[Speech of William C. Macready at a farewell banquet given in his honor,
London, March 1, 1851, on the occasion of his retirement from the
stage. Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton acted as chairman. He said:
"Gentlemen, I cannot better sum up all I would say than by the words
which the Roman orator applied to the actor of his day, and I ask you
if I may not say of our guest as Cicero said of Roscius, 'He is a man
who unites yet more of virtues than of talents, yet more of truth than
of art, and who, having dignified the scene by various portraitures of
human life, dignifies yet more this assembly by the example of his
own.' [Great applause.] Gentlemen, the toast I am about to propose to
you is connected with many sad associations, but not to-day. Later and
long will be cherished whatever may be sad of these mingled feelings
that accompany this farewell,--later when night after night we shall
miss from the play-bill the old familiar name, and feel that one
source of elevated delight is lost to us forever. ["Hear! Hear!"]
To-day let us only rejoice that he whom we so prize and admire is no
worn-out veteran retiring to a rest he can no longer enjoy
[cheers]--that he leaves us in the prime of his powers, with many
years to come, in the course of nature, of that dignified leisure for
which every public man must have sighed in the midst of his triumphs;
and though we cannot say of him that his 'way of life is fall'n with
the sere, the yellow leaf,' yet we can say that he has prematurely
obtained 'that which should accompany old age, as honor, love,
obedience, troops of friends'--[cheers]--and postponing for this night
all selfish regrets, not thinking of the darkness that is to follow,
but of the brightness of the sun that is to set, I call upon you to
drink with full glasses and full hearts, health, happiness, and long
life to William Macready."]
MR. CHAIRMAN AND GENTLEMEN:--I rise to thank you, I should say
to attempt to thank you, for I feel the task is far beyond my power.
What can I say in reply to all that the kindly feeling of my friend has
dictated? I have not the skill to arrange and address in attractive
language the thoughts that press upon me, and my incompetency may
perhaps appear like a want of sensibility to your kindness, for we are
taught to believe that out of the heart's fulness the mouth speaks. But
my difficulty, let me assure you, is a contradiction to this moral.
[Cheers.] I have to thank my friend, your distinguished chairman, for
proposing my health to you and for the eloquence--may I not add the
brilliant fancy, with which he has enriched and graced his subject. But
that we may readily expect from him, who in the wide and discursive
range of his genius touches nothing that he does not adorn. ["Hear!" and
cheers.] I have to thank you for the cordiality and--if I may without
presumption say so,--the enthusiasm with which the compliment proposed
has been received, and for the honor--never to be forgotten--that you
have conferred on me, by making me your guest to-day.
Never before have I been so oppressed with a sense of my deficiency as
at this moment, looking on this assemblage of sympathizing friends
crowded here to offer me a spontaneous testimony of their regard. I
observe among you many who for years have been the encouraging
companions of my course; and there are present too those who have
cheered even my very earliest efforts. To all who have united in this
crowning tribute, so far beyond my dues or expectations--my old friends,
friends of many years, who welcomed me with hopeful greeting in the
morning of my professional life, and to younger ones who now gather
round to shed more brightness on my setting, I should wish to pour forth
the abundant expression of my gratitude. [Loud cheers.] You are not, I
think, aware of the full extent of my obligations to you. Independent of
the substantial benefits due to the liberal appreciation of my
exertions, my very position in society is determined by the stamp which
your approbation has set upon my humble efforts. [Cheers.] And let me
unhesitatingly affirm that without undervaluing the accident of birth or
titular distinction, I would not exchange the grateful pride of your
good opinion which you have given me the right to cherish, for any favor
or advancement that the more privileged in station could receive. [Great
cheering.]
I really am too much oppressed, too much overcome to attempt to detain
you long; but with the reflection and under the conviction that our
drama, the noblest in the world, can never lose its place from our
stage while the English language lasts, I will venture to express one
parting hope--that the rising actors may keep the loftiest look, may
hold the most elevated views of the duties of their calling. ["Hear!
Hear!" and cheers.] I would also hope that they will strive to elevate
their art, and also to raise themselves above the level of the player's
easy life, to public regard and distinction by a faithful ministry to
the genius of our incomparable Shakespeare. [Cheers.] To effect this
creditable purpose, they must bring resolute energy and unfaltering
labor to their work; they must be content "to scorn delights, and live
laborious days;" they must remember that whate'er is excellent in art
must spring from labor and endurance:--
"Deep the oak,
Must sink in stubborn earth its roots obscure
That hopes to lift its branches to the sky."
This, gentlemen, I can assure you, was the doctrine of our own Siddons,
and of the great Talma; and this is the faith I have ever held as one of
their humblest disciples. [Applause.]
Of my direction of the two patent theatres on which my friend has so
kindly dilated, I wish to say but little. The preamble of their patents
recites as a condition of their grant, that the theatres shall be
instituted for the promotion of virtue and to be instructive to the
human race. I think those are the words. I can only say that it was my
ambition to the best of my ability to obey that injunction ["Hear!
Hear!"] and believing in the principle that property has its duties as
well as its rights, I conceived that the proprietors should co-operate
with me. [General cries of "Hear!"] They thought otherwise, and I was
reluctantly compelled to relinquish on disadvantageous terms my
half-achieved enterprise. Others will take up this uncompleted work, and
if inquiry were set on foot for one best qualified to undertake the task
I should seek him in the theatre which, by eight years' labor, he has
from the most degraded condition raised high in public estimation, not
only as regards the intelligence and respectability of his audiences,
but by the learned and tasteful spirit of his productions. [Cheers.]
Gentlemen, I shall not detain you longer. All that I could desire and
far more than I ever could expect you have conferred upon me in the
honor you have done me to-day. It will be a memory that must remain as
an actual possession to me and mine, which nothing in life can take from
us. The repetition of thanks adds little to their force, and therefore,
deeply as I am already obliged to you, I must draw still further on your
indulgence. You have had faith in my zeal for your service; you will, I
am sure, continue that faith in my gratitude, for the value you have set
upon it. With a heart more full than the glass I hold, I return you my
most grateful thanks, and have the honor of drinking all your healths.
[Mr. Macready who had displayed considerable emotion during some
portions of his address, then resumed his seat amid enthusiastic
cheering.]