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    Untitled Article

    than the Royal Academy . But we leave the drama in the hands of a correspondent ; only remarking , that since he wrote , the House of Lords has rejected Mr . Bulvver ' s ' Dramatic Performances' Bill , ' the objects of which were to provide for the better

    regulation of theatres by the repression of the known abuses of the large houses , and to allow of the opening of theatres in neighbourhoods where the majority of the inhabitants did not object . The Bishop of London signalized himself on this occasion . He desiderates the purity of the theatres of antiquity . He and his compeers forget that if people are not allowed to amuse themselves , they will think and act the more sternly . No patronage is needed ,

    only allowance , for the drama in this country to become a rational and refining agency , full of good , reaching those whom no other influence is likely to reach . This easy allowance , this niggard boon , is refused by the aristocracy . For the complete popular enjoyment of works of art by the people , with the exception of that which for a particular purpose is allowed in Catholic Churches , we must look back to the democracies of antiquity .

    We are wearya as we fear our readers are , of this catalogue of evil influences , this list of the mischiefs of aristocracy , which precludes the introduction of counterpoising considerations , as it contains the very particulars on which , if at all , a defence must rest . The contemplation is an appalling , but not a hopeless one . Nor is there any particular obscurity over the remedial course to be

    adopted . It were foolish to indulge in angry passions , or to excite them , towards the members of the privileged classes . They are themselves acted upon as well as others by these influences . They are the objects as well as the agents of that dark spirit which broods over the land , but which a sound political and moral

    philosophy will not fail to exorcise . The first point to aim at is the completion of constitutional reform so as to make the representation of the people a reality . When we look at the proceedings of the present House of Commons , we cannot repress our astonishment that there should be those who maintain that this is done

    already . A more lory House there may have been , but a House more aristocratical , as distinguished from popular , has scarcely existed . Suffrage extended , so as to include those whom we unite with our author in considering as distinguished by their independence and their public virtue , and who are the best materials in the country for a popular constituency ; free suffrage , made free by secrecy , at least for a time until the landlord shall cease to

    regard the vote of his tenant , the master that of his servant , and the gentlernan that of his tradesman , as his property ; and parliaments so shortened as to ensure responsibility ; these are changes essential to the rescuing of all our institutions from being mere aristocratical machinery . These would not destroy the great chain of dependence . They would only put one end of it in the hand of the people . The next point at which all good men should aim , is

    Untitled Article

    600 Characteristics of English Aristocracy .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1833, page 600, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2622/page/16/