Private Theatricals.

Surel y I have found , most kind ancl captious reader , some use and good in private theatricals , and if anything I have ventured to suggest , however feebly , may increase the geniality of a family gathering , or please the readers of the Masonic Magazine , I shall not have penned this light ancl little effusion altogether in vain . It cannot do any harm ; I Hatter myself it may raise a kindly smileand then I shall be more than satisfied . One little word more , ancl

, I have done . Mr . Gale , in his charming little book about Winchester School , tells ns of a company which once assembled , but separated never to meet again , ancl which , strange to say , he still preferred , though he had seen Charles Kean and Macreacly , Buckstone and Matthews , Helen Fancit ancl Mrs . Nisbett . In " College Theatricals "—one of " Blackwood ' s " stories—some of us may

also remember how that company which played " She Stoops to Conquer " with such effect was broken up , and how the changes and chances of life made them play very different parts henceforth indeed . I , too , can recall a little company which once essayed in clays of yore and under peculiar circumstances to enact "Box and Cox . " They , too , have never met again ! And as the " epilogue " made some smile then , it may amuse others to-day ; and so I conclude my dislocated ancl desultory paper . /^ NSOiv ^ y

At last the curtain falls , the play is o ' er , A £ y " And Box and Cox can patronize no more . |_ JL [ |_ Q No longer Bouncer with seducing smile , W , \ And woman's art can hoo poor men beguile ; \_ " \ But as all earthly shadows pass away , \ P / N--So now have sped the players and the play . Ni ' p Yon who have come to-night with kind intent ,

You who have grace ancl beauty to our gathering lent , You , who nor coldly critical nor austerely wise , Have not disdained " our house to patronize . " To you we tender , if but ill express't ,

The grateful thoughts of each poor player ' s breast . If life is short , if joys are doomed to fade , If all our art has planned or hands have made Is frail and perishing , still how dai'k and drear Are the cold sceptic's doubt , the cynic's sneer . Better for us that life should cease to be , Than be of senseless dust a drear epitome !

Forbid the thought ! When friendship soft and kind Affects the sympathies and cheers the mind ; When gentler thoughts unceasingly engage Youth ' s fervour , manhood's hope , and dim old age ; How blest is life , how full of soft delight , Radiant with hope ancl trust , all fair and bright ! And so we bid all welcome to our play ,

The old , the young , the gravest and the gay . All hail , kind friends and patrons—in glad aelaim We greet each friendly face , each honour'd name . And as we part to-night , in friendship's pain , Let's hope to meet one day in kindliness again ! Like many other human wishes , that aspiration has not been granted , but the memory remains for me , as it ever does , and perhaps for one or two " sojourners " on earth , of parted friends and pleasant hours .