As evening drew near, my cares and occupations were redoubled.  My Iago I had fears for—­’tis true he was an admirable Lord Grizzle in Tom Thumb —­but then—­then I had to paint the whole company, and bear all their abuse besides, for not making some of the most ill-looking wretches, perfect Apollos; but, last of all, I was sent for, at a quarter to seven, to lace Desdemona’s stays.  Start not, gentle reader—­my fair Desdemona—­she “who might lie by an emperor’s side, and command him tasks”—­was no other than the senior lieutenant of the regiment, and who was a great a votary of the jolly god as honest Cassio himself.  But I must hasten on—­I cannot delay to recount our successes in detail.  Let it suffice to say, that, by universal consent, I was preferred to Kean; and the only fault the most critical observer could find to the representative of Desdemona, was a rather unlady-like fondness for snuff.  But, whatever little demerits our acting might have displayed, were speedily forgotten in a champagne supper.  There I took the head of the table; and, in the costume of the noble Moor, toasted, made speeches, returned thanks, and sung songs, till I might have exclaimed with Othello himself, “Chaos was come again;”—­and I believe I owe my ever reaching the barrack that night to the kind offices of Desdemona, who carried me the greater part of the way on her back.

The first waking thoughts of him who has indulged over-night, was not among the most blissful of existence, and certainly the pleasure is not increased by the consciousness that he is called on to the discharge of duties to which a fevered pulse and throbbing temples are but ill-suited.  My sleep was suddenly broken in upon the morning after the play, but a “row-dow-dow” beat beneath my window.  I jumped hastily from my bed, and looked out, and there, to my horror, perceived the regiment under arms.  It was one of our confounded colonel’s morning drills; and there he stood himself with the poor adjutant, who had been up all night, shivering beside him.  Some two or three of the officers had descended; and the drum was now summoning the others as it beat round the barrack-square.  I saw there was not a moment to lose, and proceeded to dress with all despatch; but, to my misery, I discovered every where nothing but theatrical robes and decorations—­there lay a splendid turban, here a pair of buskins—­a spangled jacket glittered on one table, and a jewelled scimitar on the other.  At last I detected my “regimental small-clothes,” &c.  Most ignominiously thrust into a corner, in my ardour for my Moorish robes the preceding evening.