Alexandria gazette & daily advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1817-1822, 1817-09-04

by his manner OF delivering that most
touching passage, {" Oh (! now fare
well forever I" &c. What spirit OF
sonl-feit partiality there is in the re.
collections of "The ear piercing fife,"
1.-The plumed troop" the neighIng
sreed, the cannon, the drum T! What
a pride, pomp, aud Circumstance OF
war! And all hurled down! Kean
wrought the house into GREATNESS
silence by his utter loneliness Of heart
on the delivery Of this passage. And
a dead quiet of this kind, is deeper
applause than the shouts Of forty ma
tons Joined together. His voice seem
cd to be going away forever. You
felt alone after he had spoken.-lt
was toe pathetic for words, thoughts
or tears 1T was.
We have seen Mr.. Kean in Othello
four times before this representation
but like Caius Marcus, he out
did himself doubly," in the last strug-
gle. Kean fought the Corioli battle
of his fame on Thursday. DE hath
disciplined all other actors soundly.-
We arc glad we are not on the stage
at this day, for we hate to be deficient
in complete success, in any great Pur-
suit (; and there is no getting above
Kean. He will be King. and there
is no saying nay to him. Shakespeare
has said, that " if two men ride upon
one horse, one must ride behind" and
Mr.. Booth must have found the truth
of this by the present time. But to re-
turn to Mr.. Booth in his perform
ance of Iago, on Thursday, he was
throughout, easy, correct, animated
and expressive. his snliloqules,
those trying tests, he was particular
" successful !; but we were so lar re-
moved from the stage, that many
points of bis acting were lost to US
His delivery of the celebrated Speech
beginning, Who steals my purse
steals trash."-was a finished specl-
men of grateful recitation arsumenta-
lively delivered: yet was it so simply
done, that any school boy in the house
would fancy he could have hit 1t on
as successfully. 1t is we'll known
how sure touchstone this isof merit.
In the first soliloquy. wherein he ae-
velope. his malignity towards the
Moor. and terminates the first seed
of mischief, he was very effective, ana
which is still his reigning merit in
this character, perfectly simple. In
the great scene too. where he first
works upon OthelIo. he gave an ad-
mirable picture of easy yillany, and
never betrayed himself into one false
antithes;s OF style. Yet there was no
one point in The performance OF lago'
that could give so just view OF his
powers as the scene with lady Anne,
and the Tent scene, in Richard the
Third.
Those who have never witnessed
MIR. Booths performance OF these
scenes, have not had an opportunity
to decide rightly upon his merits
We are IMMERSED in the politics OF
the Green Room, but We have some
notion that this must be considered
Mr.. Kean's exclusive part at Drury.
Lane we hazard this ae a guess, and
if We are correct, SO much the worse
for Mr.. Booth if not, so much the
better. We feel anxiOus,at all events,
to see Mr.. Booth in some leading part
which Mr.. Kean has not played and
of course this opportunity will be 81
ven; meanwhile we shall observe up
on two defects in his department. In
the first place, he has sort Of stoop,
which it is essential he should correct,
that he may have all the advantage Of
his height and in the next, he has
not got the stage knack of posing
himself, as it were, after the delivery
of an effective speech, which fell upon
the audience. We cannot direct how
this is to be done ; but we suppose it
to depend much on practice. 1t is un-
fortunate that at the end of the play,
lago has to do something which all
actors must in some measure do alike,
and from the natural points of resem-
hlance hetween him and MIR Kpan
which we have before mentioned, the
strength Of the assimilation was ma
terially heightened MIR. Booth is, of
course, taxed more directly as a CO.