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stage, and marched against the foe. Batters saw the coming onslaught, and promptly prepared for a vigorous defence. T h e alarmed and shrieking pitites so crushed all round the upper circle as to leave a clear fighting area in the centre, and into this ring, armed with a chair, Batters jumped and defied anyone to c o m e yvithin weapon's length of him. Smith yvould not risk a pitched battle, but retreating with his forces to the stage, the proprietor tried to talk over Batters in a fatherly fashion, but the tinker, instead of threats, adopted the admonitory style, and strongly advised M r . Smith "to go put his head in a bag." Intimation was given that such as wished to leave should have their money returned, but several, especially women, had already left yvithout any return, and such as remained preferred to see the fun out. Batters continued master ofthe "Central Province," of which he yvas noyv the sole representative, and strutted backwards and forwards from form to form yvith an assumed calmness and self-sufficiency wonderful in a drunken m a n ; but every quarter of a minute the exalted chair yvould describe some unsolvable mathematicalfigurein the air, the wild beast would yell, while Smith, from the proscenial citadel, and the midst of a vari-coloured bodyguard, vexed in the spirit, groaned resignedly. Sergeant Ashleigh, the head of the detective force, and one or two constables, yvere present, and though repeatedly requested to capture the infuriated brawler, possibly through dread of the chair, would not attempt to do so. Batters professed himself able, and only too willing, tofighteveryone in the house, and challenged and begged and prayed of them to oblige him ; but his entreaties were in vain, so long as he had a chair officiating as a "bottle-holder." At length he threw U p — n o t the sponge, but the chair, and rushed roaring into the street. Making a circuit of the outside crowd, he yvas running back again, yvhen a valorous check-taker rashly barring his yvay, got a " facer " in return, which floored him. S o m e of the police, by this time in an ambush, suddenly sprang on the tinker, who yvas overpoyvered, tied up, and rolled off on a handcart to the watch-house. T h e next morning Mr. Boyvler, a solicitor, pleaded for him before the Court, when Smith (yvho knew best the reason why) did not press for punishment. T h e outrageous delinquent yvas set at large on his personal recognizance to keep the peace for six months. T h e season yvound up with another benefit by the St. Patrick Society. In September intelligence yvas received of the death of Mrs. Coppin at Adelaide, whose short career in Melbourne brought her many friends, private as yvell as professional. Mr. Morton King reappeared in the course of October, and subsequently managed the theatre for some time. In January, 1849, there arrived from Adelaide a Mr. Thomson, "unequalled on the colonial stage as a general utility man." H e was soon folloyved by M r . Clarkson, " a celebrated acrobat from Batty's Circus, London." King, supported by Elrington and Thomson, M e s d a m e s Mereton and Chester, with a feyv others, started a round of Shakesperian pieces, and managed to get through " H a m l e t " and " Macbeth " tolerably well. Megson's orchestral music was an unfailing attraction. Royvdyism could not be thoroughly stamped out, but apple or orange throwing was the favourite recreation. O n e night a bottle yvas flung, striking one of the company without maiming or killing him, but oyving to the loyalty observed by the blackguards, inter se, a successful prosecution yvas an impossibility. In June there was introduced a Mr. Quinn, "the Australian rope-dancer," yvho yvent through some clever evolutions. King's reign terminated towards the close of the year 1849, and noyv, if ever, something yvonderful was to be done. Smith again combined the functions of proprietor and manager, and the neyv season began on the 24th September. Mr. Charles Y o u n g returned from Adelaide, and was appointed acting manager. Furthermore, it yvas publicly advertised "that the editors and reporters of the Melbourne journals will have free admission to the theatre. T h e sergeants of the town and the detective police will also be admitted free." Y o u n g used to sing nigger melodies yvith bone castanet accompaniments. Mrs. Young's dancing was ahvays a treat. In October Mr. Jackson, " the celebrated American Serenader," appeared as the " Congo Minstrel," singing the Ethiopian melody of " Dandy Jim from Caroline," and accompanying himself with the Congo bone castanets, "as originally performed by him yvith two thousand stick approbation." Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays yvere the entertainment evenings, and there were further accessions to the corps by the annexation of M r . and Mrs. Deering, Young's returned mother-in-layv