Memoirs Of Joseph Grimaldi

JEEMOIES as JOSEPH G-BIMATJI.

197

upon a public stage could conduct himself with perfect propriety
as a private individual—in the same way as many young
gentlemen, who are offensive in wigs, become harmless and
obscure in social life.

~N"o fewer than nine witnesses were examined for the prosecu-
tion, all of whom, to Gfrimaldi's astonishment and horror, swore
positively to the identity of the prisoner. The case for the pro^
secution "being closed, he was immediately put into the bos, for
the defence ; when, after stating that the prisoner was in his
company at Woolwich, at the time of the commission of the
burglary, he proceeded to detail as briefly as he could all that
had happened on the day and night in question. He carefully
suppressed any extraneous matter that related to himself or his
own feelings, which might have been injurious to the prisoner,
and produced the playbill of the night, to prove that there could
be no mistake respecting the date. He was then submitted to a
very long and vexatious cross-examination, but he never lost
his temper for an instant, or faltered in his testimony in. any
way; and at its conclusion he was well rewarded for his good
feeling and impartiality, by the highly flattering terms in which
the presiding judge was pleased to express his opinion of the
manner in which he had conducted himself.*

His wife was the next witness called, and she fully corrobo-
rated his evidence. Two more witnesses were examined on the

* The gentleman who first revised Grimaldi's reminiscences adds the following
note in this stage of the Memoirs: "That Mr. Grimaldi has not Tinwortihily
commended his own conduct ia this instance, no one who has heard him speak
in public will be disposed to believe. Tfia manner was always that of a man
who, while he entertained a just respect for himself, properly respected the parties
to whom he addressed himself. This was strikingly exemplified whenever, in con-
sequence of the sudden illness of a performer, or some other stage mishap, an
apology became necessary; on which occasions he would step forward, and an-
nouncing the calamity, claim the kindness of the audience with so much gen-
tlemanly ease, and such an entire absence of all buffoonery or grimace, that, in
spite of his grotesque dress and appearance, and the associations which they
necessarily awakened, the audience forgot the clown, and only remembered the
gentleman." Goose" remains, " The Cabin Boy," as sung by him,