ROYAL ECONOMY.
TILE great Rogers question has been solved. The Court, it appears, does not mete the allowance of the individual actors, but takes them in the lump. The manager is paid a round sum for his trouble and expenses, and for his loss when he has to close his house ; and the payment of the individual actors falls on. him. The manager does not always gain by the transaction, except in fame and dignity; but, however some may sigh for a more ample or more elegant entertainment, the individual actors mostly like a I Court engagement, precisely as they like a double salary. Every time there is a performance at Windsor Castle, the actor who constitutes part of the corps receives his expenses and double pay for the evening. Mr. Rogers's contribution to the Lambeth poorbox was not his evening's pay, but only the half of his even! ing's pay. This sequel to the tale raises a new question : what , was the motive which induced Rogers to make that sacrifice of 138. 4d. to the Lambeth poor-box ? Was it a pious charity; or a lo desire dese not to receive any special remuneration for his services at Windsor beyond the pleasant sound of the Royal laugh ? , Or does Rogers hold that he is an actor so specially fitted "or to shine in courts, or walk the plain with unaffected grace," that although 13s. 4d. per night is his price in Wych Street, something infinitely grander should be his guerdon at the Castle ? A judicious'correspondent reminds us that the money expended at Court is public money, and that economy is doubly a virtue when it controls the dispensing of a trust. Most true; and the Court has unquestionably the better of Mr. James Rogers. Perhaps we may regret the extension. of the commercial spirit which carries the contract principle even to Court, but it is congenial to the spirit of the day. When Widow Allsop applies to the Prince Consort for assistance, the reply is "no effects." "The granddaughter of a general, the daughter of a captain," the mother of three sons at Cabul and two in the Crimea, "all slain for England's glory," has "no more sons for England or the Queen." She is left quite alone,—coals being "very dear indeed," and she very. sick ; life is a burden to her. "The Duke" and " Lord Fitzroy" used to give her a little help ; but when she presents her case to Field-Marsha his Royal Highness Prince Albert, she receives, not a loaf, but a polite note from Colonel Phipps, "to inform Mrs. Allsop, that very numerous and pressing applications for pecuniary assistance must prevent compliance." We fully appreciate the merits of economy; but the " virtue" of that rule lies in abstinence for self, as a means of justice if not generosity to others. The money expended by the Court is public money, bat the distribution of it is not governed by the same rules with the money intrusted to a public department, whose duty it is to buy cheap. A George deferring to public censure on his running into debt for luxuries, would hardly have regained public respect by getting as much luxury at a bargain. Openhandedness is one of the virtues which reconcile subjects to royalty. If royalty grew parsimonious, men would thinkthat , it was growing old and coming to its end.
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