A History of the American Theatre from Its Origins to 1832

"If the fine arts, as we believe, are effective instruments for promoting the best interests of man-if the pleasure of the virtuous, as Plato tells us, is their aim and the test of their success-if their great sphere and scope is that beau ideal which lifts us above the groveling, the vile, and the sensual-it is the duly of every good citizen to encourage their cultivation in the country of his birth or residence, and to cherish the memories of those, whatever their motives, who introduced them."