"This token of your regard I need not tell you how dearly I shall prize. I am about to visit foreign lands. In a few months I shall probably behold the tomb of Garrick,--Garrick, the pupil of Johnson, the companion and friend of statesmen and wits,--Garrick, who now sleeps surrounded by the relics of kings and heroes, orators and bards, the magnates of the earth. I shall contemplate the mausoleum which encloses the remains of Talma,--Talma, the familiar friend of him before whom monarchs trembled. I shall tread that classic soil with which is mingled the dust of Roscius,--of Roscius, the preceptor of Cicero, whose voice was lifted for him at the forum and whose tears were shed upon his grave. While I thus behold with feelings of deferential awe the last resting-places of those departed monarchs of the drama, how will my bosom kindle with pride at the reflection that I, so inferior in desert, have yet been honored with a token as proud as ever rewarded their most successful efforts! I shall then look upon this memorial; but, while my eye is riveted within its 'golden round,' my mind will travel back to this scene and this hour, and my heart be with you in my native land. "Mr. President, in conclusion, let me express my grateful sense of your goodness by proposing as a sentiment,-- "_The Citizens of New York_--Distinguished not more by intelligence, enterprise, and integrity than by that generous and noble spirit which welcomes the stranger and succors the friendless. "This speech was delivered with remarkable feeling and dignity, and received the most earnest applause of every one present. The regular toasts were continued. "3. _Talent and Worth_--The only stars and garters of our nobility. "4. _Hallam and Henry_--The Columbus and Vespucius of the Drama,--who planted its standard in the New World. "5. _Garrick and Kean_--The one a fixed and ever-shining light of the stage; the other an erratic star, which dazzled men by its brightness and perplexed them by its wanderings. "6. _Kemble and Talma_--Their genius has identified their memory with the undying fame of Shakspeare and Racine. "7. _George Frederick Cooke_--A link furnished by the Stage to connect the Old World with the New. Britain nursed his genius, America sepulchres his remains. "8. _The Dramatic Genius of our Country_--'The ruddy brightness of its rise gives token of a goodly day.' "These sentiments having evoked suitable responses, letters were read from the manager of the Park Theatre and a famous American comedian. "THEATRE, July 24, 1834.