The Sun.
London, England, 1858-02-25 00:00:00

PRINCESS'S THEATRE.

• The revival of " Louis the Eleventh" last night, after
an interval of two years, afforded Mr. Charles Kean an
opportunity of displaying one of his elaborate and
polished impersonations. Perfect alike in perception
and execution, his performance was without spot or
blemish. He succeeded in completely identifying himself
for the time being with the hypocritical, suspicious, and
inwardly tyrant, at all times rea fy to commit any
atrocity, but striving t') keep his accounts square with
heaven, by an affectation of piety, largely combined with
superstition. We saw before us not the actor, but the
man, the cold-blooded miscreant, only to be influenced
by selfish fear, such as Scott delineated, and Casimer
De Le Vigne elaborated. The part was to a certain
extent an ungracious one, for villany is ever repulsive,
bet Mr. Kean disregarded all such considerations, and
conscientiously interpreted the varied feelings by which
the king was actuated, and concentrated the entire in-
tere.t on one that would otherwise be deteited. It was.
the force of character, the terrible impress of the work-
ing of the mind. NVe felt that he was indeed, "holding
the mirror up to nature"—that Louis the-Eleventh was
re uscitattel and appeared corporeally before us, " ars
est celare arte,a," and never was the rule more clearly or
' more powerfslly illustrated !
Mr. Kean had in one respect a great advantage. The
part was purely Ills owe. He was not trammelled by
existing conventionalities. It was his original part, and
W 3 fancy no living artist will strive to compete with him
therein. There were no different readings, no tradi-
tional points, to embarrass the judgment or to enable the
laudqtor temporis acti to depreciate him by a comparison
with some halt-forgo,ten hero of his more
vigorous youth and fresher feeling. The charge
of plagiarism, could not be fabricated, the would-be critic
.29 deprived of the most potent instrument of his craft,
He could only judge of the performance per se, and would
not, however willing to malign, help confessing that it
was throughout a gem of the purest water without flaw
of any kind. It is almost needless to say that the hone
was, crowded in every part. The wonderful exhibition
was thoroughly appreciated, and enthusiastic applause
greeted the most telling pointe.
the
A contemporary (the Times) truly declares that " The
~hkeill portraitit
which
pateinLor whouis isexbibite4 is atied to that of
produces a likeness accurate
down to every wrinkle on the face and every button on
the coat, with this remarkable distinction, that the thea-
trical portrait is accomplished without a 'Sitting' of the
person for whom it is intended. The ability to conjure
up such a compound of human weakness, human wicked-
less, and human clevernesa, without so much as an
accent or a movement that mars its reality, is alone
sufficient to stamp Mr. Charles Kean as a master in the
all the subordinate
histrionic art."
Tevreeroynaebolyf tshuesptaoiinnetds by
that prove his capacity
Although the entire interest of the piece hung on Mr.
issmnoooftahillyureanidn
nal
en agmeare,
htihnaet there is Kean,
characters,h ll
any pert.
Miss Kate
effectively together. Terry took the part of
is action as well as
w
the Dauphin, ' formerly filled by Miss Carlotta Leclercq,
and it is needless to say that the task was very grace-
fully performed.