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THE

EDINBURGH MAGAZINE,

AND

LITERARY MISCELLANY.

MAY 1826.

ADDITIONAL NOTICE OF THE REMINISCENCES OF MICHAEL KELLY.

[Some months ago we inserted a hurried notice of this very amusing work, with various extracts from its pages; and we would owe an apology to our readers for recurring to the same subject, had not the present notice been since furnished to us. by a Gentleman whom we are not at liberty to name, but who, we assure our read. ers, holds a distinguished place in the annals of Scottish literature. We gladly avail ourselves of the efforts of his pen, and we feel satisfied that our readers will be both highly pleased and instructed by perusing the following paper.]

No publications are more popular in Britain, and we may say also in France, than those relating to the drama and the stage. I reckon it fortunate that it is so, because such reading is an amusement of an inno cent, and it may be said an improving kind. It is a department of literature level to all ranks, and the perusal of such books is an amusement of a more innocent kind than

many others, to which persons who have time to spare which they know not how to employ, sometimes devote their hours. The work of Colley Cibber, himself an admirable comic actor, as well as author, is one of the most entertaining in the English language; entertaining as a history of the Stage, as an account of the great actors, and as a piece of criticism, both of those actors and of the works in which they played. The present work of Mr Kelly, though much inferior to that just mentioned, is similar to it in subject, and in the number of theatrical anecdotes which it details. These are particularly interesting to those who, like the writer of this article, knew most of the theatrical performers of whom the anecdotes are told. In the musical department of the drama, the talents, as well as the eminent station

VOL. XVIII.

of the author, make him a high authority, and a well-informed narrator. It is but justice to his work to add, that he seems an impartial as well as a competent historian, or if he errs on any side, it is on that of the good-natured one, pleased, seemingly, with any opportunity of giving praise, and exceedingly sparing of

censure.

Besides the portraits and anecdotes of the performers on the mimic stage, his book contains anecdotes of many principal characters in the great drama of the world. Of those of whom he principally records the conduct, as well as the writings and witticisms, is Mr Sheridan, whom his situation gave him the best opportunity of knowing. This book is in truth a valuable supplement to Moore's Life of that extraordinary man; and, though the narrative of a zealous friend, profuse of commendation, and sparing of censure, is yet more according to the truth of biography. One is sorry to see, that every new anecdote related in this and other publications on the subject, only shews the unwarrantable conduct of Mr Sheridan: perhaps it would not be too strong a word to call his abilities, in the way of deception and shift against his creditors, 3 T

the tricks of a swindler; had he been a man of lower rank, some of these were so flagrant, that they might have been attended with very serious consequences; but by Sheridan himself, as well as his biographers, these are told as mere jeux d'esprit-as ingenious contrivances-as exertions, not of trick or deception, but of genius and cleverness; productive of jokes or bon-mots, which are set down to his credit as a wit, not as blots upon his character. Some of those instances of fraud (for they really deserve that appellation) are meant to be laughed at by the sufferer; but the gentlest (much too gentle) censure that can be passed on them is in the words of the wellknown fable, "it might be joke to the practiser of the fraud, but death to those unfortunate persons on whom the fraud was practised." How many of Mr Sheridan's creditors were in want of bread, from his evading payment of his just debts, while he was revelling in gay parties, at dinners of three courses, washed down with Champagne and Burgundy! but the less serious and more thoughtless reader is amused with the ingenuity of the device, and has no feeling for the distress of the sufferer.

The example of such a character is extremely hurtful in a moral point of view; it is like the effects of his School for Scandal, to which we may apply the saying of Richardson, perhaps with more justice than the works of Fielding, to which he applied his dictum," that the virtues of such a character are the vices of an honest man ;" if any consequence is to be attached to dramatic writing, that surely must be hurtful which ridicules virtue as hypocrisy, and makes vice fascinating under the semblance of sincerity and generosity. One praise we must allow Mr Sheridan, for some parts of his conduct to which the public has not done justice, he was a good son, a zealous friend, and to one wife at least a tender and attentive husband. "I never beheld more poignant grief, (says Mr Kelly,) than Mr Sheridan felt for his beloved wife; and though the world, which knew him only as a public man, will perhaps scarcely credit the fact, I have

seen him, night after night, sit

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stray where the dew falls, through moon-lighted groves,

And list to the nightingale's song, Her plaints still remind me of long-banish'd joys,

gone.

And the sweets of the days that are Each dew-drop that steals from the dark eye of night

Is a tear for the bliss that is flown; While others cull blossoms, I find but a blight,

And sigh for the days that are gone.

It has been sometimes alleged as an excuse (though it is a very lame one) for his conduct, that Sheridan was indolent and inattentive (the great vice of his nature) where himself was concerned, and where those qualities were highly unfavourable to his reputation or his interest. A very striking instance of this is told by Kelly. An anonymous article was published against him in the Public Advertiser. Sheridan told Woodfall, the editor of that paper, that it was badly and clumsily done, and promised to write an article for insertion in that journal, as coming from an anonymous correspondent, giving a character of himself as unfavourable, but more ably written, to which afterwards he would send an answer, which would fully vindicate himself from the conduct which the first anonymous correspondent had narrated. Woodfall immedately inserted the first-mentioned article

containing the charge; but Sheridan, though often asked for the answer, was too indolent or inattentive ever to furnish it; so it remained uncontradicted.

Another not less striking example of the same extraordinary inattention is told in the second volume. He was appointed to attend the Prince of Wales at eleven o'clock of the succeeding day; and to make sure of keeping that appointment, seeming to him a very early one, he lay at Kelly's house, and was to be called in the morning at such an hour as to be in time for the appointment; but having found at Kelly's a batch of wine, of which he partook very largely, he did not rise till the even ing, and the Prince, after repeated messages, went to Windsor without him.

The failings of Sheridan are matters of such notoriety, that it may seem unnecessary to have mentioned them but there is one weakness which, if one did not know the strange inconsistencies of the human mind, one could hardly believe, which Kelly's book has first let the world know, namely, the superstition of Sheridan. He could never be prevailed on to commence any business on a Friday, which he reckoned an unlucky day, and expressed no surprise at a family distress which happened on that day of the week, as a natural consequence of such a horoscopical imprudence.

Sheridan's, negligence and irregularity were very properly censured, though in an indirect manner, by the present Chancellor, on occasion of Mr Sheridan pleading his own cause in a motion about the theatre of Drury-lane. After passing a high eulogium on the genius and abilities of Sheridan, the Chancellor quoted the conclusion of Dr Johnson's life of Savage: "Negligence and irregularity, long continued, make knowledge useless, wit ridiculous, and genius contemptible."

Sheridan, though his elaborate preparation for his speeches in Parliament, and the wit of his comedies, have been fully brought out in Mr Moore's life of him, was readier than most men in repartee, of which Kelly gives several instances. When the famous dog Carlo was brought on

the stage as a performer in a piece of Reynold's, Dignum, who had a part in it, said to Mr Sheridan with a woeful countenance,

"Sir, there is no guarding against illness, it is truly lamentable to stop the run of a successful piece like this; but really" "Really what?" cried Sheridan, interrupting him.

"I am so unwell," continued Dignum, "that I cannot go on longer than tonight."

"You!" exclaimed Sheridan; "my good fellow, you terrified me; I thought you were going to say that the dog was taken ill."

Kelly, as if inspired by his subject, ventures now and then to insert puns of his own, but they are generally very bad.

Sheridan delighted to introduce stories, frequently of his own invention, illustrative of the blundering character of his countrymen, the Irish. He told Kelly, that, coming out very late one night from Brookes's, the last of the company, he found some Irish chairmen shivering in the cold at the door, waiting in expectation of a fare. He advised them to go home, as nobody was left in the house. "We know that," said one of the chairmen; "but perhaps there may be some gentlemen coming out." The Duchess of Devonshire asked him if his friend Kelly had been much hurt from the accident of a fall by a piece of machinery on the stage giving way. "I have just left him," answered Sheridan, "in good health and spirits; but he puzzled me with a question which I could not answer: Supposing I had been killed by the fall, who would have maintained me for the rest of my life?"" His talent for getting rid of the importunity of his creditors is exemplified in the following anecdote :

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We were one day in earnest conversation, close to the gate of the path which was then open to the public, leading across the church-yard of St. Paul's, Covent Garden, from King Street to Henrietta-Street, when Mr Holloway, who was a creditor of Sheridan's to a considerable amount, came up to us on horseback, and accosted Sheridan in a tone of something more like anger than sorrow, and complained that he never could get admittance when he called,

vowing vengeance against the infernal Swiss, Monsieur François, if he did not let him in the next time he went to Hertford-Street.

Holloway was really in a passion. Sheridan knew that he was vain of his judgment in horse flesh, and without taking any notice of the violence of his manner, burst into an exclamation upon the beauty of the horse which he rode :he struck the right chord.

"Why," said Holloway, "I think I may say there never was a prettier creature than this. You were speaking to me, when I last saw you, about a horse for Mrs Sheridan, now this would be a treasure for a lady."

"Does he canter well?" said Sheri

dan.

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The moment his back was turned, Sheridan wished me good-morning, and went off through the church-yard, where no horse could follow, into Bedford-Street, laughing immoderately, as indeed did

several standers.by. The only person not entertained by this practical joke was Mr Holloway himself.

It were endless to cite instances of this power in Sheridan of wheedling his creditors so as to make them forego or delay their demands. One should have thought that frequent disappointments would have hardened them against it; but even tradesmen forgot their demands, and went still farther than that, as the following anecdote, in which Kelly was particularly concerned, will shew: The roast of oysters shews the light estimation in which he held that obligation which a man of rectitude would feel to pay his just debts, as does another anecdote told by Kelly.

One day I called upon him, and requested he would let me have a little money; he put me off, as usual, with promising he would let me have some tomorrow. To-morrow was always his favourite pay-day; but, like the trust day at a French inn, that morrow never did I see. In the midst of all this, he told me how much he was pleased with

Tom Welsh, (then a boy,) and his singing "Angels, ever bright and fair," the night before. "He should be encou raged," said he: "go and tell him, that, in addition to his salary, I shall send him a present of £.200, and you shall take it to him." "Shall I ?" said I, (making the quotation from Lionel and Clarissa), "I think the horough may be disposed of to a worthier candidate ;" but neither Welsh nor I ever got a halfpenny of the money.

This is the generosity of Charles Surface!

It was never supposed that Sheridan, himself a writer of satire and lampoons, would be much affected by any thing which the newspapers could say of him; but it appears from Kelly's account of him, that

No man was ever more sore and frightened at criticism than he was, from his first outset in life. He dreaded the newspapers, and always courted their friendship. I have many times heard him say, "Let me but have the periodi. cal press on my side, and there should be nothing in this country which I would not accomplish.".

vourable trait of Sheridan's characOne is glad to meet with any fa pected, was his candour with regard ter; one of which he was never susto Cumberland, who was well known to be his bitter enemy.

land produced, at Drury-Lane Theatre, On the 3d of May, 1808, Mr Cumber. a piece entitled "The Jew of Mogadore," to which I composed the music. It was with great reluctance that the Board of Management at Drury-Lane accepted it: therefore, when I had finished the music of the first act, I rested upon my oars until I knew their final determination. I

met Mr Sheridan one day in EssexStreet in the Strand, and told him of it.

Hedesired me to go on with it by all means, "For," said he, "if the opera should fail, you will fall with a fine classical

scholar, and elegant writer, as well as a sound dramatist," (such was his expressed opinion of Cumberland's abilities.) "Go instantly," continued he, "to those discerning critics, who call them. selves the Board of Management,' and tell them from me, if you please, that they are all asses, to presume to sit in judgment on the writings of such a man as Cumberland; and say, further, that I order the opera to be accepted, and put into rehearsal."

"And pray, Sir," said I," in what

light am I to view this Board of Management?'-What are they?" "Pegs to hang hats upon," said Sheridan.

The closing scene of Sheridan's life, like that of some dramas, is calculated to do poetical justice to the honest and the virtuous. The miserable situation of his last days shews strongly the punishment which, even in this world, awaits the man who has lived without regard to truth or honesty, to the sense of right, and the obligations of virtue. Had he conducted himself otherwise, had he been less dissipated, less extravagant, less unjust in his extravagance, what happiness might he not have enjoyed, endowed as he was with splendid talents, befriended by the great, admired by the fair, lifted early in life into a situation calculated to lead to the highest honours of the State, and flattered with such a reception of his writings and speeches as was sufficient to satisfy the most inordinate appetite for fame!

We have been more full on the subject of Sheridan than the purpose of this article might seem to warrant, because those anecdotes of that singular man, told by an intimate friend, may serve to correct the omissions, we may perhaps say, the misrepresentations of Mr Moore's book. Mr Moore, certainly, to say the least of the defects of his book, has merited but half the commendation of the Roman historian, "Nequid falsi audeat dicere, nequid veri non audeat." He has left out much of the veri which Mr Kelly's Reminiscences have brought to light.

Cumberland was another writer of eminence, of whom our Reminiscencer relates many anecdotes. The singular weaknesses of his character are strongly brought out in the course of the author's communications with him ".

An anecdote, very like that of Diogenes, and the pig under his cloak, is told in a note on page 133 of the second volume.

The second act of Blue Beard opened with a view of the Spahi's horses, at a

distance; these horses were admirably made of pasteboard, and answered every purpose for which they were wanted. One morning, Mr Sheridan, John Kem. ble, and myself, went to the propertyroom of Drury-Lane Theatre, and there found Johnston, the able and ingenious machinist, at work upon the horses, and on the point of beginning the elephant, which was to carry Blue Beard. Mr Sheridan said to Johnston,-" Don't you think, Johnston, you had better go to Pidcock's, at Exeter 'Change, and hire an elephant for a number of nights ?" "Not 1, Sir," replied the enthusiastic

machinist; "if I cannot make a better

deserve to be hanged.” elephant than that at Exeter 'Change, I

The distresses of actors at the commencement of a career afterwards extremely successful, is strongly exemplified in the following anecdote of John Kemble and the manager of a strolling company, named Watson, a great friend and ally of his.

At one time they were in such distress, that they were fain to go into a turnip field, and eat the raw turnips to assuage

their hunger. While regaling on this raw vegetable, they hit upon a scheme to recruit their finances, and a lucky turnup it turned out.

It was neither more

nor less, than that John Kemble should turn methodist preacher, and Watson perform the part of clerk,

Their scheme was organized; and Tewkesbury was their first scene of ac tion. They drew together, in a field, a numerous congregation; and Kemble preached with such piety, and so much effect, that positively a large collection This anecdote rewarded his labours. Kemble himself told me was perfectly

true.

The author's fondness for good wine is often exhibited, and such, indeed, seems to be the passion of almost all musicians, of which we have had too many instances nearer home. Kelly never fails to mention the places and houses where the best wine was to be had. After mentioning the beautiful prospect from Montefiascone,—

The prospect (says he) most interesting to me was the vineyard. The wines of Montefiascone are considered exquisite,

▪ To this subject we formerly adverted at considerable length, and we do not now prop ose to return to it.

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