Munden

“ This play is as full of character, incident, and stage-effect, as almost any of those of his contemporaries, and fuller of wit than any of his own, except perhaps the Way of the World. It still acts, and is still acted well. The effect of it is prodigious on the well-informed spectator. In particular, Munden’s Foresight, if it is not just the thing, is a wonderfully rich and powerful piece of comic acting. His look is planet-struck; his dress and appearance like one of the signs of the Zodiac taken down. Nothing can be more bewildered ”

“ It is like what we can imagine a mask of the old Grecian comedy to have been, only that it lives, and breathes, and changes. His most fantastical gestures are the grand idea of farce.' Talfourd knew of nothing finer than his Old Dozey. Munden was altogether lacking in simplicity, and was a confirmed grimacer. Hunt compares his features to the reflection of a man's face in a ruffled stream: they undergo a perpetual undulation of grin. ”

“ His career has impinged upon the five great cities of Boston, New Orleans, Philadelphia, London, and New York. It touches at one extreme the ripe fame of Munden (who died in '32) and—freighted with all the rich traditions of the stage—it must needs at its other extreme transmit even into the next century the high mood, the scholar-like wit, and the pure style of the finest strain of acting that Time [Pg 1259] has bestowed upon civilized man. By what qualities it has been distinguished this brilliant assemblage is full well aware. The dignity which is its grandeur ”

“ He was buried in the church at Bromley, Middlesex, where the inscription on his monument still tells that ‘having been (what upon public duty, and what upon merchants' accounts) successfully engaged in fourteen sea-fights ... he died in the prime of his youth and strength, in the 40th year of his age.’ Munden married Susan Gore, by whom he had five daughters and one son, Richard, born posthumously. Shortly after his death arms were granted to the widow, her children, and her husband's brother, Sir John Munden, viz. ”

“ In the ‘New Monthly Magazine,’ October 1821, a writer, assumably Talfourd, says Emery ‘is one of the most real, hearty, and fervid of actors. He is half a Munden. ... He has the pathos but not the humour, the stoutness but not the strangeness, the heart but not the imagination of the greatest of living comedians. ”

“ They begin to smoke your flams, Sir. Mr. Liston may be born where he pleases, Sir; but I will not be born at Lup—Lupton Magna, for any body's pleasure, Sir. My son and I have looked over the great map of Kent together, and we can find no such place as you would palm upon us, Sir; palm upon us, I say. Neither Magna nor Parva, as my son says, and he knows Latin, Sir; Latin. If you write my life true, Sir, you must set down, that I, Joseph Munden, comedian, came into the world upon Allhallows' day, Anno Domini, 1759—1759 ”

“ It was a woman’s voice, and it puzzled me indescribably, for a sick man’s wits don’t work swiftly as a rule when he lies between sleeping and waking.
“Listen!” said the voice again. “I must come to terms with you three men! You are the only hope left me! I have no friends in Muanza—and none whom I trust! Those Greeks and that Goanese would sell me to the first bidder, and these Germans are worse than dogs!”
“But who are you?” I asked stupidly.
For answer she held the lantern so that I could see her face. ”

“ The poor fool thinks he will marry her! Little she knows of the German method! I am alone! I have not even a servant any longer! I have walked through the shadows from the commandant’s house, only lighting this lantern after I was inside the hedge. Nobody knows I am here. One watchman was asleep; the others did not see me. All you need fear is those Greeks. ”

“ Fred demanded.
“About our business. Why are we here. What will we do. What do we know. What do I know about you. What do you know about me. Why do I serve you. How did I come to take service with you. To what place will we travel next, and when. How much money have we with us. Have we friends or acquaintances in Muanza. Do you, bwana, carry any letters in your pockets. Of what do you speak when you suppose no man is listening. Bwana, my heart is very sad in me! Those Greeks tell lies, and the Germans stir trouble in a big pot like the witches! ”

“ Life in the open is only good fun when there is cover to take to at will.
All the way along the winding foot-track leading in every imaginable direction except toward the village, and only turning suddenly toward it when we had grown disgusted and decided to leave it and try to find another, Brown kept pointing out trees with suitable overhanging arms to which we might hang Coutlass. The Greek, with eyes for nothing but the fat, hump-backed village cattle in the distance, seemed to think only of them, until Will commented on the fact, and Fred saw fit to drop a hint. ”

“ Fever—animals—climate—sun—flood—accident—natives—there are excuses in plenty—explanations by the dozen! I will say good night, then—and good-by!”
“Yes, good-by!” growled Will, facing her with his back to the stairs. “You take us for men with a price, do you?”
“All men have a price,” she smiled bitterly. “Only it is no use offering flowers to pigs! We must treat pigs another way—pigs, and young fools! And fools old enough to know better!” she added with a nod toward Fred, who bowed to her in mock abasement—too politely, I thought. ”

“ They had room enough to sit without touching one another, and air to breathe that mostly had not been tasted half a dozen times. Fred, Will and Brown took turns commanding the foredeck look-out, keeping it awake and its units from quarreling. The rest of us found no joy in life, and not too much hope even when Fred’s concertina lifted the refrain of missionary hymn-tunes that even the porters knew, and most of us sang, the porters humming wordless melancholy through their noses. (When that happened Lady Saffren Waldon’s scorn was something the arch-priests of Babylon would have paid to see.) ”

“ I’d like to ride with you, and call on Strange at breakfast.”
“Suits me well,” said Ommony. “You’ve done your thinking then?”
“Yes, ——! Those lousy priests want everything! They won’t sell their claim or release it. They offer to say nothing for the present on a fifty-fifty basis.”
“Will they do anything?” asked Ommony.
“That’s just what puzzles me,” said the raja. “They sent that babu to say they’d do anything in reason. They don’t know what reason is, confound them! I don’t know what they mean, or what you mean either! You must be a wizard! ”

“ She glanced at my bleeding ribs, as if the blood were evidence of folly. "You take me, Will Yerkees! Then I teach you all things—all about people—all about land, and love, and animals, and water, and the air—I teach you all!"
She paused a moment, watching his face, judging the effect of words. He stood waiting with a look of puzzled distress that betrayed regret for her tied wrists, but accepted the necessity. ”

“ Men of Lunden, we go presently to where the druids speed brave comrades, through the darkness men call death, into a life that lies beyond. And none knows what the morrow shall bring forth; so there are acts that should be done now, lest death first fall on us, like rain that shuts off a horizon. Hear ye all! This is my brother, Tros. To him I give this woman Helma to be wife, and all these Northmen, who were mine by victory, to be his faithful men-at-arms and servants. Tros! ”

“ The gods who gave you to me will know how to make you love; and lessons are to learn. If you fail me I will forgive, knowing that in the end the gods will never let you fail me! You are mine, and Earth is ours, for the old gods intend it so!"
She seemed to expect him to take her in his arms again; but he stood respectfully and made no answer, nor any move. Grim and strong his jowl was, like the Sleeper's, and the dark hair three days old on it softened nothing of its lines. ”

“ The first men checked when they reached the summit; it was the gap that faced them—the ten feet of low wall that Darcy and Father Callan had raised up overnight. And in the middle of the gap stood Father Callan!
They were not in the least afraid of the boys who lined the wall on either side of him; but the strange man in the middle, whose eyes seemed to look straight into every man's eyes at once, and whose sword pointed straight at their throats—not one man's throat, but every man's throat—that faced them. A giant burst his way through laughing and boasting what he would do. ”

“ In the dream we were squatting down beside her.
“'I go,' said she, 'to the village belonging to these people; and there I think you will find me alive, if you should travel fast enough' And I said in my dream, 'We come, sahiba.' And she said, 'When?' I answered, 'Tonight.' And she said to me, 'That is wisest.' Then the sahib woke me with a blow across the jaw that tingles yet; and lo, Jimgrim was sitting there!”
I hove a great sigh of relief. Not both dreams could be right. My old nurse used to say dreams go by contraries, but even so, both dreams reversed would still remain opposites. ”

“ There came at last a morning when the sun shone through jeweled mist—a morning with scent in it that set the horses in the hold to snorting—a dawn that smiled, as if the whole universe in truth were God's. A dawn, sahib, such as a man remembers to judge other dawns by. That day we came in sight of France.
Doubtless you suppose we cheered when we saw Marseilles at last. Yet I swear to you we were silent. We were disappointed because we could see no enemy and hear no firing of great guns! ”

“ So much more beautiful than the one likeness King had seen of her that for a second he doubted who she was—more lovely than he had imagined her even in his dreams—she stood there, human and warm and real, who had begun to seem a myth, clad in gauzy transparent stuff that made no secret of sylph-like shapeliness and looking nearly light enough to blow away. ”

“ I've notions of my own that I've inherited, and the world calls me a back number. You go with Miss Vanderman!"
I seconded that motion.
"Go with her, Will! I've warned you she's unsafe alone! Go and protect her!" ”

“ She was totally unconscious of it, but with the torchlight gleaming on her hair and reflected in her blue eyes she looked like the spirit of old romance come forth to start a holy war.
"Now please explain!" she begged, when I had pushed the last stone in place. "First, what kind of Americans can you possibly be? Do you all use such extraordinary accents, and such expressions?"
"Don't I talk American to beat the band?" objected Fred. "Sit down on this rock a while, and I'll convince you." ”

“ Grim answered. "Remember you're Lawrence, that's all. They'd give you Damascus if you asked for it. Follow Jeremy, and leave the rest to us."
I don't doubt that Grim had been turning over the whole plan in his mind for hours past, but when I taxed him with it afterward his reply was characteristic:
"If we'd rehearsed it, Mabel and Hadad would both have been self-conscious. The game is to study your man—or woman, as the case may be—and sometimes drill 'em, sometimes spring it on 'em, according to circumstances. The only rule is to study people; there are no two quite alike." ”

“ We rose to make room for her and I brought her a chair. There was nothing else one could do. There is almost no twilight in that part of East Africa; until dark there is scarcely a hint that the day is waning. She sat with us for twenty or thirty minutes making small talk, her maid watching us from a window above, until the sun went down with almost the suddenness of gas turned off, and in a moment we could scarcely see one another’s faces.
Then came the proprietor to the door, with his best ex-missionary air of knowledge of all earth’s ways, their reason and their trend. ”

“ I thought that, although this man is what he is, yet he is a prince, and perhaps I can fire him with my genius. I could have taught him the native tongues. I thought he had ambition, but I learned that he is only greedy. You see, I was foolish, not knowing yet that in good time if I am patient my man will come to me! But I learned all about Germans—all!
"I offered him India first, then Asia, then the world—even as I now offer them to you. The sirkar sent him to see me dance, and he stayed to hear me talk. When I saw at last that he has the head and heart of a hyena I told him lies. ”

“ The Greek paced up and down another time or two, and at last calmed himself sufficiently to laugh at Fred’s woman, who had squatted down patiently in the shadow behind him.
“Easy for you!” he grinned savagely, squatting on the far side of the fire. “You have a woman! Mine is God knows where! She said to me—that hell-damned Lady Saffren Waldon said to me—we sat all three together in the stern of the dhow, I with my arm around Rebecca, and she said to me—”
“I’ll see if I can’t make a dicker for the chief’s canoes,” Will interrupted. “We can hear the Greek’s tale any old time.” ”

“ It’s you. If you’ve misjudged the situation, ——! we’ll all be in the soup! I admit, I’ve never had cause to regret trusting you. But that’s the way it goes; you trust a man, and trust him, until he lets you down finally; it’s human nature.”
“Up to you, sir.”
“What do you want of me?” demanded Molyneux.
“Tobacco and cigars. The more the merrier. I’ll take them to the Panch Mahal to keep Strange and Ramsden from going mad, while I get some sleep.”
“They’re in that hand-bag. What next?”
“Take my sister to the palace and introduce her to Madame Poulakis. Talk it all over with her.” ”

“ They ate in silence—the monk watching—the Lama tossing scraps to Diana, his wrinkles rippling into a smile each time she caught a piece of meat in mid-air. Then, when the monk went away with the remnants, he resumed his story abruptly, before Ommony could start to question him.
“My son, since the beginning of the world—and your brain can not imagine how long ago that was—there has never been one minute when the knowledge that was in the beginning has been utterly forgotten. There have always been men who possessed and guarded the secrets; and there always will be such men. ”