"It is evident then that our theatres, with such attributes, should be under a controlling power.* But there is vast deal of difference between the use, and the abuse of authority. As a dramatic censor, the Lord Chamberlain's appointment is a wholesome and necessary one. His Lordship's control over theatres in any other point of view is little else than a piece of state imposition. As I shall have in another part of my book to take up this matter, in a similar point of view, save that it more vitally affected the theatre then than it did at this time, I shall defer my farther remarks. There is not a doubt that the whole might be traced to the threatened withdrawal, by the Drury Lane committee, of an annuity of 100%. (originally 3001.,) soon after carried into effect-the original grant and subsequent payments of which were acts of supreme folly, to use the very mildest term. I had, however, closed the theatres, had to go to the Continent,† come back again, to re-open at least one of them, and consequently there was an end, pro tempore, to the business. The public stock of harmless pleasure was now "impoverished" by the death of a great contributor to the Italian stage, and of a very popular one to the English stage-events that perplex the proceedings of management in no slight degree. The premature demise of Bellini was a matter of deep regret, as well as of great injury, and in both points of view especially to Drury Lane, which had the honour, if not of introducing, at all events of familiarizing, the exquisite talent of this gifted composer to an English audience. The beauties of Bellini's style were comparatively unknown, and certainly unappreciated in this country, until the performance of La Sonnambula, adapted to our own stage brought them before the judgment and taste of the public. The charm which rendered their own even more talismanic than it otherwise would have been, was the execution * Observations on the Notice of a Motion to rescind certain powers of His Majesty's Lord Chamberlain, by George Colman, the younger. I was walking on the Boulevard des Capucins (one day during a short sojourn at this time in Paris) with Mr. Goldsmith, father of the ac. complished and charming Lady Lyndhurst, when he said, "Here comes one whom you above all others at present, ought to take a peculiar interest in contemplating. You have done extraordinary things, I hear, with GUSTAVUS the THIRD, but HE did something more extraordinary with him." I was then introduced to a man (whose nomme de circonstance was Löwen) of venerable aspect, of easy deportment, and whose figure, though bent by time, bespoke considerable dignity. He was affable, gentlemanly, and extremely intelligent. As he passed on, I naturally inquired who he was; and my feelings of astonishment and curiosity may be imagined, when I was informed, "That is Count Ribbing, the last survivor of THE REGICIDES of Sweeden." DEATH OF MR. POCOCK. 175 of its melody by Madame Malibran; and connected as the reputation of composer and singer was that of Drury Lane theatre, it may not be irrelevant for its manager to record a mournful but most singular circumstance, that Bellini and Malibran died in the very same month, on the very same day of the month, and at the very same age-the first on the 23rd September, 1835, and the last on the 23rd September, 1836, having both completed their 28th year-" so wise, so young, they say, do not live long!" It was but a few months before that he had visited this metropolis, and was a witness to the triumph achieved by Madame Malibran, in his ablest and favourite work, La Sonnambula; to see which, it appears by the humorous letter of the Prima Donna, given some pages back he had by some accident to pay. The other death referred to was that of Mr. Pocock, who died, exactly to a day, one month before; and finding that event thus recorded amongst my own memoranda, made and circulated at the time, I cannot do better than transcribe it. "The stage at any period of its existence could not afford to lose a man of so much worth and talent; but at the present moment, when it is on the verge of its decay, when nearly all its bright stars have faded away, when the nobility are forsaking, the gentry becoming sick of it, and the public at large flying away from it-the loss of one of its ornaments is doubly to be regretted. Mr. Pocock was one of the most voluminous, and at the same time most successful dramatic authors of the present times-especially in pieces combining the marvellous and the humorous, consequently the effective-superadding to such power of composition the talent of a distinguished artist. It was in the prosecution of this art (the pictorial,) that Mr. Pocock was, it is understood, a pupil of Sir William Beechey, about 28 years ago; but finding the dramatic spark kindling within him, he since that period confined his abilities chiefly to writing for the theatres. Mr. Pocock's first piece, as well as my memory serves, was a musical farce, entitled, " Yes or No,' brought out at the Haymarket in 1808, which like most of his productions, was deservedly successful. From that period to the close of the last season he has produced on an average two pieces a year, notwithstanding a partial succession from public life, after the death of his uncle, Admiral Pocock, and his accession to the Maidenhead property. Amongst his most popular pieces may be reckoned Hit or Miss, Miller and his Men, Maid and Magpie, Rob Roy, John of Paris, Husbands and Wives, The Omnibus, Cent. per Cent., Robber's Wife, Ferry and Mill, Scan. Mag. King Arthur, &c. The best evidence that can be adduced of Mr. Pocock's respectability and station in private life is, that he 176 STATE OF THE DRAMATIC WORLD. was Deputy Lieutenant of the County of Berks, and one of His Majesty's Justices of the Peace. The death of such a man if a loss to the public, must be a still greater one to that profession which was so much assisted by his abilities, and advanced in respectability by his association." Mr. Pocock always bore in mind the maxim handed down to us from Pliny, "Never do any thing but what deserves to be written, nor write any thing but what deserves to be read;" and if a similar eulogy could be passed upon all of us, what an irreproachable set of people we should be. CHAPTER XII. 66 Repeal of the Union" carried-State of the dramatic world examinedAn actor's theory and practice at variance-His former and present salaries at greater variance-Horne Tooke's opinion of expedition—In. dustrious fleas No unanimity-Shakspeare neglected for want of actors-Demonstration of the rents of yesterday and to-day-Reduc. tion of prices, and vitiation of taste-List of company-Macbeth's music-Othello's attraction-A tragedian proves his own want of itAn article of engagement-The JEW, and the Jewess-Mr. Balfe-The Provost of Bruges-Distinction between a tuck-hunter and a tuft. hunter. "THE Repeal of the Union" now became a question much more discussed in the theatrical, than it is ever likely to be in the political world; and although attended with as many difficulties as the junction was first of all carried through, this bill I did what the other never will-PASS. The two grand objects sought to be attained by uniting the interests of the two patent theatres were, a reasonable reduction of the exorbitant salaries that had been some time back demanded and paid, and the alotment of a particular class of entertainment to a particular theatre. To conduct these theatres as they had been conducted so many years, required at least FOUR DISTINCT COMPANIES to each house-tragedy, comedy, opera, and ballet; and at the same time they were united, there was barely an effective one in either of these departments. The theatres must therefore either have been united, or by continuing in rivalry, with the ragged forces then at their command, have both closed prematurely, and in disgrace. For example, and there is nothing like example after no more. STATE OF THE DRAMATIC WORLD. 177 all: the only disposable tragic force of any ability at that time to be procured, consisted of Messrs. Macready, Warde, Cooper, Miss Phillips, Mrs. Sloman, and Miss E. Tree. [Mr. Kean was Mr. C. Kean had resolved upon "provincializing" until he could command 50l. per night! while Mr. Charles Kemble and his daughter were in America.] If therefore this "force" (Bless the mark!) had been divided, it would have been utterly impossible to perform a tragedy unscathed by the just sibilation of a disgusted public. United they were not much to boast of -opposed, they would have been contemptible. The comic strength consisted of Messrs. Farren, Dowton, Bartley, Blanchard, Harley, Meadows, Mrs. Glover, Mrs. Gibbs, Mrs. C. Jones, Mrs. Humby, Mrs. Fitzwilliams, and Miss Taylor. (Madame Vestris having a theatre of her own, and being suffered to play "comedies," under the name of "burlettas," possessed Liston, Keely, and Mrs. Orger, while Mr. Yates, equally favoured, monopolized the Mathews. Power was in America.) Although much better off in this branch of genius than in the preceding one, it is nonsense to assert that any of the stock comedies could have been efficiently represented with this force on the same night at both theatres. Then, in opera, were in the market Messrs, Templeton, Wilson, H. Phillips, Duruset, Seguin, Bedford, Miss Sherriff, Miss Inverarity, Miss Betts, Miss H. Cawse, and Miss Poole. (Braham was contemplating the erection of his own theatre, while Sinclair and the Woods were in America!) All of these, but three, having been put into the first opera (Gustavus) brought out after the junction of the theatres had been effected, how would it have been possible to have supported with any degree of effect, an opera at each house, had they been in a state of rivalry? Such was the condition of the Dramatis Persona when the junction was deemed advisable; and if one of its professed objects was to reduce the salaries then considered so high, how much more essential must some such measure Now be, when many of the salaries are three, four, five, and six times higher? If 30l. a week to Mr. Macready, 301. a week to Mr. C. Kean, 201. a week to Mr. Power, 301. a week to Mr. Farren, 61. a week to Mr. Templeton, 157. a week to Miss Ellen Tree, &c., were looked upon as exorbitant salaries (an with an exception or two they were) in what light must, at this present writing, 100/. for four nights be regarded to the first;* 50l. a night to the second; 1207, a week to the third; 607. * In the evidence given before a select committee of the House of Commons, which I shall have frequent occasion to refer to. Mr. Macready, now in the receipt of 251. per night, gives this answer to question 2350, "I think that actors, being paid by the night in London, is particularly injurious." a week to the fourth; 301. a week to the fifth, and 251. a night to the latter? Such is the fat-headedness of JOHN BULL that, if a man receive 251., a night for his services, he thinks that man MUST be a genius, all his faults are directly thought beauties, and the actor's ipse dixit becomes the auditor's authority. Mr. Macready, for receiving 25l. per night, is thought a better actor (by a set of fools) than Mr. Kean was when he had 201. a week, or than John Kemble when he had 361. a week, as actor and manager, or than Mrs. Siddons, whose last engagement was, I believe, 1000l. for eighty nights, somewhere about 12. per night!! This part of the argument we have however already gone into, though it cannot be two frequently dwelt upon. The rational reduction of the salaries was obviously one main object; but another, and perhaps an even more important one, was the allotment of the different branches of the profession to both, instead of confining them all, as heretofore, to one theatre. My aim was to select Covent Garden theatre for the performance of opera, ballet, and spectacle, restricting the duties of the opposite establishment to tragedy, comedy and farce (always excepting the period of Christmas, when extravagant amusement is the order of the day.) This, after all, was the grand desideratum, and "to this favour it must come at last;" if these buildings can survive another season the shock they have so many seasons experienced. There may be, as there have been, objections to the coalition of the Patent Theatres-argued upon the principles that the spirit of rivalry being* disposed of, the spirit of "The evil that men do lives after them!" Now, considering the attempt that has been ineffectually made to palm him off as a Shaksperian actor, in the little Haymarket theatre, his own reply to query 2340 is the best of all possible settlers of the question: "For Shakspeare's plays I should think very few of them can be found which can have due effect given to THEM IN A SMALL theatre!" * Very likely, if it were the spirit of rivalry, honorably maintained in their times by Messrs. T. Harris and Sheridan; but the want of unanimity amongst managers is a bar to that, now-a-days. Horne Tooke was once dining with a party at the "Bell, "in Holborn, then a fashionable rendezvous; and while they were in full employment and en. joyment of the wine glass, a waiter announced to them that a poor foreigner in the passage had a very clever piece of mechanism to show the company, if they would like to see it. The man was ushered in, and displayed upon a tray a miniature carriage, of delicate construction, drawn by that not over delicate species of vermin, which the celebrated Charles Fox referred to in his memorable lines, addressed to Mrs. Montague, I forgive the dear creature whatever she said, |