The Man Who, Having Witnessed And Enjoyed The Earliest Performance Of
Thespis And His Company, Followed The Travelling Theatre Of That
Primeval Actor And Manager, And Attended A Second And A Third
Histrionic Exhibition, Has Good Claim To Be Accounted The First
Playgoer. For Recurrence Is Involved In Playgoing, Until Something Of
A Habit Is Constituted. And Usually, We May Note, The Playgoer Is
Youthful. An Old Playgoer Is Almost A Contradiction In Terms. He Is
Merely A Young Playgoer Who Has Grown Old. He Talks Of The Plays And
Players Of His Youth, But He Does Not, In Truth, Visit The Theatre
Much In His Age; And Invariably He Condemns The Present, And Applauds
The Past. Things Have Much Degenerated And Decayed, He Finds; Himself
Among Them, But Of That Fact He Is Not Fully Conscious.