# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Macready, William Charles

​MACREADY, WILLIAM CHARLES (1793–1873), actor, the son of William Macready, actor and manager, was born, according to his own statement, on Sunday, 3 March 1793, in Mary Street (now part of Stanhope Street), Euston Road, London. In the reglster of his baptism at St. Pancras Parish Church, 21 Jan. 1796, the date of birth is given as 1792. His father, the son of a Dublin upholsterer, after playing in Irish country towns, was in 1785 a member of the company at Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin, whence, on the introduction of Charles Macklin [q. v.], he went to Liverpool and to Manchester, where he married, 18 June 1786, Christina Ann Birch, an actress, the daughter of a surgeon in Lincolnshire, and on her mother's side a great-granddaughter of William Frye (d. 17 May 1736), president of the council of Montserrat. The elder Macready appeared at Covent Garden, 18 Sept. 1786, as Flutter in the 'Belle's Stratagem,' and remained there ten years, playing parts such as Gratiano, Paris, Young Marlow, Figaro, Fag, and Tattle in 'Love for Love,' and producing two plays by himself, ' The Irishman in London, or the Happy African,' 8vo, 1793 and 1799, 21 April 1792, a happy adaptation of an obscure farce called 'The Intriguing Footman;' and 'The Bank-note, or a Lesson for Ladies,' 8vo, 1795, 1 May 1795, a not very brilliant alteration of Taverner's 'Artful Husband.' The 'Village Lawyer,' a farce, 12mo, 1795, Haymarket, 28 Aug. 1787, is ascribed to him, probably in error, in a pirated edition.
William Macready managed for a season, unsuccessfully, the Royalty Theatre, Wellclose Square, London. He is best known as manager of the theatres at Birmingham, Sheffield, and country towns; he also attempted but failed in management in Manchester. He died 11 April 1829, aged 74. Mrs. Macready, who played secondary parts, died in Birmingham 31 Dec. 1803, aged 38. William Charles Macready quitted at the age of six a preparatory school in Kensington, and about 1799 was at school in St. Paul's Square, Birmingham, under a master named Edgell. On 3 March 1803 he was entered at Rugby, where he boarded with William Birch, his mother's cousin, one of the masters. He acquired at the time a reputation as a reciter and in amateur theatricals. His father's failure compelled him, at the close of 1808, to abandon the idea of going to the bar and begin as actor. He had a difficult time, striving in Newcastle first, and subsequently in Chester, to manage for his father, who was then in prison for debt, but he contrived to visit London, learn fencing, and see the principal actors. On 7 June 1810, in the Birmingham Theatre, of which his father had resumed the management, Macready made, as Romeo, his first appearance on any stage. A rare portrait by De Wilde shows him in this character as a chubby-faced boy, in a costume including a broad, flowered sash, almost under his armpits, an upstanding ruff, white kid gloves, white silk stockings and dancing-pumps, and a large black hat with white plumes. His success was considerable, and his future fame was predicted in the Birmingham press. Lothair in 'Adelgitha,' by 'Monk' Lewis, Young Norval, Zanga, and George Barnwell were given during the season. For four years he held the principal place in his father's companies, playing a round of leading characters at Birmingham, Newcastle, Glasgow, and various country towns. Early in 1811 he made, at Newcastle, his first essay as Hamlet. In his 'Reminiscences' he makes the reflection, since become commonplace, that 'a total failure in that character is of rare occurrence.' Here, too, he played Beverley in the 'Gamester' to the Mrs. Beverley of Mrs. Siddons, and Norval to her Lady Randolph. She encouraged him and gave him advice, which he followed. 'You are in the right way, but study, study, study, and do not marry till you are thirty.' In 1812 he played at Leicester Don Felix in the 'Wonder' to the Violante of Mrs. Jordan. He next acted with John Philip Kemble, Young, and many other actors of eminence; and played, among innumerable parts, Richard II, Richard III, Othello, Falconbridge, Antony, Benedick, Captain Plume, Doricourt, and Puff. In Glasgow he played Charles II in the 'Royal Oak' to the William Wyndham of W. H. W. Betty [q. v.], and Warwick to his Edward IV in the 'Earl of Warwick.'
No fewer than seventy-four parts were taken in the four years in which he stayed with his father, and he adapted for his own benefit Scott's 'Marmion,' in which he was Marmion, and for his father's benefit 'Rokeby,' in which he appeared as Bertram of Risingham. By his father, who was in fact very proud of him, he was treated with coldness and apparent surliness. His own temper was never too amiable, and quarrels were ​not infrequent. These led to Macready's acceptance of an engagement for Bath, where he appeared, 29 Dec. 1814, as Romeo, following this upwith the Earl of Essex, Hamlet, Orestes, Hotspur, Richard II, Luke in 'Riches,' and other characters. In the spring of 1815 he played a short engagement in Glasgow, where he met his subsequent wife, then acting a child's part, and somewhat characteristically scolded her. In April he was in Dublin, engaged at the high salary of 50l. a week. Country engagements followed, and he reappeared in Bath, 9 Dec. 1815, as Benedick, Genest's curt comment on which is 'very bad.' A fresh engagement in Dublin in February 1810 extended over thirteen weeks. Starring engagements in Ireland followed, and he then came to London to fulfil at Covent Garden an engagement for five years at a weekly salary rising from 16l. to 18l.
On 16 Sept. 1816, as Orestes in the 'Distressed Mother,' to the Andromache of Mrs. Julia Glover [q. v.] and the Hermione of Mrs. Sarah Egerton [q. v.], he made his first appearance at Covent Garden. Kean was in the audience and applauded loudly. His reception was favourable, and success was predicted. Montevole in Jephson's 'Julia, or the Italian Lover,' 30 Sept., augmented his reputation, and he was then announced to play alternately with Young as Othello and Iago. His Othello won a very favourable verdict, though Hazlitt pronounced it 'effeminate,' and in the pathetic passages inclined to be 'whimpering and lachrymose.' Such it remained to the close. Hazlitt also compared Young as Othello 'to a great humming-top,' and Macready as Iago to 'a mischievous boy whipping it.' The engagement of Junius Brutus Booth [q. v.] took from him the chief classical parts. On 12 Nov. 1816 he was the original Gambia, a slave, in the 'Slave,' by Morton; on 18 Jan. 1817 Demetrius in the 'Humorous Lieutenant, or Alexander's Successors,' an adaptation from Fletcher by Reynolds; on 15 April Valentio, a traitor, in Dimond's 'Conquest of Taranto, or St. Clara's Eve,' in which, outshining Booth as the hero, he augmented his reputation; and on 3 May Pescara, governor of Granada, in Shiel's 'Apostate.' Against the unsympathetic parts thrust upon him he vainly protested, but he rose in reputation in his own despite. Tieck declared that Macready's Pescara took him back to the best days of German acting. A tour with his father's company in the north preceded his taking part in the farewell of John Philip Kemble, at which he met Talma. During consecutive seasons he played parts in forgotten melodramas and villains in pieces of more reputation, growling over all, and winning from Harris, the manager, the name of 'The Cock Grumbler.' He was in 1817-18 the original Chosroo in John Dillon's 'Retribution, or the Chieftain's Daughter;' Count Berndorff in Reynolds's 'Illustrious Traveller, or the Forges of Kanzel;' Rob Roy, one of his favourite parts, in Pocock's adaptation, 'Rob Roy Macgregor;' Amurath in Sheil's 'Bellamira, or the Fall of Tunis;' and Salviati in the younger Raymond's 'Castle of Paluzzi.' He also added to his reputation by playing Romeo to the Juliet of Miss O'Neill. Friendships in literary society were formed about this time, Lamb, Talfourd, Alaric Watts, Crabb Robinson, Barry Cornwall, and Jordan being among his associates. He remained, however, discontented, and talks in his 'Diary' about quitting the stage. Ludovico in Sheil's 'Evadne, or the Statue' (10 Feb. 1819), an adaptation of Shirley's 'Traytor,' was favourably received, and the part of Fridolfo, a villain, in Maturin's 'Fridolfo,' stirred him to passionate protest. As George Robertson in Terry's version of the 'Heart of Midlothian' he had 'Kitty' Stephens as his Effie Deans. In the summer of 1819 he visited Scotland, and was not very cordially received in Edinburgh.' At Covent Garden his Joseph Surface was at first a failure, and his King Henry V little better. His Richard in, 25 Oct. 1819, took a firm hold of the public and established what was held to be a dangerous rivalry for Kean. This Macready called the turning-point in his life, raising him to the undisputed head of the theatre. Coriolanus, Jaques, and many leading parts followed, and were well received. He was, 2 March 1820, the first Front de Boeuf in Moncrieff's 'Ivanhoe,' and 22 April the first Henri in Morton's 'Henri Quatre,' Declining the part of King Lear in a revival intended to anticipate Kean at Drury Lane, he took that of Edmund. Sheridan Knowles's 'Virginius' was played for the first time in London on 17 May 1820, with a prologue by John Hamilton Reynolds and an epilogue by Barry Cornwall. Macready was Virginius, Charles Kemble Icilius, and Miss Foote Virginia. 'Virginius' had a tumultuous success, was universally praised, and remained a favourite with Macready to the end. In the summer he played in various Scottish towns, being supported by Miss Atkins, his future wife, whom he induced his father to engage for the Bristol Theatre. Wallace in the 'Wallace' of C. E. Walker was given 14 Nov. 1820. Duke of Mirandola in Barry Cornwall's 'Mirandola,' 4 Jan. 1821, and Damon ​in Banim and Sheil's 'Damon and Pythias,' 28 May, were his original parts during the next season, in which a partial restoration of Shakespeare's 'Richard III' was substituted for Cibber's, and Macready was seen to advantage as the King in 'The Second Part of King Henry IV;' he also played Prospero and Iachimo, and, for the first time in London, Hamlet.
In 1821 his engagement at Covent Garden was renewed for a further term of five years, and he appeared as Cassius in 'Julius Cæsar' to the Brutus of Young and the Antony of Charles Kemble, now the manager. When he returned in 1822 from a tour in France and Italy he found the company materially reduced and matters in a state of difficulty, which his own quarrel with Charles Kemble did not tend to diminish. Sheil's 'Huguenot,' in which Macready presented Polignac, was a failure; some success attended Miss Mitford's 'Julian,' in which he played Julian, but it led to a coldness between author and actor. Wolsey, King John, and Shylock followed. But in the meantime Macready's relations with all concerned in the management had become so unpleasant that his engagement was cancelled, and on 13 Oct. 1823, at a salary of 20l. a night, he made, as Virginius, his first appearance at Drury Lane. Here he remained, with some breaks, thirteen years, without adding materially to his reputation. After playing Rolla, Hamlet, Macbeth, &c, he appeared for the first time as Leontes. Knowles's 'Caius Gracchus,' in which, 18 Nov. 1823, he played the hero, was a failure. Kean, on his reappearance, refused to act with Macready, whose only other new part during the season was the Duke in 'Measure for Measure.' On 24 June he married, at St. Pancras Church, Catherine Frances Atkins, who, after playing in Bristol many leading parts, had migrated with her father and mother to Liverpool. The marriage was accelerated by the death of her father, who was drowned, 26 March 1823, off the Welsh coast in the Alert. Massinger's 'Fatal Dowry,' altered by Sheil, showed Macready, 5 Jan. 1825, as Romont, but this success was interrupted by serious illness. Knowles's 'William Tell,' in which, 11 May 1825, he played Tell, was perhaps the greatest success of his Drury Lane engagement, extorting the reluctant praise of Genest and the unstinted eulogy of a critic so difficult to please as Samuel Rogers. On 2 Sept. 1826 Macready, with his wife and sister, started from Liverpool for New York, where he arrived on the 27th. He appeared as Virginius at the Park Theatre, New York, on 2 Oct., was well received in many American cities, took his farewell benefit at New York, 4 June 1827, as Macbeth and Delaval, and reappeared at Drury Lane 12 Dec. as Macbeth. 'Edward the Black Prince,' by Reynolds, in which, 28 Jan. 1828, Macready played Ribemont, and 'Don Pedro,' by Lord Porchester, in which, 10 March 1828, he was Henry, brother and rival of the king, were failures. On 7 April 1828 Macready appeared in Paris with the company at the Salle Favart (Théâtre Italien) under Abbott as Macbeth to the Lady Macbeth of Miss Smithson, then in the height of her Parisian popularity. He also played Virginius, eliciting from Jules Janin the criticism that 'for twenty-four hours Macready was found the equal of Talma.' Returning to Paris on 23 June he was seen as William Tell, Hamlet, and Othello, and was received with enthusiasm. Actors being forbidden by police ordinance to appear before the curtain, his admirers seized him and by force carried him on to receive the applause of the public. In October 1830 he returned to Drury Lane, where he appeared, 15 Dec., in his great part of Werner, perhaps the most powerful of his impersonations. He also played, 8 April 1831, Don Leo in the 'Pledge,' Kenney's poor adaptation of 'Hernani,' and 28 April Alfred in Knowles's play of that name. Mr. Oakley in the 'Jealous Wife,' one of Macready's few comedy parts, was first seen this season. Macready appeared as Iago, with Kean as Othello, 26 Nov. 1832, and complained bitterly of the behaviour of his associate, whom he called 'that low man.' This performance was several times repeated, but the two actors did not appear together again, and on 8 Feb. 1833 Macready was a pallbearer at Kean's funeral. Kean appears to have reciprocated his rival's contempt, and Elliston to have shared Kean's sentiments.
On 21 Nov. 1833 Macready played Antony in 'Antony and Cleopatra,' under the management of Bunn, who had then control of both the leading houses. Disliking the association, he vainly offered Bunn a premium to be let off his engagement. 'Sardanapalus,' Byron's tragedy, was given after the following Easter; and on 23 May he played for the first time in London 'King Lear,' in a version from which the Fool was banished. He had first played Lear a few months earlier in Swansea. The 'Bridal,' his own adaptation of the 'Maid's Tragedy,' to which Sheridan Knowles contributed three scenes, was given in Dublin with Macready as Melantius. At the close of 1834 Macready undertook with a Mr. Woulds the management, of the theatres, generally combined, of Bath and Bristol. He engaged Mrs. Lovell, Mr. ​and Mrs. Wood (Miss Paton), and Dowton, and was joined by William Farren. He played most of his old characters and Ford in 'The Merry Wives of Windsor.' The experiment was a failure; and in 1835 Macready re-engaged at Drury Lane with Bunn, who was now concerned in the management of that house exclusively. In February he played without success Bertulphe in the 'Provost of Bruges,' by G. W. Lovell. He chafed greatly at his situation in the theatre, finding tragedy reduced to the position of an afterpiece, or forming part of a miscellaneous entertainment. On 29 April 1836 he went to the theatre in a state which, by the use of extravagant euphemism, he calls 'tetchy and unhappy.' Passing on the way to his dressing-room as Richard III the door of Bunn's office, he lost self-control, entered, and addressing the astonished manager as a 'damned scoundrel,' knocked him down. On Bunn asking the tragedian if he meant to murder him, he received an answer in the affirmative. The pair were separated, and Bunn was conveyed to bed. Legal proceedings followed, and Macready, who was defended by Talfourd, may be held to have got off lightly with the payment of 150l. damages. Twelve days later, 11 May 1836, he appeared at Covent Garden as Macbeth, and obtained a warm reception. Mr. Archer, his biographer, traces a great augmentation of popularity to this outrage. Macready, however, subsequently made a speech, expressing regret for his intemperate and imprudent act. On 18 May, in the 'Stranger,' he played for the first time with Miss Helen Faucit, and on the 26th took part with Miss Ellen Tree in the first performance of Talfourd's 'Ion.' Bulwer's 'Duchess de la Vallière' was given 4 Jan. 1837, with Macready as Bragelone to the Louis XIV of Vandenhoff, the Lauzun of Farren, and Miss Faucit's La Vallière. Browning's 'Strafford,' written for Macready at his own request, obtained, 1 May 1837, a succès d'estime. On 12 June 1837 he played Hamlet, under Webster, at the Haymarket, and on the 26th brought out in London his adaptation of the 'Bridal,' in which Miss Huddart wss Evadne, Elton Amintor, and Macready once more Melantius. He also played in the 'Provoked Husband.' On 2 Aug. 1836 he had performed Virginius at Cambridge for the Cambridge Garrick Club, and the members afterwards presented him with a silver cup.
Macready's first experiment in London management began on 30 Sept. 1837, when he opened Covent Garden, speaking an address by Talfourd, and playing Leontes in the ' Winter's Tale.' He obtained a powerful company, bringing to London Samuel Phelps and James Anderson, and engaging among others Edward William Elton [q. v], James Warde, George Bennett [q. v.], J. T. Serle, Miss Huddart, Miss Helen Faucit, and in comedy Bartley, Harley, Vining, Drinkwater Meadows, W. J. Hammond, Tilbury, Tyrone Power, Mrs. Glover, Mrs. Walter Lacy (Miss Taylor), Mrs. Humby, Mrs. W. Clifford, and Miss P. Horton, subsequently Mrs. German Reed. He had also a staff for English opera and a company of pantomimists. Before Christmas Macready was said to have lost 3,000l., which, however, he regained with the pantomime. His first novelty of importance was Bulwer's 'Lady of Lyons,' on 15 Feb. 1838, in which he was the original Claude Melnotte and Miss Faucit the original Pauline. In spite of some coldness on the part of the early audiences, it was a remunerative success, the author magnificently refusing to take any payment. As was natural, Macready depended principally upon Shakespearean performances, and one tragedy or historical play after another was revived. On 7 April 1838 he played Francis Foscari in a production of Byron's 'Two Foscari,' and on 23 May was Walsingham in the first production of 'Woman s Wit, or Love's Disguises,' by Sheridan Knowles. During a summer engagement at the Haymarket he played Thoas in Talfourd's 'Athenian Captive.' For his next season at Covent Garden his company was strengthened by the accession of Vandenhoff and Miss Vandenhoff. After an elaborate revival of the 'Tempest' and other performances, Bulwer's 'Richelieu, or the Conspiracy,' with Macready as Richelieu and Miss Faucit as Julie de Mortemar, was given on 7 March, and took the town by storm, being acted thirty-seven times. 'King Henry V' was played on 10 June, with pictorial illustrations by Stanfield. The mounting was superintended by Bulwer, Dickens, Forster, Maclise, W. J. Fox, and other friends of Macready, and the result was a conspicuous success. His management closed in 1839, and was celebrated by a public dinner at the Freemasons' Tavern on 20 July, with the Duke of Sussex in the chair. An application for a personal license to perform legitimate drama when and where he would, was refused, as was a second for the post of reader of plays, on the concession of which he engaged to retire from the stage in four years. The berth was given to John Mitchell Kemble [q. v.]
For the next two and a half years he was principally at the Haymarket under Webster. On 31 Oct. 1839 he was the original Norman ​in Bulwer's 'Sea Captain.' On 22 Jan. 1840 he played at Drury Lane Ruthven in 'Mary Stuart,' a new play of James Haynes. Once more at the Haymarket he was the original Halbert Macdonald, 23 May 1840, in Talfourd's 'Glencoe, or the Fate of the Macdonalds.' Richard Cromwell in Serle's 'Master Clarke' followed. The first production of Bulwer's 'Money,' postponed on account of the death of Macready's daughter Joan, took place on 8 Dec. 1840. With much reluctance Macready accepted the part of Alfred Evelyn, in which he scored a success. Count d'Orsay, among others, superintended the mounting of the piece, which ran for the unprecedented number of eighty nights, causing an extension of the season for two months by special license. Ugone Spinola in Troughton's 'Nina Sforza' was played on 1 Nov. 1841.
On 27 Dec. 1841 Macready, supported by his old staff and with the addition of Miss Fortescue, Henry Marston, Compton, Hudson, the Keeleys, &c., opened Drury Lane with the 'Merchant of Venice' and a pantomime. 'Acis and Galatea,' 5 Feb. 1842, with Stanfield's scenery and Handel's music, was the great success of the season. In Douglas Jerrold's 'Prisoner of War' Macready had no part. He played on 23 Feb. Gisippus in Gerald Griffin's play of that name, and by a display of temper assisted in ruining the chances, small enough, of Darley's 'Plighted Troth' on 20 April. On 19 May he played Lord Townly, and on 20 May 'Marino Faliero.' Mrs. Nisbett, Charles Mathews, and his wife, Madame Vestris, now joined the company. 'King John' was given on 24 Oct. 1842, Macready's King John proving one of his best impersonations. Westland Marston's 'Patrician's Daughter,' 10 Dec. 1842, with Macready as Mordaunt, was a barren success, as was Browning's 'Blot on the 'Scutcheon,' on 11 Feb. 1843, in which Macready somewhat petulantly resigned the principal part, Thorold, to Phelps. For his benefit he played Benedick and Comus. Knowles's 'Secretary,' 24 April, in which Macready was Colonel Green, was only acted thrice, and W. Smith's 'Athelwold,' in which he was Athelwold, twice. On 14 June 1843 he played Macbeth, and this was the last night on which he appeared as manager. He had done well in many respects, producing the best plays he could get, adopting for the first time since the Restoration the genuine text of Shakespeare, securing the best company, and purging the stage from notorious abuse. He refused to encourage long runs, and thus impaired his own fortune. He had, however, shown himself vain, self-seeking, arrogant. While generous to his company, he had never been gracious, scarcely perhaps loyal. While winning himself a high position, much personal popularity, and the friendship of men of eminence, he had failed to secure either the regard or the affection of those with whom he worked.
In September 1843 Macready started once more for America, visiting various places between New Orleans and Montreal, and obtaining a social and financial success. On his return he revisited Paris, accompanied by Miss Helen Faucit. Their performances were received with much favour, and Théophile Gautier, George Sand, Eugene Delacroix, Louis Blanc, Hugo, Dumas, Sue, loudly expressed their admiration. Until 1848, when he went on his final visit to America, he played principally in the country, appearing occasionally in London at the Princess's, where in 1846 he was the original James V in the 'King of the Commons' of the Rev. James White. From 7 Sept. to 7 Nov. of this year he was at the Surrey. On 22 Nov. 1847 he played at the Princess's the last new part, Philip Van Artevelde, in his own botched adaptation of Taylor's play. Greatly to Macready's disappointment, it was a failure, running only five nights.
In April and May 1848 he appeared at the Marylebone Theatre, then under Mrs. Warner, competing with Phelps at Sadler's Wells, and on 10 July he took by royal command a benefit at Drury Lane, playing Wolsey to the Queen Katharine of Charlotte Cushman, in three acts of 'King Henry VIII,' and Oakley in the 'Jealous Wife' to the Mrs. Oakley of Mrs. Warner. Late in 1848 Macready paid his last visit to America, which was destined to have a lamentable conclusion. The unfavourable reception of Edwin Forrest, the American tragedian, upon a visit to London in 1845, was attributed by that ill-conditioned actor to Macready and Forster, who were charged with having hired roughs to drive him from the stage, and to have induced the press to condemn his efforts. These absurd charges won some acceptance in America. Two pamphlets, for and against Macready, were published in New York in 1849. These were entitled 'Replies from England, &c, to certain Statements circulated in this Country respecting Mr. Macready,' and 'A Rejoinder to the Replies,' &c. A criticism by Forster of Forrest had been flippant, injudicious, and insolent. Nothing connecting Macready with any hostility to Forrest is, however, traceable, and Mr. Archer holds that the attempt of roughs to drive Forrest from the London stage never took place. Forrest, on the other hand, owned to having in Edinburgh, on 2 March 1846, hissed what he called in the ​'Times' a 'fairy dance,' or a ' pas de mouchoir,' introduced by Macready in 'Hamlet.' Some Americans were sore over the pictures of their country by Mrs. Trollope and Dickens, and on the reappearance of Macready in New York, 4 Oct. 1848, a portion of the press displayed animosity against him. Macready unwisely thanked an appreciative audience for having confuted his detractors. Overt acts of hostility were committed in Philadelphia, and drew from Macready a denial that he had ever in word or deed shown hostility to Forrest, whose answer was to iterate the charges he had brought and urge his friends to leave Macready alone as a 'superannuated driveller.' Macready began an action against Forrest, and, while awaiting documents from England, went on a prosperous tour in the United States, being entertained at New Orleans at a banquet. On 7 May 1849 Macready reappeared in New York as Macbeth at the Astor Place Opera House, and Forrest played the same character at the Broadway. Macready, though received with enthusiasm by a portion of the audience, was pelted by another portion, chairs being at length thrown at him. On the persuasion of Americans Macready reappeared on the 10th in the same character, the house being guarded by posses of police. An overwhelming audience assembled, and a large crowd was without the theatre. So soon as a disturbance began the police swept on the rowdies, clearing them out of the theatre and arresting four ringleaders, who tried in their temporary confinement in the theatre to set fire to the house. The mob outside, excited by the ejection of the disturbers, and finding a supply of stones handy, bombarded the house, stones ultimately falling on the audience. Amid indescribable hubbub the piece was concluded, and Macready thanked his patrons and withdrew for ever from the American stage. While changing his dress he heard a fusillade. The troops had been called out, cavalry first, then infantry. For self-preservation they were ultimately compelled to fire, and two brass pieces loaded with grape-shot were brought out. Fortunately the mob retired, leaving the military masters of the situation. In the encounter about seventeen persons were killed. After changing clothes with one of the actors Macready, with a single companion, joined the departing audience and escaped. He was then smuggled in a carriage to New Rochelle, took the train to Boston, where he stayed ten days unmolested, and then shipped for England. Throughout this sad business Macready as usual showed himself intrepid, tactless, and self-assertive.
In June 1849 Macready arrived in England. He played in various country towns, and from 8 Oct. to 8 Dec. he was at the Haymarket, playing Macbeth, Hamlet, Lear, and Othello. On 1 Feb. 1850 he played at Windsor Castle, under Charles Kean, Brutus to Kean's Antony, Wallack's Cassius, and Mrs. Warner's Portia. This was his only appearance with Charles Kean, who sent him a courteous message and received a characteristically churlish reply. On 28 Oct. he was once more at the Haymarket, where he remained till 3 Feb. 1851. He took the last of many farewells as Macbeth at Drury Lane, 26 Feb. 1851. Phelps, who had closed his theatre for the purpose, was Macduff, Mrs. Warner Lady Macbeth, Mr. Howe Banquo. An immense audience assembled, and the brilliant scene was described with much animation by George Henry Lewes. A public dinner followed on 1 March, with Bulwer in the chair, speeches by Dickens, Thackeray, and Bunsen, and the recitation by Forster of a sonnet by Tennyson. Macready then withdrew to the house he had purchased at Sherborne, Dorset. His wife died on 18 Sept. 1852, and many of his children found premature graves. On 3 April 1860 he married Miss Cecile Louise Frederica Spencer, by whom he had a son. He then removed to Wellington Square, Cheltenham. After his retirement he often read aloud and lectured, though for the last two or three years he could not hold a book. He died at Cheltenham on Sunday, 27 April 1873, leaving a widow, a son by the second wife, and a son and a daughter, the only survivors of a large family, by the first wife. His remains were buried in Kensal Green cemetery on 4 May.
Less popular than Kean and even than Young, Macready was a favourite with the educated public and was a man of indisputable genius. 'He studied strenuously for his profession,' says Dr. Madden, 'and considered that to be a great actor it was advisable for him to become a good scholar, an accomplished gentleman, a well-ordered man, with a well-regulated mind, and finely cultivated taste (Life of Lady Blessington, iii. 478). He found many capable critics. Hazlitt, Leigh Hunt, and Talfourd saw his opening career; W. J. Fox gave, in the 'Morning Chronicle ' of 1838-9, an animated and highly eulogistic account of his Julius Cæsar, Lear, Hamlet, Coriolanus, Othello, and Prospero, and of his management; George Henry Lewes and Westland Marston deal with his later life. The opinion of these establishes his position. The fire and passion of Kean he did not possess—what actor, indeed, ever did?—but what is known as 'the Macready burst' in 'Werner' is heard of still. He had a good figure and ​voice, but his physical advantages were not great, and his face in his early years scarcely escaped the charge of ugliness. He has had no superior, however, in characters in which tragedy and what is known as character acting dispute for mastery; in others, including even Lear, he seems to have left no successor. Hazlitt's praise does not extend beyond the employment of terms such as 'natural, easy, and forcible,' Talfourd declared Macready the 'most romantic of actors,' comparing him with Kemble as the 'most classical' and -Kean as the 'most intensely human.' Leigh Hunt praises his 'sensibility, tenderness, passion.' Le wes speaks of a 'voice capable of delicate modulation,' and tones 'that thrilled and tones that stirred tears,' but declares his 'declamation' mannered and unmusical,' although his person was good and his face expressive. He was 'a thorough artist, very conscientious, very much in earnest.' Lewes said of his Virginius that 'in tenderness he had few rivals.' In 'Othello' 'his passion was irritability, and his agony had no grandeur.' To this, from personal recollection, we should add that his griff was unmanly. Lord Tennyson in his famous sonnet classes him with 'Garrick and statelier Kemble.' W. J. Fox thought him so high as to be above criticism and scarcely 'amenable at its bar.' 'The stream cannot rise above its fountain' (Works, Memorial edit. vi. 860). Westland Marston regards his Richelieu as perfection, and praises highly his Melantius. Macready regarded Macbeth with most favour, but Werner was his masterpiece. Those rapid transitions which distinguished his acting on the stage seem to have been a part of his character. Marston tells how from petulance and anger with those concerned with a rehearsal he would turn with instant courtesy and urbanity to his guests. He was in the habit of working himself up into a passion by physical exertion, shaking a ladder or adopting other methods before going on the stage in a scene of violence, and it is said he employed strong objurgations under his breath when fighting with his adversaries. He was capable of great generosity, and won the high esteem of the best men of his epoch. His disposition was, however, unamiable and almost morose as well as violent. He strove hard to check his quarrelsome propensities, and in the end almost succeeded. His tendency to introspection led him at times to put his own conduct in an unfavourable light. His 'Diary' is a curious mixture of vanity and assertion, with a genuine wish to reform.
Portraits of Macready are numerous. One by John Jackson, R.A. [q. v.], as Henry IV, possibly given by himself to Mathews, is now in the Garrick Club. He is presented in a score of different characters in plates in Tallis's dramatic periodicals.
[The chief materials for a life of Macready are contained in his Diary and Reminiscences, edited by Sir Frederick Pollock. A full list of his characters is given in the Life by Mr. William Archer, which furnishes also a full and trustworthy account of his career. Macready as I knew Him, by Lady Pollock, supplies many particulars; biographical sketches appeared in most of the dramatic periodicals of the first half of the present century, and criticism in the New Monthly, the London, and other magazines; Genest deals with the opening portion of his career; two or three pamphlets of little interest are mentioned in Lowe's Bibliography of the Stage. The best account of his performances is to be derived from Lewes's Acting and the Stage and Westland Marston's Some Recollections of our Old Actors.]
J. K.