The Drama.

THE DRAMA .

"Tottle ' s" at the Gaiety— "Dublin Bay" at the Charing Cross—Mr . Sothern ' s return to the Haymarket . MB . Byron has at last found the season most fitted for tho prodnotion of his works of art . More fortunate still , ho has once more secured the actor best suited by nature and training for the

illustration of his peculiar kind of wit . At no other time but at Christmas do so many people go to tho theatre who can guffaw at the rudenessos of Mr . Byron's dialogue , or shriek over those wordtwistings so painful to educated ears ; at no other time can Mr . Toole's buffooneries rouse crowded audiences to shouts of laughter . It is only in the pantomime season that Mr . Byron ' s eccentricities

receive their due meed of praise , when a chance visitor may drop into the GAIETY , and , unaided by a playbill , imagine that he is witnessing a pantomime by the veteran Mr . Blanchard , with the " Great-Little Toole" a 3 clown . Tottle's is advertised as a comic drama ; it is a piece in three acts , of which tho first two are worse than farcical , whilst the third is sheer harlequinade . We have before

thi 3 expressed our regret at Mr . Byron ' s apparent misuse of ability . We begin to fear that wo have made a sorious mistake , and regretted the misuse of something which no longer exists . Mr . Tottlo has made a comfortable fortune in the eating house line ; a widower , with ono son , Horace , he determines on another venture in the sea of matrimony . He has to choose between Miss Julia Tilford , a dashing

adventuress , and Miss Trenchard , a true and tender , but middle-aged and dowdy friend ; naturally , his choice falls on the former , and with equal certainty the marriage proves an unhappy one . Tho gay Julia beginning with flirtations , winds up her peccadilloes in an elopement with an old admirer , Captain Raffles , and the nuptial tie is dissolved in tho Divorce Court . Mr . Tottle has betaken himself abroad

during his domestio troubles , and returns to the honso of an old friend , Cobham Brown , in time to find wedding festivities going on . On very weak grounds he concludes that Miss Trenchard has made Mr . Brown a happy man , and for reasons equally misty , is enraged at her desertion of him , as he thinks it . Assuming the place of the waiter , he contrives , by absurd antics , to

render the wedding breakfast a scene of bustling confusion , until he discovers that the marriage celebvated is that of his son Horace , with Mary , tho daughter of Cobham Brown . It is tolerably evident that this piece has been written for the sake of ono part only , specially intended for Mr . Toole j and we must acknowledge that Mr . Toole does full justice to the character of Tottle . It is jnst one of those

parts in which Mr . Toole excels , of which the fun consists in cockney phrases and reminiscences of the cookshop business in the Boroughroad , and therefore powerfully appeals to the understanding of the gallery-audience which holds Mr . Toole in such special favour , recognising in him an intelligence akin to their own . Of the othei

characters we need not say much ; the son Horace is well played by Mis 3 Farren , and Bung , a waiter , is made the most of by Mr . Soutar ; Mdle . Camillo looks fresh and pretty as Mary Brown . On account of Mr . Toole , the piece will no doubt be received with favour until theatre-goers shall havo recovered from Christmas delirium and returned to their normal condition .

An early effort of the late Mr . Robertson ' s has been raked out from the oblivion to which it had been rightly consigned , and produced at the CHARING CROSS . A husband and his wife , long separated by mutual consent , meet on board a Dublin steamboat . Having no one else to whom they can talk , they are obliged to be satisfied with a domestic conversation , during which the husband learns that he is

also a father , and both hear that the boat is in danger of sinking ; under the influence , on one side , of fraternal joy , and ou both of fear of death , a reconciliation is effected , and , of course , the landing is effected with safety . Although slight in construction , as a French proverb , the piece might havo been successful had it possessed . any

advantages in dialogue or acting , but as it is destitute of wit , and the nearest approach to acting iu it is made by Miss Edith Lynd , we cannot anticipate for it any length of run , and , for the sake of Mr . Robertson ' s reputation , we think it a pity that this trifle should have been produced .

Mr . Sothern is performing at the HAYMARKET for three weeks , previous to his return to America , and on Monday last appeared in David Garrick . His acting in this part , and the general cast of the play , aro too familiar to require any notice at our hands , with this exception ,

that the part of Ada Ingot was entrusted to a new representative , in the person of Miss Lucy Buckstone , whose performance was marked by a promise which will , we trust , in no long time bear ripe fruit . Mr . Sothern will appear in other favourite characters previous to his departure .

A HEAL PATRON OF ART . —On the north side of Pall Mall , a little to the east of St . James ' s Street , stood formerly the Shakspeare Gallery , the creation of that real and true patron of art , and especially of historical painting and engraving . Alderman Boydell , whose name is far less well known than it deserves to be among artists and men of taste . Beginning life as an engraver , he spent a larger sura

than any nobleman had done up to that time in encouraging a British School of engraving ; for , as he tells us in one of his appeals , " when he commenced business nearly all the fine engravings sold in England were imported from abroad , and more especially from France . " The outbreak of the French Revolution seriously embarassed his venture in this artistic business , and in 1789 he was

obliged to make arrangements for disposing of his Gallery . He brought out , however , a costly edition of the works of Shakspeare , the profits of which , together with a Shakspearian lottery , saved him from bankruptcy . After his death , howover , the Gallery was for some years vacant , and Malcolm , in 1807 , speaks of it as " a melancholy memento of the irretrievablo ruin of the arts in England . "From C' j . tstll ' s Old and Hw : London , " for January ,

Honorary Membership.

HONORARY MEMBERSHIP .

THE practice of conferring honorary membership in Masonic Lodges upon distinguished Masons , or upon a brother who is thought to havo merited this distinction by valuable services rendered , prevails to a considerable extent among the Lodges iu this country . So far as we are informed tho usage is a modern invention , and may bo classed among the clap-trap attachments , contrived especially to please tho vauity or gratify the ambition of a certain

class of men , who usually held a largo amount of stock iu this cheap sort of notoriety . The custom has , howover , received the sanction of many Grand Lodges , but generally under such restrictions that the honour amounts to nothing moro than an empty uamo . When so restricted it may bo considered unobjectionable , for no confusion or harm is liable to arise from it when properly understood , and the

disguished " honorary member" has sufficient modesty toappreciato his true position . That such is not always the case appears to be tho fact in somo instances , but it is to be presumed thoy are of rare occur , rence . The Grand Lodgo of Indiana says : " Such honorary membership will not confer any of tho rights of rognlar membership , " and by what right , under this rule , any brother can claim tho

privilege of voting upon any question before the Lodge , or npon application for tho degrees , as has been claimed , and allowed in some Lodges in this jurisdiction , we are wholly unable to discover . Such privileges are not contemplated by the law , and should not bo granted in any instance . A brother asks , " what is the mode of procedure in a Lodge to elect honorary membership ? Must there bo a petition

signed by tho party , duly recommended ? Must it be referred to a committee , and a ballot had to elect , as in cases of regular membership ? " In the absence of any law covering these points wo can only give an opinion . The essential qualification or prerequisite for honorary membership is that it shall have been merited " by long or eminent

services to the Craft . " A petition from a brother for snch membership would imply an opinion of one ' s own self that a limited amonnt of modesty would prevent him from expressing . Such a petition is evidently not contemplated by the regulation . A brother who merits this distinction by long and eminent services to the Craft must havo gained a reputation whith precludes the necessity of a committee of

investigation . Henco no such committee is necessary or proper . As this membership confers no especial benefits upon the party elected to it , and as it in no way effects the rights and privileges of those who aro regular members , we do not deem it of enough importance to require an election by secret ballot as in cases of regular

membership . Wo would say , then , that all that is nocessary to elect to honorary membership is that the proposition come in the form of a resolution , which , being duly seconded , may bo voted on in tho same manner that ordinary business is disposed of . If the Grand Master or any other brother thinks differently wc shall be pleased to hear what they may havo to say on the subject . —Masonic Advocate .

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