"J. D. Robson, Manager-to whom all applications on matters of business are to be made." The inference to be drawn from this is, that the only chance Braham had of being believed, was through an application to his attorney! Henry Phillips, in 1844, introduced that pure style of singing of which he is so eminent a professor; and whether as an artiste (both with voice and pencil), or a man of great research, and one highly accomplished altogether, no more distinguished performer has visited America. We have not space, nor indeed is it necessary, to enter upon the various qualifications of all the British beauties who have paid their respects to this supposed land of promise; and it will be quite enough to subjoin the following list, which will speak for itself. ENGLISH STARS, AND OTHER PERFORMERS, WHO HAVE VISITED AMERICA, FROM G. F. COOKE'S ARRIVAL IN 1810, TO THE PRESENT YEAR, 1853. Messieurs.-Anderson, Anderson (singer), Abbot. Braham and Son, Barrymore, Burton, Browne, Bartley, Blanchard, Burke, Brougham, Barnett, Booth, Brooke, Blood. Cooke (G. F.), Conway, Comer. Dowton. Fraser. Hatton, Hamblin, Hammond, Hudson, Horn. Incledon. Kean (E.), Kean (C.), Kemble (C.), Knowles (Sheridan). Lester (J. Wallack), Lover, Lavenu, Latham. Mathews (C.), Mathews (C., junior), Manvers, Macready, Maeder. Norton. Power, Pearman, Phillips (H.), Phillips (Tom), Penson. Rees, Ranger, Russell (H.). Sinclair, Seguin (E.). Vandenhoff and Son. Wood, Wallack (J.), Wallack (H.), Wallace, Wilson, &c. Mesdames.-Austin, Anderson. Barrymore, Bartley, Bishop, Bennett (Julia.) Feron, Fitzpatrick, Fisher (Clara). George. Hayes (Catherine), Hamblin, Hughes. Kelly (Lydia), Keene (Laura), Kemble (Fanny). Phillips, Poole, Povey. Seguin, Sloman, Shirreff. Tree (Ellen), Ternan, Thillon. Vestris. Wood, Warner, &c. We by no means pledge ourselves to the minute correctness of it, for we may, in the flight which memory now and then takes, have made some important omission; and if so, we crave pardon of all whose dignity may be offended by such neglect. It will be seen at once that the highest talent in every branch of the ars dramatica, has been imported from this country into the United States, whereby instruction might have been obtained, and schools maintained, for the introduction and protection of native genius. We shall presently see what really histrionic ability America, with all these advantages of learning, or at least observation, has produced; and it will be found to be by no means commensurate with her advance in other of the arts and sciences. The "star" system, incessantly kept up here through a long series of years, has been fatal to the encouragement of home talent; novelty is the prevailing pursuit of the American, as it is of every other play-goer, and the mere student of his country's drama, whom his countrymen can see at all times, is generally passed by, and the new-comer welcomed in his stead. We cannot say, with Drunken Barnaby, "Veni Gotham,* ubi multos Sed non omnes vidi stultos," because, in New York, and other large cities, there are to be found some of the ablest of dramatic judges; but the system is altogether rotten, and there will never be a National Stage in America until the said system be altogether abolished. CHAPTER XVI. Other foreign talent besides English in America-The diet of Sontag and Alboni-Jenny Lind's pipe, and paying the piper-The ingredients of quackery-The American showman, and his show-Agents, and their avocations-Advantages of having more mothers than one, if you know how to get them-A new mode of selling hats-An auction of ticketsA manager turns his own auctioneer-A remarkable tea-kettle-The duties of a husband-Charity that went abroad, but settled at homeSingers' airs and dancers' dollars-The player and the president differently remunerated-The golden pavement of America-Difference between principle and interest-The decay of art, how to prevent it, and when that object is likely to be attained. HAVING enumerated the principal English performers who from time to time have roved from Old to New England, and other parts of the United States, it is necessary to add that other European artistes of renown have sought, and found, great favor * A name for New York, as we have elsewhere observed. * there: Sontag, Alboni, Salvi, Elsler, Bochsa, Celeste, De Begnis, &c. (some of whom were there during our recent sojourn), and one in particular, whose exchange of notes with Uncle Sam, and/ whose peculiar career in Uncle Sam's country, require especial notice Jenny Lind! The circumstance of our having been advised by our British Minister at the Prussian court (the Earl of Westmoreland), a high authority in musical matters, and by the renowned Meyerbeer (whose pupil the young lady was), to repair to Berlin, and hear a comparatively obscure singer, who had just made her début there, is well known to all interested in such affairs, from the action we were compelled to bring against her for a disgraceful breach of an engagement we, on the occasion referred to (January, 1846), contracted with her that singer was Jenny Lind; and while the amount of damages in which she was cast (£2,500) may be considered by some as ample compensation for the loss of her services, yet it falls into utter insignificance, when compared with the thousands which this breach of contract put into the pocket of the party who instigated her to this dishonor, of others who profited by the notoriety with which it encircled her, and into her own. The appearance of this songstress in England, and elsewhere, must be forever regarded as an instance altogether without precedent, of a want of faith being deemed integrity, and of hypocrisy being looked upon as innocence. The excitement created by this artiste in London, and consequently in all parts of England, was marvellous enough, to be sure, for the court and clergy vied for the enviable favor of receiving her; the highest circles in the realm coursed her chariotwheels; men swore by her; women dressed after her; and trade itself, for the time being, thrived on her. It was, during this London season, a dangerous thing for any one who valued his personal safety, to deny that Jenny Lind was a model of perfection; and it was indispensable, as a passport into society, the adoption of every folly connected with her * There was considerable rivalry during the past winter (1852-53) between Sontag and Alboni, which, like all other rivalry, seriously damaged the chief performers in it. Each of them had hearty partisans, by whom each was lauded to the skies; but a comparison between them was thus humorously drawn by a New York wag, which became at length a sort of received opinion: "The only difference, no doubt, 'Twixt Sontag and Alboni, name. Gants à la Lind, and mouchoirs à la Jenny, were worn and sneezed on, with absolute gravity, and every article of female apparel was discarded, that was not offered for purchase under the talismanic nomenclature. A faithful recital of every absurdity this temporary frenzy led people into the adoption of, would fill more pages than this work contains; and so egregious was its extent, that hundreds of its victims would now be ashamed to own their weakness. Wives delighted in robes à la Suédoise! their daughters eternally singing the Jenny romance, and dancing the Lind polka; their sons thinking nothing of two guineas for a stall "To sit in the bower and hear the bird's song;" and their friends, one and all, deeming no price too high for a box for the same purpose, would have led them the devil's own life, had they dared, for one instant, to exercise a sound discretion; and, therefore, the stream rolled on unimpeded in its course. The people, to use their own phrase, paid for their whistle, and pretty dearly too; and, among other victims, we may as well class ourselves, having disbursed eleven guineas for a small box-a mere trifle, to be sure, when we could name those who paid more than thirty, to catch even a glimpse of the fair enchantress. As soon as the system pointed out by Puff in "The Critic". began to develop itself, that never-failing branch of charlatanrie, Charity, was called in; and that was, as a matter of course, speedily followed by Religion; and thus, from matin bell to vesper hymn, Jenny's sins were remembered, and transformed into virtues. But the hour of retribution comes to some, though not to all; for Her Majesty's Theatre was subsequently played the same trick by Mademoiselle Wagner, which Her Majesty's Theatre induced Jenny Lind to play off on Drury Lane. The conduct adopted by the Royal Italian Opera towards Mr. Lumley is exactly of a piece with that which Mr. Lumley adopted towards us; and therefore, while we sincerely hope he may recover damages in the pending suit, we cannot think he is entitled to the slightest commiseration. Transactions such as these are disreputable in the extreme, and turn art altogether into a mere game of speculation. We have admitted all along that John Bull is one of those mortals more easily gulled than almost any other; indeed, we should have looked upon him as having arrived at the perfection of "innocence," if we had not chanced to have visited America. The parent is "hooked" easily enough; but the child will swal low hook, line, rod and all. The visit of Jenny Lind to the United States is without any precedent in the annals of empiricism; and now that our transatlantic friends begin to laugh at themselves, they cannot be offended at other people joining in that laugh. The reader need hardly be told that the engagement of this songstress to visit America was a speculation on the part of its famous showman, Barnum, keeper of a museum and theatre adjoining, in New York, proprietor of various travelling caravans, purveyor of Tom Thumb, Bateman, and other children, and wholesale dealer in actors and animals, newspapers, obelisks, temperance speeches, fire annihilators, and every commodity wherein there exists a solitary chance of turning a penny, quocunque modo rem; and that, like a shrewd man of business, he set to work betimes. He engaged what in the United States are denominated agents, whose duty it was to prepare the way of the lady, and make her paths straight. An agent, in cases like this, is one who is hired to invent, write, and publish every four-and-twenty hours as much misrepresentation, slightly tinged with truth, as he can possibly commit to paper; and having prepared his nostrums, he has to travel from town to town, over a vast tract of country, to test the palates of their respective inhabitants, and to cram them, without any regard to moderation, down the throats of the gaping community. As he lives at his employer's expense, of course he lives well; he treats himself to the best of everything, and then treats everybody who can forward his purpose. He has the use of a pretty long purse, which does not belong to himself, and his expenditure is therefore profuse. He has the unlimited issue of billets d'entrée to the entertainment of which he is fugleman; and if it should turn out to be an attractive one, his power, for the moment, is supreme. His remuneration is either a stipulated stipend, or a percentage, according to circumstances. Imagination is his grand recommendation. If the heroine to whose advancement he is for the time being devoted has no father, so much the better; because it is easy then to assert, what there is none to contradict, that, instead of being some obscure cobbler, he died at the head of his regiment on the field of battle, an event which compelled his daughter to seek her own livelihood. Then, being the pink of virtue, she must always be accompanied by a mother, whose first duty is * We engaged a French dancer at Drury Lane Theatre three successive seasons, and she came each time with a different mother. You can |