The Sun.
London, England, 1854-11-15 00:00:00

ANOTHER ACCOUNT.

Though several years have now elapsed since Mr.
Charles Kemble's appearance on the stage, his death
will be considered an important event, even by those
who have not had the great advantage of witnessing his
admirable performances. To the youngest playgoer his
name will be familiar as that of the last histrionic scion
of a family which was for many years associated with all
that was high and dignified in theatrical art. But in
those of longer experience the record of the melancholy
event will awaken a remembrance of bygone days, when
the veteran who closed his earthly career on Sunday last
stood as the representative of a class of characters upon
the stage in which, according to the opinion even of the
ablest judges, ho was never excelled. The gay, buoy-
ant, spirited gentleman of high breeding, who was such
a constant stage hero years ago, was so completely iden-
tified with Mr. Charles Kemble that since his retirement
from the profession the character itself has almost sunk
into oblivion.
Mr. Charles Kemble was born in November, 1775—
the same year in which his illustrious sister, Mrs. Sid-
dons, made her first appearance at Drury-lane—and
at the age of 14 was seat to the College of Douay,
where his brother, John Kemble' had studied twelve
years before. In the winter of 1792.3 he made his
first recorded appearance at the Sheffield Theatre
as Orlando in A: You Like It, and in April, 1794,
through the interest of his brother John, made
his dam+, at Drury-lane as Malcolm in Macbeth. It is
no discredit to his memory that during the earlier part
of his career he was considered what, in popular criti-
cism, is termed "a regular stick," for the fact that he
was so considered proves that in climbing to the high
eminence ho afterwards attained ho had to conquer a
difficulty often insurmountable—an unfavourable im-
pression. If he began at the bottom of the ladder, his
whole career was one of improvement, and if slighted in
1794, he was regarded 30 years afterwards as one of the
brightest ornaments of the theatrical profession.
'When Mr. John Kemble purchased a share of Covent-
garden Theatre in 1803, Mrs. Siddons and Mr. Charles
Kemble bath became members of that company. To
Covent-garden Mr. Charles Kemble remained attached for
a long series of years, though he occasionally fulfilled
engagements elsewhere ; and he subsequently possessed
the share originally held by his brother. With his re-
tirement from the management of that theatre, more
than twenty years ago, began the decline of the " large
houses" as national establishments, although a tempo-
rary resuscitation was effected by the managements of
Mr. Macready and Madame Vestris. It was while
Covent Garden was under the direction of Madame Yes-
tris that Mr. Charles Kemble, after a long retirement,
reappeared before the public for a limited series of nights,
and played several of his favourite characters, including
Don Felix, Mercutio, and Hamlet. Except in a
series of readings, he has never been seen by any
audience since that occasion, but almost to the last day
of his life be was well known in private society as one of
the most cheerful and intelligent of companions. His
flow of spirits was the more remarkable, as for the last
few years he suffered so severely from deafness that
without the aid of a trumpet he could not hear a single
word of the conversation around him. This affliction
caused him at times to wear a melancholy appearance,
that contrasted strangely with the gaiety which perhaps
his own hospitality had occasioned, but the cloud was
only transient, and if any congenial spirit spoke to him
of tho " good old times," his eye would brighten, his
voice would grow eloquent, and he would pour forth a
flood of anecdote, reminiscence, and criticism most enter-
taining and instructive to all present. To the chosen
few who have known him in society his death will be
an irreparable loss.
Though Mr. Charles Kemble played tragedy as well
as comedy, it is with the higher class of comedy that
his name is chiefly associated. His excellence is thus
forcibly described by a gentleman who had an opportu-
nity of comparing him with early actors who are al-
most myths to the present generation :—" I never."
says Mr. Robson, in his Old Playgoei , " saw an actor
with more buoyancy of spirits than Charles Kern's!. ;
Lewis had wonderful vivacity, airiness, and sparkle, but
he was finnicking compared with Charles. Who ever
played a drunken gentleman as ho did I His efforts to
pick up hie dress hat, in Charles Oakley, were the most
laughable, the most ridiculous, the most natural that
can be imagined. I have seen him perform the charac-
ter of Friar Tuck, in a dramatic version of Mr. Pea-
cock's Maid Marian, with such an extraordinary aban-
donment and gusto, that you were forced back to the
jolly green wood and the bonny forest bramble ;' he
absolutely rollicked through the part, as if he had lived
all his life with Robin and his men, quaffiing fat ale and
devouring venison pasties. But, perhaps, his master-
piece in this way was Cassie—the insidious creeping of
the devil' upon his senses ; the'hilarity of intoxication,
the tongue cleaving to the roof of the mouth, and the
lips glued together ; the confusion, the state of loss of
self, if I may so term it, when he received the rebuke
of Othello, and the wonderful truthfulness of his getting
sober, were beyond description fine—nay, real. No
drunken scene I ever saw on a stage was comparable to
it." "In parts of gallant spirited bearieg," says the
same writer in another place, " just hitting the difficult
mark—noble, without bluster ; self-possessed, without
apparent effort ; energetic, without bombast ; elegant,
without conceit—Charles Kemble has never in my time
been equalled."