New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-01-23

admire Shakespeare; and "Squatter Sovereignty"
may be equally successful. in q community which
has shown excellent taste in the classics of litera-
ture. The Greek Play succeeds The Black Crook
in Boston, and each finds its peculiar audience. Mr..
Emmett and his little harmonicon are as much fol-
lowed Mr. Jefferson and his great performance Of
Rip Van Winkle; but it Is not therefore to be con-
cludod that the whole public esteems Mr. Emmett
as. in acting. the equal of Mr. Jefferson. Some per-
like the jew's-harp, and some persons like the
organ but the organ remains by far the better of
the two Instruments philosopher. in short, will
not infer from the success Of good play, that the
millennium is at hand, Tor, from the success OF bad
one, that the world is going to tho devil nor, from
the success Of BOTH that there is difference be-
tween good and bad truth and falsehood, or sense
and folly.
If the liberal popular acceptance of a bad piece
could be taken justifying the somewhat violent
inference that the population of America consists
mainly of fools, this point would seem to be esiab
lished by the of that most feebleminded
and wretchedly pucrio composition called Tho
Professor" which was brought out at the Madison
Square Theatre last june and in different parts OF
tho country, has boon prosperousy before the pub
lie ever since. From all that we hear about the
progress of this work through the provincial thea
tres, it has been gigged at and called splendid"
with great unanimlty, by hundreds and hundreds
of simpletOns-mOre especially in the singing
school districts. where the theatre Is deemed
immoral" and where the deacons so frequently
smell of gin-and-btters at the mystic hours OF IL
and t. There can be no doubt accordingly, thatI
has hit the fancy of a considerable class of the peo
pie. That class is the nonplace-whch is al
ways large ono II would be grave error to infer.
though, that THE Professor" is a good play, or
that the average standard of sound taste in our
tlmO is no higher than such production as that
All that is proved is that persons like siuSh.
and that The Professor" has been lucky enough.
to please those persons 1t is exactly and admirably
adapted to do
There can be little doubt. however that tho ten
deucy Of such plays is to hurt tho stage for the rca
son that they obsruct instead of aiding he advance
ment OF the lower public Intelligence. Great pretcn-
sonsarc invariably made in thcirbohalf, aEdmana--
gers who all the while desps- ;hen will still bring
them forward to the detrinent of really good dra-
matte literature. thus wo have at one of the local
theatres this week piece called All the Rage
which is qu'e q marvel Of rubbish, but which is
scryiccablo and lucrative by reason OF the very
qualities that shOud make it obnoxious. Many
spectators no doubt think it quite good as The
School for Scandal" and view its aIthor rs another
sheridan. Thsi, part of the injustice of the triumph
Of mediocrity-that prosperous trash should thrust
aside merit. The pTelcuSlOnS made IN DcIalI OF Inc
Professor" are simply comic Messengers sent
forth with it from Now York, and now peryaGing tine
Western country, have advertised it in whole pages
of the newspapers in all the cOlors of the long bow
No pill of all the stored past has had its approach
announced with more clamOr or its path made
smoother into the bowels of the land. One OF these
missionaries, furthermore. has been kind enough
to formulate the doctrine upon which lie proceeds,
with special purpose to enlightcn the press as to its
great opportunity. We find him in The Wheeling In
tcligcnccr; his namc-apparcntly Frcnch-is Nc
Geachy and if old Goliaths target of brass" is
anywhere handy among the ecclesiastical props of
the Madison Square Theatre, we should say that
McGeachy ought to have it. Il candidly believe
says this pure and pastoral preceptOr, that critics
woulddca with theatrical topics more conscientious
~ and the footlghts look brighter and cleaner were
more money paid ont in advertisements. AS things
go nowadays, publishers under no Obliga-
ton to curb their editors in the review of
dramatic affairs. \ Republican or Democratic
newspaper governs is opinions entirely by the po-
litical cause that gives it bread. For the same rea
son would the dramatic columns DO just with rcpu-
table shows that patrOnize the counter literally.
There in the immortal nutshell of McGcachy,
is tho whole philosophy of the matter. Alas for the
deprayity of the human intellect! Milk is a good
fluid: but even McGeachy g moral carminatiyo, how
soever soothing to the average publisher, is but lit
tie likely to charm the wicked critics. At Chicago
they thought, and said that The Professor" had
apparently come from a lunatlc asylum. They do
not like milk; they like gore