1829.] Theatrical Midlers. 313 



the absence of all that authorship which, even so late as the days of the elder 

 Harris, made the fortune of the manager, though he afterwards thought proper 

 to throw it away upon this enormous building, it has been found necessary to 

 rely upon the popularity of peculiar actors ; and, like all marketable commo- 

 dities, those actors rose in price with the demand. These salaries became 

 inordinate. The nightly salary of one tragedian takes away the receipts of the 

 pit. A comedian has carried home the gallery in her pocket, and the whole 

 dress circle has been the prize of a singer. With such claimants for the divi- 

 sion of the spoil, the other performers must be not only reduced to the lowest 

 possible pittance, biit the management must be a system of perpetual loss. 



The absence of authorship produced its evil, in the second shape, of giving 

 over the stage to melodrames and translations from foreign operas, nine of 

 them unsuccessftd for one that can be endured ; intolerably heavy, drearily un- 

 popular, and ruinously expensive. Of all these operas, the Freischutz alone 

 stands its ground. But it was the work of a man, who, in his style, never has 

 had his rival, and may never have his equal. The Freischutz is a phoeno- 

 menon, and managers might as wisely calculate upon a shower of gold from 

 the Georgium Sidus, as on its successor. 



The Coiu-t of Chancery has had a formidable share in the catastrophe. Of 

 that court it has been said, that " it is worse than purgatory ; because, out 

 of purgatory a sinner may expect to come at some time or other, and to be 

 even the better for his penance." The quarrels of the late managers with the 

 present, could not be weak or ruinous enough, without calling in the aid of 

 Chancery ; and accordingly Messrs. Const and Harris, Kemble, Willett, and 

 Forbes, have figured in the court for a succession of years, — 'long enough to 

 have excited the compassion of even the Chancellor, and to have induced 

 even the Vice Chancellor to go the length of hazarding an opinion. Those 

 functionaries having both recommended the amicable arrangement of the 

 business, with the additional hint, fatally true, that perseverance in this 

 passion for equity practice, must- rapidly reduce the theatre to bankruptcy. 



Yet Covent Garden might still become, as it once was, eminently a source 

 of fortune to its managers. The elder Harris realized no less than £80,000 

 by it, besides keeping up an opulent style of living for a long course of years. 

 Arilliam Lewis, the comedian, was one of the sharers in that time, of pros- 

 perity, and he retired from it with £20,000. He had first purchased the shares 

 now held by Charles Kemble ; but, in consequence of what was denominated 

 at the time, a rebellion by the glorious eight, (composed of distinguished actors 

 in the establishment, who sought to rid themselves from what they deemed 

 grievances and exactions, and, in a sort of round robin, afterwards embodied 

 into a pamphlet, addressed to the proprietor and the Lord Chamberlain), was 

 " frightened from his purpose," and Harris, the kindest-hearted man in the 

 world, let him off. Lewis, in conjunction with Knight, afterwards became 

 proprietor of the Liverpool Theatre, where they realised handsome fortunes. 

 Lewis left to his family upwards of £60,000 ; and Knight, who married a 

 sister of the Countess of Derby, survived his partner, and died a rich man. 

 When the disputes between the proprietors and the " glorious eight" had 

 terminated, John Kemble became a partner ; and we understand if the money 

 invested in the concern by that great actor, who was neither a man of business 

 nor a man of the world, had been placed at compound interest, it would by 

 this time have amounted to £60,000 ; whereas, according to the present condi- 

 tion of the pecuniary affairs of the house, the whole has dwindled to nothing. 

 Drury Lane is recruiting vigorously for the opening in October. It will 

 probably have the start of Covent Garden for a while, and Price deserves all 

 the jjatronage that ought to be given to great assiduity, punctuality, and, we 

 believe, very considerable liberality. We, however, regret to hear of some of 

 his dismissals. Gattie is a good actor in his Hue, and popular. Mrs. West 

 ought to have been retained, at least until the manager could see her relieved 

 from the odious and unmanly persecution that seems resolved to destroy a me- 

 ritorious actress and, we understand, a very well conducted and estimable 

 woman. And Miss K. Tree, is at oiite tiie lumdsoniest, aud one «f the most 

 M..AI. \cw Scries:— Vol. \'Ul. No. -15. 2 S 



