194 Theatrical Matters. [Aug. 



the receiver? Till this is altogether reformed, managers must expect to 

 struggle on with a pittance of translations and adaptations, and to have every 

 year of their lives to connplain of the plunder of minor theatres, and the defal- 

 cation of popularity and revenue. 



Covent Garden seems to be suffering still more deeply, or, at least, its ac- 

 knowledgments are more open. A meeting of creditors was lately called, at 

 which a resolution was come to of empowering a committee to let the theatre 

 to the best bidder. Chancery has precipitated the results of mismanagement. 

 Harris and Const, agahist Kemble, Willet, and Forbes, have figured too long 

 in the courts not to have fatally pressed upon the establishment. The opera- 

 tion, however, is now ripe, and the theatre will be shortly in the public hands. 

 The true theatrical gold mine is the Adelphi. Matthews and Yates have 

 there closed a most flourishing season. One so much more flourishhig than 

 they had anticipated that they had made their provincial engagements too 

 early, and were forced to close their doors while the audiences were still 

 crowding hi. Matthews' final speech is worth recording ; but to feel its full 

 pleasantry, his recitation of it should have been heard. 



" Ladies and Gentlemen — As this is the last time I shall have honour of 

 addressing you, I request permission to address a few words to you on taking 

 leave. The longest journey must have an end ; and the more pleasant our 

 progress on the road has been, the more painful our parting with oiir fellow 

 travellers. Such are my present feelings, when, after having travelled so long 

 in your company, the time is at length arrived when I must reluctantly bicl 

 you farewell. Accept, ladies and gentlemen, for my partner and myself, our 

 g:rateful thanks ; and be assured that it will be amongst the proudest recollec- 

 tiosn of our lives, that during near forty nights of the same entertainment, Ave 

 have been honoured not only by full houses, but also by your approbation and 

 applause. If we may be allowed to judge from the cordial smiles with which 

 our labours have been received, we may venture to hope that you will partici- 

 pate in our regret at parting. If this world be, as we are told, a world of 

 trouble and care, how gratified must he be who can, for a few hours at least, 

 banish those demons from the hearts of his friends ; and, believing as we do, 

 that we have the happy means of accomplishing so desirable an end, we may 

 assert, what few individuals ct^n assert so truly, that we have passed several 

 weeks with unmixed pleasure, for we have seen nothing around us but cheer- 

 ful friends and happy faces, and it is as gratifying to reflect that our own 

 modesty has brought us to so sudden a conclusion of our pleasures. Perhaps 

 you will smile at the word modesty, and doubt its being an attribute of a pub- 

 lic performer ; but I may truly venture to assert that a want of confidence 

 in our own attraction, rather than any doubt of the steadiness of your kind patro- 

 nage to us, has brought us to an untimely end — (laughter) — or rather a pre- 

 mature close. But be it as it may, we had formed country engagements, 

 which we are compelled to fulfil; and we have discovered too late that, 

 through your unbounded and almost unlooked-for patronage, we most deci- 

 dedly might have continued to open our doors, and remain " At Home" during 

 the whole of the summer. As it is, we can only lament that we must part, 

 in the pleasing hope of meeting again for our regular season in October, till 

 when, ladies and gentlenen, we most respectfully bid you farewell." 



These amusitig partners then set off for Portsmouth, where all the world 

 are on the " qui vive" for their pleasantries, where they will cheer the nauti- 

 cal stupidities of the yacht club, battle the moroseness of the methodists, and 

 make the solitudes of a seaport in peace echo the festivities that have extracted 

 the shillings of the thousands and ten thousands of London. From the shore 

 those travelling Adelphi take to the sea, and from the sea emerge at Calais, 

 and thence proceed to Paris. Reports extend their tour to St. Petersburg, 

 from which nothing will be more natural than a run in sledges to Tobolski ; 

 and when Siberia has rendered up its dollars, a turn down to the South will 

 bring them into Wallachia, across the Balkan, resting for a night or two, and 

 giving an " At Home" in Shumla ; then making a single stage of it across to 

 Adrianople, a week in Constantinople will convert the sultan and the ladies of 



