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CONTENTS.
BOOK THE FIRST.
CHAPTER I.
Preliminary reflections. His birth. The author's recollections of his
parents. His acting when a child.
Kemble never intended for the stage.
at Douay. His studies. His memory.
bon. Kemble. Comes to England.
ton. ·
Play of Charles the First. Mr.
His education. Notices of him
Original bent of mind. Gib-
First efforts. Bishop Warbur-
pp. 1-11
CHAP. II.
His York engagement. His writings for the stage. Orestes. His portrait
by Stuart. Lord Percy's interference for Mr. Kemble. Mrs. Mason in
Zenobia. Miss Eleanora S., her behaviour and its perplexing conse-
quences. Kemble's manliness. Sharp contest. Dr. Burgh, General St.
Leger. General reflections on such annoyances. Lunatic asylum. Kem-
ble's prologue. Mr. Inchbald's death. Mr. Kemble's fugitive pieces in
1780. Theatrical fete. Mr. Kemble's Irish engagement. Digges.
Mrs. Crawford. Mrs. Siddons. Miss Philips and her champion. 12-28
CHAP. III.
Drury-
Its
Mr. Kemble arrives in town. State of our theatres as to talent.
Lane. Smith, Fine gentleman in comedy. Change of manners.
effects upon former comedies. John Palmer. Dodd. Bensley. King.
Parsons. The Critic. Its first night. Moral sensitiveness of the audi-
ence. Sheridan an unexpected imitator of Dr. Barrow. The passages
compared.
29-39
CHAP. IV.
Covent Garden. Lewis. Wroughton. F. Aickin. Quick. Edwin. Hen,
derson. His analytic power exemplified in Sterne, in Falstaff. Sportive
inventions in private Garrick and Dr. Johnson. The ode on Shakspeare.
His readings. The impressions left upon the author's mind. The lead-
C**
ing actresses. Miss Farren. Delicacy her great feature. Miss Pope.
Mrs. Abington. Her enjouement on the stage. Mrs. Mattocks. Miss
Younge.
40-50
CHAP. V.
Mr. Kemble's first appearance in London. Hamlet. Preeminence of the
character. Cast of the play. Originality of his Hamlet. Compared
with Garrick and Henderson. Mr. Steevens's petulance. Misstatement
of a passage. Dr. Johnson with Mr. Kemble. The exclamation upon
Points in Mr. Kemble's Hamlet continued. Hamlet's Ghost.
Why he is drest in armour. Pneumatology of Shakspeare's age.
rick's alteration of Hamlet.
man.
Gar-
51-65
CHAP. VI.
Mr. Kemble's range of parts at this period very limited. The Black
Prince. His sister, Miss E. Kemble. Mrs. Siddons and her amazing ex-
ertions. Her original appearance in 1775 Mr. Siddons. The published
acknowledgment of the great actress. Johnstone in Irish characters.
The Yates's. Whimsical letter of Yates on newspaper hints. Return of
Mrs. Crawford. Compared with Mrs. Siddons. Mr. Kemble in Richard
III. Sir Giles Overreach. King John. The critics. Mr. Kemble's
scene with Hubert. Mrs. Siddons in Constance. Her majestic sorrows.
Beverly. The other theatre. Massinger's picture. More Ways Than
One. Poor Soldier. State of our theatres. Mrs. Siddons in Lady Ran-
dolph. Its beauties. 66-83
CHAP. VII.
Mrs. Abington. Her Lady Betty Modish. Lillo. Comedy of Reparation.
Mrs Cargill, lost in the packet, returning from India. Details of that
event. Mrs. Siddons in the Countess of Salisbury. Hall Hartshorn,
whether the real author of that play Her next choice, Thomson's Sigis-
munda. The prologue to this play examined. Mrs. Siddons's perform-
ance of the heroine, its beauties. Exhibition of her portrait in the tra-
gic muse. Mr. Kemble never sat to Sir Joshua Reynolds. Compared at
that time with his sister. His habits and studies. Love of accuracy.
Macnally's Robin Hood. Commemoration of Handel. Cowper's censure
controverted. Ardour of Mrs. Siddons. Mrs. Abington. Lord Mans-
field. Macklin. The great decision as to the rights of audience and
84-97
actor.
CHAP. VIII.
Mr. Kemble's acting. Its peculiar character. The great and beautiful in
art. Vulgar nature. Macbeth. Academic style. Melody. Familiar
touches in diction. Sir Joshua Reynolds quoted in support of the au-
thor's opinions. Colman's season, 1784. Two to One. Mrs. Inchbald.
Holcroft's Noble Peasant. Hayley's Lord Russel. Miss Kemble. George
Steevens. Anecdote of Palmer in this play. Mr. Steevens's furious
prejudice against Mrs. Siddons Hayley's want of delicacy and incon-
sistency exposed. Rhyming comedies. Peeping Tom. George Alex-
ander Stevens. Mr. Kemble, in the recess, goes to Liverpool and Man-
chester. Mrs. Siddons at Edinburgh, Dublin. Cork. Her illness.
Systematic attacks upon her. Younger and Mrs. Mattocks Their tri-
umph in Lear over Henderson and Mrs. Siddons. Travesty of the Beg-
gar's Opera.
pp. 98-115
CHAP. IX.
Winter season of 1784-5. Return of Mr. King to Drury Lane Theatre.
Sheridan. Mr. Kemble and the author in his library. Unread plays.
Sheridan's habits. Mr. King and his address. Felt the public pulse as
to Mrs. Siddons. Digges and Brereton. First appearance for the season
of Mrs. Siddons. Addresses the audience. Her triumph. The true
question considered. Provincial excursions. Views of the profession.
Former times. Covent Garden. Holman. Fawcett and Morton. Mack-
lin admires Holman. Dignum. His first appearance Mrs. Siddons in
the Carmelite. Cumberland's strange epilogue. Arthur and Emmeline.
Mrs. Wells's imitation of the two great tragic actresses. Dr Johnson's
death. His funeral. Beaumarchais' Figaro. That author's impudence.
Cumberland's Natural Son. 116-133
CHAP. X.
Mrs. Siddons in
Mr. Pope's Oroonoko. Massinger's Maid of Honour.
Lady Macbeth. Smith in Macbeth. Packer in Duncan. George Stee-
vens attacks the banquet scene. That play repeated by royal com-
mand. The king's notice of Henderson's Benedict. Imperfect once in
this character. The Orphan. Holman's Hamlet. Henderson's readings
at Freemason's Hall Le Texier in Lisle-street. Compared with each
other Theatres resumed, Othello. Mr Kemble in the Moor. His sis-
ter in Desdemona. Depreciated. Great excellence exemplified. They
read to their majesties. Mr Kemble for his benefit acts Macbeth. Cri
tical dispute. Mason's Elfrida. Mrs. Siddons in that part The original
Tempest acted. Inadvertency of the poet. Mrs. Siddons acts Rosalind.
Mrs. Bellamy. Her benefit. 134-154
CHAP. XI.
Close of the season 1784-5. No production of any consequence. Brief
display of dramatic talent in Sheridan. His reported new opera and co-
medy. Affectation as a subject. Destouches. Murphy. As to tragedy,
nothing expected or desired. Jephson characterized. Our Dresses.
Scenery. Mr. Kemble's revivals. Colman the younger. Turk and no
Turk. Young Bannister. His talents. Private excellence. Kemble as
a companion. Miss E. Kemble. Mrs. Inchbald's I'll Tell You What.
Colman, senior. Gibbon. Author becomes known to Mr. Colman.
Account of his manner. Miss Younge married to Mr. Pope. Miss
155-164
Brunton.
CHAP. XII.
Season of 1785-6. Drury Lane opens with Othello and Desdemona, by
Kemble and Siddons. Miss Brunton in the Roman Father. Henderson's
great effect. His study. Mr Kemble's. Mrs. Jordan at Drury Lane.
Sketch of her. How received Miss Brunton in Juliet. Mrs. S ddons
in the Jubilee. Mrs. Jordan Imogen. Henderson's death. His Falstaff.
That of some others. Leonidas Glover. Frederick Reynolds. His tra
gedy of Werter. Mrs. Siddons acts Mrs. Lovemore. Mrs. Clive dies.
Garrick Walpole. Burke's opinion of Garrick. Cobb's Strangers at
Home. Mrs. Wells. Topham. Andrews. Omai. Drury Lane. She-
ridan. Death of Reddish. Mrs. Jordan in the Trip to Scarborough.
Burgoyne's Heiress. Mrs. Brown a rival to the Jordan. Mrs Abington
in Scrub. Mrs. Billington's debût. Benefit for Henderson's widow.
Murphy's prologue. The Distrest Mother. Racine Mr. Fox
Captives. Mrs. Siddons acts Portia on her brother's night, and Elwina
in Percy. Mrs. Jordan in Hippolita Miss Kemble married to Mr. Twiss.
Retires from the stage. Mrs. Siddons in Ophelia, and the lady in Co-
mus.
The
pp. 165-187
CHAP. XIII.
Haymarket. Mr. Colman attacked in the newspaper. His prologue.
Mrs. Baddeley dies. Female Macheath and Falstaff. Mrs. Brooks.
Disbanded Officer. Mrs. Jordan at Edinburgh. Her verses. Winter
season of 1786-7. Rival Richard Cœur de Lion. Ryder at Covent Gar-
den. Death of Princess Amelia shuts the theatres. Presentiments of
death. West Digges dies. Dodsley's Cleone. Lady of Fashion. Anec-
dote. Mrs. Cowley. Pilon. Miss Prue. Reynold's Eloisa. Mrs. Sid-
dons in Imogen. Mr. Kemble's Posthumus. Its excellence. R. P.
Knight. Such Things Are. Roxalana. Death of Brereton. Count of
Narbonne. Seduction. Lady Restless. Jephson's Julia. Mr. Kelly.
His powers. Mrs. Crouch. Society at her house. Mrs. Yates dies.
Mrs. Siddons in Alicia. Poor Hewerdine. Professor Porson. His me-
mory. Original Anecdote. 188-202
CHAP. XIV.
Summer of 1787. The Royalty Theatre. The question stated. Palmer
before the magistrates Whimsical conduct. Colman's novelties. Inkle
and Yarico. The Village Lawyer Winter season of 1787-8. Kemble
alters the Pilgrim. Dryden's spleen. Mrs. Jordan. Marriage of Mr.
Kemble to Mr. Brereton's widow. Excellence of that choice. Bannis-
ter. Mrs. Inchbald again. King and No King. King Lear by Mr. Kem-
ble. Fate of Sparta. Criticism. Mrs. Cowley and Mr. Merry. Smith's
last benefit. Greathead's Regent. Mrs. Piozzi's happy epilogue. Gri-
Imaldi. Lady Wallace. The Ton. Mrs. Abington. Beatrice. Animal
Magnetism. Singular anecdote. Palmer returns from the East. Mrs.
Jordan in Sir Harry Wildair. Mrs. Siddons in Cleopatra. Palmer
amusing in Falstaff. Leoni, Master Braham. Mr. Smith's farewell.
Garrick's more judicious. Old Sheridan. Colman's Ways and Means.
Mr. Kemble's father acts in London. The School for Scandal in the
Haymarket. - 203-226
BOOK THE SECOND.
FROM MR. KEMBLE'S BECOMING MANAGER OF DRURY LANE
TO HIS RETIREMENT FROM THAT THEATRE.
CHAP. I.
Season of 1788-9. No arrangements settled at Drury Lane. Mr. King, his
nondescript situation, discontent and flight. Addresses the public The
proprietors conclude with Mr. Kemble. Short address also from him.
Warren Hastings. Alarming indisposition of the King. Mr. Kemble's
views. How supported. Acts Lord Townley. Improvements in Mac-
beth examined. The witches. Mrs. Crouch censured, perhaps idly.
Mr. Kemble's great display of his art. His Leon. Sciolto. Mirabel.
Romeo. Revives Henry VIII. Dr. Johnson. Siddons. Takes Cromwell,
leaving Wolsey to Mr. Bensley. Hastings. The Pannel. Mrs. Jordan.
Zanga. Produces Coriolanus. pp. 227-240
Other novelties of Kemble's first season as manager. Mrs. Goodall in Ro-
salind. Mrs. Jordan also acts that character. Her Nell. Corinna. Lady
Bell. Her foible. New pieces, Cumberland, Cobb, Mrs. Incbbald. The
Prophet Rd. Bentley. O'Keefe. Aladdin. St. John's Mary Queen of
Scots. General Conway. Richmond House theatricals. The King's
recovery. The Queen's first drawing room. Author's tribute to her
Majesty's excellence. She appears at Covent Garden Theatre. Mrs.
Siddons in Juliet. Reynolds, his Dramatist. Mr. Macklin. The author's
knowledge of him. Burning of the Opera House. Talents that had
been displayed in it. Its visitors. Manchester theatre burnt. Mr. Kem-
ble, with Mr. Aickin, takes the Liverpool House. The opening pro-
logue Mr. Kemble's tragedy. His Machiavel. Mrs. Inchbald's Mar-
ried Man. Mr. Colman's Battle of Hexham. Pleasantry of the au-
thor.
241-258
Season of 1789-90. Mrs. Siddons absent. Mr. Kemble's resources.
Covent Garden. The Author's friend, Harley. His talents. Kemble
in Henry V. The Tempest. Purcel's music. Vanbrugh's False
Friend. Mr. Kemble in the Libertine. The Iron Mask. King at
Covent Garden. The Crusade. The Haunted Tower. Mrs. Behn's
Rover. Quick in Richard. Summer theatre. Palmer's return. Win-
ter season of 1790-1. Duke of Cumberland's death. Disinterment of
the supposed remains of the great Milton. Enquiry into the fact. Mr.
Kemble's conviction on that subject
259-271
-
Season of 1790-1, Mrs. Esten, her fine talents. Mr. King replaced at
Drury Lane, by Mr. Kemble. Death of Edwin. Grimace. Mr. Kem-