The Sun.
London, England, 1826-02-09 00:00:00

KEAN IN AMERICA,

►
(From a Philadelphia Paper tithe 12th of January,.
A gentleman who left the Theatre last mu•
log, about 10 o'clock, has given us the following
ldast iiight, engagement
was
account of -what took place in reference to the
anticipate
perhapsof
'scene
e: —O7 blies
theatre,
much confusion as we ever witnessed; to Phila-
delphia. The comedy of Charles the Second
passed off without interruption, but the mount
the curtain dropped the calls for " Kean, Kean,"
became deafening, and continued the whole in-
terval, till the curtain rose for the Lady of the
Lake : the noise was then renewed with redoubl-
ed violence, till at length Mr. Wood came for.
ward, and amidst many interruptions stated h
effect that he was quite uncertain as to the de..
termination of Mr. Kean ; and that he had writ,
ten to him during the effervescence of feeling oc.
casioned by the Boston proceedings, stating that
he had better delay the fulfilment of his en.
gagement, and that he (Mr. Kean) had done
so ; but that since the feeling had sub.
sided, he had written again, telling him that
it would he perfectly safe that he should come
hither. To this no answer had been returned‘
He had no power cf compelling Mr. Ki-an to ap,
pear before ahem, but he wished for his appear.
ance, and had no,doubt the Philadelphia public
would accept of him as a great actor, without re,
Terence to his personal failings, whatever they
may have been. he piece then proceeded with
occasional interruptions till the end of, the second
act, when the call through the house for Mr.
Wood, and Mr. Mortimer, became general. After
much delay, a gentleman whom we supposed to
be Mr. Mortimer, clime forward to the front of
the boxes, at,d made a motion to speak. ife be,
kali by stating that he was forced forward very
much against his inclination, but that he had de=
(ermined not to speak at all until Mr. Wood was
on the stage to hear him, (see forgot to say that
the speaker had before expressed this determine.
tion, and that when he carried his intentions into
effect, Mr. Wood was just below him, and up.
peered to listen to him with attention ;) lie con.
tinned—!t is due to those who deputed me to
go to New York to see Mr. Kean, as well as to
the managers, that I should state the result of
my mission. Mr. Keel' told me that We had re-
ceived a letter from Mr. Wood (which he showed
me), in which Mr. Wood gave it as his opinion,
that Mr. Kelllo3 coming to Philadelphia to
fulfil his engagement would probably endanger
his personal safety or his life, Mr. Kean was
not prepared to encounter a repetition of the' pro.
ceediiigs that had disgraced another city, and
after consulting with his friends, determined to
relinquish his engagement altogether, which he
did, " for why," said he," *hull I again encoun.
ter these who may assassinate me 1" (Some this.
satisfaction was here expressed.) The speaker
continued—" Ladies and gentlemen, this ells
not the opinion which Mr. Kean had formed of
you ; but it is an opinion which any man would
huvo been justified in forming, from the contents
of the lett..r to which I allude. Mr. Kean thinks
better things of a Philadelphia public, and though
he cannot now perform his original engagement
of appearing here twelve nights, yet I believe,
were he assured of the kind intentions you have
manifested towards him, now and on former oc.
casions, he would yet appear before this audience
for a short period.". The speaker sat down amidst
applause, and we hastily left the theatre, to give
this imperfect and short uccount of the pro-
ceedings, without being able to say what followed
them,