hands of a less scrupulous part of
society. But these strict principles, ever since the Great Rebellion,
have pervaded a considerable portion of British society; and yet how
nobly was the stage supported during the eighteenth and the commencement
of the nineteenth century, in the days of Garrick, Siddons, and Kemble!
The great number of theatres which are nightly open in the metropolis,
and rapidly increasing in all the principal cities of the kingdom,
demonstrates, that the play-going portion of the community is
sufficiently numerous to support the stage, generally in respectability,
at times in splendour. Without doubt, the licentiousness of the saloons
of the great theatres in London is a most serious evil, and it well
deserves the consideration of Government, whether some means should not
be taken for its correction; but is the Opera-house so very pure in its
purlieus? and are the habitual admirers of the ballet likely to be
corrupted by occasionally seeing Othello and Juliet? The prevailing, and
in fact universal, passion for reading novels at home, unquestionably
affords an inexhaustible fund of domestic amusement; but does experience
prove that the imagination once kindled, the heart once touched, are
willing to stop short in the quest of excitement--to be satisfied with
imperfect gratification? Novel-reading is as common on the Continent as
in this country; but still the legitimate drama exhibits no such
appearances of decrepitude in its Capitals. The masterpieces of
Corneille and Racine are still constantly performed to crowded houses at
Paris; the theatres of Italy resound with the melody of Metastasio, the
dignity of Alfieri; and singing and the melodrama have nowhere banished
Schiller's tragedies from the boards of Vienna and Berlin.

We have said, that while we appreciate the motives, and respect the
principles, which prevent so large a portion of the middle class of
society from frequenting the theatre, we lament their determination, and
regard it as an evil even greater to the morality than it is to the
genius of the nation. In truth, it is founded on a mistaken view of the
principles which influence human nature; and it would be well if
moralists, and the friends of mankind, would reconsider the subject,
before, in this country at least, it is too late. The love of the drama
is founded on the deepest, the most universal, the noblest principles of
our nature. It exists, and ever will exist. For good or fo