acted upon the dogma of Ego et rex meus on the most extensive scale. The winter theatres had already suffered by the desertion of many of their principal performers to minor houses -a calamity which the Lord Chamberlain could have averted, notwithstanding the cupidity of the deserters, by restricting their performances exclusively to the class of entertaiment formerly permitted in such theatres. This, however, did not appear to the noble Marquis half sweeping enough: and he accordingly commenced operations in downright earnest. Mr. Rayner, who had erected a theatre in the Strand, had opened it in defiance of the law, had laughed to scorn the Duke of Devonshire, the then Lord Chamberlain, and had literally refused to obey in somewhat unceremonious terms the King's own commands to close it,— ,-now received a formal license from the Marquis Conyngham! The Haymarket theatre, which from a license of four months had jumped into one of eight, now obtained an extension of two more, and by virtue thereof has completed TWO SEASONS OF TEN MONTHS EACH! Foote and Colman, who were limited to about 104 nights, must be looked upon as two "very ill-used gentlemen," and would undoubtedly have considered themselves as such could they but have "revisited the glimpses of the moon," or rather the footlights, and heard the present manager of the Haymarket complain of being compelled to cut short a season that had already extended to the unprecedented length of 250 nights!* The noble Marquis, not satisfied with this, extended the annual licenses of the English Opera House, the Adelphi, and the Olympic theatres, as also the one he had recently given to the Strand theatre; gave a license (and subsequently extended it) to Mr. Braham's new theatre, sanctioned the Opera Buffa (a minor Italian *Fact! ecce signum: "Ladies and Gentlemen, this being the last night I am allowed by my license to keep this theatre open, it becomes my duty to express to you my heartfelt gratitude for the many favours I have received at your hands. I confess I am somewhat slow to understand why an Establishment, so exclusively devoted to the purest style of dramatic entertainment as this is, and always has been, should be obliged to close in the very heart of the most festive season of the year; still to the decision of my superiors I submissively bow, and humbly hope that ere long such restrictions will be removed. The distinguished patronage bestowed upon our exertions to please you, even to the highest in the realm, and of which I feel justly proud, has enabled me, at the close of each successive season since I have had the honour of catering for your amusement, to thank you for unceasing success. And now, Ladies and Gentlemen, I have to reiterate those thanks a hundred fold for one of the most prosperous seasons ever known within these walls-a season unprecedented in length, within the jurisdiction of THE LORD CHAMBERLAIN, having extended to 250 nights!!!"-Commencement of Mr. Webster's Speech on the Haymarket Stage last January. VOL. I.-5 50 SIR E. L. BULWER, BART. Opera House,) and subsequently Promenade Concerts at the Lyceum in the winter months; gave extra favours to the King's theatre; and when, (after the ordinary representations of the patent theatres were rendered utterly ineffective, and consequently unattractive, by the secession of most of their eminent artistes, who flocked to these minor concerns so highly favoured, their managers were compelled to resort to foreign entertainments literally to keep their doors open,) the same Lord Chamberlain strictly prohibited the performance of any but English pieces on the boards of Drury Lane and Covent Garden, in the face of all precedent, and the authority of His Majesty's Royal predecessors, "You take my house, when you take the prop is a doctrine, which, though advanced by Shakspeare, was treated with contempt by the Marquis Conyngham. But there are very few instances of conduct that take place in this world for which there are not to be found exculpators. The noble lord in question has, at least, fallen in with ONE approver; for at the dinner which the sycophants who buzz about Mr. Macready gave to that performer in July last, H. R. H. the Duke of Sussex toasted Lord Conyngham's health, and directed the attention of his hearers to "the assistance the Noble Marquis had invariably rendered the patent theatres, during the period he was Lord Chamberlain !!!" His Royal Highness might just as well have said, that the Noble Ex-Chamberlain had supported them out of his private fortune. The rejection of Sir E. Bulwer's bill, in two successive sessions by the House of Lords, and the positive refusal of his Majesty to grant his license for a third theatre, would, it was natural to suppose, have had some weight with the Lord Chamberlain. It might have led his lordship to the belief that, as the theatres then in existence could not obtain adequate support, it was not likely that the erection of half-a-dozen more would be conducive to any happier result. It might have convinced him that; if the theatres then open were deserted, the country itself must be untheatrically disposed, and that the erection of any others was not calculated to change the disposition of a whole people. It might have convinced his lordship of a great many more things, but his lordship was not to be convinced. There are persons to be found who think the Marquis Conyngham cared no more for the welfare of the patent theatres, while he was in office, than he does now he is out of it. No MONOPOLY. 51 other result than the driving one nail more into the coffins of these buildings could have reasonably been anticipated, and no other result has been brought about.* Yet in the spirit of liberalism stalking over the land, it was deemed necessary, no doubt, to assail one species of institution as well as another, and the outcry of MONOPOLY which every one was willing to raise, without in the slightest degree understanding its purport, was to be silenced by concession. The encroachments upon the rights of the Theatres Royal were of very slight importance, merely as respected the performances understood to be their exclusive prerogative. Any representation of Macbeth at the Olympic, the School for Scandal at the Adelphi, or Hamlet at the Surrey, as long as they were sustained by the stock companies of those respective establishments, could do no possible injury to the major houses. But the matter assumed a very different aspect; when, by enacting such pieces, the managers were enabled to wean away performers of eminence from the fountain head, and exhibit them at reduced prices of admission. The public not being a dramatic public, not caring a fig how the piece was sustained throughout as long as they could see a leading actor in the principal part, would naturally rather pay 4s. to see Mr. Kean in a theatre nearer their own homes than 78. to see him in Drury Lane theatre; but could they have seen him, as formerly, no where else than on those boards, they would gladly, as formerly, have paid the 78. Look at another result of this state of things. The lessee of a minor theatre, having very small salaries to pay to the bulk of his company, can easily afford to give a thumping one to some two or three self-styled Stars, and the weekly stipend with which they used to be contented from the larger houses is therefore treated with contempt. An actor who can get 201. per night from the manager of a small theatre instead of the 201. * Were there no other consequence resulting from this "throwing open the trade," the simple fact of its having destroyed all the provincial dramatic nurseries for talent would be quite sufficient. The manager of either leading London theatre might, some few years since, rely upon a trip to Bath, York, or Dublin—not to mention smaller places-being repaid by the engagement of some performer of consequence; but now they no sooner make their début on a country stage, than, regardless of any proficiency in their profession, they greedily accept the few shillings more proposed by some metropolitan minor establishment, play a short time in London, and then have the impudence to "skim the country round," under the facetious denomination of STARS, "And prove, to visual demonstration, per week he has been in the habit of receiving from the larger houses, thinks more of his purse than his profession, and makes his choice accordingly. For a great portion of the calamities thus inflicted upon these doomed dominions of the the drama, the Lord Chamberlain has to answer. As I shall have in its proper place to enter more fully upon the position this distinguished officer holds with reference to the stage, it will be unnecessary to enlarge upon it here. The observations thus far made have been laid down with the view of maintaining the main argument, the generally undramatic character of the country; and how that argument has been borne out by the proceedings of the Lord Chamberlain. The animus of the people must be as well known to that functionary, as to any other observer, and should act as a guide to him in the despotism he is permitted to exercise over dramatic affairs. Had his lordship directed his attention to the perpetual violation of the spirit of his licenses committed in minor theatres, whereby so many leading performers in the profession have been tempted to their boards,-had he confined their seasons to the limit he found them enjoying on his entry into of fice, and at the same time had he borne out to their fullest extent the privileges handed down in the patents of Drury Lane and Covent Garden theatres-they might still have possessed the talent diffused in so many other directions, and his lordship have been justly "toasted as their protector and supporter. He would then have done the utmost in his power to make up for that want of patronage complained of, arising solely from the untheatrical tendency of the character of the people. Whereas to that fatal bar to any permanent profit in those ill-fated houses, he superadded the authority of his high office with ill-directed taste and judgment, " perplexed them in the extreme," and overloaded them with increasing difficulties. His lordship evinced the same degree of apathy for the well-doing of the drama which stamps the disposition of the public at large, and it has mainly contributed to the general issue. I entertain as much respect for constituted authority as any of my fellow-citizens; but I have yet to learn why, if that authority be exercised to the prejudice of the profession to which I belong, I am not to complain of the injury. When the duties of Lord Chamberlain were vested, as at the commencement of my lesseeship, in the hands of His Grace the Duke of Devonshire, the acknowledged taste of that enlightened nobleman was a guarantee for the due protection of vested rights, and for the countenance of all those embarked in the perilous task of maintaining them; but the government of the Marquis Conyngham, inasmuch as it trampled upon the previleges which his prede cessors had upheld, and sanctioned alarming innovations, is not entitled to any such admission, despite the eulogium of H. R. H. the Duke of Sussex. CHAPTER III. Performers and their salaries, past and present-Their deportment under different circumstances-The article of engagement of a leading actor, and its mutual advantages-Consequences of befriending a performer-James Smith and the Zoological Gardens-Horses and Ac tors, managed by old Astley-Cox versus Kean-Singular letter-Salaries of Mathews, Munden, Fawcett, Quick, Edwin, Irish Johnstone, C. Kemble, Macready, Ellen Tree, compared with those of Farren, Liston, Power, George Cooke, John Kemble, Mrs. Jordan-Different notions of comfort-Actors the destruction of dramatic literatureKnowles-Bulwer-Colman-Inchbald-Morton-Reynolds, &c. HAVING adduced, in addition to the general indifference of the public, some other reasons for the repeated failures of our national theatres, I shall devote the present chapter to a consideration of a farther cause, as potent as any that can possibly be advanced; and one of a more powerful nature, inasmuch as it proceeds from the very parties who should sustain, not depress, the source from which their reputation and consequently their livelihood has sprung-THE PERFORMERS! Her Majesty's dominions do not contain a funnier set of people than actors, a great portion of whom are styled, by courtesy, Her Majesty's servants. Their avocation, to be sure, is drollery, and if it were confined to its proper place-the stage-we should have no cause of complaint; but that is the very last place where they seek to be amusing. If a man who has dealings with them will but call into his aid a sufficient degree of philosophy (of course he will stand in need of more than an ordinary quantity,) he will find them the most diverting set of creatures in existence; and when he has exhausted all the patience at his command, he will find them something else. Taken as a body, and standing apart, as they do, from the rest of the community, they must be judged by rules of their own creation, to be understood; but if examined upon the principles that regulate society at large, they are altogether unintelligible. They are the most obsequious, and yet the most independent set of people upon earththeir very vitality is based upon "the weakest of all weakness |