. Scott sat the Earl
of Fife, Lord Meadowbank, Sir John Hope of Pinkie, Bart., Admiral Adam,
Baron Clerk Rattray, Gilbert Innes, Esq., James Walker, Esq., Robert
Dundas, Esq., Alexander Smith, Esq., etc.

The cloth being removed, "Non nobis, Domine," was sung by Messrs.
Thorne, Swift, Collier, and Hartley, after which the following toasts
were given from the chair:--

"The King"--all the honours.

"The Duke of Clarence and the Royal Family."

The CHAIRMAN, in proposing the next toast, which he wished to be drunk
in solemn silence, said it was to the memory of a regretted-prince, whom
we had lately lost. Every individual would at once conjecture to whom he
alluded. He had no intention to dwell on his military merits. They had
been told in the senate; they had been repeated in the cottage; and
whenever a soldier was the theme, his name was never far distant. But it
was chiefly in connection with the business of this meeting, which
his late Royal Highness had condescended in a particular manner to
patronize, that they were called on to drink his health. To that charity
he had often sacrificed his time, and had given up the little leisure
which he had from important business. He was always ready to attend on
every occasion of this kind, and it was in that view that he proposed to
drink to the memory of his late Royal Highness the Duke of York.--Drunk
in solemn silence.

The CHAIRMAN then requested that gentlemen would fill a bumper as full
as it would hold, while he would say only a few words. He was in the
habit of hearing speeches, and he knew the feeling with which long ones
were regarded. He was sure that it was perfectly unnecessary for him to
enter into any vindication of the dramatic art, which they had come
here to support. This, however, he considered to be the proper time
and proper occasion for him to say a few words on that love of
representation which was an innate feeling in human nature. It was the
first amusement that the child had. It grew greater as he grew up; and
even in the decline of life nothing amuses so much as when a common tale
is told with appropriate personification. The first thing a child does
is to ape his schoolmaster by flogging a chair. The assuming a character
ourselves, or the seeing others assume an imaginary character, is an
enjoyment natural to humanity. It was implanted in our very nature to
take pleasure from such representations, at proper times and on proper
occasions. In al