and four o’clock in
the morning
Their extreme readiness to exhibit , indeed , has given rise to some ill-natured reflections ; it having been objected that by exhibiting gratuitously through the country when the theatre is closed , they reduce themselves to the level of mountebanks , and thereby tend to degrade the respectability of the profession . Certainly Grimaldi never did this sort of thing ; and though Brown , King , and Gibson have gone to the Surrey in vacation time , and Mr. C. J. Smith has ruralised at Sadler 's Wells , we find no theatrical precedent for a general tumbling through the country , except in the gentleman , name unknown , who threw summersets on behalf of the late Mr. Richardson , and who is no authority either , because he had never been on the regular boards . But , laying aside this question , which after all is a mere matter of taste , we may reflect with pride and gratification of heart on the proficiency of our clowns as exhibited in the season . Night after night will they twist and tumble about , till two , three , and four o'clock in the morning ; playing the strangest antics , and giving each other the funniest slaps on the face that can possibly be imagined , without evincing the smallest tokens of fatigue . The strange noises , the confusion , the shouting and roaring , amid which all this is done , too , would put to shame the most turbulent sixpenny gallery that ever yelled through a boxing-night . It is especially curious to behold one of these clowns compelled to go through the most surprising contortions by the irresistible influence of the wand of office , which his leader or harlequin holds above his head . Acted upon by this wonderful charm he will become perfectly motionless , moving neither hand , foot , nor finger , and will even lose the faculty of speech at an instant 's notice ; or on the other hand , he will become all life and animation if required , pouring forth a torrent of words without sense or meaning , throwing himself into the wildest and most fantastic contortions , and even grovelling on the earth and licking up the dust .