Here was congregated together a mixed, but truly merry company,
composed of actors, authors, reporters, clerks in public departments,
and half-pay officers, full of whim, wit, and eccentricity, which, when
the mantling bowl had circulated, did often "set the table in a roar."
In the evening, Transit proposed to us a visit to the Life Academy,
Somerset House, where he was an admitted student; but on trying the
experiment, was not able to effect our introduction: you must therefore
be content with ~365~~his sketch of the _true sublime_, in which he has
contrived to introduce the portraits of several well-known academicians
_(see plate)_.
[Illustration: page365]
Thus far Horatio Heartly had written, when the unexpected appearance
of Bernard Blackmantle in London cut short the thread of his narrative.
"Where now, mad-cap?" said the sincere friend of his heart: "what
unaccountable circumstance can have brought you to the village in term
and out of vacation?" "A very uncommon affair, indeed, for a young
author, I assure you: I have had the good fortune to receive a notice
from the managers of the two Theatres Royal, that my play is accepted at
Covent Garden, and my farce at Drury Lane, and am come up post-haste
to read them in the green rooms to-morrow, and take the town by storm
before the end of the next month.
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