VESTRIS'S LEAVE-TAKING.
ON closing her Theatre for the season, VESTRIS addressed the House in the following Speech—tile production, it is said, of one of her principal Ministers. It had, of course, been duly settled in the Olympic Cabinet Council. It is needless to say, the address was spoken in the usual graceful and pointed manner of the . Queen (of the Night).
" Ladies and Gentlemen—The last night of our second season having arrived, I again present myself before you to take leave. I might easily do so in the set phrases which custom prescribes. but something beyond custom may fairly be looked for by, you, whose custom has been something beyond what could reasonably be expected by me.
" In my last address, I undertook to win from you an admission that • the women are the best managers after all.' Ladies and Gentlemen, 1 have won it, and in its most ' pleasing and substantial form—your constant attendance.
" This admission has been freely given; and, the public press excepted, it has been the only admission given for this house. There has been no order in the theatre since I became its lessee; but the gooxl order which has characterized the audiences who, have done me the honour to visit it. The breath of your approving voices has been my only puff; your applause has been engraved upon my memory. not printed in my bills ; ' and the use of the word ' overflow' has been reserved to describe the feelings of a heart . grateful, indeed, to overflow, for your unceasing patronage and support. " It would be affectation to talk of doing better next season. I shall be contented if we can do as well—and so, you have taught me to believe, will you. The same style of entertainments will be presented to you. and they will be acted by the same, or nearly the same. company: Above all, I am happy to be eualded to promise you the reappear- ance of him who, for six months, has here reigned supreme in the kingdom of merriment —of him who is at once a pupil of nature and a master of art. " Devils of all denominations have been struggling for the mastery at the various theatres of the metropolis; but if the success of a devil be measured by how much a devil takes,' assuredly ours are the most successful, for our Olympic Devils have taken more than any other. " My last season was only three months—my-present has extended to six; and, how- ever unusual in theatrical matters, its prosperity has doubled with its extent. The old adage must explain it : last year I was only the fortunate Mistress of the Revels; : this year I have had • the Devil's luck and my own.
" Ladies and Gentlemen, accept my sincere and hearty thanks for the kind and un- varying support you have accorded to this establishment ; and allow me to add those of the performers generally. Until October shall again bring its face to face, for the mu- tual exchange of mirth and good humour, I respectfully and gratefully bid you fare- well."
-We object neither to female managers nor female sovereigns; and when VESTRIS opened her theatre, we wrote a sermon on the text which she would, in this speech, rob us of the credit of. We endeavoured to prove a priori, that " women were the best mana- gers after all." We allow that she has exemplified the proposition. The Olympic is a pleasant little theatre (as respects the per- formances—very much the contrary as regards the house); • and, with LISTON, Mrs. GLOVER, and VESTRIS herself, it is impos- sible not eitbef to laugh or to admire. Of the nature of the pieces that have been performed, the address is, singularly enough, a fair specimen; and for this we like it—a uniform character bespeaks unity and earnestness, and, if not a very good one, is better than none at all. The address, it will be perceived, is light in its tone, and in its staple is composed of no solider stuff than puns—the vice of this age, which, in its periodical writings, is neither of silver nor of iron, but of tinsel—and that tinsel of brass. Good sense and genuine wit have been regularly Hoon-winked—at least as re- gards all attempts at lighter compositions. The address is be- spangled with these poor pretences : so have nearly all the vaude- villes and burlettas which have been got up at the Olympic, — and, in justice to the manager, we ought to add, greatly have they been relished by the audience. When puns are the sole stock in trade, it is very easy to set up the business of a wit : and in this rests our hope of cure. The market will soon be overstocked. We remember the time when the regeneration of puns took place, and when there were not above three or four professional punsters in London : now punning spreads like the plague ; and, as in the case of all epidemics, other diseases adopt its symptoms, and ravage the republic of letters in its name. But the easiness of the thing will destroy it. Any man may be a punster, who will study words, or rather syllables, instead of thoughts. In the instance of the speech for VESTRIS, the author did not trouble himself respecting ideas; but, just as young ladies make bout rimes, all lie had to do was to pick out four or five the- atrical words, and pun them. The skeleton of this speech runs thus : it might have been taken out of the Punning Dictionary-
Custom—habitual practice.
Custom—the business of a public-house.
Admission—a term of logic. Admission—an entrance to the theatre.
Order—regularity and decorum. Order—a free ticket of admission.
Puff—of breath; applause. Puff—bought praise.
We need not go on—it is breaking a fly upon the wheel : but it is worth while to give a hint to ambitious young men, that the trick of bandying omonymes is an easy one; and when they all begin to madden round the world, the public will be sickened, and the nuisance abated.
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