.1825.] 
‘perhaps, be more valuable, if I could fur- 
nish it with dates; but, unfortunately, I 
took no notice of them, at the time when the 
circumstance was mentioned: suffice it, 
therefore, that it occurred within the last 
year or two. Mm. Stich, a favourite ac- 
tress in Berlin, having been found, by her 
husband, in bed with a strange man, the 
former, in a fit of ungovernable fury, stab- 
bed the latter, and fled. The case was 
‘investigated, and, as the wounds proved 
not to be mortal, allowance was made for 
circumstances, and the husband was ac- 
quitted. Mm. S. had borne an indifferent 
“character before; but, as nothing of her 
irregularities had been brought before the 
public in any tangible or authentic shape, 
they were indulgently overlooked. But 
mow the people were determined that she 
should. not again appear before them ; and 
' the first time that she afterwards ventured 
on the stage, the uproar was so tremen- 
dous, so universal, and so determined, that 
she was obliged to retire in confusion. 
This occurred in a place where the theatre 
is always filled by an armed police, with 
drawn swords; and where, on a common 
occasion, even a whisper during the per- 
formance is punished, not only with instant 
expulsion, but often with several days’ in- 
-earceration. It occurred, also, in the very 
-teeth of an absolute king, who was present, 
at the time, and had actually risen, and 
beckoned to the people to be silent. The 
next day, the ministerial papers reported 
that the king was highly displeased at the 
arrogance of the people; and that it was 
‘his majesty’s opinion, that the public had 
‘no concern with the private conduct of an 
actor or actress. But still the people chose 
‘to think differently; and Mm. S. shortly 
after took her departure to France, whence 
she had not yet returned at the period 
when my friend left Berlin. —Your’s, &¢. 
WeiZs 
But,whatever may be the right, moral- 
_ ly inherent, or capriciously assumed, of a 
theatrical audience to pronounce upon 
any thing but the theatrical merits, or 
demerits, of the performer who appears 
before them, the question of the means 
that were taken to excite the intem- 
perate hostility in the present instance, 
is not in any respect altered. If ma- 
trons and virgins, in sign of their dis- 
approbation, had withheld the sanction 
- of their presence, when the offender was 
to perform, we should have hailed the 
symptom of a return, at least ta the 
and of the Public Press. * 
99 
exteriors of moral decorum. If the 
manifestation of a spontaneous and un- 
organized disapprobation had burst forth 
from the audience, on his first appear- 
ance on the boards, we do not know 
that we should have condemned the 
morality of the public as more ardent 
than discreet: but we should perhaps 
have been disposed to inquire why it 
had not beet manifested with equal- 
intensity, on other, and more crying 
occasions. This is a question, however, 
which applies more directly to the pre- 
tended morality of the hostile portion of 
the public press. 
We do not mean to be the apologists 
of Mr. Kean; but, for the sake even of 
that vaunted morality, which can never 
be advanced without some attention 
to equal justice, let the case be fairly 
stated. 
The fact of the twin letters is, indeed, 
a very black one; and may tend to 
shew how easily the man may be sunk 
in the actor: not exclusively, we are 
afraid, by those whose profession is the 
stage. Yet take the case altogether, 
it is certainly not more aggravated than 
many others which the public press has 
passed over in silence, or evaded with 
very slight regard. 
We will not allude to any of those fla- 
grant violations of every principle of mo- 
rality, in which names, so frequently, 
and sometimes circumstances, are sup- 
pressed—from respect to the rank of 
the offenders, or from other weighty 
considerations; nor even allude to the 
morality, in many instances so conspi- 
cuous, in the conduct of their jour- 
nals—their fond expatiations on crim. 
cons., &c —their luxuriant details of 
every fact and circumstance which, for 
the sake of public decency, should be 
solicitously concealed. Neither will we 
enquire what would become of the 
dearest yet (with all its abuses)—the 
most inestimable of the privileges we 
enjoy! if every conductor were hooted 
from his office, and his printing press, 
for every transgression against the ten 
commandments ?— We wili confine our- 
selves to the stage alone. 
In the case of Mr. Kean, bad as it 
is, there was evidently no seduction, 
The whole of the proven conduct of 
the lady is direct enough to this point. 
And if a beautiful woman will “ tempt 
a man to tempt her,” it is true, we 
know very well what he ought to do; 
but, be he actor, newspaper-writer, or 
reader, ’tis question whether he might 
not “ find it necessary to borrow a little 
O02 of 
