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THE LIBRARY
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THE UNIVERSITY
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LOS ANGELES
GIFT OF
FREDERIC THOMAS BLANCHARD
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THE
LIFE AND THEATRICAL TIMES
CHARLES KEAN, F.S.A.
INCLUDING A SUMMARY OF
THE ENGLISH STAGE FOR THE LAST FIFTY YEARS,
AND A DETAILED ACCOUNT Of THE
MANAGEMENT OF THE PRINCESS'S THEATRE,
FROM 1850 TO 1859.
BY JOHN WILLIAM COLE.
' Orator ad vos venio oinatu prologi :
Sinite exorator ut sim.
Quia sciebam dubiam fortunam esse scenicam,
Spe incerta eertum mihi laborem sustuli." TERENTII HECYRA.
' There's nothing simply good nor ill alone ;
Of every quality, comparison
The only measure is, and judge opinion." DR. DONNE'S POEMS.
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. II.
LONDON :
RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET,
in OrbinarjT to |pi*r
1859.
[The right of translation is reserved.'}
LONDON :
R. CLAY, PRINTER, BREAD STREET HILL,
College
Library
CONTENTS TO VOL. II.
V.
CHAPTER I.
Charles Kean enters on the Management of the Princess's Theatre
in Partnership with Mr. Keeley " Twelfth Night " the Open-
ing Play The Great Exhibition of 1851 Its Success and Ob-
jects London Inundated with Foreigners Opinion of the
French on English Character and Habits Distinction between
French and English Dramatists The Theatres Crowded nightly
throughout the Summer Company engaged at the Princess's
Theatre Old Pieces revived New Pieces produced The
"Gamester" on Mr. and Mrs. C. Kean's Benefit Night
Eemarks on the Moral Tendency of the Play and the Lesson
it Inculcates Conclusion of the Season Its great Success Re-
tirement of Mr. Macready His Farewell Benefit and Parting
Address at Drury Lane Short Summary of his Career The
Conspiracy against him in America
CHAPTER II,
The Princess's Theatre under the sole Management of Mr. Charles
Kean The Season commences with the "Merry Wives of
Windsor" Cast of the Comedy Critical Observations " King
John," the first great Historical Revival Mrs. Siddons' Reflec-
tions on the Character of Constance The "Corsican Brothers "
Many Versions and Burlesques of the latter Its great Attrac-
tions at the Princess's Supernatural Agency Well-authenti-
cated Ghost Stories Mademoiselle Clairon's Disembodied Per-
secutor Tender Precautions Our Clerks The Easter Specta-
cle, " Wittikind and his Brothers " Mr. Lovell's Play of the
"Trial of Love" The Phantasm of the Vampire The Panto-
mime of "Betty Taylor" Close of the Season on the 14th of
July Number of Pieces performed General Result .... 23
1
IV CONTENTS.
CHAPTER III.
Mr. C. Kean's third Season at the Princess's The Prima Donna
Melodrama of " Mont St. Michel" Engagement and First Ap-
pearance of Mr. Wright Mr. Westland Marston's Play of
"Anne Blake" Retirement of Mr. Bartley Pantomime of
"Cherry and Fair Star" Mr. Douglas Jerrold's Comedy of
"St. Cupid, or Dorothy's Fortune " Revival of " Macbeth"
" Fly Leaf" General Remarks on the Play as now represented
Easter Spectacle of "Marco Spada" Revival of Lord Byron's
" Sardanapalus " " Fly Leaf" Burlesques Unfairness of the
Practice Mr. T. P. Cooke at the Princess's Close of the
Season . . . - . 40
CHAPTER IV.
Correspondence between Mr. Charles Kean and Mr. Douglas
Jerrold Mr. Blanchard Jerrold's Statement in his Father's
Life Reasons for publishing the Letters Their Tendency and
Result Incidental Observations .
CHAPTER V.
Fourth Season of Mr. C. Kean's Management at the Princess's
"Sardanapalus" continued with unceasing Attraction Sheri-
dan's Comedy of the "Rivals" The " Lancers," adapted from the
French, by Captain L. Vernon, M.P. "A Modern Fashionable
Drawing-room" Article in a Weekly Paper, on the Windsor
Theatricals Statements answered Large Sums paid for origi-
nal Dramas Long and serious Illness of Mrs. C. Kean Panto-
mime of the "Miller and his Men" Revival of "King
Richard III." Colley Gibber's Alterations Great Difference
of Opinion on this Point Reasons for adopting the altered
Play Result not Satisfactory Supposed Causes " Married
Unmarried " " Away with Melancholy " and " A Storm in a
Tea-cup " Magical Drama of " Faust and Marguerite "-
Mr. C. Kean's Mephietoplieles " From Village to Court " The
" Courier of Lyons " produced for Mr. Kean's Benefit His
Performance in the double Characters of Lesurguea and Dubosc
Close of the Season Number of Pieces performed Melo-
drama and high Tragedy
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VI.
Delayed Commencement of the Fifth Season at the Princess's
Cholera in London Sudden Illness and Death of Mrs. Fitzwil-
liam Death of Mrs. Warner "Living too Fast" Mr. Douglas
Jerrold's Play of the " Heart of Gold " Comparative Failure
Spectacle of " Schamyl, the Circassian Hero " Pantomime of
"Blue Beard" Casimir de la Vigne's "Louis the Eleventh,"
adapted by Mr. Dion Bourcicault Great Success of the Play
Extraordinary Impression made by Mr. C. Kean in the Character
of the King Critical Analysis The Author, the Actor, and
the Play Complimentary Letters to Mr. C. Kean 113
CHAPTER VII.
A " Game of Romps "The " Muleteer of Toledo " " How Stout
You're Getting" Revival of Shakespeare's " King Henry the
Eighth," and Return of Mrs. C. Kean to the Stage Critical
Remarks on the Play and Performance Garrick and Kemble's
Alterations of Shakespeare Mr. C. Kean's Cardinal Wolsey ;
Mrs. C. Kean's Queen Katharine Unprecedented Attraction,
and Run of One Hundred Consecutive Nights Acting Superior
to Pageantry Publication of " Henry the Eighth," with Pre-
face and Notes Restored Scenes and new Stage Arrangements
Condensation of the Fifth Act^End of the Season Diffi-
culties Surmounted Concluding Reflections and General
Summary 133
CHAPTER VIII.
Renewal of Mr. C. Kean's Lease for Four Years Season of 1855
1856 at the Princess's New Farce of " Don't Judge by Appear-
ancesA " Wonderful Woman "The "Critic" The " Rivals"
The " Heir at Law" "Every One has His Fault "Mrs. C.
Kean as Lady Eleanor Irwin Pantomime on the Subject of the
"Maid and the Magpie" "Hamlet" "Jealous Wife"
" Louis the Eleventh " " Merchant of Venice " Death of the
great tenor Singer, John Braham The " First Printer," a new
Play by Messrs. C. Reade and Tom Taylor Arguments on the
Treatment of the Subject and its Historical Accuracy Mr. C.
Kean as Laurence Costar " Faust and Marguerite " " A
Prince for an Hour " The " Victor Vanquished " Revival of
vi CONTENTS.
the " Winter's Tale " Extraordinary Kun of One Hundred and
Two Nights Mr. and Mrs. C. Kean as Leontes and Hermione
Close of the Season Mr. C. Kean' s Address Number of Shake-
spearean Performances Death of Madame Vestris 156
CHAPTER IX.
Seventh Season under Mr. C. Kean's Management at the Princess's
Theatre Eevival of Sheridan's "Pizarro," with Alterations and
Additions Prefatory Notice Different Opinions as to the
Literary Merit of the Play Mr. and Mrs. C. Kean as Rolla, and
Elvira Historical Mistake of Killing Pizarro in the original
Play Great Success of the present Eevival Sixty-eight
Repetitions Next Shakespearean Performance "A Midsum-
mer Night's Dream" Early Alterations of this Play Garrick's
Opera in 1763 The Fairies represented by Children Col-
man's Adaptation in 1777 Eeynolds's Musical Version _at
Covent Garden in 1816 Madame Vestris's revival at Covent
Garden, and Mr. Phelps's at Sadler's Wells Both Excellent
Mr. C. Kean's Eestoration of the original Play runs for One
Hundred and Fifty Nights during the first two Seasons The
" Kose of Amiens," a Comedy in two acts, and the Pantomime
of " Aladdin," both by Mr. J. M. Morton 184
CHAPTEE X.
Eevival of " King Eichard the Second " by Mr. C. Kean Previous
Alterations of this play by Tate, Theobald, and Wroughton
Invariable want of Attraction; attributed to the essentially
Undramatic Nature of the Subject Edmund Kean in "Eichard
the Second "at Drury Lane, in 1815 Macready in the same
Part at the Haymarket, in 1851 Summary of the Play and
new Effects as produced by Mr. C. Kean His Acting as the
King Mrs. C. Kean as the Queen The Play runs for Eighty-
four Nights without Intermission General Eemarks Eevival
of the " Tempest " Close of the Season Two Hundred and
Forty-two Shakespearean Eepresentations 202
CHAPTEE XI.
Vacation of Seven Weeks Mr. and Mrs. Kean visit Venice
The Theatre opens on the 12th of October Newly Decorated
The "Tempest" .Resumed Buns altogether for Eighty-seven
Nights Eeproduction of " Eichard the Second " Pantomime
CONTENTS. Vll
of the " White Cat " Death of Lady Boothby, formerly Mrs.
Nisbett Mr. Kean elected a Fellow of the Society of Anti-
quaries Festival Performances at the Opera House on occa-
sion of the Princess Royal's Marriage Absence of Mr. and Mrs.
C. Kean Opinions expressed in the Papers " Macbeth " at the
Opera House "Hamlet" at the Princess's on the same Even-
ing Demonstration in the Princess's Theatre on the 19th of
January Statement of Facts 226
CHAPTER XII.
Two new Farces, the " Stock Exchange, or, the Green Business;"
and "Samuel in Search of Himself," on Easter Monday Revival
of " King Lear " from the Text of Shakespeare Tate's Alteration
General and Critical Remarks Death of Mrs. Davison,
formerly Miss Duncan Last Performance at the old Adelphi
Theatre in the Strand Peculiar Style of Audience, Actors, and
Authors Revival of the " Merchant of Venice " Novelties
Introduced Mr. Kean's Shylock Mrs. C. Kean's Portia
General Observations on the Play Actors of the Principal
Characters The new Prelude of " Dying for Love " . . . . 248
CHAPTER XIII.
Death of the celebrated French Actress, Mademoiselle Rachel at
Le Cannet, near Montpellier Short Summary of her Theatrical
Career Her enormous Profits in a few Years Her Will and
Funeral Obsequies 274
CHAPTER XIY.
Proposal for the Establishment of a Dramatic College, or Asylum,
for, Decayed Actors and Actresses Public Meeting in the
Princess's Theatre, Mr. C. Kean in the Chair Report of Pro-
ceedings lead by Mr. Cullenford Speeches by Mr. C. Kean,
Mr. Dickens, Mr. Creswick, Mr. T. P. Cooke, Mr. Harley, Mr.
B. Webster, Mr. Robert Bell, Sir G. Armytage, Mr. F.
Matthews, and Sir W. De Bathe Published Report of 1858,
with amount of Subscriptions Her Majesty becomes Patroness
Difference with Mr. Henry Dodd, and final Rejection of his
Offer Death of John Pritt Harley Summary of his Career
Close of the Season at the Princess's Mr. C. Kean's Address
General Observations . , - . , 293
Vlll CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XV.
Mr. C. Kean's Farewell Season as Manager of the Princess's
Theatre "Merchant of Venice" continued Second Revival of
" King John " Ditto of " Macbeth " Production of " Much
Ado about Nothing" Mr. and Mrs. C. Kean as Benedick and
Beatrice Farce of "Thirty-three next Birthday" Pantomime
of the " King of the Castle " " Jealous Wife " " Corsican
Brothers " " Midsummer Night's Dream " " Louis the
Eleventh" "Hamlet" 318
CHAPTER XVI.
Presentation of a Testimonial to Mr. Kean from the Committee of
the Dramatic College Mr. and Mrs. C. Kean's Annual Benefit
in 1359 Last Shakespearean Revival "King Henry the Fifth"
Original Effects Storming of Harfleur Battle of Agincourt
Introduced Episode of Action Letters from Historical Au-
thorities Mrs. C. Kean as the Chorus Mr. C. Kean as King
Henry Unprecedented Attraction of the Play Delineation
of National Character Fluellen identified with David Gam
Correspondence New Comedietta, " If the Cap Fits "
" Henry the Eighth " Banquet and Testimonial proposed by
the Etonians Notices in the Papers Congratulatory Letters . 339
CHAPTER XVII.
Banquet and Testimonial to Charles Kean at the St. James's Hall,
on the 20th July, 1859 Speeches on that occasion Conclud-
ing Summary - ... 360
THE
LIFE AND THEATEICAL TIMES
or
CHARLES KEAN, F.S.A.
CHAPTER I.
CHARLES KEAN ENTERS ON THE MANAGEMENT OF THE PRINCESS'S
THEATRE IN PARTNERSHIP WITH MR. KEELEY ' TWELFTH NIGHT ' THE
OPENING PLAY THE GREAT EXHIBITION OF 1851 ITS SUCCESS AND
OBJECTS LONDON INUNDATED WITH FOREIGNERS OPINION OF THE
FRENCH ON ^ENGLISH CHARACTER AND HABITS DISTINCTION BETWEEN
FRENCH AND ENGLISH DRAMATISTS THE THEATRES CROWDED NIGHTLY
THROUGHOUT THE SUMMER COMPANY ENGAGED AT THE PRINCESS'S
THEATRE OLD PIECES REVIVED NEW PIECES PRODUCED ' THE GAME-
STER' ON MB, AND MRS. C. KEAN's BENEFIT NIGHT REMARKS ON THE
MORAL TENDENCY OF THE PLAY AND THE LESSONS IT INCULCATES
CONCLUSION OF THE SEASON ITS GREAT SUCCESS RETIREMENT OP
MR, MACRKADY HIS FAREWELL BENEFIT AND PARTING ADDRESS AT
DRURY LANE SHORT SUMMARY OF HIS CAREER THE CONSPIRACY
AGAIKST HIM IN AMERICA.
IN August, 1850, Charles Kean, in partnership with
Mr. Keeley, entered on a lease for two years, of the
Princess's Theatre, in Oxford Street, and for the first
time embarked on the " stormy sea " of management.
The Keans and the Keeleys formed a rich coalition of
VOL. II. B
2 THE LIFE AND THEATRICAL TIMES
diversified talent. The progressive events of their
experiment were watched with unusual interest, howbeit
they had fallen on evil days, and their net was cast in
troubled waters. Much was wanting to revive public
taste and restore the stage, generally supposed to be on
the decline, to its former elevation. Mr. Phelps had
already raised the standard of legitimacy at Sadler's
Wells, and was making a manly stand ; but his scene
of action was far east, and too much circumscribed by
its locality to divert into unwonted channels the anta-
gonistic tide of fashion. It was felt by all the ardent
partizans of our national drama, that unless some com-
pelling force could be applied to counterbalance the
thousand and one causes which pressed heavily on its
vitality, the most intellectual of all recreations stood in
danger of being numbered with the things that were,
and the art and its professors might calculate the hour
when both should lie down peaceably together, inscrib-
ing over their common sepulchre " Fuimus Troes, fuit
Ilium, et in gens gloria Teucrorum."
Many of Charles Kean's friends trembled when they
saw that he had determined to risk in the uncertain
issue of managerial speculation the fame and fortune
which he had toiled to establish by persevering industry
from youth to mature manhood. But a favouring pre-
sentiment accompanied his name, with a strong impres-
sion that the star of his destiny, hitherto so bright,
would still continue in the ascendant. He had many
and high qualifications for his new work, backed by
sound experience. Much reliance was placed on his
acknowledged abilities, joined with those of his accom-
plished lady, their estimation in general society, and
irreproachable characters. His known liberality too in
his dealings with authors was expected to give an
impetus to theatrical literature. He had already paid
OF CHARLES KEAN, F.S.A. 3
a second 4007. to the author of the " Wife's Secret," for
another play, and was in treaty with several of the
leading English dramatists to employ their pens in a
similar task. If the genius of Sheridan Knowles slum-
bered on its laurels and could not be awakened, there
were younger disciples of the same school who might
aspire to fill his vacant place. In addition to these and
other prospects on the favourable side, Charles Kean and
his clever coadjutor were backed by a potent ally
capital; without which reserve talent and resolution
have often been swallowed up and exhausted in the
sacrifices necessary to ensure victory. What Monte-
cuculi said of war is quite as applicable to theatrical
management. The three most essential ingredients of
success are money, money, money !
The first season under the new dynasty, at the
Princess's, commenced on the 28th of September, 1850,
and occupied an uninterrupted period of nearly thirteen
months; terminating on the 17th of October, 1851,
with the opening play of " Twelfth Night." The net
profit amounted to 7,000/. ; but it. was the year of the
Exhibition, in Hyde Park, and the result cannot be
taken as forming any ground for an average calculation.
The Great Exhibition of 1851 ; might well be called
the world's wonder, for such in truth it was. The most
perfect realization of a magnificent idea that ever entered
the mind of man. The scheme of Henri Quatre for a
general peace coalition throughout Europe was scarcely
more sublime, and evidently not so practicable. The
treasures that were brought together in the Crystal Palace,
in Hyde Park, exceeded all that imagination could have
anticipated. No such collection can ever be accu-
mulated again, although the shell that contained them
has been surpassed in architectural elegance by its more
elaborate successor at Sydenham. By crossing from
4 THE LIFE AND THEATRICAL TIMES
one department to another, you were as completely in
the country designated, as if the carpet of Prince Hous-
sein had actually annihilated time and space, and
carried you there in a minute. You heard its language,
saw the complexion of its people, and investigated its
productions. The whole formed a scene of realized
enchantment, an animated cosmorama, to lose yourself
in for a month, without weariness, and to think of for
ever after.
A calculation computed on police returns, estimated
the number of visitors to the Crystal Palace, during the
six months that it remained open, at seven millions.
The total receipt of money considerably exceeded half
a million sterling, leaving an available balance of
240,000/. The only way of seeing the Exhibition
thoroughly and with comfort, was by a season-ticket,
of which, as a matter of course, none but residents could
avail themselves. You thus took your time, divided
your visit into sections, and examined everything in
succession. To-day you were in France, to-morrow in
Austria, the day following in Italy, and the next week
in India. You then crossed an imaginary Atlantic and
glanced over Canada and the United States.
On this plan it required three months, at the rate of
several hours per diem, to become acquainted with all
the marvels that were submitted to view. A country
family arriving by an excursion train, with a return
ticket, good for a week, and sometimes only for three
days, could obtain little better than a bird's-eye glance,
galloping along, catalogue in hand (as Sir Francis
Head galloped over the Pampas), reeking with per-
spiration, and resolved as a point of principle as well as
of value received, to toil regularly through the official
list of twenty thousand articles.
The predictions of the alarmists were verified to the
OF CHARLES KEAN, F.S.A. 5
letter during the summer of 1851. London for several
months was occupied by the French, but quite in a
family way, and without disturbing the entente cordiale.
An Englishman wonders how our continental friends
contrive to live in so expensive a city as London, know-
ing that they are not usually endowed with a superfluity
of the circulating medium. But there they were, and
appeared to enjoy themselves amazingly. You met two.
foreigners, as you perambulated the streets, for one
indigenous child of the soil. They were less mysti-
fied by the wonders of the Exhibition than by the
total absence of soldiers, the order and peaceable de-
meanour of the vast multitudes that thronged the
thoroughfares, and the perfect ease with which a few
hundred policemen managed everything, without any
apparent effort. These points of home discipline are
utterly incomprehensible to strangers, who are accustomed
to behold in every capital of Europe a vast entrenched
camp, bristling wil h bayonets and artillery, a powder
magazine ready to explode with the slightest ignition
They saw Queen Victoria go into the heart of the city,
to the Lord Mayor's fete, and return through countless
thousands in the middle of the night, with a simple escort
of honour. They saw her pass in all the paraphernalia
of regal state to prorogue the two houses of Parliament,,
still only with a few policemen to keep the passage
clear, while all London stood in respectful attendance,
cheering and saluting with spontaneous loyalty. Here
were evidences of a firmly-based monarchy, a paternal
government, a nation satisfied with their institutions, and
their power of maintaining them, more convincing than
a triple line of fortifications, and a bivouac of troops in
every square.
The great London Exhibition, which has been fol-
lowed by many imitations, was not only the best, but
6 THE LIFE AND THEATRICAL TIMES
had the advantage of being the first. Amongst the
remarkable features which distinguished this mighty
gathering of the nations, may be noticed the little
trouble the police had in keeping order, and the small
amount of robbery.
But where were the croakers who prophesied failure,
and the constitutional opposers of everything, who
thought (" the wish was father to the thought ") the
building would be gutted by a simultaneous rising of all
the socialists, chartists, and red republicans in the world,
expressly engaged and congregated for that particular
performance ?
The impression left on the mind after each successive
visit to the Crystal Palace, was one of unqualified admi-
ration, mingled with gratitude to the presiding Provi-
dence which crowned this great undertaking with such
brilliant success. The blessing which was invoked by
the greatest of earthly sovereigns on the inaugural day
had been signally vouchsafed. The six months which
followed were pregnant with instruction. All was har-
mony, peace, and good-will. A mantle of protection
appeared to be thrown round the vast edifice, from the
first opening of its doors. All felt they were entering
on a scene devoted exclusively to instructive recreation,
where evil passions had no field for their exercise.
There was a universal impression that permanent ad-
vantages would result, irrespective of the vast additional
sums of money that had been brought into circulation,
and the many thousands who were thereby enabled to
obtain employment. It was estimated that, during the
summer of 1851, the average population of London had
increased to the amount of 300,000 souls. An inter-
course sprang up which had no previous existence.
Foreigners, instead of vague surmises, acquired more po-
sitive knowledge of us, our habits, institutions, resources,
OF CHARLES KEAN, F.S.A. 7
and peculiarities, from ocular observation, in that short
period of six months, than in the thirty-six years which
had previously elapsed since the gates of the Continent
were opened on the fall of Napoleon. We had gone
amongst them, but they had come sparingly to us. Many
prejudices have been abandoned, and many mistaken
views have given way, which are not likely again to ob-
tain influence. Our foreign friends have seen and learned
that there are better avenues to public prosperity than
annual revolutions erected on barricades, and that a
government and constitution may be firmly established
without a garrison of a hundred thousand men in the
capital to compel obedience. The exhibition of the
produce of all countries was an honest peace-offering
from England to the whole world a cordial proclama-
tion of amity, unaccompanied by protocols or remon-
strances. When the collection began to be dispersed,
there ensued much discussion as to the preservation of
the building. With many reasons for the retention of
Sir Joseph Paxton's magnificent structure, the arguments
in favour of its removal prevailed. It may be considered
fortunate that they did. Any other course would have
been an error. It was erected as a temporary depository
for an express purpose, which had been gloriously ac-
complished, and under the implied condition of being
pulled down within a given period.
The whole was a great national event ; an epoch in
history; a period to date from in the chronology of
future annalists. " ' I was in the great battle under the
walls of Moscow ! ' This," said Napoleon to his veterans
on the morning of Borodino, "will be your proudest
recollection when reposing from the toils of service."
And often shall we, in the garrulity of old age, repeat to
our grandchildren, "I was in London at the Great
Exhibition of 1851, and will tell you of all the marvels
8 THE LIFE AND THEATRICAL TIMES
I saw there." The enormous mass of all that the intel-
lect and ingenuity of man could produce of rare and
valuable ; the discoveries of industry, the triumphs of
art, the improvements of scientific invention, brought
together with such cost and labour from the remotest
corners of the earth, and arranged with such unparalleled
skill, have long been scattered abroad, and have passed
into the hands of different purchasers, never to be col-
lected again. The daily recurring thousands, whose
presence gave life and animated interest to the glowing
scene, have subsided back into the sober, plodding tenor
of ordinary avocation. The equipages of the royal, the
noble, and the refined, no longer throng the surrounding-
avenues. The ceaseless sound of many voices, the strange-
blending of many foreign languages, have long been
succeeded by unbroken silence. What would have been
gained had the building still occupied the vast area, an
untenanted monument, an empty reminiscence, a casket
stripped of the treasures it was constructed to enclose?
The historic records, the practical influence on civiliza-
tion, the increase of commercial intercourse, are more
enduring and more satisfactory memorials of the mighty
bazaar, than the Crystal Palace transformed into a
winter garden, or a gigantic hippodrome. Devoted to-
such purposes as these (which were the most favourite
propositions for its conversion), it might have been useful
and ornamental, but would have ceased to be a con-
necting link with the object which called it into exist-
ence. It would have resembled the funereal pyramid of
Cheops, without the ashes of the founder ; the mausoleum
without the relics of the hero it was intended to preserve ;
or the mere outward case of the watch, divested of
its costly and complicated machinery. Better that all
should be removed, than that a mutilated skeleton should
be retained. There may be something of barbarism,
OF CHARLES KEAN, F.S.A. 9
but there was grandeur in the obsequies of Alaric, the
conquering Ostrogoth. His devoted followers, by the
labour of their prisoners, forcibly diverted the course of
the Busentinus, near Consentia, erected his sepulchre in
the empty bed of the river, piled over his mortal remains
the accumulated treasures and memorials of many con-
quered nations, including those of Imperial Rome ; and
then turned on the stream again to engulph the monarch
and his trophies, that no vestige of either might remain
as tangible evidences, after the soul which gave them
reality, and power, and substance, had been summoned
back to its account. The immortality of the Exhibition
was riot dependent on the mutation or breaking up of the
building in which it had been contained. It rested with
the historian, the painter, the engraver, and the conse-
quences to be transmitted through succeeding generations.
Foreign visitors are invariably struck with the extent
and enormous population of London ; with the building
mania that extends on every side, and seems likely to
continue until the whole county of Middlesex is covered
with brick. But a general impression seems to exist,
more especially amongst the French, that England alto-
gether, without reference to climate, is un pays triste
a dull country to live in. A Parisian carries the same
gay indifference to the " Bourse " with which he enlivens
the drawing-rooms and coffee-houses. John Bull cannot
do this. With him, the Stock Exchange is the serious
business of his life. He has no idea of mixing up a
laugh, or a trifling anecdote, with monetary calculations.
But his mistake is, that he cannot leave his commercial
face at home when he mingles in society, or locked up
in the desk with his scrip and debentures. He enjoys
himself with an effort ; and whether he is dancing, play-
ing cards, or enduring music, appears very much as if
he was thinking of something else. If you tell him a
10 THE LIFE AND THEATRICAL TIMES
joke, lie laughs at the end as a matter of duty and
politeness, but seldom looks as if he were listening.
He has, usually, what the French call V air preoccupe,
and which they consider, not without cause, the very
antipodes of relaxation. He cannot give himself up,
heart and soul, as they do, to the influence of the mo-
ment. This is one leading reason why our national
drama which is always, to a certain extent, a reflex of
national character with more nerve and vigour, has far
less ease, variety, and piquancy than that of our volatile
neighbours. It is not that our writers are deficient in
sparkling wit or broad humour. The comedies of Con-
greve, Farquhar, Goldsmith, Sheridan, Colman, Morton,
and various living authors, attest the contrary ; but their
telling points are mostly got up for the occasion, and
worked off with labour ; as professed diners-out prime
themselves with their best stories for public display,
when they appear all fun and sparkle. But if you catch
them at home in undress, they have a look of habitual
melancholy, while their gibes and mockeries are as
threadbare as their dressing-gowns. In fact, we often
assume gaiety without any feeling of mirth ; while the
French laugh constitutionally at the most solemn matters,
as forming a portion of what they please to consider the
burlesque of life. Let us be content to keep our gravity,
coupled with the national reproach of heaviness, rather
than run into the opposite extreme.
During the summer of 1851, there were nineteen
theatres open in London, exclusive of the two Italian
operas and the St. James's, devoted entirely to French
tragedy and comedy. This list applies to quasi-legiti-
mates only, and has no reference to hippodromes, gar-
dens, casinos, Grecian saloons, and the thousand and
one irregulars which swarmed in every corner of the
city and suburbs, and where dramatic performances,
OF CHARLES KEAN, F.S.A. 11
under some form or other, were represented daily and
nightly. Nearly all reaped an abundant harvest, princi-
pally gathered in from the visitors and foreign strangers ;
although throughout the month of May there was an
alarm of failure, and managerial faces elongated in
proportion. But the panic was momentary, and from
June onwards a reactionary tide set in, which never
ebbed again, but filled the theatrical treasuries, with two
or three exceptions, even to overflowing.
In Fraser's Magazine for August, 1851 (No. 260), it
was stated that the theatres were empty, that the
managers had proved themselves bad calculators in
expecting they would be filled ; that our dramas were
not formed on the models suited to the taste of conti-
nental audiences; and that the Exhibition afforded
reason enough for " a beggarly account of empty boxes,"
as neither foreigner nor native could sit out a play on a
hot evening after a long day devoted to the wonders of
the Crystal Palace.
While this was elaborately set forth for the edifica-
tion of country readers, nightly facts obtruded them-
selves in direct refutation. All the theatres were so
crowded that it was difficult to obtain squeezing room.
More than half the plays exhibited mere adaptations or
translations from the French ; while at least five-sixths
of the audiences were composed of foreigners and holiday
excursionists from the country. That the same pieces were
repeated night after night with little thought of variety,
was a tolerable proof of continued attraction, and also that
the attraction rested with the strangers. The resident
play-goers were compulsively banished by the " hundred
and fifty-fourth night of the ' Alhambra,' " the " two
hundred and twenty-third of 'King Charming,' " and the
" three hundred and thirty-first of ' Green Bushes.' '
The company collected for the opening of the
12 THE LIFE AND THEATEICAL TIMES
Princess's Theatre, in Sept. 1850, included the follow-
ing names : Messrs. C. Kean, Keeley, Harley, Bartley,
Wigan, Meadows, Ryder, Fisher, King, Bolton, Oath-
cart, Addison, Flexmore ; Mesdames, C. Kean, Keeley,
Winstanley, Wigan, Daly ; Mesdemoiselles, Phillips, C.
Leclercq, Robertson, Murray, M. Keeley, and Des-
borough. During the first season, the Shakespearean
plays represented were as follows: " Hamlet," fourteen
times ; " Twelfth Night," forty ; " As You Like It,'*
four; the " Merchant of Venice," twelve ; and " Henry
the Fourth" (Part I.), twenty-two. The " Wife's
Secret," commanded twenty-six repetitions ; the
" Gamester," fourteen ; the " Prisoner of War,'*
thirteen ; the " Stranger," seven ; and " Town and
Country," four. The principal novelties were, the
" Templar," and the "Duke's Wager," by Mr. Slous ;
" Lost in a Maze," by Mr. Bourcicault ; and a romantic
drama in the melo-dramatic line, of a very peculiar
character, skilfully adapted from the French, by Mr.
John Oxenford, entitled " Pauline." In the latter, the
powerful acting of Mr. and Mrs. C. Kean, in two well
contrasted original parts, elicited universal approbation.
The situations in this drama are dangerous and revolt-
ing. Nothing but the most artistic delineation, regu-
lated by good taste, could have rendered them endurable
to any English audience. There were also six light
farces, namely, "Platonic Attachments/' "A Model of
a Wife," " Sent to the Tower," " Betsy Baker," " To
Parents and Guardians," and " Apartments to Let ;'*
with the pantomine of " Alonzo the Brave," by Mr.
Fitzball, and the burlesque spectacle of the " Alhambra,'*
by Mr. Albert Smith, produced at Easter and continued
without interruption to the close of the season. The
total number of pieces acted amounted to twenty-seven,
of which twelve were entirely new.
OF CHARLES KEAN, F.S A. 13
In the early part of the season, Her Majesty engaged
a box, which she has retained annually ever since, and
still more satisfactorily marked her approbation of the
theatre by constant personal attendance.
On the occasion of their benefit, Mr. and Mrs. C.
Kean appeared in the " Gamester," and " Honey-
moon" the same bill which had been selected ten
years before, in Dublin, on the day of their marriage.
The performance was received with enthusiasm by a
house crowded to the roof, and elicited long articles of
encomium from the leading papers. The characters of
Mr. and Mrs. Beverley have always been popular with
the leading performers of their day. Mr. and Mrs.
C. Kean had been accustomed to act their principal
parts together for many years during their tours in the
principal country theatres, and their later engagements
in London. They thus acquired a power of producing
combined effects by long study and practice a perfec-
tion of art which strangers cannot reach, who only meet
at accidental intervals in professional life, and have no
harmony of thought or reciprocal feeling, in concep-
tion of character. By constant association, they were
enabled to act up to each other with a certainty of
perfect co-operation, tending greatly to the advantage
of the play represented, which we have often seen
marred and weakened by a want of this complete under-
standing between the parties on whom the weight and
interest almost entirely rest. We can recall no instance
in which the value of mutual support more forcibly de-
monstrates itself than in the performance of Beverley
and Mrs. Beverley by Mr. and Mrs. C. Kean. The
most captious critic would have been puzzled to detect
an oversight or suggest an improvement in their personi-
fication of these two characters. Nothing was wanting
to the completeness of the picture, and nothing over-
14 THE LIFE AND THEATRICAL TIMES
looked from the beginning to the end. We were not
startled by a momentary flash of brilliancy, followed
by half an hour of unexciting tameness. All was
sustained, equal, and impressive, with every varying
shade of passion justly discriminated. Mrs. C. Kean is
peculiarly suited to Mrs. Beverley, uniting with a natural
elegance of manner, refined sensibility and unaffected
pathos. Her never varying affection for her husband
under all trials, her perfect confidence in his heart not-
withstanding the errors of his head, were beautifully por-
trayed. In a character so carefully studied by several
generations of highly-gifted actresses, it is not easy to
strike out new effects, or to introduce untried readings.
To deviate from what has been done before, merely to
avoid comparison or for the temptation of novelty, is not
only injudicious, but opens a dangerous avenue to
failure. Mrs. C. Kean's conception and execution of
this part were consistent with sound taste and judgment.
She is neither a copyist nor an unnecessary innovator.
Her general style is not formed on any particular model
or school, but follows nature, the great teacher and
master of all. Her reply to Stukelys insinuations
against Severity's fidelity, contained in the words, " I'll
not believe it," was one of the most powerfully original
points we ever saw delivered. The whole of the scene
with StuJcely, and her last interview with Beverley
when he is dying in the prison, absorbed the attention
of the audience between mingled plaudits and tears, to
an extent of which the modern stage affords but few
examples.
Some amongst the surviving residue of the old play-
goers, who exist on reminiscences of the past, and have
little sympathy with living pretensions, speak with
rapture of the "astounding sensation" produced by
Mrs. Siddons in Mrs. Beverley. Nothing, they say,
OF CHARLES KEAN, F.S.A. 15
could ever approach the manner in which she uttered
the simple sentence, "Mistaken had been kinder;" or
her entire scene where she rejects the overtures of
StuJcely ; or her exclamation in the fifth act to Jarvis,
"'Tis false, old man," &c. ; or her hysteric laugh, and
look of fixed despair, at the death of Beverley. All this
may be true to the letter, as to the effect produced, but
it ought not to incline us to undervalue the talents of
the artists we possess, or lead us to forget that acting
was considered more miraculous, was more fashionably
followed, and much more fervently applauded, fifty years
ago, than it is now. An apathetic chill has damped
the spirit of recent audiences, which tames down the
fervor and intensity of the most impassioned performers,
checks their confidence in themselves, and often para-
lyzes their most powerful efforts. Dr. Johnson remarks,
with great truth, in his preface to Shakespeare : " All,
perhaps, are more willing to honour past than present
excellence ; the great contention of criticism is to find
the faults of the moderns and the beauties of the
ancients. While an author is yet living, we estimate
his powers by his worst performance, and when he is
dead, we rate them by the best." What is here ap-
plied to authors only may be readily extended to actors
and artists in general. A statue is often raised to the
buried merit, which, when alive, was scarcely recog-
nized.
Not many years since, a short time only before the
revival of the " Gamester" at the Princess's,when it was
acted at the Haymarket and other theatres in London,
more than one critic in the daily papers volunteered
a crusade against the play itself. It was called obso-
lete, old-fashioned, common-place, vapid, prosy, out
of date ; we are not sure that twaddling was not amongst
the disparaging epithets. The subject was pronounced
16 THE LIFE AND THEATEICAL TIMES
too exciting ; the catastrophe too harrowing for the feel-
ings ; while the weakness of Beverley rendered him too
contemptible for sympathy.
All this was easily written, had an imposing aspect in
print, and may have passed current with hundreds of
mere casual readers who are caught by a novel and
intrepid assertion, without troubling themselves to
inquire through what mode of reasoning it can be
proved. To us, the " Gamester '' has always appeared
a moral lesson worthy of the pulpit, a domestic tragedy
of the highest order. Simple, powerful, effective, and
probable in the construction of the plot ; clear, intelli-
gible, nervous, and pathetic in the dialogue. A leaf
from nature's book, applicable to all times, and all
countries ; not a page from the registry of any parti-
cular manners, or a record of any passing absurdity
which may command its votaries to-day, and is totally
forgotten to-morrow. The characters appear to be
made for the situations they are placed in, and the in-
cidents develop themselves naturally as if produced by
the characters.
A vice is here held up to detestation, with all its
appalling consequences, more absorbing than any other,
which has brought greater desolation to the hearths of
families, and has entailed more misery on the descendants
of those who have thus immolated themselves on the
altar of that destroying Moloch, than human weakness,
tyranny, and depravity, have ever produced in any other
shape, or through any other agency. As Dr. Young
observed, " the fatal prevalence of gaming required such
a caustic as the concluding scene of this play presented."
The very want of resolution and consistent firmness in
Beverley, the readiness with which he falls into the
snares of his tempter and evil genius ; those very points
which have been somewhat hastily objected to, consti-
OF CHARLES KEAN, F.S.A. 17
tute the strong truth, the reality, the interest, and above
all, the moral warning of the story. Of ten average
men, nine are weak in some particular instance. This is
the besetting failure of humanity, and this natural weak-
ness often engenders more mischief than positive crime.
The absolutely wicked are few in number compared
with the victims they entangle, without whom their
power for evil would be circumscribed almost to nullity.
They would die for lack of sustenance, or be forced to
prey upon each other, and become extinct for want of
necessary food to keep their restless faculties in action.
The moral teacher keeps back the more valuable half of
his lesson if he suppresses the power of bold iniquity in
operation on the irresolutely virtuous. As men are con-
stituted (and who is to change their organization ?), the
number who resist successfully is far exceeded by those
who sink when strong temptation presents itself. To
deny sympathy to the fallen, is to close the volume of
our own humanity and to fly to ideal standards which
cease to be instructive because we know them to be
fictitious. We must study man as he is, if we desire or
expect to extract profit from his example, either in folly
or in wisdom, in error or in excellence.
It was also quite bewildering to be told that the last
scene of any tragedy could be too harrowing or exciting
for the taste of an age which positively revelled in the
monstrous exaggerations of French melodrama and
German metaphysics, the most extravagant flights of
which were eagerly acknowledged and hailed with
rapturous evidences of enjoyment. If the most salu-
tary elements of legitimate tragedy are not impres-
sively embodied in this fine play, we shall really feel
indebted to some more sublimated discoverer who will
enlighten us as to where they are to be found and in
what they consist.
VOL. II. C
18 THE LIFE AND THEATRICAL TIMES
Charles Kean's Beverley was in every respect worthy
of his gifted associate. It was, perhaps, his very best
assumption, up to that time, out of the Shakespearean
range. His attitude of deep despair, and the expression
of his countenance when first discovered, furnished an
index and an unmistakeable prologue to what was to
follow. Before the actor had spoken a dozen lines,
the audience penetrated his masterly conception of the
character, and were prepared for all the thrilling inci-
dents which form the sequel, and rise on each other in
rapid succession. The scene in the gambling-house
with Stukely, in the third act, after he had ventured and
lost his last resource, was given with overwhelming
power. To call it impassioned is to speak faintly. It
was an absolute whirlwind, a sweeping tempest of ago-
nized frenzy, bearing down all before it, and produced
an effect on the audience which proclaimed its terrible
reality. His dying struggles in the last scene were
equally impressive. One of the distinguishing charac-
teristics of his style is the identity with which he marks
his stage deaths, according to the causes and circum-
stances under which they are supposed to take place. A
cold, calculating observer, who can think and write that
the fate of Beverley excites no commiseration, has never
seen the part embodied by Charles Kean, or has schooled
himself into an insensible, iron stoicism, which sets feel-
ing at defiance, laughs at the calamities of life, and, as
Shakespeare says, " makes a pish at chance and suffer-
ance." We envy not the frigid philosophy or callous
indifference which could look on such acting, in such a
drama, without deriving benefit from the " salutary woe"
which Dr. Johnson emphatically describes as the test
and triumph of the tragic muse. Even the cruel tyrant
of Pheraea wept at a tragedy of Euripides; and we
doubt if any one, however possessed by the passion of
OF CHARLES KEAN, F.S.A. 19
play, could witness the "Gamester" without a determi-
nation to reform.
The partnership between Messrs. Keeley and Charles
Kean terminated by mutual arrangement, before the
theatre re-opened for the next season. The former, with
his talented lady, remained members of the company,
but the latter was announced as the sole manager.
Amongst other " memorabilia" which marked the year
1851, we must enumerate the retirement from the stage
of William Charles Macready, who, during his long
London career of thirty-five years, had always filled a
prominent, and latterly a commanding situation. He
went through a succession of farewell performances at
the Haymarket during the early part of the winter, and,
on the 26th of February, closed with his final benefit at
Drury Lane, selecting Macbeth for his last appearance.
In his parting address, he spoke fervently of the public
support which had cheered him through many difficulties,
and enhanced the happiness of his life. " The lapse of
time," he said, " has not dimmed the recollection of the
encouragement which gave impulse to the inexperienced
essay of my youth, and stimulated me to persevere when
struggling hardly for equality of position with the genius
and talent of the great artists whose superior excellence
I ungrudgingly admitted, admired, and honoured."
Following the example of Young, he ceased from his
labours while his strength was yet entire, and for the
same reason. " Because," he concluded, " I would not
willingly abate one jot of your esteem, I retire with the
belief of yet unfailing powers, rather than linger on the
scene, to set in contrast the feeble style of age with the
more vigorous exertions of better years." Soon after
his retirement, he was honoured, as his great predecessor
John Kemble had been, with a public dinner, and the
presentation of a testimonial. It was the second time he
C2
20 THE LIFE AND THEATRICAL TIMES
had received a similar compliment the first having been
conferred upon him on his secession from the managerial
sceptre of Covent Garden, in 1839.
Macready practised in an excellent school, and long
stood side by side in honourable competition with all
the greatest performers of his day. He followed no
previous style, but with the boldness of a strong mind,
created one for himself ; peculiar and startling, not emi-
nent for grace, but thrilling with effect. Nature had
endowed him with a noble voice, and study gifted him
with the resources of elocution. He was often accused
of mannerism, but this charge, of somewhat vague de-
finition, may lie against almost every artist who has
attained distinguished eminence. James Kenney, the
dramatic author, was fond of maintaining that an actor
ought to be a mannerist, provided the manner was good
and original. Whether by direct teaching, or the re-
flected fascination of example, Macready engendered a
host of imitators, none of whom have emulated the repu-
tation of their model, or upheld the strong personality
which stamped his conceptions. They were for the
most part, servile and offensive, where he was powerful
and original. It is satisfactory to think that the breed
tends to extinction rather than increase.
Even to his concluding season, it continued to be a
debated question whether Macready was, in the enlarged
sense, a first-rate representative of first-rate Shake-
spearean characters. But on the subject of his mana-
gerial efforts to advance the interests of the legitimate
drama, and to illustrate worthily the works of our great
poet, there has been but one decision that of the
warmest praise. He proved himself a valuable pioneer,
opening avenues untrod before ; and would in all pro-
bability have advanced much farther, had the encou-
ragement kept pace with the outlay. It has been
OF CHARLES KEAN, F.S.A. 21
frequently stated in conversation, and reiterated in print,
that during his four years' management, of two seasons
in each term, at the two great national theatres, he
suffered in his fortune to the amount of 10,000?. Such
a result, supposing it to be an approximation to the
truth, was sufficient to check the most enthusiastic
spirit, and impresses a conviction that the public were
not yet prepared for the complete revolution which
Mr. Charles Kean has since effected.
The modern drama is almost identified with the name
of Macready: Knowles, Bulwer, Talfourd, Shiel, and
Byron, may claim him as their predominant illustrator.
While the works of these popular writers retain their
hold on the living generation, the memory of his acting
in Virginius and William Tell, in Ion, Werner, Claude
Melnotte, and Cardinal Richelieu will also be recorded
with corresponding admiration.
Macready twice visited France professionally ; Ame-
rica three times. Of all the English tragedians, he
proved to be the leading favourite with the Parisians,
and his great profits in the United States evinced the
popularity he enjoyed throughout the transatlantic con-
tinent. His third and last tour was curtailed by the
unexpected riot at New York, in May, 1849, fomented,
as is generally believed, by Edwin Forrest, who, whether
deservedly or not, has thereby linked himself to a noto-
riety, as unenviable as that of Erostratus ; and even more
criminal, for instead of the temple only, his madness
involved the destruction of the worshippers. If Forrest
had any part, directly or indirectly, in that savage and
unmanly tumult, which drove Macready from America,
and caused the sacrifice of many lives, he has much to
answer for.
Mr. Macready carried with him to the privacy of his
domestic circle, a love of classic lore and studious habits,
22 THE LIFE AND THEATRICAL TIMES
resources for the evening of life which ordinary casualties
have no power to diminish. But his hearth has been
unexpectedly desolated, and his household deities rudely
shivered round him. Gaps have been formed which
never can be filled up again. These sad visitations
have called forth the unmingled sympathy which has
been universally felt and acknowledged.
OF CHARLES KEAN, F.S.A. 23
CHAPTEE II.
THE PRINCESS'S THEATRE UNDER THE SOLE MANAGEMENT OF MR, CHARLES
KEAN THE SEASON COMMENCES WITH THE MERRY WIVES OP WINDSOR
CAST OF THE COMEDY CRITICAL OBSERVATIONS KING JOHN, THE
FIRST GREAT HISTORICAL REVIVAL MRS. SIDDONS's REFLECTIONS ON
THE CHARACTER OF CONSTANCE THE CORSICAN BROTHERS MANY VER-
SIONS AND BURLESQUES OF THE LATTER ITS GREAT ATTRACTIONS AT THE
PRINCESS'S SUPERNATURAL AGENCY WELL AUTHENTICATED GHOST
STORIES MADEMOISELLE CLAIRON'S DISEMBODIED PERSECUTOR TEN-
DER PRECAUTIONS OUR CLERKS THE EASTER SPECTACLE, WITTIKIND
AND HIS BROTHERS MR. LOVELL'S PLAY OF THE TRIAL OF LOVE THE
PHANTASM OF THE VAMPIRE THE PANTOMIME OF BILLY TAYLOR CLOSE
OF THE SEASON ON THE 14TH OF JULY NUMBER OF PIECES PERFORMED
GENERAL RESULT.
ON Saturday, the 22d of November, 1852, the Princess's
Theatre re-opened under the sole direction of Mr. Charles
Kean, with Shakespeare's " Merry Wives of Windsor,"
divested of the operatic and textual interpolations by
which it had been too long disfigured. It now became
once more what the author had constructed it for a
legitimate comedy, with a rich assemblage of well-con-
trasted characters, leading naturally to a quick suc-
cession of incidents arising from the situations as they
occur. The fine, racy dialogue was no longer impeded
by the introduction of bravuras, interminable duets, and
flourishes, so interwoven in labyrinthine mazes, that it
appeared impossible for the singers ever to get out of
them ; and made the audience almost echo Dr. Johnson's
wish, that such painful vocalism had been impossible.
Even more misplaced was the similar attempt to opera-
tise the " Comedy of Errors," the whole effect of which
24 THE LIFE AND THEATRICAL TIMES
depends on the rapidity with which the action is carried
on, and the perpetually recurring entrances and exits of
the persons mistaken for each other.
A clever journal, in congratulating the public on the
banishment of music from the present revival of Shake-
speare's witty comedy, observed : " Only fancy the
arch and perplexing rogueries of the frolicsome dames
upon amorous Old Jack interrupted every five minutes
by warbling information that
' Crabbed age and youth
Cannot live together ;'
and by reminding us of the old proverb,
' All that glitters is not gold.'
Imagine, if you can, characters which ought to be sus-
tained by actresses of first-rate comic talents, in the
hands of English prima donnas ; and, to complete the
absurdity of the contrast, the accepted lover of sweet
Anne Page personated by a gigantic or punchy tenor,
who stops the action of the play at the exact moment
when it is worked up to a point, to sing to you the
pleasing intelligence that
' The winter it is past,
And the summer's come at last ;'
to impart in tuneful obscurity substituted for words that
* the wintry wind ' is
' Not so unkind
As man's ingratitude ;'
and in ' sweet sounds ' to make you acquainted with the
pleasing fiction that
' A lover's eyes will strike an eagle blind.' "
The subjoined cast of the play will furnish an idea
of the manner in which the restored text of Shakespeare
was given at the Princess's on this occasion : Falstaff,
Mr. Bartley ; Ford, Mr. C. Kean ; Page, Mr. J. Vining ;
OF CHARLES KEAN, F.S.A. 25
Fenton, Mr. J. Cathcart; Shallow, Mr. Meadows;
Slender, Mr. Harley ; Sir Hugh Evans, Mr. Keeley ;
Doctor Caius, Mr. Wigan; Host, Mr. Addison; Bar-
dolph, Mr. Wynn; Pistol, Mr. Ryder; Nym, Mr. F.
Cooke ; Mrs. Ford, Mrs. C. Kean ; Mrs. Page, Mrs.
Keeley ; Anne Page, Miss Mary Keeley ; Mrs. Quickly,
Mrs. Winstanley.
The same paper from which we have quoted above,
and which, under a changed dynasty, subsequently be-
came one of Charles Kean's bitterest assailants, con-
tained the following encomium on his performance of
Ford: "We have never seen this character so ably
conceived, or executed with such masterly skill. The
nervous, irritable manner he displayed in the scene
where he induces Falstaff to undertake his mission to
Mrs. Ford gave ample evidence of how deeply and cor-
rectly Mr. Kean has studied the peculiarities of the
jealous husband. It was one of the best pieces of nature
we have for some time seen displayed, and as such was
felt and appreciated by warm applause." Actors of high
standing, John Kemble included, were wont to deliver
the part of Ford in a tone of measured, solemn declama-
tion, forgetting that the extraordinary phase which
jealousy assumes in this eccentric humorist is as distinct
from the tragic passion of Othello or Leontes as the wit
of Falstaff is from the pathos of Lear. The effect here
is to be produced by comic extravagance. of manner and
utterance, in keeping with the still more extravagant
suspicion, which becomes utterly incongruous when
coupled with a staid, collected demeanour. Those who
are old enough to remember Wroughton in Ford* have
* Richard Wroughton (a native of Bath) retired in 1815. A second-
class actor in general, with strong physical deficiences, but occasionally
inspired to excellence, as in Ford ; Darlemont (" Deaf and Dumb") ; Sir
John Restless ("All in the Wrong"); and Apemantus, in "Timon of
Athens."
26 THE LIFE AND THEATRICAL TIMES
seen what Shakespeare intended and Charles Kean re-
vived.
The " Merry Wives of Windsor" ran for twenty- five
nights, and then made way for " King John," produced
on the 9th of February, 1852. This may be considered
the new manager's first great attempt on the plan he has
since carried out with such indomitable perseverance and
triumphant success. He had long felt that, even by his
most eminent predecessors, Shakespeare in many respects
had been imperfectly illustrated. He had seen what
earlier actors and managers had accomplished. He felt
that steps had been taken in the right direction; and
longed ardently to press farther on in the same path,
to a more complete end. No longer fettered by restrain-
ing influences, and confident in the result, although pre-
vious experiments were attended by failure, he entered
boldly on the enterprise. The result is before the
public. It has worked a total revolution in the dramatic
system by the establishment of new theories and the
subversion of old ones. The time had at length arrived
when a total purification of Shakespeare, with every
accompaniment that refined knowledge, diligent research,
and chronological accuracy could supply, was suited to
the taste and temper of the age, which had become emi-
nently pictorial and exacting beyond all former prece-
dent. The days had long passed when audiences could
believe themselves transported from Italy to Athens by
the power of poetical enchantment without the aid of
scenic appliances.
In addition to the managerial credit which Mr. Charles
Kean established by this early effort, and the still
higher expectations he gave birth to from the manner in
which " King John " was placed before the public, he
made an important step in his reputation as an actor
of the first class by a very complete and well-studied
OF CHARLES KEAN, F.S.A. 27
embodiment of the principal character one of the most
difficult, and perhaps altogether the most repulsive on
the stage. There is nothing to assist the representative
no taking qualities, no commanding energy, no bril-
liancy, even in crime. All is sordid, contemptible,
gloomy, and ferocious. Yet there is dramatic strength
in this craven monarch, as Shakespeare has drawn him,
which has commanded the attention of the greatest
tragedians. Old stage records tell us how the " shining
lights " of other days acquitted themselves in this
arduous part. According to them, Quin lumbered pain-
fully through, growled some passages, bellowed others,
and chanted the rest. Churchill, in the " Rosciad,"
sneers at Mossop for brow-beating the French King, and
says the poor tame monarch seemed in danger of being
swallowed up by his voracious brother of England.
Sheridan the elder was pronounced too monotonous ;
Powell deficient in weight, and Holland exuberant in
^noise. Garrick never could entirely satisfy himself in
the part, and alternated between John and Faulconbridge,
without reaching perfect mastery in either. Had his
fire arid spirit been trebled, he lacked the six feet and
the thews and sinews without which Faulconbridge can-
not satisfy the eye of the spectator. John Kemble's
performance of the King was considered faultless ;
Young, following in the track of Kemble, played it with
almost equal effect. Many estimated it as Macready's
best Shakespearean attempt ; and in Charles Kean's list
it may perhaps take the fifth place, giving precedence
to his Hamlet, Lear, Wolsey, and ShylocJc.
The force of poetical genius is wonderfully exhibited
in compounding a stage hero from such unpromising
materials. Unlike his kindred of the house of Anjou,
who were generally remarkable for gigantic proportions
and a gallant bearing, John was as insignificant in form
28 THE LIFE AND THEATRICAL TIMES
as he was timid and grovelling in mind. His stature,
when the skeleton was measured on the opening of the
tomb in Worcester Cathedral, proved to be diminutive
almost to dwarfishness ; but his capacity for crime was
illimitable. He was all gloom, without a scintillation of
light, or a momentary interval of relief. Jests have been
recorded of Tiberius and Caligula ; Pope Alexander VI.
and Louis XI. had within their dark spirits a germ of
diabolical humour ; but the features of John Lackland
were never known to relax into a smile, or his tongue to
give utterance to a mirthful sentiment. The scene
where he darkly suggests the murder of Arthur to
Hubert, and the terrible agonies of his death, are trying
tests of the actor's power, in which he can raise no
sympathy, and must extort applause by such life-like
touches of painting as none but a great master can
elicit.
In the Lady Constance, Mrs. C. Kean stepped out of
the line peculiarly recognized as her own, and assumed
.a character of matronly dignity and agonizing passion,
which had been supposed to tax to their utmost the
surpassing energies of her greatest predecessor, Mrs.
Siddons. She had performed the part with universal
approbation in New York, but had not yet ventured it
in London. It was a hazardous undertaking, with the
reminiscences attached to it. The result completely
took the public by surprise. Never was a character
represented with more true feeling and natural pathos ;
with more convincing evidence of careful study, or a
more complete demonstration of having thoroughly
caught up the spirit of the author. If Mrs. Siddons
filled her audience with superior awe, Mrs. C. Kean
drew more largely upon their tears. Campbell says,
in his " Life of Mrs. Siddons," that it was not unusual
for spectators to leave the house when her part in the
OP CHARLES KEAN, F.S.A. 29
tragedy was over, as if they could no longer enjoy
Shakespeare himself when she ceased to be his inter-
preter. This sounds very like a poet's hallucination.
The sentence reads with an imposing air, but we have
never heard it corroborated. Constance disappears from
the scene in the third act. We find it impossible to
believe that any one would lose two-fifths of a fine
play, and take so little interest in the general subject,
as not to wait for the catastrophe. What the biographer
quotes as the great departed representative's own im-
pression of the character is of higher value, and com-
prises a useful lesson on the importance of abstraction in
the art of acting. In the memoranda left behind her,
Mrs. Siddons says : " Whenever I was called upon to
personate the character of Constance, I never, from the
beginning of the play to the end of my part in it, once
suffered my dressing-room door to be closed, in order
that my attention might be constantly fixed on those
distressing events, which, by this means, I could plainly
hear going on upon the stage, the terrible effects of
which progress were to be represented by me. More-
over, I never omitted to place myself, with Arthur in
my hand, to hear the march, when, upon the reconcilia-
tion of England and France, they enter the gates of
Angiers, to ratify the contract of marriage between the
Dauphin and the Lady Blanche; because the sickening
sounds of that march would usually cause the bitter
tears of rage, disappointment, betrayed confidence,
baffled ambition, and, above all, the agonizing feelings
of maternal affection, to gush into my eyes. In short,
the spirit of the whole drama took possession of my
mind and frame, by my attention being incessantly
riveted to the passing scene."
A strange contrast to this refined conception of the
study that great acting requires, is presented by the
30 THE LIFE AND THEATRICAL TIMES
habitual carelessness of Mrs. Pritchard, a tragic actress
who, until Mrs. Siddons appeared, stood first on the
list. It is recorded of her, that she never read more of
the play of " Macbeth" than her own part, as furnished
by the prompter ; and was perfectly astonished when
Garrick purified it of the interpolations of Davenant,
and restored the original text.* Quin, also, observed
with indignation, " What does little Davy mean by all
this nonsense about a new version ? Don't I act Shake-
speare's Macbeth?"
The carelessness and habitual confidence of the young
pillars of the drama of the present day, would do well to
pause over Mrs. Siddons's memoranda, and other valuable
precepts which have been bequeathed for their instruc-
tion ; provided they will condescend to profit by them.
They are greedy enough of celebrity, but dislike the
study by which only it can be acquired. They look
aspiringly to the top of the ladder, but are apt to forget
the laborious instalments by which it is to be reached.
Ten years before the production of " King John" at
the Princess's, Mr. Macready had revived the same play,
with much appropriate pomp, at Drury Lane. His field
of action was larger, which gave him many advantages;
but in accuracy of detail, the second representation sur-
passed the first. From the list of authorities, named in the
play-bill as having been consulted by Mr. C. Kean, an
idea may be formed of the amount of reading and re-
search necessary to produce the perfect restoration which
was aimed at and attained. The public see the result.
They are satisfied, surprised, and excited to vehement
applause. But they do not sufficiently appreciate, and,
perhaps, scarcely understand, the ability and industry
by which, in three hours, they have gathered in a store
* According to Dr. Johnson, Mrs. Pritchard was vulgar, illiterate, and
spoke bad English.
OF CHARLES KEAN, F.S.A. 31
of information which years of laborious study could
alone convey to them through any other channel.
Before quitting the subject of " King John" at the
Princess's Theatre, it would be unjust not to name, in
a special sentence of approval, the impressive acting of
Miss Kate Terry, then a child of ten years of age, as
Prince Arthur, and of Mr. Ryder as Hubert. Hubert is
subordinate in rank ; but he stands in prominent situa-
tions in the play, and requires an actor of weight and
judgment. Unless he plays up to the King in the
scenes in which they appear together, especially in
the third act, the effect will go for nothing. George
Frederick Cooke, after his great London success, sus-
tained this apparently second-rate character with John
Kemble, and won more applause than was anticipated,
although placed far below his mark. Bridgewater was
the Hubert in Quin's time : a painstaking actor, and a
thrifty man, who combined the opposite trades of a
vendor of coals and a disciple of Thespis. One night,
after the scene in the fourth act, upon going into the
green-room, Quin took him by the hand, and thanked
him for his earnest support on that particular occasion :
" for sometimes, you know, Bridge," said he, " that, in
the midst of a most important scene, your ideas wander
to your coal- wharf, and you are thinking less of Shake-
speare than of measuring out a bushel of coals to some
old crone, who looks as if she would never pay for
them."
A fortnight after the production of " King John," the
performances were varied by another specimen of the
French modern school, even more peculiar than its prede-
cessor, " Pauline," and destined to a much more enduring
attraction. In this instance, the supernatural was most
ingeniously and effectively blended with the romantic.
We allude to the far-famed " Corsican Brothers," who
32
were first transplanted to the London boards on the
24th of February, 1852. This singular drama ran
sixty-six nights during the first season ; and has been
repeated, in all, above two hundred and seventy times.
No sooner did it receive the stamp of current fashion at
the Princess's, than nearly every theatre in the metro-
polis brought forward versions of their own. For a time,
the subject became a perfect mania ; and, as a matter of
course, was burlesqued. There can be no safer criterion
of success than ridicule. No opera can be said to have
made a hit, unless the telling airs are ground on barrel
organs at the corner of every street, and parodied by
itinerant ballad-singers. The taste which enjoys and
encourages travesty, though participated in by many, is
certainly not of an elevated order. When it invades
Shakespeare, it ought to be denounced as sacrilege, and
inspires a wish for a special act; or, that the outraged
bard could obtain a day rule, and come back in the
flesh to carry off the perpetrators bodily to condign
judgment in some penal limbo, created expressly for the
purpose.
As regards the " Corsican Brothers," nothing could
be better than the acting of Mr. Charles Kean in the
characters of the imperturbable, self-collected Fabien, and
the gentler Louis dei Franchi; and nothing could be
more real and exciting than the masqued carnival at
the Opera House in Paris. But, still, the piece owed
much of its extraordinary success to the Ghost, with the
novel and appalling manner in which its agency was
introduced.
Unquestionably, there is comfort and consolation,
blended with positive enjoyment, in a well-authenticated
ghost story. In spite of the advance of practical utili-
tarianism, with the accompanying decline of romantic
feeling, few are willing to give up Sir George Villiers,
OF CHARLES KEAN, F.S.A. 33
Mrs. Veal, Lord Tyrone, Lord Lyttleton's dove and
white lady, or the stern half-pay Major who appeared
to his old friend and comrade, to reprimand him for
suffering his favourite sword to get rusty. All the
world listens with interest to these and similar records.
There is a fascination in a tale of supernatural horror,
which philosophy can no more explain than it can with-
stand. The credulous followers of spirit rapping and
clairvoyance, the dupes of calculating impostors, are
poor representatives of this genuine faith.
More people believe in ghosts than choose to acknow-
ledge their credulity. Even scoffers tremble while they
pretend to laugh. Let us remember what the sage
Imlac says, in " Rasselas :" " That the dead are seen
no more I will not undertake to maintain, against the
concurrent and unvaried testimony of all ages and of all
nations. There is no people, rude or learned, amongst
whom apparitions of the dead are not related and be-
lieved. This opinion, which, perhaps, prevails as far as
human nature is diffused, could become universal only
by its truth. Those that never heard of one another
would not have agreed in a tale which nothing but ex-
perience can make credible. That it is doubted by
single cavillers can very little weaken the general evi-
dence ; and some who deny it with their tongues confess
it by their fears."
There are, it must be admitted, two damaging points
connected with ghosts, in respect to the fulfilment of
their mission. They cannot take the initiative in dia-
logue, they can only speak when they are spoken to ;
and in nineteen cases out of twenty, they frighten those
to whom they appear to such an extent, that they render
them tongue-tied and paralyzed.
Mademoiselle Clairon, the celebrated French tragic
actress, the rival and contemporary of Dumesnil, and
VOL. II. D
34 THE LIFE AND THEATRICAL TIMES
the immediate predecessor of Kaucourt, Duchesnois, and
Georges, was haunted for two years* by a ghost, who
appears to have been exclusively malicious, and dis-
turbed in his rest by disappointed love. He was a
young man who had sought her acquaintance soon after
her first brilliant success. She received him into inti-
macy, liked his society, gave him, certainly, some en-
couragement, relieved him from pecuniary difficulties,
but refused to marry him under the most passionate and
repeated entreaties. They had known each other for
about two years and a half, when the ill-starred lover,
finding himself on his death-bed, implored her to grant
him a last interview ; a request which those who sur-
rounded her warmly seconded, but her own repugnance
prevented her from complying with. He died, attended
by servants, and the only friend, a female, whom he had
latterly admitted to his confidence. On that same even-
ing, as the clock struck eleven, Mademoiselle Clairon
being at supper with a large party, a dreadful cry was
heard by all present, which she immediately recognized
as the voice of her deceased lover, and fainted with
emotion and terror. For more than two years this same
unearthly cry, which seemed to proceed from the empty
air, was constantly heard by her wherever she happened
to be at the moment, and by all who were present at the
time. In vain the police established the most diligent
search, thinking it might either be a trick or a conspi-
racy ; but nothing ever transpired to shake the impres-
sion of its being a supernatural visitation. Sometimes
the sharp report of a gun or pistol was substituted for
the cry, accompanied by a loud and continued clapping
of hands. This last demonstration reminded her of the
favour of the public to which she had been so long
accustomed ; the effect was agreeable and consoling,
* See her Memoirs, written by herself.
OF CHARLES KEAN, F.S.A. 35
rather than productive of terror. All this went on for
the time already named ; and on the last occasion there
was an accompaniment of melodious music, as if the
ghostly visitant was taking his departure in a friendly
and reconciled state of mind.
Not long after this, an elderly lady was announced,
and admitted to the presence of La Clairon, appearing
before her as a perfect stranger. They sat down and
gazed on each other in perfect silence, and with instinc-
tive interest. At length the old lady explained who she
was, and the object of her visit. She proved to be the
friend of M. de S ; had attended him on his death-
bed ; and now felt prompted by incontrollable anxiety to
see the woman whose cruelty had hastened his decease.
After much circumlocution, and many explanations,
" Mademoiselle," said she, " I do not blame your con-
duct ; and my poor friend fully admitted his obligations
to you ; but his unhappy passion mastered his judgment,
and your refusal to see him embittered, while it accele-
rated, his last moments. His eyes were fixed upon the
clock, anxiously watching the motion of the hands, when
at half-past ten his valet announced to him your positive
refusal to come. After a short silence, he seized me by
the arm, in a paroxysm of despair, which nearly deprived
me of my senses, and exclaimed, ' Unfeeling woman !
she will gain nothing by this ; 1 will persecute her
after death, as I have followed her throughout my life !'
I tried to calm him ; but he died as he uttered these
dreadful words."
Such is the account which Mademoiselle Clairon her-
self has left of this very extraordinary episode in her
personal history. She states the fact, without pretending
to understand or account for it ; but modestly admits
that she feels herself too insignificant to suppose that she
could be selected as an object or medium of supernatural
D2
36 THE LIFE AND THEATRICAL TIMES
communication. Assuredly she was no accomplice in
these "manifestations," which, like the more recent
table-juggling, were exhibited in the presence of many
witnesses.
Two light one-act pieces, " Tender Precautions," by
Mr. Serle ; and " Our Clerks," by Mr. Tom Taylor,
were successfully produced in the early part of the season
of 1851-2. The run of the latter was prematurely
stopped by the secession from the Princess's of Mr. and
Mrs. Keeley, who had performed the principal characters,
written expressly for them, and measured to their pecu-
liarly happy style. The Easter spectacle of " Wittikind
and his Brothers," was less universally approved, and
reached only twenty-one repetitions, after which it "died
and made no sign." This tale of fairy magic combined
much splendour of dresses and scenery, lively dialogue,
and clever acting ; but the plot and story were not skil-
fully condensed. They dragged on slowly, producing
tedium, which subsequent curtailment was unable to re-
lieve. Burlesque had passed its hey-day, and began to
give evident symptoms of decrepitude.
On the 7th of June, Mr. Lovell's play of the " Trial
of Love " was represented for the first time ; the two
principal characters by Mr. and Mrs. C. Kean. Neither
the actors nor the author, on this occasion, came up to
the level of the high reputation they had jointly assisted
in establishing for the "Wife's Secret," to which admir-
able drama the present bore considerable resemblance,
in the construction of plot, the time of action selected,
the style of interest, and the truthfulness and grace of
sentiment expressed in language of more than ordinary
poetic beauty. Less than this was not to be looked for
from the pen of a writer so well known and so justly
appreciated as Mr. Lovell. Judged by a positive stan-
dard, the merits of the " Trial of Love " call for warm
OF CHARLES KEAN, F.S.A. 37
panegyric ; but the high place in literature which the
writer had attained, exposed him to a comparison with
himself a trying, though an inevitable ordeal. Tested
by his own fame, it must be admitted that something
was deficient. The characters appeared to be repetitions
of his own fancy, reflected symbols of those he had pre-
viously created, and with which his mind had become so
identified, that he drew them again without the con-
sciousness of their being recognizable as copies of
original portraits from the one hand. An objection or
blemish of this nature is more strongly obvious in a play
than in any other form of imaginary composition. The
" Trial of Love " ran twenty-three nights, greatly to the
enjoyment of successive audiences. With the exception
of the " Provost of Bruges," and the " Wife's Secret,"
both by the same author, we cannot readily name any
recent play, belonging to the same class, of superior
pretensions.
On the 14th of June Mr. and Mrs. C. Kean selected
the " Trial of Love " for their benefit, after which was
produced a very extraordinary melo- dramatic extrava-
ganza (by Mr. Dion Bourcicault), with as singular a
designation " The Vampire ; a Phantasm, related in
Three Dreams." This strange specimen of the worst
possible style of French taste bore no affinity, excepting
the first part of the title, to an operatic romance, by
Planche", which came out at the English Opera-house in
1820, and derived its origin (through French descent)
from a fragment attached to one of Lord Byron's poems,
and a tale by Dr. Polidori, for some time attributed,
though quite erroneously, to the noble bard himself.
The whole affair, including the performance of the
Vampire hero, by the English dramatizer, may be con-
sidered a mistake, of which the less that is said the
better.
38 THE. LIFE AND THEATRICAL TIMES
The season closed on the 14th of July, having been
much shorter in duration, and considerably more limited
in remunerative success, than its immediate predecessor.
For this result there were many obvious reasons,
amongst which might be placed foremost the temporary
reaction, very naturally to be looked for, which had
succeeded the unusual excitement of the Great Exhibi-
tion. The different pieces acted amounted to exactly
the same number as in the year preceding, namely
twenty-seven ; of which nine were new. Amongst
the latter, the pantomime of " Billy Taylor " must not
be forgotten, which completed its full attraction of nine
consecutive weeks, and fully upheld the reputation which
the house had long enjoyed in that most important
branch of the art dramatic. The pantomime has ever
been one of a London manager's safest cards, if played
with ordinary skill. No matter how slack business may
be before Christmas, he is sure to turn the tide, and
" pull up " losses, through the enticement of the fare
usually provided at that genial season. This same verb
" to pull up," is one which managers have occasion to
conjugate more frequently than they desire, and not
always with corresponding success.
There is another anomalous feature attached peculiarly
to the statistics of pantomime. Success has little to do
with excellence. No matter whether the subject be
original or hackneyed ; whether the concoction be the
best or worst of its kind ; or whether the thousands it
must inevitably cost, be reckoned by pounds, shillings,
or pence, the length of its run, and the returns to the
treasury, are pretty much the same. There is a certain
sum to be got in a certain time, and no increased pres-
sure, either in outlay, ornament, or supplementary attrac-
tion; no interpolated adjuncts, whether in the shape
of acrobats, aeronauts, funambulists, elephants, horses,
OF CHARLES KEAN, F.S.A. 39
dancing dogs, or monkeys ; of duplicate harlequins and
columbines, multiplied clowns, and incalculable sprites,
can swell that sum beyond the average amount. The
case reduces itself to a matter of arithmetic. So many
holiday visitors for a given number of weeks, give so
much and no more.
Harlequin and his associates are not indigenous, but
of exotic, continental parentage ; yet they have become,
with time and familiar association, so thoroughly en-
grafted on our island soil, that no country can compete
with England in a genuine comic pantomime. The
humour is nof understood or relished elsewhere. The
breed, too, has greatly improved with expatriation.
Neither the French Pierrot, nor the Italian Scaramuccia,
or Zannetto, are to be compared to our Clown ; while
the foreign Arlechino is little better than a clumsy,
blundering buffoon.
40 THE LIFE AND THEATRICAL TIMES
CHAPTER III.
MR. c. KEAN'S THIRD SEASON AT THE PRINCESS'S THE PRIMA DONNA
MELODRAMA OF MONT ST. MICHEL ENGAGEMENT AND FIRST APPEARANCE
OF MR. WRIGHT MR. WESTLAND MARSTON'S PLAY OP ANNE BLAKE RE-
TIREMENT OF MR. BARTLET PANTOMIME OF CHERRY AND FAIR STAR
MR. DOUGLAS JERROLD'S COMEDY OF ST. CUPID, OR DOROTHY'S FORTUNE
REVIVAL OF MACBETH FLY LEAF GENERAL REMARKS ON THE PLAY
AS NOW REPRESENTED EASTER SPECTACLE OF MARCO SPADA REVIVAL
OF LORD BYRON'S SARDANAPALUS FLY LEAF BURLESQUES UN-
FAIRNESS OF THE PRACTICE MR. T. P. COOKE AT THE PRINCESS'S
CLOSE OF THE SEASON.
CHARLES KEAN'S third campaign at the Princess's com-
menced on the 18th of September, 1852, with a comedy,
in two acts, adapted from the French by Bourcicault,
called the " Prima Donna." This new drama intro-
duced Miss Heath, a young beginner of much promise,
who made a very favourable impression ; and Mr.
Walter Lacy, a well-established metropolitan favourite,
who succeeded to the post vacated by the departure of
Mr. Wigan. The "Prima Donna" ran thirty-four
nights; but, though a complete and ingeniously con-
structed specimen of the drawing-room class, it had
scarcely weight enough to constitute the feature of
an evening's performance. It was well acted, and
pleased without being attractive, inaugurating the sea-
son as an agreeable prologue to the more important
novelties in active preparation. Within three weeks
a romantic melodrama followed, under the title of
" Mont St. Michel, or, the Fairy of the Sands ;" also
derived from a French source, and dramatized by Mr.
OF CHARLES KEAN, F.S.A. 41
Bayle Bernard. The action is supposed to pass in
Normandy in 1660, while Cardinal Mazarin exercised
dictatorship in France. Every aid that beautiful
scenery, punctiliously correct costume, and excellent
acting could render, to carry out the ideas of the author,
were lavishly bestowed ; but thirteen performances
wound up the affair. There was something in the
arrangement of the piece that failed to stamp it with the
expected longevity. It must be remembered, however,
as having presented to a new constituency Mr. Wright,
so long the comic atlas of the Adelphi, who had now
transferred his services to a very different scene of action
the arena as distinct as if he had travelled to Edinburgh
or Dublin. Every theatre in London, although it may
be separated only by a street from its next neighbour,
has an audience exclusive moulded to its own atmo-
sphere. The new comer was received on his entry, as
might have been expected, with long and loud applause.
He had trod those boards before, and was a returned
favourite rather than a total stranger. For an instant
he appeared embarrassed, but soon recovered his self-
command, and went to his work with the confidence of an
experienced practitioner, and a merry glance of his eye,
which said emphatically, " our old acquaintanceship has
got a little rusty, and we scarcely recognise each other
after some years' absence ; but it shall be no fault of
mine if we are not on intimate terms before the night is
over/' Harley had a part in the same piece, written up
to his individual peculiarities, a pompous self-sulHcient,
empty-headed local magistrate of the Muddhwork or Von
Dunder family, who venerates the sacred institution of
hanging, and would consign his own father to the " edge
of penny cord" without remorse, if it fell within the
line of what he persuades himself is his duty. It was
delightful to see two such actors as Harley and Wright,
42 THE LIFE AND THEATRICAL TIMES
types of different histrionic ages and schools, exchanging
hits in friendly contest. They resembled two cunning
masters of fence, equally matched, thrusting and parry-
ing, playing carte and tierce, without advantage on either
side.
The third novelty of the season appeared on the 28th
of October, in a more important shape than its imme-
diate predecessors, a five-act play, entitled "Anne
Blake," from the pen of Mr. Westland Marston, the
author of " Strathmore," the " Patrician's Daughter,"
and " Marie de Meranie," a writer who has placed his
name, as a modern dramatist, in the front rank with
Sheridan Knowles, Bulwer, and Douglas Jerrold. His
earlier triumphs had proved that he was gifted with
poetical imagination and clear judgment. He had shown
himself a master of pathos and a genuine pupil of nature.
There was nothing in the title of the present play to fore-
stall attention, or shadow forth startling effects ; no pro-
mise of agonising incidents or a harrowing catastrophe.
It could neither be historical nor romantic. No clue was
indicated by which to guess on what the interest might
turn, how the story would unravel itself, what passions
would be called into action, and by what process the
author intended to work out a moral or a conclusion.
He must have thought with Juliet " What's in a
name?" when he selected one so simple and inexplicable.
All this spoke of the self-reliance of genius, which scorns
a flourish of trumpets, and relies on its own inherent
strength.
In the construction of his play (which has been
printed), Mr. W. Marston appears to have taken simpli-
city in power to be a great secret of dramatic effect.
This is one of the points which marks the mastery of
Shakespeare over all other dramatic writers. The inci-
dents in "Anne Blake" are small in themselves, but
OF CHARLES KEAN, F.S.A. 43
they expand under skilful treatment. All that they
comprise might happen to any one to-morrow in the or-
dinary occurrences of life ; and, although a happy issue
falls less surely within the category of human events, it
here occurs without the appearance of studied design,
and is not forcibly dragged in, as Alexander by mere
strength severed the Gordian knot, which he was unable
by ingenuity to disentangle. The character of the heroine
is well suited to call forth the powers of a great actress.
Nothing could exceed the truth and beauty of Mrs. C.
Kean's performance. Such a part is the more difficult to
embody, in proportion as it appears easy. It abounds in
fine touches and delicate pencillings, which require the
most skilful discrimination, the most refined taste, to
bring out with due effect. The author has portrayed
a being, naturally kind and sensitive, warped by
harsh treatment into fretfulness, caprice, and suspicion,
until, with no inherent fault, she is on the brink of fatal
error. But the warm heart bubbles up under the imposed
surface, and the true principles vindicate their superiority
when circumstances give them play. Colonel TJtorold is
a fine, manly, open-hearted soldier, clear and consistent
in thought and action, a just type of a noble class which
affords many living exemplars. A man of truth in word
and deed; the moral and the executive happily com-
bined, and forming together a character more deve-
loped by strength of intellect than oratorical display.
All this Mr. C. Kean embodied with the distinctive iden-
tity which forms one of his peculiar attributes. When the
fourth act terminated with the finest scene of the play, in
which Thorold relates to Anne the story of her parents,
and the ties which bound him so closely to her father,
there was scarcely a dry eye in the house. Intense at-
tention was only interrupted by suppressed sobs, and
when the audience had time to recover, their satisfaction
44 THE LIFE AND THEATRICAL TIMES
was expressed in a loud and simultaneous call for the
two great performers who had so pleased by paining
them. A spontaneous compliment which we believe to
be without precedent on the English stage. This was
repeated with equal fervour as the curtain fell in the fifth
act, when the author was also demanded, according to
modern custom, and bowed his acknowledgments from a
private box.
"Anne Blake" was performed for forty-two nights, but
many of the houses were not remunerative. Here was
a play, of a high order, beautifully written, admirably
acted, and perfect in all the details of scenic decoration
and appointment. Successive audiences evinced their
delight by what may be considered the most unerring
evidences mingled tears and applause ; while the press
was unanimous in eulogy. How then is it to be ac-
counted for that the attraction should fall so far below
the expectations justly excited ? The question resolves
itself into one of those unaccountable paradoxes appa-
rently inherent in all matters connected with the drama,
and which neither reasoning nor experience can reduce to
a satisfactory conclusion. A manager naturally repeats
a good play which gives satisfaction as long as his
treasury tells him there is a chance of return ; but the
experiment must have a limit. In the olden time, it
was not unusual to force down an indifferent or even a
bad novelty until it became productive by mere dint of
repetition. But the cause and the consequence have
both become obsolete in modern practice.
On Saturday, the 18th of December, the veteran
George Bartley took his leave of the stage in a farewell
benefit, announced under the immediate patronage of
her Majesty and his Royal Highness Prince Albert ;
that night being the fiftieth anniversary of his appear-
ance in London. After sustaining one of his favourite
OF CHARLES KEAN, F.S.A. 45
characters, Falstaff, in the first part of " Henry the
Fourth," he addressed a crowded audience in a short
farewell speech, frequently interrupted by loud applause.
Bartley was born in Bath (1782), a city which has given
many good actors to the stage. His father, a decayed
merchant, had in the decline of life become box-keeper
to the theatre there, which may have led the son to
imbibe a taste for the dramatic art. While struggling
with the vicissitudes of a strolling life, Mrs. Jordan be-
came acquainted with and recommended him to Sheridan.
On the llth of December, 1802, he appeared at Drury
Lane, as Orlando, in " As You Like It," and in
1805, was the original Count Montalbon, in Tobin's
successful comedy of the " Honeymoon." For five
years he remained the stock juvenile lover and principal
walking gentleman ; but his short stature and disposi-
tion to obesity warned him that his tenure of that line
was likely to be brief. He therefore betook himself to
the provinces for more general practice, and for the
seven succeeding years, filled prominent positions at
Glasgow, Dublin, Manchester, and Liverpool, either as
lessee, acting-manager, or performer. At Birmingham,
in 1814, he married his second wife, Miss Smith, a
tragic actress of high repute, considered by many the
successor of Mrs. Siddons. In 1815 he re-appeared at
Drury Lane, as Falstaff, and laid the foundation of his
future fame. He next visited America, accompanied by
his wife, and returned with an independent fortune,
sufficient for people of moderate desires. Not wishing
to retire into idle life, he engaged in the winter at
Covent Garden, and during the summer recess at the
Lyceum, occasionally delivering lectures on astronomy
(written for him of course), illustrated by the then
new transparent orrery. When Fawcett retired from
the stage-management of Covent Garden, Bartley sue-
46 THE LIFE AND THEATRICAL TIMES
ceeded him, and retained his post through all changes
of dynasty, under Charles Kemble, Laporte, Bunn,
Macready, and Madame Vestris. He was fond of
office, and assimilated himself readily to the views of
the shifting authorities. If there was policy rather than
independence in this, the most that can be said is, that
he followed numerous examples, higher in rank and
more expanded in ambition. At a period when he
enjoyed professional happiness to a great extent, his
domestic comfort was rudely broken up, by the suc-
cessive deaths within a few years of his only son
and daughter, followed by that of his wife, and con-
summated by the loss of nearly all his realised fortune,
in a disastrous speculation. During the years 1848,
1849, and 1850, he was honoured by her Majesty's
commands to read at Buckingham Palace, and Windsor
Castle, the translations of "Antigone" and "CEdipus," for
which Mendellsohn had composed his immortal music.
Subsequently he was selected to give lessons in elocu-
tion to his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales. On
Saturday, the 17th of July, 1858, while sitting with his
old friend and brother actor Mr. Charles Farley, at a per-
formance of the Christy's Minstrels, he was suddenly
seized with paralysis, and being immediately conveyed
home to his house in Woburn Square, he remained
speechless from that period till he died on the following
Thursday, the 22d. For a moment or two only he
appeared sensible to a kind inquiry from her Majesty
as to the state of his health. His remains were depo-
sited with those of his family in the churchyard of
St. Mary's, at Oxford.
Bartley maintained through life an unblemished
character. The high estimation in which he was held
privately, enhanced his professional reputation, perhaps
beyond the rank to which his talents entitled him.
OF CHARLES KEAN, F.8.A. 47
He could scarcely "be deemed an actor of the very first-
class. Although uniformly correct, judicious, hearty,
and in earnest, with a perfect knowledge of the mechan-
ism of his art, there was an appearance of labour, a
want of that utter concealment of study, and of the rich,
unaffected colouring which marked the acknowledged
master-pieces of some three or four of his predecessors
and contemporaries ; such as Munden, Dowton, Fawcett,
and William Farren. We hesitate to place him
exactly in the same line, though, in many respects, an
efficient substitute when called upon to fill the place of
either
The Pantomine at the Princess's, for the Christmas of
1852-3, on the subject of " Cherry and Fair Star," had
the usual success, and rather more than the usual run,
extending to ten weeks. On Saturday, the 22d of
January, 1853, a new Comedy, in three acts, by the
late Douglas Jen-old, entitled " St. Cupid ; or, Dorothy's
Fortune," was presented for the first time in public.
It had been previously recommended for her Majesty's
private theatricals at Windsor, and acted by royal
command at the Castle, on the preceding evening,
Friday, January the 21st. Every effort had been made
to establish a favourable anticipation ; every possib'e
care had been bestowed on the rehearsals, and the
acting throughout gave the most unqualified satisfac-
tion. The principal characters were sustained by Mrs.
C. Kean, Mrs. Walter Lacy, Mr. Wright, Mr. Harley,
Mr. Walter Lacy, Mr. J. Vining, and Mr. Ryder.
The comedy was well received by the public, and
noticed by the critics in a just and complimentary strain.
It was played thirty-seven nights, but with very limited
attraction (the receipts averaging considerably less than
the expenditure), and is not likely ever to be asked for
again. There was a superabundance of the epigrammatic
48 THE LIFE AND THEATRICAL TIMES
terseness of diction, the sarcastic pungency, the spark-
ling flashes of humour, the originality of design, the
distinctness of character, for which the brilliant writer
had long been celebrated ; but the one great principle of
dramatic vitality construction was wan ting. Of plot
there was little, and of incident less. It was all dialogue,
but the wittiest dialogue will not alone make an effec-
tive play. Without the action and situations by which
they are enforced ; even the inspired lessons of Shakes-
peare would fall flatly upon the minds of his most
devoted worshippers.
The tragedy of " Macbeth " was performed before
her Majesty at Windsor Castle, on Friday the 4th of
February. On Monday, the 14th of the same month,
it was given to the public at the Princess's. On this
occasion, Mr. C. Kean, for the first time, appended to
his ordinary play bill, an additional " Fly Leaf," in
which he prepared the audience for many innovations
in architecture and costume, and named the authorities
he had consulted. It ran thus:
" The success which attended the production of ' King
John/ in 1852, has encouraged me to attempt a second
Shakespearean revival on the same scale. The very un-
certain information, however, which we possess respecting
the dress worn by the inhabitants of Scotland, in the
eleventh century, renders any attempt to present this
tragedy attired in the costume of the period a task of
very great difficulty. I hope, therefore, I may not be
deemed presumptuous if I intrude a few words upon
the subject, and endeavour to explain upon what autho-
rities I have based my opinions.
" In the absence of any positive information handed
down to us upon this point, I have borrowed materials
from those nations to whom Scotland was continually
opposed in war. The continual inroads of the Norse-
OF CHARLES KEAN, F.S.A. 49
men, and the invasion of Canute, in 1031, who, com-
bining in his own person the sovereignty of England,
Norway, and Denmark, was the most powerful monarch
of his time, may have taught, at least the higher
classes, the necessity of adopting the superior weapons
and better defensive armour of their enemies. For
these reasons I have introduced the tunic, mantle, cross
gartering, and ringed byrne of the Danes and Anglo-
Saxons, between whom it does not appear that any very
material difference existed ; retaining, however, the
peculiarity of the striped and chequered garb, which
seems to be generally admitted as belonging to the
Scotch long anterior to the history of this play ; together
with the eagle's feather in the helmet, which, according
to Gaelic tradition, was the distinguishing mark of a
chieftain. Party-coloured woollens and cloths appear to
have been commonly worn amongst the Celtic tribes
from a very early period.
"Diodorus Siculus and Pliny, allude to this peculiarity
in their account of the dress of the Belgic Gauls ; Strabo,
Pliny, and Xiphilin, record the dress of Boadicea, Queen
of the Iceni, as being worn chequer-wise, of many colours,
comprising purple, light and dark red, violet and blue.
" There is every reason to believe that the armour and
weapons of the date of Macbeth were of rich workman-
ship. Harold Hardrada, King of Norway, is described
by Snorre, as wearing, in the battle with Harold II.,
King of England, A.D. 1066, a blue tunic and a splendid
helmet. The Norwegians not having expected a battle
that day, are said to have been without their coats of mail.
" This mail appears to have been composed of iron
rings or bosses, sewn upon cloth or leather, like that of
the Anglo-Saxons. Thorlef, a young Icelandic or Nor-
wegian warrior, of the tenth century, is mentioned in
the Eyrbiggia Saga as wearing a most beautiful dress,
VOL. II. E
50
and it is also said that his arras and equipments were
extremely splendid.
" The seals and monuments of the early kings and
nobles of Scotland, represent them as armed and attired
in a style similar to their Anglo-Norman contemporaries.
Meyrick, in his celebrated work on ancient armour,
gives a plate of Alexander I., who commenced his reign
in 1107, (only fifty years after the death of Macbeth),
and there we find him wearing a hauberk, as depicted in
Saxon illuminations, over a tunic of red and blue cloth.
" The Earl of Huntingdon, who succeeded Alexander,
under the title of David I., is represented on horseback,
in his seal, wearing a tunic to the knee, which Col.
C. H. Smith (one of our most distinguished authorities,
to whom I am deeply indebted on this, as on all former
occasions), in his work on the ancient costume of Eng-
land, describes as being party coloured. In the same
volume he gives the figure of a Scotch knight of the
time of Edward L, 1306, who holds a spear with a leaf-
shaped blade. On his head he wears a small skull-cap
of steel, like some of the ancient Anglo-Saxon warriors
of the eleventh century, and is habited in a surcoat of
cloth, descending to the knee, very much resembling a
kind of tartan. Siward, Earl of Northumberland, and
his son, who, with their followers, were despatched by
King Edward the Confessor, to the aid of Malcolm, were
equipped in the leather suits called corium or corietum,
Avhich were introduced amongst the Saxons in the ninth
century, and are described as having been worn by Earl
Harold's soldiers in 1063, in his war with the Welsh.
In the " Life of St. Colomba," written in Latin by
Adomnan, one of his successors, in the early part of the
seventh century, and translated into English by Dr.
John Smith, in 1798, we are told that the monks at
that time were clothed in the skins of beasts ; though
OF CHARLES KEAN, F.S.A. 51
latterly they had woollen stuffs, manufactured by them-
selves, and linen, probably imported from the Continent.
The houses were made of wicker, or wands, woven on
stakes, which were afterwards plastered with clay, and
even the Abbey of lona was built of the same rude
materials.
"Roderick, King of Strathclyde, is mentioned by
Ducange as sleeping on a feather bed about this time ;
so that even in those primitive ages luxuries were known
amongst the great.
" In the four centuries and a half which intervened
between the death of St. Colomba and the reign of
Macbeth, it is reasonable to presume that considerable
improvements took place amongst the Scotch, and that
the fashion of their dress and buildings was borrowed
from their more civilized neighbours. Under these
considerations, the architecture previous to the Norman
conquest, has been adopted throughout the entire play.
During the five centuries which preceded that event,
the Anglo-Saxons made great advances, and erected
many castles and churches of considerable importance.
They excelled in iron work, and frequently ornamented
their buildings with colour. On this subject I have
availed myself of the valuable knowledge of George
Godwin, Esq., F.S.A., of the Royal Institute of Archi-
tects, for whose suggestions I take this opportunity of
acknowledging my obligations."
The attention of the public was powerfully arrested by
this explanatory preface. Had such a document been
put forth in the days of Garrick, it would have been
more than " caviare " to the million, and scarcely less
intelligible to the select few. In those days of little
inquiry on such matters, no one ever thought of figuring
to his mind's eye a portrait of Macbeth, in the outward
man, divested of a heavy court-suit as stiff as buckram,
E2
52 THE LIFE AND THEATRICAL TIMES
of complicated ruffles, and a ponderous wig " of Marl-
borough's ample fold," confined at first in a tie, but let
loose to dangle about the actor's ears and shoulders
when he re-entered in consternation from the murder of
Duncan. Mr. Kean was anxious to impart his own
earnest love of correct illustration to the audience to
whom he appealed, and the "Fly-leaf" carried with it
the assurance that in any historical play nothing would
be introduced except under the sanction of historical
authority. From that moment the preface was looked
upon as a necessary introduction to the performance,
and became associated with it, as an interpretation, in
the same light in which the Greek chorus elucidates the
progress of the classical tragedy. The novelty was
speedily copied by those who had never thought of it
before, and from imitation passed on to burlesque, in
the ordinary course of almost every original idea that
obtains popularity and is felt to be instructive.
The system of Shakespearean restoration which
Charles Kean had so triumphantly introduced in " King
John," he carried, if possible, to a higher degree of
perfection in " Macbeth." Encouragement increases
effort. Finding his own views so warmly acknowledged
by the public, he pursued them with the confidence
which success naturally inspires. " Macbeth " ran for
twenty weeks, at the rate of three performances per
week. No physical strength could endure or render
justice to the leading character under more frequent
repetition. Throughout the whole of this period, the
houses were literally crowded to the roof, and on many
evenings hundreds were turned away who could obtain
no admittance. The pit entrance was besieged at an
early hour, and the old days of dramatic enthusiasm
seemed to be revived. In the new arrangement of the
play, the text of Shakespeare was most carefully pre-
served, a few occasional passages only being omitted as
OF CHARLES KEAN, F.S.A. 53
unnecessary to the action, and lengthening without elu-
cidating the dialogue. It was deemed desirable to
retain the appropriate music of Matthew Lock, which
had been so happily composed for, and had been so long
identified in complete harmony with the subject, that it
might almost be considered as flowing from the Shake-
spearean fount. This introduction, as it had ever been be-
fore, was still sanctioned by general approval. Amongst
the chief mechanical novelties we may enumerate the
manner in which the apparition of Banquo was con-
trived, the entire arrangement of the witches through-
out, particularly in the cauldron scene, which was most
picturesquely original ; the rude grandeur of the banquet
in the third act, and the imposing picture at the close.
Mrs. C. Kean had appeared in London before, as Lady
Macbeth, and with great success. Her admirable per-
formance astonished all who had been accustomed to
associate her more exclusively with the gentler heroines
of the stage, and who were scarcely prepared to find the
Viola, Portia, and Rosalind of Shakespeare equal to this
tremendous incarnation.
As Macbeth, Charles Kean had frequently won the
admiration and applause of the public during his earlier
seasons at the Haymarket. We have already named
this character as one of the prominent features of his
attraction at that theatre during the season of 1840"!.
Since that period, his style, retaining all its inherent
energy, had become mellowed by experience and
corrected by study and constant reflection. When the
torrent of rage became necessary, he gave vent to it, as
before, in an overwhelming burst ; but now, another
great and perhaps superior attribute presented itself with
more marked peculiarity in his general mode of delivery
a power of condensed energy in repose, with, an
accompanying clearness of enunciation which renders
54 THE LIFE AND THEATRICAL TIMES
the suppressed whisper as impressive as the loudest
explosion of agony. There is a mastery of art in this
which none but the most highly gifted and chosen few
are able to accomplish. The latter quality is progres-
sively derived from judgment regulated by refined taste ;
the former springs from the sudden inspiration of genius
with the lightning-like rapidity of thought; as the
old Greek painter dashed his sponge at the mouth of
the horse he was delineating, and at once produced the
foam which had so long baffled his imitative skill.
Nothing indicates true genius and conceptive strength
more decidedly than the rare faculty of conveying
intense passion without, as Shakespeare says, " tearing
it to tatters, to very rags," and splitting the ears of the
groundlings with intolerable, unmeaning noise. Deep,
concentrated feeling is never loud ; but common-place,
routine imitators of acting, who feel nothing, are much
given to exercise lungs in place of judgment, and to
roar unmercifully when, if actually possessed by the
simulated rage, nature would render them almost inar-
ticulate. They cannot be made to understand this, and
; appeal from individual censure to the plaudits of the
injudicious and ignorant many, by which their mistakes
are too often encouraged. "Can you shout?" was a
question once put by a country manager to an ambitious
novice. " I rather flatter myself I can," replied the
Macbeth in embryo. " Then learn to shout in the
right place, and you'll do," was the comforting rejoinder.
In this " right place " lies nearly all the mystery ; it
forms a dramatic pom asinorum as difficult to surmount as
the fifth proposition of Euclid.
On one of the most triumphant repetitions of Macbeth
at the Princess's, Mr. C. Kean received a compliment
equally unexpected and agreeable. Mademoiselle
Rachel happened to be present in a private box. He
OF CHARLES KEAN, F.S.A. 55
knew that she formed one of the audience, and played
his best in consequence. When the play ended, she
came round to his dressing-room for personal introduc-
tion. Her praises were poured forth with all the ardour
of appreciating genius, and wound up with this enthu-
siastic ebullition, " Permettez qui je vous embrasse."
Such a request demanded instant compliance, and the
fraternal salute was most cordially exchanged between
the two great artists. The incident recalls a similar one
that happened when Garrick visited Paris. In a
private party at the house of Mademoiselle Clairon, the
Rachel of her day, he was asked to gratify the company
by a specimen of his powers. He rose at once, and
gave the dagger soliloquy from " Macbeth," without
preparation or arrangement. The spectators were elec-
trified, and Clairon, although unacquainted with the
English language, was so excited by the expressive
action
theatre, and to retain it there, as if by magnetic attrac-
tion, throughout a long and anxious period. Mr; C.
Kean accomplished this by untiring energy and perse-
verance, marking the most difficult year of his dramatic
government by an event without parallel in the history
of the stage one hundred repetitions of a single
Shakespearean play. It was difficult to decide whether
the public or the manager should receive the heartiest
congratulations on this extraordinary success. Mr.
Kean, by what he had now done, raised such expecta-
tions as to what he would yet do, that it became more
than difficult for him to keep pace with his own reputa-
tion. He had revived and restored to its pristine
vigour the legitimate drama, so repeatedly said to be
crumbling to extinction, and had good reason to be
proud of what he had effected in defiance of potent
obstacles. The public felt that they owed him much ;
and he, in his turn, could not fail to rely with full con-
fidence on their steady support. We had been so long
accustomed to be told that Shakespeare was buried
more deeply than his own Prospero promised to drown
his magic book, and to hear what were once called our
great national theatres mourned over as mausoleums of
the departed, that our satisfaction was doubled when we
found the inimitable bard once more vindicating his claims
to his title, and flourishing with renewed vitality. A
change of local situation is of no importance. It matters
little where the temple is placed, if the true divinity is
worshipped within. When ^Eneas fled from the burning
ruins of Troy, he carried his household gods with him,
and found a new home for them on the hearthstone of
an infant colony. Mr. Kean planted Shakespeare firmly
on the boards of the Princess's Theatre, and there he
was welcomed with as much warmth as if he had never
moved from his earlier pedestals.
156 THE. LIFE AND THEATRICAL TIMES
CHAPTEE VIII.
RENEWAL OP MR. 0. KEAN'S LEASE FOR FOUR TEARS SEASON OF 1855-6
AT THE PRINCESS'S NEW FARCE OF DON'T JUDGE BY APPEARANCES
A WONDERFUL WOMAN THE CRITIC THE RIVALS THE HEIR-AT-LAW
EVERY ONE HAS HIS FAULT MRS. C. KEAN AS LADY ELEANOR IRWIN
PANTOMIME ON THE SOBJECT OF THE MAID AND MAGPIE HAMLET
JEALOUS WIFE LOUIS THE ELEVENTH MERCHANT OF VENICE
DEATH OF THE GREAT TENOR SINGER JOHN BRAHAM THE FIRST PRINTER,
A NEW PLAY BY MESSRS. C. READE AND TOM TAYLOR ARGUMENTS ON
THE TREATMENT OF THE SUBJECT AND ITS HISTORICAL ACCURACY
MR. C. KEAN AS LAURENCE COSTAR FAUST AND MARGUERITE A
PRINCE FOR AN HOUR THE VICTOR VANQUISHED REVIVAL OF THE
WINTER'S TALE EXTRAORDINARY RUN OF ONE HUNDRED AND TWO
NIGHTS MR. AND MRS. C. KEAN AS LEONTES AND HERMIONE CLOSE
OF THE SEASON MR. C. KEAN'S ADDRESS NUMBER OF SHAKESPEAREAN
PERFORMANCES DEATH OF MADAME VESTRIS.
UP to the date of which we have now arrived, Mr. C.
Kean had paid considerably above 6,000. to living
authors of high repute for various dramatic novelties ;
but the results had not answered his expectations.
Shakespeare was evidently his trusting point, and to
that inexhaustible mine he determined henceforward
to look, for the substantial reward of his labours, and
the artistic reputation he valued even more than profit.
His lease of the Princess's Theatre terminated on the
31st of July, 1855 ; but he had a stipulated condition
enabling him to renew on the same terms for an ad-
ditional four years, by giving six months' notice. This
clause, on mature deliberation, he determined to avail
himself of, and laid his plans accordingly. The ensuing
engagements were all made for the full term. It was
OF CHARLES KEAN, F.S.A. 157
ever a point in Mr. Kean's system to have as few changes
in his company as possible. He knew the value of forces
accustomed to work together, and the advantages to
be derived from constant association. The most im-
portant addition to the company consisted of Mr. Frank
Matthews, who joined from the Lyceum, where he had
long enlisted under the banners of Madame Vestris, and
Mr. C. Mathews.
The season at the Princess's opened on the 22d of
October. The performances commenced with a new
farce in one act, by Mr. J. M. Morton, entitled " Don't
Judge by Appearances ;" an agreeable trifle, well selected
to usher in the stately splendour of " Henry the Eighth."
After one hundred repetitions, this noble drama came
again before the public as fresh and attractive as during
its first run. The christening and diorama were now
omitted.
On the 27th of October, Mr. C. Dance's clever
little comedy of" A Wonderful Woman," was performed,
to introduce Mr. Frank Matthews in a part originally
played by him, Crepin the cobbler. This he followed
by Sir Fretful Plagiary in the " Critic." The recep-
tion of the new actor (new to the boards he was then
treading) testified the warm satisfaction of the audience
at seeing him enrolled in the ranks, where he has since
filled a conspicuous place.
"Henry the Eighth" continued to be performed for
fifty additional nights before it was finally laid aside.
During the early part of the season, the old comedies of
the " Eivals," the " Heir-at-Law," and " Every One has
his Fault/' were revived in succession, and afforded
opportunities of showing the general strength of the
company to much advantage. It would be difficult to
select three more opposite specimens of distinct schools.
Sheridan, Colman, and Mr?. Inchbald, have little in
153 THE LIFE AND THEATRICAL TIMES
common except a thorough knowledge of stage effect,
and the conventional technicalities, which form, what
we may call the rudiments of dramatic authorship. Mrs.
Inchbald has not the sparkling wit of Sheridan, the rich
humour of Colman, or the power of grouping together
incidental eccentricities, which the more desultory habits
of man's life supply him with in greater abundance
than a female writer can have opportunities of acquiring
from personal experience.
Changes of taste, as regard dramatic composition, have
become almost as rapid as the varying fashions of our
garments. What pleased our fathers, and grandfathers,
finds, with few exceptions, but scanty favour with their
more fastidious descendants. Whether the stage has
improved or deteriorated in consequence of these mul-
tiplied and ever recurring revolutions is a question diffi-
cult to decide ; and which, like many others of higher
importance, may be argued to infinity, without arriving
at a satisfactory conclusion ; and fortunate it is that such
diversity of opinion should continue to exist. Were it
otherwise, we should be continually jostling each other
in an uncomfortable crowd, if we all travelled together
on the one narrow highway of this over-populous world.
As it is, every one chooses a path for himself, in which
to indulge his own peculiar bent. By some the revival
of an old comedy is considered a relief and a treat ; by
others it is condemned as an uncalled-for resurrection,
and 2
372 THE LIFE AND THEATEICAL TIMES
the heart and mind of man. In no country throughout
the world, past or present, has the poetical drama
reached such perfection as in England, for the annals of
genius and civilisation include but one Shakespeare.
(Cheers.) A stream of light has been poured upon
the world's surface by that brilliant luminary which no
change can darken, no time can obliterate. (Cheers.)
He casts his rays over the highest and the lowest ; his
influence is felt by every class and grade ; his authority
has been appealed to by the advocate, the judge,
the statesman, and the divine ; he has furnished
texts for science, philosophy, patriotism, affection,
charity and religion itself. (Cheers.) Truly has
the great moralist, Dr. Johnson, said, " Shakespeare
is a mine which contains gold and diamonds in inex-
haustible plenty. His plays are filled with practical
axioms and domestic wisdom. From his works may be
collected an entire system of civil and economical
prudence." And surely Dr. Johnson was right, for
where shall we find such boundless versatility of thought
and reasoning, such consummate knowledge of the
human heart, with all its complicated mechanism? such
golden precepts to improve the conduct of life, and
render men wiser, as well as better ? Not a turn of
thought not a fluctuation of feeling, was unknown to
him ; for his comprehensive mind reached everything,
glancing "From heaven to earth, from earth to heaven."
His faults reflect the manners of the day, not the
character of the man. (Cheers.) Had the theatre never
existed there would have been no field for the exercise
of this mighty genius ; and who will be bold enough to
assert that a mere human being was thus inspired by a
benign Providence for any other purpose than the
advantage of his fellow-creatures ? (Loud Cheers.)
The stage is the surest medium through which the
OF CHARLES KEAN, F.S.A. 373
precious gems of this intellectual mine can be scattered
amongst the multitude ; and, as actors, we may well be
proud to be thus considered the trustees of this mighty
treasure. It is our peculiar privilege to bring genera-
tion after generation face to face with the poet himself,
giving vitality to his works in a manner which appeals
to the senses, and teaches while it fascinates. The
more Shakespeare is known to the million, the greater
amount of beneficial influence will be spread abroad,
and such a result is not to be anticipated from the
student in his closet, but from the actor in the theatre.
In " Murphy's Life of David Garrick" an incident is
related which may not be uninteresting to the present
company. It is there stated that about the year 1737,
amidst the darkness which immediately preceded the
advent of that wonderful actor and distinguished man,
the master works of our great poet were comparatively
neglected, and had given place to frivolity and folly.
The drama had, in fact, sunk into an abject condition.
To the honour of the ladies of that day, it is told that,
feeling the unhappy degradation of the national stage,
a subscription was set on foot by them to dethrone
buffoonery and restore Shakespeare. (Cheers.) Should
we ever again so far degenerate as to turn aside from
the right path, I would appeal to " that heaven of
beauty which now shines full upon us/' entreating them
to invoke the daughters of England to hasten to our
rescue, that under their angelic guidance we may be
led back from our erring way into the lost track. Then
might we say with the poet
" woman, woman, thou wast made
Like heaven's own pure and lovely light.
To cheer life's dark and desert shade,
And guide man's erring footsteps right."
(Cheers.) My lords and gentlemen, no words of mine
374 THE LIFE AND THEATRICAL TIMES
can convey my gratitude for the priceless compliment
you have bestowed upon me. I can only say that ' my
endeavours have ever come too short of my desires, yet
fil'd with my abilities/ The memory of this day will
be cherished by my representatives when I am no
longer amongst them, and I hope and believe will serve
to stimulate the efforts of the rising actor, awakening
in him the reflection that in the honourable exercise of
his vocation there is one reward ever open to him which
no obstacle can prevent, no prejudice can withhold a
prize above all others to which he should zealously and
steadily direct his aim respect from the respected."
(Mr. Kean resumed his seat amidst reiterated peals of
applause.)
The CHANCELLOR OP THE EXCHEQUER, then proposed
in eloquent terms " The health of the Chairman," which
was most enthusiastically received. In the course of
his speech, referring to the occasion of the meeting,
and the guest of the assembly, he said " I can, too,
render witness to Mr. Kean as being a public bene-
factor. (Hear, hear.) If anything could add to my
individual satisfaction in rendering that witness, it
would be the circumstance that I am politically con-
nected by representation, and have for many years been
connected, with one of the great seats of learning and
education in England. (Cheers.) I see in our friend
one of those who has ever asserted the social brother-
hood that exists between all true and genuine instru-
ments of human cultivation. (Hear, hear.) He has
said truly that in the Drama the greatest powers of the
human mind have been exhibited. This most influential
instrument, which has sometimes grovelled in the mire,
and which has rarely been appreciated to the full extent
of its capacity, Mr. Kean has devoted almost immea-
surable labour to raising up to its due and natural
OF CHARLES KEAN, F.S.A. 375
elevation. This is the service that he has conferred
upon the age ; this is the service that we are here to
commemorate ; and I pray you to drink, as it ought to
be drunk, the health of my noble friend, the Chairman ;
because he has given us the advantage of his presence,
of his carefully matured thoughts, of his powerful ex-
pression, in order to convey to the world that which we
feel, and that which we desire to say and record. I
commend to you ' The Health of his Grace the Duke
of Newcastle.' '
The noble CHAIRMAN in his reply used an expression
which called forth repeated plaudits. " We are met
here," he said, " without political animosity or jarring
feelings of any kind, ministers in office, and ministers
out of office, to join in a common tribute to one who,
without being of any party, belongs to and is recognized
by all."
Then followed the toast of " The Honorary Secre-
tary," H. T. Tauntou, Esq., which was also warmly
responded to.
The CHAIRMAN, in eloquent and appropriate terms,
gave "" The health of Mrs. Kean," which produced
another remarkable display from the assembled com-
pany. " I am conscious," said the noble Duke, " that
I stand in the presence of that lady, and I know
enough of her delicacy of mind, to know that it
would be most unpleasing to her, if upon this occa-
sion, and in so large an assembly as this, I were to enter
into any lengthened eulogy of her character. (Cheers.)
I know that she will only value the compliment which
we now pay her as reflecting upon her husband, and as
showing that she has participated in all his labours.
She has shared in his triumphs, and she rewards his
labours by her devoted affection. (Cheers.) But I may
be allowed, even in her presence, to say that she has
376 THE LIFE AND THEATEICAL TIMES
exhibited a bright example to the English Stage in her
career. (Hear, hear.) In no respect have Mr. and Mrs.
Kean brought greater honour upon their establishment
in nothing have they more distinguished themselves
in their management of the Princess's Theatre, than in
the interest which they have shown in the almost
domestic and affectionate care which has been taken of
those who are engaged there. (Great applause.) They
have watched over their interests ; they have watched
over their morality and their happiness. (Hear, hear.)
They have attended to their health ; they have made
the Princess's more like a great domestic establishment
than a public institution in which people have no care
for those who serve them, provided they fulfil the duties
they have to perform. 1 say, then, honour to them,
and especial honour to Mrs. Kean in setting so bright
an example." (Loud cheers.)
Mr. KEAN in reply said " The graceful manner in
which Mrs. Kean's name has been introduced to your
notice through the kindness of the noble chairman, and
the enthusiasm with which that name has been received
by the present company, is indeed most gratifying to
me. The compliment which I feel so deeply, is, I know,
equally felt by my wife. Permit me, however, to intreat
that in my anxiety to spare your time, you will not
estimate the amount of our mutual gratitude by the
brevity of my reply. (Hear, hear.) Amidst the com-
plicated duties of management, the director of a theatre,
like the general of an army, requires the assistance of
an efficient staff. Mrs. Kean has been my first aide-
de-camp, and never had commander one more able and
more indefatigable. (Loud cheers.) She has been my
solace in the hour of trouble, my counsellor in the hour
of need. Her courage never flagged, her heart never
failed. I may truly quote the words of Solomon : " She
OF CHARLES KEAN, F.S.A. 377
openeth her mouth with wisdom, and in her tougue is
the law of kindness." Once again, my lords and
gentlemen, accept my heartfelt thanks for the honour
you have conferred on my partner, friend, and wife."
(Prolonged cheering.)
The last toast was, " Floreat Etona," proposed by
Mr. Spencer H. Walpole, M.P. He said, " We are now
about to terminate our proceedings ; we terminate them
with this epilogue, viz., that we hope that all Eton men
who succeed us will have the same good fellow-feeling
towards their fellow-Etonians, that wherever they suc-
ceed honourably and nobly in life, we will be the first
to pay them the compliments of that success ; and
success was never more signal, never more marked, and
a reputation for it never more justly earned, in my
opinion, than it has been by the way in which Mr. Kean
has revived the noblest specimens of dramatic concep-
tion, in which he has pourtrayed to us the history of
every country by his representations ; and, let me add
(for that I am creditably informed is the fact), for the
noble manner in which he has protected every one who
has come under his care. (Cheers.) At this late hour
of the evening, I will say no more except this, that
though there are many here who are not Etonians, you
will, one and all of you, agree with me in this, that as
long as Etonians act in the spirit of gentlemen (hear,
hear), the spirit of honour and duty (hear, hear), that
noble spirit of wishing their fellow-students to succeed
better than themselves, so long will you drink with me
the toast which I propose, ' Floreat Etona.' '
The toast was then drunk, and the band having
struck up " Auld laug syne," the company separated at
half-past eleven.
The dinner and wines were of a superior description,
and redounded to the credit of Mr. W. Donald.
378 THE LIFE AND THEATRICAL TIMES, ETC.
The subscription list for the "Keaii Testimonial"
will be kept open until the 1st of May, 1860. It was
announced by the Hon. Secretary that the amount
already exceeded 1,000?. That sum will in all proba-
bility be doubled before the above-named date.
No public man, of whatever position or profession, has
ever received a greater compliment, or a more unequivo-
cal evidence of public approval, than that conferred on
Mr. C. Kean, on the 20th of July, 1859.
On the 29th of August, Mr. C. Kean retires finally
from the management of the theatre he has so glorious-
ly exalted. His last play will be " Henry the Eighth."
For years he may continue to delight the public with
his unrivalled powers of acting, and will in all proba-
bility add many thousands to his realized fortune. But
he cannot ascend to a loftier eminence of fame than
that which he has already reached, while neither time
nor rivalry can wither one leaf of the laurel crown he
has so triumphantly won. He has encountered many
obstacles, but enduring courage has enabled him to set
them all aside. He owes much to his own self-reliance,
based on upright principles, and innate integrity of heart
and purpose. His genius has never burned with a nicker-
ing light ; his perseverance has never faltered on the
roughest track. The public, for a long series of years,
have never chilled him by indifference or cold ap-
plause. He has been fortunate, but he has thoroughly
deserved his prosperity. And, in summing up the
favouring agencies that have smoothed his path, and
accelerated his progress, let us name with just acknow-
ledgment the warm, unflinching, and powerful advocacy
of the high and independent portion of the press that
mighty organ which has ever proved his sure citadel
of strength, against a few stubborn, though unavailing
attacks of prejudice and personal hostility.
APPENDIX.
APPENDIX.
A. Vol. ii. p. 71.
NOTICE ON " FATTST AND MABGUERITE," from " Punch" of
6th of May, 1854 (copied into Lloyd's of May 7th),
accompanied by a Caricature of MB. C. KEAN.
POODLE MEPHISTOPHELES AT THE PRINCESS'S. "No man,
like a Frenchman, can trim a poodle. This, we believe, may
be conceded as a national merit. No man, like a Frenchman,
can so quickly teach a poodle so many tricks ; to fetch and
carry; stand on three legs; pick letters from a biscuit alphabet ;
and, in a word, do all the things that make the cleverest of
dogs. The skill of perfect teaching cannot be denied to the
patience and intelligence of French genius ; and, assuredly,
Mons. Carre has marvellously vindicated the Gallic ability by
so trimming and teaching Goethe's Poodle, alias Mephistopheles,
that his originator would never know him again.
"'Seest thou the black dog' s&js Faust to Wagner 'rang-
ing through the corn and stubble ' ?
Faust. " Mark him well ! For what do you take the brute ?
Wagner. " For a poodle who, in his way, is puzzling out
the track of his master.
Faust. "Dost thou mark how, in wide spiral curves, he
quests round and ever near us 1 and, if I err not, a line of fire
follows upon his track.
Wagner. " I see nothing but a black poodle.
382 APPENDIX.
" Such was the conviction of Mons. Michel Carre ; and so
in 1851, he goes to work, and trims and shapes Goethe's poem
of Faust into a thing for the French stage : and the thing
poodle-like having had its run upon all-fours in Paris, may
now be seen under the very moral management of Mr. Charles
Kean, in Oxford-street. A mere poodle ; and for a poodle-
one of the dullest dogs that ever defeated a teacher. But that
the poodle should have been trimmed by a Frenchman was,
doubtless, its excelling recommendation to a manager who
prefers his plays, even as his gloves, to be of Paris make. They
can be so stitched to fit, and be held so easily in hand !
" For what could the startled, confounded manager have
done with the Mephistopheles of Goethe ? He would have
shaken at its power ; and haply, have transgressed under it,
like a poodle itself scared and frightened by Jove's thunder
and lightning. Now, poodle Mephistopheles, as trained and
taught by Mons. Carr6, was an animal not beyond the powers
of the master of the Princess's revels a puppy-dog to be led
in a string, or carried under the arm, even as puppy-dogs are
tethered or borne by flunkeys.
"'Driven behind the stove' (raves Faust of the real poodle,
Goethe's poodle) 'it is swelling like an elephant ; it fills the
whole space ; it is about to vanish into mist. Rise not to the
ceiling ! Down at thy master's feet ! Thou seest I do not
threaten in vain ; I will scorch thee with holy fire. Wait
not for the thrice-glowing light. Wait not for the strongest
of my spells.' "
" Now here are thunderbolt words, and scathing conjurations,
that a common manager, a merely simple provider for a simple
public, can hardly be expected to confront and live through.
And these things are Goethe's poodle : but the Frenchman
teaches the dog to answer to a very different sort of order :
hence, when the poodle or Mephistoplieles of the Princess's
enters upon his two legs, he runs in with no more of the devil
in him than may be expected of the dullest of footmen, with
just enough of speech to be stupid upon any subject, and on
the very shortest notice. Never was poodle cut so bare shorn
APPENDIX. 383
so close that the very skin has been nipped by the scissors, and
still shows the unsightly wounds never was poor poodle so
maltreated as Goethe's tremendous black dog by the irreverent
Frenchman. Nevertheless, an easy critic has declared in favour
of M. Carry's dog, as it appears in the hands, or upon the arms
of Mr. Charles Kean, saying in justification of the clipping
and exposure of the poodle, as shown at the Princess's
" ' One person, if he had now been living, would have de-
cided on the wisdom of the manager, who having an effective
Easter piece in view, selected the low-art fabrication of M.
Michel Ca'rre', in preference to the high-art creation of the
German poet. The person we mean is Goethe himself.'
"Just as it might be said, 'one person, when Mr. Charles
Kean shall enter into an Elysium, will at least step forward
and embrace him for his acting of Shakespeare, with every
conceivable and inconceivable scenic effect, and the person we
mean is Shakespeare himself!' Even as Goethe might hug
and thank Michel Carre for his ' low-art fabrication ' (his low
cutting of the jacket of the poodle), so will Shakespeare em-
brace Mr. Charles Kean for his fabrication with very low cut-
tings of Gibber's Richard tJie Third. Wonderful must be the
sources of gratitude in the Fields of the Blest !
" The Faust and Marguerite at the Princess's shows
Mr. Charles Kean to be a born spectacle-maker
Wonderful is the process by which all the poetry, all the
grandeur, is discharged from Goethe, the imagination and
subtleties of the Master being supplied by the pulleys of the
machinist and the colours of the scene-painter ! Everything
of life and beauty has been extracted, and a caput mortuum
that is, Charles Kean's Mephistopheles remains.
"And yet Mr. Kean never acted so naturally in all his life.
He was quite down to the part ; his perceptions of the poetic
trotting upon four legs. He, no doubt, felt the triumph of
common-place, and rejoiced in his element. We have been
accustomed to associate with Mephistopheles a devilish subtlety ;
a laughing spirit in the eye, burning like a burning-glass. Mr.
Kean was more consonant with his poodle-trimmer : he had
384 APPENDIX.
no more subtlety in his speech than the waiter at the Dog
Tavern ; nothing more scorching in his looks than might flash
from brass buttons. There was boldness, but no burning.
" Some of the scenic effects are very beautiful, and worthy
of the Princess's as a gallery of illustration. The vision of
Marguerite (thanks to Marguerite herself !) was very lovely ;
and the procession to the Cathedral showed that the manager
had been a profound observer of the condition and demeanour
of people going to prayers. The sprinkling of babies was very
judicious and a little touching.
" The musical contest for the soul of Marguerite between
the demons under the stage, and the angels over it, was some-
what bold upon a moral English public : but when the soul
of Marguerite in white muslin, borne by angels in satin petti-
coats was carried to heaven ('without wires,' cries a critic,
hysterical with admiration) the delight of the gods was
perfect.
" The morality of Marguerite as painted (in rouge) by M.
Carre gives us rather Marguerite from the Palais Royal than
Marguerite from the well. We would advise Mr. Kean to take
a view of the latter, so exclusively painted by Miss Howitt.
It may do him good, as a royal and moral manager.
" As a piece of show and mechanism (wires unseen) Faust
and Marguerite will draw the eyes of the town ; especially the
eyes that have least brains behind them. It is the very tri-
umph of vulgar showiness, uninformed by a spark of genius.
Mr. Kean's poodle is all over a very dull dog ; a dog without
a bit of the wag in him, even in his tail.
" Nevertheless there is one triumph due to the actor. His
new nose is perfect : it has the true demoniacal curve. We
never saw a better view of the Devil's Bridge."
APPENDIX. 385
B. Vol. II. p. 92.
EXTRACTS FROM: " LLOYD'S WEEKLY NEWSPAPER."
" Nov. 12th, 1854.
OLD CLOTHES AT THE PRINCESS'S. " Again does this theatre
appear as the old clothes-shop to the Standard. Schamyl hav-
ing been worn to tatters at Shoreditch, the rags are picked up>
and newly-dyed are flaunted in Oxford-street. We have not
seen the second-hand tatters, but the Daily News says of the
article, that 'Schamyl, the Warrior Prophet, as produced at the
Princess's on Monday evening, is a piece without any dramatic
pretensions, either in construction or dialogue ; but merely a
thread upon which to hang a series of striking tableaux, let off
a good deal of gunpowder, and explode some rather second-rate
jokes at the expense of the Czar Nicholas and the Russians in
general. It is confessedly an importation from the Porte St.
Martin, and exhibits all the bold licence as to the unities that
becomes its parentage, including a lapse of twenty years be-
tween the latter portions of the warrior prophet's career.' It
is said that the manager is so addicted to things ' from the
French,' that he eats none but French eggs : and not then
until very stale."
" January \4tk, 1855.
" There has been nothing new, worthy of any attention, this
week. The pantomimes are in full run, and the burlesques in
full trundle. We fear, however, that, like St. Petersburg
whatever shows and seeming festivities may abound the
theatres feel the war. We are promised 'a new comedy' at
the Olympic. Something, we hope, worthy of the company
and the management, and not inevitably French.
" TJie Yellow Dwarf will, we should think, give good change
to the treasury, llobson's Dwarf is admirably devilish. Bits
of his tragedy are especially fine. We wish, by the way, that
VOL. II. C C
386 .APPENDIX.
he would charitably play Hamlet for the edification of Mr.
Charles Kean, who has of late been attempting the Prince of
Denmark. After the attempt, Mr. Kean was, it is said, as
well as could be expected ; but as for Hamlet, he was so dread-
fully mauled that even his parent, Mr. William Shakespeare,
would not know him.
" January ~2lst, 1855.
"'Louis THE ELEVENTH.' 'Was played two years since at
Drury-lane, when Mr. Davenport acted with very considerable
and very varied powers, the monster king. The same piece
has been got up at the Princess's. We confess that we had
not the courage to encounter the five dreary acts, having once
endured them. The piece is a piece of one part. Louis, like
a tape-worm, goes through it. Certain critics have, in Mr. C-
Kean's own written words to the lamented Moran, 'come it
very strong' indeed. One calls Mr. Kean 'sublime!' another
quotes, in allusion to the worn out-state of the actor when
summoned for reward, the words of Napier, ' the laurel is nobly
won when the victor reels as he places it on his bleeding front.'
Thus, we are to suppose how, on Saturday, Charles Kean reeled
to his dressing-room under a load of greens. The picture is
very touching. Another critic a venerable hand avouches
that no actor could have acted like Charles Kean except David
Garrick. And M-hy not ? Listen, ' Edmund Kean would
have been too invariably impassioned ; Macready too sombre ;
John Kemble too stately ; Cooke too coarse ; and Young too
humorous. To get an adequate representation we must travel
back to David Garrick. He could have done it all.' But we
have no need of David, seeing that \ve rejoice in Charles. Gar-
rick died in 1779 : but on the authority of a living critic,
David could have done it all. Is not this coming it a little
too 'strong?' To name Edmund Kean, father, with Charles
Kean, son, is to compare the intellectual might of Cain with
the crow-bar force of Jack Shepherd. Mr. Charles Kean has,
we have never denied it, a certain amount of power for raw-
APPENDIX. 38
head melodrama; but he is no more susceptible of the meta-
physical subtleties of pure tragedy than was ' Peter the Wild
Boy.' The Daily Xews speaks of the success of the piece as
moderate ; and of much of Mr. Kean's acting as mere rant.
Other Daily critics are, however, quite hysterical with rapture.
Falstoff averred of Hal that the Prince had given him ' medi-
cines to make him love him.' Have these critics unguardedly
taken medicines, or what ?
'' The translation of Saturday it is agreed upon all hands
was very handsomely got up. We have no doubt of the fact.
When the manager is the sole portrait in the fore-ground, the
daub is certain to have the biggest of golden frames.
" January 2Sth, 1855.
"'TiiE PET AND THE VICTIM.' ' The Spectator puts the con-
dition of Charles Kean a little pathetically. He is at once a
pet and a victim ! He is, says our contemporary, 'constantly
patronised by the court and higher classes, and constantly
satirized by the wits.' In such contests, the wits have invari-
ably had the best of it. A man cannot have letters patent
making him a great actor, as a man is patented breeches-maker
to the king. George the Second refused the dulness of his
German countenance to poetry and painting : he avowed that
he ' hated boetry and bainters :' nevertheless poetry and paint-
ing were not blighted by the royal aversion. Genius, for-
tunately, is independent of courts and aristocracies; or what,
long since, would have become of it ]"
" Feb. 4th, 1855.
"Miss ROMEO, or rather, Miss Cushman as Borneo, has
appeared this week at the Haymarket. The curiosity is not
a novelty. We have before seen Miss Cushman as Miss Romeo ;
and though the lady lover is full of flame, it is the flame of
phosphor it shines, but it does not burn. We could as soon
warm our hands at a painted fire, as feel the impetuous passion
CC2
388 APPENDIX.
of an ungowned Romeo The part of Juliet has heen
played by a young lady bran-new from that nursery of the
drama, Liverpool. However, Miss Swanborough we must take
another opportunity to see. Certainly, there never was greater
room for a young and passionate actress. By the way, as a lady
acts Verona's youth, why should not a gentleman play Verona's
maiden 1 How would the subjoined for a novelty look in
the Haymarket playbill 1
I ' Romeo Miss CHARLOTTE CUSHMAN.
Juliet .... MR. CHARLES KEAX.
" There would be attraction in this, at least for one night.
Nor have we the least doubt that the representative of Juliet
would have at hand certain sagacious critics, who would dis-
cover in his portraiture of the virgin of Verona graces and
delicacies and profundities hitherto unknown or unacknow-
ledged. ' Miss O'Neill's Juliet was too feeble, Miss Fanny
Kemble's Juliet too forcible ; whereas, Mr. Charles Kean's
Juliet united the spirituality of the angelic nature with all
the ardour of purely human passion.' Mr. Paul Bedford has
played Polly Peachum, why should not Mr. Charles Kean
play Juliet ? Any way, we make a present of the hint to
the Haymarket manager."
" March IStJi, 1855. '
" Les Jeux Innocents translated into A Game of Romps is
the last edition to the French pastry nightly on sale at the
Princess's. We learn from a friendly daily critic that it far
surpasses the original. But this of course. The same critic
(a critic may be like a pair of bellows, purchased and re-
tained to puff upon the premises) that Mr. C. Kean's Louis
XI. has even outlived the hard frost. ' Neither the severity
of the weather, nor the absorbing interests of passing events
have withdrawn public attention from this great achievement
of dramatic art, which continues to be a leading topic of con-
APPENDIX. 389
versation among all play-going circles.' At this moment, the
death of Nicholas in St. Petersburg is nothing to the death of
Louis XI. in Oxford-street ! The critic declares that
" ' It is unquestionably the greatest triumph of the legiti-
mate acting which the modern stage can show, and is entitled
to rank in perfect parallel with the best efforts of the mighty
departed masters of earlier times, who sleep in their laurels,
and are usually pronounced unapproachable.'
" More : much more. Even as a live pug may be said to
be better than a dead lion, so may a yelp in Oxford-street be
better than a long sleep hi Westminster Abbey."
" April 15th, 1S53.
" At the Princess's there was a French opera without the
music ; and, we are of course told, the thing was better for
the want of harmony. Wring a skylark's neck, stuff it, stick
it in a fixed posture, and then put it in a fine framed and
glazed case ; it is a much better skylark than when singing
at "heaven's gate." The Princess's workman has translated
7*15 bird from life to death, and put it it is allowed on all
hands in a very fine case. The translation is by the stock
translator; the manager, like Hissgoose, the tailor, working
up his stuff on the premises
" In a few hours after this sheet shall be published, the
Emperor and Empress of the French will have arrived in
England as the guests of Queen Victoria. They are, it seems,
to go in state to the opera ; they may, too, visit the hippo-
potami at the park (they are at least not taken from the
French); but we do not see what can be offered to their
majesties at any of the theatres that they may not have
witnessed in the Paris original. Certainly, Astley's, as the
theatre for real English sports, is an exception ; and they
might make a day, calling at the Bank, the Mint, and the
Tower, on their way to visit Shakespeare at the Standard,
where, no doubt, Louis Napoleon would decorate Miss Glynn
390 APPENDIX.
with the star of the Legion of Honour. All this is, however,
a matter of conjecture ; one point alone is certain. The
physicians of the Empress have, under all circumstances, em-
phatically forbidden her visit to the Princess's to see Mr.
Charles Kean's horrible death-faces in Louis XI. If their
majesties resolve to patronise the great actor ' from the
French,' it is understood that Mr. Kean will receive a con-
siderate command from Windsor to die in his own dressmg-
" May 20th, 1855.
" HENRY THE EIGHTH, produced at the Princess's on Wed-
nesday, 'regardless of expense,' must wait until next week.
It will keep. We are, however, happy to record the fact that
the play has again restored Mrs. Charles Kean to the stage,
from which to the loss of the public, and equally to their
regret severe illness had too long detained her. The
theatre can certainly ill spare the ' better half of Mr. Charles
Kean."
" May Ttth, 1855.
" THE PICTORIAL ' HENRY VIII.' Postponing to another
day the task of criticising Mr. Kean's Cardinal Wohey, as a
piece of acting, let us not delay the report of the highest
praise of 'Henry VIII.' as a piece of stage furniture. It is
allowed on all hands some of the critics have duly gone into
hysterics on the matter that for a stage-show, Mr. Kean's last
handiwork is by far the finest thing of his genius ; and there
is no doubt that Mr. Kean is a great, a very great, uphol-
sterer. His Oxford-street neighbours, Messrs. Jackson and
Graham, had better look well to their garlands in their carpets
and hearth-rugs. A gifted nobleman has immortalised his
name in a table ; and Pembrokes are to be found in smallest
lodging-houses. Who knows 1 Mr. Charles Kean may enrich
posterity with an original boot-jack ; or, haply, in finest
APPENDIX. 391
moment of inspiration, bequeath a cribbage-board with self-
acting pegs, to happier generations.
" For ourselves though not, we hope, wholly insensible to
the influence of the beautiful, we would rather of the two have
Shakespeare acted, than Shakespeare merely furnished. We
care not that ' Macbeth ' is got up regardless of expense, if
Macbeth himself is every bit as wooden as Duncans bedstead.
Thus, it is possible that ' Henry VIII.,' as presented, so to
speak, under bare poles at the Haymarket, with Macready
for Wohey, may, to the lover of the art and the worshipper of
the poet, be even more valuable than the Wolsey of Mr.
Charles Kean with all the surrounding upholstery. According
to the Times' critic whose amiable weakness it is to press
too much assistance upon those he would serve Mr. Kean's
Wolsey is especially admirable, inasmuch as he is not ' intrin-
sically an awful personage.' The butcher's son is to be seen
through one of the princes of the church. ' The look,' says
the critic, ' that he darts at Campeggio, when the latter would
walk before him, has a sort of ' Who the d are you ? '
about it that is inimitably consequential.' Could Shakespeare
see this, is it to be doubted that he too would dart a look at
Wolsey, as butchered by the actor, asking in the look 'Who
the d are you ? ' The critic talks of Mr. Kean's 'almost
professional depreciators.' Certain writers have properly de-
nounced such atrocities as ' Mephistopheles,' the 'Courier of
Lyons,' and so forth, as so much stage pollution ; and, of
course, they are the depreciators of the manager who sins in
them.
" Mr. Kean has endeavoured to prepare the town for the
blinding glories of his scenery and furniture, by issuing a sort
of play-bill that, at least, bears his name. Certainly, there
are two or three curious bits, whose paternity is unmistake-
able. They have the true flatulent pedantry the real prig-
gishness of the playhouse monarch. Mr. Charles Kean thus
identiBes himself with the Established Church :
" ' This play is supposed to have been written in 1601,
392 APPENDIX.
fifty-five years afcer the death of the monarch, a portion of
whose -life is therein delineated. The five acts occupy twelve
years of a busy and most important reign (commencing in
1521, and ending with the christening of the infant Elizabeth
in 1533), and include those leading incidents, which were the
human means of establishing the STANDARD religion of our
country.'
" What does the man mean by the ' standard religion 1 r
Would he, even from amidst his stage carmine, pay a com-
pliment to the Archbishop of Canterbury 1 Would he, with
his hare's foot pat the Established Church on the cheek, as
the only standard faith, all sects of dissent being no better
than so many pocket-pieces 1 We fear the manager has had
so much to do with stage angels hanging them to invisible
wires for ' effect ' that he believes himself the highest Church
authority. Certainly, he never lets the chance of a stage
angel escape him. He says
" ' The ' Vision ' in the chamber of the dying Katharine, at
Kimbolton castle, replaces the introduced song of Patience,.
and the comparatively recent air of Handel, which change, I
trust, will be considered more appropriate, as bearing out the
queen's description of her dream, and preserving the original
idea of Shakespeare.'
" Upon this literal principle we might have the famous
' Queen Mab ' speech of Mercutio illustrated by a moving
panorama. Mr. Kean would make a great hit with the
' tythe-pig ; ' and, perhaps, kindly explain in his play-bill the
origin of tythes from the original Hebrew
" Mrs. Charles Kean was enthusiastically, nay, affectionately,,
welcomed on her return to the stage. We hope she may be
long spared to grace it. The manager himself thus speaks of
the return of Katharine :
" ' I cannot conclude this notice without an allusion to Mrs.
Charles Kean's return to the stage, after a long secession by
severe illness. It is only thus that I can record my appre-
ciation of the compliment she has received in the voluntary
APPENDIX. 393
proposal of the ladies of the company, not representing
characters in the play, to appear as her 'ladies in waiting/
Such an offer is the more valuable, as it combines a graceful
expression of personal esteem, with a zealous desire to uphold
the interest of the theatre.'
" Very good ; but we protest against this circumstance
being adopted as a precedent. We protest against any further
appearance of Mr. Charles Kean himself after an illness for
even managers who write on our 'standard religion' are
mortal attended by the Voluntary Principle. We hold up
our hands against the probability of a Sardancipalus, with a
volunteer guard of Assyrians in the persons of Brown, Jones,
and Robinson, to be further multiplied by Robinson, Brown,
and Jones.
" We have, for the present, confined ourselves to a notice of
the principle of re-production of Shakespeare by means of the
painter, the gilder, and the upholsterer. Now, we think there
ought to be something higher in the development of the drama,
than the art of the painter, and the handiwork of mechanics.
As the scenery and furniture have been made of the first
importance, by Charles Kean, he can scarcely complain if they
receive the first attention. For upon the high-pressure, double-
gilt principle of furnishing, rather than acting plays, it is not
impossible that a three-legged 'mediaeval' stool maybe reason-
ably considered, even before a Cardinal, and that Cardinal, a
Wolsey?
" June \0lk, ISou.
"TiiE 'PRINCESS'S' GALLERY. We have received several
letters in condemnation of Mr. Kean's trespass upon the front
rows of the gallery for the questionable accommodation of the
benighted individuals, doomed by their weakness to pay a box
price for a gallery elevation. This is a large tax for the sight
of a theatrical furniture warehouse ; but if a monomania will
pay it, we have nothing to say against the insanity. As to
wrong committed upon the gallery audience, they have the
best remedy in their own hands they can keep away. They
394 APPENDIX.'
can see ' Henry VIII.' much better acted at the Standard for
a fourth of the sum required of them at the furniture depot at
the Princess's. Therefore, it is their own fault, and their own
gross extravagance, if they pay a shilling to hear a WoUey
gargle Shakespeare ; when, on the other hand, they may hear
delightful music admirably sung at Drury Lane for the small
charge of sixpence. One correspondent 'Justice' (who gives
liis name and address) avows that Mr. Kean did riot say
1 people of the gallery;' but 'gentlemen of the gallery.' For
the letter that appeared in our last we alike had the name
and address of the writer. We are, however, bound to give
the denial of 'Justice.'"
" July 8tlt, 1S55.
"PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS. The severity of the summer appears
to have its effect upon the theatres Mr. Charles Kean's
furniture warehouse in Oxford-street feels the effect of the
hot weather, the upholstery of ' Henry VIII.' becoming some-
what neglected, Nevertheless, with a consummate priggishness
worthy of the Barnum of tragedy, the manager steadily puffs
his conjugal excellence, continuing to inform an enraptured
public of his happiness ' to announce that on this [the hun-
dredth] occasion, Mrs. C. Kean, whose performances have been
suspended for nearly a year and a-lialf by severe and pro-
tracted illness, will make her re-appearance.' Most happy
were the public to welcome the return of Mrs. C. Kean to
the stage, and most heartily do we hope that she may long be
spared to it ; for what Would become of us if given up to the
cruel tragedy of Mr. C. Kean, unmitigated by the graces of
his wife ? "
" July 22