Er the Roscian Period of the British stage, its condition seemed
so deplorable to Leigh Hunt, then the dramatic critic of "The News,"
as to require "An Essay on the Appearance, Causes, and Consequences
of the Decline of British Comedy." "Of
Tragedy," he wrote, "we have nothing; and it is the observation of
all Europe that the British
Drama is rapidly declining." Yet the golden reign of the Kembles was
then in its prime; and such names as Bannister, Fawcett, Matthews,
Elliston, and Cooke occur
in Hunt's graceful and authoritative sketches of the actors of the
day.[E] As to the newer plays, Gifford said, "All the fools in the
kingdom seem to have exclaimed
with one voice,
Let us write for the theatre!" Latter-day croakers would have us
believe that the Tragic
Muse, indignant at the desecration of her English altars, took flight
across
the ocean, alighting in solemn majesty at the Old Park
Theatre of New York, but that she disappeared utterly in the final
conflagration of that histrionic shrine. Well, there are smouldering
remnants of the Old Park still left to us; veteran retainers of the
conventional stride, the disdainful gesture, the Kemble elocution, and
that accent which was justly characterized as "Ojus, insijjus,
hijjus, and perfijjus!" But the Muse is immortal, though so changing
the fashion of her
garb, it would appear, as often to fail of recognition from ancient
friends. We think that modern acting is quite as true to nature as
that of the school which has passed away, while its accessories are
infinitely richer and more appropriate; and as to the popular
judgment, h