550 
take a Jesson.in -navigation,to the lighter- 
footed and fingered who defy care and 
constables in the, vicinage of the Strand ; 
or to those more, vigorous members of the 
community, who, fling, themselves loose 
through..the,,suburbs, and. wait, to relieve 
the superfluities of civic, lords. and the 
lights of the common council, rolling oyer 
Finchley and Blackheath, to dream of 
future harangues and turtle feasts inex- 
haustible, The locality of this theatre 
gives it advantages of the most tempting 
rank; it lies in the direct way of the great 
‘stream of London~- population; its doors 
blaze a pleasant solicitation to the multi- 
tude who have an hour or a shilling at 
command; they are a refuge from a 
shower, from solitude, from stupid 
companionship, from one’s-self.; and the 
man who, by paying the admission, can 
at once start from a street of storm and 
gloom, from a story-telling friend, or from 
the haunting thoughts that the thick air and 
troubled life of cities breed, into the midst 
of laughing circles, shining out under a gay 
blaze of chandeliers, and with such plea- 
santries before them as Yates and Terry 
can furnish, should rejoice that all this lies 
within half-a-dozen steps of the Strand, 
and within the potency of half the number 
of shillings. 
The Haymarket season is on the eve of 
death. The Lord Chamberlain, whose 
law in those points is the law of the Medes 
and Persians, has cut short the old length 
of theatrical life, and condemns the sum- 
mer theatres to expire, while they are as 
ambitious of fighting their way through the 
world as in the first month of their exist- 
ence. But the Haymarket has been pros- 
perous to an unusual degree. . Paul Pry 
has been the Plutus, and has showered 
half the silver circulation of the realm into 
the managerial pocket. The play is vul- 
gar; but its vulgarity was modelled within 
the taste of the multitude. John Bull 
delights in nothing so much as his own 
caricature—so he compresses himself into 
a stove of a house, when the thermometer 
is at 110°, and rejoices in his own bur- 
lesque, in defiance of heat that would 
steam the soul out of a negro. . The skill 
of Vestris, and the prettiness of Mrs. 
‘Humby, sustained, the other performances 
partially ; but Paul Pry was still the first 
prize in the stage wheel, and we -under- 
stand that the Haymarket will henceforth 
limit itself to Liston for three-fourths of 
every season to come, for the term of his 
natural life, attended by an actress or two, 
and a minor buffo, to relieve him in his ex- 
cursions for fresh feelings to the country, 
anda single. fiddler to announce the inter- 
vals between the acts. 
We have to close our sketch with some 
more melancholy retrospects. In. this 
month Connor, the principal performer of 
Trish characters at Covent Garden, died. 
’ Monthly Theatrical Report. 
[Nov. 
His. death was instantangous, -y As he was 
retuming from a’ party, and had nearly 
reached home; a_blood-vessel burst), and; he 
dropped dead... He,had been, liable to, ii 
ness. previously,,, which..gaye; intimation) of 
some, internal; decay; but the stroke, was 
altogether, unexpected,,..; Hey, was,..a, yveny, 
respectable, ,.. good-humoured, .., and ), wells 
mannered - individual, ..possessed,<of, some 
scholarship, and. already, advanced. to. con- 
siderable popularity.,, He_died,,,of, course, 
without having been enabled. to.proyide for 
his wife and two children; but his, brother 
actors performed. for, their benefit ,at, the 
English Opera-House ;.and a) subscription 
was raised which, it may be hoped, will save 
them from any severe pressure in their ¢ir- 
cumstances. Hag 
Michael Kelly, too, has at length passed 
away: the gout had. been his, torturer for 
many a year—a torturer inyited to, the at- 
tack by the whole course of Kelly’s Jife, but 
which was unable ;to subdue his, native 
good-humour. Kelly shad gone through,a 
long and diversified public career, and con- 
trived to the Jast to have friends in avery 
large circle of pleasantry, talents, and rank ; 
though his private life was sometimes ‘defi- 
cient in that decorum which the better 
habits of society require. — 4 
The French stage has had its share of 
mortality, but in a more distinguished Joss : 
Talma died on the 19th of October.. “His 
illness had been long threatened, ‘and was 
slow when it came: it had frequent changes ; 
and a short time since,he, was supposed;to 
be in a progress, to recovery.)., But, the phy- 
sicians were deceived, , probably, by,the na- 
tural vigour of his. frame,,and the general 
vividness of his mind. ...His death.excited 
great interest. in, France ;.and ; the. stage, 
may look upon itself,as without, any, actor 
to succeed him. Talma is. perhaps.the 
single instance of a man retaining the first 
rank in his profession, for almost forty, years 
without the approach of a_rival.,..The:ex- 
clusive arrangements of the. French. stage, 
which never deprive an actor .of the cha- 
racters that he has already, mastered, make 
rivalry more difficult than with us... But 
the ground ‘of his..superiority. was.more 
solid: he was a man of great stage talent, 
vigorous, . vivid, and. original...) His..resi- 
dence in England:/had shown him.the school 
of tragedy here in the day of Siddons,, Kem= 
ble, and Henderson, all in, their, prime ;,and. 
he-often acknowledged his advantages)from, 
their study. . The, time. of bis, appearance, 
in Paris was favourable to, all, innoyatieny 
good and evil—the. commencement, of, the 
Revolytion. He threw) off the antiquated, 
style of French tragedy,. and sprang swath; 
the boldness. of genius, ; encouraged. by,.the. 
time, into a career of brilliancy,and, power 
in which he never receded a, step,until, his 
last hour. With-a more guiltless ambition, 
and a triumph more unstained, Talma was 
the Napoleon of the stage. 7 
het fet 
—eEE————— 
