The Pay of the Pied Piper

The Pay of the Pied Piper performed with Charles B. Cochran, which was written by A. W. King Aubrey's headmaster was the last thing done at the Brighton Grammar School. Aubrey return home to London to live with his family. It was here he found work as a clerk at the District of Clerkenwell a surveyor office. However, this was a temporary place of employment to which Aubrey was awaiting a position as a clerk for the newly built Guardian Life and Fire Insurance Company in Lombard Street.* With the job at Guardian and leaving the grammar school, living at home made it easier for Aubrey and Mabel to visit the theater often. Although the plays that were seen by Aubrey and Mabel it was the distaste of the actors in certain roles that may have lead them to create their own performances. Two theatrical performances were done, in 1888 and 1889. The audiences were created by family, and close friends; it is uncertain if anyone outside the family attended. Aubrey created the programs with his own lettering and sketches. Aubrey listing himself within the program as "M. Aubre`," a "Perruquier," and his sister Mabel as "Madame Mabele," a "Costumier."*

*Benkovitz, Miriam J. Aubrey Beardsley: An Account of His Life. Toronto: Academic Press Canada Limisted, 1981.