A Placard Announced That Dickens'
'Hard Times,' Which It Appears From This Has Been Dramatised, Was About
To Be Acted.
The plays are said to be highly moral, but in the melodrama
religion and buffoonery are often intermingled; and I confess that I did
not approve of this mode of solacing the consciences of those who object
to ordinary theatricals, for the principle involved remains the same.
The National Theatre is considered so admirably adapted for seeing,
hearing, and accommodation, that it is frequently visited by European
architects. An American friend took me to see it in the evening, when none
are admitted but those who are going to remain for the performance. This
being the rule, the doorkeeper politely opposed our entrance; but on my
companion stating that I was a stranger, he instantly admitted us, and
pointed out the best position for seeing the edifice. The theatre, which
has four tiers of boxes, was handsome in the extreme, and brilliantly
lighted; but I thought it calculated to produce the same effect of
dizziness and headache, as those who frequent our House of Peers
experience from the glare and redundant decoration.
This was one among the many instances where the name of stranger produced
a magic effect. It appeared as if doors which would not open to anything
else, yielded at once to a request urged in that sacred name. This was the
case at the Mount Auburn Cemetery, where the gatekeeper permitted us as
strangers to drive round in a carriage, which is contrary to rule, and on
no occasion would those who so courteously obliged us accept of any
gratuity.
There is some rivalry on the part of the people of Boston and New York
with regard to the beauty of their cemeteries. Many travellers have
pronounced the cemetery of Mount Auburn to be the loveliest in the world;
but both it and that of Greenwood are so beautiful, that it is needless to
"hint a fault or hesitate a dislike" with regard to either. Mount Auburn
has verdant slopes, and deep wild dells, and lakes shaded by forest-trees
of great size and beauty; and so silent is it, far removed from the din of
cities, that it seems as if a single footstep would disturb the sleep of
the dead. Here the neglectfulness and dreariness of the outer aspect of
the grave are completely done away with, and the dead lie peacefully under
ground carpeted with flowers, and shaded by trees. The simplicity of the
monuments is very beautiful; that to Spurzheim has merely his name upon
the tablet. Fulton, Channing, and other eminent men are buried here.
New York is celebrated for frequent and mysterious conflagrations; so are
all the American cities in a less degree. This is very surprising to
English people, many of whom scarcely know a fire-engine by sight. Boston,
though its substantial erections of brick and stone present great
obstacles to the progress of the devouring element, frequently displays
these unwished-for illuminations, and has some very well organized fire
companies.
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