It was very desirable that the stage should be well regulated; and there was no criterion by which its regulation could be better determined than by the moral character and personal respectability of the performers.

He was not one of those stern moralists who objected to the theatre.

The most fastidious moralist could not possibly apprehend any injury from the stage of Edinburgh, as it was presently managed, and so long as it was adorned by that illustrious individual, Mrs.Henry Siddons, whose public exhibitions were not more remarkable for feminine grace and delicacy than was her private character for every virtue which could be admired in domestic life.

He would conclude with reciting a few words from Shakespeare, in a spirit not of contradiction to those stern moralists who disliked the theatre, but of meekness: "Good, my lord, will you see the players well bestowed?
Do you hear, let them be well used, for they are the abstract and brief chronicles of the time." He then gave "Mrs.Henry Siddons, and success to the Theatre Royal of Edinburgh." Mr.MURRAY .-- Gentlemen, I rise to return thanks for the honour you have done Mrs.Siddons, in doing which I am somewhat difficulted, from the extreme delicacy which attends a brother's expatiating upon a sister's claims to honours publicly paid--( hear, hear)--yet, gentlemen, your kindness emboldens me to say that, were I to give utterance to all a brother's feelings, I should not exaggerate those claims.

(Loud applause.) I therefore, gentlemen, thank you most cordially for the honour you have done her, and shall now request permission to make an observation on the establishment of the Edinburgh Theatrical Fund.