Such might not approve of going to the theatre, but at least could not deny that they might give away from their superfluity what was required for the relief of the sick, the support of the aged, and the comfort of the afflicted.

These were duties enjoined by our religion itself.

(Loud cheers.) The performers are in a particular manner entitled to the support or regard, when in old age or distress, of those who have partaken of the amusements of those places which they render an ornament to society.
Their art was of a peculiarly delicate and precarious nature.

They had to serve a long apprenticeship.

It was very long before even the first-rate geniuses could acquire the mechanical knowledge of the stage business.