The Sun.
London, England, 1859-07-21 00:00:00

BANQUET TO MR. CHARLES SEAN.

A grand banquet was given last night, in St.
James's-hall, to Mr. Charles Kean, in admiration
of his genies and talents as an actor. It originated
with a number of hie' Contemporaries at Eton Col-
lege, comprising. many now either distinguished for
rank and wealth,- or eminent as statesmen, authors,
or soldiers ; and they thought that the most fitting
occasion for such a celebration was the present
time, when Mr. Kean is about to relinquish his
management of the Princess's Theatre, where for
some years past he has obtained an almost world-
wide fame for his artistic and splendid representa-
tions of Shakspere's master-pieces.
The Earl of Carlisle, an " Etonian," had con-
sented to take the chair, but owing to his selection
by her Majesty, subsequently, for the position of
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, he was unable to be
present, and the Duke of Newcastle, another Eton
scholar, kindly consented to become his substitute.
The capacious and gold-bespangled hall was taste-
fully decorated for the entertainment, flags and
banners being suspended from the walls, and a
large and choice collection of evergreens and exotics
being placed on the raised platform in front of the
organ. There were six tables, extending nearly the
who'd length of the hall, and one placed transverse
at the top of each, bearing magnificent candelabra,
Vases of flowers, and pots of growing grapes of the
richest and most tempting quality.
Covers were laid for about 400 persons, and fully
that number attended.
The galleries were set aside for the ladies, who
appeared in full evening costume, and added much
to the brilliancy of the scene and to the enthusiasm
exhibited during the evening.
Mr. Charles Kean sat on the chairman's right,
and at the same table were Viscount Exmouth,
Lord John Manners, M.P., Colonel the Hon. James
Lindsay, M.P., Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone, M.P.,
Right Hon. Spencer Walpole, M.P., General Sir J.
Burgoyne, Bart., G.C.8., Sir W. Minto Farquhar,
Bart., M.P., Mr. C. J. Selwyn, M.P., Sir Francis
Hastings Doyle, Bart., Mr. Sergeant Kinglake,
M.P., Mr. Wm. Vansittart, M.P., Mr. T. E. Moss,
of Liverpool, Mr. Wm. Platt, Mr. W. C. Long, Mr.
P. L. Powys, M.P., Mr. Lewis Lloyd, Mr. C. E.
Johnston, Rev. R. Lewis Browne, and Lieut.-Col.
M. Bruce. Among the rest of the company we ob-
served Sir E. Perry, M.P., Sir John Johnstone,
Bart., Mr. W. M. Thackeray, Mr. A. Borthwick,
Mr. Beresford-Hope, M.P., Mr. Sims Reeves, &c.
Mrs. Charles Kean entered the gallery while the
dinner was proceeding, and, on being recognised,
was most enthusiastically cheered, all the company
rising to do her honour.
The dinner being over, and "Non nobis Domine"
having been sung by the choir of Eton College,
The Noble CHAIRMAN proposed " The Queen,"
which was responded to with the customary enthu-
siasm, and followed by the " National Anthem."
The next toast was " The Prince Consort, Prince
of Wales, and the rest of the Royal Family." The
CHAIRMAN, in proposing it, expressed a hope that
the Prince of Wales, in his next-tour, would pay a
visit to one of the greet colonies of England. (Loud
cheers.) He also spoke in terms of high eulogy of
the Duke of Cambridge, who, he said, was devoting
the whole of his energies to the reorganisation of
the British army.
The toast was drunk with the utmost cordiality.
Then came " The Army and Navy," to which
General Sir J. Burgoyne replied.
The CHAIRMAN, in rising to propose the toast of
the evening, said—l deeply regret that this duty
has not fallen to the lot of him who was originally
intended to perform it. Before I propose the toast
let me say one word with reference to the origin of
this banquet. Many of you know that every son
of Eton looks back with feelings of the tenderest
affection to the school in which he was educated.
(Cheers.) Many of you even, who
i have not been
educated at Eton, may know that theres a sort of
freemasonry amongst us which draws us together,
un -ler whatever circumstances, and in whatever
quarter of the world we may be thrown. (Cheers.)
Well, then, we Etonians, contemporaries of
Charles Kean, although we have amongst us the
names of some of the most distinguished men which
the country has produced—generals, statesmen,
philosophers, poets, and others—desire to show that
we have now a son of Eton who has brought fresh
lustre to the school, and to whom, therefore, we are
anxious to express our admiration. (Cheers.) But
we felt, at the same time, that in such a demon-
stration it was the right of all to join. We, the
Etonians, instituted it, but we felt it was right to
call upon you to participate in it. We felt that the
fame of Charles Kean was the property of all.
(Cheers.) It was at Eton he began his career, but
he has now grown his growth, and has become the
property of his age and of his country. Therefore
we invited you to join in this banquet, and in that
testimonial which is to be the consequence of it.
(Cheers.) It would occupy you too long if I were
to attempt to give anything like a biography of our
guest; but I may perhaps be pardoned if, in this
assembly, initiated by Etonians, I mention that it
is now 35 years ago since he, and I, and others sit-
ting at this table, were associated together in that
school. (Cheers.) That as a scholar he was dis-
tinguished, you may judge from what you have
seen of him in after life—(cheers)—that as a boy
he was popular, I appeal to the friends assembled
around me at this board—(cheers)—but that he
was no book-worm merely I may prove by this fact,
that while the hon. secretary of this festival was
captain of a boat, he was second captain, and pulled
a stroke in a match cf six, of which six, it is a curi-
ous fact, there are four at the present moment in
this room. Such was his prowess, and such was
the honest rivalry in which he indulged. I believe
it was a drawn match; at any rate it was celebrated
a joint breakfast of the boats' crews at Eton.
(Laughter.) In the very year he left Eton he
entered on the stage. It would be impertinence
in me to refer to the circumstances which induced
that step, but I may mention, as an additional
element to his credit, that his education had not
tended to such a career. Six years afterwards
lie performed on the boards of Covent Garden for
the last time with his distinguished father, who
died shortly afterwards. On that occassion he
also acted with another—with Miss Ellen Tree—
(loud cheers, the company rising and waving their
handkerchiefs)—with her who has since been the
partaker of all his labours and all his glories, and
is now the happy participator in the honours which
are showered upon him to night. (Cheers.) Gen-
tlemen, It would be absurd in me to attempt to de-
scribe the state of the stage at the period Mr. Chas.
Kean entered upon it, but I may allude to this fact,
that for some time previously there had been a com-
plete severance of dramatic poetry from the theatre,
and that
in the
dramatic poetry occupied the highest
position the imaginative literature of this coun-
try, while every one delighted in the poetry of the
Elizabethan age, Shakspere had been nearly ex-
cluded from those boards upon which it has been
his object and his delight to introduce the most
beautiful conceptions of his genius, and to remedy
the evils which he found existing. Gentlemen, in
the days of ancient Greece
.the drama and the
theatre were the most effectivemstruments in form-
ing the character of that remarkable people ; and
if it is not the same at this moment, they are at any
rate an index to the social status of a people, and
we may trace in succession the feelings, sentiments,
and moral opinions of this country, if we look back
to the coarseness of language which prevailed in
the time of the Tudors, degenerating into pure ob-
scenity, and to what is even worse, the profligacy
of heart and sentiment which marked the reign of

Charles ll.—(hea;,-1;ea;)--and I believe that if
there is not a complete revival of what we would
wish to see, at any rate there is an improvement in
the tastes of the people. Having referred to an-
cient Greece, I may observe that those actors were
considered to be worthy the highest honours of the
State, and it is strange indeed that in this land of
literature and art, whilst the followers of art—
sculptors, painters, poets—receive at least some
portion of their 'need of prais_e,, approbation, and
respent_a nd, so far from grudging it, I say they
do not receiveas much as they ought to do—(hear,
hear)—nevertheless, I say it is strange that the
branch of art the most rare and the most difficult in
which to arrive at excellence seems to be cast into the
shade and to be treated
c almost with obloquy—at any
rate with indifferen r, then, the man who
has raised the stage from
Honour,
n ons itwohaotuit was when he entered
upon it. What is the now? Ido not mean to
say he found it in the state
at I have represented it ;
but he raised it materially,
eaintroducedarl reforms
which were begun by the great Garrick, followed
np by the two Kembles and his father, and matured
by himself. (Cheers.) I allude of course to his Shak-
sperian revivals. IVe
hu
all know
they
owth
oaulotnlie on
ved
criticism.
their merits—WO
have heard them criticised, have
His fame, however, does not rest
those revivals. He has shown a versatility in his
art—he has shown a knowledge of the human char-
acter—he has shown the influence of mind over the
passions of men. I say he has show!n all these things
in a way that proves he is no copyist—that he is no
mannerist—that he is not a man with one idea only.
(Cheers.) Moreover, he is a great historical painter.
I see distinguished professors of the art of painting
in this room, and I ask them whether they do not
look on Mr. Kean as a rival ? We know that their
productions, happily for them, descend fresh from.,
the easel to posterity, while, unhappily for him, his
productions perish the same evening, and leave no-
thing but their fame behind them. (Cheers.) The
scenery not only forms lessons in art, but lessons in
history. Many of us are attached to the science, of
archaeology. I look on Mr. Kean as one of the great
archwologists
,of the day. He'has had a reason for,
everything. There is nothing which he has intro-
duced. en the stage for which he has not had an
authority. For every One of his representations of