The Sun.
London, England, 1819-06-07 00:00:00

MR. MA F E WS.

This versatile
.and excellent Come4!ian closed
his Entertainment, entitled At Home, on Satur-
day last, at the English Opera-house, atter a vtry
attractive, and of course a very profitable season.
His objects %were fair and liberal, and the whole
of his Pet forinance was marked by such spirit,
humour, and variety, as may well account for the
extraordinary popularity which attended it. The
following is the Farewell Address which be de-
livercil Ott the occasion :

LODI Ki AND ENTLEMEN—The longest journey must have
an end, and the 'pleasanter our progress on the road, the
more painful is the parting with our fellow-travellers. Such
are my feel ngs at this moment, when, after tr,velling forty
nights to and from Paris in your company, the hour is at
length arrived, when PauQt reluctantly ni;.l you fareweil,
It I may he allowed to judge of the cordial smiles with
which my labours have bean cheered throughout, I may veu-
titre to hope that you participate in this feetlng: and I shall,
therefore, solace myself, in separation from my indulgent
friends, with the pleasing task of preparing to Pfceive them
it Home again next Season, with new matter lot their en-
tertainment.

-To this end I shall study new characters, and aim at new
personation., not with an 'unworthy view to outrage private
feelings, by holding op personal defects to ridicule ; but with
;be wore useful, and at the same time less offensive, object
of skewing how easily peculiarities become dis.greea'Jle, if
.cia.red to grow info habits and how, fiequently habits, tf
so indolge4 in, may become ridiculous.
Such, with all humility, I consider to be the fair game of
what is attempted to be ne,graded by the name of Miluickiy.
It is that in the pii.ipica/ world which Satire is in the moral ;
and if the work of a Satirist of manners be not degraded by
the appellation of is' Lampoon, I know not why the exhibi-
tion of an imitator of Manner should be classed with the
were grimaces of a Buffoon.
I have thought it neeessaty to say thus inue,7 in defence of
that which I consider as the very soul of the profession of an
actor—lmitation: for no- one, I presume, will deny, that
Shakespeare would have written in vain (so far as applies to
stage representation), had actors attempted to play Othello
with a fair face, or Richard the Third without a hump.
Thus, it appears, there are cases in which even personal
deformities and defects may become proper subjects of satire.
Such as the decrepitude of Age :aft ctiog the follies and
gay frivolities of Youth ; the rich and antiquated one-eyed
Lover ogling the young and heantifal victim of an odious
passion—or a ,youthful Coxcomb, with handy legs, obtruding
his pitiable deluttnity on your notice, by exhibiting his other-
.wise pretty person in a quadrille. Such, in endless variety,
Are the fair- and allowed objects of imitative Satire; still I
may perhaps be acquitted from any charge of vanity, when I
assert, that, even in such cases, a more than_ ordinary accu•
racy of obseivation is llteeSS3ly to hit off successfully those
nice distinctions of character and manlier which form the
wide difference between a correct Portrait and a vulgar Ca.
.rivature ; and ii I have succeeded, or can succeed (by holding*
the mirror up to. Nature, and shewing Fully her own image,
and Vice its own deformity) in correcting anyone of a foolish
:habit, or an offensive peculiarity—and above all, in atEirding
the Public a Ow boors of hal miess mirth, I think my labours
amply rewardiA, and that my life has not been altogether
pissed, or my humble talents exerted, without some degree
of nsefolness.-
La DIES AND GENTTLEMENT—It now only remains for me to
offer my grateful aclinowleiionents for the liberal—indeed
splendid patronage, I have received. So greatly has that pa-
tronage exceeded my hopes, Una I have to boast this season of
having been honoured by the presence of some thousands of
visitors more than attended me last year ; and it is this un-
looked-for increase of public favour that. not only encourages
a hope for the future, but stimulates every exertion of which
am capable, to merit, if possible, a continuance of your
valuable, and believe me ever,itoil higliqh valued kiudnest.