But the most irreparable loss inflicted on the stage by this management was the loss of tradition. From the earliest days there existed in the leading theatres of London groups of actors inhabiting Drury Lane, Covent Garden, and Haymarket Theatres, these being especially entitled to perform the highest class of drama, for which they had the monopoly, and consequently companies of artists were selected for the object of cultivating legitimate comedy and tragedy. These actors were the lineal artistic descendants of the great tragedians and comedians who preceded them on the same stages. The prompt-books were heirlooms of the art. From hand to hand, from mouth to mouth, the movement and gestures of every scene and every play were transmitted from generation to generation. The way in which Garrick or Betterton acted a certain part was compared with the manner and treatment of their predecessors in it, and the best parts of each performance were retained and employed by John Philip Kemble. He in turn was studied by Cooke and Young, who transmitted their traditions to Kean and Macready. The grouping of the actors on the stage, their relations to each other, their movements and gestures, all the product of the careful study of two or three centuries, formed this artistic treasure which we call tradition; and all this is utterly lost. The commercial manager having disbanded these leading companies of artists, all the wealth of the past has been dispersed.

Some thirty-five years ago I saw "Twelfth Night" played at Covent Garden Theatre in London. Miss Ellen Tree played Viola; Farren was the Malvolio; Keeley, Harley, Bartley, and Mrs. Humby filled the comic parts. I forget the cast, however, but I remember perfectly the action and movement of the play. A few weeks ago the same comedy was performed in New York. Miss Neilson was the Viola. It was sadly misrepresented from beginning to end. The actors knew their parts, but did not understand their characters. The movement presented a confusion not unlike an amateur performance, where each person betrays an awkward circumspective doubt that there is something wrong somewhere. There had been, in truth, no skilled interpreter of the play to regulate the movement, no stage manager to instruct the performer how his or her part should be played. It was a muddle, where both audience and actors were equally in helpless ignorance of

the author. The following day the New York press dilated on the perfection of the performance, being the most ignorant of the three. These, my dear R- -, appear to be some of the reasons for the decline and fall of the drama of late years. There are three constituent factors in the drama: the author who writes, the actor who performs, and the public that receives. Of these three the public is the most important, for it calls into existence the other two as infallibly as demand creates supply. When our people shall demand the highest class of dramatic entertainment, a Shakespeare and a Garrick will appear. Until then, my dear friend, the world will rest contented with such poor things as you and

me.

DION BOUCICAULT.

ART. III.-THE WAR IN THE EAST.

PART II.
*

WE stated in a preceding paper that the permanent army of the Caucasus, including the Cossacks of the Kuban, has long been understood to amount to nearly 170,000 men of all arms, and, with the supports available, it was reasonable to assume the capacity of the Russians to operate in Armenia with as many troops as the supplies and communications permitted, and that they would at every important point be superior in force to their antagonist. The result has not supported this assumption, but has shown either that the available Russian strength in the Caucasus has been vastly overrated, or that a very large portion of it was retained within their own territory to oppose the Turkish expeditions to SugkhumKalé and other points on the coast, and to put down the insurrection of the native tribes, or that it has been unskilfully applied. On the 23d of April columns crossed the frontier from Poti, moving upon Batoum, from Alexandropol upon Kars, and from Erivan upon Bayazeth. The attempt to cut the communication from Batoum into the interior was immediately successful, and the subsequent attacks by the Russians at that point were probably intended to drive the Turks as close in upon the town as possible, so that their own position might be shortened and more men made available for other operations. On the left, Bayazeth was occupied on the 26th, and the Erivan column moved by Dijadin and Kara-Killissa, in the direction of Toprakh-Kalé and Deli-Baba. The central column moved on Kars. Early in May another column moved from Akhaltzik upon Ardahan, and on the 17th of that month breached the works and carried the place by assault. The headquarters of the central column were now at Mazra, near Kars, which was invested, and a cavalry force thrown towards the Saganlugh. About the same time the left column reached Utsch-Kilissa, in the valley of the Murad Euphrates, with its advanced guard at Jeranos and Chamur, where a mountain road from Kagysman

* North American Review, July-August, 1877, p. 35.