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A DRAMATIC CRITIC
regularly established troupes in the whole
land, and of these this city had three of
the best, placed at the Boston Theatre, the
Globe, and the Boston Museum. The last
of these houses was in a distinctive and
peculiar sense the theatre of the capital of
Massachusetts : partly because of its age
and unbroken record as a place of amuse-
ment ; even more because of the steady
merit of its performances and the celebrity
of many of its performers. At the outset,
as every Bostonian knows, this establish-
ment was conducted on the plan of Bar-
num's of New York. The word " theatre "
was not visible on any of its bills, pro-
grammes, or advertisements. It was a mu-
seum, and justified its title by an edifying
exhibit of stuffed animals, bones, mum-
mies, minerals, wax figures, and other cu-
rios ; making, through these " branches of
learning " and its long-continued obeisance
to Puritan tradition — after that tradition
had ceased from the Municipal Ordinances
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