Correspondence.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VIII, Issue 528, 25 November 1857, Page 5

Correspondence.

To the Editor of the ' Lyttelton Times'

Sib,—l could not have thought it possible that the last letter that I addressed to you for publication should have been so misunderstood and misrepresented as I perceive ie to have been by Mr. Rae. The substance and point of his long effusion seems to amount to'this— that the stage and the stage only is the centre from which must proceed everything that par takes of intellectuality or mental improvement, the only means of instruction to the uneducated or of recreation to the working man, and the only subject for agreeable and cheering conversation; iii fact, the ons thing necessary for social improvement and happiness. Adopting this view, it does seem truly lamentable that such 'large sums are yearly wasted by benevolent but misguided persons in maintaining Ragged Schools and other vain arid superfluous institutions for the moral and intellectual cul* ture of our working population in England, as it is impossible to conceive the amount of enlightenment that would be apparent were half the money applied to the extension of theatricals. It certainly does Mr. Rae the highest credit that (as he says) he was the first man in the settlement who publicly advocated dramatic entertainments, without which it seems that we must all have been completely absorbed in swinish ignorance and unrelieved drudgery; and it is not at all surprising that he should immediately denounce the man who should attempt to draw a cloud before this sun of universal refinement. . I pas* by all your correspondent's remarks upon my style and design of writing against the stage, &c, not wishing to render railing for railing, or to excite angry feelings between man and man; for notwithstanding my'most lamentable ignorance of human nature,' I have read in a certain book, by which I always desire to be guided, of the innate depravity of the human heart in. the very best of us, and that we should studiously avoid all occasions of stirring up the evil within us; which is one of my strong objections to the amusement so ardently advocated by your correspondent, as tending to over excite the imagination, and incline us to forget God and all sober realities. However, as I conceive my views with regard to the recreation and amusement of the masses to have been totally misrepresented, I will endeavour, as briefly as' possible, to state what they really are. I am by no means desirous that the'labouring man should have no respite from toil. I consider a reasonable amount of recreation "essential to the health of both body j and mind; and especially in a country like this, where labour reaps so competent a reward, the working man can easily afford himself the occasional relief of a holiday, and innocent social gatherings, pic-nics, or excursions, when he may view the beauties of nature, and raise his soul to heavenly contemplation, and at the same time enjoy innocent mirth among his friends and connections in quite as intellectual a manner as if passing his time at the theatre. I would also gladly see a reading and lecture room established, where much instructive amusement might be found for all classes, and many other ways by which culture and improvement might be fostered much more effectually than by the luscious poisons emanating from the productions of many of our (so-called) heavenly inspired poets. In conclusion, I can but express my surprise that any but the professed inndel could insinuate an approval of such an open violation of the fourth commandment as the playing of profane airs in the Parks in London on the Sabbath, or consider that such direct contempt of God's Word could be productive of any benefit to any class of persons, or think that one day in seven was too much under any circumstances for immortal beings to devote exclusively to theneternal concerns; at this rate of 'social progress and imorovement' we might ere long arrive at the conclusion that the Bible itself contained opinions 'long sincp exploded ;' but I trust that whatever the popular cry of the day may be, I may ever pertinaciously cling to its truly heavenly inspired dictates and instructions, and endeavour (with God's help) to stem the torrent of practical as well as infidelity. C. A. MARSACJi.

Beulah, Nov. 20,1857. TWe can permit our correspondents on the theatrical question only one more short letter each in our columns. Afterwards they had better address one another through the post.— Ed. L. T.]