* * * * *
The greater portion of the following Notes will, we are persuaded, be
new to all but the bibliomaniacs in theatrical lore. They occur in a
paper of 45 pages in the last Edinburgh Review, in which the writer
attributes the Decline of the Drama to a variety of causes--as
late hours, costly representations, high salaries, and excessive
taxation--some of which we have selected for extract. In our affection
for the Stage, we have paid some attention to its history, as well
as to its recent state, and readily do we subscribe to a few of the
Reviewer's opinions of the cause of its neglect. But to attribute this
falling off to "taxes innumerable" is rather too broad: perhaps the
highly-taxed wax lights around the box circles suggested this new
light. We need not go so far to detect the rottenness of the dramatic
state; still, as the question involves controversy at every point,
we had rather keep out of the fight, and leave our Reviewer without
further note or comment.