The Sun.
London, England, 1865-04-24 00:00:00

The Royal Dramatic College.

A very interesting gathering of the leading members of the
theatrical profession and others connected with the drama
took place on Saturday, at the Royal Dramatic College,
Maybury, near Woking, for the purpose of holding the first
anniversary dinner in commemoration of the birth of Shak-
spere, under the will of the late T. P. Cooke, his natal day
also falling on the 23d of April. That date falling this

year on Sunday, it necessarily had to be anticipated by a
day, so as to permit the full enjoyment of the festival pro-
vided by the donor, who for that purpose left a legacy of
£l,OOO, the interest of which was to be applied to defray
the expense of the entertainment, of which, by a clause in
the will, the pensioners were also to be partakers.
Mr. Benjamin Webster, the Master, presided. There were
present about 120 gentlemen, the majority of whom were
well known in the musical and theatrical world. Mr.
Keeley sat on the left of the Master, and on the right was
Mr. Cumming, the son-in-law of the late Mr. T. P. Cooke.
Near them were seated Mr. Buckstone, Mr. Creswick,
Mr. Paul Bedford, Mr. J. Toole, Mr. J. Robins, Mr. J.
Cooper, Mr. Anson, Mr. Nelson Lee, Mr. Wellington Val-
lance, Mr. Sams, Mr. Gruneisen, Mr. Barnard, Mr. Thomp-
son, and others. The dinner took place in the centmlhall,
a fine gothic apartment, the walls of which are already
covered to a considerable extent by oil paintings, water-
colour drawings, portraits, and prints, more or less con-
nected with the theatrical profession, the gifts of charitable
donors. Among the company were the residents of the
college, the " worn-out actors and actresses," for whose
benefit the college had been established, and some of them
received a hearty shake of the hand from some of the elder
members of the profession who had known them in days
long gone by, when they had taken an active part in the
business of the stage. They were looking hale and'hearty,
and, judging from appearances, would yet live long to en-
joy the provision made for the comfort of their declining
years.

The MASTER, in proposing the first toast, that of " The
Queen," said—The bead and the gems in our glass, the wine
that sparkles within, are not more cheering to the eye and
to the palate than the name of our gracious Queen is to the
heart of every Englishman. (Cheers.) Cleopatra's pearl
could not be drunk with greater pride than we drink to that
model of her sex, the mother of her people, and a loving wife.
(Cheers.) God give her the courage to come among us once
again to receive the ovation she so richly deserves.
(Cheers.) She was one of the first to generously help the
erection of this college with the munificent sum of £lOO ;
and her noble Consort laid the foundation stone of this
building with an earnest hope for its prosperity, and the
strongest expression for its future. (Cheers.)
The toast was drunk with hearty demonstrations of
loyalty, and was followed by the National Anthem.
The next toast was " The Prince of Wales, the Patron of
the Royal Dramatic College, and the rest of the Royal
Family," in proposing which the MASTER said—His Royal
Highness the Prince of Wales, patron of the Royal Dramatic
College, is full of English life and English feeling. He loves
the rational amusement of the drama, an example I hope his
future subjects will follow. Thank Heaven it is inborn, and
I have reason to believe he will practically show his hearty
interest in this institution as its patron, and carry out his
noble-minded father's intentions. He is the expectancy and
fair rose—or rather he is the expectancy, and his charming
Princess the fair rose of the State. (Cheers.)
The MASTER next gave, as required by the will of Mr. T.
P. Cooke, "The Memory of the Immortal Bard Shakspere."
Mr. WEBSTER said—Gentlemen, under the will of Mr. T.
P. Cooke, the first glass of wine after the routino toasts is
to be drunk or drained " To the Memory of the Immortal
Bard Shakspere." Any attempt to urge you to honour the
memory of the immortal poet would be impertinence upon
my part; but you must allow the poor player to express his
gratitude to the mind of him who imagined these wondrous
characters,clothed in sucninparalleled language, which aro
the life and soul of histrionic art. (Cheers.) Shakspere car-
ried the dramatic art under Elizabeth and James to a degree
of splendour that has never been surpassed. Though a
pleiad of great authors—Jonson, Massinger, Rowe, and
Webster—were his egntemporaries, the dazzling sun of the
great dramatist, which rendered lustrous the end of the
16th century, and the beginning of the 17th, had absorbed
in his rays the eclat of the stars which gravitated around
him, though some in passages were scarcely inferior when
perused and studied. Ben Jonson alone has appeared, in
some sort, to have escaped from this eclipse ; but if he was
cited, or quoted, or read, it was loss to render a merited
homage to the vigorous painter of the manners and vices of
his times, than for the sake of contrasting his rude talents
and his humours with the genius of his rival, and to
draw from this comparison a now subject of glorification,
all to the advantage of the [gentle Shakspere. (Cheers.)
His works alone, by the abundance of composition, the dis-
tinction of tone, the vigour of style, and the free render-
ing, are eloquent protestations against the bloodless and
pale abstractions of those who would cavil at the drama
and the stage. (Cheers.) Two of our bishops have, to their
honour, in the pulpit made Shakspere their theme of elo-
quence ; andnothing has been more pleasing tome thantho
lately published part of a lecture of that renowned Roman
Churchman Cardinal Wiseman—(cheers)-who, in the lone-
liness of hours beneath an Italian sky, amidst the fragrance
of orange flowers and the murmuring of sparkling streams,
dwelt upon the words and thoughts of Shakspere with the
unmeasured delight of a highly
accomplished mind. He
elevates him far, far above all other poets, and places him
on a level with Homer and Dante as the former of his lan-
guage in its most beautiful qualities, and that no change
can ever push from this round and top of sovereignty.
Leslie, the great painter, conceived that Shakspere's cha-
racters are as beautifully defined, and stand out from the
canvass as clearly as those majestic figures of the prophets
and;sybils of Michael Angelo. How justly proud must every
Englishman, then, feel that he is the countryman of Shak-
spere, whose words axe instruction and gratified wonder to
the educated, and fall from the exponents of his poesy like
manna in the wilderness to the uneducated, each rising from
the perusal or the representation a wiser and better man.
Let those noble editions of his works be accessible to all,
and these monuments of paper will outlast all the statues
in marble or in bronze. (Cheers.)
The company having drunk to the memory of Shak-
spere, the fine glee, " The Cloud-capped Towers," as ar-
ranged by Stevens,
Hersee, Mr. Fielding, Mr. Montem Smith, Mr. Ringsbury,
and Mr. Lawler. was admirably sung by Miss Rose

The MASTER then said—My next duty is one which I rise
to perform with considerable emotion—it is to give you a
toast To the Memory of Mr. T. P. Cooke." He was one of
my earliest instructors. In youth I earned his goodwill
and retained his friendship in after life. One of his most
intimate friends, Mr. Lane, is present with us, and he will be
better able to speak of the toast than myself, and I have
much pleasure in calling upon Mr. Lane for that purpose.
Mr. LANE, in obedience to this request, said—Mr. Master
and Gentlemen,—l hope that the memorial which we cele-
brate to-day will grow in interest with the return of each
anniversary. We meet in fulfilment of the intention of a
e mory
moved. ( Ch
Te .
(Cheers.)
ps
distinguished actor, a good man, and a dear friend, to do
h
? Cooke to take advantage
It was a genial and a
generouson
of "the accident of his birth," for the sake of hinging for-
ward, periodically, the claims of the Royal Dramatic
our t o
motive his
that
College, to which, in life, he did good service, and the cause
of which he thoughtfully advocated when he came to make
his will. Now, first, for the birthday of the great poet.
As the literature of the stage is the glory of our country, so
is the name of Shakspere the glory of every nation under
heaven, while, as Englishmen, we alone have unstinted
enjoyment of what " Rare Ben jonson " calls
"His well joined and true filed lines,
In each of which he seems to shake a lance,
As brandished at the eyes of ignorance."
Then, there is, you know, another happy accident associated
with the birth of our British sailor—the launch of the good
ship St. George, whose wooden walls and hempen tackle he
lived to see give place to iron sides and twisted wire. He
did not like it and could not help it. Let me speak of him
as a player, as a gentleman, and in tho relations of social
life. On the stage he always spoke from the heart, and so
never failed to reach the hearts of his audience. While as
"the well-graced actor," he often furnished, in graceful
and classical action, an admirable model for the sculptor
and the painter. In his homo, every one who knew him
was impressed with the character of his domestic life; while
in general society ho did honour to the profession that he
loved, and wherever he went he took with him the best of
courtesy and good breeding. Now let us get a little closer
to him. Like Polonius, " he had one fair daughter, and no
more ; the Which he loved passing well." But, unlike Po-
lonius, he lived to see her mated. It would ill become me
to enlargb upon the unspeakable blessing to him of that
marriage, or on the delight with which we saw him with
his grandchildren on his knee, and little T. P. Cooke Cum-
ming old enough to love him dearly and to mourn his lbss.
With reference to his grandson, as well as to his daughter,
we may fairly quote again from Ben Jonson's lines—

"Look how the father's face --
Lives in his issue."
I hope, Mr. Master, that we May be permitted to look for-

ward to the presence in this ball, actually and bodily, of
Mr. Hugh Cumming. (Cheers.)
The MASTER then read the portions of the will of the late
Mr. Cooke which had a more direct bearing on the occasion
of the present anniversary. The extract was as follows :
"Now I give the sum of Two Thousand Pounds New
Three Pounds per Cent. Annuities part of a larger amount of
such annuities standing in my name in the Bank books to
the Master Deputy-Master and Wardens of the Royal Dra-
matic College to be held by them and their successors for the
time being in perpetuity for giving a prize for tho best drama
on a nautical or a national subject to be called ' T. P. Cooke's
Nautical or National Dramatic Prize' and to be competedfor
on the terms and conditions hereinafter mentioned. And I
direct that such my bequest and intention shall be carried
out in the following manner videlicet the interest of the fund
shall be invested in like annuities and accumulated for succes-
sive periods of two or three years (in the discretion of the said
Master,Deputy-Master, and Wardens of the said Royal Dra-
matic College) as from the time of my decease and at the
end of each such period this accumulation shall be awarded
as a prize to the author of the best drama on any nautical
or national object. The piece then to be sold, or disposed of
at the best and most eligible offer from the manager of any
metropolitan or provincial theatre or licences for represen-
tation thereof to be granted upon such terms as the Master,
Deputy-Master, and Wardens of the said Royal Dramatic
College may think fit. The copyright thereof to be always
retained as the property of the College and the profits aris-
ing from the sale licences or disposal of the piece to be re-
ceived and held by the Master Deputy-Master and Wardens
of the College to be applied by them ion the general pur-
poses of the Institution And judging from the profits of
some of the pieces in which I have myself been engaged as
the ' Pilot' The Red Rover' The Flying Dutchman' and
' My Poll and my Partner Joe' and 'Black-eyed Susan' some
of which had a run of two hundred and fifty successive
nights and even calculating on moderate success without
taking into account the chance of 'an immense hit' on a nau-
tical or popular subject or favourite actor or a fortunate cast
the pecuniary results to-the funds of the College I should
hope would be considerable irrespective of what may arise
from the copyright from provincial acting and other sources
And I hereby direct that the terms and conditions upon
which the said prize shall be competed for shall be as fol-
lows Each candidate or author shall on or before the Ist of
January in each year in which a prize shall be given send
in to the Master of the Royal Dramatic College his workor
drama under a sealed cover which cover shall bear some
motto or inscription and his name and address under
another sealed cover bearing the same motto or inscrip-
tion and no cover containing a name and address shall be
opened except the one bearing the same motto or in-
scription as the cover of the work or drama to which the
prize shall have been adjudged the successful candidate or
author shall assign or make over to the College all his inte-
rest in the copyright of his prize work or drama. And for
the purpose of determining the work or drama to which the
prize shall be adjudged some disinterested'person of compe-
tent taste and judgment shall be chosen by the Master
Deputy Master and Wardens of the said College to select the
six best pieces offered for competition and those six selected
pieces shall be read to a Committee of the College to be
chosen by the said Master Deputy Master and Wardens and
such committee shall determine and award the prize. And
as a mode of giving publicity to the scheme and inducing
authors to compete I would suggest to the Master Deputy
Master and Wardens of the said College (but without im-
posing any obligation upon them in this particular not
wishing to interfere in any way to control the wise and
wholesome discretion these gentlemen will I feel certain
exercise in the trust reposed in them) that advertisements
should be published in such newspapers or otherwise in such
manner and at such times as they shall think proper (the
expenses of such advertisements to be defrayed out of the
dividends of the said prize fund)intimating that every two
or three years (as may be) a prize would be offered for a
prize drama' in accordance with this gift And in the same
spirit I would likewise suggest and express a wish that for
the more effectually carrying into operation my intentions
.on the twenty-third day of April in each year which is the
birthday of our immortal dramatic.poet Shakspere and
which is my own natal day also a public holiday or treat
should be given to the pensioners of the College for the
ac eulue
sr al t idoi nu
uoe fr thiso
udl a A
dy
be
epnrd thatovfded ontn
tthh oc
eis
hall
soio an
fn
the
College at which the Master Wardens and Members of the
Council should preside and to which the whole of the
pensioners and any supporters and patrons of the drama
and well-wishers to the College and such members of my
family as shall be living and the trustees for the time being
of my will (if any) shall be invited And that after the toast
of the day ' To the memory of the immortal bard Shak-
spore' shall have been duly honoured the terms and condi-
tions of this my gift shall be read and in every year in
which a prize shall in pursuance of, my gift for that purpose
hereinbefore contained be given an announcement made of
the name of the successful candidate the title of the piece
and the theatre at which it is to be acted and a statement
of the funds which may have arisen from or in consequence
of this my gift and of the application thereof And for pro-
viding a fund for defraying the expense of this entertain-
ment I give the further sum of One Thousand Pounds New
Three Pounds per Cent Annuities further part of the afore-
said larger amount of like annuities standieg in my name
in the Bank books as aforesaid to the Master Deputy Master
and Wardens of the said College to be held by them and
their successors for the time being In trust to apply the
dividends thereof for this purpose."

The memory of Mr. T. P.Cooke was then duly honoured
by the company, after which Mr. Paul Bedford sang with
his accustomed feeling Dibdin's fine old song of ,4 Tom
Bowling," which, it is scarcely necessary to say, was most
heartily cheered.

Mr. WEBSTER next announced 'that he had received a
parcel which was directed to be opened only after the toast
of the evening. On opening the parcel it was found to con-
tain the medal presented by the actors and actresses of
Covent-garden Theatre to David Garrick nearly a century
since.

Mr. ROBERT BELL proposed the " Drama.," which was re-
sponded to by Mr. CRESWICK.

Mr. BUCKINGIiA.M gave the " Dramatic College, and
Health to the Pensioners," which was briefly acknowledged
by Mr. CAMPBELL, one of the pensioners.
Tho healths of the Master and other officers of the charity
were drunk, and it was announced that a few gentlemen had
agreed to provide the funds for filling in the windows of the
central hall of the college with coloured glass.