varied a
crowd as ever gathered in the foreigners' gallery of an Athenian theatre in the days of Euripides. An English sailor might be seated beside a Boston mer- chant ; a hybrid — half Aztec, half Spaniard, beside a French nobleman ; a Sweedish consul beside an Italian fisherman ; farmers, mechanics, and miners all together. Among the men and women of the stage time throws a glamour which softens their ruder parts, and heightens the charm all feel in their tragic and comic fictions.
The effect of the drama on California was most beneficial. The cravinsx for excitement had become to the people a second nature. Business gave the mind employment during the day, but at night recrea- tion seemed necessary. In the absence of home and social ties, the gaming-table and the glittering saloons of prostitution were too often the resort of men too good for such places ; but when theatrical performances of the better sort were offered, there was a marked decline in the patronage of the gaming-table and liquor saloons. The tastes of the community were not so low as circumstances had hitherto made them appear. As amusements of a higher order were intro- duced, those of the baser sort lost their charm. As early as 1851 there was scarcely a mining town of a thousand inhabitants without its theatre.
To the homeless, houseless wanderer the theatre was a blessing. And notwithstanding all that has been said of San Francisco looseness and immorality, there never was a time when a licentious drama was encouraofed, or even tolerated. Far above the averao^e theatre-goer of New York, London, and Paris, in refined taste and appreciation were those of San Francisco.
Lovers of tragedy who attended the Jenny Lind on the night of the 14th of January 1851 to witness Flzarro, were regaled with a recital of real life which equalled anything they might have seen upon the stage. It appears that Mrs Hambleton,
