He talks of the plays and players of his youth, but he does not, in truth, visit the theatre much in his age; and invariably he condemns the present, and applauds the past.

Things have much degenerated and decayed, he finds; himself among them, but of that fact he is not fully conscious.

There are no such actors now as once there were, nor such actresses.

The drama has declined into a state almost past praying for.

This is, of course, a very old story.