He has a wonderful gift of speech and a flow of language calculated to
strike terror to the bravest heart. It is a grand thing to hear him
bullyragging the villain.

The stage hero is always entitled to "estates," chiefly remarkable for
their high state of cultivation and for the eccentric ground plan of
the "manor house" upon them. The house is never more than one story
high, but it makes up in green stuff over the porch what it lacks in
size and convenience.

The chief drawback in connection with it, to our eyes, is that all the
inhabitants of the neighboring village appear to live in the front
garden, but the hero evidently thinks it rather nice of them, as it
enables him to make speeches to them from the front doorstep--his
favorite recreation.

There is generally a public-house immediately opposite. This is
handy.

These "estates" are a great anxiety to the stage hero. He is not what
you would call a business man, as far as we can judge, and his
attempts to manage his own property invariably land him in ruin and
distraction. His "estates," however, always get taken away from him
by the villain before the first act is over, and this saves him all
further trouble with regard to them until the end of the play, when he
gets saddled with them once more.

Not but what it must be confessed that there is much excuse for the
poor fellow's general bewilderment concerning his affairs and for his