occupied more time than I anticipated. I expect to find him refractory on some points; and where some of the most poetical passages are omitted, it is difficult to persuade an author that the effect of the whole is improved: but imagery and sentiment will not supply the place of action.

September 3rd.-Practised and considered Macbeth through the morning. Received a very kind letter from Marianne Skerrett, just about to sail from Portsmouth for Havre on her way to Italy. Went again through 'Ion,' still cutting, "still destroying." Read 'Ion' to Catherine and Letitia, who were both affected by it; but it still needs reduction in some of the speeches.

Sunday, September 6th.-Went to afternoon service with Letitia. Read prayers to the family. Why, if religious observances be unimportant, should the attention to them give me, who disapprove of the unapostolic, unsatisfying mode in which they are ministered, such soothing and complacent feelings?

September 9th.-Practised part of Othello, to which I do not find I yet give that real pathos and terrible fury which belongs to the character.

Read over attentively the whole of Melantius. I do not much fancy it.

London, September 21st.-Bunn came, and the business of my plays and engagement was discussed. He said "The Bridal' was a pet of mine." I told him, "No; that I wished to make it a means of remuneration without loading the theatre with additional salary, and I only regarded it as additional to my income." 'Ion,' he agreed, should be read by me to himself and others, and that he would then come to a judgment on its performance, without at present pledging himself to act it. Bertulphe' he had decided on not hearing read, and I agreed to write to the author and gain his consent to give it to him.

We read over the engagement, making the time of 'The Bridal' Christmas instead of the spring; signed and interchanged it, I speaking about room and flesh-stockings. On consideration gave him 'The Provost of Bruges,' reading him one passage in it.

Elstree, September 25th.—Studied Othello, which I find difficult --the management and economy of my time and force. How little do they know of this art who think it is easy!

London, September 30th.—(Drury Lane.) Left my dear home to begin this eventful season, in entering upon which I earnestly ask God's blessing upon my efforts, and that I may receive and deserve success by my care and industry; or, if it be the Almighty's will that I should be rebuked by ill-fortune, I humbly and heartily pray to Him for strength and wisdom to bear it well, and to turn it to good.

October 1st.-Went to the theatre, played ill (Macbeth), I must presume, because ineffectively; and yet I never tried so much to play well, and never, never was it of so much importance to me to play well. The audience called for me, a kindness on their part,

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and I went on; but when Talfourd, Forster, and Walron came to my room, not one had a word of comfort or congratulation. What have I omitted to make this evening successful? I do not know, but the bitterness of my feelings is such, with the anticipation of the newspapers to-morrow, that if I had not, ties which bind me down to this profession (and I could curse the hour that it was suggested to me), I would eat a crust, or eat nothing, rather than play in it. I scarcely recollect when my feelings have been so wrought up to a state of agonizing bitterness as to-night; I feel almost desperate.

October 2nd.-I cannot remember-it may be because the exact recollections of our sufferings cannot be preserved amid the multitudes of feelings that sweep over them; but I cannot call to mind more than one evening of my whole life which brought to me more acute distress than yesterday's. The stake of my future life was upon it, for speedy profit or perhaps poverty, and it is lost! I cannot charge myself with neglect; I really applied to my task, and bent my mind down to it: my mistake was in not demanding an opening character, and making that one in which I could feel myself independent of the humour of the audience (which I do not accuse) or of the strangeness of the theatre. I could not touch any refreshment; I threw myself on the sofa, and lay there in a state of mind that an enemy would have pitied. In a reckless, hopeless fever of thought I went to bed, and dropped asleep with my candle on my pillow; I awoke to see the danger, which was really very great. I slept again for a short time, and awoke to pass most of the remainder of the night in an agony of despondent fretfulness and sad anticipations. Arose very little better; my bath composed my spirits a little, and the Times newspaper, which though not highly laudatory, was not written in an unkind spirit, gave me back some portion of my wonted tranquillity. The other papers were very cold; I sent them with a letter to my dear Catherine.

October 5th.-Went to theatre, and in acting Macbeth felt that I carried my audience along with me. I was earnest, majestic, and impassioned. The applause was enthusiastic, and I was obliged to go on at the close of the play. I redeemed myself, and most grateful do I feel in saying, "Thank God." Talfourd came into my room, and said he had "never seen me finer, if indeed I had ever played it so well."

Wallace asked "Why the d-1 didn't I play it so on Thursday?" Tried on dress for Hamlet.

October 7th.-Acted Hamlet, to judge by the continued interest and the uniform success of all the striking passages, better than I ever played it before. Forster and Wallace came into my room; the former thought it, as a whole, the best he had ever seen; Wallace told me afterwards that he would have been "satisfied with less effect."

October 10th.-Asked Bunn for a private box for Mrs. Spurgin,

to which he assented, and I procured the ticket. Settled also about my salary, that in receiving £10 for the first half-week I was to receive £35 for the last. Dunn and Jones were present.

October 12th.-Went to the theatre and acted Macbeth before Her Majesty and a full house. The audience did not come solely and purposely to see 'Macbeth,' and the labour to keep their attention fixed was extreme. Wallace came round and said I acted very well: I tried to do so, but am not confident of my success. Talfourd and Forster came to my room. Bunn told me he must do 'Othello' on Thursday. I said "I could not." He "must," I "would not.” He sent me up a note to know which I would do, Othello or Iago, on Thursday. I returned for answer, Iago, and would not do Othello at all. He then sent Cooper* to me, to whom I said the same, and, in answer to his inquiry, said, “I would not do Othello under a week's notice." He left me without fixing anything. I was very much fatigued. Talfourd suggested the propriety of ascertaining the intentions of the management, and I waited for Cooper; while speaking to him Bunn came up and wished me to go into the room and talk it over. He was as civil as a dog, the dragooning attempt had failed, and, after some conversation, Othello' was fixed for Wednesday week, and 'The Provoked Husband' for Thursday next.

October 15th.-Went to theatre, and acted Lord Townley in a very mediocre manner, occasionally with spirit, but with an utter absence of finish and high deportment. Spoke to Cooper, on hearing of its intended repetition on Saturday, and told him that I could not do Othello on Wednesday if my time were thus taken from me.

October 16th.-Was introduced by Bunn to Mr. Joseph Parkes, whom I had long wished to know.

Went to theatre and acted Hamlet, not as I did the last timeI felt then the inspiration of the part; to-night I felt as if I had a load upon my shoulders. The actors said I played well. The audience called for me and made me go forward. Wallace, Forster, and H. Smith, who came into my room, all thought I played well -but I did not. I was not satisfied with myself-there was effort, and very little free flow of passion.

October 21st.-Went to the theatre, and felt very nervous and unsettled; reasoned with myself, and partially recovered my selfpossession; but, in truth, was hurried out in the part of Othello, and was not perfectly possessed of it. The criticism I passed on Malibran's Fidelio will exactly suit my own Othello-it was "elaborate, but not abandoned." In the early scenes I was abroad, making effort, but not feeling my audience; in the jealous scenes I had attention, and certainly had no reason to be discontented by the degree of intelligence, skill, or effort shown by Iago,† but the *Then stage manager at Drury Lane.-ED.

+ Vandenhoff was Iago; Cooper was Cassio; and Harley, Roderigo; Mrs. Yates was the Desdemona; and Miss E. Tree, the Emilia.-ED.

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audience seemed to wait for Kean's points, and this rather threw me off my balance. In the soliloquy after Iago's exit I in some degree asserted myself, and though not up to my own expectations in the "Farewell," &c., yet in the grand burst I carried the house with me. From that point, I should say, the performance averaged good, but was not in any, except that one outbreak, great.

October 29th.-Lay very late, thinking over the play of last night (‘Othello'), and revolving in my mind the slow and comparatively unprofitable advance of my reputation; the danger it runs from the appearance of every new aspirant, and the reluctant admissions that are made to it. Walked in the garden and inhaled, with grateful and tranquil pleasure, the pure air of the country.

November 2nd.-Mr. Yates* wished to speak to me before I left the theatre; I went to his room after the play was finished. I soon perceived which way the conversation was pointing. It appeared from his showing that Mr. Bunn had no funds to carry on the concern if it failed, and that the proprietors, to meet the effect of the Covent Garden reduced prices, had agreed to let onethird of the rent stand over till Christmas if the actors would do the same with their salaries-and to me, in the first instance, the proposal was made.

He said that I was underpaid in proportion to the other salaries. I said I knew that, but did not murmur at it; I would think of his proposal, and see him on Wednesday.

November 5th.-Went to dine with F. Hope, the Cattermoles, and Forster dined there; Hayward, N. P. Willis and bride, and some other unknowns came in the evening. The day was to me cheerful and pleasant, but I was an instance of the bad effect, which Bulwer judiciously observes in 'Pelham,' of holding an argument in mixed society. I liked my host and hostess very much, and the guests. I felt much amused and, indeed, gratified. Mrs. F— sang some very sweet and touching songs, the words by her husband, the music by herself. It was strange that as I gazed on her, receiving and imparting pleasure, my imagination presented me her form in death-the hands actively pressing music from the instrument, stark and cold, and the lips rigid and pale, that now poured forth such touching sounds. Hayward introduced me to Willis, with whom I chatted of America. Note from Talfourd, who "assumes that lon' is to be acted."

November 10th.-(Sale of the Granby.) Looked over 'The Souvenir' till Mr. Powell's arrival in the afternoon. He produced the papers, and, on ascertaining the time of the bank's closing, we went in a cab to the city, where I received from Willis and Co. £2000 on account of Mr. Benn. Returning to chambers, signed the different papers of surrender and mortgage, and received the title-deeds, &c. Holding a straw, the other end of which was held by Mr. Powell (according to the usage of the Forest of

* Acting manager at Drury Lane.-ED.

Knaresborough), I made the declaration of surrender, went over the list of title-deeds, and, all being right, and having vainly invited Mr. Powell to Elstree and written him orders, he took leave.

Elstree, November 16th.-Intended to take a long walk, but recollecting that my fire-arms were in a very bad condition, I took them down, and found them quite wet in the barrels. Read in 'L'Allemagne' the chapter on Schiller's 'Robbers' and 'Don Carlos,' in which were some observations on Shakespeare that are most just, and show her, Madame de Staël, equally well acquainted with our great poet as with those of other countries. Tried my pistols, &c. Continued after dinner my perusal of Wallenstein, which, for grand and natural thoughts and intimate development of character, may rank with the first specimens of dramatic poetry. Went over the last act of 'Bertulphe.'

November 21st.-Rising, I felt the peculiarity of my situation as regards my profession-quite interdicted from its exercise during the greater part, if not the entire of the season, and all the hopes of profit from new characters, upon the strength of which I made this engagement, utterly falsified. There seems a destiny which constantly prevents me from reaching that happy point of success which will give recompense to my labour. Like the Hebrew liberator, I see the promised land, but am not permitted to possess it. I do not on that account complain of my fate, or lose my energies in despondency. On the contrary, I resolve that I will not yield to this untoward pressure of circumstances. I will diligently persevere in my work of improvement, and endeavour to turn my leisure to rich account, "waiting the event of time,' and thankful for what I enjoy.

November 23rd.-Intending to read, I put my books out, but began to talk over my affairs and prospects: the probability of making a successful experiment of the drama at the Lyceum, under a new name, and a proprietary of performers, the best of each class, formed into a supervising committee, and receiving, over and above their salaries, shares in proportion to their rank of salary, and percentage proportionate to their respective advances of money. Talked over the plan (which seemed practicable and promising, if Farren could be bound down) the whole morning. The present desperate condition of the drama makes some step necessary, if it is to be a care and concern to me; but for my own fame, except inasmuch as my blessed children's welfare depends on it, I am comparatively indifferent-I want the means of educating them.

Walked into the fields, taking the two puppies with me. Returned to the subject of myself and my destiny. Calculated what the actual gain of this year would be, as a guide to my future measures; found that from £200 to £300 would be the extent of this year's profit, and that my income, by the sale of the Granby, is diminished by £132. If I am to educate my children, how am I to have the means with such a surplusage? how can I speculate