New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1857-05-14

fOrth ID inquiry.
Certain il is that Of all human inclina-
tons and capacities of peasurable excitement,
there is none more potent or universal than that
which forms the basis of dramatic exhibitions.
Well might the great dramatist exclaim: "All
"the worlds a stage and all the men and women
care merely players" We commence theseperform-
ances at a very early age. All the plays of
children these in which they pass their earliest and
most mpressible years. are true dramatic exhibit
tions-couDterfeit presentments, with extem-
pore scenery and decorations, demanding often a
considerable stretch of imagination, but in general
not much more than is required to exc out theat
rical performance Now the child is unquestionably
the father Of the man. The same strong appetite
for stories which holds spell-bound the listening
infant on its mothers lap, lasts to old age. How
many thousand readers have Dickens, and Thacke-
ray and Scott not merely among girls and boys, but
among the gravest and grayest headed The clergy,
after belaboring for two centuries or more
novels and n0vel-reading, seem to have given over
that contest in despair and to have fairly knocked
under. We very well recOlect that, on the first
appearance Of the Wayerley novels, The Christian
Obserrer, an approved organ Of the Evangelical
section of the Church of England, though it had
criticised and admired SCOTS metrical romances Of
the Lady Of the Lake, Marmion, &c, as books
which might be read by Christian, pointedly con-
demned these prose novels as forbidden fruit, OF
which no pious person could consistently taste.
But not even that journal makes any longer any
such distinction. In its criticisms on Uncle Toms
Cabin and other similar works, it entirely drops ts
old preliminary argument that all prose works OF
fiction are necessarily demOralizing.
But if az to this matter there has been in the last
half century material change of opinion IN the
religious world there has also been no less re-
markable change in the general character of our
prose works of fiction. 1.-THE one has changed fort the
better, so has the other. Avery large proportion of
our modern novels are in great measure free from
the blemishes and faults and temptations to sin
which used to be most strenuOusly urged against
their predecessors, and which seemed to furnish
very plausible ground for the condemnation as per-
nicious of all works of fiction.
1t appears to us that here is a precedent not
without direct and positive bearing on the ques-
ton of the possibility of reforming the stage. If
romance writing and nove-writing have been re-
formed, why not the drama If novels are now
written which the most religious and devout find
hardly less an incentive to piOus life than the best
Of sermons, why may not the drama be put to
similar good use If Uncle Tom exalts the soul
and touches the heart in story, why may he not in
an acted play Mr. Henry Ward Beecher con-
dennis the DRAMA and breaches against it. Doubt
less, bis distinguished father, when at his age,
preached not less zealousy against novels andnOye
reading. Many profane songs have been wrenched
from the devils grasp and turned into good psalm
tunes. Novels are now regarded not merely as
legitimate means of entertainment, but as means,
too Of piOus edifcatiOn and neral improvement.
Under these circumstances, is it sensible-does it
not betray more Of prejudice than Of wisdom-to
reject the drama, and to attempt totally and out
right to abolish theaters inevitably aud incurably
badl
Let us DO careful, however, not to damage the
cause Of the drama by claiming too much 1t. We
are content to put it forward as capable OF being
made means of innocent recreation and amuse-
ment We would not go so far as to set it up as .
rival to the pulpit. We must however, take the
liberty to say that it is in part because two of q
trade can never agree, because the pulpit and the
stage are in fact rivals, both addressing themselves
to the same conceptve faculty in man, that they
have been at all times and everywhere such bad
friends. priest is an actor-a monologue actor,
with bis choir, and in the English Church service,
his responsive audience for a chorus. The
services of the Church are as direct and as posi-
tive an appeal 10 the conceptiye faculties as
the acting Of play. Both proceed upon pre-
cisely the same theoretical principles the same
ANALYSIS Of human nature. Nor is it less so with
preaching. 1t was seriously questioned whether
Whitfield or Garrick was the greatest actor. Can
any one doubt that Irving or Finney, or Mr.. Henry
Ward Beecher himself, would have succeeded we'll
on the stage Accordingly We beg to suggest the
ouery whether, when those gentlemen would extin-
guish the theater, they are not carrying matters
little too far. They proceed, We fear, too much
in the style Of the Caliph Omar, who thought
the Koran alone entirely sufficient to satisfy all the
demands Of the reading public, and that all the treas
ure, Of the Ale1andrian Library were fit only to De
burnt.
The American Tract Society arrived yesterday at
L-,no,;ous result with regard 10 Slavery iu the