with these, one night, in Clarges Street, and Incledon, who was one of the party, enjoyed it amazingly, laughing with prodigious vivacity, until he himself was imitated, when he suddenly became serious, then offended, and in a few minutes quitted the house. The "veluti in speculum," which used to present itself to our admiring eyes, arching the stage with its instructive legend, was intended, we suppose, for the benefit of spectators, and not of actors.

Mr. Maturin's tragedy of Bertram was submitted to the theatre about this time. It was sent to Kean for his approval, before it was accepted by the committee. At first sight, he thought that the part of the hero would serve to increase his reputation, and he gladly undertook to perform it. The first rehearsal of the play, however, changed his view of the subject, and he came home dissatisfied with the character, and of opinion

that the heroine was the most effective part

in the tragedy. "Mine is but a secondary part," said he. "However, there is no Mrs. Siddons to play Imogen, and eclipse me." With this consolation in his soul, he studied Bertram attentively for several days, determined to make the hero the most conspicuous object in the play; and he succeeded. He succeeded also, in spite of its defects as a drama, in enticing the public to come and witness the representation of Bertram twentytwo nights in this season. The benediction, "God bless the child," for which Kean obtained so much applause, had been previously uttered a hundred times over his own son Charles. He repeated it so often, and so fervently, that he became touched by the modulation of his own voice; which, under the before-mentioned circumstances, acquired a tenderness "beyond the reach of art." This phrase, and the other of "the wretched

have no country," he pronounced to be the pathetic points in the play. In other respects, he thought little of the tragedy. It served him to act in the provinces, however. "It is," said he, "a relief, after such characters as Richard and Othello. It is all sound and fury, signifying nothing." The best parts in his acting, were the dream, the recognition of Imogen, and the last scene, which was full of pathos and effect.

To Miss Somerville (Mrs. Bunn), the "Imogen" of the play, he did not, we think, do justice. Some one observing to him, that it was a pity that she had not had a good master, to give her information as to the mechanical points in acting, Kean replied quickly, "There's only one master that she wants, and that is-Nature." Now, we are inclined to think, that since the disappearance of Miss O'Neil from the stage, Mrs. Bunn had as many pretensions to the title of a

tragic actress as any lady whom we have seen, with the single exception of Miss Fanny' Kemble. Neither her voice nor her action were bad; and she had the good quality of rarely sinking into monotony or soaring into

rant.

Kean acted Kitely, (indifferently,) in Ben Jonson's play of "Every Man in his Humour," for his benefit, on the 6th of June; and on the 27th of June, 1816, he left London for the season, having, by his performance of Sir Giles Overreach, added another large and flourishing leaf to the garland of his renown.

CHAPTER VIII.

TIMON-OROONOKO-A SHORT WRESTLE WITH BOOTH -THE IRON CHEST-KEAN IN PARIS-TALMATHE DRURY-LANE FUND- DISPUTES WITH THE

COMMITTEE-JEW OF MALTA-DOUGLAS-CORIOLANUS-LEAR.

(1816 to 1820.) WE do not intend to follow our hero through all the parts which he undertook*; but shall content ourselves with a passing mention of them in future, unless their importance (intrinsically, or from his acting) shall seem to us to demand a more minute inquiry.

In his fourth season (28th October, 1816) he played Timon; and (20th January, 1817) Oroonoko. Notwithstanding the grandeur

* A list of all the characters in which he appeared, will be found in the Notes to this volume.