The Waverley novels, by Sir Walter Scott, complete in 12 vol., printed from the latest English ed., embracing the author's last corrections, prefaces & notes.

APPENDIX TO INTRODUCTION. 325
are not competent. He would know what to say to the indifferent poet and
to the bad artist. He would say that it was foolish; and he would recommend to the poet to become a scribe, and the artist to paint sign-posts(loud laughter). - But you could not send the player adrift, for if he cannot
play Hamlet, he must play Guildenstern. Where there are many labourers,
wages must be low, and no man in such a situation can decently support a
wife and family, and save something off his income for old age. What is
this man to do in latter life? Are you to cast him off like an old hinge,
or a piece of useless machinery, which has done its work? To a person
who had contributed to our amusement, this would be unkind, ungrateful,
and unchristian. His wants are not of his own making, but arise from the
natural sources of sickness and old age. It cannot be denied that there is
one class of sufferers to whom no imprudence can be ascribed, except on
first entering on the profession. After putting his hand to the dramatic
plough, he cannot draw back; but must continue at it, and toil, till death
release him from want; or charity, by its milder influence, steps in to render
that want more\tolerable. He had little more to say, except that he sincerely hoped that the collection to-day, from the number of respectable
gentlemen present, would meet the views entertained by the patrons. He
hoped it would do so. They should not be disheartened. Though they
could not do a great deal, they might do something. They had this consolation, that every thing they parted with from their superfluity would do
some good. They would sleep the better themselves when they have been
the means of giving sleep to others. It was ungrateful and unkind, that
those who had sacrificed their youth to our amusement should not receive
the reward due to them, but should be reduced to hard fare in their old age.
We cannot think of poor Falstaff going to bed without his cup of sack, or
Macbeth fed on bones as marrowless as those of Banquo. (Loud cheers
and laughter.)- As he believed that they were all as fond of the dramatic
art as he was in his younger days, he would propose that they should drink
"The Theatrical Fund," with three times three.
MR. MACKAY rose, on behalf of his brethren, to return their thanks for
the toast just drunk. Many of the gentlemen present, he said, were perhaps not fully acquainted with the nature and intention of the institution,
and it might not be amiss to enter into some explanation on the subject.
With whomsoever the idea of a Theatrical Fund might have originated, (and
it had been disputed by the surviving relatives of two or three individuals,)
certain it was, that the first legally constituted Theatrical Fund owed its
origin to one of the brightest ornaments of the profession, the late David
Garrick. That eminent actor conceived that, by a weekly subscription in
the Theatre, a fund might be raised among its members, from which a portion might be given to those of his less fortunate brethren, and thusean
opportunity would be offered for prudence to provide what fortune had
denied - a comfortable provision for the winter of life. With the welfare
of his profession constantly at heart, the zeal with which he laboured to
uphold its respectability, and to impress upon the minds of his brethren,
not only the necessity, but the blessing of independence, the Fund became
his peculiar care. He drew up a form of laws for its government, procured,
at his own expense, the passing of an Act of Parliament for its confirmation, bequeathed to it a handsome legacy, and thus became the Father of the
Drury-Lane Fund. So constant was his attachment to this infant establishment, that he chose to grace the close of the brightest theatrical life on
record, by the last display of his transcendent talent, on the occasion of a
benefit for this child of his adoption, which ever since has gone by the name
of the Garrick Fund. In imitation of his noble example, Funds had been
established in several provincial theatres in England; but it remained for
Mrs. Henry Siddons and Mr. William Murray to become the founders of
the first Theatrical Fund in Scotland. (Cheers.) This Fund commenced
2c