Page images
PDF
EPUB

On his return to London, Mathews met Suett, ("Dickey Suett,") and was next engaged by Macklin for the Dublin theatre; at starting, his father giving him twenty gui. neas, with a promise of the same sum when ever he should return and resume his situation behind the counter. He made his debut at Dublin in the part of Lingo, (Agreeable Surprise), for the benefit of Mrs. Wells, the original Cowslip; and in a few weeks repeated the performance with great success. Daly was the manager: Miss Farren, afterwards Countess of Derby, was then starring it. George Frederick Cooke was also there, and noticed Mathews by an invitation to supper. Through the common vanity of objecting to play minor parts, Mathews soon began to grow disgusted with the stage, and in 1795 he left Dublin, with the intention of returning to his father. The vessel, however, in which he sailed, being driven by stress of weather into Swansea, he accepted an engagement at the theatre, and was so successful that he there continued to play upwards of two years. Meanwhile, his fame had reached Tate Wilkinson, the York manager; who, on the departure of Emery for London, engaged Mathews to fill his place. He succeeded, in two senses of the term; for at York he built up a public and private reputation that made him the greatest provincial favourite whilst there, and subsequently, the most successful star. When first at York, he was so thin, that Tate Wilkinson observed, he never saw any one so thin to be alive.

In 1803, Mathews returned to London, not to claim his father's twenty guineas, but to establish himself upon the stage, through the offer of George Colman, to appear at the Haymarket theatre. He did so, on May 16, as Jabal, (Cumberland's Jew); and this and a few other performances stamped his fame.

Next year he appeared at Drury-lane; but, from timidity, he failed. He remained at the Haymarket theatre from 1804 to 1809. In 1812, he made his debut at Covent-garden, where he remained three seasons; but he seldom performed. In the summer, he returned to the Haymarket, at which theatre he may be said to have established his reputation as one of the best comic actors of his day; his most successful characters being Somno, (Sleep Walker); Buskin, (Killing no Murder); Sir Fretful Plagiary, (Critic); Dick Cypher, (Hit or Miss); and Flexible, (Love, Law, and Physic). With Liston, as Apollo Belvi, in the second farce, and as Lubin Log, in the last, Mathews's performances reached high popularity; never, indeed, had broad humour better representatives, some of their scenes being racy enough to break a quinsey. Flexible's "charge to the jury," after the manner of the late Lord Chief Justice Ellenborough, will long be re

membered; and, we believe, so close was the imitation, that the actor received a rebuke for the perfection with which he practised his art. But the most striking proofs yet af. forded of the versatility of Mathews, was his performance of six characters in one piece, (the Actress of All-work,) which drew crowded houses for many nights. On the occasion of his benefit, he also played Macheath, dressing the character as when the Beggar's Opera was first produced.

Ambitious of excellence in his art, and that too in the national drama, Mr. Mathews keenly felt the ungenerous treatment of the Covent-garden manager in refusing him proper scope for his abilities. He resolved on resenting this injustice by giving an enter tainment by himself; and, in 1818, he announced himself, for the first time, "At Home," at the English Opera House. The attempt, though a bold one, was not entirely novel: for the success of Charles Dibdin's monopolylogues was not forgotten; though Dibdin had the advantage of much better compositions than ever formed the staple of Mathews's entertainments. Their success was signal, and such as to induce the managers of Drury-lane and Covent-garden to attempt to interdict the performances, in which they failed. In 1819, and three following years, he resumed these profitable labours in The Trip to Paris-Country CousinsTravels in Earth, Air, and Water-and Youthful Days of Mr. Mathews. These entertainments have been repeated in almost every theatre in the United Kingdom, and some of them before royal parties.

In 1822, Mr. Mathews visited America, where he performed with great applause in the regular drama,—and in his "At Homes." In Philadelphia, the latter were attended by many of the gentry who were then too fastidious to witness regular plays; and this circumstance gave rise to some ill-natured remarks on our comedian, who was stigmatized as an itinerant mimic, and libellously abused in the Philadelphia Gazette. Mr. Mathews made these attacks the subject of an action for libel, and obtained heavy damages.

Among the results of Mr. Mathew's transatlantic visit was the material of his next entertainment-A Trip to America,-in which he drew more finished sketches of American manners and peculiarities than we had then been accustomed to; and, it should be added, that while he did not spare the crudities of American society, he did not colour them so highly as have subsequent tourists whilst his characteristics were totally devoid of ill-feeling. After his return, too, he performed in several pieces at the English Opera House, in some of which, to use a familiar phrase, he worked out the American character with extraordinary effect. Indeed, to Mathews the stage must be held indebted

for its first legitimate impersonation of a native of the United States.

In 1828, upon the secession of Mr. Terry, his partner, Mr. Yates, was joined by Mr. Mathews in the proprietorship of the Adelphi theatre, where he played for a season or two; and where, since that period, he gave his "At Home," though with somewhat diminished

success.

Mr. Mathews re-appeared at Drury-lane theatre in the season of 1828, when he performed his most popular characters. His last appearance in the regular drama was as Polonus, in Hamlet, on May 30, 1832, when Mr. Young took his leave of the stage.

Last year, Mr. Mathews revisited the United States; though it had been affirmed that he dare not cross the Atlantic after his vivid sketches of the Americans; but, he had formed a just estimate of his hold over their risible faculties, as well as of their common sense. He met with slight opposition, which he put down at once in a very able and manly address; and thenceforth his reception was as enthusiastic as on his first visit. Writing from New York, soon after his arrival there, he says, " Briefly, I am well, and successful to the extent of my hopes-expectations-wishes; my wife is well also. There has been an attempt at opposition-but a very trifling one. There is an opposition theatre, from whence, it is supposed, emanated a hand-bill, industriously circulated, to prevent my being heard at all on my first appearance. I was, however, to the discomfiture of my enemies, received with huzzas and waving of hats. The house was crammed. The bill gave me a grievance-an opportunity to address them, and I did, I flatter myself, speak so boldly and independently on the subject, that I silenced for ever, (which means during my engage ment,) the attempts to injure me. I pledged myself to perform the Trip, as I had in London, and on that rest my hopes of refuting the charges brought against me. In short, I triumphed, and the Yankees have evinced their good sense in bearing with good humour the jokes against them. The Militia Muster Folk,' and 'Uncle Ben,' (ditto Judge,) went as well as in England."* By the way, the militia scene is not a whit more highly coloured than Mrs. Butler's description of the same squad; and something should be allowed for the license of a song; though, in Mathews's case it was not requisite.

The change of climate, and the severity of the voyage out and home, shattered Mr. Mathews's constitution, weakened by the arduous exertions in the peculiar branch of his profession. He landed at Liverpool, and it may be added that he but reached the shores which gave him birth to go to "that bourne whence no traveller returns." He lay * Letter, quoted in the Athenæum, July 4.

ill for some days at Liverpool; thence he was removed to a friend's at Crick, near Daventry, where he slightly recovered. He was then removed to Devonport, for change of air; where, last of all came death. His disease was ossification of the heart, under which he had laboured for some years.

About eighteen years since, Mr. Mathews broke his leg, having been, with Mr. Terry, thrown out of his gig. The lameness caused by attempting to walk and act too soon afterwards painfully impeded his movements: this infirmity increased with his years; yet any sympathizing inquiry respecting it was disliked by Mr. Mathews.

Mr. Mathews was twice married. His first lady was Miss E. K. Strong, of Exeter, who had written a novel or two, and poems that enjoyed some provincial celebrity. She was united to Mr. Mathews in 1797, (just after the bridegroom was of age,) and died of consumption in the spring of 1802. In the following year, Mr. Mathews married Miss Jackson, half-sister to Miss Fanny Kelly, who has just quitted the stage. Mrs. Mathews, who left the stage many years since, was an agreeable singer, and the original Fanny, in Killing no Murder. She accompanied Mr. Mathews in his last passage to America, and lives to lament his loss; with an only son, who has evinced considerable talent as a dramatist and as an architect.

The genius of Mr. Mathews was of a peculiar kind, and of greater rarity than we have time or space to illustrate. It has been well asked, "Who that has seen him can forget him? who that has not can have an idea of his powers?" Persons who had not seen him could seldom understand how one person amused an audience for three hours, when a whole company so often fail to effect that object. Seated before a small greencovered table, with two reflecting lamps, this master of his art, by aid of a few articles of dress for disguise, would assume a dozen characters, changing look, manner, voice, and every other delineation as rapidly as he put on the dress. He had Protean features, the natural expression of which was serious; though he succeeded better in portraying the ludicrous than the grave: he could twinkle his eyes, and give with them the rich leer and roll of broad humour; while every other feature curled and beamed with smile and laugh that were delightfully contagious. Before the strong light of his table lamps, his face had a rosy, jocund freshness, with ease and flexibility, which never reminded you of effort in his changes to please you. deed, it was by this ease and absence of effort, that he carried his audience with him. There was no over-listening on their part to catch his touches of humour, nor was there any apparent excitement on his part, (save on a few fitting occasions,) to produce them.

In

Seated in the convenient area of the Adelphi Theatre, you could hear his anecdotes as comfortably as you would listen to a pleasant fellow at a large table. Alas! how he was wont to set that table on a roar. To us, the main secret of his success lay in telling a story, an art in which so few persons excel; for, we often caught ourselves in cachinatory ecstasies at some anecdote or bon mot as old as the time of Miller. It would be an almost endless task to select examples of excellence from his performances, in which all the powers of pleasing were so strongly concentrated. We have said that he succeeded best in the ludicrous; yet he occasionally worked up pathos to an almost painful pitch. Witness his portrait of Monsieur Mallet, the distressed, affectionate Frenchman, whose woeful face you could scarcely believe of the same features as had just before thrown you into convulsive laughter. Persons who visited Mathews with the prepossession that they should not be entertained, must often have found themselves, ere parting, in the condition of Dr. Johnson, when he was resolved not to be pleased with Foote; until the dog was so very comical, that the Doctor was obliged to lay down his knife and fork, throw himself back in his chair, and fairly laugh it out with the rest. In scenes of highly-wrought passion, as in portraying the recklessness of vice, and its attendant despair, Mr. Mathews was powerfully effective; though such portraits were neither coarse with caricature, nor

deformed by vulgarity. Indeed, decorum was never overstepped in any of Mr. Mathews's motley-minded performances; for, in his portraits from low life, we had all its grotesqueness with its vulgarities suppressed, and its wit without its indelicacies. The vraisemblance was unique, as in the coach-cad; the perfection of which you had only to step to the entrance of the theatre to test.

Mathews's powers of mimicry were unrivalled. He seized upon eccentric points of character, and portrayed them with astonishing felicity. Yet he did not require any person to be strongly marked, to take him off. We cannot say of him, as Johnson said of Foote, "he is like a painter who can draw the portrait of a man who has a wen on his face, and who is, therefore, easily known." On the contrary, Mathews not only gave you something different from himself, but he possessed the rare art of extracting his personal nature from his assumptions; and he was Sir Fretful or Morbleu, without one shade of Mathews about him. His imitations were perfection. They were," as Sir Walter Scott once said to Lord Byron, " imitations of the mind to those who had the key; but, as the majority had it not, they were contented with admiring those of the person, and pronounced him a mimic, who ought to

[ocr errors]

be considered an accurate and philosophical observer of human nature, blessed with the rare talent of identifying himself with the the minds of others." This is high praise from so high a hand as Scott; but Mathews's imitation of Curran, we believe to justify it: Scott said it could hardly be called an imitation -"it is a continuation, and is inimitable." But, because Mathews was an imitator, we are not to deny him the claim of originality: the designs for all his "At Homes" being furnished by himself, though written by others. Hence, almost all his dramatis persona were creations of his fancy; and he was, therefore, as much an actor as Garrick could have been. The finish of his sketches was as surprising as their vigour, and his extreme versatility, more extraordinary than both. No man since Garrick ever went through such a range of characters. We need not search far for parallels; as in Mathews's success in Buskin, and Garrick's ruse to load the coach to Versailles, by personating different passengers.

Mr. Mathews resided for some time in a neat cottage, built in the style of old English rusticity, at the foot of Highgate-hill. Here he assembled an extensive collection of paintings, prints, and other memorials of dramatists, actors, and actresses, contemporary with himself, and of by-gone times. These memorials he cherished with honourable professional enthusiasm; and he spared nothing to increase his stock. We know the fact of his giving five pounds to a brother actor, (his inferior in circumstances,) for two or three original letters of Sheridan, which he had discovered among a heap of MS., sold to a cheesemonger as waste-paper. A few years since, Mr. Mathews disposed of the above cottage; and his collection of dramatic memorials was exhibited for some weeks in the metropolis, with the advantage of a catalogue raisonnée, drawn up with considerable skill, by Mr. Mathews, jun.

Mr. Mathews has left a reputation of twofold excellence; that of an honourable man and an admirable actor.

The Gatherer.

Old Lucullus, they say,
Forty cooks had each day,
And Vitellius' meals cost a million;
But I like what is good,
When or where be my food,
In chop-house or royal pavilion.

At all feasts, (if enough,)
I most heartily stuff,
And a song at my heart alike rushes,
Though I've not fed my lungs
Upon nightingales' tongues,

Nor the brains of goldfinches and thrushes. -From an unpublished song, by Captain Morris,

In Russia, raw turnip is handed about in slices, in the first houses, upon a silver salver, with brandy, as a whet before dinner.

Royal Meals.-When the allied monarchs arrived in Paris, in 1814, they were compelled to contract with a restaurateur, (Véry,) for the supply of their table, at the moderate sum of 3,000 francs (1257.) a day, exclusive of wine. Quarterly Review, (just published.) Famine. At the late siege of Oporto, cats and dogs were eagerly sought after; apes' flesh brought a high price-fowls were sold for 30s. a piece, and the ex-emperor himself was pressed for a dinner. The loss of life was immense, 16,000 civilians and 7,000 soldiers having perished.-Ibid.

Ices were introduced into France so early

as the middle of the seventeenth century. Thunder and Lightning.—At the Cape of Good Hope, thunder can scarcely ever be heard more than twenty or thirty miles from the flash which produces it. Lightning, on the other hand, may be seen, or, at least, its reflection in the clouds, forming what is called sheet lightning,) at the distance of 150 or 200 miles.-Sir John Herschel.

Lines, written by Mr. Waterton, in an album at an inn, near Niagara:

He sprained his foot, and hurt his toe,
On the rough road near Buffalo.

It quite distresses him to stagger a-
Long the sharp rocks of famed Niagara.

So thus he's doomed to drink the measure Of pain, in lieu of that of pleasure. On Hope's delusive pinions borne He came for wool and goes back shorn. N. B.-Here he alludes to nothing but Th' adventure of his toe and foot; Save this, he sees all that which can Delight and charm the soul of man, But feels it not,-because his toe And foot together plague him so. Mozart being once on a visit at Marseilles went to the opera incognito to hear the performance of his Villanella Rapita. He had reason to be tolerably well satisfied, till, in the midst of the principal arias, the orchestra, through some error in the copying of the score, sounded a D natural where the composer had written D sharp. This substitution did not injure the harmony, but gave a common-place character to the phrase, and obscured the sentiment of the Mozart no sooner heard it than he started up vehemently, and, from the middle of the pit, cried out in a voice of thunder," Will you play D sharp, you wretches ?"

composer.

The sensation produced in the theatre may be imagined. The actors were astounded, the lady who was singing stopped short, the orchestra followed her example, and the audience, with loud exclamations, demanded the expulsion of the offender. He was accordingly seized, and required to name himself. He did so, and at the name of Mozart, the clamour suddenly subsided into a silence of respectful awe, and which was soon succeeded by reiterated shouts of applause from all sides. It was insisted that the opera should be recom

menced. Mozart was installed in the orchestra, and directed the whole performance. This time the D sharp was played in its proper place, and the musicians themselves were surprised at the superior effect produced. After the opera, Mozart was conducted in W. G. C. triumph to his hotel.

As most erroneous impressions regarding the pecuniary circumstances of the late Mrs. Hemans have been recently made on the public mind, — through what channel we know not,- -we have much pleasure in saying, that such statements were quite unfine and fertile genius-appreciated as it was founded. Indeed, the exertions of her own by the world-made such a circumstance sufficiently improbable, and must have rendered her moderately independent, even had she not possessed a regular allowance from her husband, as well as from her brother, Sir Henry Browne. On her younger brother, Major Browne, she had an unlimited credit; and to either of these relatives it would be scarcely a compliment to say, that they would have despised themselves, had they allowed so noble a creature as their sister to have experienced the pressure of that, or of any other distress, which it was in their power to remove.- -Blackwood's Magazine.

Duty on Paper-The excise upon paper, of three pence a pound, (including all that is cut to waste,) and the absurd duty on foreign books imported, are serious obstructions to the progress of knowledge, especially the former. It prevents many a cheap work from being undertaken, and has caused some excellent ones to be discontinued. It amounts

to a heavy burden upon all cheap books, falling infinitely lighter upon those of a high price. The admirable works, of which thousands are sold to the common people, pay, it is calculated, in the proportion of thirty to forty per cent. upon the prime cost; while the books bought by the rich do not pay above five or six per cent. Can any thing be more absurd, or more iniquitous, than such a duty? The repeal of one half of it would be an incalculable advantage to the community, and would cetainly not diminish, probably would increase, the total amount of the receipts. From the British and Foreign Review, No. 1., (just published.)

[blocks in formation]

No. 731.]

OF

LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION.

SATURDAY, JULY 25, 1835.

[PRICE 2d.

[graphic]

CAPTAIN BASIL HALL, in his Travels in North America, about seven years since, etched the original of the above Engraving, as a specimen of the vehicles in which our transatlantic brethren "get along." It must be considered a sorry sample of coach-building, and rather resembles a Swiss than a British carriage. Indeed, we have seen scores of such vehicles in the yards of inns on the Continent: strength and stability it may possess; but, for elegance it must yield to our hackney-coach. We conclude from different travellers that it may be received as a fair average of American stage-coach building: though, it may be mentioned that Phila delphia surpasses all other places in America in the manufacture of coaches; and holds the same pre-eminence as London does in England, or, we may say, in the world; for British carriages are not elsewhere equalled. The Continental nobility prefer them; and the English-built stage-coach is no longer confined to British roads.* This superiority

The carriages, stud of horses, coachmen, and grooms of Louis Philippe, are, or were, a few years since, English; and their fine, spick-and-span turn. out in the courtyard of the Palais Royal was long the admiration of the Parisians.-By the way, the E

VOL. XXVI.

is easily explained; the manufacture of elegant coaches being a proof of high mechanical skill, from the number of clever artisans employed in the construction and outfit.

Captain Hall tells us that the above coach is constructed of the strongest materials; the springs being of hide. It has only one door, and carries nine passengers inside, on three seats, the centre one being a movable bench, with a broad leather band, or back support.

In Mr. Stuart's Travels, in 1828, we find a more minute description of the American stage-coach, at the same time corroborative of Captain Hall's outline. Mr. Stuart describes the Albany and Auburn stage, (in the state of New York,) as a huge coach of elliptical shape, hung low on leathern belts, and drawn by four horses. The coach is somewhat wider than a six-seated English stage-coach, and is much longer, so that there is sufficient space for a seat in the middle, and accommodation for nine inside passen

[blocks in formation]
« PreviousContinue »