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usage, I appear once more before you. Even if I were without precedent for the discharge of this act of duty, it is one which my own feelings would irresistibly urge upon me; for as I look back on my professional career, I see in it but one continuous record of indulgence and support extended to me, cheering me in my onward progress, and upholding me in my most trying emergencies. I have therefore been desirous of offering you my parting acknowledgments for the partial kindness with which my humble efforts have uniformly been received, and for a life made happier by your favour. The distance of five-and-thirty years has not dimmed the recollection of the encouragement which gave fresh 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 those artists whose superior excellence I ungrudgingly admitted, admired, and honoured. That encouragement helped to place me, in respect to privileges and emolument, on a footing with my distinguished competitors. With the growth of time your favour seemed to grow; and, undisturbed in my hold on your opinion, from year to year I found friends more closely and thickly clustering around me. My ambition to establish a theatre, in regard to decorum and taste, worthy of our country, and to have in it the plays of our divine Shakspere fitly illustrated, was frustrated by those whose duty it was, in virtue of the trust committed to them, themselves to have undertaken the task. But some good seeds have yet been sown; and in the zeal and creditable productions of certain of our present managers, we have assurance that the corrupt editions and unseemly presentations of past days will never be restored, but that the purity of our great poet's text will henceforward be held on our English stage in the reverence it ever should command. I have little more to say. By some the relation of an actor to his audience is considered slight and transient. I do not feel so. The repeated manifestation, under circumstances personally affecting me, of your favourable sentiments towards me, will live with life among my most grateful memories; and, because I would not willingly abate one jot in 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 my better years. Words-at least such as I can command-are ineffectual to convey my thanks. In offering them, you will believe I feel far more than I give utterance to. With sentiments of the deepest gratitude I take my leave, bidding you, ladies and gentlemen, in my professional capacity, with regret and most respectfully, farewell."

On the Saturday following, March 1st, the farewell dinner was given to him in the Hall of Commerce. There were present,-Sir E. Bulwer Lytton, Bart. (the chairman), Mr. Monckton Milnes, M.P., the Marquis of Clanricarde, John Forster, Esq., A. Fonblanque, Esq., Clarkson Stanfield, Esq., R.A., W. J. Fox, Esq., M.P., the Chevalier Bunsen, Sir C. Eastlake, P.R.A., W. M. Thackeray, Esq., Sir Edwin Landseer, R.A., C. Landseer, Esq., R.A., Thomas Landseer, Esq., R.A., D. Maclise, Esq., R.A., C. Dickens, Esq., Lord Ward, Charles Kemble, Esq., Lieut-General Sir John Wilson, Captain Sir George Back, R.N., George Robert Rowe. M.D., &c., &c. Sir Edward Lytton Bulwer, the chairman, made an eloquent speech, the concluding portion of which we give:

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More than all this, Mr. Macready has sought to rally round him the dramatic writers of the day, and this brought him (the chairman) from the merits of the actor to the merits of the manager. He recurred to that brief but glorious time when the British drama promised to revive under Mr. Macready's management, and gave brighter hopes to the future; when by the exercise of taste, the gorgeous scenery and magnificent appointments, those revivals were attempted which displayed the extraordinary agencies employed by the all-powerful Prospero, or when the Knight of Agincourt exhibited again the pomp of the feudal ages. But not only had Mr. Macready understood the value of representing such gorgeous scenes as those; he had also purified the audiences, and for the first time since the reign of Charles the Second, the father of a family might safely take his children to that gentleman's theatre, where the same decorum was observed as at the residence of a friend-(applause)-and well had that, effort been appreciated! It was

for this reason that the late Bishop of Norwich had made the personal acquaintance of Mr. Macready, in order that he might thank him for the benefit he had conferred upon society; and he could not refer to that period without a pang. Had Mr. Macready remained, it would have been proved that there was no want of encouragement for the drama, because he had himself told them that his houses were overcrowded, but that the enormous rent charged, and the exactions to which he was subjected, had made the difference between profit and loss. It was not for him to speak of the state of things which existed in respect to this subject now. It involved considerations with regard to the patents that were given to certain houses for the alleged purpose of maintaining, in this metropolis, the legitimate drama, whilst it tended in reality to obstruct it. (Hear, hear.) He would now speak of Macready as a man. Of those virtues which adorned him, and which were known only in secret, it appeared out of place to speak upon public occasions; yet there were some virtues which were not called "private," and accompany a man everywhere, and formed an essential part of his character. Of these it became them to speak, and as they had met that day to do honour to their guest, to encourage his devotion to pure ends, to acknowledge his high ambition and manly independence, and to testify their appreciation of that honour which had never known a stain. They could not disguise from themselves that a great prejudice existed against actors, but in their noble guest they had a man who had never fallen into the weakness of an actor, who had never stooped to court the patronage of the great, but had obtained the position of an accomplished gentleman-who had never stooped to court any patronage greater than that of the public, nor ever courted the smile which fashion only humiliated when it was extended to the genius which it was intended to protect, and having so comported himself through life, he had placed the profession to which he belonged, in its proper rank amongst the liberal arts; and hence it was that, in glancing over the list of stewards that day, he found it contained every element of rank, genius, and distinction-distinguished ministers of foreign nations, noble peers, the veterans of those professions of

which honour was the lifespring. (Great applause.) Mr. Macready retired in the midst of his triumphs, and though he was about to leave them, it could not be said he had fallen into the sear and yellow leaf'—it could not be said that he had that which accompanied old age he left them honoured and beloved by troops of friends, and, therefore, he trusted that they would postpone, for that night, all selfish regret, and think only of the brightness of the sun which was about to set. He called upon them to drink with full glasses, and fuller hearts, health, happiness, and long life to William Macready."

In his reply Mr. Macready professed to be overcome by the kindness and honour they had done him, and gave a noble estimate of the position which the intellectual actor should hold.

"I am really too much overpowered, I am really too much overcome, to attempt to detain you long, but with the reflection, and under the conviction that our drama is the noblest in the world, and that it can never lose its place from the stage while the English” language shall last, I would venture to express a parting hope that the rising actors would keep the loftiest look, and would hold the most elevated views of the duties of their calling. I would hope that they would struggle to elevate their rank, and with it raise themselves above the level of the player's easy life to public regard and distinction. To effect this creditable purpose they must bring resolution, energy, untiring labour to their work. They must be content to spurn delight, and live laborious days. The oak must sink in the stubborn earth its roots ere it lifts its branches to the skies. This, I am sure, was the doctrine of Siddons and of Talma, and this is the faith which I have ever held as one of their humblest disciples. (Cheers.) I am drawn into a remark or two with reference to the two patent theatres, a subject on which my friend, the chairman, has so kindly dilated. I wish to say, that there is a little preamble of these patents, which recites, as a condition of the grant, that the theatres shall be for the promotion of virtue and instruction to the human race.' I think those are the words. I can only say, it was my ambition, to the best of my ability, to obey that injunction; and, believing in the principle that property has its duties as well as its rights,

I conceived that the proprietors should Drury Lane, extending over four seahave co-operated with me. They, how-sons, only three pieces survive; and ever, thought otherwise, and I was re- indeed, not many more were attempted luctantly compelled to relinquish, on-spectacular revivals substituting oridisadvantageous terms, myl y half-achieved ginal production. These three plays enterprise. Others may take up that gave two new authors to the stage, Sir incompleted work, and if inquiry be Edward Bulwer Lytton, and Mr. Marssought for one best qualified to under-ton; the first, one who had previously take the task, I should seek him in a commanded a position on it,-the theatre which, for eight years, he has second, a young and untried poet, who raised from its degraded condition-in has since amply justified the manager's that theatre which he has raised high preference. The only living writer, bein the public estimation, not only as to sides who owes his present dramatic the intelligence and respectability of existence to Mr. Macready, is Sir Thothe audiences, but by the learned and mas Talfourd. tasteful spirit of his productions. With a heart more full than the glass which I raise to my lips, I return you my most grateful thanks for the honour you have done me."

We have not mentioned, as almost unworthy of record, the very serious disturbance in America, occasioned by the admirers of Mr. Forrest, offering a violent opposition to Mr. Macready in his performance. But the quarrels of authors have been recorded, and those of actors should have a Parthian glance thrown at them ere we close. Suffice it to say, that in New York, Mr. Macready had such a riotous opposition in the Theatre from the partizans of Forrest, that he was driven from the stage, and obliged to seek safety in flight. Nor did the affray end here. The military were called out, and were obliged to fire upon the mob, occasioning, we believe, loss of

his hotel, and immediately sailed from those shores, which had in every other instance proved to him so hospitable.

It would be unjust to take leave of Mr. Macready, without enumerating the original plays which he has been, either directly or indirectly, instrumental in producing, and estimating thereby the amount of benefit which the new drama of England has received from his patronage. Earliest on the list is, we believe, the tragedy of 'Mirandola,' by Barry Cornwall,-and next Sheridan Knowles's Virginius.' Then comes Haynes's 'Damon and Pythias,' Shiel's 'Huguenot,' Miss Mitford's 'Julian,' life. Mr. Macready in disguise reached Knowles's Caius Gracchus' and 'William Tell,' Byron's 'Werner,' Knowles's 'Alfred the Great,' Browning's 'Stafford,' Byron's Sardanapalus,' Lovell's Pro- Mr. Macready's personal appearance vost of Bruges,' Talfourd's 'Ion,' Bul- is striking; his forehead is broad and wer's 'Duchess de la Valliere' and high; his eye small, but full of fire; 'Lady of Lyons,' Knowles's 'Woman's his nose is the most faulty feature of Wit, Byron's Two Foscari,' Bulwer's his face; his lips are constantly com'Richelieu' and 'Sea Captain,' pressed, giving to his face a determinaHaynes's Mary Stuart,' Talfourd's tion, which is borne out by an abrupt Athenian Captive,' and Glencoe.' and somewhat harsh manner. His Serle's Master Clarke, Bulwer's Money,' figure, though tall, is not graceful, and Troughton's 'Nina Sforza, Gisippus,' he appears to disadvantage in modern by the author of 'The Collegians,' Dar- costume. ley's Plighted Troth,' Byron's Doge On the retirement of Mr. Macready of Venice,' Marston's Patrician's from the stage, the newspapers were Daughter,' Knowles's 'Secretary,' Brow-full of sketches of his life, and of critining's 'Blot on the Scutcheon,' White's cisms on his acting. The majority of King of the Commons,' and Taylor's these papers were laudatory, and perPhilip Van Artevelde.'

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haps too much So. But on the Of these, how many have retained other hand, some severely commented possession of the stage?- Virginius,' on his behaviour to his brother acDamon and Pythias,' William Tell,' tors, and especially on his hauteur, "Werner,' Ion,' The Lady of Lyons,' and distant and proud bearing toRichelieu, Money, and The Patri- wards the younger professors of his cian's Daughter,'-nine out of a list of art. With this kind of criticism we thirty-three. Of Mr. Macready's own have nothing to do, but the ablest managements at Covent Garden and purely critical paper we insert, recom

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mended as it is, by its acute analysis and poetical appreciation and moreover by a personal knowledge of the actor, and opportunities which few others could have had.

those only a limited number: grief on its petulant side, rage on its demoniac, pathos and affection, but all modifications of himself, not representations of a person. Thus all his performances are alike; and are only variations of certain general characteristics, such as a straddling totter for age, and a defiant gait for youth. Now this generalizing personification is the mode of the old French tragedies, and of our vague and vapid dramas founded on them. Therein we have the general, but not the particular. In all Shakespeare's cha

fect man, as true as if we had known him fifty years. No mere tyrant, no mere age, no mere youth. Shakespeare created his style; it was his in its full perfection alone; and probably will so for ever remain.

"A career of thirty-four years admits of many vicissitudes; we can remember the whole of Mr. Macready's, though many years his junior. We have witnessed its entirety as amateur and critic; and may have said in a slight degree to have participated in it. We have seen him on and off the stage; have enacted a Shakesperean part to him; have seen him in the green room;racters we have the particular. A perhave constantly criticised him in all the new parts, and studied him in the old; and have thus as intimate an acquaintance with his stage life as is well possible for a public writer to have. We have no feud with him, for we never were in a position to quarrel; we have no partiality, for we only know him as an artist. Thus sure, if truth is to be found in criticism, it might be hoped for in this memorial; and we are desirous to record an opinion that, unbiassed by either a base or a generous partizanship, shall give a faithful character of one who has filled so prominent a part in theatrical matters.

"It may be said, in answer to the charge of the want of personification, that Mr. Macready has a great deal of reality; that he is logically correct. True; but we want imaginative truth, and not harsh facts. It is true Macbeth might find his state of man shaken when he goes to murder Duncan, but he is very different from a cowardly burglar. Lear is a choleric, barbaric chief, "It is now only to consider the oft- but he would not bully every one he mooted question,-is Mr. Macready a comes near. lago is a designing ruffian, Shakesperean actor? Or, in other but he is not an exaggeration of deceit. words, is he an actor of the highest No rationale in the world will supply genius? To this we must reply in the the want of an entire and perfect imanegative; and our reason is, that he is ginative conception. Neither Brown essentially a man of great and culti-nor Dugald Stewart could supply lanvated talents but has little impulsive guage nor logic to make Hamlet comgenius. To elucidate Shakespeare re-prehensible to a mere mathematical quires something of the same plasticity inind. For these reasons we must say, of imagination, the same wonderful as Godwin said of James I., Mr. quality of conception,-a facility minute and keen in its operation, but easy as a cheverel glove;' as bounteous, as full of spirits, as graceful, as prodigal in the richness of its fancy, as the poet himself. No actor can study himself into Shakespeare. He must have the lightning flash which reveals all at a glance. There is no reducing his perfect creations to an analytical process. Now, truly, it seems to us that to Mr. Macready is denied plasticity. He has not the essential attribute of an actor. He cannot personate. He has not a particle of the Protean power. Instead of being subdued to the character, he subdues the character to himself. Like Le Brun he can give you certain abstract passions, but of

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Macready has chosen a wrong trade.
It is true he has professionally suc-
ceeded; but he has not artistically. He
has won his way to a high position;
by what means principally, we have
shown. He has commanded admirers;
and, to a certain extent, deservedly, we
do not deny. But it is not for his
powers as a personator-as an actor;
but for merits and demerits that are the
very contrary of those of a great or true
actor. He is a capital reciter; he has
a vehemence that kindles emotion. He
has strong powers of declamation. He
appears thoroughly in earnest.
knows how to suddenly introduce a
reality of action or tone, that surprises
the unreflecting and the unimagina
tive into admiration. Still it is Mr,

He

Macready we hear, see, and know under that phase. He has the power of a declaimer, an orator, a rhetorician, but not of an actor. His self-consciousness is of a most robustious kind. His personality is utterly unsubduable. He is a very clever man who has a perfectly logical perception of the author's utterance; but has no power to embody that and lose himself. As, however, the vehement religious enthusiast excites the generality of the audience who hear him, because emotion of whatever kind is contagious, so do all vehement actors. Such expression may not convey the idea intended by the author, but if it call up a strong sensation it will pass for excellence. Most persons like to be mentally exited; and are careless of the means. And those not easily excited are led frequently by a common-place logic, and banishing the idea of illusion, or being impervious to it, make an analysis of the performance, and are satisfied if the facts cohere rationally. Neither of these states answer to that which the appreciator of Shakspeare must be in. To him must be awarded some portion of that plastic imagination belonging to the poet himself. The suggestive power of the dramatist leads him to weave for himself the pictures and the characters before him. He is neither carried away by a spurious enthusiasm, nor misled by the untimely contagion of some abstract emotion; nor is he the slave of a low logic which turns the action of the piece into an arithmetical problem. But the play and the performance is as a fine strain of music; as a noble and a cohering stream. It is never thought of as a reality. The vision is perfect as the creation of magic, and melts away into the same unsubstantiality. It is a thing of the soul and not of the body.

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"Such being our notions of acting and the drama, we have never been able to see in Mr. Macready the true Shakesperean power. But we have always acknowledged in him strong prosaic talents. Capacity to kindle and move mixed audiences by an abstract expression of some of the passions, considerable acquirements, stage intelligence, and the utmost comprehension of his author that a highly-cultivated understanding could give. But we must conclude, as we began, by saying that his imaginative power is small, and that consequently he lacks entirely the power of personification; and that he is consequently rugged, disjointed, fragmentary, and inharmonious; a forcible declaimer and expounder, but not a poet, and consequently not an actor."

In reviewing the past life of a man who has won so high a position and in so arduous a profession as Mr. Macready, we cannot but be struck with admiration and gratitude when we consider that he has never done anything to degrade but on the contrary everything to elevate his art-he has endeavoured in every way to depress any vicious tendency which exists either on the stage or in the lives of those who are devoted to it; he has shown by his own conduct that an actor has a profession which is elevating, instructive, and moral, and which, if rightly professed, might be brought to the aid of the pulpit itself. Schlegel has well remarked that "the life of an actor is but the record of his art," and if this life presents few romantic incidents, no great contrasts of poverty or wealth, no vivid struggles to emancipate a people, or deep study to reform the laws, it yet shows the earnest devotion of one to a noble, though a misunderstood art, and his continued and unremitting attempts crowned with a partial success, to rescue it from the contempt and degradation to which professors less worthy than himself had reduced it.

H. G.

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