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    changing many an evening walk into a more intellectual enjoyment at the theatre . The class of performances at each theatre would also be regulated by the taste of the inhabitants in the vicinity , and it would be a measure of comparison as to the degrees of refinement in the public taste . It might very fairly be anticipated , that under such a system the larger portion of the money which is now

    expended in beer-shops and public-houses would go to the support of theatres , which would at any rate yield harmless amusement , if not moral instruction . It is an evidence of a lamentable want of perception in a government , which neglects so obvious a means of improving the taste , and consequently the morals of a people , if indeed the government cares any thing about the people , save so far as they are revenue producers . At times the newspapers contain

    accounts of the capture and locking-up of bodies of illegal actors of the poorer classes , . who have been guilty of the crime of taking exhibition-money without a licence ; and the pain and annoyance to which the poor creatures are exposed is thought an exceeding good jest . It were better to let them alone , and not drive them to other employments of perhaps a positively vicious tendency . The practice of acting at least implies the necessity of learning to

    read , and that , in itself , is a considerable step towards improvement . Why is it that the French are a more refined nation than the English , though the latter are more endued with judgment ? Why is it that the propensity to destroy public works and works of art is not so rife amongst the former as amongst the latter ?

    Why does the Frenchman feel a pride in his public property , while the Englishman only cares for his private property ? Because the government of France has fostered taste in the people , has taught them to appreciate music , and painting , and books , and sculpture , and has thus raised their minds to a higher level than that of mere sordid , selfish calculation . A Frenchman talks about his nation ;

    an Englishman talks about himself , thinks about himself . Sometime back an English gentleman wished to purchase some cuttings of vines in the Jardin des Plantes . He was told that if his application were backed by some known scientific people in England , it would be attended to . He quickly procured the recommendations , and the plants were packed by the servants of the establishment , and forwarded gratis to England . The Englishman wanted to pay for them . * No ! ' He then wished to pay the servants for their trouble . ( No ! it was for the honour of the nation . He

    then remarked to the French botanist , that such things would be paid for in England , when the Frenchman replied with a shrug , * True I but then you are a commercial nation . ' The spirit of commerce , carried to extremity , is indeed the curse of England . Human improvement is lost sight of in the prospect of commercial gain . 4 And who are to be our audience ? ' asks a fashionable actor , accustomed to lackey the manners of the great , and deem that

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    On Theatrical Reform . 617

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    No . 81 . 2 X

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1833, page 617, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2622/page/33/