ver, that from his action in the matter, much
change or amendment has ensued.

In America there is no Lord Chamberlain, Examiner of Plays, or any
corresponding functionary. The stage may be no better for the absence
of such an officer, but it does not seem to be any the worse.

In 1832, the late Lord Lytton (then Mr. Bulwer), addressing the House
of Commons on the laws affecting dramatic literature, said of the
authority vested in the Lord Chamberlain: "I am at a loss to know what
advantages we have gained by the grant of this almost unconstitutional
power. Certainly, with regard to a censor, a censor upon plays seems
to me as idle and unnecessary as a censor upon books.... The public
taste, backed by the vigilant admonition of the public press, may,
perhaps, be more safely trusted for the preservation of theatrical
decorum, than any ignorant and bungling censor who (however well the
office may be now fulfilled) might be appointed hereafter; who, while
he might strain at gnats and cavil at straws, would be without any
other real power than that of preventing men of genius from submitting
to the caprice of his opinions."

CHAPTER V.

A BILL OF THE PLAY.

Are there, nowadays, any collectors of playbills? In the catalogues of
secondhand booksellers are occasionally to be found such entries as:
"Playbills of the Theatre Royal, Bath, 1807 to 1812;" or "Hull Theatre
Royal--various bills of performances between 1815 and 1850;" or
"Covent Garden Theatre--variety of old bills of the last century
pasted in a volume;" yet these evidences of the care and diligence of
past collectors would not seem to obtain much appreciation in the
present. The old treasures can generally be purchased at a very
moderate outlay. Still, if scarceness is an element of value, these
things should be precious. It is in the nature of such ephemera of the
printing-press to live their short hour, and disappear with exceeding
suddenness. They may be originally issued in hundreds or even in
thousands; but once gone they are gone for ever. Relative to such
matters there is an energy of destruction that keeps pace with the
industry of production. The demands of "waste" must be met: fires must
be lighted. So away go the loose papers, sheets and pamphlets of the
minute. They have served their turn, and there is an end of them.
Hence the difficulty of obtaining, when needed, a copy of a newspaper
of old date, or the guide-book or programme of a depar