J830.] Theatrical Matters. 687 



found in the common evil of modern theatres, the deficiency of modern 

 authorship. A manager was once reported to have said, in the triumph 

 of a pantomime or some such foolery of canvass and carpentry, 

 "D mn authorship, give me the scene-painter and the machinist!" 

 If this absurdity was ever uttered, it has been dearly revenged on all 

 his successors to this hour. The machinist and the scene-painter have 

 been the two " daughters of the horse-leech, crying, ' Give, give ;' " and 

 their suction of the theatrical purse has reduced it to the thinness of a 

 vapour. Since Price's announcement as manager of the theatre, it is 

 remarkable that scarcely one original performance has been produced ; 

 if we except Miss Mitford's Rienzi, which, though clever for a female, 

 was not fitted for longevity ; and Lord Glengall's Follies of Fashion ; 

 which, though clever for a lord, had more of folly than fashion, and 

 was an open plunder from The School for Scandal, with all the characters 

 castrated, and all the wit washed away. 



Price had a whole fry of French translations, the white bait of 

 the theatrical feast, and very pretty little things in general to toy with, 

 but altogether unfit to appear before the solid demands of an English 

 appetite. The consequence has been the gradual withdrawing of public 

 interest from the stage, and finally the fall of a manager who was per- 

 haps as well qualified for his general duties as any other man of his 

 day. 



Price's notorious circumstances made a change in the management 

 necessary. The theatre was offered to the highest bidder. A number 

 of tenders were received from individuals desperately determined on the 

 glorious risk. Actors singly, and in couples and triplets; singers, of all 

 theatres and of none ; Jew merchants, champagne dealers, all sent in 

 their proposals for a speculation which has hitherto ruined every body. 

 Such is the trust of man in fortune ! At last the lease has been assigned 

 for three years, at 9000/. a year, to Lee, the singer and composer, who is 

 understood to be conjoined with another Jew Absalom, and both of 

 whom are, in all probability, sustained by the Jewish purse of powerful 

 individuals, who are in the habit of trying all conduits for profit on their 

 principal. It is said that Braham was among the original proposers for 

 the lease"; and if so, it is to be regretted that he did not obtain it ; as, inde- 

 pendently of his theatrical distinctions, he is a man at once of intelligence 

 and liberality, who would have taken the best financial means of sup- 

 porting the theatre, and would have secured the best performances. 



But we will not sentence the new lessee before he has been tried. He 

 may be as able as any other manager, and abler than any that this un- 

 lucky theatre has had. We shall be glad to see him reverse its des- 

 tinies ; but, one thing he must take as his maxim ; that the old system 

 must be changed in every point, otherwise the old consequences will 

 follow. He must look out for able writers : he must find, as the late 

 Harris did, half-a-dozen writers able to sustain the dramatic interest 

 of his theatre. He must place his strength, not in farce, and of things 

 in foreign farce, but in comedy, and that English comedy, or still more 

 in tragedy : for the English taste is tragedy, and a work of genius, if 

 we have still genius enough among us to produce a great tragedy, will 

 carry away popularity from every other effort of the drama. 



But if he pursue the course of former managers, he must, like them, be 

 undone. Melo-dramas and mummery have had their day ; the world is 

 weary of them ; they succeed for a night, and are then useless for ever. 



