The Sun.
London, England, 1864-04-30 00:00:00

Stratford•on-Avon Tercentenary Festival,

STRATFORD-ON-AVON, Friday Evening.
After the victory; one of the first cares should be
to count the cost. It is a trite story that
After length of time, the labouring swains,
Who turn the turfs of the unhappy plains,
Shall rusty piles from the ploughed furrows take,
And over empty helmets pass the rake.
And now that the Stratford battle against luke-
warmness, hostility, and local and other jealousies
has been fairly won, it is worth while asking how
its rank and file have fared. The generalissimos of
the forces—the guarantors and committeemen—are
proudly wearing the laurels they have so worthily
achieved, and may throw the victorious cry, " --
thousand pounds already paid into the bank," in
the teeth of their hostile critics and censorious
friends. They can bear a good deal of "damning
with faint praise" with philosophic equanimity, for
they have not the pleasantest of material assurances
that they have fought the good fight, and that a
substantial gnerdon is theirs' But, as it would
have puzzled Cellini himself to devise a medal
which should have no reverse, so there is another
side to this picture of the festival, whereon it is
necessary to briefly descant. The immense physical
and mentel strain borne by the active promoters of
the festival, the plaintive confession—a confession
made in no Banting-like spirit of self-glorification,
but told as a solemn truth—of one of these gentle-
men, that he has "lost a stone and a half" during
the six months he has been smoothing away the
difficulties and combating the obstacles wherewith
the tercentenary was beset, represents but a small
item in the cost of its success. " Larding the lean
earth" may not be particularly satisfactory, but it
has in it a smack of self-immolation and heroic
sacrifice which, like virtue, should be its own
reward. It is the poor camp followers, the sutlers,
the men-at-arms, the troopers, and th© subalterns,
who are now experiencing all the miseries of defeat,
without having even tasted the excitement of war-
fare. The people who looked for ward to making a
year's rent by a
week's letting, and who sapiently
took the first step in the coveted direction, by
frightening away all moderate people by the esor
bitauce of their demands; the purveyors of food,
who, trooping in from the neighbouring towns,
submitted, like the fag at Eton, to be punished
pecuniarily by the owners of houses with a touching
faith that they would be able to punish the public
in their turn ; the speculators its sleeping accommo-
dation, who brought up at heavy prices every avail-
able bed, in their artless eagerness to supply "tired
nature's sweet restorer" at festival prices—here are
all these ! When Becky Sharp sickened of the vanity
and emptiness of life, the three per cents. were the
securities wherein her weary soul longs for anchor-
age; and many worthy people, tired, possibly, of the
endlesss discussions as to the authenticity of a pie.
tore, on the reading
of a passage, hare sought a
solace from the puzzles of critics, and the squabbles
of commentators, in the pounds, shillings, and
pruce to be extorted from the people less practical
than themselves. "Drink, weary pilgrim, drink
and pay," was the line suggested by Sir Walter Scott
to the tavern-keeper who enlarged his house on the
strength of the vast number of English tourists
who flocked to the scenes described in Marmion ;
and " eat, drink, or sleep, weary Shaksperian pil-
grims, at your pleasure, but above all pay," was in
the outset the dominant sentiment hero. As a
matter of course, this policy has defeated itself, and
there have been severe losses and hard hits. Twenty
pounds paid for an eating-house for the week,
.ind not twenty shillings taken on the first dey ;
more pounds than it would be safe to quote,
paid for a large furnished mansion, and a maxi-
mum number of four tenants occupying its vasty
space ; a deserted tavern spruced up and furnished
for the nonce to receive an amount of patron-
age which will not pay for the hire of the
chattels wherein it is sparsely and cheaply
decked out sleeping-rooms duly contracted
for in outlying villages undeviatingly empty
and desolate; such are the returns of killed and
wounded which are rapidly coming in. The cal-

loquialism " they opened their mouths too wide,"
expresses the feeling of all but the sufferers them-
selves, and however proud corporate Stratford has
cause to be of the doings of the past week, there is
a substratum of bitter disappointment pervading
what is foolishly termed " the lower middle class."
Leamington, Warwick, and Birmingham have each
held their quota of visitors, who preferred the dis-
comfort of a nightly railway ride to paying as ex-
tensively through the nose as some of their commer-
cially minded caterers would have wished. As
already stated, the actual prices have not been exor-
bitant, but the error was seen too late, the British
public had taken alarm, and the result is heavy
losses, and consequent lamentations and woe. On
Monday next Bottom the weaver, Snug the joiner,
Flute the bellows-mender, Starveling the tailor, and
Snout the tinker, are to hold their festival, and in
a grand street pageant will give the managers of the
Tercentenary a practical lesson as to how matters
should be arranged "to do good to the town." The
" black country" will, these ardent and d'sinterested
Shaksperians argu?, furnish forth a more "paying
band" of pilgrims than the people who have filled
the Pavilion, and as the popular entertainments
provided by the committee are well arranged, as the
prices of admission range from one shilling to
three, and as they are placed under the able super•
intendence and control of Mr. Creswick, it is very
possible that, as far as mere numbers are concerned,
the town will have an even larger tribute during
the next three days than it has enjoyed since the
commencement of the festival.

Although the attendance-at the Pavilion last
night was not quite so large as on the preceding
one, the room was well filled, and contained
more well-known London faces than at any
former time. "As You Like It" was the only
piece played, and Mrs, Hermann Vezin in Rosalind
was so witty, graceful, and arch, as to compel
many an old playgoer to compare her, not un-
favourably, with Mrs. Nisbett. It was whispered
that this was the character selected by Mrs. H.
Vezin on her first appearance on the stage, and it
would bo difficult to name one more peculiarly
adapted to her powers. Should there have any
critic present who has at times thought her harsh
or stagy, he must have z ecanted his opinion on hear-
ing her Rosalind last night. Mr. Creswick in
Jaques, was sonorous, impressive, and discriminat-
ing, the " all the world's a stage" gaining more
than its customary applause ; Mr. Compton as
Touchstone was as purely Shaksperian and quaintly
humorous as only Mr. Compton knows how to be ;
while Miss Charlotte Saunders in Audrey, was so
uniformly funny, so exactly the country wench
whom Shakspere drew, as to be frequently inter-
rupted by the loud laughter and applause of the
house. When Mr. Keeley took up his position in
the front row of the stalls, and the in-
telligence was buzzed about the room that
the veteran comedian was present, it was coupled
with many a regret that the state of Mrs Keeley's
health had 'unhappily prevented her appearing in
this character as originally arranged, and had the
part of Audrey had a less thorough efficient repre-
sentative than Miss Charlotte Saunders, those regrets
would have seriously impaired the enjoyment of the
audience. As it was all went well, the clergy, who
have been more and more extensively represented at
each performance, and who have applauded with
such a hearty appreciation of Shakspere'a text as
would have surely mollified even the stupid fanatics,
who are crying aloud in the streets, expressed their
approbation as warmly as over, and it was remarked
that the audience of last night, either grown more
confident in its own judgment, or heartier through
the knowledge that this was the last of the great
dramatic nights of the festival, was louder and more
demonstrative than at any preceding representation.
The weil•known epilogue, in uttering which poor
Peg Woffington was smitten with the para!ysis from
which she slowly died, Ns as given by Mrs. Young
amid the breathless silence of the house, was
greeted at its close by a loud and continued burst
of applause, which lasted long after the curtain fell,
and was followed by cries for Rosalind, which were
only appeased on Mr. Compton (who with Mies
Saunders received a special ovation) coming forward
and apologising for Mrs. Charles Young's not b.ing
able at that moment to come forward to express her
thanks.

This retuning the music-stands for the instru-
mentalists of to-night were being rapidly put upon
the stage ; the seats in the body of the hall were
removed, En d the entire aspect of the room was
that of a theatre swept and garnished for a prome-
nade concert; committee-men were busily confer-
ring as to tickets and the all-important question of
vouchers ; carriages were rapidly driving to and
fro the High•street, stopping at such shops as either
vend the materials for faucy dresses, or let on hire
the ready-made costumes ; Mr. May, of the Hay-
market Theatre, wits busily arranging his multi-
farious wardrobes, and giving intending masquers
their choice between the Touchstone, Amiens, the
banished duke of last night, and an endless variety
of Shaksperian dresses ; and if premonitory symp-
toms be worth anything at all, the ball of to-night
will be a crowning point to the other successes of
the week. When the excellence of the business
arrangements of the festival has been proverbial;
when the most fastidious and lynx-eyed have faiied
to detect weak joints in the armour; and when the
Earl of Carlisle himself, after alluding to his large
experience of public celebrations, took occasion
to specially compliment the managers of the Ter-
centenary upon the admirable nature of the pre■
parations made, it is only right to say that to,
the untiring efforts of Dr. Henry Kingsley.
the honorary secretary to the committee, and Mr. J
Sharp, his working coadjutor, the visitors to Strat-
ford have been largely indebted for the complete
comfort with which they have been able to enjoy
the entertainments provided. In all affairs of such
magnitude as this festival it is obvious that upon
the shoulders of those entrusted with its adminis-
trative details rests the power of making or marr-
ing its success. In all the little difficulties and
emergencies inseparable from undertakings of the
kind the energy and courtesy of Dr. Kingsley, and
the minute and painstaking attention of Mr. Sharp,
have been as constant and unwearying as their
dntiea have been herculean and laborious, and it is
not too much to say that to their undeviating and
consistent devotion to the cause, conjoined with the
equally untiring and ever courteous efforts of the
Mayor, end the vicar, the Rev. G. Granville, Strat-
ford is indebted for much of the triumph it is en.
joying, as well as the repute it has won.

Persons in debt may obtain instant protection against
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to Messrs. Marshall, solio.tors of the Court of Bankruptcy.
Charges under £5 payable by easy instalments. Offices—
(established 1830),1'2, Hatton-garden. City branch—o. Moor-
gate-street, Bank—AnvT.

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