Memoirs Of Joseph Grimaldi

MEMOIRS OF JOSEPH

303

In answer to this, he pointed significantly to the box whither
Sir Godfrey had retired, and the merriment which this occa-
sioned was great indeed. The Duke, to whom, as he discovered
afterwards, the box belonged, was convulsed with laughter; nor
were the gentlemen with him less merry, while the audience,
either suspecting that some joke was afloat, or being amused at
the scene, joined in the hearty laughter emanating from the
royal box.

" "Where are you going to take the box r" asked Pantaloon, as
he turned to go off.

"Where it has often been before," cried Grimaldi, pointing
upwards: " to my uncle's !" And so saying, he ran off the stage
amid a fresh burst of merriment.

Sir Grodfrey was with him in two minutes. "Whether he
thought the box was really in danger of being so disposed of, is
uncertain, but he popped round behind the scenes as quickly as
possible.

"Capital, Grimaldi!" he cried, still laughing; "you have
won me a wager—so ought to go snacks in it;" and he slipped
five guineas into his hand.

"So, so," said the Duke of York, who, unpereeived by
Grimaldi, had followed his friend; " this is the way stakes are
divided, eh?—111 tell you what, Sir Godfrey, although Mr.
Grimaldi is not a porter, I entertain no doubt ftat he would
carry your box for you every evening upon such terms as
these."

Having vented this joke, Ms Eoyal Highness returned to Ms
box. As he was not often behind the scenes at the theatre, tMs
was, with one exception, the only time Grimaldi encountered

"him.and diffidence, he made no