OLD STAGERS DEPARTING.
Of the old actors who entered on the nineteenth century, King was
the first to depart. He is remembered now, chiefly, as the original
representative of Sir Peter Teazle, Lord Ogleby, Puff, and Dr.
Cantwell. He began his London career at the age of eighteen, in
1748, on Drury Lane stage, as the Herald in "King Lear," and made
such progress, that in the next year[88] Whitehead selected him to
play Valerius in his "Roman Father." By 1756 he was an established
favourite, and he remained on the London stage, with hard summer work
during the holidays, till the 24th of May 1802, when he took his
leave in Sir Peter, to the Lady Teazle of Mrs. Jordan. At the end of
upwards of half a century he withdrew, to linger four years more, a
man of straitened means--one whom fondness for "play" would not at
first allow to grow rich; nor, after that was accomplished, to remain
so. I have noticed a few of his principal original characters; of
others, his Touchstone has not been equalled, nor his Ranger, save
by Garrick and Elliston. He was a conscientious actor, and a prime
favourite during the greater part of his career--but the once rapid,
clear, arch, easy, versatile Tom King, remained on the stage somewhat
too long.
Suett was to "low," what King was to "genteel," comedy; and the
stage lost Dicky in 1805, in which year he died. Dicky Suett was the
successor, but not the equal of Parsons. For a comic actor he had
a very tragical method of life--indicated by a bottle of rum and
another of brandy being among the furniture of his breakfast table.
From 1780 to 1805 he was a favourite low comedian; he killed his
audiences with laughter, and then went home (the tavern intervening)
to bed, where his sleep was merely a night of horror caused by
hideous dreams, and mental and bodily agony. John Kemble appreciated
him, in Weazle particularly, which he played to the tragedian's
Penruddock, and by his impertinent and persevering inquiries, peering
into Penruddock's face, used to work him up into a condition of
irritability required by the part. He was tall, thin, and ungainly;
addicted to grimace and interpolations; given to practical jokes on
his brother actors on the stage; and original in everything, even
to encountering death with a pun excited by a sign of its dread
approach. Suett was one of those perversely conscientious actors,
that when he had to represent a drunkard, he took care, as Tony
Lumpkin says, to be in "a concatenation accordingly."
In 1809 Lewis withdrew, in his sixty-third year. He was a Lancashire
man, well descended, though a draper's son, and was educated at
Armagh. He left linen-drapery for the stage,[89] played with success
in Dublin and Edinburgh, and came to Covent Garden in 1773, where,
however, he did not displace Barry, as in Dublin he had vanquished
Mossop.[90] He remained at Covent Garden from 1773, when he appeared
in Belcour (a compliment to Cumberland, who had helped to bring him
thither), till the 29th of May 1809, when he took his farewell in
the Copper Captain, the best of all his parts. He died in 1813, and
out of part of his fortune bequeathed to his sister, the beautiful
new church at Ealing was chiefly erected. His various styles are
indicated by some of the parts he created. Pharnaces and Sir Charles
Racket; Arviragus (Caractacus) and Millamour; Percy and Doricourt;
Sir Thomas Overbury and Count Almaviva; Herodian and Lackland;
Aurungzebe ("Prince of Agra") and Young Rapid; Faulkland and Jeremy
Diddler: he played Carlos in the "Revenge," and created the Hon. Tom
Shuffleton in "John Bull;" acted Posthumus, and originated Vapid;
began his course of original parts with Witmore, in Dr. Kenrick's
"Duellist;" and ended them with Modern, in Reynolds's "Begone Dull
Care"--both of which plays were failures.
In Morton and Reynolds's comedies, his breathless and restless style
told well; but Lewis's reputation is connected with the authors of
an older period. His Copper Captain was a masterpiece; and Cooke
recorded of him, that during the last thirty years of his life, he
was "the unrivalled favourite of the comic muse, in all that was
frolic, gay, humorous, whimsical, eccentric, and at the same time
elegant." During twenty-one years he was manager of Covent Garden;
and the same writer testifies that Lewis was "a model for making
every one do his duty, by kindness and good treatment." As early
as 1802 he had been warned by an epileptic fit, while rehearsing
Sapling, in Reynolds's "Delays and Blunders;" but he recovered,
played two years longer, and in less than two years more died,
leaving a handsome fortune to his wife, children, and other members
of his family.
[Illustration: (William Lewis)]
The greatest loss to the stage, in the early years of the present
century, was in the person of Miss Pope, the only real successor
of Kitty Clive. She withdrew on the 26th of May 1808, after
playing Deborah Dowlas in the "Heir-at-Law," for the first and last
time. She had played as a child when Garrick was in the fullest of
his powers; won his regard, and the friendly counsel of Mrs. Clive;
played hoydens, chambermaids, and half-bred ladies, with a life,
dash, and manner, free from all vulgarity; laughed with free hilarity
that begot hilarious laughing; and the only question about her was
not if she were an excellent actress or not, but as an actress, in
what she most excelled. She gave up young parts for old as age came
on, and would have done it sooner, but that managers found her still
attractive in the younger characters. In them she had been without
a rival; and when she took to the Duennas and Mrs. Heidelbergs,
she became equally without a rival. She was the original Polly
Honeycombe, Miss Stirling, Mrs. Candour, Tilburina, and of two or
threescore other parts less known.
Miss Pope was as good a woman, and as well bred a lady, as she was
a finished actress, and was none the less a friend of Garrick for
having little theatrical controversies with him touching costume,
salary, or other stage matters. In the year she played Cherry, Polly
Honeycombe, Jacinta, Phædra, Beatrice, Miss Prue, Miss Biddy, and
other buoyant ladies and lasses, a poet said of her:--
"With all the native vigour of sixteen,
Among the merry groups conspicuous seen,
See lively Pope advance to jig and trip,
Corinna, Cherry, Honeycombe, and Snip!
Not without art, but yet to nature true,
She charms the town with humour, just, yet new,
Cheered by her promise, we the less deplore,
The fatal time when Clive shall be no more."
Such was she in Churchill's eyes, in 1761. The fairy of that day;
but, in 1807, the fairy had expanded into "a bulky person, with a
duplicity of chin." Such was she in the eyes of James Smith, to whom
she told her love for handsome but fickle Holland, losing--or casting
off whom--she never after heeded suit of mortal man.
In the drawing-room of her and her brother's house in Queen Street,
Lincoln's Inn Fields, two doors east of the Freemasons' Tavern,
in that richly-furnished apartment, where, for forty years, Miss
Pope lived--among choice portraits of Mrs. Oldfield and her little
son, afterwards General Churchill; of Lord Nuneham, who, as Earl of
Harcourt, visited Miss Pope with as much ceremonious courtesy as if
she had been a princess; of Garrick and of Holland--the old lady told
the tale of her young love, her hopes and her disappointment, to
James Smith. Garrick, or "Mr. Garrick," as Miss Pope, with the old
habit of reverence, used to call him, had observed the intimacy and
growing attachment between the young actor and actress, and, guardian
of the happiness of those whom he regarded, he warned the lady of the
waywardness, instability, and recklessness of the swain. But Holland
could persuade in his own cause more successfully than Garrick could
urge against him; and Miss Pope, trusting the man she loved, looked
confidently forward to the day when she would become his wife. Ere
that day arrived, she went in the old Richmond coach, on her way to
pay a visit to Mrs. Clive at Twickenham; and on the road she passed
a postchaise, in which were Holland and a lady. The perplexed Miss
Pope rode thoughtfully on, and, alighting at Richmond Bridge, walked
meditatively along the meadows to Strawberry Hill. Her jealous
attention was attracted by a boat on the river, opposite Eel Pie
Island, the rower of which could not so hurriedly but confusedly pull
through the weeds to the Richmond side, before she saw that he was
her faithless swain, Holland, making a day of it with that seductive
piece of mischief, Mrs. Baddeley. Poor Miss Pope might fairly confess
to the "pang of jealousy," which she then endured.
Shortly after they met at rehearsal. He, being conscious of wrong
and incapable of confessing it, assumed a haughty bearing, but the
injured woman was as proud as he; and from that time they never
exchanged a word, except in acting. The foolish, weak, and ungrateful
fellow went philandering on; "but I have reason to know," said Miss
Pope, "that he never was really happy." And forty years after this
rude waking from a happy illusion, and in presence of the counterfeit
presentment of her faithless lover, the lady, whose heart at least
never grew old, shed tears as she told the one love passage of her
life, and thought of the dream of the bygone time.
Out of life she faded gradually away; and one of the merriest
and most vivacious actresses of her day lost, mutely, sense after
sense ere she expired. Previous to this, she had left her old
familiar house in Queen Street; much as she was attached to it,
she found the Freemasons too lively neighbours. "From the Tavern,
on a summer's evening, when windows are perforce kept open, the
sounds of 'Prosperity to the Deaf and Dumb Charity!' sent forth a
corresponding clatter of glasses, which made everybody in Miss Pope's
back drawing-room, for the moment, fit objects of that benevolent
institution." Mr. James Smith alludes to the pleasant parties she
gave at the house in Newman Street, in which she died. She was
attacked by "stupor of the brain;" and gradually passed away. "She
sat quietly and calmly in an arm-chair by the fireside, patting the
head of her poodle dog, and smiling at what passed in conversation,
without being at all conscious of the meaning of what was uttered."
Miss Pope had a sort of _doublure_ in Mrs. Mattocks, granddaughter of
the Hallam unhappily killed by Macklin. Her father was the founder of
the English drama in America. Under his management, the first play
ever regularly performed beyond the Atlantic, was at Williamsburg,
in Virginia, on the 5th of September 1752, namely, the "Merchant of
Venice," in which Malone acted Shylock; Hallam, Launcelot Gobbo; and
Mrs. Hallam, Portia.[91] During Mrs. Mattocks's long career, from
1752, when a child, to 1808, she played a variety of characters,
commencing with tragedy; but, as she used to say, in her old age,
"so long ago, I have almost forgotten it." She thence passed through
light, young, comic characters, to old women; and played the latter
very happily. In her widowhood, she bestowed a rich marriage dowry
on her daughter, reserving for herself the interest of £6000 in the
five per cents., on which to live, at Kensington. Her son-in-law
held her general power of attorney, and received her dividends; but
he one day made away with both interest and principal, and the old
actress was left penniless. A free benefit, however, produced upwards
of £1000, with which a life annuity was purchased, on which the aged
player lived till 1826. If human art could have prolonged her life,
it would have been done by her friend and medical adviser, the late
Mr. Merriman, to whom, in testimony of her respect, Mrs. Mattocks
bequeathed her portrait.
I add a passing word to record the passing away of Mrs. Litchfield,
in 1806, after a brief career in London of nine years. She came at
a time when competition with Mrs. Siddons was impossible; but Mrs.
Litchfield was pre-eminent in having the finest voice that was ever
heard on the stage,--from an actress.
Bannister, Charles or John, father or son,--the name had a pleasant
sound in our fathers' ears. The elder was a bass singer, with a
voice that would crack a window-pane. "A _pewtiful foice_! your
father had," said a German Jew to the son; "so deep, so deep! He
could go so low as a bull!" Handsome Jack played, in his salad days,
with Garrick; in his glowing maturity, with Edmund Kean,--in whose
brilliancy, as he said, he almost forgot his old master, David. John
Bannister might have been a painter, but he chose to be a player;
and, in his line, he was one of the best. He felt, and made feel;
could exact tears as easily as laughter; and was never out of temper
but once, when a critic denounced him for acting ill, on a night when
he was too ill to act. For this malicious deed, the player recovered
damages from his assailant.
There was nothing he could not do _well_. There were many things he
did inimitably. His Hamlet belonged to the first--a host of comic
parts to the second category. His author was never dissatisfied
with him, however exigent; and he engaged the immediate attention
of the audience, by seeming to care nothing about it. Applause
interrupted his speech--never his action. In depicting heartiness,
ludicrous distress, grave or affected indifference, honest bravery,
insurmountable cowardice, a spirited, young, or an enfeebled old
fellow, yet impatient; mischievous boyishness, good-humoured
vulgarity,--there was no one of his time who could equal him. In
everything he acted he was natural, except in Mercutio, which,
strangely enough, did not suit him;--he made of that elegant and
vivacious gentleman, simply an honest, jolly fellow. In parts,
combining tragedy and comedy, he was supreme. Such was his Walter;
such, too, his Sheva,--though in some parts of the latter he was,
perhaps, surpassed by Dowton. His features were highly expressive
and flexible, and he had them in supreme command. In 1772, he
played Calippus, in the "Grecian Daughter," and then had a time of
probation; but, from 1778, when he played Zaphna, in "Mahomet," to
1815, when the curtain finally descended on him, as Walter,--a part
which he created in 1793,--there was no more pleasant actor before an
audience. Walpole thus speaks of the last-named part in the year just
named:--
"I went on Monday evening, with Mrs. Damer, to the Little Haymarket,
to see the 'Children in the Wood,' having heard so much of my
favourite, young Bannister, in that new piece, which, by the way,
is well arranged and near being fine. He more than answered my
expectation, and all I had heard of him. It was one of the most
admirable performances I ever saw. His transports of despair and
joy are incomparable; and his various countenances would be adapted
to the pencil of Salvator Rosa. He made me shed as many tears as
I suppose the old original ballad did, when I was six years old.
Bannister's merit was the more striking, as, before the 'Children
in the Wood,' he had been playing the sailor, in 'No Song, No
Supper,' with equal nature. I wish I could hope to be as much pleased
to-morrow night, when I am to go to Jerningham's play, the 'Siege of
Berwick;' but there is no Bannister at Covent Garden."
He left the stage with a handsome fortune, the fruits of his labour;
and younger actors visited him and called him "father!" Among
the very long list of characters he created at Drury Lane or the
Haymarket, were Don Ferolo Whiskerandos, Inkle, Sir David Dunder,
Robin ("No Song, No Supper"), Leopold ("Siege of Belgrade,"),
Lenitive ("Prize"), Walter ("Children in the Wood"), Will Steady,
Sheva, Michael ("Adopted Child"), Sylvester Daggerwood, Three
Singles, Wilford ("Iron Chest"), Sponge, Frank Heartall, Rolando
("Honey Moon"), Ali Baba, Storm, and Sam Squib, in "Past Ten
o'Clock." A print, from a miniature, by Edridge, shows how goodly was
his presence in young manhood off the stage; his well-known portrait,
as Colonel Feignwell, reveals a handsome presence on the stage; and
in his features, which Leslie borrowed for his "Uncle Toby," we
may see (in the picture at Kensington) a presence fine, frank, and
simple, which was that of his older age.
Mrs. Jordan was another of the players whose youth belonged to the
last century, but who did not retire till after Edmund Kean had given
new life to the stage. She came of a lively mother, who was one of
the many olive branches of a poor Welsh clergyman, from whose humble
home she more undutifully than unnaturally eloped with, and married,
a gallant Captain, named Bland. The new home was set up in Waterford,
where Dorothy Bland was born in 1762; and nine children were there
living when the Captain's friends procured the annulling of the
marriage, and caused the hearth to become desolate.
Dorothy was the most self-reliant of the family, for at an early
age she made her way to Dublin, and under the name of Miss Francis,
played everything, from sprightly girls to tragedy queens. As she
produced little or no effect, she crossed the Channel to Tate
Wilkinson, who inquired what she played,--tragedy, comedy, high or
low, opera or farce? "I play them all," said the young lady,--and
accordingly she came out as Calista, in the "Fair Penitent;" and
Lucy, in the "Virgin Unmasked."[92] Previously to this, Wilkinson,
addressing her as Miss Francis, was interrupted by her,--"My name,"
she said, "is Mrs. Jordan,"--her Irish manager had called her flight
over the Channel "crossing _Jordan_," and she took the name with the
matronly prefix. Wilkinson looked at her, and saw no reason why she
should not.[93]
Three years after, she was acting some solemn part, at York, when
Gentleman Smith saw her, and forthwith recommended her to the
managers of Drury, as a good _second_ to Mrs. Siddons; and in that
character she was engaged. But Dorothy Jordan was not going to play
second to anybody; she resolved to be first in comedy, and came out
in 1785, as the heroine of the "Country Girl." Her success raised
her from four to eight, and then twelve pounds a week. Her next
character was among her best; namely, Viola; in which the buoyant
spirit oppressed by love and grief was finally rendered. Equal to it
was her Hypolita. Rosalind, also one of her great achievements, she
did not play till the next season; and Lady Contest ("Wedding Day"),
which was born with, and which died with her, she did not create till
the season of 1795-96.[94]
When she first appeared in London, she was in her twenty-fourth
year. Just previous to the commencement of the Drury Lane season of
1789-90, the season in which she added Polly Honeycombe, Laetitia
Hardy, and Lydia Languish, to her parts; and created Little Pickle,
in the "Spoiled Child," I find indications of another condition which
she had reached. On the 4th of September 1789, Walpole writes from
Strawberry Hill to the Miss Berrys:--"The Duke of Clarence has taken
Mr. Henry Hobart's house (Richmond), point blank over against Mr.
Cambridge's, which will make the good woman of that mansion cross
herself piteously, and stretch the throat of the blatant beast at
Sudbrook (Lady Greenwich) and of all the other pious matrons _à la
ronde_; for his royal highness, to divert lonesomeness, has brought
with him ----, who being still more averse to solitude, declares that
any tempter would make even Paradise more agreeable than a constant
_tête à tête_." The Duke's companion is not named; but Mrs. Jordan is
supposed to be alluded to. But in September 1791 Walpole writes to
the same ladies: "Do you know that Mrs. Jordan is acknowledged to be
Mrs. Ford?" They could not know it, for Ford (the magistrate) never
married her, though he kept household with her, where all the signs
of matrimony at least were abundant.
In the previous March of that year Mrs. Jordan played Coelia, in an
adaptation of the "Humourous Lieutenant," called the "Greek Slave,"
for her benefit. Coelia is the mistress to a king's son; and this,
coupled with a prophetic allusion in the modern epilogue, to a future
condition in her life, which was not then, in the remotest degree,
contemplated, is noted in Mr. Boaden's life of the actress, as a
coincidence. At whatever period she first became the intimate friend
of the Duke, she certainly was never married to Ford. "Her husband,"
the wits used to say, "was killed in the battle of Nubibus."
When she said that "laughing agreed with her better than crying," and
gave up tragedy, she both said and did well. John Bannister declared
that "no woman ever uttered comedy like her;" and added, that "she
was perfectly good-tempered, and possessed the best of hearts."
She partook of the fascination of Mrs. Woffington, having a better
voice, with less beauty. She surpassed Mrs. Clive and Miss Farren in
some parts, but fell short of the former in termagants, and of the
latter in fine, well-bred ladies. Her voice was sweet and distinct,
and she played rakes with the airiest grace and the handsomest leg
that had been seen on the stage for a long time. Simple, arch,
buoyant girls,--with sensibility in them; or spirited, buxom, lovable
women,--in these she excelled. She liked to act handsome hoydens, but
not vulgar hussies. In later days she grew fat, but still dressed as
when she was young. The hints of critics were unheeded by her, as
were those of her friends, that "she should assume an older line."
Mr. Charlton, the Bath manager, once proposed to her to play the "Old
Maid." "No," she answered: "I played it in a frolic, for my benefit,
but do not mean to play such parts in a common way."
After a London career of little less than thirty years,--long after
her home with the Duke had been broken up, she suddenly left London,
without any leave-taking. Her finances, once so flourishing, had
become embarrassed,--and the old actress with whom "laughing used
to agree," withdrew without friend or child or ample means, to St.
Cloud, in France, where she assumed her third pseudonym, Mrs. James.
She was neglected, but she was not destitute; for, at the time of her
death, in 1815, she had a balance of £100 at her bankers. She was
buried without a familiar friend to follow her, and the police seized
and sold her effects,--"even her body-linen," says Genest, who wrote
her epitaph, "was sold amidst the coarse remarks of low Frenchwomen."
Her wealth had been largely lavished on the Duke of Clarence and
their family; and she had calls upon it from other children. In the
days when she was mistress of the house at Bushey she was often,
with more or less ill humour, saluted as "Duchess." When the Duke
became King, he ennobled all their children, raising the eldest
of Mrs. Jordan's sons to the rank of Earl of Munster, and giving
precedence to the remaining sons and daughters. Thus the blood of
this actress, too, runs in the English peerage,--in the line of the
Earls of Munster, and by her daughter Sophia, whom the King raised to
the rank of a Marquis's daughter, in that of the Lords De L'Isle and
Dudley. If the portrait of the Monarch hangs from the walls of their
mansions, that of Dora or Dorothea Bland should not be absent; for,
despite appearances, the worth, the virtue, and the endowments of the
mother were, in many respects, greater than those of the sire.
ROBERT WILLIAM ELLISTON, like Mrs. Jordan and some others, belongs
to two centuries. Born in Bloomsbury, in 1744, he had, in due time,
the choice of two callings,--that of his father, a watchmaker;
or of his uncle, the Rev. Dr. Elliston, master of Sidney Sussex
College, Cambridge,--"the Church." He declined both; and having
been applauded in his delivery of a thesis, at St. Paul's School,
on the subject: "Nemo confidat nimium secundis," he threw up his
own happy prospects, and ran away to Bath, at sixteen, to seek an
engagement on the stage. While waiting for it, he engaged himself
as clerk in a lottery-office; but he eagerly changed his character,
when opportunity was afforded him to act Tressel, in "Richard III."
Between that and the Duke Aranza, the greatest of his parts, he had
far to go; but his energies were equal to the task.
The first success was small, and Elliston resorted to Tate Wilkinson,
at York; where he had few opportunities of playing leading
characters; and in disgust and want he came up to London.[95]
Kemble advised him to study Romeo, and in that character he charmed
a Bath audience, and laid the foundations of a future prosperity.
Subsequently, after playing a few nights at Covent Garden, he
appeared at the Haymarket, in 1797,[96] as Octavian and Vapour. In
the first part, a rival to the throne of Kemble was recognised; in
the latter, one who had gifts which were wanting even in Bannister.
A few nights later, he played Sir Edward Mortimer, and obtained a
triumph in the character in which Kemble had signally failed. From
that time, the "greatness" of Elliston was an accepted matter in his
lofty mind. But it suffered much mutation between that time and 1826,
when, at the end of nearly thirty years, after being proprietor of
the Olympic, the Surrey, and Drury Lane, disregarding the prudence of
Kemble in refraining from such an attempt, he tried Falstaff, failed
thereby to recover his ruined fortunes, and sank again to the Surrey.
Famous for putting the best face on everything, he comforted himself,
by observing, that he had "quite an opera pit!"
For a brief period after his first appearance, Elliston was held to
have excelled Kemble in truth and inspiration. Elliston's Hamlet was
accounted superior in two points, the humour of the Dane, and his
princely youth;--but in the deep philosophy of the character Robert
William was not above respectability. And yet, by his universality of
imitation, he was pronounced to be the only genius that had appeared
since the days of Garrick. Perhaps he never manifested this more
clearly than when, on the same night, he played Macbeth and Macheath!
His soliloquies were too declamatory! he forgot that a soliloquy is
not an address to the audience, but simply a vehicle to enable them
to be familiar with the speaker's thoughts. His voice was here too
pompously deep, and a certain catching of his breath, at the end of
energetic words, sounded like sobbing. Nevertheless, it was said that
Elliston was not less than Kemble in genius;--but only in manner.
With study and a more heroic countenance he would have been on the
same level. As it was, _in general excellence_, he may be said, when
in his prime, to have been one of the greatest actors of the day.
A more complete stage "gentleman," our fathers and some of ourselves
never knew. He was well made; had a smile more winning and natural
than any other actor; and perhaps a lover so impassioned never
made suit to a lady; one so tender never watched over her; one
so courteous never did her offices of courtesy; the _gentleman_
was never forgotten. He was never a restless gentleman, like
Lewis, nor a reserved or languid one, like Charles Kemble. All the
qualities that go to the making of one were conspicuous in his Duke
Aranza,--self-command, kindness, dignity, good humour, a dash of
satire, and true amatory fire. The only fault of Elliston's low
comedy was that he could not get rid of his gentility. The only
fault of his real gentlemen was that he dressed them uniformly.
Summer or winter, day or night, they were always in blue coats, white
waistcoats, and white knee-breeches.
Leigh Hunt loved the actor; Charles Lamb reverenced the man,--that
is the actor also: for Robert William, wherever he might be, was in
presence of an audience; it was his nature to be artificial; or he
was so great an artist that all things in his bearing seemed natural;
that is natural to him, Robert William Elliston. When he seemed
to be enacting the "humbug," he was perfectly consistent, without
being the thing at all. Young Douglas Jerrold saved the Surrey with
his "Black-eyed Susan," and Elliston thought such service worthy
of being acknowledged by the presentation of a piece of plate. The
anxious author wondered in what form Mr. Elliston would make the
gift; but Mr. Elliston only asked him, if he, the author, could not
get his friends to do him this service? He was not joking. He thought
the young fellow's friends ought to be proud of him, and ought to
manifest their pride by endowing him with testimonial plate,--towards
which he, Robert William, had largely contributed by starting the
idea.
[Illustration: (R. W. Elliston)]
Of his lofty remonstrances with audiences, his magnificence of matter
and of manner, the awe with which he inspired the humbler actors
of his company by believing in his own lofty manner,--there are
samples enough to fill a volume. The "bless you, my people!" which
he uttered as George IV., in the coronation procession, sprung, it
was said, from a vinous excitement; but it was thoroughly in his
manner. He would have believed in the efficacy of a sober benediction
of the pit! He outlived his fame, as he did his fortune; his powers
to act well failed, but not his acting. He was imposing to the last;
and, perhaps beyond that limit, if we might accept that gracefully
fantastic sketch which Charles Lamb has addressed to his shade,--the
"joyousest of once embodied spirits!"
There were few actors on the stage for whom Elliston had more regard
than he had for the veteran, Hull. In 1807, worn out with a career
which dated from 1759, heavy, useful, and intelligent Hull played his
last character, the Uncle, in "George Barnwell," and he died soon
after. Mason had a good opinion of him, for in consigning the Chief
Bard, in "Caractacus," to be played by him, the poet remarked:--"Any
instruction from me will be unnecessary; your own taste and judgment
will direct you." To Hull is owing the establishment of the Covent
Garden fund for the benefit of decayed actors. He proposed that
sixpence in the pound should be contributed weekly from each actor's
salary, and that such contributors only should have claim upon the
fund. From this proposal issued the two "funds,"--once so useful,
and now so rich. Hull never acted so well as during the Lord George
Gordon riots, when a mob assembled in front of his house, roared
for beer, and threatened dire results, if the roar was unheeded.
Hull appeared on the balcony, bowed thrice, assured the "ladies and
gentlemen" that the beverage should be immediately forthcoming, and
in the meantime asked them for "their usual indulgence."
To the last century, too, and to this, belong Holman, Munden, and
Dowton. All began their careers as tragedians. Holman was graceful,
but in striving to be original fell into exaggeration, and excited
laughter. His London course only lasted from 1784 to 1800, when he
wandered abroad with his daughter, whose mother was a grand-daughter
of the famous Lady Archibald Hamilton, the daughter of the sixth Earl
of Abercorn. Thus a family, into which had married the daughter of
Miss Santlow, "famed for dance," gave to the stage the Miss Holman,
who soon ceased to figure there.
Munden was the most wonderful of grimaciers. He created laughter
on the London stage, from 1790, when he appeared at Covent Garden,
as Sir Francis Gripe, to 1823,[97] when he quitted it, in good
condition, financially, as Sir Robert Bramble and Dozey. It was said
of him that he lost half his proper effect, by the very strength of
his powers. The breadth of his acting is now hardly conceivable, so
farcical was its character. Of another trait of his disposition, an
incident, on his farewell night, affords an illustration. As he was
bowing, and retiring backwards, from the audience, and wishing to
avoid coming into collision with the wings, he once or twice asked
in a whisper, of those standing there:--"Am I near?" "Very!" answered
Liston, "nobody more so!"
Dowton, who came to us in 1796, as Sheva, backed by a recommendation
from Cumberland, retired less richly endowed than Munden. He was
most felicitous in representing testy old age, but especially
where extreme rage was combined with extreme kindness of heart;
and he acted the opposite of this just as felicitously--as they
will acknowledge who can remember both his Sir Anthony Absolute and
his Dr. Cantwell, the composure and rascality of which last are
exasperating in the very memory of them.
Willy Blanchard, who opens the period commencing with the year 1800,
was as natural as Dowton; but he was a mannerist, always walking the
stage with his right arm bent, as if he held it in a sling. I find
him often preferred to Fawcett, whom I remember as a superior actor,
to whom some stern critics denied all feeling--but they had not seen
his Job Thornberry; and of whose famous Caleb Quotem they could say
no more than that the actor of it was a speaking harlequin.
Mathews, who first appeared in London, at the Haymarket, in 1803, as
Jabal to Elliston's Sheva, was as superior to Dowton in many parts as
he was to Bannister in a few. As a mimic he has never been excelled
in my remembrance. Through the whole range of lower comedy he was
supreme; and his _M. Malet_ showed what power this great artist
could exercise over the most tender feelings. No comedian ever
compelled more hearty laughter, or, when opportunity offered, as in
_M. Malet_, more abundant tears.
Liston, who followed him at the Haymarket, in 1805, making his
_début_ as Sheepface, belonged rather to farce than comedy. Like
Suett he excited more laughter than he ever enjoyed himself. He
suffered from attacks of the nerves, and, in his most humorous
representations, was the more humorous from his humour always
partaking of a melancholy tone. He seemed to be comic under some
great calamity, and was only upheld by the hilarity of those who
witnessed his sufferings, and enjoyed his comedy under difficulties.
Perhaps he had a settled disappointment in not having succeeded in
tragedy; or some remorse, as though he had killed a boy when, under
the name of Williams, he was usher at the Rev. Dr. Burney's, at
Gosport; as he subsequently was at the old school in St. Martin's.
However this may be, he ever and anon wooed the tragic muse, with a
comically serious air, and on three several occasions I trace him
playing, for his benefit, Romeo, Octavian, and Baron Wildenheim! It
was more absurd than Mrs. Powell's mania for acting Hamlet.
Two years later, in 1807, appeared Young, as Hamlet, at the
Haymarket, and Jones, as Goldfinch, at Covent Garden. If the word
"respectable" might be used in a not disparaging sense, I would
apply it to Young, who was always worthy of respect--whether he
played Hamlet, Rienzi, which he originated, Falstaff, or Captain
Macheath. He belonged to the Kemble school, but he never delivered
soliloquies in that ludicrous, self-approving style which I find
laughingly noticed by the critics, as a great blot in John Kemble's
acting. Young had more natural feeling, and he liked to play with
those who could feel in like manner--whereas I have read of John
Kemble that, in a love scene, he was not only coldly proper himself,
but insisted on the same coldness of propriety in the lady who
played his mistress. As for airy Jones, I have only space to remark,
that he acted rakes, at night, and taught clergymen to read their
prayers decently, by day! Jones was a naturally serious man; but his
combination of callings was something incongruous.
Of other actors, mention will be made incidentally in other places.
There are some ladies of the time before Edmund Kean who will
receive, or have received, like notice--my eye falls but upon three
others, of whom I need make record here. One is that beautiful
Louisa Brunton--member of a gifted family, who, in the bud of her
brilliant promise, was "erept the stage" by honourable love, and
died but the other day--Countess of Craven. The other lady is
Miss Duncan, subsequently Mrs. Davison, the original Juliana to
Elliston's Duke Aranza; and who, when she came upon the town as
Lady Teazle, satisfied her audiences that Miss Farren had a worthy
successor, and that Mrs. Jordan's possession of certain characters
must thenceforth be surrendered. The dramatic life of this admirable
actress commenced as soon as she could walk, and lasted almost with
her natural life. I have a Margate bill before me, of the year 1804,
where the bright and gifted young actress, the "Little Wonder," as
Miss Farren called her, was playing high comedy. The music there was
led by Frederic Venua, who, at the distance of threescore years,
still delights his friends with the memories of that period, and
with its music, in the rendering of which, Time has strengthened and
improved the hand of the artist.
With a passing notice of a survivor of all these--coming on the
stage near fourscore years ago, with the honoured name of Betterton,
and leaving it, or dying on it, but the other day, as Mrs. Glover,
I close this section of my labour. From youth to old age she acted
appropriate parts, and acted all in a way that would require Cibber,
Hazlitt, and Leigh Hunt to describe, analyse, and grow pleasantly
fanciful upon. Her life was one of self-denial, unmerited suffering,
and of continual gratification to others. She was the support of
three generations, the evidences of which she bore in her face,--in
its beautiful expression of a felicity it knew not wherefore.
With a pleasanter name, a more finished actress, or a truer woman, I
could not bring this chapter to a close. The list which follows by
way of supplement, will enable the reader to trace what the poets
were doing for the drama, and who the actors were that carried out
their intentions,--between the commencement of the century and the
night when Edmund Kean flashed upon the town.
LIST OF THE PRINCIPAL NEW PIECES PRODUCED BY THEIR MAJESTIES'
SERVANTS, FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE CENTURY TILL THE APPEARANCE OF
EDMUND KEAN.
1801.--_Drury Lane._
"Deaf and Dumb" (Holcroft; from the French). De l'Epée, Kemble;
Theodore, Miss De Camp; St. Alme, C. Kemble; Mdme. Franval, Miss Pope.
"Julian and Agnes" (Sotheby). Julian, Kemble; Agnes, Mrs. Siddons.
"Adelmorn" (_Monk_ Lewis). Adelmorn, C. Kemble; Innogen, Mrs. Jordan.
1801.--_Covent Garden._
"Poor Gentleman" (Colman, Jun.). Sir Robert Bramble, Munden; Ollapod,
Fawcett; Emily, Mrs. Gibbs.
"Pérouse" (Fawcett). Kanko, Farley; Umba, Mrs. Mills.
"Blind Girl" (Morton). Sligo, Johnstone; Clara, Mrs. H. Johnstone.
1801-2.--_Drury Lane._
"Lovers' Resolutions" (Cumberland). Worthiman, J. Bannister;
Mapletoft, Suett; Mrs. Mapletoft, Miss Tidswell.
1801-2.--_Covent Garden._
"Integrity" (Anonymous). Herman, H. Siddons his first appearance;
Albert Voss, Brunton; Julia, Miss Murray.
"Folly as it Flies" (Reynolds). Peter Post Obit, Munden; Georgiana,
Mrs. Gibbs.
"Alfonzo" (_Monk_ Lewis). Orsino, Cooke; Ottilia, Mrs. Litchfield.
"Cabinet" (T. Dibdin). Prince Orlando, Braham; Lorenzo, Incledon;
Curvoso, Emery; Floretta, Signora Storace.
1802-3.--_Drury Lane._
"Hear Both Sides" (Holcroft). Fairfax, Dowton; Eliza, Mrs. Jordan.
"Hero of the North" (Dimond). Gustavus, Pope; Frederica, Mrs.
Mountain.
"Marriage Promise" (Allingham). Merton, C. Kemble; Emma, Mrs. Jordan.
1802-3.--_Covent Garden._
"Delays and Blunders" (Reynolds). Henry Sapling, Lewis; Lauretta,
Mrs. H. Siddons.
"Tale of Mystery" (Holcroft). Romaldi, H. Johnston; Francisco,
Farley; Fiametta, Mrs. Mattocks.
"Family Quarrels" (T. Dibdin). Charles, Braham; Foxglove, Incledon;
Mrs. Supplejack, Mrs. Davenport.
"John Bull" (Colman, Jun.). Job Thornberry, Fawcett; Peregrine,
Cooke; Hon. Tom Shuffleton, Lewis; Mary, Mrs. Gibbs.
1803-4.--_Drury Lane._
"Wife of Two Husbands" (Cobb). Carronade, Bannister, Jun.; Montenero,
Kelly; Eugenia, Mrs. Mountain.
"Hearts of Oak" (Allingham). Ardent, Dowton; Fanny, Mrs. Harlowe.
"Caravan" (Reynolds). Arabbo, Dignum; Rosa, Miss De Camp.
"Soldier's Daughter" (Cherry). Governor Heartall, Dowton; Widow
Cheerly, Mrs. Jordan.
"Sailor's Daughter" (Cumberland). Varnish, Russell; Julia, Mrs. H.
Johnston.
1803-4.--_Covent Garden._
"Raising the Wind" (Kenney). Diddler, Lewis; Sam, Emery.
"English Fleet in 1342" (Dibdin). Valentine, Braham; Fitzwalter,
Incledon; Katherine, Signora Storace.
"Valentine and Orson" (T. Dibdin). Valentine, Farley; Orson, Dubois;
Eglantine, Mrs. St. Leger.
1804-5.--_Drury Lane._
"Matrimony" (Kenney, from the French). Delaval, Elliston; Clara, Mrs.
Jordan; Lisetta, Mrs. Bland.
"Land We Live In" (Holt). Melville, Elliston; Robert, Mathews; Lady
Lovelace, Mrs. Jordan.
"Honeymoon" (Tobin). Duke Aranza, Elliston; Juliana, Miss Duncan;
Volante, Miss Mellon.
1804-5.--_Covent Garden._
"Blind Bargain" (Reynolds). Giles, Emery; Mrs. Villars, Mrs. Gibbs.
"School of Reform" (Morton). Tyke, Emery; General Tarragon, Munden;
Ferment, Lewis; Julia, Miss Brunton.
"To Marry or Not to Marry" (Mrs. Inchbald). Sir Oswin, Kemble; Lord
Danberry, Munden; Lady Susan, Mrs. Glover.
"Who Wants a Guinea" (Colman, Jun.). Solomon Gundy, Fawcett;
Oldskirt, Simmons; Mrs. Glastonbury, Mrs. Mattocks.
1805-6.--_Drury Lane._
"Weathercock" (Allingham). Tristram Fickle, Bannister.
"School for Friends" (Miss Chambers). Matthew Daw, Mathews; Lady
Courtland, Miss Pope.
"Travellers" (Cherry). Koyan, Braham; Celinda, Mrs. Mountain.
"Forty Thieves" (Colman, Jun.). Ali Baba, Bannister; Morgiana, Miss
De Camp; Cogia, Mrs. Bland.
1805-6.--_Covent Garden._
"Rugantino" (_Monk_ Lewis). Rugantino, H. Johnston.
"Delinquent" (Reynolds). Delinquent, Kemble; Nicholas, Liston.
"We Fly by Night" (Colman, Jun.). Bastion, Munden.
"Hints to Husbands" (Cumberland). Lord Transit, C. Kemble.
"Edgar" (Manners). Edgar, Miss Smith; Emma, Miss Brunton.
1806-7.--_Drury Lane._
"Vindictive Man" (Holcroft). Goldfinch (from the "Road to Ruin"), De
Camp; Charles, Bartley.
"Tekeli" (Theodore Hook). Tekeli, Elliston; Christine, Mrs. Bland.
"Mr. H----" (Charles Lamb). Mr. H----, Elliston.
"False Alarms" (Kenney). Sir Damon, Wroughton.
"Curfew" (Tobin). Fitzharding, Elliston; Florence, Miss Duncan.
"Adelgitha" (_Monk_ Lewis). Lothair, Elliston; Adelgitha, Mrs. Powell.
1806-7.--_Covent Garden._
"Town and Country" (Morton). Reuben Glenroy, Kemble; Rosalie Somers,
Miss Brunton.
1807-8.--_Drury Lane._
"Faulkener" (Goodwin). Faulkener, Elliston; Countess Orsini, Mrs.
Powell.
"World" (Kenney). Index, Mathews; Lady Bloomfield, Mrs. Jordan.
"Jew of Mogadore" (Cumberland). Nadab, Dowton; Zelma, Mrs. Mountain.
1807-8.--_Covent Garden._
"Blind Boy" (Hewetson). Edmund, Mrs. C. Kemble; Kalig, Farley.
"Wanderer" (C. Kemble, from Kotzebue). Sigismond, C. Kemble.
"Begone Dull Care" (Reynolds). Modern, Lewis.
1808-9.--_Drury Lane._
"Venoni" (_Monk_ Lewis, from Monvel). Venoni, Elliston.
"Man and Wife" (Arnold). Sir Willoughby and Lady Worrett, Dowton and
Mrs. Harlowe.
Theatre burnt down 24th February 1809. The Company played at the
Opera House and the Lyceum during the remainder of the season.
1808-9.--_Covent Garden._
Theatre burnt down 19th September 1808, after the play of "Pizarro."
The Company acted at the Opera House, where the only new piece of any
merit that was produced was the "Exile" (Reynolds). Daran, by Young,
from the Haymarket.
1809-10.
The Drury Lane Company continued at the Lyceum without producing any
novelty of mark.
1809-10.
Covent Garden opened at increased prices for admission on the 18th of
September. No new piece deserving of record was produced throughout
the season.
1810-11.
The Drury Lane Company played at the Lyceum, but without bringing
forward any piece of particular merit. The same may be said of
Covent Garden, where, however, the season was rendered memorable
and profitable by the run of "Blue Beard" and "Timour the Tartar,"
with horses. Before these Shakspeare, and all other of the tuneful
brethren, gave way.
1811-12.
The Drury Lane Company were still at the Lyceum, where they
produced Moore's "M.P.," the more successful "Devil's Bridge,"
by Arnold, with Braham as Count Belino, and Mrs. Dickens as the
Countess Rosalvina.[98] The greatest success was with a piece called
"Quadrupeds," altered from the "Tailors, or a Tragedy for Warm
Weather," and intended to ridicule the equestrian performances at
Covent Garden. The corresponding season at Covent Garden saw no new
piece which is now remembered; but it is remarkable as the one in
which an elephant made its first appearance as an actor--after which
Mrs. Siddons withdrew, but not on that account, from the stage.
1812-13.--_Drury Lane._
The season opened on the 10th of October 1812, in the present house,
built by Wyatt. Mr. Whitbread and a committee erected the house,
and purchased the old patent rights, by means of a subscription of
£400,000. Of this, £20,000 was paid to Sheridan, and a like sum to
the other holders of the patent. The creditors of the old house took
a quarter of what they claimed, in full payment; and the Duke of
Bedford abandoned a claim of £12,000. With the remainder of the sum
subscribed, the house was established--Elliston, Dowton, Bannister,
Rae, Wallack, Wewitzer, Miss Smith, Mrs. Davison, Mrs. Glover, Miss
Kelly, and Miss Mellon, leading. Except Coleridge's "Remorse," which
was acted about a score of times, they brought out no new piece.[99]
Covent Garden was equally unproductive, its most profitable drama
being "Aladdin, or the Wonderful Lamp" (Aladdin, Mrs. C. Kemble;
Kazrac, Grimaldi). In the next season, as in this, Covent Garden had
a stronger company, with John and Charles Kemble, Conway, Terry,
Mathews,[100] and a troop of vocalists, than Drury Lane possessed.
At the latter house, neither new pieces nor new players succeeded,
till, on the 20th of January 1814, the playbills announced the
first appearance of an actor from Exeter--whose coming changed the
evil fortunes of the house, scared the old, correct, dignified, and
classical school of actors, and brought back to the memories of those
who could look back as far as Garrick the fire, nature, impulse, and
terrible earnestness--all, in short, but the versatility of that
great master in his art.
While Kean is dressing for Shylock, I will briefly notice a few
incidents connected with both sides of the curtain, and which chiefly
belong to that part of the century when he was not yet known in
London.
FOOTNOTES:
[88] That is, the next season; the "Roman Father" was produced 24th
February 1750.
[89] It was Lewis's father who quited business for the stage.
[90] His success over Mossop was only in one part, a comedy character
utterly unfitted for the latter.
[91] Some valuable remarks on this subject will be found in the
article "Lewis Hallam, the Second," by Edward Eggleston in Brander
Matthews' and Laurence Hutton's "Actors and Actresses of Great
Britain and the United States": New York, 1886.
[92] Tate Wilkinson says she played Calista, and sang a song after
the tragedy.
[93] It is generally held that Wilkinson himself gave her the name of
Jordan.
[94] Should be 1794-95.
[95] I do not know any reason for saying that he was in want.
[96] Should be 1796. The date was 25th June.
[97] 1824, 31st May.
[98] Mrs. Lefanu's "Prejudice" may be added.
[99] That is, no new piece of any importance.
[100] There were at Covent Garden also Young, and Mrs. Jordan.
[Illustration: COVENT GARDEN THEATRE.]