Mr. Wemyss, in his Chronology of the American Stage, says that the John Street Theatre opened December 7, 1767, under the management of Hallam & Henry, and in the same book announces his first appearance in America, on that very evening, as Aimwell in The Beau Stratagem. Hallam & Henry did not form a partnership until the 21st of November, 1784. Douglas having gone to Jamaica, where he received a judgeship under the British crown, he relinquished the sceptre of the American company to Hallam, his step-son, who took for his partner John Henry. How our friend Wemyss could fall into so gross an error is entirely beyond our comprehension. The South Street Theatre opened under Hallam & Henry’s management in 1786.
The members of the old South Street company, in 1761, consisted of Messrs. Douglas, Hallam, Allyn, Morris, Quelch, Tomlinson, Street, Reed, Tremaine, and Master A. Hallam, Mesdames Douglas, Morris, Crane, Allyn, and Miss Hallam.
To the antiquarian the subject of our drama and stage would afford a wide range for the display of his genius in that line, as they embrace the very “Mémoires pour Servir” for a volume.
“POST TENEBRAS LUX.”
“After darkness comes light.”
We have referred to these reminiscences of the olden time simply to contrast the past with the present; for in tracing up the progress of any one institution connected with the government, it necessarily follows that every thing else must have a corresponding progressive interest. Reminiscences, however, are but retrogressive shadows that come over us in their gloom, as they conjure up the spirits of those who have long since passed away from the earth, as have all those scenes which the “Old Mortalities” of the present take delight in repainting. “Passing Away” is but the result of the onward march of Time:—
“Still he goes,
And goes, and goes, and doth not pass away;
He rises with the golden morning, calmly,
And with the moon at night. Methinks I see