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crowned his fame; it was deemed even richer and more highly wrought than his Benedick, excellent as that performance was. It was called by all the ne plus ultra of high comedy. It was the topic of conversation throughout the city the next morning. "Did you see Kemble's Mercutio last night?" "You lost a treat." "We had no conception of the character before," and so went the gossip. He played it as if he were relating a tale, sitting in easy conversation on a chair. This was something to console him, for his Sir Thomas Clifford was considered a very namby-pamby affair, whilst his Hamlet was awfully abused. His tragedy certainly did not please the critics nor the "groundlings;" it did not please the "million," or "'twas caviare to the general." It was very genteel, and agreeable to the intellectual readers of Shakspere.
Mr. Horn and Miss Hughes (who warbled very sweetly at the beginning of the season to meagre houses), now appeared in the opera of "Cinderella" -- Horn as Felix.
Tuesdau, November 6th, was announced for the benefit of the widow of the late William Warren. Pieces, per bill, were to be "Simpson & Co.," and "The Peasant Boy." The following notice emanated from the family: CARD TO THE PUBLIC In consequence of the arrangements made for the benefit of my mother's family, at the Chesnut Street Theatre, announced for this evening by the managers, and the pieces selected for the occasion, however sensible I may be of the liberality which has offered the benefit, I must, in behalf of the members of my family, decline the night thus appropriated, conscious, from circumstances mentioned, that it would prove a total failure; and hope that the generosity of the public may be invoked on some future occasion. WILLIAM WARREN.
There was a controversy about this matter. About this time Mr. Dwyer and his pupils gave recitations at the Musical Fund Hall. Cato's soliloquy by Master Bowers. Scenes from "Romeo and Juliet" -- Mercutio, Mr. Dwyer, &c.
Will our readers pardon us in further indulgence upon this somewhat lengthened Kemble subject. A few remarks on the personale of Mrs. Frances A. Kembleand we will close.
In the presence of this lady you felt subdued even to the very quality of her mind. As Desdemona very beautifully says, "I saw Othello's visage in his mind;" so to reverse the figure, you beheld in Miss Fanny Kemble's visage the power of mental energies. This lady's whole life has been truly dramatic. Mrs. Jameson, the beautiful and the graphic painter in pen and ink sketches of the celebrated women of her times -- a writer whose taste and judgment in the fine arts are duly acknowledged by every one -- has paid homage to the genius of the Kembles, and to Miss Fanny Kemble especially. She speaks glowingly of her morals, her mind, and her religious devotion. Fanny's work on the United States was but a plain narrative of her tour, written before her marriage and retirement from the stage. It did not enhance her reputation, and gave offence to American prejudices in trifling points. Fanny Kemble was no hypocrite, whatever faults may have been her heritance.
Many years after she left the stage, Mrs. Fanny Kemble Butler gave public readings from Shakspere, and of them we would speak a few words: Mrs. Kemble was always exact to the time of beginning her readings -- an inviolable rule with the English in all matters of business and pleasure. She was ushered to her reading table by a gentleman in attendance. Her entrance was marked by easy politeness and good breeding; but we cannot think that her expression was pleasing, or of a fascinating nature. The audience seemed as if impressed with awe,
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as she would survey them with the glance of an eagle eye, apparently exhibiting rather a moody hauteur. When we saw her last she had grown stout of figure, possessing a massive chest, and a fine, well rounded white arm, which her style of dress obviously developed. Her hair, still black, was adjusted in the Victoria mode, and seemed to shadow forth in strong relief her flashing dark eyes, imparting to the spectator a vivid, wonderful expression. Her face, in parts, is defective; it is short, with a very low forehead, that is still rendered more so by the folly of plastering the hair closely over that intellectual feature. Her head, however, is large, and the lines of the face seemed rigid, till the spirit of Shakspere animated their repose, as her readings progress. Mrs. Kemble seats herself with graceful ease, adjusts the columes before her, and thus, without any preface, as "I beg leave," announces the play to be read. For instance, we will name one which we thought she gave with infinite power and truth, the first part of "Henry IV." She commenced with the King's speech: "So shaken as we are, so wan with care, Find we a time for frighted peace to pant, And breathe short-winded accents of new broils To be commenced in strands afar remote."
The different persons speaking in the dialogue were never mentioned at the opening of their respective speeches, but were unmistakably indicated by the tone and expression which was given to each character. Herein laid her unique versatility. The rich variety of her voice given to the indiviudal speaker was explanatory of his condition. As, for example, the King was known by his lofty tone and solomn inflections -- his command. The courtly Westmoreland by his conciliatory, deferential manner; and the gallant Hotspur through his impatient, chivalrous tone, his proud bearing, his curled nostril, his high-toned vindication of the charge of denying his prisoners to the royal order. "To be so pestered by a popinjay," rendered him impatient of the impertinent fop at such a momentous crisis. How quick was felt the meaning of the first line of Hotspur's speech -"My Lege, I did deny no prisoners. But I remember when the fight was done, When I was dry with rage and extreme toil, Came there a certain lord, neat, trimly dressed, Fresh as a bridegroom!"
So through every scene, the transition from kingly language to the sensuous voice of Falstaff, the auditor not only heard in sound, but saw and felt the very presence of the witty knight. Such was the truthful power of this lady's readings that every character appeared before you as palpable as ever they did upon the stage. A gentleman of the Philadelphia bar, known for his literary ability, once told me, that from listening to the reading of Othello, he received a more lively impression of Cassio's inebriation, and certainly with more delicacy of instruction in that degraded loss of senses, than he ever did from any stage illustration, however clever. Mrs. F. Kemble's readings were not only rarely elucidatory of the author's text, but they as rarely painted the true character -- an intellectual banquet, and only surpassed by her own representations on the stage. A controversy has long existed whether Shakspere's plays were adapted for the stage: some contending that they were only intended for the theatre; others, that they are not suited to theatrical purposes.
Charles Lamb, in his essay on his tragedies, thus holds forth: "It may seem a paradox, but I cannot help being of opinion that the plays of Shakespere are less calculated for performance
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on a stage than those of almost any other dramatist whatever. Their distinguishing excellence is a reason that they should be so," &c. In our opinion they are fitted well for effective stage exhibition, and also to be read with pleasure and improvement in the library. They possess all the accessory attributes of spectacle and melo drama, as Macready magnificently developed in his endeavors to sustain the nationality of the Shakspere dramas during the remarkable career of his Drury Lane and Covent Garden management, by which laudable attempt he impoverished himself. The acting plays of Shakspere, as adapted for the stage, especially those by John P. Kemble, held possession of the stage, and are eminently attractive at the present day.
Miss Hughes, who was now singing at this house, was deemed by connoiseurs & contralto, having a sweet and rich voice. Her tones were not so brilliant as those of Mrs. Austin's, nor was her execution so splendid as Madam Feron's yet her beauties seemed to please the general taste of the audience. There was a simplicity about her style and absence of apparent effort and straining after musical effects, which faults characterized her predecessors. These good qualities rendered her singing and acting of Cinderella very acceptable. Miss H. was young, of very pleasing appearance, and one of the most charming opera performers of the English caste we had yet seen. But she did not prove attractive. She had sustained herself with credit at the principal theatres at London, and came hither not without due reputation.
Mr. Horn, who was a London tenor of celebrity and a pleasing composer of music, made his debut in 1827, at the Park Theatre, New York, as Henry Bertram, in "Guy Mannering," as a star. His vocial powers were considered good, and our critics compared him favorably with Jones and Sinclair. Horn, during this engagement, was affected with the influenza, which was now flying about our communities. He afterward retired from the profession and opened a music store in Broadway, New York, where he died about some fifteen years ago.
Horn and Miss Hughes sang about six or seven night in the operas of "Massaniello," "John of Paris," and all those which had been recently introduced to us. The houses were not good. The Kemble mania had absorbed all the patronage.
November 12th, Miss Hughes' benefit, when was given the first and third acts of "Cinderella," and for the first time here a musical drama called, "Love in Wrinkles." Mr. Horn sang "Kelvin Grove."
November 14th, Mr. James Wallack's first appearance, being engaged for a limited period. "Pizarro" -- Rolla Wallack. With the farce of "My Aunt" -- Dick Dashall, Wallack.
On the 15th, Mr. Horn's benefit. "Der Freischutz; or, The Magic Balls" - Caspar, Mr. Horn; Linda, MIss Hughes.
Nov. 16th, Wallack's second night. "Hamlet" -- a charming performance -- a happy medium between a quiet, intellectual reading, and a subduing, chaste acting of the part. He looked the melancholy Prince as Shakspere painted him, physically and mentally; exhibited that chasteness, force, propriety of action and delivery, which, although not deemed so elevated, or endowed with a Kean or Macready's lofty genius, was as beautifully impressive. His acting was never prosy, but all given with feeling, taste, variety and harmonious
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