Daily Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1865-1869, 1865-05-24
RICHMOND WING.
WEDNESDAY MoRNING..MAY "a, 1866.
From the n. Y. World
tCrOpl am CRITICS.

Something of a storm is raging In the English
nress over the decadence OF the British drama
An indignant gentleman, writing 70 one Of tne
best Of the Loadon Weeklies, wants 70 Know
Why London Is the only capital IN eivintso
Europe In Whicn the stage cannot anora y Nv
Ns rational enioy msnt ~ mn OF tastA ~ -
alleged that the present generation OF Enkush
ACTORS and actresses can pay nothing 70 Tue MS
but the lowest charac uers; mat the manner anu
me mind OF cult waited society have no rejection
IRON the B,ilisn stage; that The estaolsnso stage
plocuton VI Eng AM Is monstrons largon, ma
kina msse ChOce.w OF the best EhBiish urAna.iV
noaiy, that spectacle and scenery absorb All the
.tts'lioa of managers For this Pitia0le condl-
too Of tbiprs the dramatic criucs OF the British
,re.s arc ned mainly responsible. They are
rharged with signal yenahtJ, anu iacaPaclty
a signal famous American actor, We are
told- Sncs declared that he could buy sny Eng
IN dramatic critic for . pot Of beer and an se-
,ysss of mark is quoted As having said that
tboueh she hal made a good deal OF money du-
ing her career she would have made much more
raj not her wardrobe and her critics come SO
Tbat ths theatre no longer ILLS the place in the
live, Of The educated and renned which it nlled
century or hall n century ago IN Etgiand' Woul1
seem 70 be indisput able. The best Wis oi EnS
lands Augustan age made tbs theatre thei
uiyhtly resort: mos; Of them wrote Tor u, al OF
t6sp, ,,rOte of and upon L. In times nearer our
oyVn Johnson. Goldsmith and burEe, Sheiloah
Colsridge and Byron found both o5eupati~n ana
Amusement for their highest iacaIu-s IN this
mimic world. They hOnoIed aud reyeled Ia u As
cordially as GRthe himself, ChSries Lamp lo'eu
rlavs and play.actOrs with MS whole heart D
Efszl n f,unl themes for the subtlest AMI incest
.r;ticisu, in the acting Of his time. Now, men OF
.nl,urs and Of genius-the poets, the ncvelsts,
tbs statesmen OF Great Britain-deseft the thea
49, ar the opera the British public Is supplied
with pllys trOm the stage OF Fars a. regularly rs
,yith eggs from the hen-rOOsts OF NOimAudy ana
,Jncsfs1 Englishmen no more think OF seriously
',iscnssinr the u erits Of leading actor than OF
ysttug INTO a controversy over the pietenslons oil
rival slgn- painters.
Grant t.at this picture is somewhat over
CHARGED vet there Is much truth in 10; and II II
nat one whit less true Of America than OF Eng
There I, NOT theatre in America to-day which
q man who really loves the dramatic art can
st,end without the positive certainty that La
,ssts ,gilI be offended and his temper damaged
bv an oyerS aelRiag preponderAnee OF common
Mace and Vulgarity in the performance he goes
10 witness. n tn play is ttandArd drama
familiar 10 him as work or literature, ne Will
10 shocked by the nutilaiiOn Of noble passages,
bv the caricature Of weI-concelyed Characters,
~ ne tawdriness and bOmbast Of the prevailing
siorution a the play Is new play parportinB
In palnt the world in which We live, ne Viii DC
exasperated by ineessant sOeclsms oil dress and
dsmsaoor he will behold ladies OF fashion
making mOroing visits IN full evening toilette
ysntle zen patrOliing drawing-rOoms with their
49, stuck fast on their heads and thsir hands
hurried elbow deep in their pockets be will hear
,,ahoO laughter IN polite saloons, and see the
dullness Of = decOiOus dialogue relieved by The
pracucal Jokes Of the sailors forecastle, or the
boarding school dOrmitory.
The result OF thii state Of things IS, that re
fined people commonly 90 TO the theatre only
when soma actor OF exceptional excellence some
bright particular StA- makes them fancy II
worth their While 10 bear with the WEAKNESS OF
his surroundings. II they so ~ other times {; Is
= leur corps defendant. because they have invi-
ted people 10 dinner, aud must do something with
them in the evening, or because this or that
manager has put some spectacle on the stage so
prettiiy "a 10 make the pageant worth glance,
or because they ind their homes tedious, and
really don't know what 20 do with themselves.
The theatres are not managed with an eye 10 the
patronage Of this class OF people they are car
fi,d on mainly 10 please an audience larger and
more easily pleased an audience made up OF
naople who are closely confined during the day
~ trade or commerce OF some kind, and so dnd
an the mere freedom Of the evening q Zest which
puts them into the mood Of liking whatever the
managers give them, and Of visitors from the
country, who pass through the theatres as
through all the other scenes Of city lite, in b.
Z
Ike the poet IN heavens third story,
To look on all thingsa as they are
Bat through kind OF glory"
Now, can the critics mend this state Of things
either 10 England or here lfthey cannot, there
il no great use in vItuperating them for their
yea.lty, The like state Of things conteSsedly
es not exist either IN France Or Germany. II
- admitted on all hands that = dramatic com
pany, made up Of such materials as constitute
III average sock company Of hrst-class Lon
don or New York theatre, would be drummed Cd
the stage OF a second class Paris or Berlin
theatre, and probably thrown bodily into the
Seine or the spree by justly Infatuated popula.
ton.
Yet ths French critics are VIGOROUSLY quite as
venal a. their London brethren; and m tne Ger
man press dramatic criticism is practically IN.
known Balzac in his illusions Perdues," has
lifted the veil frOm the Partisan press, and its
relations 10 the stage, Nth merciless eynicism,
aud the story Of FlOrentnO's literary brigsndage
il as Familiarity known in Paris as the legends of
FRA DiayolO" in Itri. Has dramatic criticism,
then, ere We 10 conclude, nothing 10 DO with the
condition Of the stage or has il only less 10 do
with that condition tnan the amateur critics Of
..-..e....f.,pat criticism aaam IN