THE THESPIANS INVITED TO PHILADELPHIA.

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comedian, intending for Philadelphia, begs the favour of those that have any demands upon him to bring in their accounts and receive their money."

Taking it for granted that we can hardly be too particular in this part of our work, and that every thing connected with the introduction of the Drama into our country has become interesting in proportion as the traces of this commencement and early progress become dim and indistinct, we will give Mr. Hallam's account of the negociation of his father with the authorities and citizens of Philadelphia for permission to enact plays in their city. Already had the religious toleration wisely and benevolently established by William Penn peopled his city with inhabitants of every sect and denomination. While Presbyterianism was intolerant and exclusive in the east, and Episcopacy in the south, Penn and Baltimore, the Quaker and the Roman Catholic, had opened Pennsylvania and Maryland as lands of refuge for liberty of conscience. The consequence was that the plain quaker colour made only a part of the garb of the citizens of Philadelphia even at this early period; but still drab was the livery of the majority. A large portion of the inhabitants, however, saw no offence to morality or religion in any of the colours which diversify and beautify the works of creation; or any of those innocent amusements which bring men together to sympathize in joys or sorrows, uniting them in the same feelings and expressions, with a brotherly consciousness of the

same nature and origin. Many, also, had been accustomed to the representations of the dramatists in their native land, and longed to renew the associations of their youth. Others, who had only read the works of Shakspeare, were anxious to experience the influence of the living personification of those thoughts and characters which had delighted them in the closet, and looked towards the sister and then secondary city of New-York with a strong desire to participate in her pleasures and advantages. These causes produced an application to the manager while the company were playing at New-York. Several gentlemen from Philadelphia urged Mr. Hallam to apply to Governor Hamilton for permission to open a theatre in that city, and pledged themselves for the success notwithstanding any opposition from the followers of Penn. They suggested that it would be best to make application for liberty to play for a few nights.

Hallam received these overtures with pleasure, and looked around upon his companions for a man fitted for the task of opening the way to so desirable an acquisition as this hitherto hostile city would be to the cause of the Muse. Such a pioneer and negociator needed address and talents, and we must suppose that Mr. Malone had evinced powers of persuasion, and possessed engaging manners or accomplishments superior to most of his fellows, as he was selected by the manager for the important and difficult mission.

MALONE'S EMBASSY.

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The nature of the reward offered to induce Malone to undertake this long journey, and trust himself, face to face, with these broad-brimmed, brown-wigged Quakers in their own stronghold, lets us into some of the secrets of the green-room. "He undertook the business," says our informant, "on condition that, if successful, he should have for his reward the parts of Falstaff in Henry the Fourth and The Merry Wives, and of Don Lewis in Love makes a Man, or the Fop's Fortune.

At that period, and long since, the parts in which an actor was cast, if the manager's decree was confirmed by the public, became his inalienable property while in the company; and ofttimes the proprietor continued to figure as a youthful hero or lover long after all nature's qualifications for the parts had become the prey of time, the despoiler, and the wrinkles of age, and the cracked voice changed to "childish treble," should have consigned him to the representation of the lean and slippered pantaloon.

The tenacity of players is sometimes the subject of ridicule, and sometimes of surprise or wonder; but this will cease when we consider that the consequence or standing of the individual is estimated by the parts he plays, and that the good part marks and sometimes makes the good actor. We must also remember, that the salary, the share, and the benefit, may be measured by the cast of parts.

Malone willingly undertook the embassy, with the hope of attaining this brilliant accession to his theatrical property, but he experienced such a strenuous opposition, and found the strife with these disciples of peace so perilous, that he wrote for the manager to come to his assistance. The cry was "Hallam to the rescue!" The manager flew, as fast as mortals could then fly, to the assistance of his emissary. The relief was effectual, for "the king's name is a tower of strength," or was in those good old times. The manager found the city of brotherly love and passive peace divided into two hostile factions, as violent as the green and red of Constantinople, when charioteers shook the empire of the Cæsars to its foundation. Here it was not one colour against its opposite, but colours against colourless-the rainbow struggling through a cloud.

The Quakers and their adherents carried a petition to the governor for the prohibition of profane stage-plays. Counter-petitions were signed and presented, and finally the friends of action and passion prevailed, and the manager was favoured by Governor Hamilton with a permission to open a theatre, and cause twenty-four plays, with their attendant afterpieces, to be performed, on condition that they "offered nothing indecent and immoral," and performed one night for the benefit of the poor of the city and further, that the manager gave security for all debts contracted, and all contracts

FIRST THEATRE IN PHILADELPHIA.

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entered into by the company. How characteristic is all this of the time!

Such was the treaty by which the first histrionic adventurers gained a narrow and precarious footing in a new region which seemed forbidden ground. Once within the walls, they extended the boundaries of their conquest, not without opposition, until the whole city submitted to the invaders, who, by degrees, like the Tartar invaders of the Celestial empire, have become one and the same with the people they had conquered-not that the players became Quakers, but peaceable and good citizens, no longer living on sufferance, or obliged to give bonds for their good behaviour.

All this had occurred previously to the 18th of March, 1754, and a place been secured for the representation of plays in Philadelphia. Accordingly, the players proceeded thither, and commenced theatrical exhibitions. This was the first theatre opened in the capital of Pennsylvania by artists or actors by profession. As early as 1749, it is on record that the magistracy of the city had been disturbed by some idle young men perpetrating the murder of sundry plays in the skirts of the town, but the culprits had been arrested and bound over to their good behaviour, after confessing their crime, and promising to spare the poor poets for the future.

The first regular company of comedians opened their theatre, the store-house of Mr. William Plumstead, at the corner of the first alley above Pine