He questioned me as to who I was; what were my qualifications; and what terms I expected.  I passed myself off for a discharged servant from a gentleman’s family; and as, happily, one does not require a special recommendation to get admitted into bad company, the questions on that head were easily satisfied.  As to my accomplishments, I would spout a little poetry, and knew several scenes of plays, which I had learnt at school exhibitions.  I could dance—­, that was enough; no further questions were asked me as to accomplishments; it was the very thing they wanted; and, as I asked no wages, but merely meat and drink, and safe conduct about the world, a bargain was struck in a moment.

Behold me, therefore transformed of a sudden from a gentleman student to a dancing buffoon; for such, in fact, was the character in which I made my debut.  I was one of those who formed the groups in the dramas, and were principally, employed on the stage in front of the booth, to attract company.  I was equipped as a satyr, in a dress of drab frize that fitted to my shape; with a great laughing mask, ornamented with huge ears and short horns.  I was pleased with the disguise, because it kept me from the danger of being discovered, whilst we were in that part of the country; and, as I had merely to dance and make antics, the character was favorable to a debutant, being almost on a par with Simon Snug’s part of the Lion, which required nothing but roaring.

I cannot tell you how happy I was at this sudden change in my situation.  I felt no degradation, for I had seen too little of society to be thoughtful about the differences of rank; and a boy of sixteen is seldom aristocratical.  I had given up no friend; for there seemed to be no one in the world that cared for me, now my poor mother was dead.  I had given up no pleasure; for my pleasure was to ramble about and indulge the flow of a poetical imagination; and I now enjoyed it in perfection.  There is no life so truly poetical as that of a dancing buffoon.

It may be said that all this argued grovelling inclinations.  I do not think so; not that I mean to vindicate myself in any great degree; I know too well what a whimsical compound I am.  But in this instance I was seduced by no love of low company, nor disposition to indulge in low vices.  I have always despised the brutally vulgar; and I have always had a disgust at vice, whether in high or low life.  I was governed merely by a sudden and thoughtless impulse.  I had no idea of resorting to this profession as a mode of life; or of attaching myself to these people, as my future class of society.  I thought merely of a temporary gratification of my curiosity, and an indulgence of my humors.  I had already a strong relish for the peculiarities of character and the varieties of situation, and I have always been fond of the comedy of life, and desirous of seeing it through all its shifting scenes.