1832.] The Dramatic Monopoly. 211 



no little indignation, an attempt made by those who called themselves 

 the patrons of the drama, to destroy the livelihood of so many of its 

 members ; and, although it would have been difficult to awaken the at- 

 tention of any considerable number to the oppression allowed to exist in 

 the monopoly of the regular drama, a prosecution for the performance 

 of a new piece, bought and paid for by the person representing it, was 

 at once tyranny made palpable to the understandings of all. And thus 

 has the whole question been agitated by the very act of the soi-disant 

 patentees themselves, at a time when it is the interest of all monopoly 

 quietly to relax its grasp, and not, by a tighter pressure of the rein, to 

 make itself more palpably, and more hatefully felt. We are now at 

 liberty to consider the English stage open to an entirely new settlement. 

 The dramatic Polignacs have cast down the authority they should never 

 have possessed, and it is the business of those interested in the well-go- 

 vernment of the state, to give a new constitution to the Drama. 



Let not our legislators imagine that this is a task unworthy of their 

 care, or one which ought to be postponed to a hopeless future. The 

 dramatic literature of England is the noblest monument of its poetical 

 glory. The truth and wisdom contained in this high dealing with the 

 feelings and the destinies of man, are the household texts even of political 

 science. How often does a quotation more vivid than the reality,, more 

 apt than the fact itself, serve, not merely to ornament, but to enlighten 

 their debates ! Have not all the greatest spirits of the time appealed to 

 Shakspeare and our elder dramatists, as their teachers in the knowledge 

 of humanity ? To parliament in this very question is confided the fate 

 of all future competitors for this usefulness and this glory. The splen- 

 dours of war pass away before the opening eyes of the world as an excit- 

 ing but a feverish dream. Mankind are beginning to recognise their real 

 benefactors. The legislator who secures their rights, the statesman who 

 watches over their prosperity, are the objects of their wiser gratitude. 

 Nor in this thankfulness is forgotten, the minister of the poetic fire > 

 whether his inspirations be poured out upon the canvas or the marble, 

 his oracles delivered by the tongue of eloquence, or inscribed by the 

 pen to eternity. 



The discussion which arose with certain of the minor actors, in a mere 

 defence of their existence, has now entirely altered its form arid bearing. 

 They had appealed to the public, and the public replied to the appeal, 

 with this very just proviso, that as they were now parties to the contest, 

 their own interests should have a share in the treaty. Undoubtedly the 

 real interests, the ultimate ones, of all the servants of an art dependent 

 upon public protection, must be identified with those of the patrons. The 

 benefits of fair competition are, in a word, the objects sought by both. 

 Let us regard the question by the light of the past, and the glimpse we 

 may snatch of the future first, as it relates to the actors ; next, as it re- 

 lates to authors ; and the public part of the discussion will almost work 

 itself out incidentally to such a division. 



The only four houses legitimately entitled to perform any thing above 

 the rank of burletta in London, Westminster, South wark, the immensely 

 populous suburbs in short, within a circle whose diameter is forty-two 

 miles, more thickly inhabited than any such space in the whole civi- 

 lised world are the Theatres Royal Drury Lane, Covent Garden, 

 Haymarket and English Opera House. By a natural use of the mono- 

 poly, the seasons of these houses are so fitted to each other, as to occa- 



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