but for the author there was a world still larger than this the world of their own creation in which to indulge their fancy and lay up stores of to dispense them � cheers no one knew better than he did the trials and anxieties of an author s life owing to public caprice � the change of fashion or a variety of other causes he was old enough to remember the time when lord y was dazzling the world with the of his wild and extraordinary genius and which induced crowds of after fame to endeavour to follow his footsteps lord died � his failed � and the public did not care a single straw about either poets or their poetry for the next quarter of a century again thanking them for the honour they had conferred upon him he would now introduce to them the name of their old friend charles � cheers � of whom he must be allowed to say that no man had earned a deeper popularity or a more just and lasting reputation having by his exertions raised and dignified art as much as he had his own profession � cheers it had been said by lord that popularity such as that possessed by mr could only be obtained by touching the hearts of the whole people of england that had mr done no man ever possessed such a mastery over the hearts of all � the rich and the poor � the of the cottage or the palace � as that gentleman and moreover he used that power for the best of all purposes that of working out a remedy for acknowledged social in and elsewhere and to the morals and condition of the people � cheers mr had done more to hold the mirror up to nature to the passions to excite the tears of sympathy and to show that however high might be honoured the poor were equally honourable for their virtues than any author of modem times and his works had become and would remain household words so long as the saxon language continued to exist � cheers he felt the greater pleasure in proposing that by ic gentleman s health on the present occasion because he had first become thoroughly acquainted with the real character of mr in his position as actor and stage manager of those gentlemen who by their talents had endeavoured to promote the interests of the of literature to which mr had referred when he stated what he was sure all who knew him would readily admit that mr possessed a heart as large as his genius he could not say more to recommend to their cordial reception the toast he was about to propose � health and long life to mr charles one of the of the general theatrical fund and his brother � cheers mr rose amidst renewed cheering which lasted some time and said he could assure them that he really was not using a common form of words but was honestly expressing the feeling of the moment when he himself at some loss both to thank the company for their hearty greeting and to thank his generous friend in the chair for the terms in which he had referred to him sir absolute was of opinion that in love matters it was best to begin with a little aversion and if he mr could only have started with a little coldness on the part of his friend in the chair or even a moderate warmth on the part of that audience it was quite unknown into what an admirable speech he should have presently but a tribute so noble and a welcome so cordial he found to be very bad preparations indeed for such an achievement before referring to the fund which was the main object of interest with all of them that evening y he would take leave to say that he was exceedingly glad that his friend the had happened to allude to him in that company in his stage capacity because he did particularly desire to express his conviction in such a company of all others that the dramatic profession were very ill served by some friends when they supposed that it could possibly be injured by or could possibly regard with anything like resentment or jealousy amateur � cheers he had for a brief space assumed the functions of an amateur manager and actor in of a cause in which his warmest sympathies and aspirations are � like those of his friend in the chair � and to represent that the stage could possibly be injured or could fairly claim any right to consider itself injured by such performances was to it from the position assumed in such wise by every other liberal art � cheers in literature there were received freely and without of all kinds � lawyers officers of the army and navy clerks who travelled and saw strange countries � lords and ladies of various degrees � anybody who had anything to say � and possibly now and then somebody who had nothing to say � cheers and laughter during the whole of the last season a gallery was opened in pall for the exhibition of pictures of amateur artists yet he never heard that the members of the royal academy were much by the circumstance or very desperately alarmed by its public patronage and success so in music he believed it was generally acknowledged that some excellent lessons had been given to the public and c by ic the profession by the knowledge and patience oc in chorus singing and that the production of some of the most admired works of the old masters were due to the exertions of without the least injury to the regular professors of the art the liberal and generous feeling which thus distinguished other kindred arts surely was to be claimed for the stage as its just 