The Sun.
London, England, 1859-04-20 00:00:00

untiring industry deserve. (Applause.) That the
members of the fund have cause for congratulation
I can show from the prosperous state of the institu-
tion. At the close of this evening, gentlemen, we
shall possess a capital greatly exceeding £ll,OOO ;
while, in addition to many expenses and charges paid
during the past year, we have given life annuities
to eleven members, the annuities ranging from £3O
and £6O to £9O per annum ; and those who respect
and admire the fair sex as I do, will be gratified to
hear that the majority of members receiving such
annuities are ladies. Thus the Lady Teazles, the
Lady Macbeths, and the Juliets of many years ago
are taken care of when they can no longer dream
of scandalous coteries, blood-stained daggers, or
lovers by moonlight. It is now well known that the
Royal General Theatrical Fund is open to all per-
formers, singers, dancers, pantomimists and promp-
ters in the United Kingdom who may think proper
to become members : and I am happy to tell you that
the number of subscribers is 111, all being entitled,
to their annuities whenever they may become inca-
pacitated from following their profession when over-
taken by accident or infirmity. Now, gentlemen, is
not this an admirable institution that provides for
those in old age who have passed their youth and
their prime in the constant endeavour to instruct
and amuse the public, and calling but for a very
little care and attention on their part to enable them
to claim the proper reward for their prudence in
early life And does it not speak well for the
English actor and his habits that there are four
such provident and charitable institutions in this
metropolis belonging to the stage, all of them
excellent in their objects, and deserving of
what they receive the support of their members
and the public. Indeed, so prudent are the actors
considered, that one of the arguments used against
admitting them into a little corner of Dulwich Col-
lege was that the actors were already well provided
for by their respective funds ; and, therefore, that
wealthy endowment, founded by a profane stage
player, is " under the management of the Archbishop
of Canterbury," in whose benevolent countenance,
when, as with others of my class, I was summoned
before a committee of the House of Lords, I clearly
traced (although he said very little) the foregone
conclusion that the actors, with their humble peti-
tions and their claims, were to make their exit as
soon as possible, whether O.P. or P.S. did not mat-
ter, or in any other way, so long as they disappeared;
and disappear they certainly did down his ecclesi-
astical centre trap. (Laughter.) But Shakspear e
tells us :
" Sweet are the uses of adversity,
Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous,
Wears yet a precious jewel in his head."

The jewel that the rejected actors discovered in
this adversity is the effort that is now being made
for founding a dramatic college, and which every-
body will acknowledge to be a noble retaliation for
an act of injustice; while the friends of the actors
now present will be rejoiced to hear that there is
every likelihood of the project being carried out,
for every person connected with the stage has been,
and still is, persevering in the cause. The -per-
formers of the United Kingdom have sent, and. are
still sending, their subscriptions. The performers
of the Australian colonies have been equally ener-
getic, and have sent to the committee a noble dona-
tion. The amateurs—the militia, we may term
them, of the drama—are continually exerting them.
selves for the benefit of the college, and forwarding
the profits of their various performances ; the pub-
lic is equally generous and zealous ; the three dra-
matic funds are leading the way in the struggle.
That of Drury-lane will build a house ; the Covent-
garden fund will build a house ; the sick fund will
endeavour to do the same. Mr. Charles Kean
will build a house ; others have promised to build
houses. That stony-hearted man, Mr. Benjamin
Webster (laughter) has promised to supply
stone for the buildings from his Welsh quarries;
and that he will throw the stone with great vigour
I am convinced, as some little return for his Dul-
wich disappointment. And I am happy to add,
gentlemen, that I have the permission of the direc-
tors of the General Theatrical Fund, for whose
welfare you are assembled here this evening, to
tell you that we intend to build a house. (Ap-
plause.) Thus you will see that the cause of the
college is hopeful, and I trust that many of us will
live to see the day when a school for the education
of the children of actors and actresses will also be
endowed within the college—being the only want
that the dramatic profession now requires to be
gratified—and that it shall be a school for the chil-
dren of actors and actresses only, and not hereafter
to be perverted to any other educational purposes.
(Applause.) Therefore, gentlemen, you must ac-
knowledge that the actors possess courage, energy,
and economy, and a self-sustaining spirit under
every adversity. Cunning fanatics and reverend
deans may preach against them till the " crack o'
doom ;" but it will be without avail. The gentle-
man at Carlisle may denounce pantomimes every
day of his life if he pleases • but it is a " great con-
solation" to know that:in all time to come there will
be pantomimes at Christmas ; and the clown will
salute you with " Here we are," and the pan-
taloon cry out " Somebody's coming"—long and
long after all the deans of this day have been
gathered to their fathers, and their innumerable
and daintily-worked slippers have disappeared
from the surface of the carpet. (Laughter.) Ano-
ther cause for congratulation we possess is the
knowledge that the majority of the English public
is with the actor and his art; and to prove this I
need only refer to the prosperous winter season just
past at the London theatres, to the " crowded
houses" during Christmas ; and for weeks after-
wards in the great northern theatres of Liverpool,
Manchester, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Glasgow,
and in Dublin, where I hear more money has been
taken than ever was known before at that time ;
but whether this may be the fact or not, I can
assure you that such has been the case at the Hay-
market—at least, during the six years of my ma-
nagement. (Applause.) I can also refer you to
the crowded tables in this hall to-night; and liter-
ally, to crown everything, I need only announce to
you that we have received her Majesty's donation
of 100 guineas, being the twelfth that has been
given from that high quarter of the same amount;
while, during the London season, does not the
Court Circular announce to you the frequent visits
of our beloved Queen to the various metropolitan
theatres ; and where such a Monarch—so good, so
beloved, so excellent, and so illustrious, such a
mother, and such a wife—sets the example, who
shall dare to decry those that follow it. (Applause.)
And now, gentlemen, as we all know it is a good
thing to follow a good example, I hope you will
this evening follow the one given to you by her
Majesty ; for although our cause is prosperous, yet
it is chiefly by your generosity on these occasions
that its prosperity can be sustained. We are all
very well aware that when we have a good balance
at our banker's it will not do to be continually
drawing cheques and making no deposits, for in
that case we should soon arrive at the ominous
words "no effects." Therefore, when the stewards
present you with their little scraps of paper, let the
points of your pencils penetrate deeply into your
hearts, and cause your figures to be as large as your
sympathies. (Hear.) Before I resume my seat I
think it my duty to thank Mr. Charles Dickens, as

one of our trustees, for his constancy to us through
many changing years, and to regret his unavoid-
able absence this evening, but although he is not
here in person I well know that his heart and his

best wishes are with us and with our cause ;
and also again to thank our chairman for his ser-

vices to-night. Many of us here must remember
his excellent father, and the merry days of " Mathews
at Home." That Charles Mathews was a member

of the Covent Garden Fund, and constantly at-
tended its annual dinners, where his unequalled
songs were one of the greatest attractions of the
evening. He was deeply interested in all that per-
tained to the independence and the respectability of
the actor, and nothing could or would have grati-
fied him more than to have seen his son occupying
the honourable position he has taken this evening.
(Applause.) And now, having appealed to you as
earnestly as my poor powers will permit me, I leave
the cause of the fund in your hands, and hope that
those hands will go heartily into your pockets ;
while to those whose duty it is to wait upon you,
our generous friends, and collect your donations—
to stimulate them to exertion, I can only parody
the words supposed to be spoken by the
,great duke
at Waterloo, "Up stewards and at 'em.' (Laugh-
ter.)
Mr. BIICKSTONE again rose, and in complimen-
tary terms proposed the " Health of the Chairman."

The CHAIRMAN said he had to acknowledge the
great gratification he derived from the honour they
had done him. (Hear, hear.) He should not in-
flict on them the oft-told tale of his difficulties,
which had emanated from his original sin of enter-
ing into the speculation of managing Covent garden
Theatre. The consequence of that sin had haunted
him ever since, and would, he supposed, continue to
do so to the end of the chapter. (Laughter.) He
remembered the late Douglas Jerrold having once
told him that "he did not despair of living to
see the day when he would see him walking up
Ludgate-hill with a cotton umbrella under his arm
to invest his funds in the Bank of England." He
regretted to say Mr. Jerrold did not live to see that
vision realised ; the only step he could announce to
his auditors as having taken towards it being that
he had bought the umbrella. (Laughter.) He
had, however, endeavoured to make provision
for a rainy day, by having become that day
a member of the Theatrical Fund. (Hear,
hear.) He admitted he was rather an old finger
post to go into leading strings, but he might one
day be enabled to get into one of the little houses
of the Royal Dramatic College, where he could
only say that he would be delighted to see as many