The Sun.
London, England, 1858-03-30 00:00:00

Isoie AL (4:-,NER TIitAI'RIC,AL

Yesterday the 13th annivereery festival of the Geller.,
Theatrical Fund was he'd at the Freemason's Tavern—
W. M. Thackeray, E.q., in the chair. There was
very full attendanc of gentlemen interested profession-
ally and otherwise in the institution, and a number ni
ladies were also present. After the usual loyal and
patriotic toasts had been duly honoured,
The CIUIRMAN l'oBo to propose the toast of the even-
ing, and said—Having seldom, indeed only once before
in my life, been called on to fill the chair on an occasion
like this, and not possessing that happy genius and skill
in such matters which belong to a friend of mine not
very far from me (Mr. Dickens), I thought I could make
up for my deficiencies by previous assiduity and study ;
and I went through a long course of reading relative to
the drama, beginning with its very commencement, with
occasional slight ramifications into the history of the
Chinese and Turkish stage. (Laughter.) The com-
mencement of the drama, I find, was at a period about
570 or 550 years before the Christian era. It happened
at a time when one of the seven wise sages of Greece
flourished in Athens, and who was called Solon. He
was a man of great eminence in his time, and I have
introduced his name because I wished you to see how
assiduous I have been, and also with a view to your en•
joyment of the puzle which you will experience in won-
dering what the sage Solon has to do with the toast of
to-night. (Laughter.) Solon, being one of the greatest
persons in Athens, consented to witness a dramatic re-
presentation by Thespis, its discoverer, and who went
in a waggon—no doubt, a stage-waggon—(laughter)—
about a theatrical circuit. (Laughter.) Having witnessed
the performance, Solon sent fur Thespis, and having a
large stick in his hand, he said to him, "How dare you
tell such a parcel of lies !" Thespis remonstrated, and
said that his songs and interludes were not meant to be
taken as matters of fact, but were simply intended to
amuse. On which Solon thumped his stick on the ground
and said, " Begone ! A man who will tell such fibs on the
stage would forge a bill of exchange." (Laughter.) This
story is told in Plutarch's Life of Solon, and I never read
of his life after that. (Hear, and laughter.) What a nutn
ber of years have passed since Solon has been called to
hie rest, and poor Thespis has gone to his long account !
Every one present is aware how often a character on the
stage is acted over and over again, and though Solon and
Thespis are dead, their parts are still acted among us.
When your worthy treasurer was making that journey
of which he toll us on the occasion of one of the festi-
vals of this institution, with fourpence-halfpenny in
his pocket, provided with a little skimmed milk for
refreshment, and clothed in a printed calico waistcoat,
but with a cheerful heart under it—suppose that
Solon had overtaken him ; no doubt the sage would
have had as light an opinion of him—would have looked
down on him, and surveyed his calico waistcoat with
Solond
tr
uTtre
I.'3hueue contempt,
t.
rhrheeoame
matw(
yabise was
euf
awgblt to that
dideti
Solonle. earn.Tp et
pompous
pncTmero:cohapneari
ogds
aGurranswee personorahsmvslhumbug,
tsno:osnbdbrtbusteralheuani
ya,gmmdugtoossl
whfieennol
hgftgauohogunenohsyi
Solon,nahe
hcnwoveefeweusnrt
ahel
fBnyi :Dorn PkwOot
aeson.t
himself far above a wandering actor. There may be So-
lone who cannot appreciate music, because they have no
ear for it, and cannot tell the difference between "Water
parted from the Sea" and `the music in Ariadne."
(Laughter.) Let us then suppose that his indifference
proceeds only from his own dulness, and not from any
more uufavourable feeling. But because Solon is so wise
and virtuous, is there any reason why there shall be no
more cakes and ale No, despite of Solon'e gravity, all
y iuth any humour say we will have our sport ; Harle-
quin shall dance with Columbine, the Clown shall eat
his sausage, and Hamlet shall kill his wicked uncle, and
we will not be horrified at the transaction. (Laughter.)
Claude Melnotte shall still walk up and down with Pau-
line under the spangled heavens, and still adorned with
a pair of spangled tights, and we will have our sports
and our sports, despite of all the &ions, with sticks as
thick as a beadle's. (Hear, hear.) Perhaps, however,
when Solon comes to look at a society like this, and sees
how prudent and how generous you are disposed to be,
he will be inclined to have a greater respect for Thespis
in his cotton waistcoat than when he met him trudging
on the road. How proud all the members of this society
ought to be I She is not yet 20 years old, yet she has
saved 10,00001., and she has spent 9001. a-year in doing
good. She has relieved the orphan and the needy, and
taken to their last home the friendless poor ; and she
has done more than this, for she has enabled men who
never came to her, and who were never likely to come
to the society, to have the satisfaction of feeling
that there was such a place to come to if need
be. (Hear, hear.) The contributor& and' subscribers to
a society like this know that there is a bank on which
they can draw without shame, and I hope that we shall
soon hear of the increase of its funds, that its means of
usefulness have become known all over the kieiedorn,
and that it will have large receipts every year from such
members as recognise its admirable uses and efficiency.
There is no need to recommend the society to the pro-
fessional gentlemen present ; they know its excellence,
they have looked into it themselves, and they advocate
it among their brethren. As for us, who are visitors
to-night, we, from many a kindly association, must have
strong regard for the stage, fur we owe to it a multitude
of happy hours, and we will show our appreciation of it
to-night by most cordially drinking "Prosperity to the
General Theatrical Fund." (Loud cheers.)
Mr. BUCKSTONE then rose and said—Gentlemen, as
this is the 13th annual festival of the General Theatrical
Fund, and as for 13 years I have never been absent
from this celebration, except on one occasion, and hay-
ing therefore at 11 of these dinners risen to return
thanks for the toast you have this moment so greatly
honoured, you will perceive that for many years I have
been preaching from one text, and as this is now the
twelfth time that I rise to address you on the same
theme, you must not be surprised if thole is little variety
in my subject matter. (Cheers.) Paganini certainly
executed many extraordinary and various passages on
one string of his violin, but to continue for many years
to preach from one text is an exploit which, I think,
would somewhat puzzle even the Rev. Mr. Spurgeon.
(Laughter.) However, I will endeavour to be as varied
as possible, and state facts, and exhibit fancies, asclearly
as may be in my power, to the ladies and gentlemen
present. (Cheers.) I say ladies and gentlemen, be-
cause both are not only here to-night, but they are
placed according to the arrangement of a pious quadrille
—(laughter)—suggested by the rev. gentleman I have
alluded to—the ladies by themselves, and the gentle.
men by themselves ; though I have little doubt, if a
dance were to be proposed in the course of this evening,
that, in defiance of the plan of the preacher, we should
find that the ladies and gentlemen would speedily
amalgamate. (Applause and laughter.) In returning
thanks for your toast, gentlemen, I must arrange my die.
Course into four divisions—Firstly, to thank the chair-
man, and to say something about him ; secondly, to set
forth the purposes of our fund, the amount of money we
possess, and what we do with it ; thirdly, to appeal to
your sympathies, and use whatever powers I may possess
to call forth the generous feelings of your nature ;
fourthly, alai lastly, to thank you all, and make the
way easy for our worthy secretary when he audibly an-
nounces your liberal donations. Now, gentlemen, I thank
the chairman, and say something about him. Twelve
months ago, in this hall, Mr. Dickens announced that on
our anniversary festival this year the chair would be
taken by Mr. Thackeray ; the announcement was re-
ceived with the warmest expressions of satisfaction, and
though, when we reflect on the many chances against
life and health, it was a long time to look forward to
such an event, yet lam happy to say here it is. (Cheers.)
Here is our chairman, doing his utmost to benefit us,
and looking as hearty and stalwart as ever—(obeere)—
and that ho may long continue to look so must be the
sincere hope of every lover of honest and manly litera-
ture. With the knowledge twelve months beforehand
who was to be our chairman on this occasion, the com-
mittee of management was relieved from much anxiety ;
they had not to go from one celebrity to another to soli-
cit his services, as all was settled and if our beat friend
and faithful trustee, Mr. Dickens, could make a similar
announcement this evening, we should indeed feel de-
lighted and grateful. (Cheers.) But to our chairman,
gentlemen, and to our trustee present, the members of
the General Theatrical Fund point with emotions of
pride and pleasure, for to see such gentlemen honouring
us with their presence, pleading for us, and using all
their influence in our behalf, speaks more for the honest
purposes and soundness of our institution than all the
glowing prospectuses that ever were published of any
company of limited liability or otherwise. (Cheer:.)
When such readers of the human heart, such depicters of
human character, as the author of " Vanity Fair," and
the author of " The Pickwick Papers" can appear to-
gether at one table, to plead for any society whatever,
it is an unanswerable guarantee that such a society is
well deserving of your patronage and support; there-
fore, what must be the gratification of the friends and
members of our fund to-night to see its cause advocated
by the Smollett and the Fielding of the present age--
(applause).— though if you were to ask me which is the
Fielding and which is the Smollett I could only reply in
the words of the showman when asked by the little boys
peeping into his show, " Which was the lion and which
was the unicornr—l could only say, " Which ever you

Mr. CHARLES DICKENS, who was received with much
applause, next rose and said—ln oar theatrical expe-
rience as playgoers we are all equally accustomed to
predict by certain little signs and portents on the stage
what is going to happen there. When the young lady,
an admiral's daughter, is left alone to indulge in a short
:
we
g ht er. )
augur Whenaee n two
rr-
soliloquy, when certain smart spirit rappings are heard
to proceed immediately from beneath her feet, we fore-
tell that a song is impendinin
gw.ait(iLnga
gentlemen enter, for whom, by a happy coincidence, two
chairs, and no more, are
sation, and that it will assume a retrospective biographi-
cal character. (Laughter.) When any of the per-
formers who belong to the seafaring or marauding pro-
fessions are observed to arm themselves with very small
swords to which are attached very large hilts, we pre-
dict that the affair will end in a combat. (Laughter.)
Carrying out the association of ideas it may have oc-
curred to some that when I asked my old friend in the
chair to allow me to propose a toast I had him in my
eye ; and I have him now on my lips. (Laughter and
applause.) The duties of a trustee of the Theatrical
Fund, an office which I hold, are not so frequent or so
great as its privileges. He is in fact a mere walking
gentleman—(laughter)—with the melancholy difference
that he has no one to love. (Laughter.) If this advan-
tage could be ad 3ed to his character it would be one of
a more agreeable nature than it is, and his forlorn posi-
tion would be greatly improved. (Laughter.) His duty
is to call every half year at the bankers, when he signs
his name in a large greasy inconvenient book, to certain
documents of which be knows nothing, and then he de-
livers it to the property man and exits anywhere.
(Laughter.) He, however, has many privileges.
It is one of his privileges to watch the steady
growth of an institution in which he takes great
interest ; it is one of his privileges to bear
his testimony to the prudence, the goodness, the
self-denial and the excellence of a class of persons who
have been too long depreciated, and whose virtues are
too much denied, out of the depths of an ignorant and
stupid superstition. (Hear, bear.) And lastly, it is one of
his privileges sometimes to be called on to propose the
health of the chairman at the annual- dinners of the in-
stitution, when that chairman is one for whose genius he
entertains the warmest admiration and whom he respects
as a friend, and as one who does honour to literature
and in whom literature is honoured. (Loud cheers.) I
say when that is the case, he feels that this last privi-
lege is a great and high one. (Loud cheers,) From the
earliest days of this institution I have ventured to im-
press on its managers that they would consult its credit
and success by choosing its chairman as often as possible
within the circle of literature and the arts—(hear, hear)
—and I will venture to say that no similar institution
has shown itself as having been presided over by so many
remarkable and distinguished men. (Hear, bear.) lam
sure, however, that it never has had, and that it never
will have, simply because it cannot have, a greater lustre
cast upon it than by the presence of the noble Engli
writer who fills the chair tonight. (Great cheering.) It
is not far me at this time and in this place to take on
myself to flutter before you the well-thumbedpages of
Mr. Thackeray's books, and to tell youou
p take b
speaking
v eto
b
w
full they are of wit and wisdom, how
how devoid of fear or favour ; but I will
in paying my due homage and respect to them,
to say
that it is fitting that such a writer and such an
soelrnevag e o
remark, and
fiwnorrsitattielr awtoirroinfitecesthiooinnu,eld although
obifiQrgrohutghhheetmtaagyeniu
together. (Rear.)
the dramatic
(Rear.) Every
0 way
never write