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Nothing I think can illustrate better my argument, than to offer to the reader, a comparative view of the ancient and modern Theatres, which will serve to demonstrate, whether in its progress to the present period, the stage has improved or degenerated, and prove I conceive the correctness of my opinion.

This line of argument, I shall adopt in my series of papers on this subject and if it be found, that the English Theatre has improved, in exact proportion to the difference between a present enlightened and former barbarous age; let the reader give it its full credit, as a great and material national benefit. The theatre should be the, honest mart for the productions of real genius, and not the arena of spectacles, lion, bull, horse, and canine exhibitions-Look at the trash produced by the caterers of our minor theatres-the Somersets, Planches, Coopers, Dances, et hoc genus omnes. The nonsense thus palmed off on a British Public, is really a disgrace to the age we live in, when we are told in the Senate house, by Lord Brougham that "the Schoolmaster is abroad," and that the present era, may be deemed the golden age of Great Britain. When the trash of "Jim Crow," is given as a substitute for the beauties of Shakespeare, of Byron, Knowles and Talfourd. Let the Theatre of Great Britain be in this reforming epoch, cleansed of its impurities. Let the advantages of poetry, painting and sublime music be restored to their legitimate employment, as powerful auxiliaries to the Drama. Then will the arts be improved, the manners of the people be more refined, and then the exhibitions on our stage will combine all the fancy of ASIA, the regularity of GREECE, aud the strength of ROME: added to the delicacy of the French, and the humour of the Spaniards; and as the British Constitution is considered in its principles to be founded on the firmest principles of justice, our councils the seat of wisdom, and our Fleets the objects of terror throughout the world, so then will our Theatres become the fountain of taste. If on the contrary, our Theatres should continue to represent mere trash, become a seminary of sloth, dullness, and vice: a reproach to taste, a disgrace to genius, and a scandal to the government under which it is permitted to nurture dunces, and starve real merit, let it have honestly its share of reprobation, and let men of superior abilities to those at present employed, be demanded by the public. I shall consider "THE ASIATIC THEATRE," in my next Essay.

H. W. D.

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THE FORGOTTEN WORD.

Young rose-bud of the vale, whose placid brow
Hath ne'er been darken'd by the frowns of care ;
Thou heedest not the sunset's golden glow,

Nor seek'st thy playmates giddy mirth to share ;-
Say, have their festive sports no charm for thee,
That thus thou sit'st apart all-pensively?

The woods are ringing with their joyous song,
And each light foot is tripping merrily,
Whilst thou alone, of all that fairy throng,

Art left; 'tis strange-and yet there seems to be
A lurking laugh within that deep blue eye,
Bright as the star which gems the western sky.
Perchance thou read'st some tale of facry,

Of dance and revelling in moonlit scene,
While the young pet, reposing on thy knee,
Seems like a handmaid of the elfin-queen;
Yet on thy face there is a shadow, seeming
Like a light cloud before the sunshine streaming.
Ah! 'tis the morrow's task-sweet one; and now,
With finger prest on thy red lip, it seems

To pass away, even as the transient glow

Of those bright joys which haunt thy childish dreams,

Giving such thoughtful beauty to thy face,

The sweetest smile would steal not add a grace!

Thou fairy girl! a few revolving years

Will send thee forth, 'mid stranger-hearts to dwell,

Perhaps to feel the throb of hopes and fears,

Which ne'er assail'd thee in thine own sweet dell! Yet may each threatening storm-cloud pass away Like morning mists before the Fire-God's ray.

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HISTORICAL RETROSPECT.-No. II.

COSTUME.-PART I.

"Her women insolent and self-caress'd,
By vanity's unwearied finger dress'd;
Forgot the blush that virgin fears impart
To modest cheeks, and borrow'd one from art;
Where just such trifies, without worth or use,
As silly pride and idleness produce;

Curl'd, scented, furbelow'd, and flounc'd around,
With feet too delicate to touch the ground,
They stretch'd the neck, and roll'd the wanton eye,
And sighed for every fool that fluttered by,"

COWPER.

SUCH were the ladies of Jerusalem, as described by the sublime poet but can their laxity of mind be applied to our more beautiful and luxurious belles? In many respects the similarity is apparent; though indeed we might as well attempt to describe the various convolusions and grotesque developments of a cloud driven before the wind, as to give an accurate description of all the various forms assumed by fashion.

The influence of the metropolis on the rest of the British Empire is perhaps exhibited in nothing more strongly, than in its regulating the costume in which all his Majesty's liege subjects appear, and this it does more effectually than the most rigorous sumptuary law. This influence is of considerable advantage to London, which not only supplies wardrobes for ladies in distant parts of the country, but it attracts a host of tailors, dress-makers, and milliners, who visit the metropolis in order "to study the fashions," which, Proteus-like, are perpetually assuming a new shape and appearance.

Costume, taking the term in its most comprehensive import, forms a very interesting department in historical studies, and until we are acquainted with the various changes which have taken place with respect to these things, we cannot possess a distinct portraiture of a nation and its history; and it is their precise condition that gives its distinguishing physiognomy to an age or people. As, observes a modern writer, "the biography of an individual seems incomplete without the likeness of his features, so does history lose much of its dramatic charm, if it fails to delineate the outward and corporeal guise of our fellows at the period treated of, enabling us to image them forth to ourselves as they actually lived and had their being." It is but

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