Lydia Thomson had long been promised to be taken to the next Christmas Pantomime, and the happy day for this had now arrived. All the morning long Lydia was so restless she was unable to remain quiet for two minutes together. If she sat down to work, she was often obliged to get up and dance, and then to run and look out at the window,—then to run downstairs singing,—then to hop up again upon one leg,—then to run and look at the play-bill, and read it all through aloud,—then to try and read it topsy-turvy, and ask me to help her,—then to dance me up in the air,—then to run and roll over and over with me on the sofa, crying out, ‘Oh, Maria! oh, Maria! we’re going to see the New Grand Christmas Pantomime!’

At last the evening came. We were dressed in good time. My mamma, Lydia, wore a white frock and blue sash, and looked very nice; but she made me look beautiful, for she said I should be dressed in a way to suit a beautiful Pantomime; so she made me a frock of thin white muslin, and trimmed it with some little pink roses that her mamma gave her, and put a wreath of little pink roses round my hair. The carriage came to the door, and we drove off to Drury-Lane Theatre. There were Lydia’s papa and mamma, and her two cousins, and out they all jumped, ran past the crowd at the door, and up the stairs, till we reached a private box, which was exactly over one side of the stage, upon which we looked down with great expectation. I thought we should have seen better if we had been in a box in the middle of the theatre, but still this was very nice. We did nothing but clap our hands and look at the dark curtain. The play was over. We had not been allowed to come till the play was over, because Lydia’s papa said he knew we should be tired if we did.

The house was very full of people, and I began to look round me, and up and down in all directions. But who shall describe my pleasure and surprise when, looking up into the two-shilling gallery, whom should I see sitting in the very front row but the celebrated Mr. Sprat! On one side of him was his wife, who appeared to be eating periwinkles; on the other side sat his two sons and daughter; so that they every one of them had a front seat. Looking down into the pit, who should I next see but the master of the doll-shop, who had fancied himself Napoleon in a brown paper cocked hat, with his daughter and little Emmy at his side; but what gave me far greater pleasure was to see very near them, though a little in front, Ellen Plummy and her brother Thomas. Oh, my dear little Ellen Plummy, how I wished you were up here with us! She sat on the right-hand side of Thomas, and on his left was Nanny Bell. I now looked again round the house, and in a private box nearly opposite to ours, but larger and lower down, I saw a pretty, delicate little girl, most elegantly dressed, whom I at once recognized as my little lady mamma, Flora. I was so glad to be unable to see the least sign of any scars from the fire. She was in the middle of this large box, leaning over. At one side, almost hidden behind a red curtain and her large silk cloak, sat Lady Flowerdale. Somehow I immediately thought of Mary Hope, to whom I had been taken by the dog, Nep. I did not see her, it is true; but while I was thinking of her, and looking down into the pit, I saw Mr. Johnson, the portrait painter, peeling an orange. Looking at Mr. Johnson, with gratitude for all he had done for me after my burning, it naturally made me think of how much more gratitude I owed to the celebrated Mr. Sprat, who had made me, and I immediately looked up again towards the gallery where he sat. But happening at first to look too high, I caught sight, in the one-shilling gallery, of my little Italian mamma, Brigitta, and her brother Marco. They were laughing, talking, and cracking nuts.

Now we began to long for the Pantomime to begin. Presently we heard all manner of sounds going on behind the curtain—all manner of voices talking and calling, and buzzing and humming. The moving of boards, and hammering, and the placing of planks and beams, and pushing and pulling about of heavy things; and now and then through one side of the curtain we caught a glimpse of something so bright that went by, like tall flags on painted poles, and tops of spears, and parts of mantles of people’s dresses; and once, underneath the bottom of the dark green curtain, we saw run along a little pair of bright silver feet. The sound of drums and trumpets was also heard to begin in a disorderly manner, and then stop suddenly, and end in a murmur of many voices, and hurrying to and fro of many feet.

And now the band of musicians that played in the long orchestra beneath us came thronging in, and seized upon all sorts of very great and very small instruments, and began blowing and twanging, and trying up and down, and backwards and forwards, and squeaking high and flourishing about, and rumbling and tumbling, and working very hard to get into order. Then they were quite silent. Then tap! tap! went the fiddlestick of the leader of the orchestra, who sat upon his high stool—there was more silence than ever—and suddenly off they all went, all the instruments at once, and played away in a most wonderful manner—slow music, and quick music, and grand marches, and all sorts of dances, that made everybody’s heart jump within and try to do whatever the music was doing.

The band ceased playing, and very slowly indeed the dark curtain began to be drawn up. As it went creeping up towards the high roof, we gradually saw a great field in winter, all white with snow, and the snow coming down. As the dark curtain went up and the snow came down, it seemed that the box we were in was sinking downwards also. However, it did not.

The scene we looked upon was a very large field of snow, and large trees at the side all covered with snow, and great woods at the back. The snow presently ceased to fall, and we saw ranges of hills behind the woods quite white like the rest. All the time the music continued to play something that was so slow, and cold, and soft, and melodious, and grand.

The music was changed to an ugly, broken, hobbling, harsh sound, and at the farthest end of the field we saw a strong-made, little old man, in a dark blue cloak, appear, and come down towards the white shrubs in front, just under us. His hat was the shape of an extinguisher, but with a broad brim. As he approached, we saw that he had a large blue nose, and very large uneven teeth, and blue goggle-eyes! Ugh! how we all shivered, except Lydia’s papa and mamma, who laughed and told us not to be frightened. The music stopped, and this ugly, strong Dwarf then repeated these words:—

As the ugly, thick-limbed little Dwarf said this, he stamped one foot,—a loud wind was heard, and in a moment he went straight down through the earth, and was quite gone! At the same moment we heard a sweet voice singing in the air, which said:—

Before we had time to recover ourselves, we saw that the whole scene of frost and snow was changing into a bright summer. The green leaves came out upon the trees—the sun-beams shot across the sky, and played upon the distant woods and hills—a warm, glowing color came all over the scene—and while the music played the prettiest dance, we saw the spire of a village church slowly rise up among the trees at the back, and a troop of villagers, with wreaths and garlands of flowers, all came dancing in, and round and round.

And now came in a very pretty little village girl with her lover; and the dancers all surrounded them with their garlands, and they were all going to be very happy, when a cross-looking old man in an earth-colored flannel gown, who was the father of the pretty little village girl, hobbled in and separated them,—and would not allow it,—and made signs that the young man was not rich enough to have his daughter. He made signs that the young man had no fields, and orchards, and dogs, and horses, and houses, and money, and these were the things that he thought most to be loved, and therefore that they made the best lover. So the young man having none of these, was driven away by the old father and two of his men with pitchforks. When, just as they were driving him out, a noise was heard as if a great many penny trumpets were blown. All the villagers made signs of seeing something wonderful coming. Then came the sound of one single penny trumpet, and immediately afterwards there entered, with a very consequential strut, a figure with a large round head and red cheeks, scarcely anybody, and very thick grass-green legs, and carrying in both hands an immense brass trumpet, which, however, had only the sound of a very small penny one.

‘I come,’ said he, ‘to herald the advance of the King of Bubble Island,—and I am his chief trumpeter.’ Upon which he lifted up his immense brass trumpet, which said, ‘Twee, te-twee, twee!’

Now came in twenty more trumpeters like the first, all with large trumpets, blowing ‘Twee! twee! twee!’ After them came marching in an army, all the soldiers having helmets made of great white turnips, with the green leaves nodding about for feathers, and carrying shields of black glass, in the middle of each of which was seen a bowl of white soap-suds and a pipe. These were followed by the King’s Prime Minister and the other Wise Men of his court, all of them blowing bubbles, which rose into the air and looked most beautiful; and as fast as they burst, the Wise Men blew more, so that there were always a good many floating in the air. Each was attended by two valiant knights in glass armor of bottle-green, the one on the right bearing a bowl of soap-suds, and the one on the left carrying a supply of soap and fresh pipes. After these came dancing a great many golden Coins of the Realm, all with the same face, and all of them with thin spider’s legs, and their hands in their pockets.

And now came the King himself! He had a large round head of glass, colored with green and pink, and his face was colored with green and pink, and he wore a golden crown, with spikes like a dog’s collar, which spouted up a great quantity of froth in the shape of feathers. His body was quite round, like his head, only very much larger. His hair was dark purple. He had a short mantle edged with fur like froth, and his legs were the color of a blue-bottle fly spotted with gold. His walk and air were like all the pride of the earth put into one chemist’s bottle! An immense blast of farthing trumpets announced his actual presence!

‘Poor people!’ exclaimed he, ‘villagers and people, and things!—ye have dared to harbor among you no less a gentleman than the Prince, my son, the heir of all these bubbles, who has caused us all these troubles,—but what my grief doubles, let me say, is the fact that he has run away, and our Royal Court doth mock——bless my soul! what young man is that in the brown frock?’

The moment he said this, the poor lover, who was just being driven out by the three pitchforks, began to run about and try to hide himself. The Prime Minister and the Wise Men instantly drew from their sides each a telescope, which they drew out to its full length, and began to point in all directions to examine the young man, crying out, ‘We think it is—we think it is—we think it is the Prince!’ The Prime Minister now jumped pick-a-back upon the back of the King’s Physician, and pointed the telescope towards the feet of the young peasant, crying out, ‘Now I shall have him!’ When the Physician, on whose back he was, heard this, he began to prance very much. The Prime Minister, whose observations through the telescope were much disturbed by this prancing, then jumped down and lay flat upon his stomach, pointing his glass towards the young man’s face, and then called out, ‘I’ve got him. It is the Prince!’ The moment the King heard his Prime Minister declare it to be actually his dear, long-lost son, he rushed as if mad with paternal feelings towards the young man, and being unable to stop himself in time, he and the Prince together knocked down a cottage! It fell flat down, and they rolled amidst the ruins! The village girls extricated the Prince by the shoulders, and the Wise Men pulled out the King by the legs, drawing him along a good way on the ground, to be sure that he was extricated. Then the King immediately remembered how very angry he had been with his son for running away, and was going to knock him down with his golden sceptre when the father of the pretty little village girl, that the Prince was in love with, ran up and received the blow instead, which knocked him down upon his knees; but instead of getting up, he declared it was the greatest honor of his life to have been knocked down by the father of his daughter’s lover, whom he now discovered to be such a great person, and to have so many fields, and bags of gold, and horses, and people, and soap-bubbles.

‘Base clodpole!’ said his Majesty, ‘is the Prince, my son, in love with your little peasant girl with open arms, crying out—‘Yes, King of Bubbles, it is true.’

‘Then,’ said the King, ‘Blow me!’

At the sound of these words, the most terrible that could be heard in the whole kingdom of Bubble Island, all the army uttered a howl, and the Prime Minister and other Wise Men rushed to their bowls of soap-suds, and filling the air with bubbles to try if their pipes were in the highest degree of perfection, they then advanced towards the King and applied their pipes to different parts of his body to blow him as he ordered. But suddenly was heard a great sound of wind and rain, and the sky got dark, and it began to snow; and while they were all staring at the fast-falling snow, the ugly, strong-limbed Dwarf, with the blue nose and goggle-eyes, came walking down among them and said:—

At these words there began to descend a number of dark, heavy clouds, at the same time that a mist rose up from the earth, till the clouds and the mist met, and out of the middle came a great troop of the Spirits of the Frost and Snow, all glistening in white snow and icicles, with branches covered with snow and icicles in their hands, and they all sang this chorus:—

‘Very good,’ said the King. ‘I’m much obliged to you, Mr. Blue-nosed Dwarf, and to all you ladies and gentlemen with frosty countenances. Now then, at once, I will thank you to cover the village, where all these people live, with snow; to turn that peasant girl, whom my son is so mad and stupid as to be in love with, into a large icicle, and make the Prince a man of snow looking at her.’

The Spirits of the Frost instantly seized upon the Prince and the little peasant girl, when suddenly a rosy light appeared in the middle of the dark clouds, which got brighter and brighter, and sent out rays of an orange color, and then rays also of bright purple. Then the orange began to get golden, and the purple to turn to bright violet; and then in the middle of all there opened out a brilliant light, and we saw a wheel of golden fire slowly turning round, and in the centre of it stood a little Child, who seemed to be dressed in bright silver gossamer, with beautiful auburn hair, and a silver wand in her hand, and a bright violet star upon her forehead; and the little voice called out,—

Then the Spirits of the Frost sang these words,—

Then said the Dwarf,—

‘But change is mine, and strife and war,—’

Then replied the Child,—

‘Take them—but work within my law.’

The clouds now closed in front of the bright Child-spirit to the sound of soft music, till each cloud became of a dull leaden color as before. Presently came a loud sound of instruments from behind the clouds, and a large silver arrow was seen to fly straight towards the young Prince. It struck him, and he instantly turned into Harlequin, in a dress of bright gold and silver and red and blue, and a black mask! Again the sound of a clang of instruments was heard behind the clouds, and out dropped a bag of money upon the head of the village girl’s father, which knocked him down, and when he got up he was poor old Pantaloon, with a goat’s beard, and a pig-tail, and a short red mantle, and a stick. Again a clang of instruments was heard, and a great heavy stone was seen to fly out of the cloud straight at the glass head of his Majesty, the King of Bubble Island, which it struck,—and, with a sound like the breaking of six dozen of soda-water bottles, his head flew into a million of pieces, and up in its place rose the head of the Clown, with his mouth wide open!—at the same time all the royal robes of the King flew up into the air, where they were blown about in all directions, till they were at last blown quite away, and there was the Clown, in his ridiculous red and white patch-work dress! Once more was heard the clang of instruments behind the clouds, and out of the clouds flew a beautiful bouquet of flowers, which fell upon the head of the little peasant girl, who instantly turned into the prettiest Columbine that ever was seen in all the world. She was like the brightest, silver-footed fairy, and yet at the same time she was such a little dear sweetheart.

But what do you think happened at this moment? Nobody would ever guess. It was this. My mamma Lydia was in such excessive delight that she sank back with her arms thrown up, and totally forgetting me, I slipped over the edge of the box and fell upon the stage, close to the little silver feet of Columbine. My mamma did not know I had fallen. Columbine had no idea where I came from; so the next time she passed the spot where I lay, she caught me up and ran with me to her room behind the scenes.