the Queen was not poisoned, but went mad from a sense of guilt. Hamlet and the King fought with swords, and the King being slain, Hamlet and Laertes then died of their mutual wounds. It was said, however, that Garrick's finest acting was required to reconcile the public to this mangled version of the play ; but the adaptation kept the stage even after Garrick's retirement. The play was never printed with the alterations ; " they are far from being universally liked," Victor wrote to Tate Wilkinson : " Nay," he adds, " they are greatly disliked by the million, who love Shakespeare with all his glorious absurdities, and will jot suffer a bold intruder to cut Lim up." And the million were right : all the poets, wits, critics, managers, and players of the period notwithstanding. Churchill's "Rosciad," though it exalts Garrick rather at the expense of his contemporaries, yet contains in the main a fair summing-up of the arguments for Mid against him :— Last Garrick came. Behind him throng a train Of snarling critics, ignorant as vain. One finds out— " He's of stature somewhat low ; Your hero always phould be tall, you know ; True natural greatness all consists in height." Produce your voucher, critic. "Sergeant Kite." Another can't forgive the paltry arts By which he makes his way to shallow hearts ; Mere pieces of finesse, traps for applause— " Avaunt, unnatural start, affected pause."

If manly sense ; if nature linked with art ; If thorough knowledge of the human heart ; If powers of acting vast and unconfined ; If fewest faults with greatest beautieB joined ; If strong expression and Btrange powers which lie Within the magic circle of the eye ; If feelings which few hearts like his can know, And which no face so well as his can 6how, Peserve the preference,— Garrick, take the chair, Nor quit it, tiil thou place an equal there. Of his death Johnson said,—he had borne some what hardly upon the player during his life, he couid afford now to treat him with tender ness, —'* The death of Garrick has eclipsed the gaiety of nations, and impoverished the public stock of harmless pleasures." The mortal remains of the great actor were interred in Westminster Abbey, close to the monument of Shakespeare in Poet's Comer, the funeral Bervice being pcrformod by the Bishop of Rochester. All the way from the

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actor's house in the Adelphi Terrace, »lffi: the Strand to the Abbey, the route of lb funeral procession, the streets were so thruflw-: as to be barely passable. Every wiadoir <na full, and there were crowds even upon the ta-tops. A monument was afterwards erectri ' his memory comprising three full-length Sjur —the principal being a likeness of the su: actor ; seated beneath him are to be toesTragedy and Comedy. Dcrros Cos

In one of the beautiful caverns which perforate the cliffs at Pendine, and form one of the natural defences against the inroads of the blue waters of Carmarthen Bay, the visitor is somewhat startled by finding huge drops of what has all the appearance of clotted blood. Looking upwards he sees the crimson fluid oozing out of the stone roof, sometimes trickling down the side of the cave, sometimes dropping, and bespattering the stones with an ugly stain. Of course there is a legend connected with it, a sad enough one too, and not much to the credit of the inhabitants of the days of old. The story runs thus:—

During the days of the Commonwealth, and just when the Protector had begun to breathe after his fight for the liberty of his country, a strange old man made his appearance in Pendine, and established himself in a vacant cottage upon the side of the hill. This cottage he repaired, and finally furnished on a scale of grandeur utterly unknown to the primative inhabitants. The garden began to bud and blossom in a manner unheard of in these parts, and, by the time autumn came, had become such a marvel of beauty, that the country folks came from far and near, just to get a peep at the blooming mass of flowers. More than a peep they seldom had, as the inner garden was completely hidden by the hedges of creepers; but although curiosity is a strong characteristic in the Welsh character, it is restrained and modified by an innate courtesy and deference; so the gazers were fain to content themselves, and only talked; that, you may be sure they did (as all Welshmen do) with a will, filing the gaps in the story by drawing largely upon their remarkably fertile imaginations.

No one could say any harm of the old man, simply because nobody really knew him; and yet he was not liked. The only servant who was admitted was an old woman, who went to clean, scrub, and cook, and, being deaf and dumb, she could give her neighbours no satisfaction on the score of curiosity.

Nothing could be quieter or more inoffensive than the life led by this mysterious old gentle-