“ The pirate and friend of the Assassin appears, and the audience are at once calm and attentive; but as, for a quarter of an hour, this old gentleman—attired in red tights and a garment resembling a pinafore wrong side foremost — only mumbles inarticulately to two or three sailors in a condition more dilapidated than his own, we cannot make much out. Though often admonished to “speak up,” he seems incapable of the effort. At last he shades his eyes and looks to the wings. Somebody is coming—it is the Assassin himself!—who speaks up with considerable vigour. ”

“ In such places live the patrons of the most popular penny “gaff” in London: dock labourers, costermongers, coalheavers, and—we must admit it—thieves.
We arrived a few minutes before the doors of the Lyceum were opened, and beheld a crowd, composed chiefly of boys, struggling and fighting madly for the privilege of being squeezed flat against the doors, or of being thrown down and trampled upon when they were suddenly opened from the inside. ”

“ Black cloak and buskins, two immense pistols, and red and yellow tights— this is the Panting Assassin. He immediately addresses a long speech to the weak-voiced old gentleman, and an exciting dialogue is evidently going on between them; but, as there is a fight in the pit, it is unfortunately lost upon the house. Apparently, the old gentleman is mildly refusing to do the will of the Black Cloak. A general combat ensues, in which the audience take the greatest interest. The fight in the pit is discontinued. ”