of English theatricals. The two national [jected, as the dramatic jury may decide. theatres have been for a long time well In the event of the acceptance of his piece, known as ruinous concerns. Successive the author troubles his head no longer about lessees have squandered away their property its destiny; he knows that it will be proon this most ungrateful of speculations, duced, and, as regards pecuniary emoluwithout any further result than the pleasure ment, he feels secure in the provisions of hearing themselves styled " spirited les- made for the protection of his rights. New sees," "active managers," "zealous ca- pieces are brought forward according to terers for the public amusement," or the the order of priority, subject of course to mortification of being abused, in no mea- certain exceptions, founded on reason and sured terms, as the violaters of good taste, utility. For example, what are called tours and the criminal destroyers of the legitimate de faveur-these cannot be matter of any drama. Of late, the voice of complaint has great complaint to the dramatic expectants; become both more general and louder the they are granted to parodies and other pieces attempts to convert the classic boards of old de circonstance, which demand immediate Drury and Covent Garden into an arena for production, to render them at all available; the exhibition of foreign singing and foreign they are also granted in extraordinary cases, dancing, not to say of wild beasts, and all such as a new play of surpassing merit, or sorts of monsters-the prevalence of spec- the long expected work of a great and potacle and noise-of scenic effects and pic-pular writer. But, even in these cases, the torial achievements, and the almost total number of tours de faveur is subjected to exclusion of dramatic authorship, as far as restriction, and a writer can form a tolerathe higher regions of intellect are concern- bly correct calculation as to the time when ed, are now so glaringly manifest, that the his piece may come out, and make his arfull chorus of complaint demands speedy rangement accordingly. and summary redress. At the same time, however, an impartial examination of the subject obliges us to confess, that lessees and managers have been charged with results for which they are not strictly responsible. It is indeed very hard and absurd to tax individuals with those faults and abuses which derive their origin from other and superior sources-the head of the evil is in the government of the public. By a monstrous absurdity, we find that, in a country where the industry of almost every class of producers is protected, the mental labors of the drainatist until lately have been totally overlooked. By another equally strange anomaly we perceive that, among a people famous for their adherence and attachment to established rules and regular proceedings, the management in stage matters has been entirely left to the uncontrolled power of personal caprice. That there are, occasionally, abuses in this, we will not at'empt to deny, and a case which occurred not long since might be adduced in point. We allude to that of M. Laverpilliere, and his comedy, entitled "Le Sophiste." This piece, under various pretexts had been postponed for thirteen years, to the great annoyance and injury of the author. Tired of waiting, and no longer the dupe of theatrica' professions and promises, (which by the by are not always to be considered as gospel,) the writer brought his lamenable case before the commission of dramatic authors, who immediately espoused his interests with such zeal that the Theatre Français was at last compelled to produce the piece. What was the consequence? that M. Laverpilliere became the victim of theatrical procrastination. His comedy described manners and satirized follies which had become quite obsolete, and in conseThe French consider the prosperity of quence it turned out an entire failure. Such their theatre as a matter of importance, as exceptions, however, do not militate against connected with the literary glory of the the force of a general rule. In the instance country. A code of laws and regulations we have mentioned, the author, at all events, has therefore been provided, which protects had redress, if he was not bettered in point the rights of authors, defines the rights, of profit and fame. Now let us compare duties and privileges of persons connected this provision as regards new pieces, with with every department of the theatres, and what happens in English theatres in similar regulates their internal administration. cases. An author is never certain of the There are Inspecteurs des Théâtres to watch production of his drama, until the day after and report their proceedings; there is a it has been performed; for the piece may Comité de Lecture, to decide on the merits be accepted, the parts distributed, rehearof new pieces. A writer sends his work to the secretary, who enters it in his list; the piece is read in its turn, and accepted or re sals may have taken place, nay, it may be announced in the bills, and a day fixed for its appearance, and yet, in spite of all this, it may be doomed never to have the honor | ago. A celebrated dramatist, the author of of representation. Examples of this nature one hundred successful pieces, was describare, unfortunately, frequent enough to ab-ed as begging about the streets of London! solve us from the task of dilating on the Curiosity was puzzled to find out this great subject. But, even if the piece is brought unknown. The circumstance of his being out and succeeds, uncertainty, doubt and fear, continue to perplex the unfortunate dramatist. Even when paid, upon what is considered a most liberal scale, his remuneration certainly falls short of what his talent, industry, and the time he has bestowed upon it, would have procured him if they had been as successfully applied to any other branch of human industry, a successful author was somewhat in contradiction with his alms-demanding occupation. But it was soon discovered that the individual in question was a young man of some ability, who had been a victim to dramatic composition. He had supplied the Pavilion and other minor theatres with melo-dramas and other pieces at so much a head, either singly or collectively, on the most moderate charges, which, at most, if we are not mistaken, amounted to the sum of two guineas, while many were paid for at a much lower rate. The neglect and injustice evident in the case of authors, is one real cause of the decline of the drama. Literary men of high rank in the republic of letters shrink with instinctive horror from the ordeal of the And here it will not be irrelevant to say stage; the difficulties which beset dramatic a word concerning the "minor theatres ;" composition, the trials of all kinds which concerning the hardships and persecutions the candidate for theatrical honor is doomed of which the public compassion has been to undergo, bear no just proportion to the excited a great deal more than they really end to be obtained, even when that end is deserve. The stream of sympathy has inmost satisfactory and triumphant. How deed flowed in favor of the said oppressed different is this from what we read of former Minors, and thoughtless people have esdays? Dramatic success was once esteem-poused their cause, from looking upon them ed the most honorable, as well as the most as the weaker party, without troubling themintoxicating-persons the most distinguish- selves much about the merits or the strict ed in literature and high station felt a throb- justice of the case. What is the chief grievbing for a theatrical ovation. It was the am-ance of which their lessees and proprietors bition of the great Johnson to produce a play; complain? Simply, that they are not aland the charming poems of Goldsmith-his inimitable "Vicar of Wakefield,"-his worthy historical labors, in fine, his success in the most varied walks of literature, did not excite one half of the anxiety and interest, the doubts and pleasure, which attended the production of The Good-natured Man, or, She Stoops to Conquer. Authorship is now considered the last in the list of dramatic items; not only the actor, but the scene-painter, the singer, the musician, the dancer, the property-man, the machinist, &c. &c., are considered of far more importance; and well they may, if we look to the nature of the pieces which are now got up, to use the technical phrase. Some critics in the public journals have been exceedingly eloquent in their denunciations of the translations and adaptations and the other trash which is now offered on the stage; but what right have they, or that patron, the public, to expect more? Of one thing the critics may rest assured, that it is a far more easy and profitable task to supply the papers with trash than the thea tres. Of the singular state to which dramatic writing, as it is called, is now arrived, some notion may be gathered from a case mentioned in the papers two or three years lowed to represent the master-pieces of Shakspeare and our best authors with a company of actors, whose capabilities of performing those dramas are quite upon a par with those of the audiences to whom they play of understanding and relishing the beauties of those productions. All the minor theatres in London are now under the absolute control of an actor-manager; and highly as we may appreciate the histrionic abilities of these gentlemen, we cannot persuade ourselves that their judgment is either a safe or infallible one in questions of literature. Their theatrical experience, certainly, may be of use in forming an opinion, but we apprehend that something more is required to entitle a man to sit in judgment on dramatic compositions. Now-a-days, however, an actor who has been fortunate enough to save a little money, feels a craving for the honors and charms of stage-management; if he succeeds in getting a theatre, from that moment, mirabile dictu, he becomes (as if by magical process) endowed with every sort of requisite necessary for the undertaking; and it is not long before we hear from those oracles, the journals, *The Haymarket and the English Opera we do not reckon among the Minors. that such and such a theatre is conducted to be ascribed, and among them none exwith great respectability; in what this res-ercises greater weight than the discredit pectability consists we cannot possibly di- into which the theatres have fallen among vine. Is it in having a poor scribbler to a vast number of families, who are kept supply the theatre with pieces at thirty away simply from motives of self-respect shillings a-week? or in the system of shil- and the dread of contamination of their ling orders? or in the behaviour of the audi- younger members from the scenes which are ence? or in the merits of the dramas pro- nightly exhibited there among the audiduced, and the actors who perform them? ence portion. The truth must out. The greater num- It it impossible to shut one's eyes to the ber of these interesting "minors" are no- fact that the upper parts of the patent thething but a singular medley of noise and atres are admirably adapted, it would perconfusion-a hot-bed for prostitutes, pick- haps be more correct to say that they are pockets, and bad characters of all descrip- expressly calculated, to answer the purtions-an arena for the bandying of oaths poses of a market for prostitution. Conand indecent jokes, a mixture of drunken- nected withthis is the half-price admission, ness and the most offensive exhibitions; the which is the signal for a number of drunken whole seasoned with a compound of the clerks and dissipated characters rushing the most offensive smells. There are ex- into the theatre for a very different object ceptions to this remark: two or three thea- than witnessing the play. These half-price tres are patronized by a more respectable gentry are become an intolerable nuisance. audience, and are frequently visited by the It is quite useless to pay any attention to the higher ranks; but, in this, as in every thing performance if you unfortunately chance to else, fashion has exerted her capricious be near them. We put it fairly to the manpower, for, without wishing to speak against the merits of the extrolled pieces acted at these theatre, we think it very problematical if the greater part of them would escape condemnation at Drury Lane or Covent Garden. agers, if the money derived from this sort of play-goers and from the pitiable, unfortunate creasures who come nightly to exhibit their marketable charms, can in any way compensate for the loss of that profit which would necessarily accrue from The general decline of the drama, as we the attendance of the numerous families have already stated, has given rise to much who are now kept away by this disgraceful speculation, and various reasons have been abuse? With what face can they presume assigned to account for it. Every one knows to call the stage a "school for morals," that the patent theatres have been ruinous with such exhibitions staring one in the concerns for a long succession of years. face? "Necessity" has been always pleadEvery new lessee is compelled to pay an ed by ruined or bankrupt managers for the enormous price for the pleasures of manage- continuance of a system which their betment; and year after year we are told that ter sense condemns. We say it advisedly, the want of encouragement is such that that, unless this monstrous nuisance is fairnothing can prevent those tottering establish- ly abolished, the long toleration of which in ments from closing their doors. Among the this "most moral and christian country" reasons assigned for this neglect of the pa- fully sanctions the charge of hypocricy tent theatres are the following: 1st. The which it has brought upon us from our less late hours, not only among the upper ranks, straight-laced continental neighbors, among but the middling classes of society. 2d. whom no such abuse prevails, the theatre The growing taste of the public for reading, will never become the habitual resort of the and the establishment of clubs, which almost respectable middle classes. The half-price supersede the necessity for theatrical pas-ought also to be abolished here, and anotimes. 3d. The inferior quality of the ther and more equitable scale in the prices dramas produced, and the unsatisfactory of admission adopted. Nothing can be more manner in which they are represented. 4th. The enormous size of these theatres. 5th. The high prices of admission. There can be little doubt that all these causes operate to a certain extent; but it would be an idle attempt to analyze the exact operation of each when the whole system is bad and conducive to inevitable ruin. Besides these we have already mentioned, there are other reasons to which this melancholy state of things is 21 VOL. XV. absurd than to demand the same price for the second tier of boxes as for the dresscircle. The profuse distribution of orders ought also to be stopped, or at least restricted within reasonable bounds. Reduce your prices, but still preserve certain localities sufficiently high, for the accommodation of those with whom cheapness is synonymous with vulgarity. But perhaps, were all there reforms made Twenty years ago Professor Parrot, being on the summit of the mountain Kasbeg, in the Caucasus, beheld in the distant horizon a lofty, isolated, snow-capped summit, which he presumed to be the silvery head of Ararat. From that time he had con stantly cherished the wish to undertake a scientific expedition to this mountain, and if possible to reach its summit, which had in the patent theatres they would never be- particulars of the results have at different come profitable, unless they were relieved times transpired, the full acount of it, confrom the enormous weight of their personal tained in the work before us, was published establishments, which are generally twice but a few months since at Berlin. too expensive in the number of, and the scale of remuneration to, their actors. To effect this, a system of rigid retrenchment ought to be adopted, the very opposite to that of profusion, which it has been the fashion of late years to incur. Managers have been playing the desperate game of almost ruined gamesters, who double their stakes and hazard their all, with a view to recover their losses. Actors must lower their pretensions; high as their talents may be, there is no earthly reason why, at a time that every other class of the community is compelled to make sacrifices, they alone should be exempted from the general rule. It is a fact, not less curious than true, that they are far better paid now, when nothing but ruin hangs over the stage, than they were in the most prosperous days of the drama. These remarks are not prompted by any feelings of hostility towards the actors, with several of whom we have been long connected by ties of personal friendship,-but, on the contrary, by zeal for the prosperity of the drama, with which their interests are necessarily connected. Without theatres they cannot live, and theatres cannot be supported much longer on the present system. from time immemorial been deemed inaccessible. But the difficulties of such an undertaking might be considered as nearly insuperable, so long as Ararat was on the mical to christianity. An important and unfrontiers of the two great powers, both iniexpected change had, however, taken place. The peace of Turkmaschai, between Russia and Persia, was concluded in 1828, the dominion of Christianity extended beyond the Araxes, and Ararat became the boundary of Russia towards Persia and Turkey; but the predatory Koords, still invested the country towards the north and south, when war broke out between Russia and the Porte. The Russian troops crossed the Araxes, and occupied the pashalik of Bayazeed, by which the roving tribes of banditti were driven away; and this favorable opWith regard to the pretended growing realize his long cherished plan. Passing portunity revived the Professor's desire to distaste of the public for the most rational over all the preliminary details, we merely and intellectual of all amusements, we cannot be made converts to the belief of its ex-fessor should be accompanied by Mr. Bepremise that it was arranged that the Proistence. At all events, we cannot affront hagel, a pupil of Professor Engelhardt's, as the taste and good sense of our countrymen mineralogist; Messrs. Hehn and Schiemann, so far as to suppose that this vast metropolis two medical students of the University_of does not contain a sufficient number of men Moscow; and a young astronomer, Mr. Feand women competent and willing to enjoy derow, who was studying in the Imperial the beauties of a good tragedy, comedy, or School at St. Petersburg. The Emperor farce, or that a theatre properly conducted not only granted his consent, but highly apfor such purpose would fail in obtaining sucproved the plan, and ordered one of the What may be the result of the pre-class called feld-jagers, often employed as sent crisis in theatrical affairs we are not cess. presumptous enough to foretell; but there is one ray of comfort and hope in the midst of the gloom which it inspires-matters cannot possibly be worse; they must either end in dissolution or lead to improvement. couriers, to accompany the party on the They set out on the 20th March, 1829, which was later in the season than might have been wished. As our chief object is the ascent of Mount Ararat, we shall not dwell much on the particulars of the jourThe Professor had intended to go to ART. III.-Reise zum Ararat. Von Dr. ney. Friedrich Parrot. (Journey to Mount the Caspian Sea, in order to obtain by acArarat. By Dr. F. Parrot.) 8vo. tual survey a confirmation of his opinion that the Caspian and Euxine were once THOUGH this visit to Mouut Ararat was united; but in this plan he was disappointundertaken nearly six years ago, and some led. from the Journal previous to the attempt to ascend the mountain. We shall make a few detached extracts the tribute of gratitude and veneration, from all parts of the world to which it has spread, in such abundance that, for wealth and splendor, this see might well bear comparison with the papal see of Rome, if the sovereigns of Persia had not turned its wealth into a source of revenue. To this burden the Armenians submit, because they thereby obtain toleration for their religion, and a much better lot than that of their brethren in the Turkish provinces of Asia Minor. The present Persian Sardar, Hussim Chan, is said to have taken great pleasure in seeing the Christian churches in good order, and even to have attended divine service with great devotion. "At Wladikaukas we met with the Persian prince Chosref-Mirza, one of the 380 male children and grand-children of the Kadschar Feth Ali, the reigning Shah of Persia, who already in the year 1826 had eightyone sons and fifty-three daughters, and who is not the first one who has had twenty members added to his family in the course of one week. Wladikaukas still continues as heretofore the most important military central station, whither all those flee for refuge, who, after dangerous journeys have escaped the pursuit of the Tscherkessians and Kabardinians; and in the environs of this place the old rude mode of life still prevails, so that even the shortest excursion, unless under military escort, is attended with danger, and for this reason strictly prohibited. A short time ago, ninety five horses were carried off close to the fortress, and during our stay of only two days, we saw, quite unexpected from the walls of the fortress, a large body of Ossetes settled here under Russian protection, who, without any assist ance from the military, were driving home before them, with music and loud acclamations, amid the waving of caps and firing of musquetry, a flock of 600 sheep, which they had taken from their neigh-the possession of the Fort of Erivan, in sight of the bors, the Tschetschenzes, by way of retaliation for their having carried off 400 of their oxen," "About thirty five wersts from Etschmiadsin, I separated myself from the rest of our party, and, attended by only a single Cossack, traversed a district which was formerly invested by swarms of predatory Koords, and had recently been the theaarmies of the Crescent and the Cross contended for tre of those great military movements in which the ble in the distance, but there were no traces of ancient Ararat. Villages and convents were visiagriculture; and an approaching thunder-storm, which had already enveloped Mount Ararat, and was hanging like a heavy canopy over me, had impelled both man and beast to seek shelter. A solitary monk, who, wrapped in his ample talare, endeavored to escape the coming rain on his Persian horse, surveyed me with a look of curiosity, but gave a friendly nod, and pointed to the south, when I called to him in Russian, ‘Etschmiadsin Convent, Father Joseph.' The rolling of the the thunder did not disturb me; I enthusiastically indulged now in the contemplation of the country spread before me, the longed for goal of my underperiod, 'replete with the most interesting historical taking; now in deep reflection on an ancient On the arrival of the travellers at Tiflis, on the 6th of June, Count Paskewitsch was engaged in the campaign against the Turks, but had recommended the expedition to the military governor-general Stekalow, who did his utmost to promote their object. Professor Parrot, however, instead of being able to proceed to Mount Ararat, was obliged to remain many weeks at Tiflis, because the plague had broken out in Armenia. The time, nevertheless, was well employed in various scientific occupations. The lati- events. How could it be otherwise? I was at the tude of Tiflis was ascertained with the ut- foot of Mount Ararat, the mountain of the pamost precision, and the tower of the cathe-triarch Noah, whose barren and thirsty soil even dral found to be 41° 41' north; the longi- in the valley of the Araxes, on whose banks Hannow shows indisputable traces of the flood. I was tude, according to Birdin, 62° 34' east of nibal took refuge." Ferro. The greatest degree of heat during their stay at Tiflis was 30° 4' R. on the afternoon of the 28th July. It was not till the 1st of September that they were able to leave Tiflis. The distance to Mount Ararat, reckoning all the windings of the road, is about 230 wersts, namely, 230 to the convent of Etschmiadsin, and 50 more to the village of Arguri, which is situated on the northern declivity of the mountain. The road from Tiflis runs through a plain about 600 feet above the level of the Kur, into the valley of the Chram, a shallow but broad stream that runs into the Kur, with a bridge built over it at some ancient but uncertain period. The celebrated convent of Etschmiadsin is the seat of the Armenian Patriarch of the Synod, and of all the superior clergy of that religion; the central point to which flows Passing over our author's account of the convent of Etschmiadsin, of his reception there, and his sketch of the modern history of Arminia, we come to his departure for the object of his journey. A young deacon the object of his journey. belonging to the convent was allowed at his own earnest entreaty, to join the company. "Ararat has borne this name for three thousand three hundred years: we find it mentioned in the most ancient of books, the History of the Creation, by Moses, who says, 'the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat. In other passages of the Old Testament, written several centuries later, in Isaiah, xxxvii. 38, 2 Kings, xix. 37, we find mention of a Land of Ararat, but in Jeremiah, li. 27, of a Kingdom of Ararat; and the very credible Armenian writer, Moses, of Chorene, states that this name was borne by a whole country, and that it was so called after an old Armenian king, Arai the Fair, who lived about 1750 years before Christ, and fell in a bloody battle against the Ba |