2 FEBRUARY 1856, Page 15

ALLEYN'S CHARITY AND ACTORS.

Cukarry is charitable according to its motives. The man who in a fit of spleen cuts off his heir with a shilling, and "leaves his fortune in charity," does not dispense the virtue, but embezzles it; and tries in a sacred name to make Heaven an instrument for Ins petty revenges. The man who in the sheer desire to do the largest good, or in the pious wish to compensate evil to one by benefits to others, endeavours to found a permanent charity, de- serves the respect of posterity, upon whom he lays the obligation of assisting him to carry on his work through each generation. And this in the spirit rather than in the letter. Succeeding ge- nerations, however, have very little felt the obligation : they have left the charities to be preyed upon by misappropriators ; and. those who have bequeathed permanent funds for the sustenance or solace of the poor, have in fact only supplied over-filled troughs for the swine of selfishness to guzzle at. A tendency has been shown in our day to amend this state of things : the charities have been overhauled ; and as fast as we can withdraw ourselves from the ever-increasing business of self-made difficulties, we shall probably apply ourselves to each charity in its turn, for the pur- pose of setting it hereafter upon a better footing. In doing so, we should always consult the spirit of the foundation, and endea- vour to make the reinstituted charity accord with the objects of its original foundation. •

This eminently applies to the College at Dulwich, the reform of which has been determined. Everybody, knows how it was founded by the actor Edward Alleyn on the impulse of a penitent fit, brought on by a belief that he had seen the Devil after having impiously performed the character of that personage on the stage. So, to assoilzie himself, he bestowed " God's gift," which he cal- culated at 800/, a year of his property—a large sum in those days —on twelve poor brothers and sisters, twelve scholars with a Warden and four fellows to take charge of the charity. The scholars were to be chosen from the parishes of St. Botolph, St. Saviour, St. Luke, and Camberwell. In short, Alleyn designed his foundation for a state of things altogether unlike the present. The parish is merged in the great Metropolis; revenues of the College have grown beyond any amount that Alleyn himself fore- saw—have become ten times as much. There has grown out of his charity a new property which he did not contemplate ; and as he did not contemplate it, so likewise it is unappropriated by his will or intention. But Atleyn was an actor ; he intended to be charitable ; he was a man most likely to have partaken the spirit of his own time ; and, catching these ingredients for a judgment, we need not have much difficulty in finding out what Alleyn would have done if he had lived now. That thing, it appears to us, his descend- ants are bound to do.

In the first place, as the funds are larger, instead of making the charity a half self-elected corporation, with considerable funds divided between a few idle gentlemen, it is incumbent upon us to see that a fair share of the funds be used for maintaining such schools as we at the present day consider to be sufficient. The provision for the scholars was fully sufficient for a college educa- tion, but the last instance of college education occurred in 1770. The charity has become a monopoly, held by fortunate per- sons who only do suit and service in the letter of their bond. All this is to be reformed without disturbing existing in- terests. The twelve poor brothers and sisters become twenty four, with a home and 208. a week. There are to be out pensioners with 10s. a week, and the schools are to be re- formed and extended with exhibitions and scholarships. Mr. Benjamin Webster, the manager of the Adelphi Theatre, puts in a very proper plea for the profession in which he is distin- guished, and to which Allevn belonged. He asks that retired act- ors, who have not obtained a sufficiency for themselves, should be admitted on the adult charity, and that their children should be admitted to schools. This proposal has attracted much atten- tion, and has been well supported. The adult candidates for ad- mission to the charity might be elected by their own profession, either through the established theatrical "Funds," or by some other process. It has been properly said that the very temper and mode which make the actor, and it might almost be said the artist, shut out or weaken those motives of providence which enable men to lay by ; and it too often happens that the actor or actress, who has given intense pleasure to thousands, sinks for- gotten in penury at the last, probably without relatives or friends to fall back upon. A charitable foundation is exactly the proper asylum for such cases ; and a charity founded by an actor is pe- culiarly fitted to be the refuge of actors. Alleyn, indeed, did not limit his college to his own profession ; perhaps he thought that other professions might be worthier than his ; but out of the ad- ditional funds which have accrued, society may perhaps pay back something of the bounty that the actor gave, and so let charity be brought home, if it did not begin there.