Stage," as Dr. Plumptre observes,* "be a source of moral instruction as well as of amusement, the profession of an actor is not only innocent, but highly useful and commendable." There can be no degradation in practising an art which requires a rare combination of mental and physical endowments, and in which none can expect to attain even moderate distinction without the mind and manners of a gentleman, and the attainments of a scholar.† Dr. Styles is most unjust, in his strictures on Garrick, of whom he says, "that he lived in vain," that "his life was barren of incidents which reflect honour on human nature," and that "a moral les. son never fell from his lips." The life of Garrick was certainly not so devoted to piety, nor was his profession of so elevated a character as that of a minister of the Gospel; but he did much to reform and exalt the art he adorned; lived respectably in the best society, countenanced and courted by bishops and archbishops, and practised benevolence and charity to the full extent of an ample fortune, obtained through the exercise of his own talent.‡

* Discourse I. p. 17.

† Dr. William Barrow, in his Essay on Education, in the chapter on Dramatic Performances at School, acknowledges the profession of an actor to be "consistent with virtue and religion."

Bishop Horne, in his lines on Garrick's Funeral Procession, though he censures the "parade of woe," yet acknowledges that he was "much to be admired of man."

*

If for nothing else, his memory is entitled to honour for the establishment of the Drury Lane Theatrical Fund, which he instituted and liberally endowed, and by which many aged and helpless persons have lived in comfort, who otherwise would have been totally destitute. Why will men thus commit themselves in passing judgment on one another, with but slight knowledge of the lives or characters of those they condemn? Or why will they select and reason on some trifling defects, forgetting, or rather not choosing to remember, the active virtues by which these are more than balanced? Truly, indeed, does the immortal poet observe,

"The evil that men do, lives after them,

The good is oft interred with their bones."

The prejudice which once existed strongly against the theatrical profession has almost entirely ceased, and this can only arise from two causes; more liberal feelings on the one side, and increased respectability on the other. Actors are received into the highest society, with the same courtesy that is extended to other artists, nor has it been found that their deportment has proved them less worthy of the distinction. Many performers may be named, who in the conduct of their private lives, and the regulation of their families, have reflected honour on

* Among other munificent donations, the receipts of the house on the night when he took his final leave of the Stage in Don Felix, were given to the Theatrical Fund,

† Shakspeare, Julius Cæsar, ACT III. Sc. 2.

their public talents; nor are there wanting amongst the female portion of the dramatic community, various individuals whose domestic virtues have adorned the exalted rank to which their professional accomplishments have introduced them. There are, doubtless, persons induced to go on the Stage from mistaken ambition, from a false estimate of their own powers, from habits of idleness, or from being unfit for any thing else. These sooner or later discover their error, and all such experiments cannot fail to end in disappointment, or disgrace; but these exceptions cannot affect the general respectability of the art, or impeach its advantages. It would be well if this could be prevented, or that some regulation could be enforced, by which, as in other professions, no one should be allowed to practise without a diploma, or without obtaining a certificate of qualification. Garrick, it is said, projected some school or college of this kind, but either his zeal abated, or he found the difficulties insurmountable.

It has also been objected to actors, that they have figured in courts of law, for various moral improprieties, and that their professional fame has been increased rather than injured by such unenviable notoriety. This again is a position assumed rather than demonstrated, and if it were not both indelicate and unnecessary to appeal to instances, I could of my own experience produce more than one, in which the public voice, so far

of

from favouring private delinquencies, has very unequivocally expressed a contrary opinion. This is quite right, and it would be much to be lamented were it otherwise. We are all anxious to obtain full credit for a good character, and have no right to escape the penalty of a bad one. But members graver professions than the Stage, whose lives are less exposed to temptation, and therefore with less excuse for criminality, have also furnished matter for judicial investigation and for much heavier offences than can be charged against the sons of Thespis. Far be it from me for this reason to asperse the order to which those individuals may belong, or to draw any general inference from a few insulated exceptions. My object is to defend and not

to retort.

The profession of an actor requires temperate habits, and unremitting application. That which our enemies are pleased to call idle, is probably the most laborious of all employments. They little know the exertion of mind and body it requires. As Cumberland has justly remarked, “there is no calling or profession in life, that can less endure the distractions of intemperance and dissipation." Bishop Horne, in his " Essays and Thoughts on various Subjects," has the following observations. "Mrs. Siddons, the famous actress, receiving many invitations to the houses of the great and opulent, excused herself from accepting any of them, because her time was due to the public, that she might

prepare herself in the most perfect manner to appear before them for their entertainment. When a clergyman is invited to spend his hours at cardplaying or chit-chat meetings, has he not an apology to make of the same kind, but of a more important and interesting nature? and, if he be deficient in the duties of his profession for want of so excusing himself, will not Mrs. Siddons rise up in judgment against him, and condemn him ?"*

In Cumberland's Observer is an Essay (No. 29, vol. i.) On Actors," from which I have selected the following highly applicable remarks.—

66

Among the various orders and ranks of men in civilized society, some are entitled to our respect for the dignity and utility of their profession; but as there are many more than merely natural wants to be provided for in a state of high refinement, other arts and occupations will occur, which though not to be so highly respected for their utility, will yet be valued and caressed for the pleasures they bestow. In this light there is perhaps no one order of men who contribute more largely to the pleasures and moral amusements of the age than our actors. It is an act of aggravated cruelty to attack a man whose profession lays him so continually at mercy, and who has fewer defences than other men to resort to. An actor has a claim An actor has a claim upon the public for their protection, whose servant he is; and he

*Bishop Horne's Works, vol. i. p. 357.