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Others, however, were stimulated by the American War. It may be that the "good" times made Guardians more lax, and, at any rate, these years were exceptional. From 1864 the decline that had been going on under the new Poor Law was resumed; but it is at least curious that, even for these four years, rising wages and increased facilities for obtaining work did not prevent an increase of pauperism.

If we try to summarise our industrial history for the period

dealt with in this chapter, we must still give the first place to Summary. the increase of population, and the still greater increase of wealth. In Ireland, indeed, the potato failure started that flow of emigration which has gradually reduced the population of the sister island from over eight millions to under four and a half millions. But the increase in the other parts of the United Kingdom more than balanced the decrease; and the continued improvements of machinery, combined with the extension of production on a large scale, caused great accretions of wealth. We must notice, however, that the industrial revolution had now extended to the Continent, and that the

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railway expansion which, in England, was most striking in the years 1844 and 1845, was now specially affecting the other countries of Europe and the United States, and had, by the latter part of our period, reached India and other regions which were in a more backward industrial stage. The telegraph, also, was rapidly becoming a most important factor in industry and commerce. The Crimean War, the Indian Mutiny, and the American Civil War must have somewhat hindered the accumulation of wealth, even when they gave a temporary stimulus to trade. Financial crises brought ruin to many, but the favourable forces were so strong that the destructive influences of over-speculation and panics did not prevent continued material progress. Of these favouring forces the gold discoveries were hardly less important than the mechanical improvements and the more efficient organisation of manufacture. Next to these we must put Free Trade; but to those who care more about the distribution of wealth than about its production, and who attach more importance to the physical, moral, and intellectual qualities of the people, than to the multiplication of their comforts and luxuries, the foremost place must be given to the growing power of trade unions, the improvements in factory and mining laws, and the beginnings of modern sanitary legislation. The English working classes were now reaping the fruits of the legislation of 1833 and 1834, as well as of the improvements made during the period dealt with in this chapter; and they were also discovering how much they had it in their power to do by their own efforts.

MARY

BATESON.
Social
Life:

The
Theatre,
1815-1885.

FROM 1815 to 1843, when the new Act regulating theatres was passed, war was continuously waged on the patent rights of Covent Garden and Drury Lane, whose prescriptive right to perform the "legitimate drama" was enforced by the Lord Chamberlain under the Act of 1737. Certain exceptions were allowed; for instance, "legitimate" at the Haymarket in the summer months, musical performances at the Lyceum and St. James's (then the Prince's), burlettas at the Olympic and the Adelphi. Othello was converted into a musical performance by striking a few chords behind the scenes at frequent intervals;

1865]

five pieces of vocal music in each act made a play "burletta" beyond risk of contention. The result of the law was to discourage the performance of the plays of all the greatest English playwrights; for people would not go to Covent Garden and Drury Lane to hear them-indeed, they could not hear them if they did go, for the new school of actors had not voice. enough to fill large houses that had been well suited to the powerful declamatory style of the elder Kembles. The law was openly defied by the Strand Theatre, and a number of large theatres outside the limits of Westminster existed on sufferance. The two great houses ruined the managers, and their rights could not be enforced in the law courts, for public opinion was too strongly against them. After 1832, when a Parliamentary Committee was held to consider what change in the licensing laws was possible, the minor theatres encountered no further difficulty.

Tragedian.

The beginning of our period was the end of the old style. The Great Mrs. Siddons made her last appearance in 1812, appearing only for a benefit in 1819; J. P. Kemble made his last appearance in 1817. From 1818 to 1833 may be dated the period of Edmund Kean, the first period of Macready, and the entertainments at the Lyceum by the elder Mathews. Those who saw the acting of Kean ascribe to him pre-eminently the quality of inspiration. He had intensity by nature, whereas Macready's motto was "Patience is genius." Macready, by mere force of his massive physique, was passionate, whereas Kean showed more of the intellectual aspects of passion. Macready's masculine energy, his "Homeric" quality, as Mr. Westland Marston describes it, contrasted strongly with the graceful charm of his contemporary, Charles Kemble, whose Hamlet, Mercutio, Orlando, Benedick, best displayed his talents. With less pomposity and more of natural sentiment, he succeeded best where Macready was least successful.

Plays and

The 'thirties date the opening and closing of many famous Famous theatrical careers: Charles Young is last heard of in 1832, Edmund Kean in 1833, Charles Kemble in 1836, Liston in 1837. From 1837 dates the second period of Macready, which covers his career as a manager, with many failures, first at Covent Garden, then (1841) at Drury Lane. The 'thirties saw Fanny Kemble's efforts to support her failing father, and Helen

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Faucit's first appearance, with those of Phelps and the younger Mathews. The fashion for inflated rhetoric showed very little tendency to wane. The great plays were Sheridan Knowles's Virginius (1820), The Hunchback (1832), Love (1839), in which Ellen Tree (Mrs. Charles Kean) had great success. The piece ran for fifty nights, which was then considered extraordinary. Bulwer's Lady of Lyons, threatened at first with failure, ran

thirty nights in its first season, and was accounted a great success, for twelve or fourteen nights were more usual runs. Talfourd's Ion, Byron's Marino Faliero drew well; in 1840 Money came out, and showed that high-flown sentiment was still in vogue. What was sometimes wanting in quality was made up in quantity: the bill consisted of either two five-act comedies, or a tragedy preceded by a farce and followed by a three-act comedy.

The legitimate drama entered upon a new era when Samuel