134

REJECTION OF THE THEATRICAL BILL.

application, where right or justice, property or character, are at all involved, was ever made in vain—to the DUKE OF WelLINGTON, from whom the subjoined supply was instantly returned:

"The Duke of Wellington presents his compliments to Mr. Bunn.

"The Duke suggests that before he should see Mr. Bunn, that gentleman would be so kind as to send him any information which he might think useful to enlighten the Duke's judgment on the subject of the Theatrical Bill.

London, June 16, 1834."

The original letter containing these few words, shall never go out of my possession; nor can the recollection of his Grace's affability, judgment, and clear view of the case, at the interview with which he honoured me, ever fade from my memory. The bill thus supported was thrown out a second time in the House of Lords by a majority of fourteen; and with this repeated defeat died away all farther attempt to enlist the aid of Parliament in such unworthy proceedings. Divested of any petty or personal feelings involved in this controversy, if such it may be called, it could not reasonably be supposed, even in days like these, upon which we are fallen, that the legislature would sanction the passing of a bill in direct violation of the NATIONAL

FAITH.

In the first place as respects the two patent Theatres, nearly ONE MILLION OF MONEY has been expended upon them, through a sole reliance on the integrity of the Crown, held inviolable since Charles the Second. It has been moreover, admitted—and no one maintained such argument more strongly than Mr. (now Lord) Stanley in the previous session, in his remarkable speech on the Slavery Emancipation Bill-that, BY THE CONSTI

TUTION OF THIS COUNTRY NO MAN CAN BE DEPRIVED OF HIS PROPERTY WITHOUT COMPENSATION.

One kind of property has the same claim on the equity and

of your attention, and in acknowledging the receipt of your letter to his Grace, to state that it will always give him pleasure to attend to any communication you may make on the subject of the two patent Theatres, whose interest and success he must always entertain an anxious desire to promote.

"Your most obedient Servant,
"B CURRY,"

"I am, Sir,

"To A. Bunn, Esq.

"&c. &c. &c."

UNION OF THE TWO HOUSES.

135

justice of Parliament as any other: and if a proposition had been made of holding out to the proprietors a reasonable indemnification for the loss of their rights, as was done in the Emancipation case, the affair would have assumed a different aspect; nor can there be any rational cause assigned why, if TWENTY MILLIONS were voted by the British Senate to please a given quantity of saints, ONE MILLION might not have been given to indemnify a given quantity of sinners. This is the real English of the transaction, torture it into whatever shape you may. The civil war, which at one time threatened to be a very uncivil one, was however put an end to, and matters resumed the even tenor of their way, until the beginning of July, and the ONE HUNDREDth REPRESENTATION of Gustavus brought the first season of the UNION to a close.

Has there not been already exhibited (to say nothing of what is to come, and "the worst remains behind") enough of the difficulties which a manager has to battle against, to bear out the assertion already advanced, that the bed he reposes upon is not "a bed of roses?" Has the reader any doubt that his sovereignty is by no means an absolute one-that he has subjects whose treason no arm of his laws, or those of his country, can check or punish-that the many faults of which he stands accused, from being the only tangible person in authority public opinion can be directed against, may be traced with truth to the doors of other people rather than to his own? H he has any doubts still left upon the subject only let him muster up patience to read on, and he may depend upon it they will speedily be dispelled.

A visit to Germany, and its theatres-Advantages of a Dutch townMeat regulated by quantity rather than quality-Arnheim-Lord Howick-Mrs. Trollope's ideas of comfort-Professor Livius at Dusseldorf-The value of Kings and Kings' bones-The Rhine a case of Rhino-A touch of Poetry-Distance between the "diet of worms," and a cold chicken-Singular rencontre of three singular charactersStudying German-Heidelberg and its glories-Strasburgh and its patés-Mr. Charles Kemble-Reduced prices, and their consequences -Young Actors in Shakspeare's plays-Mr. Forrest-Mr. MurrayMr. Bishop-Manfred-The Morning Chronicle-Payne CollierPierce Egan.

WE will have a little more journalizing now, if my enduring reader has no objection. Beating about on the ocean is pleasanter any day than being beaten about in either house of Parliament: so, having got through the breezes of the latter, and the fineness of the weather holding out no threat of any of the former, I determined upon an inspection of some of the theatres of Germany, to see if any novelty might be procured for the next season. It is agreeable to oneself, if the recital be not so to others, to skim over the surface of the world, and after dipping a feather of your pinion here and there, to record some portion of that world's doings.

July 23.-Left Tower Stairs precisely at 7 A. M.—(as the nauticals have it)—and after a voyage remarkable for nothing but "a calm profound," few passengers, and no sickness, reached Rotterdam.

July 24, at a quarter past 6 A.M.: a town, distinguished by canals in the place of streets, and where to call a coach is to take a boat. The Hotel des Bains, or New Bath Hotel, is moderately clean and comparatively cheap, in this dearest and dirtiest of all countries I have yet been through. Whether an Englishman pays something extra for his recent neutrality, I know not; but he certainly pays more than any other person. Heavy rain all day, as if there was not water enough here already. Dined at table d'hôte at 4: an unusual quantity of meat

MRS. TROLLOPE'S IDEAS OF COMFORT.

137

of various kinds put upon the board, without any particular fashion, but some of it of a very particular "odeur." Early to bed, " "Why for?" Because I have early to rise for to-morrow's steam-boat. A man need not concern himself about "throwing away his dirty water" here, because he could not "get any clean," if he waited a twelvemonth for it.

July 25.-Left Rotterdam for Cologne at 5 A.M.-breakfasted and dined on board; both of them extra bad, and extra dear. Reached a rascally town called Arnheim, where, like Albert Beiling at Schoonhoven, one might be buried alive and without the assistance of a Jacqueline of Bavaria. Turned out for the night,—and after a long search and sundry rejections, we found beds at what Mrs. Trollope calls that "unconspicuous but comfortable!" inn, the Hôtel des Pays Bas: every one has his, or her, own ideas of comfort! We had damp beds to sleep incold soles, fresh eggs, un-fresh ham, and lumps of veal, to eat, in a ground-floor room, without carpet, curtain, or glass. Hitherto we have had little other meat than veal, a proof that all the CALVES are on the Continent! If this be the fare that made Mrs. Trollope so "comfortable," she is very easily satisfied. Left this horrid hole at 5 o'clock the next morning, and, proceeding within hail of the banks of the same flat and uninteresting country which has been inflicted upon us since we left Rotterdam, we stopped, after about twelve hours sail, to drop one Captain Gibson, wife, and party (river-sick and love-sick) at Wessel. After passing the bridge of boats, the STREAM was so much stronger than the STEAM, that, upon the principle of the crabs, we went backwards for half an hour.-Reached Dusseldorf at a quarter past six the next morning (July 27) where we landed General de Rovére Van Brugel, of the Hague, travelling with his sisters into Prussia. 'Twould be impossible to meet in all its vast dominions with a more intelligent or gentlemanly man. He gave me a pressing invitation to this famous city of the House of Orange. Barham Livius either has established, or is about to establish, himself at Dusseldorf, to give lessons in music-he should take 'em first. To the cathedral to hear mass-nothing but a solemn mockery, in which religion and roguery were trying to get the start of one another, and the odds were greatly in favour of the latter. Here also we disembarked Lord Viscount Howick, who had steamed with us from London: not surprised at his Lordship's apparent anxiety to get rid of England, the said England having just got rid of him and his family, oh dear! oh dear,

"To think that yon fair isle should be
Ruled o'er by such as them and thee,"

138

THE RHINE.-DISAPPOINTMENT.

is a pill that is remarkably difficult to swallow-there are those who say le bon temps viendra, but it's a long time about it.

July 27.-Reached Cologne at half-past 4, P.M.; after a long, a hot, and a teadious steaming. Were housed at the Rheinberg-a most comfortable and reasonable hotel.—" Set to❞ on a washing match, and then set off to the cathedral, which is a rare mixture of splendour and barbarism. They asked me 15 francs to see the relics of "The Three Kings," which is just 14 francs more than I would give to see all the kings living, and for the relics of most that are dead. To be sure, the bones beneath the willow of St. Helena are worth a trifle more, particularly if they were but reposing under the base of the column in the Place Vandóme! Very sorry I arrived too late one day, and started too early the next, to see The Martyrdom of St. Peter by Rubens, despite the opinion of Sir Joshua Reynolds. The first day on the Rhine disappointed me much; weather intolerably hot-packet intolerably full-no less than four newly married couples on board, making great fools of themselves. Dined on deck-very cheap and very good. Reach Coblentz at 7 of the evening chime. La Belle Vue hotel quite full-got bad housing, but civil treatment, at the Hôtel des Treves, and if there had been neither, the very sight of

"Ehrenbreitstein, with her shattered wall, Black with the miners blast,"

would have compensated-save and except that her wall now is neither "shattered" nor "black," having long since been white-washed and put into order.

July 28.-The passage to Mayence is full of beauty; and although the views on the Rhine, in this their "whereabouts" are not at all to be compared, in my humble opinion, to Scotland and Whales generally-yet the quondam "robber nest" of Rheinfels and the town of St. Goar, upon which it looks down are such,

"That fancy never could have drawn,
And never can restore,"

as Parson Wolfe, of pious and poetical memory, hath sung. In passing Caub one can almost fancy-at least dream—one hears the joyous shout of the enraptured Prussian, on his first beholding the river, and what may be supposed (at least I supposed it) to be the exulting song of the home-returning German, as he once more gazed upon

THE RHINE! THE RHINE!