fornia nal ty * XL <- < <> , -*. THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES GIFT OF FREDERIC THOMAS BLANCHARD <: <-* *< c' c<- ~ <* 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