As I honour the two old funds for the great good which they have
done, so I honour this for the much greater good it is resolved to
do. It is not because I love them less, but because I love this
more--because it includes more in its operation.
Let us ever remember that there is no class of actors who stand so
much in need of a retiring fund as those who do not win the great
prizes, but who are nevertheless an essential part of the
theatrical system, and by consequence bear a part in contributing
to our pleasures. We owe them a debt which we ought to pay. The
beds of such men are not of roses, but of very artificial flowers
indeed. Their lives are lives of care and privation, and hard
struggles with very stern realities. It is from among the poor
actors who drink wine from goblets, in colour marvellously like
toast and water, and who preside at Barmecide beasts with wonderful
appetites for steaks,--it is from their ranks that the most
triumphant favourites have sprung. And surely, besides this, the
greater the instruction and delight we derive from the rich English
drama, the more we are bound to succour and protect the humblest of
those votaries of the art who add to our instruction and amusement.
Hazlitt has well said that "There is no class of society whom so
many persons regard with affection as actors. We greet them on the
stage, we like to meet them in the streets; they almost always
recal to us pleasant associations.
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