THE TIIEATRES.
COVENT GARDEN closed its regular dramatic season on Saturday, with an extra night for the benefit of Madame VESTRIS and Mr. CHARLES MATHEWS, being the last of their management : on which occasion Mr. C. MATHEWS took leave of the public on behalf of himself and partner, in their managerial capacity, with the following pleasant speech.
" Ladies and Gentlemen—No seasons, excepting Thomson's Seasons, are en- dowed with immortality; and OUTS, having run the undeviating course marked out for it on the railroad of time, has arrived at its terminus.
" Following the railroad metaphor, may I venture to appeal to you for a cer- tificate under your hands, that the general line we have adopted has met with your approbation ; that the engine has worked well ; that the seats have been comfortable, the entertainment satisfactory, the fares moderate, and the con- ductors civil and attentive ?
"But let us leave the railroad and return to the stage—I mean the old original Covent Garden stage—that stage which we took with a view of running constantly from Covent Garden to the Bank. My partner and I have been its directors for three years ; during which time we have endeavoured, at much personal and pecuniary sacrifice, to sow the seeds of that solid prosperity, which we hoped would one day manifest itself in permanent satisfaction to you, and in a gollen harvest to ourselves : hut, alas for the mutability of human affairs !' Our first season was merely sowing; our second, little more than hoeing; and, though the third has been griming, we must leave to other hands the fourth, which might have been our mowing. Why we have felt it our duty to quit these premises I will not intrude upon you to explain : suffice it to say, that in quitting them, we leave not only our business but our good-mill to our successor. And if, ladies and gentlemen, that successor should prove to be a gentleman, the admired representative of that thrice-honoured theatrical family— another gifted daughter of whose gifted house it is our pride to have brought SO triumphantly under your notice—in that case, ladies and gentlemen, I can only say that, as far as one manager can forgive another, it will afford us much consolation should the change prove to be for his and your gain. "For Mrs. Mathews and myself' ladies and gentlemen, I beg most un- affectedly to return you our humble and cordial thanks for the unvarying kind- ness you have shown us. Both as actors and as managers we are deeply beholden to you ; and hereafter, whether as actors or managers, whether here or elsewhere, we trust that a proper sense of that kindness will ever be present to animate and sustain our best exertions for your amusement. "Ladies and gentlemen, in the joint names of ourselves and the performers, I most respectfully bid you farewell."
At the end of this address, which was greatly applauded, Madame Ilksnus being loudly called for, appeared, and was overwhelmed with acclamations and bouquets.
Thus terminated the reign of Vzirrnts over Covent Garden, and no theatrical sovereign ever abdicated with more general regret. Though' her administration of stage-affairs was not faultless, it was marked by a spirit of liberality amounting to profusion, incessant activity, and general good taste. Dramatic authors were handsomely recompensed, and we have heard it said that the performers were treated with kind- ness and consideration. During the last season, four new five-act comedies were produced, as many Italian operas were adapted to the English stage for Miss KEMBLE, besides other revivals, spectacles, and pantomime ; all of them got up in a style of splendour never exceeded, a style which VESTRIS herself was the first to introduce on the English stage at the little Olympic Theatre. The retirement of the late managers, we infer, was not altogether voluntary on their part : but the causes of their secession it is not our province to enter upon, further than to observe, that nothing short of almost unvarying success, and crowded houses every night, can make these huge theatres, with their enormous rentals, remunerate managers, so long as they maintain three or four companies of first-rate performers, in comedy, tragedy, opera, and pantomime. Whether Mr. CHARLES KEMBLE, on whom the management devolves next season, will fare better, remains to be seen : the brilliant success of his daughter ADELAIDE saved the theatre this last season, and it is to be hoped she may insure her father's prosperity next.
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