more tenderly feels for than the Hector of the scene; he may be fick, he may be supperless; there may be none to nurfe him, when his mother is out of fight, and the maternal interest in the divided heart of the actress may preponderate over the heroine's: This is a cafe not within the chances to happen to any lady-actress, who of course configns the task of education to other hands, and keeps her own at leisure for more preffing duties.

Public performers have their memories loaded and diftracted with a variety of parts, and oftentimes, are compelled to fuch a repetition of the fame part, as cannot fail to quench the spirit of the representation; they must obey the call of duty, be the caft of the character what it may→

-Cum Thaida fuftinet, aut cum

Uxorem comœdus agit,

Subject to all the various cafts of life,

Now the loose harlot, now the virtuous wife.

But, what is worse than all, the veterans of the public stage will sometimes be appointed to play the old and ugly, as I can inftance in the perfon of a moft admirable actress, whom I have often seen, and never without the tribute of applaufe, in the cafts of Juliet's Nurse, Aunt Deborah, and other venerable damfels in the vale

of

of years, when I am confident there is not a lady of independent rank in England of Mrs. Pitt's age, who would not rather struggle for Mifs Jenny or Mifs Hoyden, than stoop to be the representative of fuch old hags.

These and the fubjection public performers are under to the caprice of the fpectators, and to the attacks of conceited and misjudging critics are amongst the many disagreeable circumftances, which the moft eminent must expect and the moft fortunate cannot escape.

It would be hard indeed if performers of diftinction, who use the stage only as an elegant and moral refource, fhould be fubject to any of thefe unpleasant conditions, and yet as a friend to the rifing fame of the domeftic drama I muft observe, that there are fome precautions neceffary, which it's patrons have not yet attended to. There are fo many confequences to be guarded againft, as well as provifions to be made for an establishment of this fort, that it behoves it's conductors to take their first ground with great judgment; and above all things to be very careful that an exhibition fo ennobled by it's actors, may be caft into fuch a ftile and character, as may keep it clear from any poffible comparison with fpectacles, which it fhould not condefcend to imitate, and cannot hope to equal.

This I believe has not been attempted, perhaps not even reflected upon, and yet if I may speak from information of fpecimens, which I have not been present at, there are many reforms needful both in it's external as well as internal arrangement.

By external I mean fpectacle, comprehending theatre, stage, scenery, orchestra, and all things else, which fall within the province of the arbiter deliciarum: These fhould be planned upon a model new, original and peculiar to themselves; fo industriously distinguished from our public play-houses, that they should not strike the eye, as now they do, like a copy in miniature, but as the independant sketch of a master, who difdains to copy. I can call to mind many noble halls and stately apartments in the great houses and castles of our nobility, which would give an artift ample field for fancy, and which with pro per help would be disposed into new and striking fhapes for fuch a fcene of action, as should become the dignity of the performers. Halls and faloons, flanked with interior columns and furrounded by galleries, would with the aid of proper draperies or scenery in the intercolumnations take a rich and elegant appearance, and at the fame time the mufic might be fo difpofed in the gallery, as to produce a moft animating effect.

A very finall elevation of ftage fhould be allowed of, and no contraction by fide scenes to huddle the speakers together and embarrass their deportment; no fhift of scene whatever, and no curtain to draw up and drop, as if puppets were to play behind it; the area, appropriated to the performers, fhould be fo dreffed and furnished with all fuitable accommodations, as to afford every poffible opportunity to the performers of varying their actions and poftures, whether of fitting, walking or standing, as their situations in the fcene, or their intereft in the dialogue may dictate; fo as to familiarize and affimilate their whole conduct and conversation through the progrefs of the drama to the manners and habits of well-bred perfons in real life.

Prologues and epilogues in the modern stile of writing and speaking them I regard as very unbecoming, and I fhould blufh to fee any lady of fashion in that filly and unfeemly fituation: They are the last remaining corruptions of the antient drama; reliques of fervility, and only are retained in our London theatres as vehicles of humiliation at the introduction of a new play, and traps for falfe wit, extravagant conceits and female flippancy at the conclufion of it: Where authors are petitioners, and players fervants to the public thefe condefcenfions must be made,

but

but where poets are not fuitors, and performers are benefactors, why fhould the free Muse wear fhackles for fuch they are, though the fingers of the brave are employed to put them on the limbs of the fair.

As I am fatisfied nothing ought to be admitted from beginning to end, which can provoke comparisons, I revolt with indignation from the idea of a lady of fashion being trammelled in the trickery of the stage, and taught her airs and graces, till fhe is made the mere fac-fimile of a mannerift, where the most she can afpire to is to be the copy of a copyift: Let none fuch be confulted in dreffing or drilling an honorary novitiate in the forms and fashions of the public ftage; it is a course of discipline, which neither perfon will profit by; a kind of barter, in which both parties will give and receive false airs and falfe conceits; the fine lady will be difqualified by copying the actress, and the actress will become ridiculous by apeing the fine lady.

As for the choice of the drama, which is fo nice and difficult a part of the business, I scarce believe there is one play upon the lift, which in all it's parts and paffages is thoroughly adapted to fuch a caft as I am fpeaking of: Where it has been in public ufe I am fure it is not, for there comparisons are unavoidable. Plays profeffedly