The Express.
London, England, 1862-04-15 00:00:00

LINN'S.

1011. IL CAZILIAL MAMMAL FUND

Thia, the ..triee theatrical event of the. Lent
season, took place bat evening at the Preens:acme Tavern.
free was so lack of attendance, although the reeciadieg
of the loogestatilishal prohibition which until this year
eloped ill theatres din* Pamirs week, and set actor• free
from their ordinary duties at the :uterine of their atierela,
deisied to many si! the celebrities u the preheats •
gratificat,u in which they ben bees in the habit for many
years 01 andulgiog ; Mt. NAMED WIGAN was the
and he was supported by Kul *MOM air Coattm
Mr. T. Mr. Palpate Simpimoo, Mr. R. H. Wynd.
lain. Mr. w H. Doses (lienser of 1.4,-4, Mr. Jerwood,
Mr. Iten'inno Webster, Dr. Hestia" Mr. Jolla Reddish,
Mr, 11. M. Parker Mr. CoMenford, Mr. Ituckstone, Mr
Cathcart, Mr. Everett. Mr. Alfred Mellon, Mr. H. Butler,
Mt. *klieg Colas, Mr. Charles Hill, Mr. George Godwie.
Mr. Brant. Mr. H. 0. Day. Mr. Villiers, Mr. Clark, Mr.
Weinell, Mr. Hoary HIM, Mr. Ferret, lac.
The general company membered about 200. The musical
smarm:ate were. es total, gratuitous; and although
some of the gran wage which on some former (Knauss
have wen inert to theme entertainments were witutieg,
there was so Glebe-Man is either talent or variety. The
vocal rail instnintesial seeps iocludal the following amulet:
- -Vat:abate : Mir Aymala Thomson, Miss Vushroke Yew
Welk, Miss J. Wells, sad Mho Poole ; Mr. George Tedder,
Mr. t., Geer. Mr. W. Ooward, Mr. Fielding. Mr. Donald
Kiog, Mr. t. Walker. Mr. niodonDistio Mr. J. Coward,
sad Mr. Lawler. Soloists : Ocomet-ibpiseea, Mr. Levy •
impboutoo, Mr. Alfred Phony; grand pianoforte, Mr.Cootii.
The CuAln‘latt, having disposed of the two loyal tome"
paid the customary tribute to the services, in which he re.
marked upon the favour with which the dramatic art was
bell by both army sad MOT, illasteating his ponitiou by ea
eseal.,te to tire infect that at Sebastopol a performance of
Bark lip/id:maw was postponed by an announcement that
the pence who was to have the bulled which gave
the title to the piece had had his head shot off that morn-
ing the trenches. (A laugh.) In the navy the same
es mpathy for the dramatic art wig felt, and he mentioneda
ease in which the enemy illostntive of • drama played an
board • maa el war was panted by Ile captain end mem of
the crew is • moaner that would have dons credit to a
Stanfield. He pod • high compliment to the volunteer
force, and coupled with the toast the health of Mr. T. P.
Cooke.
Mr. T. P. CuOlte returned thanks for the three services.
Ile was an old sailor--a sailor not of the present day but
of the past century, when ships were really ships and not
iron turtles oe bettering rams. But those graceful forms
that, after pouring their broadsides into the enemy, would
mesetuvre. gracefully with the bellying sails before •
Jervis or a Nelson, it appeared were consigeed to the tomb
of the Catmints or Davy Jones's Locker. (Cheers and
laughter.) lie hope! that the honour of Old England
would be as safe under the asw regime of iron as it had
beat under the reigu of our old,' wooden walls." (Loud
cheering.)
The CHAIRMAN, in proposing the toast of the evening—
" The Royal toserslTheatidod Vend "—said,-oentlernen.
the task of laying favourably before you the claims of the
institution—in aid of whom hada you have kindly gathered
here tonight—of depicting its usefulness, its necessity, the
many sail claims upon its resources, sad of stimulating your
charitable feelings on its behalf, must ever be a grateful one
to him, but ha meat always fear lest that teak being ill done,
as to-night I fear it omit be, the cause should mutter when,
its advuoite is aloes to blame. Let me beg you, therefore,
to think as little as possible of Alfred Wigan penonally.
He occupies a pod that has often been tilled by distin-
guished arid illustrioua nem, the recollection of whose
services as chairman most quite overshadow any effort ha
may make, however much his heart may stir in the wager.
As a member of the polemics whose claims ho ails=
to be is about plead tie own soma. not without a
seen of the force of that proverb which declares that "1%,
man who pleedeth his own mass bath a fool for his client.'
(Laughter ad cheers.) Band/, then, with your better
thoughts, my shertomangs, sad support me with the
promptings of your owe boosts at the point where I fail
to reach them (Hear, hear.) Without trespassing
too far upon the proems of my friend Mr. Buck-
tone who will shortly have the honour of enter-
rug 1110 ft, fully into matters of detail, 1 may be permitted
to briedy ~.plain the nature and objects of the general
heatriod fund. It was established le years ago, to supply
a want that was felt for an additional instituting of the
same nature as the Irrury•lane sad Covent-garden Funds,
which, from various cameo, had been found inadequate to
the esigencim of the profusion for whose benefit they wen
instituted. It resembles those neatent institutions in this
that the actor is ambled, by means of a small annual gap
meet to claim as a right, sot as a elm, ity --(hear, heart,—
an annuity is the event of his being disabled from the pea-
toe of his profession either through ill-health, age, or other
legitimate cause--much as our public servants receive the
support of a pension from government, only I am sorry to
say the comparison holds good in no eloped as to the
mean. at cumsiamL It differs from those funds in this,
that all members of the prams:on are admitted to its
bettetita, without restriction as to age, set, length, or place
of service interne the privilege of admission to the Drury.
lase and ti(' nest-palm lands s outmoded by many here
and limitations, so doubt ..crap at the time they were
trammed, but which the various cleave in the mstitutioa
of theatres and of the theatrical profession have reedited
worse than soden. Slightly paraphrasing the words of lb*
prologue b. Henry VIII.
—•-

We CI RUC no more to make you hush, things now
That bear a weighty and a serious brow
We *ow prison.
Tberefore. for emeinese sake, a. you are known
The nest nil happl.a hearers of the boot.
Be sad a. we would make ye. Think ye se
The very persons if our bumble story
As they were living Thule you on them great
Mid followed with the ceneral throng and sweat
Of thousand friends. Then lea moment se
line Nom. Use mightiness meets =Way.
(Omen.) Although sepal* directly to your charitable
hailer. I should be loth to place the claims of our prefer-
Mon before you in say light that would lower the dignity
of a series* and responsible calling—one in which we are
amwerable Is, Heaves and our country to uphold the ranee
if tnerahty. (rheen.) In weighing our professau in Use
balsa.* with others, the name of lihakapeal e would, like the
sword of liresom. bear down the scale, Imam, loaded to
ear disadvantage. Hut it a sot in his mighty same sloes
that we ley claim to your respect. We are, or should be,
means of educktioe, not to be demand even in the present
day .1 universal hernia; and competitive examination.
The intellect is only um. of the ("wipeout larva of man,
and it should not be forgotten in this stirring, struggling
geoeratrou that there is • moral awl corporeal *damsels,
god a cultisation of the imagination, alai necessary to com-
plete menhe.st. (Hear, bear.) It ham been brucght spinet
us that to, too aliliCala to laugh, and ao niche laugh, to
juggle and play tricks, mod to think when we pocket the
proceeds the affair is ended. Whenever we do so, we de-
grisle auntie, and wrung the public. (lieer, heir! The
power of instruction positioned by the stage may perhaps of
late bare fallen somewhat into disuse, but it must be
allowed that the drama hiss this advantage over all
other forms of teaching combined with ainusemeet—that
its influents) arts by esaniple rather this by precept.
It eau embody the consequent., of eel pain lines of conduct
sad represent then. in a series of actione en. vivid and cone.
Ilets as almost to counterfeit the positive experteaesa of a
e, and give a Imam with all the force of reality. Our
art. though a beautiful and a useful one, shares toe lobe-
teat weakness of all the line arts. It dos not increase the
material produce of the world, and would be clamed by
the iodate:l ecueinimet among the unproductive labour;
an), inaaiairh ar it it not directly proiitivtive, it munt
always be too large number Olireinuni•rattire. Mimi the
aveetabled here there is no need to plead [lie ranee of art,
set to those who, would undervalue it as useless I would
,:aim with Lear,
11, resin not the nerd • our hoed beggars
Are in the poorest thing superflitoui,
Allow sot nature more than native 'weds,
Ili Is cheep as beest's,
Aid I would vesture to ranged those who, partly from
prepidice—in former days, I grant. well grounded—partly
from :Aeolian kmorance of all that is mid nod doue in
theatres. regar.t them with disfavour. I would venture to
remould:ism that the mere the cultivated and pure, those
whose tasted and instincte require whelesoine food, elistein
trim the theatre, the more aubjeet will it be to those evil
imitate, s which surely tempt the actor to lower his teach-
ing to the standard that he Ands will Ocoee. (Loud
applaose.) The actor is subject to the most sudden
varisite.ne of fortune, as all men must be who are
mi.re or less depetelent on the fluctuating fashions
of public tail'. and he's dependent more Was any other
inn.. oil his own personality. Ills duties °intim be per
forced I.y deputy. A dramatic rtpreientation is no compli-
cated a piece of machitiery that the absence of even the
smallest whet may destroy the whole structure ; if he can
ad weak. ant he most. lie tiust. as I know, leave
the bedside of the sick wife, the drug &add, assume the
drum and manner of sum and wealth, with nu aching heart
sad an empty cupboard. (Heat.) Other men go through
trials so severe of their laud but there is something in the
contrast batistes the real sod the counterfeit life of the
actor, which iu the hour of suffering is peculiarly ghastly.
Add to this. "the thousicel natural ills that flesh iv heir
to," and I think you will see that our profession offers a
toes uncertain tenure on peiterlty than &Meet any iither.
Ito rewards of the successful actor are inimeliate,
duet and intoxicating, but they are no fleeting a+ they are
brilliant. sad the ware of a single generation Is enough to
wash away his shallow footsteps on the mods of time. ( Ap.
please.) Even for the most presperom actor there is ever the
peril of failiog health, which may at say roomiest stop the
mot brilliant career. Yoe toomany, ale' there has been no
rehoued, sod those cooly to whom recovery has been vouch-
safed can estimate the fervent gratitude for health restored.
But there is another close on whom the accident—be it age,
Mama, or what sot that prevents tlie continuance of their
exertioes—falle with a paralysing weight—that numerous
claw, es orosseary to the full development of the drama as
the brightest stare—for Hamlet must hare his Roma.
meats, Richard his Colosbp—who bare cheerfully accepted
mad worthily sustelo thew humble professional p
tiltiioa
j
their incomes afford
ilirLarrisearcrfrud"expagiVlawalrtle necessities *sod the various
claims of life aessesaae is melee proportion. To these. hew
often ■nniews thought for the future occurs, thew diapered
contributions to this fund bear honourable tostimmy.
(Hoar, hear.) And it le to them that this moiety Wisp

the most sulateatial belleita. The statemeut of our
treasurer will show you that this isetitution is in a great
degree self-supporting. and that we do not pray to you,
our I [erodes, without first putting our own shoulders to
the u lice... liut it mast be ren.embered that the cue-
tributions of the actors themselves caanot be large. I
have spoken of them as small annual payments, but com-
pared with the incomes from which they ere takea they
are large ; they are out spared from luxuries and super-
fluities, but front Decameters, and more especially in the
case of provincial actors, amid toils and privations borne
with • cheerfulness and patience amounting to heroism--a
patience mud cheerfalnees which nothing bat an almost
fanatic devotion to their art could sustaie. To their
hanlly-earned savings add your own more capable benefi-
mace, end a load of care will be lifted from many
hearts, whose joy will find a silent echo M your own.
It is not vet long ago that we were in the eye of the law
rogues, vagabooila, and sturdy beggars. how, lest you
should think me still demerit's of the last name, permit me
meet respectfully to place this appeal in another light, and
come before you in the character of a creditor, not • dun, a
patient, coediting creditor. The creditor respectfully
makes out his claim thus:—Fist, let me dwell for a
moment on our grateful acknowledgment of your support,
your stimulating applause, and the dependence of our
success 93041 sour encouragement. But is there not
another side to the picture! Which of you does not
remember that occasion when sadness, whether of impe-
rtinent or of real sorrow, was dispelled and cheerfulness re-
stored by that lucky visit to the play. Was it the merry
tone that still lingered on the ear, or that hearty jest, or the
recall of some dear, early, long-faded memory that sent
you home a heppier man ? I care not which of these
it was, if I am right in believing that you each can
remember one. Aad If it be so, may I not, without
undue holdmes, sek—Wee by the pees cif i your seat
your debt to the poor actor wholly paid! May not
that rest to the anitions wearied mind, that temporary
" rasing out of the written troubles of the brain,'
produced by the sympathy with the mimic joys or sorrows
of the stage, resemble the rest given to the toil-worn
body by gentle sleep! May not that rest have
yielded in renewed elasticity and vigour an accu.
mulated interest, of which be who helped to give it may
claim his modest share! If the poor blind Behaarius asks
you for a penny, may he not also, with not ungrateful
pride, remind you that he won your battles! (Applause.)
As illustrution has sometime* more force than the strongest
argument ; and as I ern „fairly at the and of all my wise
maws, and as I am told by my friend Mr. Punch that the
wad we all desire is the end of • speech, let me offer you
two modem° instances of the benefits afforded by this fund.
The one, a gmatletuan, young, of promising ability, with a
young wife dependent on him and hie professional aim•
lop for existence, in one instant, by the falling of a
stage platform on which he was standing, became
a cripple for life, utterly incapable of further pro.
feasional exertion. The other, • young lady with no bus •
brad to support and protest her, after a few months of
fading sight, became totally blind. Neither of their sub-
scriptions had at the time of their calamity exceeded W.,
sod they are each of them in the receipt of an annuity from
this had of M. a per. These facts will, I think, speak
i o tangoed" in favour of that cause which I have,
I 1.--,.. it, belly advocated. I ask your forgiveness Jot
my Teaser; but if my pardon be hopeless, take the
reeas4 =Mb at contrasting the richness of the collection
with My of the collector—(laughter and sp-
ot the help with the weakoeas of
ell4".111011 " Prosperity to the General Theatrical
/Peed '
IL Boomees—ladies and gentlemen, although for
diem yews we have bete bewared on these occasions by
Ole eilli~l4tudis7llM lonsriable men—amongst them
shisemes, and noblemen—yet I always acknow-
kirks tea feeling ei patiation when I see the chair filled
by as ardor --(&seaand more especially when that actor
le so iiieinguishei en the gentleman who presides over us
this seriming. (Lead Shinn.) I know, to nee a phrase
whisk, of course, yon have never beard before—(laughter)
—emaccuotomed as he is to public speaking, yet he kindly
red readily consented to take his position to-night from a
hearty wish to serve and a sentiment of devotion to our
mam. I believe it to be his "first eight " (laughter)—
I sled first appearance in the character of a chairman ; but
you see how he has sustained it this evening. I have known
Min for many years, long before he courted public favour,
and have wakhed his gradual advance in hie profession
with great interest, until he not only became a leading
actor, out arrived at experiencing all the hopes, fears, suc-
cesses, failures, knees, gains, triumphs, and disappointments
of a manager—(laughter)—and as 1 have koowo all these
sensations myself, I have deeply sympathised with him—
(laughter) and when my time may wine to retire
from management, I only hope I may be able to
do so as easily and profitably as our respected chairman
has done. (Cheers.) The presidency of this evening over
such en assembly and in such • cause is not the least of
the dramatic, boriours achieved by him, while his ready
acceptance of the aim was received by our directors with
great pleasure, and in their names I heartily thank him.
The objects of the General Theatrical Fuud are now so well
known that it is only necessary for me to say it receives
members from every theatre in the kingdom, where they
have been before the public for a certain number of years,
and that wilco prevented by age, accident, or infirmity from
fulfilling their duties, they become aunuitaots. You will
thus perceive, gentlemen, that the General Theatrical
Fund provides for those who have bora punctual in the
payment of their subscripticus, and have had the prudence
through a eerier of years to put by a small sum to entitle
them to the benefits of this fund. Therefore, gentlemen,
when these annuities are granted, it is not considered as au
act of charity, or given to persons who have never in any
way prepared for old age, but an act of justice to those who
have Memo provident, and who claim such annuities as
their right ; and as I have subscribed to this fund for T 3
years, when 1 bowies old and intirtn—(laughter)—abould I
used my annuity I shall not hesitate to claim it—(shears)
—though I hope I shall sot only never need it, but never
become old and infirm. (Laughter.) The number of oar
subser.biug members is 170. We have 17 annuitruita, to
whom, duties the year, we have given more than 7001.,
sod our capital, when this night is over, will not be far
short of 13,01.10/. Our fund is now firmly established, sad
I hope I may be allowed to aware you it is one of the most
tfo..rMaiag sad best managed institutions in the country.
(Cheers.) llt eve also to inform you, gentlemen, that dur-
ing the peat year we have received • legacy of 2101., left
to us by Lady Morpo, once, ea many of you may know, •
distinguished writer, and the daughter of • theatrical
manager—the lady of whom one of the comic versifiers of
many yaws ego, in his imitation of • popular poet and
essayist of that day, thus wrote :

now ileihtlithil Ala to recd
My Lady Moron in the street:
Thee to gaaiuhei her: is the ElJlllitiVr,
With a psrsigritila short and sweet.

It is to be hoped that her ladyship's kind recollection of
the art elle followed in bar youth may act as an example to •
many other wealthy lovers of the drama • and if amiss
them who for Al or 40 years have visaed the theatre, and
enjoywl duriag that time their hundreds of hearty laughs
at bows ut our comedians, and perhaps tragedians,
were only to remember our fund at the nits of a half-
peuoy a laugh, it would produce a very acceptable arm.
Ceutleruou, I am sorry to alarm you with the Wafture*
that I was fearful we should nut have met hers in toll
booquettiog hall to-night ; in plain words, that we ahead
hare had nu dinner to-day, as our excellent Lord Chamber-
hue has given permission that all the theatres may be apes
this week, except on Friday. To be sure, some of the (deify
hove striven with might sod male to make his lordship
reverse his decision, rod so deprive about 5,000 or 6,000
poor moo, worms, and children of their daily bread—
(bear, hear)—and when there was no sensible necessity for
It ; but (am happy to say his lordship has stood firmly
against this forty Larson power pressure. (Laughter and
chasm) Still, if the Haymarket had been opened this
evening, the treasurer of our food could out have been here,
the secretary might have been missiog, and you would have
fiend yourselves short of stewards to reword you of your
doustrous. However, bag before his lordship's permission
to open io Passion Week was scut to the Haymarket mesa-
pr a had decided to employ that tune us cleansing and
decorating the theatre, a praiser it required after four
years' couatant use, and preparatory to the opening of the
National Exhibition—so, as the clown says at Christmas,
"Here we are again." (Cheers.) But why the Chamber-
lain should have been called upon to withdraw his puma-
are., and compel the theatres %close, seem didlcult to un-
derstand. The shops are open, trade is going on, the lawyers
are talking in the law—(laughter)—courts, workpeople are
at work everywhere, the music halls are open, and you may
hear "Aunt Sally," though you may nut listen to Shahs-
pen or Sheridan. Thee why is the poor player to hold his
tongue! A certain philosopher has mid that if any one
set of men ought to go to heaven more thee soother it's
the needs, because, he argues, what fouls the poor fellows
are, what frights they undergo, what infamy they get,
and what ends they come to ; are they, he says, to have
within; fur all thin! Now I think if any class ought to be
made happy more than any other, it's the players. See
bow bishops, deans, and reverends are continually rising up
against no; recollect how we are to be sheet on Ash-
, Wednesday, or when any day of thanksgiving is appointed,
and on other occasions; think bow we are denounced
from; some of the sensation pulpits—laughterl—and by
persons who know nothing whatever about us ; think bow
we are sometimes bleed and are we to have DMA* fee
all this! I know wears often encouraged by your applause,
encouraged, too, by seeing you assemble ow such maim
as the present, and encouraged in may other ways. Tel
this meddling of the serious party with the amalgam%
of the people and the tolerant views of the Chamberlain
only reminds me of what a countninan nom mil la •
pleasant little village, where Mood the village pew,
when I asked him if they danced round the maypole there
now on Ilay.day. "We used to," was his reply, ' but it's
all been done away with by the clergy—they put it down."
What fur! I inquired. • Well, sir, he answered, " be-
cause they can't bear to me people enjoy themselves."
(Laughter.) Gentlemeo, amongst many other startling
aovelties that have moody appeared and set the public
thinking, from undeigrousil railways to iromplated
men-of-war, there is one novelty which if it am
net startledL us has imparted • *end surprise,
and that is, the novelty introduced at some
of our public dinners of having the ladies to din with us.
(Cheers.) I do not see why this novelty should not be
generally agreed to—(cheers)—and instead of the ladies
gazieg at us through opera games from the realms above—
' (laughter) —we should not have them by our sides here be-
low. The directors of our fund have not yet adopted the
meshy, but should the propriety of doing so ever be dis-
enies4 I for on shall give my vote in favour of it : for much