If we went to the bottom of this subject, I think we should find that the putting upon actors clothes to which they are unaccustomed makes them act and talk artificially, and often in a manner intolerable.

An actor who has not the habits or instincts of a gentleman cannot be made to appear like one on the stage by dress; he only caricatures and discredits what he tries to represent; and the unaccustomed clothes and situation make him much more unnatural and insufferable than he would otherwise be.  Dressed appropriately for parts for which he is fitted, he will act well enough, probably.  What I mean is, that the clothes inappropriate to the man make the incongruity of him and his part more apparent.  Vulgarity is never so conspicuous as in fine apparel, on or off the stage, and never so self-conscious.  Shall we have, then, no refined characters on the stage?  Yes; but let them be taken by men and women of taste and refinement and let us have done with this masquerading in false raiment, ancient and modern, which makes nearly every stage a travesty of nature and the whole theatre a painful pretension.  We do not expect the modern theatre to be a place of instruction (that business is now turned over to the telegraphic operator, who is making a new language), but it may give amusement instead of torture, and do a little in satirizing folly and kindling love of home and country by the way.

This is a sort of summary of what we all said, and no one in particular is responsible for it; and in this it is like public opinion.  The Parson, however, whose only experience of the theatre was the endurance of an oratorio once, was very cordial in his denunciation of the stage altogether.

Mandeville.  Yet, acting itself is delightful; nothing so entertains us as mimicry, the personation of character.  We enjoy it in private.  I confess that I am always pleased with the Parson in the character of grumbler.  He would be an immense success on the stage.  I don’t know but the theatre will have to go back into the hands of the priests, who once controlled it.

The parson.  Scoffer!

Mandeville.  I can imagine how enjoyable the stage might be, cleared of all its traditionary nonsense, stilted language, stilted behavior, all the rubbish of false sentiment, false dress, and the manners of times that were both artificial and immoral, and filled with living characters, who speak the thought of to-day, with the wit and culture that are current to-day.  I’ve seen private theatricals, where all the performers were persons of cultivation, that....

Our next door.  So have I. For something particularly cheerful, commend me to amateur theatricals.  I have passed some melancholy hours at them.

Mandeville.  That’s because the performers acted the worn stage plays, and attempted to do them in the manner they had seen on the stage.  It is not always so.