The Sun.
London, England, 1833-06-24 00:00:00

DRAMATIC INTELLIGENCE.

What will be the fate of the Dramatic Performances Bill
seems very uncertain; and the labours of the Committee—
which has been sitting upon it for the last three weeks--have
not improved its principle ; and, as we learn, hate very little
amended its details. A certain number of theatres are to be
positively licensed by the Bill, without any farther inquiry, or
the exercise of any discretion on the part of the Lord Cham-
berlain, or of the Home Department, to which it has been pro-
posed to transfer the superintendence of the drama. Nothing
can be more absurd than such an arrangement; which, with-
out even individual responsibility, must make the monopoly
hereafter closer than ever. We are sure that Mr. Bulwer has
done his best to resist such a plan, which has been forced upon
him by some of the wiseacres of the Committee, who know
just as much about the drama as they do of legislation. It is
mere folly for bodies of men to attempt to deal with such a
subject, and it would have been far better to have left it just
where it was—in the hands of the Lord Chamberlain. In that,
we believe, after all, it will end ; and the Duke of Devon.
shire will then have it in his power to exercise the natural
liberality of his disposition, which is now controled by the un-
certainty of the result of the present proceedings.
We apprehend there is very little probability that the peti-
tion to the King by the actors of Covent-garden, &c., for a
third patent theatre will be successful. If there were no other
reason against it, the Bill now in progress (progress ?) would
tend to defeat the application ; since the King may very fairly
reply, that he does not think it right to take any new measures
until he sees the result of the pending deliberations.
A number of dramatic authors dined on Saturday at the
Garrick's Head, in Bow-street, for the purpose of completing
their plan of compensation from country theatres, under the
Bill which has just passed the Legislature, and which con-
tains, although the fact is not generally known, a retrospec-
tive clause, applicable to pieces written during the last ten
years. It is a pity, instead of dining at the Garrick's Head,
that they are not able to dine at the Garrick Club : it ought to
be freely open to all authors of good reputation ; and the sort
of rule established in the body, that no more honorary mem-
bers than Sheridan Knowles and Fawcett shall be elected, ought
to be abrogated. This would materially tend to accomplish
the beneficial object for which the Club was expressly formed,
viz., to promote a union and co-operation of authors, actors,
and of all persons interested in the drama. The scale of re-
muneration to authors by managers in the pi ovinces who wish
to act their productions, has been fixed very low, in order to
give as little discouragement as possible : for a five-act comedy
or tragedy, 10s. per night is all that is required for the author,
while 7s. for a two-act piece, 4nd ss. for a one-act interlude is
considered at present a sufficient remuneration. Circulars to
this effect have been sent round by an agent appointed by the
authors generally; and in no principal town of the kingdom
can there be a moment's hesitation in complying with such
reasonable terms.

It gives us pleasure to find, that the recent success of the
performers at the Adelphi has enabled them to pay full sa-
laries to the whole company. The same remark, and very
nearly to the same extent, will apply to the Olympic, where
Knowles had so full a house for his benefit on Thursday, that,
when we went to witness the performance, we could gain ad.
mission into no part of the theatre. We were very glad to be
excluded on such an account.