The Sun.
London, England, 1824-11-03 00:00:00

FOR TIIE AUN.

PHILIPPE, THE ACTOR.

MR. EDITOR—On reading the late circumstance
respecting the Player whose corpse has been re-
fused admittance into the church by the Rector
of his Parish (who may have done no more than his
duty in refusing), I am both glad and sorry ;
glad that the Government is so much more firmly
established than when I was at Paris, just after
the second entrance of the late King into his
capital ; when not having recovered from his
fright, he did not think it expedient to resist the
clamours of the people for their favourite Actress
who had just died, and whose corpse was refused
in the same manner to be admitted, hut the re-
fusal was annulled by the Monarch and his Council,
who were put in consternation for an hour, while
every moment seemed big with another Revolu-
tion; and sorry, because it is a melancholy
proof, which I was before unwilling to believe,
of the deep-rooted intolerance and unrelenting
bigotry which still flourishes under every cir-
cumstance, and bursts forth whenever it has an
opportunity, to give a determined character the
most unchristian to every Catholic country, even
to France, whichis used to he less bigotted and less
intolerant than other Catholic countries—being
less dependent upon .the Pope, and stiling its
Monarch, Ilis Most Christian Mejesty.
No wonder, at this time of day, that a great
hue and cry should be raised upon an in-
cident like this, which reflects the greatest
discredit upon the want of toleration in a Chris-
tian country. Is not an individual instance
only, but part of the constitution inherent in the
nature of the Catholic Religion, denying Chris-
tian burialto any Comedian, however honourable
his character, either in public or in private. •I
shall not now enter into the merits of the case,
whether the Government of France bed a right
to interfere with the recent execution of the ge-
neral sentence against Philippe, who was lately
denied the common right of a Christian, merely
because he happens to. be a Player : but I would
only ask any reasonable man whether it is likely,
after such a treatment of one of their own country,
so acknowledged by the higher authorities, that
these same people should be more tolerant to
Protestants, and foreigners too, than we as a
Protestant country are to Catholics ? The argu-
ment has been successfully brought forward se-
veral times, in several papers, in favour of our
comparative toleration. I shall, therefore, only
bring to view a contrast ow the part of us Pro-
testants, with respect to the treatment which our
Players meet with in this country, from whence
that argument may derive fresh lustre, if light
indeed may he added to To a SUN, in which these
arguments have been urged.

;This difference is the more remarkable, as in
Catholic countries the people are generally more
attracted to the theatres, and live more in them
than we do. In Catholic countries, also, there
are more theatres in proportion to the population
than with us ; and all are under the cure, and
most of them in the pay of Govern►nent, who are
kind enough to provide for the amusement of their
people, and in order to keep them out of harm's
way, •send them, by every temptation, in the
company of actors of all descriptions, whom they
are taught by the Church to consider as repro.
bates.; nisi suppose of old the slaves were made
drunk in order to be a warning to the Spartan
youths against 90 contemptible a vice as drunken-
ness. These poor fellows, however honest and
good subjects 'they may be, are to be treated
worse than the women 'are, in the opinion of the
Turks who believe them to have no souls. They
are souls only to be condemned for everlasting,
us too impure to enter-into the Church, and enjoy
those funeral rites, without which it k the so.
perstition of priestcraft (as it was of old among
the heathens, unless certain ceremonies were per-
formed over the body) the spirit might wander
secula seculorum on this -aide the Styx. All
others who have gone through these purifying
rites, the Romish Church is ready to receive into
its bosom, whatever may be the state of their
souls, but of these they feel as much horror us
some men do of dead bodies, or event worse, be-
cense they.look upon them as delivered over to
eternal wrath. From this remnant of Catholic
bigotry, thank Heaven ! we have long ago reco.
vered. -

Humanity, in this as in most matters, has been
considered by us as the best policy ; and we feel
that to degrade the Player below his proper
sphere in society, is so far to degrade the public
taste of which the stage is at once the model and
criterion.

f'iVCll al/ tigu 43 -troy, Tyt, of 0 Sal
lebrated actress, was buried in Westminster
Abbey, where the Princes and most honourable
of the land are interred : she lay in state for two
days, and was as highly honoured .as if .she had
been one of the illustrious personages she had
been accustomed to represent. Her fall had the
'honour to be supported by six persons of the first
distinction, and the Dean himself buried her.;
and yet this Player, to whom so much honour
was done, appears not to have been the excellent
character which Philippe is said to have been : at
least she was .prodigal to a degree, carrying
luxury and extravagance of every sort to the
highest pitch ; and so far from pure sentiments of
humility and those virtues, which are supposed to
attend upon the office of confession, especially at
the last hour when she was in the agony of death,
she bud the hardihood and vanity to exclaim—
(4 What horror ! to be wrapt in a coarse woollen
sheet! for Heaven's sake, bring rne my own dear
lace and finest linen, which may give a sort of life
to this body even while it is dying—at least give
me my rouge. I can't bear the Idea of being plain
deed."
and ugly even after I am