The Sun.
London, England, 1848-12-27 00:00:00

5,470

•actEr,

THE SUN,

THEATRICALS AT WINDSOR.
It must be truly gratifying to every lover of Eng-
lish dramatic literature to find her Majesty the Queen
and the Prince Consort extending their ever conside-
rate and liberal suppimt in aid of a positive revival of
those rich harvests of public enjoyment, culture, and i
delight which were wont to prove so abundant in
b 3 gone days of the genuine produce of the English
stage. With this view her Majesty has commanded
five theatrical performances at Windsor, in the en -
suing Christmas vacation, during the time the Court
remains there. An elegant and commodious theatre
has been prepared for this especial purpose, and the
actors engaged comprise a majority of the most
gifted performers of the day. A more judicious or
a more gratifying measure on the part of our
most gracious Sovereign the Queen and the Prince
Consort, one more truly national and acceptable to
a hrge and intellectual portion of her Majesty's
loyal subjects, ci nnot be well imagined; whilst, at
the same time, it affords an especial recognition by
the Queen of the claims of the British drama
and of native British talent to her Majesty's patronage
and protection; and we are hence encouraged to hope
that the day is cot far distant when the genuine Eng-
li:ll stage will again spring up and flouris.ll with fresh
vigour, arid become, as everything in this country
must become under her Majesty's fostering care, and
that under the patronage of indisputably the most
correct and blameless Court in Europe, it must be
-;derably raised in its moral and intellectual cha-
. Yes, the genius of Garrick, of Barry, Mack-
, and Palmer—the commanding and exalted spirits
of a Siddons, the Kembles, and a Kean—the ever
bewitching and faithful powers of an Emery, a Dow-
ton, or a Munden, together with the dramatic excel-
lence of a host of other great civilisers of their age,
may yet re-appear amongst us, and, " hold as t'were
the mirror up to Nature—to show Virtue her own
feature, Scorn her own image, and the very age and
body of the Time his form and pressure."
It is not that we really lack great dramatic talent,
we rather fail in the demand for it, and in the means
of drawing it forth by fair and legitimate public sup-
port. A judicious patronage of the English stage,
both by the higher and more influential classes of
society, and the public at large, could not fail to
place the drama in this country in that distinguished
position to which it is fairly entitled, more especially
if so directed as not to serve the immediate purposes
of particular actors or actresses, but to be employed
in.raising the character of their profession in public
estimation. This, the greatest point of all to be ob-
tained in the revival of the genuine English stage,
would induce highly-gifted persons, who now shrink
from embanking in the muddy and troubled waters
of a theatrical life, to enlist their talents in the
service of the drama, no longer feeling it a de-
gradation to pursue dramatic representation as a
valuable and respectable profession. For the
beneficial influence of the drama itself on the mass
of the people we have no fear. Assure dly there is no
channel of public culture and instruction so all-
powerful as the stage—we, of course, except the
purely religious instruction of the people, which we
do not profess to treat of here. Let those who are
entrusted with the care of the public morals look to
the " Drama's patrons," and the legitimate English
drama will yield no invaluable harvest. The vast in-
telligence of our immortal Shakspere, always directed
in the right path, whether moral, political, or religi-
ous, and the force of other great dramatic writers,
will be heard in irresistible appeals to the moralists
to supply antidotes for those actual vices which on
the stage are only imitated in order to hold them up
`o universal condemnation. "Yeluti in speculum."
" To wake the soul by tender strokes of Art,
To raise the genius and to mend the heart ;
To make mankind in conscious virtue bold,
Live o'er each scene and be what they behold;
For this the tragic muse first trod the stage."

Seeing then, in this gracious command of her
Majesty, who the "Drama's patrons" are, and the
impetus they will necessarily give to the British
public in support of a vi ell- ordered English stage,
we must again repeat that we look on this command
of her Majesty to supply regular dramatic perform-
ances at Windsor during the ensuing Christmas
vacation, as one of the most important civil measures
emanating from the Sovereign of England for very
many years; inasmuch as it is likely to lead to a
vast and beneficial influence upon the moral and in-
tellectual culture of the mass of the people.
" The apt use of a theatre (says one of our highest
moralists) is the most agreeable and easy method of
making a polite and moral gentry, which must end
in
rendering the rest of the people n gular in their be-
haviour, and ambitious of laudable undertakings."
That her Majesty is fully entitled to an occa-
sional enjoyment of private intellectual amusement of
this kind, no one can deny, the drama being an
equally refined pursuit with music or any other high
class of art; the time, moreover, is admirably chosen,
and most in opitious, since, the Court being absent
from London, no immediate or depressing influence
can thereby possibly arise to any public theatre or
other place of amusement in the metropolis; nor has
less judgment been evinced in the choice made of Mr.
Charles Kean to conduct these representations. Be-
sides being an Eton scholar and a gentleman of en-
gaging and conciliating manners, he is eminently qua-
lified by his dramatic learning and theatrical talents
to raise the depressed state of the English stage. Mr.
Charles Kean may, without fear of contradiction,
be now considered as almost the sole representative
of some of the most powerful characters in the Eng-
lish drama. His Shylock, Hamlet, Sir Giles Over-
reach, and Richard are at present without any
parallel for dramatic excellence and truth. It is
enough to witness the Shylock of Mr. Charles Kean
to perceive that his dramatic conceptiohs are of the
very highestorder. The almost unprecedented success
of his Hamlet, at Drury-lane, in 1838, and the sensa-
tion it created, will not be easily forgotten by those
who frequented the London theatres at that time. It
was played twelve successive nights to crowded houses,
ensuring to the manager a receipt of nearly 4,0001., and
effectually stamped Mr. Charles Kean as a great
master of his art. Of Mrs. C. Kean it is almost super-
fluous to speak—our object not being particularly
directed to personal criticisms—yet it must be al-
lowed that never since the days of Mrs. Siddons or
Miss O'Neill has any acting more true, touching, or
perfect been found in English dramatic representa-
tion, nor has the English stage been enriched with a
brighter treasure. It would be invidious were we
not to acknowledge the eminent talent of the other
performers engaged in this service to her Majesty—
amongst these are to be found the ever-fresh, exqui-
site, and rich comic excellence of Mrs. Keeley, the
inimitable powers of Charles Mathews, Meadows,
Farren, and of little Keeley himself, the sunshiny Har-
ley and quaint Buckstone, together with other highly-
talented professional actors, whose exertions will,
we feel assured, be actively and perfectly applied in
calling forth into life the several characters committed
to their care. The pieces selected on this occasion
are as follows :
Dec. 28—The Merchant of 'Venice. Jan. 4
Used up; and Box and Cox. Jan. 11—Hamlet.
Jan. 18 —The Stranger; with Twice Killed. Jan.
25—The Housekeeper; with Sweethearts and Wives.
We contemplate a rich and highly- intellectual treat
to be afforded to her Majesty and the Court by these
several performances; and we trust they may lead—
as we have no doubt they will—to a further and con-
tinued patronage of the legitimate English drama,
which we look forward to see ultimately re-established
in all its native vigour, and in all the moral worth of
which it is susceptible.—Herald.

COURT CIRCULAR.

WINDSOR, TUESDAY.

The Queen and Prince, and younger branches of
the Royal Family, walked this morning in the Little
Park.
The Marquis of Breadalbane, the Earl and Countess
Grey, and the Earl of Liverpool, are expected to
arrive at the Castle this afternoon, on a visit to her
Majesty and his Royal Highness.
Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent. and
her Royal Highness's Ladies in Waiting, and Sir
George Couper, are included in the royal dinner
party this day.
The Queen's private band attended on Saturday in
the Castle, and performed the following pieces :
Overture
Selection—" La Fille du Regiment" Donizetti.
March—" Faust"
Glee—" The Red Cross Knight" Calcott.
Senderlinge Walzer
Her Majesty's private band performed yesterday :
Overture—" Joseph" Mehul.
Selection—" J05eph"........... . Mehul,
Quartetto, No. 1 (two violins, viola,
and violoncello : Messrs. Stainton,
Nickel, Hill, and H. Chipp).....
March—" Athalie".