The folloyving items in Coppin's professional career, posterior to the date of m y C H R O N I C L E S , will be read yvith interest:—Sailed for California on the 9th of July, 1864, after fulfilling engagements throughout America yvith Mr. and Mrs. C. Kean and Company. Returned to Melbourne on the 18th of January, 1866, with very satisfactory pecuniary results. Appeared at the Haymarket on the 27th January, 1866, in a round of his popular characters, including for thefirsttime, " Milky White" and " Coppin in California." M a d e a considerable sum of money by the engagement of the Glassblowers, Skaters, M a d a m e Celeste, Robert Heller's Entertainment, Collins the Irish Comedian, &x. Joined Messrs. Harwood, Stewart and Hennings in the management of the Theatre Royal. Purchased his partners' interests, and, after conducting itfortwelve months upon his own responsibility, a fire broke out upon the stage; the interior building was burnt to ashes on the 19th March, 1872, yvithout any portion being insured. This was another very serious loss. H e rented St. George's Hall for the sake of giving employment to his very excellent Dramatic Company. H e then leased the ground for 99 years upon which the ruins of the old Royal stood. Built the present Theatre Royal, which he afterwards formed into " The Theatre Royal Proprietary Association, Limited," now paying a good dividend. Let it to Messrs. Hanvood, Stewart, Hennings and Coppin, yvho opened it on the 5th November, 1872. At the termination of theirfiveyears' lease, it was let to Messrs. Coppin, Hennings and Grevillefor4 ^ years, after yvhich Mr. J. C. Williamson became the Lessee. But it is not only as a theatre-builder and amusement entrepreneur that Mr. Coppin has distinguished himself, for outside his professional and other pecuniary enterprises, he has thoroughly proved himself a good m a n and a valuable citizen. H e has become an identity of Richmond, and yvas tyvice elected Chairman of that Municipality ; whilst, in the broader range of Parliamentary life, he still (1888) evidences a business-like ability in legislation. H e has attained the not c o m m o n distinction of having been elected to both Houses of the Victorian Parliament. A n instance of consistency not usual with our public men, is attested by the fact that after strenuously opposing payment of members of Parliament, when the system was legalized, though he drew the ^ 3 0 0 a year, instead of pocketing it, he patriotically appropriated it to purposes of charity. As an Oddfellow he has rendered signal service to the Craft in Sydney, Adelaide, Geelong and Melbourne ; and as the founder of the Victorian H u m a n e Society, the Dramatic and Musical Association, and the Old Colonists' Fraternity, he has made a name cere percnnius, which Time cannot obliterate. From his debut in 1845 to the present moment he has been identified with almost every undertaking, charitable or otherwise, projected for the public weal, and in any way you take him, George Coppin is a m a n w h o has paid his devoirs as a true knight to the land with which he has been so long and so honourably associated. It is a singular incident that only two individuals connected with the Melbourne stage, Messrs. Coppin and M . L. King, ever found their way to the Victorian Parliament; and it is no less singular that their performances in the one arena were the direct opposite of their special roles in the other." Coppin always put away his low comedy at the doors of the Parliament House. There was little ofthe "funny m a n " in his Legislatorial career, for he invariably had the good sense to cast himself as if for a part in a " Serious Family "—and solemnly and seriously he played it. O n the other hand, King, whilst a member of the Assembly, usually took to comedy, if not of a very low, most certainly never of a very high class, though professionally his line was tragic business. I believe I a m correct in stating that the only two members of the theatrical profession in the British Empire ever known to have been elected members of Parliament, were Messrs. George Coppin, and Morton (Mark Last) King. Mr. Coppin was out of Parliament for a fev, years, but at the General Election in 1883, East Melbourne, in afitof repentant enthusiasm re-embraced her old love and he nowfiguresas a revivalist in the Legislative Assembly. Every admirer of political integrity and capacity will ardently hope that the day may be distant when Coppin shall appear " O n his Last Legs." CONCERTS.
The first recorded notice of a Vocal and Instrumental Entertainment given in Melbourne was on the 23rd December, 1839, when a Mrs. Clarke, announced as " One of the lights of the Sydney stage," treated
