Morning journal and courier., 1889-05-27
BEFORE ROYALTY.
Dramatic Services Recognized by
 Crowaed Heads.

Dramatic Services Recognized by crowned Heads. It was Napoleon the Great, at the apogee
 of his wonderful success, wrote to Talma:
 "Come to Erfurt, and you shall play before
 pit full of kings," say the London Tele- graph in reference to the recent performance of the Lyceum company before Victoria The artist bidden by far less arrogant man date to appear at the "Theathre Royal, Sand ringham," played before front row of ror- alties, including the sovereign, the heir ap- parent, the Princess of Wales, the Princess Louise, Prince George, aud the Princesses Louise, Victoria and Maud of Wales. Of | these eight illustrious personages, only two, her majesty and the Prince of Walss, could remember the once famous royal theatricals 1 in the Rubens room ct Windsor Castle; and | in the first year of their occurrence the prince himself was a child of 8 years old fair haired little boy, such we sse him as 6 miniature man o'-war's man in Winter halter's picture or in the littls highland kit and sporran in which he appeared at the opening of the great exhibition of 1851. Per- haps his roy al highness preserves only an tn- distinct recollection of this episode in his childhood; but, st all events, the marvellous ly retentiye memory of his ilustrious parent must preserve the most vivid impressions of the long continued series of dramatic funo- tions which gave such genuine delight to her self and to their guiding spirit the prince consort, in whose enlightened and cultivated mind they were forever springing up fresh plans for the development of the arts he l loved so well, and in many of which he him. self exoellea so conspicuously. Whatever truth there may be in the pleasant legend
 that Queen Elizabeth was so delighted with the character of Sir John Falsraff, as he ap- pears in the first part of "Henry 1V," that che bade the poet exhibit the fat knight in love, and only gave him 14 days for the
 com ple.ion of his task, when ''the pleasant
 and excellent conceited comedy of "Sir John
 Falstaf and the Merry Wives of Windsor"
 was produced, with great applause, in the new gallery at Windsor Castle, it is certain that not only the masterpieces of the poets of all Time, but also those of Ben Johnson and cognate dramatists, were repeatedly per formed in the presence and at the palaces of royalty. Nor should it be forgotten that one of the bitterest accusations brought by the sour Puritans against Charles l. was that he devoted his leisure moments to the study of the works of profane stage player named William Shakespeare. The house of Bruns- wick has been as discriminating and as mu nifcent in their support of the drama as were l the house of Stuart, and her majesty mas on- | ly inherited in this respect the taste of her | grandfather, George III, with whom the | theatre was always a favorite relaxation. | His usual habit was to command twice 8 week, in addition to making frequent pri- l vate visits on other nights ot the perform l ance, and this pleasant practice he was wont l to pursue even in the comparative retirement ! of Windsor and Weymouth. It is on record | that the good old King, accompanied by Queen Charlotte, once travelled all night from Weymouth to London that they might not disappoint favorite comic actor to
 whom they had promised their patronage on his benefit night. It was suggested to the
 kind hearted monarch that he might send the actor a present to compensate for his disappointment, but the King replied, "No,
 no; should do that at any rate; but, poor fellow, poor fellow, he will think much more of onr being there than anything we might give him." It is not recorded. however,
 thrt tle Kings private patronage of the 1 Thespian art ever led him to organize dra- matic performances ill his palace. He and l Queen Charlotte went no further in this dl- rection than to sometimes aek the sublime Sarah Siddons to tea, on which occasions, l when the Bohea and the uufhns had come
 to an end, the gifted sister of John Kemble l would recite scenes from Shakespeare, of | which, modestly ensconced in 8 corner, as far from the royalties as possible, little
 Fanny Burnay would be a delighted specta- tor
 A bolder step was taken by Queen Victoria and the prince consort Toward the close of ! the year 1S4S CQ&Tl6S h0Au was SeleCC6O | to conduct the Windsor theatricals, a series of private performances instituted with the
 double object of promoting the interests of the British drama and of gratifying the per- l sonal inclinations of the royal
 pair and of the distinguished circle which they gathered round them. The principle
 proposed, and nob1y carried out, was that
 the performers should be selected simply &C.,
 cording to their abilities, and without any
 reference to any indididGal interest or the
 particular theatre to which they happened
 to be for the time attached. It must be
 borne in mind that the initiative thus set oy
 her majesty and her consort was practical
 step toward the restoration of tasn1onaoie
 esteem to the once crowded temples ot the
 drama, which, in 1945, through variety or
 unfayorable circumstances, mainly connected
 with continental politics, had become com-
 narativelv deserted The Windsor perform
 formauces, we have testimony 1n inc speech
 made by Charles Kean as chairman at the Theatrical Fund dinner in May, 1S49, when he incidentally remarked that her majesty and the prince consort had conspicuously stamped the stage with importance and ster- ling value "by permitting the royal children, in their earliest budding youth, to become familiar with the magic verse of Shakes psare." Nor will it have faded from the