Nigrinus

A Have done with your long prelude, “you strange fellow ; begin at the beginning and tell me what he said. You irritate me more than a little with your beating about the bush.

B You are right! I must do so. But look here, _ my friend : you’ve seen bad actors in tragedy before now—yes, and in comedy too, I'll swear? I mean the sort that are hissed and ruin pieces and finally get driven off the stage, though their plays are often good and have won a prize.

A I know plenty of the sort. But what of it ?

B I am afraid that, as you follow me, you may think that I present my lines ridiculously, hurrying through some of them regardless of metre, and sometimes even spoiling the very sense by my incapacity ; and that you may gradually be led to condemn the play itself. As far as I am concerned, I don’t care at all; but if the play shares my failure and comes to grief on my account, it will naturally hurt me more than a little.