The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1864-08-25

she WAS the centre OF a notable literary coterie
Three months II every year she passed, however,
IN London, at the residence Of her brother, the
Arcbdeacon of KensnRton, where she died
During the later years of her busy and much re-
spected life she was prominent in various philau-
thropic and rciormatory movements. She gave
dinners 10 cabmen, provided seats for wayfarers
organized a company during the recent volunteer
movement in England, established mission
schools, and erected the first drinking fnu-.,,v,
In Edinburgh Wealth, reputaior and fy,snds
were all enjoyed by this lady, who. bo,vcycr
lived and died unmarried, a noble example af
the active, Intelligent, useful "old maid"
TiE PROFESSOR.
Those interested IN the Cambridge tyni,-o-,,,t,
Will specially regret 10 hear OF the ,osth - ~
hoV. Joseph Bomtlly, who died iatpiv AZ Great
hainouth, N the ljlh year Of nls age, lie was a
graduate OF Trinity COll,g. Csu,byi,,e,o arI t1,S
ioulth in cass Of w'nI3 bis ,hg6 & '., ~ ~
Yw,Ie ~, n,isyDIii ine astronomer, DR.. Peacock,
M laIe b@ean @ oI EIy and Nc Fallows, late astrono,
'i'Vt In,ot,.,', ., u. - Cape Of Good Hope.
q, al - iellow of the college, Mr. Bomilly
corr, .oWu TO career almost unknown IN this
~ ~ outside Of O icw of our leading colleges
" ~hHt biogrpher calls "the calm tenor Of
uniVersi y life In S32 he was appointed regis
trar Of the University, and held the position for
exactly thirty years re,igDing in 1862. lie, too
was practical philanthrOpist, aiding the poor
largely, and taking q particular interest in ad-
YanciDg poor boys and Riyiog 10 them the advan-
isges OF education. A life OF quiet and refined
literary and educational labor was his and he has
left name which, II not remembered by the
world at large, must be long cherished in the
Cloisters and studious halls Of Cambridge He
too, never married, and may be taken as the typc
Of an English, educated, useful "Old bJchclor"'
THE ACroR.
From the quiet haunts OF Cambridge, the lite
rry coieres OF Edinburgh and the newspaper
life OF London, we turn TO the gaudy glitter and
thoughtless Payety of the stage, and there, too,
Is q missing face Robson the actor-the leading
pf EpUlqn6--ia nd t.,r.
while must wear mourning weeds
Not having the proper data by us, il is handy
to say that the late Frederick Robson was "a
middle-aged man." About lSIS-then an un-
known provincial actOr-he came to London and
accepted positions in music halls and dancing
saloons where he was announced as a great
comic singer" He drew a salary of thirty shil-
lings q week, supporting thereon a wife and
children. At last he secured a humble engage
ment at the Olympic Thea're in Wych street, one
Of the fltbiest localities in all London, ami his
earlier performances here are thus noticed by
q. A. Sala:-
"Ihe Oily mpic burlesques were slightly funnier,
and not nearly so coarse their forerunners bat
they were still of no striking salienCe. Poorly
mounted, feehly played-saye in one particular
they drew but thin houses Gradually, however,
yon began to hear at clubs and in critical coteries
at the Albion and the Garrck and the Cafe de
IEurope, at Evans, and at Kilpack's at the Re-
union in Maiden lane, and at Bules' oyster-room,
where poor Albert Smith used to reign supreme
playing Macbeth and 'Shylock' in ralfourd
and Hales parudies. He was little stun ed
fellow, not very well favored, not very young.
Nobody among the bodies who were nybody-
had eN er heard of him before. Whence be came,
or what he was, none knew but everybody came
at last TO care. For this little stunted creature,
with his bOarse voice and nervous gestures and
grottsque delivery, his sDarls, his leers his
bunCbngs of the shoulders, his COntlrtons Of
the limbs, his cleaning OF the eyes, and his
grinGirgs of the teeth. was a genius. He became
towntaIk. He speedily grew famous. lie has
been an English, might almost say European,
l might almost say a worldwide celebrity ever
since and his name was Frederick Robson"
This Robson was the original "Jem BlggsE
and concocted the absurd song of "VilHlns and
his Dinah." The Chimney Corner was one of his
favorte plays, while at his other performances
Sala adds -
"New triumphs awaited him. In the burlesdue
of the leliOtC Dicdyf he showed mastery of the
grotesque which approached the terrible. Years
before, in Macbeth, he bad persOnated a red
beaded, fire seating, whisky drinking Scotch
man and in "SbylOck," a seryile, iawning, obse-
quious, yet, when emergency arose, passion
ate and vindictive Jew. In the Helio,0 Dcarf he
was the iaundiCed embodiment of q spirit of
Oriental evil crafty, malevolent, greedy, insa-
tate-full of mockery, ulimicry lubricity, aud
spite-an Afrt, Djinn, Ghoal spawn of
Sbeitan. How that monsIous orange-tawny
head grinned and wagged How those flaps
OF ears were projected forwards, like unto
those of dog How balefully those atra-
bilious eyes glistened! You laughed, and yet
you shuddered. He spoke in mere doggerel and
slang. He sang trumpery songs TO negro melodies.
lie danced the Lancashire clog hOTnpipe; he rat
tied out puns and cOnundIums; yet did he con-
triye To intuse into all this mummery and buf-
focnery, into this salmagundi OF the incongruous
and the OUtTe, an uumistakably tragic elemen.-
an element of depth and strength and pas
sion and almost of sublimity. The mountebank
became inspired. The Jack Pudding suddenly
drew the cOthHnUS over his clogs You were
awe-stricken by the intensity, the vchemence, he
threw into the mean balderdash of the burlesque-
monger. These qualities were even more appa-
rent in his subsequent personation of 'Medea,' in
Robert BTeughs parody of the Franco
Italian tragedy. The love, the hate the scOrn,
of the abandoned wife of Jason the diabOcai
lOathing in which she holds 'Creusa' the
tigerish affection with which she regards the
children whom she is afterwards to slay-all these
were portrayed by Robson, through the medium,
be il always remembered, of doggere and slang,
with astonishing force and vigOr The original
Medea,' the great Ristori herself came to see
Robson and was delighted with and amazed at
him. She scarcely understood two words of
English but the actors genius struck her home
through the bulls hide target of AN unknown
tongue, 'tonO StyaOrdiHaJyP she went away
saying"
In private life, Robson was a singularly modest
and nervous man, though on the stage he could
indulge in the most exravagant eccentricities of
acting. Had be lived, he would in all proba-
ility have visited this country on professional
tour.