BY CAPTAIN MARRYAT. PETER SIMPLE. MIDSHIPMAN EASY (Mr.). KING'S OWN (The). RATTLIN THE REEFER. (Edited.) JACOB FAITHFUL. JAPHET IN SEARCH OF A FATHER. NEWTON FORSTER. "Marryat's works abound in humour-real, unaffected, buoyant, overflowing humour. Many bits of his writings strongly remind us of Dickens. He is an incorrigible joker, and frequently relates such strange anecdotes and adventures, that the gloomiest hypochondriac could not read them without involuntarily indulging in the unwonted luxury of a hearty cachinnation."-Dublin University Magazine. BY THE RIGHT HON. B. DISRAELI. BRAVO (The). HOMEWARD BOUND. AFLOAT AND ASHORE. WYANDOTTE. MARK'S REEF. "Cooper constructs enthralling stories, each, boards; or, in cloth, 2. JACK TIER. which hold us in breathless suspense, and make our brows alternately pallid with awe and terror, or flushed with powerful emotion: when once taken up, they are so fascinating, that we must perforce read on from beginning to end, panting to arrive at the thrilling dénouement."-Dublin University Magazine. THE USEFUL LIBRARY. In fcap. 8vo, price One Shilling each, cloth limp, unless expressed. 5. COMMON THINGS OF EVERY-DAY LIFE. 6. THINGS WORTH KNOWING. 7. LAW OF LANDLORD AND TENANT. 8. LIVES OF GOOD SERVANTS. OF 9. HISTORY OF FRANCE. 10. LAW OF WILLS, EXECUTORS, AND ADMINISTRATORS. London: ROUTLEDGE, WARNES, & ROUTLEDGE, Farringdon Street. SHIFTING SCENES IN THEATRICAL LIFE. BY ELIZA WINSTANLEY, COMEDIAN. "This wide and universal theatre Presents more changeful pageants than the scene LONDON: ROUTLEDGE, WARNE, & ROUTLEDGE, FARRINGDON STREET; NEW YORK: 56, WALKER STREET. 1859. PREFACE. THE following Story is founded on facts, gathered in the course of an extensive professional career, although not occurring, it is perhaps needless to add, in the order in which, for the purpose of being woven into a fictitious narrative, they are now made to appear. The characters figuring in these "SHIFTING SCENES" are also equally real, but sufficiently disguised in their portraiture, it is hoped, to avoid the charge of ill-natured personality. The writer's aim, indeed, has been, rather to uphold than to depreciate the character, or "say aught in malice," of a profession to which she thinks it no discredit to belong. In the delineation of Emma-—the true heroine of the tale -she has endeavoured to show how the vicissitudes, the trials, privations, and sufferings, attendant upon the life of a strolling player, may serve to develop some of the best qualities that do honour to human nature: that a high sense of moral duty, patience under disappointment and the pressure of hopeless difficulties, together with the constant practice of the Good Samaritan's spirit may be perfectly compatible with a calling whose business it is, "To hold the mirror up to Nature; To show Virtue her own feature, A conviction of the many imperfections of this little work causes the Writer to feel something like a heartquake in submitting it, her first literary production, to the test of critical opinion; but, if her efforts to increase the kindly feeling already existing between her professional kindred and their patrons-the Public-should meet with any success, one of her principal objects will be attained. At all events, she hopes that this plea will be accepted as a sufficient apology for thus venturing upon her début in the character of an Author. LONDON, August, 1859. |