Star.
London, England, 1820-05-22 00:00:00

THEATRICAL FUND DINNER.

Saturday, the third Anniversary Dinner of the So-
ciety established for the relief of the indigent Perform-
ers belonging to Drury-Lane Theatre, was given at
the Freemasons' Tavern. A little after siz.o'clock,
his Royal Highness the Duke of YORK entered the
Gros Room, attended by the Stewards, and accom-
panied by several persons of distinction, and took the
Chair amidst loud applause. About two hundred
Gentlemen at the same time sat down to a must ex-
cellent dinner. When the cloth was removed, Non
Nobis Doming was sung, by the vocal band of the
Theatre ; and the loyal toasts usually given on those
occasions were drank with loud applause. When the
Drury-Lane Theatrical Fund was drank,
Mr. KEAN rose, and addressed the company as fol-
lowsr—a In the name of the Members of the Drury-
Lane Theatrical Fund Society, I am desired to request
permission of your Royal Highness to express their
thanks for the toast which has just been given from
the Chair. For the third time, Sir, they have to re-
cord, and desire me 'gratefully to acknowledge, obli-
gations to your Royal Highness, far beyond their
power ever to be able to discharge. For myself, Sir,
conscious how incompetent I must be to give ade-
quate expression to their thanks, I am alone sustained
by the reflection that language itself is too weak to
do justice to the feelings of their hearts. If the bare
sympathy of the present company, in the graceful
duties your Royal Highness has been pleased this
day to undertake, could elicit the enthusiasm in
which all have so recently and cordially united, I
judge, Sir, what must be their feelings who are at
once the objects as well as the witnesses, of your
Royal condescension and protection. For the third
time, Sir, under the same happy auspices, assem-
bled, it is my duty to greet with heartfelt acknow-
ledgments, a large and enlightened body of patrons
of dramatic merit, and not less generous benefactors
to dramatic distress, who, not satisfied with reward-
ing talent exerted for their amusement, come hither
as volunteers to sustain what misfortune has blighted,
or age may have withered to decay. To your Royal
Highness, who has ever been a constant and gene-
rous patron of our art, may we be permitted to ex-
press our hope, that many an hour of relaxation from
the cares of real life has been enlivened by the mimic
•fforts of those who can no longer command, but are
at last compelled to solicit the means of support.
—How generously that appeal has been answered,
will be apparent, from the growing state of our
vested funds. Already, from the two last years'
collection, is a permanent source secured, whence
the common casualties of our present subscribers
may in some measure be supplied ; this, however, is
but one, and not the greatest object to which the
public benevolence has been solicited and directed.
In the increase of our permanent fund, it is hoped,
will be founci the means of the most forcible appeal
to the prudence and foresight of our brethren, of
extending the benefits and increasing the numbers
of our Society; not only to relieve immediate dis-
tress, but to meet it in its first approach, and to
give a certain security to merit against its extremi-
tte•, is within the scope of your benevolent views.
No lover of the drama, much less can any of its vo.
taries, be indifferent to the station which so large a
body of artists are destined to occupy in the
drama of real life, and there is no surer prac-
tical excitement to all that is good and great,
than to know that our own misconduct alone can
cast us down from the erect position in which we
have been accustomed to walk. If Nelson, in the
hour of battle, placed his thoughts alone on the ho-
nour to be paid to his ashes, the poor sailor before
the mast telt not less that the performance of his
duty secured to himself the reward which the muni-
', icence of his country had provided—a pension for
his life, a palace fur his retreat. gurely, then, we
are not too sanguine in predicting, amongst the ex-
cellent results of your benevolence, a further barrier
against distress in the moral elevation of the charac-
ter of the profession. The distinguishing feature too
of our Society must not be forgotten. Unlike the
countryman in the fable, we ourselves put our shoul-
ders to the wheel, whilst invoking the assistance of
the gods. Permit me, Sir, ere I conclude, to refer
to an opinion, which I trust is unfounded in fact,
although some recent appearances may account for
its existence—the opinion, that the taste for the ge-
nuine Drama is on the decline in this Metropolis.
Painful as it must be to every man who feels a ge-
nerous interest in the literature and in the arts of his
country, to believe that both are at once neglected
in the discouragement of the drama—to us, the be-
lief could convey nothing less than despair, palsying
our hopes and energies, and threatening to rob those
to whom the wreath of merit has been decreed, of
the very staff of support; then, indeed, must we ap-
peal with tenfold anxiety to the generous patrons of
this Fund, to which but too many of us may at last
be compelled to have recourse. But, Sir, shall we
not rather appeal to the splendid scene before us, as
a triumphant refutation of the errors of that opinion?
shall we not rather say, that our late illustrious na-
tlonal losses have thrown a gloom over the hearts,
and given for a time a new direction to the relaxa-
tions of the Public, and that this day's eager protec-
tion of dramatic distress points to the true cause of
the less marked attendance of the Public at the The-
atres ? May it serve only, Sir, to fix more deeply
in cur memory the illustrious objects which a nation
has not ceased to deplore; and may we hail, in the
doubly august patronage which condescends to grace
the proceedings of this Anniversary, not less an ear-
nest cf continued support to the drama as a national
object, than a title of our more immediate gratitude
of attachment. Let us recollect, too, that even whilst
Shakspea; e himself was writing for the Stage, he
has put on record the imputed neglect of the regular
'Theatres, and the encouragement given to their mi-
nor competitors.—' What, asks the Prince of Den-
mark, are the players not followed ? How comes
it? are they grown rusty?' Nay, Sir, their endea-
vours keep in the wonted pace; but there is an aicry
of children. They cry out at the rye of the question,
and are most tyrannically clapped for it. These are
now the fashion.' such was in those, as in our days.
the complaint; but let us mark and apply the encau.
ragement so gracefully conveyed in the Prince's an-
swer. Let us put forth with continued confidence our
claim to the Public. Let us remind them, in the lan-
guage of the immortal Bard,' we are the tragedians of
the C►ty, even those you were wont to take delight in,'
and when we shall cease to be followed, we have the

Royal banes word for batting, that It will be a'
portentous sign of the times.that there will be some-
thinif more than natural in itr which it will be the
province of philosophy to find out.' "
The health of Mr. ELLtaron and the Drury-Lane,
Company, was afterwards drank; on which-occasion
Mr. ELLIsTon rose, and thus addressed the Royal
Chairman and the company I
May it please your Royal Highness, my Lords,
and Gentlemen—This highly flattering and most ho-
nourable addition to the favour and indulgence with
which my humble efforts, in the cause of the drama,
have so long been regarded by the Public, awakens
sensations, the just expression of which, would de-
mand a degree of eloquence not more beyond my
aim, than surpassing the reach of my circumscribed
powers. If it is less to my professional pretensions,
than my zealous wish to promote the intarest of the
British Stage, that I owe my having aspired to the
situation in which the choice of the Drury-Lane
Committee has placed me, the honour conferred upon
me by that choice has been too much enhanced by the
very handsome and friendly assistance I have uni-
formly experienced from the Committee, not to com-
pel my embracing the opportunity to express my, sin-
cere and earnest acknowledgments. Their election
of me as the holder of a station that at once trans•
ferred into my hands the management of a pro-
perty of such magnitude as that of the Theatre
Royal, Drury-Lane, and devolved upon me duties
that had exercised the vast and varied talents of a
Garrick, was paying to my limited abilities a
compliment which I can only endeavour to deserve.
To enforce that endeavour, had any further incite-
ment been needful, it had been sufficient to reflect,
that the eminence of our national and legitimate
drama ought to be supported and preserved ; and
that the new Manager of Old Drury, whoever he
should he, would owe it to the Public, to the Commit-
tee, and to the claims of our regular Stage, to spare
no exertion that could contribute to the laudable yaw-
pose of upholding, if possible, an establishment in
which had flourished the fair flowers of England's
immortal Roscius, where still glow and sparkle the
vivid scintillations of a Sheridan, and where the
pathos, dignity, and vivacity of a Jordan, a Kemble,
and a Siddons, and r though last, not least in our
dear love' (and he must excuse the mention of his
name), the genius of a Kean, have kindled and quick-
ened all the varied passions of our nature. I feel as-
sured to be believed, when I say that the liberality of
this Company, in seeming to sympathise with the dif-
ficulty of the undertaking, renders the present moment
the proudest of my life, affords me a happiness which
nothing could allay but the unpleasant necessity under
which my situation places me, of mixing the men-
tion of myself with that of the great national con-
cern, the success of which alone can be of any real
importance to the Public, and to those I have the
honour to address. But, your Royal Highness, in the
execution of my task, one constant object of which
has been, and ever will be, to encourage every species
of dramatic merit, whether literary or histrionic, I-
confidently look to a continuance of that countenance
and support, with which our anxious labours have
been hitherto so liberally favoured, because I am
determined to persevere in a system which has for its
basis the promotion of the nn:ist rational of our pub-
lic amusements, the giving a useful direction to the
general mind, and the furtherance, as I fervently
hope, of morality, virtue, and loyalty. But sincere
as are the intentions, I shall never presume even to
hope that my qualifications will equal my wishes;
nevertheless my efforts will not only be incessant,
but great, for they will emulate the kindness of my
friends and the Public."

Mr. ELLISTON proceeded then to read a List of
Donations committed to his charge. At the head of,
the list were—

His Majesty, for £lO5 ; the Duke of York, £52; the Duke
of Bedford, £52; Lord Yarmouth, £2O; Lord Essex, the Mar-
quis of Stafford, Rowland Stephenson, John Braham, and J. B.
Mash, Esqn. £lO each ; Allen, Esq. Rattenbergb,
Esq. and many others, RS; and Mrs. Gnats, £5O.
The announcement of these benefactions was re-
ceived with loud testimonies of applause, particularly
the last ; and in the course of the evening Mrs.
Cowrrs's health was proposed by the Duke of YORK,
and drank with enthusiasm.
In tosciuding his address, Mr. ELLISTON said :
" The ['lensing duty alone remains of thanking you,
Gentlemen, for your attention ; the munificence of
his Gracious Majesty, of your Royal Highness, yours,
my Lords and Gentlemen, demand and receive our
grateful acknowledgments; the impression of your
kindness is deeply engraven upon our hearts and
minds, and can never be effaced, so long as life
shall last."

A complimentary letter to the Treasurer, Mr.
KEAN, from Mr. SOANE, of Lincoln's Inn-fields, was
read, regretting his inability to be present at the din-
ner, and enclosing his substitute—a check for £lOO.
Mr. KEAN bestowed a high panegyric on the libera-
lity of this Gentleman, who had been a frequent Be-
nefactor to the Society ; and the health of Mr. Soane
was in consequence drank—( Applause).
The total amount of the donations received that
day was announced to be £l2OO.
Throughout the evening the company were regaled
with a succeision of glees and comic sons from
Messrs. T. COOKE, INCLEDON, PEAIMAN, KNIGHT,
HARLEY, &C.
_ _ _

_
His Royal Highness and party did not rise from
table till after eleven o'clock. and the company en-
tirely broke up before twelve.

DRURY•LANY THEATRE.—An excellent Selection
of Music was performed on Saturday evening, being
the termination of the Oratorio season. Some of the
best Pieces from the popular Opera of Il Tancredi,
were given in the first part. The celebrated cantata
of Alexis was sung by Mr. BRAHAM, accompanied on
the violoncello by LINDLEY ; Miss M. Taint executed
a charming Italian air by PUCITTA ; and the other
singers, among whom were Mrs. SALMON, Miss
GOODALL, and Signor AMBROGKTTI, distinguished
themselves by songs in various styles of composition.
As this was the last, it was also one of the best selec-
tion and performance of the season ; the audience
testified the same opinion by their numbers and their
applause.
On the farm of Mr. AUSTEN, at Martlesham, these
is a hen and partridge laying both in one nest; the
hen has laid 12 eggs, the partridge 19; and it has
been observed, while the hen is on laying, the par-
tridge is waiting by her side to take her turn.