The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1851-03-27

ts place from the stage while the Englis language
lcsts, would venture to express one partinS nope
Inat the rising actors may keep the Hottest looA,
NV noid the most elevated views Of the duties OF
heir calling !.-Yse cheering; would hope that !.
raise themselves above the level Of the players easy
life to public regard and distinction by faithful
ministry to the genius of our incompatible Shak-
speare. (Applause] To effect this they must bring
resolute energy and unfaltering labor to their
must be content :" to spurn delights and
live laborious days" Remember that whatever is
excellent in art must spring from labour and en-
duranee. (Renewed applause]. This gentleman,
can you, was the doctrine of our Sddons and
ofthc great Tama, and this is the faith have ever
held as one of their humbest disciples. (Cheers)
On my direction of the two patent theatres which
my friend has SO kindly dilated, ! wish to say but
little. The preaMbles Of their patents recite, as
condition Of their grants, that the theatre should
be for the promotion Of virtue and instruction to the
human race" think these are the words. l can
only say it my determination, to the best OF my
ability, to obey that injunction, and believing IN
the principle that property has its duties as well as
its rights, conceived that the proprietors should
have co-operated with me. They, thought other
wise, and was reluctantly compelled to relinqush,
on disadvantageous terms, my halfachieved en.er-
prise. Others, / trust, will take up the 1ncom-
pcted work, and if inquiry were to be set on foot
for best qualified to undertake the task should
seek him in theatre which by eight years labor he
has, from the most degraded condition. raised high
in public estimation, not only regards the inteli
gence and respectablty of his audience, but in the
learned and tasteful spirit of his productions.
(Cheers.) Gentlemen shall not detain you longer.
All that | could desire, and far more than ever
could expect you have in the honor you have done
this day, conferred upon 1t will be memory that
must remain actual possession to me and mine,
which nothing in life can take from us. The repeti
ton Of thanks adds little to their force, and there
fore, deeply as am already obliged to you, | must
draw still further on your indulgence. (Hear,
hear) You have had faith in my zeal for your SER
vice; you will, sure, continue that faith in my
gratitude for the value you have set upont With
heart more full than the glass hold return you
my grateful thanks, and have the honor Of drinking
all your healths.
This speech was received with frequent and pro-
longcd applause.
Mr.. DICKENS proposed the next toast. After a
few Introductory words he said-icntlemen, it
seems to me- there three great requisites essen
tal to the perfect realization Of scene unusual
and so splendid that in which we are assem-
bled. The first, and must say very difficult requi
site, is a man possessing the stronghold in the
general remembrance, the indisputable claim Of the
my dear and much valued friend, our guest. [lIear,
hear.l The second requisite is the presence of u
body Of cntcrtainers-a great multitude of hosts so
cheerful and good-humored (unde> am sorry to
say, some personal inconvenience $50 warm-heart-
ed and so nobly in earnest as those whom | have
the privilege of addressing. Hear, hear The
third and certainly not the least Of these requisites,
is president who, less by his social position, which
which may have been adventtiously won, and may
be again accidentally lost, than by his comprehen-
sve genius shall fifty represent the best part of him
to whom honor is done. and the best part of those
who unite in doing it. GCheers.l After alluding to
the farewell benefit Of Wednesday, Mr.. Dickens
continued: Gentlemen, it is not for me here to
CALL after what you have heard this night, and
what have seen and known in the bygone times of
Mr.. Macready's management, of the strong friend
ship of Sir Bulwer Lytton for him, of the associa-
ton of his pen with his earliest successes, or of Mr.
Macready szealous and untiring services; but it
may be permitted me to say what, in any public
mention of him, can never repress, that in the path
we both tread, 1 have uniformly found him, from
the first the most generous of mcn-quck to
encourage, slow to disparage cheers ever anxious
to assert the order OF which he is great an orna-
ment; never condcscending to shuttle it off, and
leave il outside state rooms, as Mussulman might
leave his slippers outside mosque. Cloud cheers
and laughter.) There is a popular prejudice,
kind Of superstition to the effect that authors are
not particularly united body-that they are not
invariably and inseparably attached to each other.
(Cheers and laughter.) am afraid must concede
half grain Of truth to that superstition but
this | know, that there hardly can be-that there
hardly can have been-among the followers of liter
ature man Of more high standing, or further
above these little grudgng jealousies, which do
sometimes dsparage its brightness, than Sir Edward
Bulwer Lytton. (Cheers.) And have the strong
Get reason just at present to bear my testimony to
his great consideration for those evils which are
sometimes unfortunately attendant upon it, though
not on him CLEAR, hear) For in conjunction with
some other gentlemen now present, have just en-
barked in a design with Sir Lytton Bulwer, to
smooth the rugged way of young laborers, both in
literature and the fine arts, and to soften by no
eleemosynary means the declining years Of merito
rious age. Cloud cheers.) And it that project
prosper, az hope it will, and rs know it ought,
il will be one day honor to England where there,
i now reproach, originating in his ynpathies being
brought into operation by his activity. and endowed
from its very cradle by his generosity. There are
many among you who will each have his own avoritc
reason for drinking charman's health, resting
his claim probably upon some one of his diversified
successes. According to the nature Of your reading
some Of you will connect him with prose- others
viii connect him with poetry; one will connect him
with comedy, and another with the romantic pas
sions of the stage; and his assertion of worthy
bition and earnest struggles against those twin
gaolcrs Of the human heart, low birth and iron for
tune. (Cheers) Again, anothcr's taste will lead
him to the contemplation Of Rienzi and Rome;
anohers to the rebuilt and rc-peopled streets of
of Pompcii; another's to the touching history of
that hresde, where the Caxton family learned how
to discipline their natures, and tame their wild
hopes down. Cloud eheers.) But, however various
their feelings and reasons may be- am that,
with accord, each will help the other, and all
will swell the greeting, with which shall pro-
pose TO you, The health of our chairman, Sir
Edward Buwer Lytton" cloud and long continued
cbecrng)
The toast having been drunk with much enthusi-
asm,
sir L. b. LYrroS returned thanks in a few sem
fences.
NJ. vAS pr WrYEG then proposed "The Artists
and Sir Charles Eastlake."
sir G. EASrI.AKE returned thanks.
Mr. j. Foster proposed the next toast-that Of
dramatic Literature" The honorable gentleman
concluded his speech by reading the following SON
net by Tennyson, written dprcpos Of the present
occasion -
Farewell, Macrcady. since to night part;
full-handcd thundcrs often have contest
Thy power well used To move the public breast,
We thank thee with voice. and from the heart
Farewell. Macroady. since this night part;
Go. take thine honors home rank with the best,
Garrick and statelier kembe aud the rest
Who made nation purer thro their art.
Thine Il IL. that our drama did not die.
Nor flicker down t. braincss pantomme.
And those gilt gauds men-childcn swarm to see.
Farewell Mscready; moral. grave, sublime,
Our Shakspcare's bland and universal eye
Dwels pleased thro twice hundred years. on thee
The CHAIRMAN then proposed "lhe Health OF
he Cheyaer BuNsEN," coupling the toast with the |
ierman cxpositors Of Shakespeare.
The Cheyalicr Bunsen acknowledged the compli- |