MONTHLY REVIEW OF LITERATURE. 601 



as for the enthusiasm with which successful performers are received, it is not 

 to be named in comparison with the excitement of the French or Italians 

 under similar circumstances. In Paris, at Milan, and in Naples, on occasions 

 of great attraction at the larger theatres, the tickets are sold at a high pre- 

 mium, sometimes three or four times the ordinary price, and even then you 

 must receive as a favour the permission to purchase. 



The King's Theatre has precedence given it, either on account of its size or 

 gentility, and here we meet with the astounding assertions that the pit " is 

 frequented by the middle classes," and that the gallery " is chiefly intended 

 for, and principally attended by, the servants of the aristocracy." We 

 imagine, if Mr. Grant were to take the trouble of a personal examination 

 next season, he would find very few gentlemen of the party-coloured frater- 

 nity in the gallery, and more of the middle classes than in the pit. It is 

 also said to be "very largely attended by merchants and others who 

 do not know a word of Italian, from a disposition among persons of wealth, 

 however limited their education and humble their origin, to follow in such 

 matters in the wake of the aristocratic portion of society." Why here is a 

 jumble of error and ignorance ! Our merchants are seldom of limited education 

 or humble origin, and are much more likely, from the very nature of their 

 occupations, which render it necessary for them to be acquainted with 

 the language, than the aristocracy, who seldom know . more of it than 

 they have picked up from music-books and the librettos of the operas. And 

 after all, no one goes to the King's Theatre to hear or understand the words, 

 which is not easy even to an Italian, when they are chaunted in recitative or 

 sung ; but some to listen to the music, and the majority, as Mr. Grant him- 

 self says, to gaze on the dancers. We agree perfectly with his observations 

 on the indecency of the ballets as they are now performed, but fashion will 

 always triumph over good taste and propriety, even where they are sacrificed 

 without an equivalent in return for their abandonment ; but the exquisite 

 grace and finish of such a dancer as Taglioni, if they do not justify, at least 

 palliate, the offence of an exposure which all must confess is disgracefully im- 

 modest. 



In speaking of the Olympic Theatre, Mr. Grant states that Elliston " pro-r 

 duced a piece called Rochester, grounded on a well-known anecdote of Henry 

 the Fifth." Of course this means Charles the Second ; we suppose the fault 

 lies with the printer. In his enumeration of those actors who have realized 

 an independence, he has neglected to set down the name of Charles Young, 

 who would, we imagine, be very unwilling to take thirty thousand pounds in 

 exchange for his property, and he altogether overlooks the causes of the 

 general poverty of the class, namely, their extravagant and improvident habits. 

 The late dramatic licenser is styled " Mr. George Colman, son of the celebrated 

 dramatist of that name." Now both Colmans were celebrated dramatists, the 

 elder being the author of The Jealous Wife, and, jointly with Garrick, of The 

 Clandestine Marriage. George Colman the younger produced John Bull, The 

 Poor Gentleman, The Heir at Law, and The Iron Chest, all of which keep 

 possession of the stage, while The Battle of Hexham, The Surrender of Calais, 

 Inkle and Yarico, Ways and Means, and The Mountaineers, although most 

 successful in their time, and, like the others, teeming with humour and 

 sparkling with wit, not unmixed with scenes full of poetry and pathos, are 

 for the present lost to the stage. We may add, that George Colman the elder 

 was more renowned for his excellent and judicious translation of Terence 

 than as a dramatic author, a species of celebrity to which the son had a far 

 better title than the father. 



In the third chapter, the clubs of London are made to pass in review before 

 the public, and here we are sorry to see that Mr. Grant's political prejudices 

 have carried him beyond the limits of truth. He must know that in the 

 transactions of private life, in the payment of bills, and the settling of ac- 

 counts, the Whigs are just as dishonest as the Tories, and the Tories just as 



