The Sun.
London, England, 1832-05-01 00:00:00

MONTHLY MAGAZINE

Is embelli,hed with a portrait of James She-
ridan Knowles, which is about as like the
author of the Hunchback, as the Ettrick Shep-
perd, in his cups, is like the Apollo Belvidere.
The memoir, however, appended to this most
unlike likeness is of a redeeming character. We
subjoin a portion of it
Mr. Knowles was intended for the medical profession,
and studied for it; hut the instinct of genius drew him
more and more towards the stage. He became a teacher
of elocution : be was an actor tor three years, in Ireland;
and, finally, he has added a name to the list of those extra-
ordinary men, who eo remarkably abounded on the stare

at atie time, as cosiibieerN of acting with authmelYsp. Lt
will have been seen, by the above account of his plays,
that, like all other fine and useful writers, he has not been
without his helps of experience and trouble and he has
had others. He delights to call to mind the acquaintance
he male, when a boy, with the late Mr. Hazlitt, and the
great good done him by that admirable critic, and good-
hearted, though irritable man. Mr. Hazlitt took a liking
to him, gave him the best advice, quoted passages for him
from the best writers, and showed him how superior na-
ture was to art, and what a capital thing it was to have
faith in her. The young dramatist also became ae•
quainted with Mr. Lamb, another admirable humanist,
whom no man of letters ever knew without being the
better for it. Mr. Hazlitt pointed out to his earliest
notice, as an instance of clear and elegant writing, a pas.
sage in Mr. Lamb's " John Woodvill," about a stag ; we
know not whether that, in which the stag is pictured as
miking " a dancing shadow of his horns in the water,"
or the other passage, i❑ which there is a beautiful corn•
parison of the shyness of deer with " bashful younkers in
society." Mr. Knowles, however, never " studied" the
old masters in the drama; indeed he has said that, with
the exception of Shakspeare, be purposely avoided them,
when he commenced writing, that his ideas might be un-
shackled.

" But what did Mr. Knowles as much good perhaps, as
any thing else in Mr. Ilazlitt's society, was that spirit of
self-forgetfulness, and equality of intercourse, which all
young peop!e, who recollect that great writer, are so
thankful to remember. He put himself on a level with
him, listened to his arguments, as if they were those of a
grown man, and answered them as if he valued them ac-
cordingly ; and he knew this was wise for himself too, as
well as for the boy, since childhood in its unhampered natural
wisdom, often says things capable of suggesting light to
wisdom full grown. Besides, Mr. Hazlitt knew how to
love the beauty of a child's mind, and to live with it in its
primeval world. Mr. Knowles knew him long, and may
be said, in some measure, to have grown up under his
mind. He has mentioned him in private, as having been
a sort of ' mental father.' We must not forget that Mr.
Hazlitt introduced him to Coleridge, who read him one of
his fine extemporaneous lectures on poetry and amazed
him by the simplity of another great mind, and the in-
terest he took in talking with a little boy. Among his
recollections of Hazlitt livelier passages are not wanted,
illustrative of other parts of his friend's character. The
bashful and irritable metaphysician, who was always mis-
giving himself for hie want of address, took it in his head
once to study rope-dancing, and actually had a lance-wood
pole fitted up in his room on which the future dramatist,
we believe, practised with him. The boy once sat to him
for his picture (for Mr. Hazlitt originally intended him-
self for a painter,) and perplexed him with the unmarked
rotundity of his little visage. " Hang your fat cheek !"
cried the impatient artist:—" frown, James."
" It is worth while to dilate a little upon the origin of
Virginius. Mr. Knowles, finding great difficulty in getting
up any thing at the London theatres, had laid aside the
pen for several years, when meeting Mr. Kean, at Glas-
gow, that great actor said, that if he would write a play in
which he could perform the principal part, he would bring
it out; and lie suggested to him the story of Virginius.
The piece, however, was transferred to Covent-garden, be-
cause another on the same subject had been previously re-
ceived at Drury-lane, and, after all, it first came out at
Glasgow, the part of Virginius being performed with great
applause by Mr. Cooper. A friend of Mr. Macready's
sent him an account of the play : he requested to see it in
the manuscript, read it, and wrote a highly flattering letter to
the author, the consequence of which was an acquaintance
between them, and the appearance of this pathetic trage-
dian i❑ his most applauded character.
" All these circumstances; contributed to our author's
familiarity with life and the stage, and it is an honour to
his energies to add, that the profoundest of all teachers has
not been wanting to him,—adversity.
" Mr. Knowles is married, and has a family, we be-
lieve, of six children. He is somewhat under the middle
height, stout, and well-built, with a pleasant, ardent, and
manly aspect, and a demeanour with a cast of roughness
in it, but nothing clownish or ill-bred : it is all cordiality
and good nature, with a relish, as well as a cruet upon its
of old port."

" Taxes on knowledge" is a useful, practical
paper, containing much sterling good sense.
" The Fresh Water Whale" is a tale replete
with broad Irish humour. " Cicero's Work on
the Republic" is scholar-like, but somewhat
tame and trite, and eke dry. It is moreover
long—a serious objection. "On the Militarl
Resources of the Austrian Empire" is an in'
structive, statistical essay, well expressed, and
pregnant with matter. We regret that our limito
will not permit us to indulge our readers with 0
taste of it. But the elaborate arithmetic calculs'
tions would, we fear, send them into strong
hysterics. « Pericles, a Tale of Greece," pro'
mises well at the commencement, but halts ter''
ribly towards the close. It sets off' in a grace°l
canter, but finishes in a rough, clumsy, cart'
horse trot. The " Inconveniencies of Indepel''
dence" is pleasant and ingenious.