and action to the figure, and is the all in all.

The little judgment used in the casts of the plays in which Mr. Dwyer
has appeared, must have, however, greatly diminished the effect his
talents would produce upon us, were he respectably supported. Our
company, weak and bad in the extreme, is by bad management rendered much
worse. To the annoyance of the public, when one actor, as a _star_, is
thought to have sufficient attraction to make a good house of himself,
the best performers of the company (and heaven knows bad enough is the
best) are left out; prompter, scene-shifters, supernumeraries, and
candle-snuffers being tugged in by the ears, as occasion may require, to
_complete_ the _Dramatis Personae_. The place of Mrs. Oldmixon, whom we
always see with pleasure, and who is never willingly absent when she can
contribute to the gratification of the audience, is frequently occupied
by Mrs. Hogg, whose infirmities impede those exertions which we are
inclined to believe she is willing to make: and Mr. Simpson, who, in
some characters, is not a bad performer, is often supplanted by the very
sweepings of the green-room. How often do we see that second Proteus,
the little prompter with his _parenthetical_ legs, rolled on in five or
six different parts on the same evening. Gentleman, jailor, footman,
king, and beggar are to him equally indifferent; and next to Mr. Hallam
we conceive him to be the very best murderer on the boards.

As we have gone so far in our observations on the state of the company,
it may be as well to take a glance at the whole corps.

First on the scroll stands the respectable Tyler, who, with some natural
qualifications and much industry, has for many years been the most
useful actor on our boards. His grave old gentlemen are far above
mediocrity, and although nearly sixty years of age, he appears to much
advantage occasionally in comic opera; being the only man in the
company, with the exception of Mr. Twaits, capable of singing.

Mr. Twaits as a low comedian is inferior to none in the United States.

Mr. Simpson, denied by nature the possibility of being graceful,
endeavours to make up for his defects by close attention to his
business. He is generally perfect, and may, by reading and much study,
become tolerable in the walk he aims at; which is genteel comedy. His
chief defects are a whining sing-song management of his voice, that
savors more of the rant of a methodist preacher than the genuine