acted before the Queen and the Court, by the children of St. Paul's School, of the Revels, of Blackfriars, of the Queen's Chapel, of Westminster, and of Windsor, who were trained up to the art as a salutary accomplishment. Public schools have constantly encouraged the performance of plays by the scholars. At Westminster, a comedy of Terence is annually represented; and the late Dr. Valpy, an eminent scholar, as well as a truly devout and pious Christian preacher, and so many years at the head of Reading School, altered and adapted several of Shakspeare's plays* for the express purpose of having them represented in his seminary. The practice of acting plays at the Colleges and Universities, subsisted from an early period, and continued to the usurpation of Cromwell. In 1566 Elizabeth visited Oxford, on which occasion, in the hall of Christ Church, she was entertained with a Latin comedy, called Marcus Geminus, the Latin tragedy of Progne, and an English comedy on the story of Palamon and Arcite, all acted by the students of the Uni

*The three parts of Henry VI., called the Roses, Merchant of Venice, King John, and the second part of Henry IV. At the Roman Catholic College of Clongowes' Wood, plays are acted usually at Christmas by the scholars.

Boulay, Hist. Univ. Paris, tom. ii., page 226, observes, that it was a custom not only still subsisting, but of very high authority, vetustissima consuetudo, to act tragedies and comedies in the University of Paris.

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versity. In the year 1564 she honoured Cambridge with a royal visit. Here she was present at the Aulalaria of Plautus, and the tragedies of Dido and Hezekiah in English, which were played in the Chapel of King's College, by a select company of scholars, chosen from different Colleges at the discretion of five doctors, " 'specially appointed to set forth such plays as should be exhibited before her Grace." In the year 1605, James the First visited Oxford, and again the Students of Christ Church exhibited in their favourite amusement. The plays presented, were, a pastoral comedy, called Alba, (sufficiently indecent,) a Latin play called Vertumnus, written by a learned Doctor in Divinity; and the Ajax of Sophocles, also in Latin. It is fair to add that his Majesty was neither amused nor edified, as he slept during the greater part of the performances, and at the end, said he was ઃઃ very wearie."* Plays are also acted at the College of Winchester. In 1755 Bishop Lowth wrote a prologue to Venice Preserved, which on that occasion was represented by the students.†

* Warton's History of English Poetry, vol. iii.

†The Rev. Richard Weaver, at whose excellent school at Corsham, in Wiltshire, near Bath, I received the rudiments of my own education, was a warm admirer of the plan of Dr. Valpy. Every Christmas, on the evening before the school broke up, we had an annual exhibition, to which the parents and friends of all the scholars were invited. The school-room

Can then the Theatre with justice be confounded among the resorts of low sensuality, with which it has been so cruelly compared? The gaming table, the brothel, and the midnight tavern of the drunken reveller, are equally unsanctioned by the magistrate and the philosopher. The one feeling the impossibility of rendering useful that which is essentially profligate, and the other, in the wildest dreams of Utopian enthusiasm, never contemplating the probability of reforming that which reason says should be abolished altogether. There are portions of life which men cannot and will not employ either in labour or in study. The mind and body both require refreshment, and that which nature demands, religion does not deny. Pindar says, "rest and enjoyment are universal

was fitted up as a Theatre, with appropriate scenery and orchestra. The exhibition consisted of recitations from the Greek, Latin, and English Classics, and always concluded with one of Miss Hannah More's sacred Dramas, or one of Dr. Valpy's alterations from Shakspeare. After the death of Mr. Weaver, the school devolved into the hands of Mr. Turner, his head usher, who married his widow, and for many years it flourished as a highly respectable seminary. It has now passed away; all whom I knew as connected with it are dead, and the house (heu mutabile !) has I believe been pulled down. Let me pay a passing tribute of respect to the memory of those to whom I am indebted for early instruction. Whatever I may since have acquired, the seeds of knowledge and the love of reading, were there first instilled into my mind by careful and anxious teachers.

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physicians" and Aristotle observes, "it is impossible for men to live in continual labour-repose and games must succeed to cares and watchings." Our recreations should be moderate, not tardily prolonged, but dismissed in time, as the dogs of the Nile run whilst they sip its waters, lest the wary crocodile should entrap their negligence. teaching the discipline of the human heart, we should avoid extremes as carefully as in restraining its indulgences. Dr. Johnson, a profound moralist and pious Christian, says, "If one was to think continually of death, the business of life would stand still; I am no friend to making religion appear too hard. Many good people have done harm by giving too severe notions of it."* Sir Walter Scott, another eminent moral teacher, says, "to those abstracted spirits, who feel or suppose themselves capable of remaining constantly involved in heavenly thoughts, any sublunary amusement may justly seem frivolous, but the mass of mankind are not so formed."+ Giddy, thoughtless people, and there always have been, and in all probability always will be, a majority of such in the world, are more likely to be reclaimed by instruction mildly insinuated, than harshly commanded. The pride which recoils against authority, sometimes yields to persuasion, and in this

* Croker's edition of Boswell's Life of Johnson, vol. v. † Article Drama, Suppl. to Encycl. Britt.

view, it is probable the Stage may avail (I speak it reverently,) where the pulpit fails. Omne tulit punctum qui miscuit utile dulci."* He carries every vote who combines the instructive with the agreeable. Surely this maxim of the Roman poet is not inconsistent with the higher sources from whence our own moral doctrines are derived. The Theatre is a gentle monitor, and as such acceptable to the tastes of men; appealing to the reason, it is true, through the pleasant, but at the same time hazardous medium of the senses, and therefore liable to objection as easily pervertible to abuse; but the lesson is not the less efficacious if prudently administered, as the senses are the most powerful alembic through which knowledge can be instilled into the heart.†

This reasoning applies more to the multitude than the individual, and was well illustrated by an eminent Roman Catholic divine, (whose name I have forgotten,) who, when it was argued with

*Hor. de Arte Poetica.

+ According to Locke, who used to be considered a good metaphysical authority, there are no innate ideas. The mind of an infant is a tabula rasa, or sheet of white paper, and all our notions are derived from early perceptions of external existence. If this theory be true, the senses are the only medium of instruction. But I have been told Locke is falling into disrepute in modern times, and that the rapid progress of improvement in every thing has even impeached his philosophy. This is strange; but what are we to say when it has been asserted that Euclid is an unsound mathematician.