100 
of some Joseph Surface’s. morality.” 
Be this as it wiil, the crime, thus far, 
is not. particularly aggravated; and, 
with respect to the family of the crimi- 
nal, though there be infidelity to the 
conjugal vow, there is no desertion: 
nor ought it to be forgotten, in miti- 
gation, that Mr. Kean, even in the very 
height and infatuation of his passion, re« 
solutely refused to abandon the wife 
he had wronged, or relinquish the du- 
ties of a father; and the dissatisfied 
lady appears, accordingly, to have 
sought refuge in the arms of a more 
constant lover. There is room, there- 
fore, for crimination, and room for pe- 
nalty ; butitis certainly not acase for pro- 
scription : at least, if we may appeal to. 
former precedents of this High Court of 
Morality—the public press. 
It is not very long ago, since a cele- 
brated singer was convicted of a like 
offence : alike in name; not quite alike 
in circumstance. The lady he seduced, 
had been till then of unblemished repu- 
tation: yet, admitted to the hospitable 
hearth as a friend, while her husband 
was absent, on the service of his coun- 
try, the performer alluded to not only 
seduced her, but deserted a faithful 
partner, who had, for years, been con- 
sidered as his wife, if she was not in 
reality such, and, with her, the child or 
children she had borne to him. Did the 
moral indignation of the public press 
burst forth in unappeasable anathema 
against him? Did it proceed to abu- 
sive personalities ? attack his profes- 
sional capabilities? deny him the science 
and the powers of voice? hold up the 
deficiencies of his person in ridiculous 
caricature? stigmatize him as a lasci- 
vious “ baboon,’* and call upon the 
* “ We know not,” says one of these 
candid and moral Journalists, ‘‘ whether 
more to despise the baboon exhibited, or 
the showman that leads him on.” Mr. 
Kean a baboon ?— What are they then who, 
heretofore, used to cry him up to the skies ? 
—We are no unqualified admirers of this 
performer. We consider him as an actor 
of great, but frequently misdirected energies, 
who, intoxicated by his early and well- 
merited success, and resigned to habitudes 
and associations inconsistent with the de- 
yelopments of intellect, and therefore hos- 
tile to professional improyement, has dete- 
riorated, instead of advancing, in the accom- 
plishments of his art; till his powers, 
instead of expanding in yersatility, haye 
merged into mannerism; and that man- 
nerism, frequently, as coarse as it is strong. 
Yet still are there some characters, and 
scenes and passages of many, in which he 
Topics of the Month :—The Morality of the Stage, 
(Mar. 1, 
public not to tolerate his appearance 
on the stage? No. He was greeted, 
it is true, with some expressions of 
public indignation ; but he was permitted 
to be heard ; and, with no other apology 
than “ that forthe offence he had com- 
mitted, he had suffered the penalty of 
the law, and therefore hoped for a can- 
did reception, in his professional exer- 
tions,” the audience were appeased. 
The press had sounded no tocsin of 
alarm, as if the entire morality of the 
world were threatened with conflagra- 
tion from the irregularities of one actor ; 
and there the matter ended. 
But we have another and more re- 
cent instance, and apparently still more 
flagitious; over which, nevertheless, 
the moral ‘thunder of the public press 
has been content td sleep. A married 
man (an actor at another theatre,—the 
husband, we know, of a very much 
respected,— we believe, of avery amiable 
and estimable, woman,) not very long 
ago abandoned that wife, and eloped 
with the wife of another man, to whom 
she had borne nine children—all left 
behind, that she might live, as she still 
does. live, in open adultery with this 
yet very popular actor. 
Have the moral agitators of the ques- 
tion, against Mr. Kean, entered into any 
confederacy to hoot the comedian al- 
luded to from the stage? Has he lost 
his power over their risible muscles, as 
the other has over their lachrymal 
ducts? Have they lifted up their 
voices, in choral anathema, to concen- 
trate public indignation on the head of 
this adulterer also? No: they have 
been as mild and gentle on this occa- 
sion, “ an’ as they were so many suck- 
ing lambs.” Trial we take it for grant- 
ed there has been, for we understand 
there has been a “ Bill of Divorce,” 
which could not be entertained without 
preliminary verdict. But, if reported 
at all, it hath been slurred over as 
quietly as possible,—whether from re- 
gard to public decency, or from habits 
of familiarity between “ reporters” and 
the parties, or from what other reason, 
or by what other management, we pre- 
sume not to determine: but we ask, in 
the mean time, what other occupation 
found this flaming zeal for the interests 
of public morality ?—or, rather, are we 
not called upon, by common sense and 
reason, 
may bid defiance to all rivalry, whether of, 
present example, or remembrance. Then 
let him not, with all his blemishes, ‘ be 
slandered with baboon!” . 
