Chapter XLI: Act IV: Sc. 1

220. ‘_Though I perchance_,’ _etc._ _Othello_, Act III. Sc. 3.

‘_O grace_,’ _etc._ _Ibid._

‘_This may do something_,’ _etc._ _Ibid._

‘_I did say so_,’ _etc._ _Ibid._

221. ‘_Work on_,’ _etc._ _Ibid._ Act IV. Sc. 1.

‘_How is it, General_,’ _etc._ _Ibid._

‘_Look on the tragic loading_,’ _etc._ _Ibid._ Act V. Sc. 2.

_Mr. Kean’s Richard II._ Shakespeare’s play with considerable
alterations and additions (by Wroughton), produced March 9,
1815, and acted thirteen times. This is the first paper which
Hazlitt wrote as regular dramatic critic of _The Examiner_.
Leigh Hunt, the editor, who was released from prison in
February 1815, had intended to take up this work, and had
begun the year (while still in Surrey gaol) by contributing a
series of articles on the principal actors and actresses of
the day. He had also written one ‘Theatrical Examiner’
(February 26, on Kean’s Richard III.) before he was compelled
by the stirring events of the ‘hundred days’ to devote all
his attention to politics. Thus the work of dramatic critic,
as well as the carrying out of the ‘Round Table’ scheme, fell
to Hazlitt. Cf. the advertisement to _The Round Table_ (Vol
I. p. xxxi.).

_We are in the number_, _etc._ Cf. Lamb’s essay ‘On the
tragedies of Shakspeare considered with reference to their
fitness for stage representation,’ originally published in
_The Reflector_ (1811).

222. ‘_Inexpressible_ [inexplicable] _dumb-show and noise._’
_Hamlet_, Act III. Sc. 2.

‘_Segnius per aures_,’ _etc._ Horace, _Ars Poetica_, 180.

_Mr. Kean ... in very many passages_, _etc._ Cf. Coleridge’s
well-known saying (_Table Talk_, April 27, 1823): ‘To see
him [Kean] act, is like reading Shakspeare by flashes of
lightning.’

223. ‘_Overdone or come tardy of_ [off]’ _Hamlet_, Act III. Sc. 2.

224. ‘_Why on thy knee_,’ _etc._ _Richard II._, Act III. Sc. 3.

‘_Oh that I were a mockery king_,’ _etc._ _Ibid._ Act IV. Sc.
1.

_The Editor of this Paper._ Leigh Hunt first saw Kean as
Richard III., and wrote a criticism in _The Examiner_
(February 26, 1815) to which Hazlitt refers.

_Mr. Pope._ Alexander Pope (1763-1835) from 1785 till 1827
acted an immense number of parts both at Drury Lane and
Covent Garden.

_Mr. Holland._ Charles Holland (1768-1849?), nephew of the
better known Charles Holland (1733-1769), Garrick’s friend,
first appeared at Drury Lane in 1796.

_Idly tacked on to the conclusion._ ‘For Mrs. Bartley to rant
and whine in,’ _The Examiner_ adds.

_The Unknown Guest._ Produced on March 29, 1815, and attributed
to Arnold, the manager.

_Mr. Arnold._ Samuel James Arnold (1774-1852) in 1809 opened
the Lyceum Theatre as the English Opera House, of which he
was manager for many years. He was manager at Drury Lane from
1812 to 1815.

225. ‘_More honoured_,’ _etc._ _Hamlet_, Act I. Sc. 4.

_Mr. Kelly._ Michael Kelly (1764?-1826), after singing abroad
chiefly in Italy and Vienna, first appeared in 1787 at Drury
Lane of which he became musical director.

_Mr. Braham._ See vol. VII., note to p. 70.

226. _Mr. Phillips._ Thomas Phillipps (1774-1841), the composer, who
first appeared in London in 1796.

_Mrs. Dickons._ Maria Dickons (1770?-1833) appeared at Covent
Garden as Miss Poole (her maiden name) in 1793. She joined
the Drury Lane company in 1811 and retired about 1820.

_Miss Kelly._ Frances Maria Kelly (1790-1882), a niece of
Michael Kelly, appeared at Drury Lane as early as 1798 and
was chiefly associated with that theatre during her long
career as an actress. She retired in 1835 and devoted herself
to the training of young actresses. She was a great friend of
the Lambs and the heroine of Elia’s _Barbara S——_. The
present volume shows how greatly Hazlitt admired her acting.

_Mr. Knight._ Edward Knight (1774-1826), ‘Little Knight,’ a
regular member of the Drury Lane company from 1812.

227. _Love in Limbo._ Attributed to Millingen.

_Zembuca._ _Zembuca, or the Net-Maker and his Wife_, by Pocock.

_Mr. Kean’s Zanga._ At Drury Lane, May 24, 1815.

_The Revenge._ By Edward Young, produced in 1721.

228. ‘_I knew you could not bear it._’ Act IV. Sc. 1.

‘_And so is my revenge._’ Act V. Sc. 2.

_Oxberry._ _William Oxberry_ (1784-1824), one of the regular
Drury Lane comedians. His _Dramatic Biography_ (5 vols.
1820-1826) was edited after his death by his widow.

229. _Mr. Bannister’s Farewell._ June 1, 1815. Hazlitt had already
published part of this article in _The Round Table_, (vol. I.
p. 155).

_The World._ By James Kenney, produced in 1808.

_The Children in the Wood._ By Thomas Morton, music by Dr.
Samuel Arnold, produced in 1793.

_Mr. Gattie._ Henry Gattie (1774-1844), a member of the Drury
Lane company from 1813 till his retirement in 1833.

_The Honey-Moon._ By John Tobin (1770-1804), produced in 1805.

_Mrs. Davison._ Maria Rebecca Davison (1780?-1858) appeared
at Drury Lane (as Miss Duncan) in 1804, and was chiefly
associated with that theatre for a number of years.

_Decamp._ See _post_, note to p. 247.

_We do not wonder_, _etc._ This passage to the end is in _The
Round Table_. See vol. I. pp. 155-6 and notes.

230. _Comus._ Produced April 28, 1815, and acted fourteen times.

231. ‘_Of mask and antique pageantry._’ _L’Allegro_, 128.

‘_A marvellous proper man._’ _Richard III._, Act I. Sc. 2.

_Mr. Duruset._ J. B. Durusett, ‘an agreeable tenor singer’ at
Covent Garden. He was regarded as the principal male singer
during the absence of John Sinclair from that theatre.

‘_Magic circle._’

Cf. ‘But Shakespear’s magic could not copied be;
Within that circle none durst walk but he.’

Dryden, Prologue to _The Tempest_, 19-20.

‘_This evening late_,’ _etc._ _Comus_, 540 _et seq._

232. ‘_Two such I saw_,’ _etc._ _Ibid._ 291 _et seq._

233. ‘_Royal fortitude._’

‘—— ——whose mind ensued,
Through perilous war, with regal fortitude.’

Wordsworth’s Sonnet, ‘November, 1813,’ published in 1815. In
the note Hazlitt probably refers to the omission of _The
Evening Walk_ (1793), which was not republished till 1837.

_Mr. Kean’s Leon._ June 20, 1815.

_Leon._ In Fletcher’s _Rule a Wife and Have a Wife_.

234. _Mr. Bartley._ George Bartley (1782?-1858) first appeared at
Drury Lane in 1802, and became manager of Covent Garden in
1829.

‘_Double deafness._’ Cf. ‘But yield to double darkness nigh at
hand,’ _Samson Agonistes_, 593.

_The Shakespeare Gallery._ Cf. _ante_, note to p. 184.

235. ‘_The gay creatures_,’ _etc._ _Comus_, 299.

_Messrs. Young_, _etc._ Charles Mayne Young (1777-1856), who
succeeded Kemble as the chief tragedian at Covent Garden, and
retired in 1832; William Abbott (1789-1843), a member of the
Covent Garden company for many years from 1812; John Emery
(1777-1822), one of the best actors of his time, especially
in rustic parts, associated almost entirely with Covent
Garden from 1798 till his death; Sarah Booth (1793-1867), who
first appeared at Covent Garden in 1810.

_’Tis much.’_ _Cymbeline_, Act I. Sc. 6.

236. _Airy shapes_, _etc._ Cf. _Paradise Lost_, I. 775 _et seq._

_Mr. Grimaldi’s Orson._ In _Valentine and Orson_, the part in
which Joseph Grimaldi (1779-1837) made his first appearance
(1806) at Covent Garden.

‘_Tricksy spirit._’ _The Tempest_, Act V. Sc. 1.

237. _Mrs. Bland._ Maria Theresa Bland (1769-1838), who made her
first appearance at Drury Lane (as Miss Romanzini) in 1786.
Hazlitt heard her in Liverpool in 1792. See vol. vii. p. 193.

‘_After the songs of Apollo._’ _Love’s Labour’s Lost_, Act V.
Sc. 2.

_My Wife! What Wife?_ By Barrett, produced July 25, 1815.

‘_Keep such a dreadful pudder_ [pother].’ _etc._ _King Lear_,