| | | STATIONER, PRINTER | | | | AND | | | | BLANK BOOK MANUFACTURER. | | | | ACCOUNT BOOKS | | | | MADE TO ORDER. | | | | PRINTING OF EVERY DESCRIPTION. | | | | 82 Wall Street, | | | | NEW-YORK. | | | +-----------------------------------------------------------+ THE PLAYS AND SHOWS. [Illustration:] Booth's Theatre has become famous as the place where Mr. MOLLENHAUER nightly leads his admirable orchestra, and plays with exquisite skill and infinite tenderness his unrivalled violin solos. Since this theatre opened, there have been several attempts to add dramatic entertainments to the attractive concerts given by Mr. MOLLENHAUER. Two great actors, Mr. JEFFERSON and Mr. BOOTH, have at different times appeared at this house, and in _Rip Van Winkle_ and _Hamlet_ have given us the most perfect specimens of dramatic monologue. Lately, there was an attempt made to present _Macbeth_ during the intermissions in the performance of the orchestra. Had an actor been engaged who was capable of playing _Macbeth_, and had a company been engaged to support him, the tragedy would doubtless have been well played. There was really little else wanting to make it a meritorious Shakespearean revival. To visit this theatre is held to be a solemn duty by a large class of respectable and serious people. They don't go for amusement--they are far too sensible for that--but they go to support the legitimate drama, to testify their respect for SHAKESPEARE and for Mr. BOOTH'S classic brow. The Worldly-Minded Persons who attended the representations of _Macbeth_, found themselves assisting at a scene compared with which a funeral would have been jovial, and a hanging, a wild dissipation. This is the sort of thing that presents itself to our memory as we recall the first night of _Macbeth_. A large and elderly audience enters the portals with subdued and mournful mien. The ushers, who, in imitation of Mr. BOOTH, do a little of the classic brow and curl business themselves, chew tobacco with an air of resigned melancholy, and spit upon the carpet, as though renouncing the pleasures of the world and the decencies of civilization.