The Sun.
London, England, 1856-08-11 00:00:00

DEATH OF MADAME VESTRIES.

Purposing, as we do, in this off season, to give
critical and biographical notices of the more emi-
nent members of the theatrical profession, we have
scarcely commenced our task ere death has erased
from the list which we had jotted down the name
of one of the most celebrated women of the day.
Mrs. Charles Mathews, well known all over Europe
as Madame Vestris, expired on Friday night, at 12
o'clock, at her residence, Grove Lodge, Fulham,
after suffering for many months under an excruci-
ating and incurable disease. Renowned during her
youth for her beauty and esprit, and during the
latter years of her life for her admirable taste and
knowledge of everything appertaining to dramatic
effect, few women have had their names brought so
prominently before the world ; indeed, as it is the
practice of would-be wits to father their dull jokes
and pointless inanities upon Sheridan or Curran m
order that they may pass muster, so was it the
habit of the flaneurs and diners out of twenty years
ago to attribute the most romantic anecdotes of •
boundless extravagance or bizarre behaviour to
Madame Vestris. In creating for her this unen-
viable notoriety jealousy had no small share. It
is well known that in the eyes of the mean-spirited
there is nothing so criminal as success, and we re-
gret to say that in the theatrical profession the truth
of this axiom is too frequently elucidated. Madame
Vestris had not only a talent for dramatic repre-
sentation—that is to say, for acting a character--
but she possessed that much rarer qualification, the
power • of harmonising dramatic effect with the
realities of every-day lite. During her management,
and under her artistic eye, were for the first time
produced comedies of modern life in which the dress
and behaviour of the characters and adjuncts and
accessories of the scene were such as the audience
were rarely accustomed to see. Had a " super" to
come on and deliver a message, he was drilled to do
it simply and naturally, and not to announce it in
the blood-and-thunder voice which these persons
usually conceive to be inseparable from acting ;
while the speechless noblemen and guests at an
evening party were, by her, rescued from the wild
state of apparel in which they had hitherto in-
dulged, and clothed in ordinary evening costume.
Among ill-informed people, who, by the way,
are always the most garrulous, it has been for a.
length of time the custom to speak of Madame-
Yestris as of an almost fabulous age ; and to marvel
that she had so long retained strength and spirit
enough to appear upon the stage. It is almost
needless to say that this assertion, like most others
of the same kind, was unfounded. The daughter
of a well-known engraver, named Bartolozzi, she
was born in the year 1797, and from the first gave
evidence of extraordinary abilities as a musician.
and a linguist. At the age of sixteen she was mar-
ried to M. Armand Vestris, the principal dancer at
and ballet-master of the then King's Theatre, in
the Haymarket, at whose solicitation she entered
upon the dramatic profession, appearing first as
Proserpina in the opera of " Il Ratto di Proser-
pina," at the theatre to which her husband was
attached. Having, however, scarcely made the
sensation which was expected, she did not re-
main in London; but accompanied her husband
to Paris, where she played for some time
in drama and tragedy in the French lan-
guage, of which she was a perfect mistress.
On her return - to England in 1819, she accepted
an engagement with. Mr. Elliston, at Drury-
lane, and Mozart's opera of "Don Giovanni" being
at that time at the height of its popularity, she
shortly afterwards established her fame in a bur-
lesque of that masterpiece called " Giovanni in
London," in which she as the hero, and Harley as
Leporello, created an extraordinary sensation.
From this time her success was complete, and she
reigned the spoilt favourite of the London public
both at Drury-lane and Covent-garden, playing'
what is technically termed " first light comedy,"
such as Lydia Languish in " The Rivals," Letitia
Hardy in " The Bell's Stratagem." Miss Hard-
castle in " She Stoops to Conquer," &c. Charac-
ters of more serious interest she never attempted.
In the year 1829 she became lessee of the Olympic -
Theatre, which she transformed into the most ele-
gant " temple of the drama" in London. Assisted •
by an admirable company, and having at her com-
mand the freshest and smartest dramatic authors
, then on town, her theatre soon became the most
popular in the metropolis. There were first pro-
duced those brilliant extravaganzas and revues of
Messrs. Manche and Charles Dance upon which
'their fame is built. On the 7th December, 1835,
Mr. Charles Mathews, who had been brought up
as an architect, made his first appearance on the
stage at the Olympic in a farce called the " Old
and Young Stager," in which he was admir-
ably supported by Liston, at that time the prop
of the establishment. In the year. 1838 Madame
Vestris, whose husband had died, in 1825,
married Mr. Charles Mathews, and leaving the
Olympic under the Management of Mr. Planche,
they immediately started for America. With our
Transatlantic neighbours, however, the favourites
of the Olympic were a failure, and they returned
to England in 1839, in the September of which
year they entered upon the lesseeship of Covent.
Garden. Under their management were produced
some of the chefs d'ouvres of modern dramatic
authorship, among which may be mentioned " Lon-
don Assurance," Time Works Wonders," " Old
Heads and Young Hearts," and some excellent
pantomimes, " The Castle of Otranto," the "Great
Bed of Ware," &c., and some of Mr. Planche's
best burlesques. Amens, the company were Messrs.
Farren, Strickland, 0. Mathews, Harley, Keeley,
Anderson, Bartley, dec., and Mesdames Vestris,
Nisbetta Orger, ilumby, &a. The speculation, _
however, did not answer, and the lessees gave up
management at the end of their third season, In.
April, 1842. After this they accepted a short tem-
porary engagement at Drury-lane with Mr. Mac-
ready, and a mere lengthened one with Mr Web-
ster, at the Haymarket. In 1846 Mr. and Mrs. -
Mathews joined Mr. Maddox's company at the.
Princess's, and in the autumn of 1847 they :
opened the English Opera House, in Welling-
, ton-street, under the name of the Lyceum..
Here the old Olympic Revels were renew-
ed, several of the former: actors and authors
attached to the management flocking to..
the newly-raised standard. Madame Vestris.
played two or- three important parts, such.
as the Wonderful Woman and the_,. Pride of the'
Market, and made a great hit in more pathetic;;
characters, as, for instance, in Mr. Slingsby Isaw-
rance's " Chain of Events," and in the translation
of Madame de Girardin's play, "La Joie fait Peu,Vi
under the name of "Sunshine through the Clouds. 'a
But her strength now began to fail her, and she"
principally confined herself to the direction of they
stage, in which she showed that taste and talent- -
for which we have before described her as being so
remarkable. For the occasion of her husband's
benefit, on Wednesday, July %, 1854, she mader
her last appearance, in " Sunshine through the-
Clouds," and since that she has been confined.•
always to the house, and principally to her room.
She is now no more ; but her name will long be
recollected in English theatrical society as that of
one of the cleverest and most far-seeing women of
her time. Of her faults there will be too many to '
speak • be it our task to chronicle her talent, her
liberality, and her perseverance in her profession.."
—Morning Paper. •

ANCIVEER ASCENT oB MON T BLAND.---A letter front
Chamounix of tire Ist, in the Savoy Casette, says : -
" The great event of the day here is au ascent of Mont
Blanc, commenced yesterday morning, at eight o'clock,
by a Mr. Forman, an Englishman, and his daughter_
They arrived safely at the Grands-Mulets at three in the:
afternoon, and by the light of lanterns left this morning.;
at two to ascend the giant of the Alps. At ten o'clock
the small party arrived on the crest of the highest meun-
tain in Europe, and after a halt of an hour left en their
return, and reached this place at seven in the evening ••
This asc-nt will be talked of as one of the wonders of the •
valley, both on account of the little time employed (15.
hours to ascend and 7 to descend), and of the intreipdity
shown by Miss Forman, of whom the guides speak in
raptures. This young lady is the fourth female who has;
performed this feat. The progress of the tourists was
eagerly watched during the whole day, and every wiie .
dow that commanded a view of the path was bristling;. ;,
with telescopes, like muskets from a loophole. The ar-t
rival at Chaurannis was a perfect triumph ; all the inlet-
bitante and the resident foreigners went out to meet
them, and the whole re-entered the place, headed by the
band of the guides in fell costume, and amidst a salute .
of cannon and the hearty shouts of the people. A se.xe-
nade and a display of fireworks finished the fete."
FATAL COLLIERY A CCIDENT. —A melancholy occur-
recce took place on Friday at the Neachell Colliery,
Bull Fleck, a short distance from Wiilenhall. At eix
o'clock in the rooming 7 roen, including 11. Hodgkies.
the "betty," and two lads:, de2cended a stonepit belong:-
feg to Messrs. Sparrow. rive of the men and the two:
bos Troceeded at once into the workings, and two of
they men, Pence and Hayward, remained at. the bottom.
France soon perveived thou resence of theefou, an ca pled
i
The men at the bottom.
to Hodgkiss, the " betty,' to withdraw other mn
and the boys from the headweey. _
the pers ,
.bank.
on on the '
bottom, tragging the gave the alarm by ehouting ttehe,
Hodgkiss soon after reached
7, N,I. the ex-
.e,Tl)e became insensible. In the
le .part e* is h
ception of the "but , . i
boys, one by each htyan,d,..th
meantime the men on the bane lowered a skip, and the
insensible menand boys were placed in it to be taken upl
When the skip was about 8 or 9 yards from the ground ,
one of the insensible men, Wm. Burns, fell free' it. On
reaching the hank the others were taken out, and the
usual means to restore animation were applied, we are
happy to state with perfect success.. The skip was again
lowered for the purpose of &ding Bores, but 20 minutes
\
elapsed, in consfqtence, of the stifling gas, ere the men
could reach the b atom. The bud; of the unfortunate
man was found dead, with a fearful wound on the left
side of the head. He had been ailing for some time past,
and the gas probably had a greater effect upon hit Call
the other vaen,—Birminkair4 Journal..