Зображення сторінки
PDF
ePub

George, that, on hearing of the graceful manner in which he delivered his first speech from the throne, he exclaimed, with pride and exultation, "Ah, I taught the boy to speak."

On the 4th of January, 1749, the children of his Royal Highness, with the aid of some of the juvenile branches of the nobility, performed the tragedy of "Cato," before their royal parents and a numerous audience of distinguished personages. The following were the dramatis personæ on this interesting occasion :

[blocks in formation]

Previous to the rising of the curtain, Prince George, then eleven years of age, came forward, and delivered an appropriate prologue. After the tragedy, Prince Edward delivered a clever epilogue, which concluded this juvenile histrionic display.

JAMES MILLER.

JAMES MILLER, a dramatic writer, who died in 1744, was the author of ten plays, three of which were performed for thirty nights each in succession; yet he was left to starve, unless he would purchase competence at the price of his independence, which he nobly refused.

THE ROASTED GHOST.

WHEN Garrick performed in Goodman's-fields, the stage was what might be called a rapid descent to the pit, and was very difficult to walk on. As fate would have it, it was the practice of all the ghosts to appear in real armour. The dress for this most august personage had, one night, in honour of Garrick's Hamlet, been borrowed from the Tower, and was somewhat stiff, partaking of the nature of its material. The moment the King of Denmark was put up from the stage door, unable to keep his balance, he rolled down to the lamps, where he lay confined in fires somewhat too lasting, until a wag, in the pit, drew the attention of the other performers to the pitiable object, by crying out, "The ghost will be burned."

[graphic][merged small][subsumed]

KOTZEBUE.

THE best dramatic productions of this unfortunate author were written when he was in his 26th year; after which time he sunk, without any assignable cause, into a depression of spirits, which soon degenerated into a confirmed melancholy. His passion for the drama alone preserved its empire over him, and it was during that period that he wrote "The Stranger," and "Lover's Vows." The former, he wrote during the height of his disorder. "Never, (says he,) either before or since, did I feel such a rapid flow of thoughts and images; and I firmly believe, that there are some maladies, especially those by which the irritation of the nerves is increased, which stretch the powers of the mind beyond their usual reach; just as, report says, diseased muscles' shells produce pearls."

66 THE MAN OF THE WORLD."

THIS comedy, by Macklin, was long performed under its original title of "The True-born Scotsman" (bear in mind, Macklin was an Irishman ;) and was so announced at the Capel Street Theatre, Dublin, 1771; when the author played Sir Pertinax Mac Sycophant.

« НазадПродовжити »