You think of
Sagittarius, in the broad circle of the Zodiac; you recollect that archery
is as old as Genesis; you are reminded that Ishmael, the son of Hagar,
wandered about the Judaean deserts, and became an archer.
The old actor is now dead; but on his last performance, when he was to act
Sir Robert Bramble, on the night of his taking final leave of the stage,
Lamb greatly desired to be present. He had always loved the actors,
especially the old actors, from his youth; and this was the last of the
Romans. Accordingly Lamb and his sister went to the Drury Lane; but there
being no room in the ordinary parts of the house (boxes or pit), Munden
obtained places for his two visitors in the orchestra, close to the stage.
He saw them carefully ushered in, and well posted; then acted with his
usual vigor, and no doubt enjoyed the plaudits wrung from a thousand
hands. Afterwards, in the interval between the comedy and the farce, he
was seen to appear cautiously, diffidently, at the low door of the
orchestra (where the musicians enter), and beckon to his friends, who then
perceived that he was armed with a mighty pot of porter, for their
refreshment. Lamb, grateful for the generous liquid, drank heartily, but
not ostentatiously, and returned the pot of beer to Munden, who had waited
to remove it from fastidious eyes.
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