THE

MONTHLY

REVIEW.

FEBRUARY, 1833.

ART. I.-History of the American Theatre. By WILLIAM DUNLAP, Author of "Memoirs of George Frederick Cooke." In 2 vols. 8vo. London: Bentley. 1833.

THERE is scarcely a subject within the comprehensive range of political philosophy more deserving of attentive examination than the progress of a newly constituted community in the attainment of the arts and refinements of civilized life. The value of such a study as this will be infinitely increased, if it happen that the community so circumstanced be composed, for the most part, of individuals who have had experience of social interchange, or rather, who had abandoned the systems of intercourse prevailing in other countries, and came together for the purpose of trying the efficacy of laws, institutions, and usages, altogether different from those to which they had been respectively accustomed.

From the accounts which are given us by travellers worthy of our confidence, we conclude, that America may be regarded as an example of a country to which the above description properly applies, and therefore offers a very fair, if not attractive, object of observation. The fabric of her political as well as social constitutions, has been modified, upon a careful reference, to the condition which all the old states of Europe presented; the founders of the great western republic, had neither ancient customs, nor obstinate prejudices in the multitude to encounter; but were at liberty to originate and define the terms on which the people of America should resolve themselves into one uniform political community. It is not our purpose to inquire into what this people have accomplished with respect to the form of their government. The work before us suggests another and very different theme; it explains a great deal concerning the moral feelings of the members

VOL. I. (1833) No. II.

M

of the American republic, by showing the sort of reception which they afforded to any attempt at supplying them with proper amuse

ment.

The introduction of the drama into the United States of America, appears to have been effected altogether independently of the Americans themselves. In fact, it was the result of an unhappy accident which befel the fortunes of an ill-fated theatrical manager in London. This person succeeded the immortal Garrick in the proprietorship of Goodman's Fields theatre; but after the spirit which had animated that dwelling mounted to a higher sphere, Goodman's Fields theatre was turned into a mausoleum, and the owner into a bankrupt. William Hallam was the name of the unsuccessful speculator; he saw that he was now cut off from all means of improving his fortune, and resolved upon seeking, in another climate, that prosperity which he had failed to attain at home. He accordingly projected an expedition to America, in which he should be accompanied by a complete dramatic corps. The complement of players was soon obtained-sufficient costume was stored for their use-and in the month of May, 1752, the party set sail for the western continent, the whole being under the management of the projector's brother, he himself choosing to remain at home. Before embarkation, a great number of pieces were cast and put in study by the performers, and these were systematically rehearsed on the quarter-deck of the Charming Sally. The vessel safely arrived, and so vigorously had Lewis Hallam proceeded in the duties which were entrusted to him in America, that he was enabled to produce, on the 5th September following, a well performed series of dramatic entertainments. The Merchant of Venice and the farce of Lethe were represented on the night just mentioned, at Williamsburg, the capital of Virginia, being the first play performed in America by a regular company of comedians. From Williamsburg the company then proceeded to Annapolis, in Maryland, where the first theatre ever erected in America had been but recently built; thence they went to New York, from which place they directed their steps to Philadelphia. Here they met with some very sturdy impediments from the Quakers, whose opposition, however, was overpowered by the majority of the inhabitants, and Hallam's company obtained permission to perform twenty-four plays, with after pieces, upon condition that they offered nothing indecent or immoral; that they gave one night for the benefit of the poor of the city, and that the manager gave security for the payment of all debts contracted by the company." Success seems to have crowned the efforts of Hallam as long as he lived, and when his course had ended, a successor arose, during whose reign the company experienced those variations of treatment to which the changes in the political atmosphere so generally give rise. At the commencement of the American revolution, a spirit of animosity every day increasing,

"

sprang up in America against England. This feeling extended to whatever was connected with the obnoxious country, and as the regular company of players in America was almost exclusively composed of British subjects, the local authorities were determined to make them feel the effects of American resentment.

It was in the year 1774, that the provincial Congress assembled at Philadelphia, came to the resolution of discountenancing every extravagance and dissipation, particularly gaming, cock-fighting, exhibition of shows, plays, and other expensive diversions and entertainments. Under these circumstances the company migrated to the West Indies, as they had often done before, where the inhabitants were too full of loyalty and love of amusement to give an inhospitable reception to the exile players.

Leaving the comedians to make the best of their speculatory excursion to the West Indies, Mr. Dunlap enters upon a description of the localities of New York, and the most remarkable peculiarities which that city presented at the period immediately before the American revolution. These notes are well worth the attention of the visitor to the western world, but to the general reader they would be altogether uninteresting, and, indeed, frequently unintelligible. He informs us that during the residence of a portion of the British army at Boston during the existence of the revolution, the regular professional company was superseded by the military officers, and that the second dramatic effort of General Burgoyne, called The Blockade of Boston, made its appearance. Whilst the farce was in the course of performance, a serjeant entered on the stage, and gave an alarm that the rebels had attacked the lines on the neck of land. The announcement was so naturally given out by the serjeant, that the audience marked their gratification by thunders of applause, little dreaming, at the instant, that the serjeant was a real messenger, and the intelligence too true for the English. When the latter were afterwards driven from Boston, and obliged to limit themselves to New York, they still kept up dramatic entertainments, and it was remarked by the author, that the parts of women were usually undertaken by the younger subalterns of the army.

When peace was restored, by means of the successful resistance which America made to the efforts of British power, the regular company, which had remained in comparative retirement in the West Indies, returned, but were coldly received. Hallam, with a small detachment of his theatrical troop, made an experimental essay at Philadelphia, and, as fortune would have it, just at the moment when the Philadelphian legislature was assembled. A discussion arose, a summary report of which is furnished by Mr. Dunlap, and as it tends to illustrate the sentiments of the American people at the period, we shall cite it for the amusement of the reader:

"A motion was made to add a clause to a bill before the house for suppressing vice and immorality. This clause prohibited the erecting of any 'play-house, stage, or scaffold," for the purpose of acting any kind of dramatic work, enumerating them, from the tragedy to the pantomine, and fined all persons concerned in or abetting in any manner such immoral practices.

"In the debate that followed, Gen. Wayne, the hero of Stonypoint, was the first speaker. He hoped that the theatre would not be mentioned in a bill for suppressing vice and immorality. He asserted that a well regulated theatre was universally acknowledged to be an efficient engine for the improvement of morals."

"Doctor Logan thought that theatres were only fit for monarchies. He said the government of Geneva prohibited a theatre in that republic as inimical to their liberties; that the kings of France and Sardinia had endeavoured to establish a theatre at Geneva to subvert the republic. He however added, "if we had a theatre under proper regulations, where no plays should be exhibited but those calculated to expose vice or recommend virtue, I should have no objection."

Mr. Robert Morris, one of the greatest of our statesmen, and the ablest of financiers, boldly declared himself a friend to the theatre, as affording a rational, instructive, and innocent amusement.

As to the effect of the theatre on morals and manners, I hold it," said he, “to be favourable to both."

"Mr. Clymer, in favour of the drama, argued that, "say or do what we would, a theatre would be forced upon us; it is a concomitant of an independent state. No civilized state is without it." He contended that it served to refine and purify manners. Are we for ever," said he, "to be indebted to other nations for genius, wit, and refinement?" "Mr. Fitzsimmons wished the question of the utility of a theatre to be fully discussed.

"Mr. Whitehill, the mover of the clause, avowed his opinion that no regulation could prevent the vice and immorality of a theatre, and said he would oppose the establishment of one in the state of Pennsylvania.

"

"Mr. Smiley thought that by drawing the minds of the people to amusements, they were led to forget their political duties. "Cardinal Mazarine," he said, established the Academy of Arts and Sciences in France with this view." He avowed himself “no friend to the fine arts," and asserted that "they only flourished when states were on the decline." The last mentioned speaker has at least the merit of consistency. He had sagacity enough to perceive that the fine arts were all connected, and must stand or fall together, and he knew that the drama was one of the number. He placed the theatre where it should be; for if the drama is injurious to a state, so are literature and the arts. His last assertion was the fruit of ignorance in the history of nations. He honestly confounded the abuse of things with the things themselves. What has been so abused to the purposes of evil as the press? What is so precious to man?

"

Mr. Finley saw in a theatre regulated by government a dangerous" tool in its hands, forgetting that the people who created the ministers of government were the judges of the representations brought on the stage, and that such an engine in the hands of government would be ealously watched by the people. A theatre directed by government would be

attended by the best citizens; they would guarantee the purity of this source of instruction and delight, and the political impulse given must always accord with the opinion of the public; so must the laws of a state, or they become nugatory. Mr. Finley concluded that the stage vitiated taste by representing unreal characters.

"Mr. Clymer, in reply, said, that "if the pieces represented are not immoral, the stage cannot be immoral." He answered that, as the people of Europe had progressed in civilization and refinement, their plays had improved in purity.

"

Mr. Robert Morris asserted that all celebrated nations had "permitted the establishment of theatres, and that they had improved the manners of the people. The writers for the theatre have generally been men of extensive genius." He thought the lessons given to vice and folly salutary. He hoped to see the American poets suiting plays to our times, characters, and circumstances. "The taste and manners of a people," he said, "regulate the theatre; and the theatre has a reciprocal effect on the public taste and manners."

"General Wayne said he thought the prohibition of plays during the war, by Congress, was an ill-judged measure, as plays might have been represented that would have stimulated to heroic actions." A theatre," he said," in the hands of a republican government, regulated and directed by such, would be, instead of a dangerous instrument, a happy and efficient one."

“Mr. Whitehill, in reply, repeated his opinion that the establishment of a theatre tended "directly to the encouragement of licentiousness." "Mr. Robert Morris, after some further remarks upon the stage, concluded by saying, "in such large societies as are common in cities like this, people will find out amusements for themselves unless government do it." He expressed his belief as before, that a regulated theatre improved morals.

Mr. Robinson argued against the theatre, from the bad tendency of many plays.

"Mr. Smiley thought that the plays now in existence were in general unfit for our state of society.

"Mr. Finley opposed fiction, and brought examples of plays inculcating immorality.

"General Wayne proposed that all plays previous to performance should be submitted to the executive council, who would be responsible to the people."-pp. 106-110.

This decision, however, was far from being universally acquiesced in, for we find that after Hallam had regained the facilities formerly enjoyed by him at New York for his exhibitions, the subject of theatricals became a theme of violent contention in that city. The stage, nevertheless, continued to be supported, and Hallam and his troop went through their annual circuit with the usual success. The performances being now uninterrupted, a gradual improvement in their character was the consequence; and, as a proof of the influence of the drama on the literature of the country, we may state that plays began to be composed in abundance, to vary the entertainments of the public. Mr. Dunlap, the