Macklin rejoined: "Stick to that, sir! stick to that; for you will never be an actor." In Farquhar's comedy of "The Inconstant," when Bisarre is first addressed by Mirabel and Duretete, Miss Farren, playing Bisarre, held a book in her hand, which she affected to have been reading before she spoke.

Mrs.Jordan, we are told, who afterwards assumed the character, declined to make use of the stage-book, and dispensed with it altogether.

She sat perfectly still, affecting to be lost in thought.
Then, before speaking, she took a pinch of snuff! Half a century ago a heroine who indulged in snuff was deemed no more objectionable than is one of our modern heroes of the stage, who cannot forego cigars or cigarettes.
There is a stage-book to be seen in "The School for Scandal." Joseph Surface affects to pore over its pages immediately after he has secreted Lady Teazle behind the screen, and while Sir Peter is on the stairs.

"Ever improving himself," notes Sir Peter, and then taps the reader on the shoulder.

Joseph starts.