e will, in the language of the gallant
Highlander, "Cast his eye to good old Scotland, and not forget Rob Roy."
(Loud applause.)

Sir WALTER SCOTT here stated that Mrs. Siddons wanted the means but not
the will of beginning the Theatrical Fund. He here alluded to the great
merits of Mr. Murray's management, and to his merits as an actor, which
were of the first order, and of which every person who attends the
Theatre must be sensible; and after alluding to the embarrassments with
which the Theatre had been at one period threatened, he concluded by
giving "The Health of Mr. Murray," which was drunk with three times
three.

Mr. MURRAY.--Gentlemen, I wish I could believe that in any degree I
merited the compliments with which it has pleased Sir Walter Scott to
preface the proposal of my health, or the very flattering manner in
which you have done me the honour to receive it. The approbation of such
an assembly is most gratifying to me, and might encourage feelings of
vanity, were not such feelings crushed by my conviction that no man
holding the situation I have so long held in Edinburgh could have
failed, placed in the peculiar circumstances in which I have been
placed. Gentlemen, I shall not insult your good taste by eulogiums
upon your judgment or kindly feeling, though to the first I owe any
improvement I may have made as an actor, and certainly my success as
a manager to the second. (Applause.) When, upon the death of my dear
brother, the late Mr. Siddons, it was proposed that I should undertake
the management of the Edinburgh Theatre, I confess I drew back, doubting
my capability to free it from the load of debt and difficulty with which
it was surrounded. In this state of anxiety, I solicited the advice of
one who had ever honoured me with his kindest regard, and whose name no
member of my profession can pronounce without feelings of the deepest
respect and gratitude. I allude to the late Mr. John Kemble. (Great
applause.) To him I applied, and with the repetition of his advice I
shall cease to trespass upon your time--(hear, hear)--"My dear William,
fear not. Integrity and assiduity must prove an overmatch for all
difficulty; and though I approve your not indulging a vain confidence in
your own ability, and viewing with respectful apprehension the judgment
of the audience you have to act before, yet be assured that judgment
will ever be tempered by the feeling that you are acting for the widow
and the fatherless.