The Sun.
London, England, 1859-03-28 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, MARCH 28, 1859.

India Office, 25th March, 1859.
THE SECRETARY of STATE for INDIA, in
COUNCIL, HEREBY GIVES NOTICE, That on and
after the Ist May next, Promissory Notes of the Indian
Loans, which have been enfaced for payment of interest in
London, by drafts on India, may be registered in Books to be
opened in this Office, so as to admit of the sale and transfetpf
the whole, or any portion of such property, in even hundreds
of rupees. When holders may desire again to receive their
interest in India, a certificate of the amount standing in such
register will be given to them, to be exchanged in Calcutta
for promissory notes as before.
This notification is not intended in any way to interfere
with the essential conditions of the several loans.
J. COSMO MELVILL.

THE LONDON.—the attention of Clergymen,
Officers, and 'Professional Gentlemen, is especially
drawn to the advantages, offered in these elegant and spa-
cious Saloons, which fulfil all the requirements of a West-
end club of the most aristocratic and exclusive character.
• F. SAWYER, Proprietor, 191, Fleet-street.

THE - LONDON.—S AW Y E R'S famous
LONDON DINNER, consisting- of two soups, two
fish, two entrees, joints, two sweets, cheese, and salad, at a
fixed charge of 2s. 6d. (attendance, 3d.), is served from Two
till Eight in the spacious Saloon.
In the Coffee-room, Dinners from the joint, with vegetables,
cheese, and salad, is. 6d. (attendance 3d.), and soup, fish, en-
tr6es,dtc,, a la carte, are served from One till Nine o'clock.

Ladies' Private Rooms and:DiningSaloons. Spaci&tisWnd
well-ventilated Wine, Coffee, and Smoking, Saloon.
An extensive and carefully seleeted stock of Rhenish, Mo-
selle, and other Wines, imported expressly for the London
Dinner. Open on Sundays from Four till Nine.
F. SAWYER, Proprietor, 191, Fleet-street.

THE PATRICIAN. This Establishment is
now Open for the PATRICIAN DINNER, at 2s. 6d.,
consisting of Soups, Fish, Entrees, Joints, Pastry, &c. In
the Private Apartments, at
.58. Dinner from Joint, is.;
Ditto with Soup, Fish, or Pastry, is. ed. In the Refresh-
ment Department, ground floor, Soups, Entrees, Cutlets,
Coffee, ite., a la carte.
Orders, addressed S. Holmes and Co., THE PATRICIAN,
New Coventry-street, will havelhe best attention.

OINOPOLION TAVERN AND HOTEL
FOR GENTLEMEN,
Nos. 1, and 2, Brownlow-street, High-Holborn.
The Best Served Dinner in London for ls. 6d.
A Succession of Joints, &c., from One till Seven o'Clock.
Henekeys, Abbott, and Co.'s Wines and Spirits.
Private and Smoking Rooms.

JUNIOR UNITED SERVICE CLUB, London,
Secretary's Office, 21st Jan., 18.59.—Sir,—After a long
course of experiments with your*PATENT ECONOMIZING
GAS BURNERS, the result of which is highly satisfactory,
the Committee have decided on their adoption throughout
the Club, and I herewith enclose order for same.—Hubert G.
de Carteret, Secretary. Mr. H. W. HART, economizing gas
burner depot, 69, Fleet-street. •

EPPS'S COCOA.—Epps, homoeopathic chemist,
London.—This excellent preparation, originally pro-
duced specially for the use of homeopathic patients, having
been adopted by the general public, can now be had of the
principal grocers. Each packet is labelled James Epps,
homoeopathic chemist, London.

MAMENTS for the I)_ratiing-400Tn, Library,
find Dining-room, consisting of a new and elegant
assortment of VASES, Figures, Groups, Candlesticks, Obe-
lisks, Inkstands, beautiful inlaid Tables, Paperweights, &c.,
in Italian Alabaster, Marble, Bronze, Derbyshire Spar, &c.
Imported and manufactured. by JAMES TENNANT, Mine-
ralogist to her Majesty, 149, Strand, London, W.C.
Mr. Tennant arranges elementary collections of SHELLS,
MINERALS, and FOSSILS, which will greatly facilitate the
interesting study of. MINERALOGY, CONCHOLOGY, and
GEOLOGY, at 2,5, 10, 20, 50, to 100 guineas each.
PRACTICAL INSTRUCTION in GEOLOGY and MINE-
RALOGY is given by Mr. TENNANT, at 149, Strand.

SURE CURE.-LAMBERT'S ASTHMATIC
BALSAM, without confining the bowels or affecting the
head, truly efficacious- and pleasant, is admitted to be the best
medicine for immediately relieving coughs, colds, confirmed
cases of asthma, and consumption. It frequent'y cures per-
sons whom the faculty pronounce incurable, admirably allays
the tickling which provokes frequent coughing. In approach-
ing consumption its effects are truly beneficial. Persons de-
prived of sleep, or even lying down for fear of suffocation,
may depend on relief in a few minutes after taking it.—Pre-
pared only and sold by W. Lambert, chemist, 20, Jermyn-
street, Haymarket, and by all druggists, in bottles, 13id.,
2s. 3d., and 4s. lid. each. Be particular and ask for Lambert's
Asthmatic Balsam. The name and address is engraved on
the stamp.

THE COMPLIMENTARY DINNER TO
BENJAMIN WEBSTER, ESQ.

(From the Era.)

The cared and anxieties of management had need
to be occasionally relieved by some more agreeable
result of the heavy and harassing responsibilities
that attach themselves to the position of lessee of a
metropolitan theatre, and certainly one of the most
gratifying . and encouraging testimonies ever
afforded to tho well-directed zeal and enterprise of
a theatrical manager was that evinced on Wednes-
day last, when upwards of a hundred personal
friends of Mr. Benjamin Webster invited him to a
complimentary dinner at the Freemasons' Tavern,
to congratulate him on the successful opening of the
new Royal Adelphi, and to acknowledge, on the'
part of the public, the vast improvements he had
effected in the arrangements for the accommodation
of the audience. It was a well-timed and a well-
developed expression of gthat feeling which has
been gradually strengthening amongst all those
who, since Christmas, have experienced and appre-
ciated the advantages to be enjoyed in the new
structure • and whilst the graceful manner in which
the compliment was conveyed, must to the re-
cipient have materially heightened its value, the
sentiments expressed on the occasion will be found
such as will be widely responded to by many who
could take no personal share in the proceedings.
The Hon. Francis Henry Fitzhardinge Ber-
keley, M.P., presided upon the occasion, with the
guest of the evening seated on his right hand, sup-
ported by Meisrs. R. Bell, Boisselier, Consul Gene-
ral of France, H. Ingram, M.P., Dr. Rowe, Mark
Lemon, A. Arcedeckne, B. Billings, Thos. Land-
seer, T. J. Jerwood, Frederic Ledger, Z. Watkins,
J. Reddish, Josh. Lavender, Charles Morgan, Paul
Bedford, W. Jerrold, P. Cunningham, H. Mayhew,
Hy. Bradbury, Pearpoint, Tom Brooke, T. B.
Simpson, A. Dickens, J. G. Moore, Fred. Dickens,
Floris, W: Stone, Hollingshead, Maddox, J.
Mitchell, Dr. Shorthouse, H. G. Day, T. M. Nel-
ion, B. Childs, Bowring, H. G. Robinson, Wm.
S. Webster A. Mellon, Cole, T. S. Burton, J.
L. Toole, J. Douglass, E. Yates, W. Harrington,
W. It. S. Markwell, G. White, Addison, M'Cleafi,
W. P. Sams, D. B. Raw, R. Churchill, Dr.
Fletcher, J. Defries, R. Wood, Stiff, W. S.
Johnson, Penticost, P. Egan, G. Boxall, C.
Liddle, C. H. Beckin,gham, J. Scott, R. Nicholson,
Ward, Thirlwall, G. R. Braid, W. Smith,
Byron, Thos. Bacon, Mitchell (of Bristol), W.
Webster (of Sheffield), Benj. Wooster, jun., 8.A.,
J. Povey, &c._

The -following were absent, through indisposi-
tion or professional engagements :—Mr. H. A.
Merewetber, Q.C. ; Mr. Edwin James, Q.C.;
Sheriff Gordon' of Edinburgh; Mr. Ballantine,
Q.C. •, Mr. H. Hawkins, Q.C. ; Rev. E. Moore,
Mr. Charles Dickens, Mr. Theodore Martin, Mr.
C. Manby, Mr. Keeley, Mr. E. T. Smith, Mr.
Buckstone, Mr. Creswick, Mr. T. R. Chute (lessee
of Bath and Bristol), Mr. Simpson (Birmingham),
Mr. H. Wyatt, &c.

The magnificent banquet having been done full
justice to—the cloth removed—and grace most
beautifully chanted by the singers,
The CHAIRMAN (who was received with loud
applause) rose and said : Gentlemen, I need not tell
you what the first toast will be • but it is the for-
tune of those who preside at dinners during this
reign to propose a toast which is universally popu-
lar. (Hear, hear.) When I look back, as lam
enabled to do, to two reigns, I can remember that
this toast would not be received in the way in
which I expect the toast I have to give will be re-
ceived. I remember in the reign of George the
Fourth to have seen turned-down glasses. I can
remember, in the reign of William the Fourth, to
have seen the toast " damned with faint applause."
But for the last 21 years I have never seen the
toast received except with enthusiasm. (Hear,
hear.) Englishmen know when they have a con•
stitutional monarch, and if they ever had a consti-
tutional monarch they are blessed with one in
Queen Victoria. (Applause.) • I expect that the
toast I have to give will be received, more particu-
larly in this assembly, with favour, more so, per-
haps, than in almost any other assembly in which
it may be proposed—(hear, hear)—because you
have not only a constitutional monarch, but a
monarch inclined to the drama. (Applause.) Gen-
tlemen, there are circumstances which I could men-
tion—l am not sure whether reporters are present—
that would not, perhaps, be very agreeable in certain
high quarters. I could refer to the beneficence which
marks her character, more especially as applied to
dramatic art. You have lately lost an old friend in poor
Harley. Ido not know whether it is generally
known, but Harley's sister, after her brother's
death, was the recipient of great favours from the
monarch, who took care to provide for her. Let us,
then, drink the health of her Majesty, with those
honours which the toast so eminently deserves.
(Cheers.)
The toast having been. drunk with befitting
enthusiasm, " God save the Queen" was sung by
Miss It. Isaacs, Miss Ransford, Miss Cole ; Messrs.
Genge, Winn, T. Williams, &c.

Tiie.CHAIIIMAN—If you: please, gentlemen, we
will drink " His Royal Highness the Prince
Consort, the Prince of Wales, and the rest of the
Royal family."
Glee by Miss Rebecca Isaacs, Miss Ransford, &c.
The CHAIRMAN—I have now the honour to pro-
pose to you our two glorious services, the Army and
Navy. (Cheers.) lam sure they require nothing
to be said from me. You have had the record of
their duties before you of late years so repeatedly
and so gloriously that not a word is required to
commend the toast. I give you " The Army and
Navy." Ido not know whom lam to call upon in
connection with the toast. If Mr. Childs does not
respond, however, there is Mr. Arcedeckne, the Com-
modore of the Yacht Club. (Cheers and laughter.)
The toast having been (hunk,

Mr. BORLACE CHILDS, in responding, said—l feel
highly flattered, sir, that you have associated my
name with a toast which so well deserves the high
encomiums passed upon it, and alsq the response

which it has met with. ' When I came here this
evening I had no idea that I should have played so
conspicuous a part as I am playing at this moment;
but although I feel that the toast might fall into
safer hands, I certainly shall not flinch from the
duty which you have imposed upon me. Recent
events are so fresh in your memory that I feel
it would be a useless occupation of your time were
I to descant upo?i the noble deeds of our brave
army. I might allude to the noble ascent of the
Alma, and the dogged and determined resist-
ance of our glorious guards at Inkerman, and to the
brilliant but fatal charge ofßalaclava. I might refer
you, gentlemen, to our noble little band in the East.
say " little" because it is small compared with
the great mass of the population that it has had to
contend with. They are far from home, beneath
the burning sun, surrounded by the most desperate
fanaticism that can possibly exist. Our brave fel..
lows there have crushed and destroyed that which
threatened to be one of the most terrific and fright-
ful events which could disgrace the annals of
humanity. We send our armies abroad to fight our
battles for us ; we send them to protect our foreign
and our colonial possessions. But we have also an
army at home, and I have no doubt it will be at all
times prepared to defend our homes and our hearths,
our wives and our children, from the attack of any
invading force that might have the temerity to
attempt a landing upon our shores. To that con-
stitutional force of this country I am proud to say
I belong. Although lam not in the executive de-
partment, I am one of the concomitants of the
force, and we all know that the doctors on these
occasions fight in the rear ; at the same time their
services are always . acceptable. And I say, on
these occasions, should it ever occur that you re-
quire the services of the force, you will find, I
trust, that we are quite equal to the emergencies
that may arise. I have the honour of belonging to
a corps celebrated in history, which is regarded as
a remnant of the old train bands of London. We
are indebted to those bands for the Commonwealth
in the time of Cromwell, and also for the Restora-
tion. We are also celebrated in song as well as in
history. There is no gentlemen present who has
not- heard-of the celebrated John Gilpin and his
ride.

" A train-band captain eke was he,
Of famous London town."

(Applause.) On behalf of the army, and that branch
of lit to which I belong, I beg to return you our
most sincere thanks.

Loud calls were then made for " the Commodore,"
to which, after some reluctance, Mr. Arcedeckne
yielded, and his rising was greeted with a great deal
of cheering. As soon as silence was restored, and
everybody had settled himself in his seat, in the
expectation of hearing one of the Commodore's
humorous and lively speeches, Mr. Arcedeckne, in
.his quaint way, exclaimed, " It's all nonsense, you
know," and immediately resumed his seat. Im•
mense laughter ensued at this sudden and unex-
pected termination to the hopes of the company.
Song—:" The Guard Ship," by Mr. Winn.
The CHAIRMAN then rose to propose the toast of
the evening, and as this seemed to be generally,
known, his rising was the signal for a loud and pro-
longed round of applause. He said—Gentlemen, it

is very evident that my work in the next toast is
half done for me. I see the preparation for that
toast in the plaudits which even its approach meets
with. It is for me to announce, then, that the pre-
sent is what may be called the toast f the evening.
(Loud cheers.) The toast is " Benjamin Webster,
and Success to the New Adelphi." (Renewed ap-
plause.) Ido not think, gentlemen, I should be
much out of order if, in calling upon you to drink
this toast, I regard his merits, whether as an actor,
a manager, or a man. (Cheers.) I will not begin
after the manner of old Defoe in "Robinson Crusoe,"
and say that Webster was born in the city of York,
of poor but respectable parents. (Laughter and
cheers.) lam content that he was born. (Cheers.)
I am content to believe that so good a man had good

parents. (Cheers.) I proceed at once to speak of
him in the first of those characters to which I have
referred—as an actor. As an actor I think Mr.
Webster has trod in very diversified paths. I be-
lieve his practice has been in all branches of the
drama. In the country I have reason to think he
studied both the tragic and the comic muse. I have
no doubt he has been the Richard the Third, the
Hamlet, and the Macbeth of country places, much
to the edification of the inhabitants. I have no
doubt in his early days he fought terrific broad-
sword combats, two up and two down—(laughter)
—thrust and parried in the cavern of horrors over
the dreadful abyss in the Castle of Bloodmansdoff.
(Laughter and cheers.) No doubt, there he
shocked the inhabitants of the country towns, and
probably at that time shocking himself. I find
Mr. Webster in London about the year 1818, if
my records are right, and I believe he disappeared
after a short visit to London. But I need not
dwell upon that ; suffice it to say that since ho
took possession of the metropolitan boards his course
has been onwards and upwards. It has been stated
to me, which I might have mentioned, in addi-
tion to these various lines of business which I have
described, that he actually has performed the prin-
cipal parts in the harlequinade—Harlequin, Clown,
and Pantaloon ; and they say he has rather a lean-
ing to that kind of business, only that he has dis-
covered lately that much higher persons have taken
hold of that line of character, and, according to the
faithful chronicles of Punch, he cannot hope to
compete with John Bright—(laughter)—Lord John
Russell, and Lord Palmerston. (Cheers and laugh-
ter.) There is another and more potent reason I
am thinking why he should not try that line of
business at present, because if he did he might drive
the Rev. Dr. Close, of Carlisle, to fall down on his
knees, as he has lately described the effect produced
by the Pantomimes on that reverend gentleman.
A passing word to Dr. Close and his illiberality.
If he were driven upon his knees, to use his own
expression, by the account brought by the papers
of the performance of Pantomimes, query, when he
had got into that humble position whether it might
not be better to pray against the sins of hypocrisy.
(Hear.) However, gentlemen, Mr. Webster's course
has been onwards and upwards. Now, I would not
draw a comparison between Mr. Webster and other
actors ; I would spare his blushes on that head. But
while we continually go to the theatre to see our
favomities ; to see the man who in clubs would be
familiarly called Old Buck; to see little Keeler ; to
see Wright ; to see Compton ; and I might add the
name of an honourable friend of mine, a veteran
whom I see before me, Paul Bedford—(loud cheers,
which " little Paul" acknowledged by rising and
bowing); while we go to see these favourites—Buck-
stone, Wright, Bedford, Compton, and so forth,
when we go to see Webster it is not to see him, but
the character he performs. (Loud cheers.) The
others may be admirable; we go to see them, and
we return with aching sides from the performance.
But to Mr. Webster is due, and the whole profession
will accord it, he has less individuality and more
versatility in his performance than any man
on the stage (Loud cheers.) I would say
more only that he sits here, and I shall pass from
the actor to the manager. Mr. Webster assumed
the sceptre at the Haymarket Theatre when her
Majesty assumed her sceptre to rule over these
realms, in 1837,1 think; and I find that Mr. Webster's
lesseeship of the Haymarket is the longest on re-
cord. (Hear, hear, and cheers.) The theatre never
could be kept open more than four months when
Mr. Webster took it, and he made long seasons. ,
Mr. Webster expended £60,000, I find, in rent,
while he was manager of the Haymarket Theatre,
and his expense in repairs could not have been less
than £13,000. But Mr. Webster did something
more to entitle him to your consideration as a ma-
nager. He expended £30,000 in paying dramatic
writers ; as I take it, the largest sum of money ever
paid by one manager, and certainly exceeding all
the sums of money paid by his contemporaries.
After a certain period I find Mr. Webster manager
lat the Adelphi, the old Adelphi, and there he took
the reins of government, certainly under disadvan-
tageous circumstances, for he had the prestige of
and Yates, to say nothing of the elder
Mathews, to succeed. Well, the Adelphi in
those days, with all their talent, was only kept
open six months. But what has been the case under
Mr. Webster's management ? We do not inquire
how long the Adelphi was to be kept open, the
astonishing thing was that it was never closed.
(Cheers.) And when you consider the incalculable
advantage that keeping a theatre open so many
months must be to the poorer portion of the profes-
sion, certainly the profession is indebted to Mr.
Webster for something. (Cheers.)
Well, gentlemen,
after Mr. Webster had prosperously managed the
Adelphi a number of years, it seemed that the old
Adelphi was doomed to die, and under Mr. Web-
ster's management it died the death of the expiring
swan, for it went out in music. The last effort of
Mr. Webster was to produce actuallyat the Adel phi
a work of art by the celebrated writer Boildieu,
" Le' Caliph de Bagdad." And witnessing the efforts
made by that company under their manager, it was
to me a source or astonishment that any company
could so work together, and produce a work such
as that of Boildieu, with the effect seen at the
Adelphi. Yet it was done, and I think I see, in this
room, the talented leader (Mr. Thirlwall) who con-

PRICE 4D. STAMPED, SD.

ducted the little band to victory. (Cheers.) Now, I
think I have made outthe claims of Mr. Webster as
a manager, and I approach his claims as a man. I
ask you, gentlemen, who kno w him, was Mr. Webster
ever backward in the cause of charity ? Did he ever
forget in his prosperity, the better feelings of ad-
versity? Did he ever fail to apply the knowledge
he had acquired ? Did he ever fail to apply those
feelings which might have keen softened in adver-
sity, to the good of his fellow men ? (Cheers.) It
may fairly be said of Mr. Webster that he has ex-
emplified that great principle that man to man
should bring relief. Look at his conduct in endea-
vouring to procure advantages for the profession to
which he belongs. Look at his conduct as regards
Dulwich College. That lam at least enabled to
speak of personally, because, in a public character,
Mr. Webster has, more than once, applied to me for
aid in his endeavours. Then, there are the several
dramatic funds to which Mr. Webster has applied
himself, and in which he has been the life and soul.
(Cheers.) Well, then, gentlemen, whether as an
actor, whether as a manager, or whether as a man,
I submit to you that we have here before us an
example to his fellow men. (Loud cheers.) Let
actors study as closely and intensely their profession
as Mr. Webster has done, Let managers bring
prudence-to the management of their theatres, and
liberality at the same time. (Hear, hear.) Let the
actor and the manager never forget in prosperity
the duty he owes to his fellow men. On these
grounds, gentlemen I claim your sympathy for
Benjamin Webster. I drink his health, and you will
do the same with that feeling that an honest man
deserves under the circumstances in which he stands
placed before you. (Loud cheers.)
The toast was drunk with rapturous applause,
with three times three, and one cheer more, which
was designated a special fire.
Song, " Home, sweet home," Miss Roden.
Mr. BET4JAMIN WEBSTER was received with deaf-
ening cheers, the whole company rising. He said—
Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, this is a most anxious
occasion to the, for I unfeignedly feel perfectly in-
adequate to the task of thanking you sufficiently for
the encomiums, the warmth of feeling, and the ho-
nour you have conferred upon me. To have expressed
a desire to shun the felicitations of success would have
exhibited a weakness as foreign to my nature as want
of nerve to confront the chances of a failure. It would
have been a sentiment that might have been construed
into being more exclusively vain than sincerely
modest, and ill repay the generous qualities of each
and all who have appeared here. This evidence of
success is not less grateful to me than hopeful for
the English Stage. It assures me that the efforts to
discharge with integrity my responsible duty to the
public and the drama have not been in vain. (Cheers.)
It is believed that every man during his earthly pil-
grimage has at least one opportunity of grasping
fame or fortune, but it is given to few to receive
such an ovation of true and unvarnished friendly
appreciation. (Cheers.) Gentlemen, the mark of
honour you have this day set upon the actor and the
manager must ensure respect for the class to which
I belong ; and every step towards respectability is
an upward advance in the eyes of the world, and
raises us above our defamers, especially those who
would " damn us all on one side, like an ill-roasted
egg." You have heard to-night that we have close
observers of the wrong side of our picture from
Rottendean to Carlisle—(loud laughter and cheers)
—but, thank heaven, there are higher minded
Churchmen—and one has offered us land for our
College—(cheers)—who are superior to' such vulgar
prejudices, and practise what they preach—charity
to all mankind. (Cheers.) It was not ill said of the
celebrated French actress Dejazet, when she at-
tracted crowds in the straitlaced town of Geneva

" Art is greater than tradition." Gentlemen, the
hon. chairman has thought some phases in my
worldly movements worthy of mention; and if
perseverance can give courage to others to strive
against adverse fortune, I have at least done some
good. I have drunk deep of the bitter cup of the
actor's chequered life. My career has been most
varied and precarious ; often on the confines of
despair, sans friend, sans food, sans everything.
From boyhood to ripening manhood each step has
been beset with difficulties and stutnblingblocks ;
but I unflinchingly climbed to my present position,
and this banquet of congratulation amply rewards
me for all my trouble. (Loud cheers.) To the
player who has to win his way to fortune—and how
few attain it—there are three important periods.
There is the hopeful time of youth, when twenty
is the golden age of life, when " Never despair" is
the motto, and all seems gilded in the bright future
with riches, honours, and applause. There is the
anxious time of middle age. when the hoped-for
goal of youth seems fading from the view, when it
Is necessary to count the milestones on the road of

life, and the means whereby to live, and provide
for those who arc dependent on you are in suppo-
sition:- Then there is furrowed, white•haired age,
with perhaps the only one comfort of having done
their duty, and done their best through what hard
course it may have been, and whether with good
or ill success. There is no trodden path to dramatic
fame either in acting or writing, and yet the un-
tiring zeal with which it is sought is marvellous.
I left a home almost of luxury for the sock and
buskin, and I was often with scarcely a shoe to my
foot, and frequently without a meal for my inward
man. But my first love for the art was such that
it would never allow me to repent, and to confess
that my notions of the profession were erratic, for
my thin condition was accompanied by a light
heart. (Laughter and cheers.) Hunger, instead
of turning my steps homewards, seemed to sharpen
my wit and increase my power of endurance, and
I pushed on. Yet I was more favoured than many
others of the followers of Thespis, and the cart of
Thespis was in my young ambition higher than the
chariot of the conqueror. I had three strings to my
bow. If I lacked employment as an actor my fiddle
was my friend in need, and the orchestra was my
home of refuge—(laughter and cheers)—from
which Terpsichore would sometimes lure me to
assume the motley garb of Harlequin. Perhaps it
may interest you to know, and it does me very
much to inform you, that the first stage I ever trod
upon as an actor was that of the Warwick theatre,
and I believe a greater guy Warwick never wit-
nessed. (Laughter.) I dare say many good plays
have been murdered there, and I have lately heard
that it is to be converted into a slaughter-house.
(Laughter.) "To what base uses may we not re-
turn." (Laughter and cheers.) However, there I
thought my fortune was made, for my triple quali-
ties were practically illustrated ; and, to reverse
Mrs. Malaprop's figure of speech, I was one single
gentleman rolled into three. (A laugh.) I was
Thessalus and the mob in " Alexander the Great ;"
I was first and second violin in the orchestra ; and
Harlequin in the pantomime of " Whittington and
his Cat," all three in one evening, and all for 235.
a week, one great coat covering e Grecian and
the mime for the charms of music between the acts.
(Loud laughter.) From there, a barn, that " hotbed
of genins," as Elliston used to term it, opened its
door at Bromsgrove. There I was the entire band,
for the musicians of the town were dissenters.

(Laughter.) However, the ingenuity of the mana-
ger turned their loss to his profit, for he converted
the orchestra into a private box for the squires of
the neighbourhood, and I—the band—played be-
hind the curtain—(roars of laughter)—besides
dancing melancholy hornpipes without music, except
an occasional charitable whistler in the gallery—
(renewed laughter)—and .singing doleful comic
songs unaccompanied. However, variety was pleas-
ing, especially pleasing to me, and I executed my
task upon ultimately a share of one and sixpence a
week, and I assure you I was never happier in my
life. (Cheers.) My first appearance in print was
with my dear, old, and lamented friends, Douglas
Jerrold and Laman Blanchard, in magazines and

cheap literature, published by a theatrical book-
seller named Duncombe. How big with fate were
those days. But youth dreams of the future, and
age of the past. At 10 years old I was ambitious
of authorship, and wrote a pantomime called " Har-
lequin Soldier," and made all the tricks. The gun
that was to shoot the deserter changed into an
umbrella, and his coffin into a boat, in which he and
Columbine escaped—(a.laugh)-----little dreaming then
that I should ever be an actor. But the child's
idea was father to the man's destiny. After-ex-
perience has taught me that dramatic composition
is the most fascinating and yet the most difficult to
attain perfection in. The author must have a great
knowledge of human nature, "miraculously con-
versing," to use the words of Shirley, " with all
mankind." It is not a very flattering fact for our
self- esteem that the English stage of late years owes
much of its existence to our prolific and witty
neighbours, the French dramatists and novelists.
This should not be with the host of fine and great
original talent which this country now boasts. I
would say to the purveyors of the stage, with Mon-
tesquieu, that if you always translate you will never
be translated, that you will first die in quarto and
die again in duodecimo. While lam on this theme
I may, perhaps, be pardoned for thinking that if
the actor cannot lire without the author, the actor
is the indispensable Complement, the alter ego of the
dramatic author. In regarding the intimate
cohesion of the two separate intelligences
as the generative principle of every truly