The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-07-19
THE AUGUST MAGAZINES.
M1IprINCOTT,s."


that favorite comedian-
Not many weeks since the writer enjoyed
.ho nrivileee of looking over manuscrlpt
-oI,,Ioe entitled "Jeffersoniana, handsomely
illuminated by one of Mr.. Joseph Jefferson
friends. With the assistance of such recol-
lections as are retained IN this interesting
Loanealre facts cleaned from other sources,
anS q tolerable familiarity with the career of
tbe present Mr.. jefferson, it is hoped that
this sketch may find readers among people
with whom its principal subject has become
30 great a favorlte. s.,, rosorso,,, IN tho
Aeld If the American Imagination can
travel backward as readily and swiftly as IL
con travel forward and restore the past as
S;,l;5iv as Il pictures the future, it will find
Jafferson the first in the palmy days of Old
Drurv. along with Garrick, and ranking with
Rarry Mossop. and Sheridan. He lived in
tbe Golden age of the drama, which loyal sons
of fathers still revere as infinitely superior to
all that they can ever experience. Playing
',Mirabel" in TH6 WayCt'tte World for Mrs.
Abington's benefit; the king" to Car
rick's 'Hamlet;" "Don Frederick" to Gar
rick's sDon John" in Chances; "Gloster" to
Corr;oL'e ashore" and Mrs. Canning's "Jane
Shore" as Colonel Rivers" in False Delj-
s0oa. with the English Roscius as his leader,
and Sam Foote, and Barry, and Holland, and
wilkinson and Mrs. Abingdon, and Kitty
Give and Susanna Cibber as his companions;
with Sir Joshua Reynolds and Horace Wal
mole. Goldsmith, and DIR. Johnson, William
Hoparth and Edmund Burke as auditors-all
actors will agree that jefferson the First was
fortunate to live in such an age.
1t is not difficult, knowing the present JEFF
ferson. and with the accounts that have been
handed down to us, to form an agreeable
acquaintance with Jefferson the First.
An old-school English actor and
an old-school English gentleman,
''all of the olden time, polite and gal
liant off the stage and naturally observing
the etiquette of society on the stage,
beloved of his friends and respected by
his associate actors, he was a man whose
artistic merits may never have excited
envy, but whose personal graces always
inspired love. Yet a scale of merits on
the Irish stage, made by prominent
on the list which included Barry and
Mossop; and the GentJeman'S Maga-
zine, in an obituary notice which ap-
peared in the March number of the year
1907 speaks of him as ''Mr. jefferson,
q comedian, the friend, contemporary, and
exact prototype of the immortal Garrick. "
But, however decided his success may have
been in comedy or tragedy-for he played
both-the frank and honest nature of Jeffer-
SOu Ju6 IlTSJ rdls6u ullu ABOVE all ILS pSGGJ
jealousies which find room behind the scenes
nowadays, and which, we may safely con-
clude, were not wanting in his own days; for
there are cycles in the theatrical world, as in
the social and political worlds where certain
weaknesses, common to human nature, repeat
themselves. There is q paragraph in Tom
Westons will which bears witness to this
popularity. 1t reads:-"Item. 1 have played
under the management of Mr.. Jefferson
at Richmond, and received from hin
every politeness. l therefore leave him al
my stock of prudence, it being the only goo(
quality 1 think he stands in need of"
There is equally good proof that Jefferson
had the faculty of inspiring love as well a
friendship. Victor's "Secret History of tn,
Green-Room" informs us that, "conversan
in amours Mrs Arlington was resolved t.
separate her lovers into two different classes
the first, those whose hberality might enable
her to live in splendor; and the second, those
whom her humor pitched upon" and tha
Jefferson was one of the latter. Better
evidence still in these days is in the fac
that he married a sweet, virtuous, and ac
complished woman-a Miss May. ''She haG
one OF the best dispositions" says Tate Viii
knson, 'that ever harbored in q human
breast; and, more extraordinary, joined tc
that meekness, she was one of the most ele.
giant women l ever beheld." Miss May was q
prize whom the handsome Jefferson did not
win all too easily The lady's father was op-
posed to the match, and especially abhorred
the idea of her going upon the stage. There
may have been mercantile spirit underlying
old Mr.. Mays opposition, however; for when
he finally gave his assent to the marriage il
was under penalty of five hundred pounds,
payable when the lady made her first
appearance In public. AS a matter of
course, the penalty was assumed; as a matter
OF course, the lady soon went upon the stage;
and, as matter of course the penalty was
never paid. Her first appearance was at an
amateur entertainment for a charitable pur-
pose, when Mrs. Jefferson PLAYED in THt
r~HeTGS and when Mr.. May had to give way
20 the universal demand of the profession,
the friends of the family, and the whole pub.
nc to see this accomplished lady in a sphere
ior winch she was a destined ornament
FROM that flrst appearance till the day OF
her death Mrs. Jefferson added lustre to the
name that shines so brilliantly in the
annals of the drama Speaking of one
OF the old masques of the day in his
Llie OF GarTick," Davies says:-'In this
hasque (BIltdh1l5d, 1850 'Britannia" wa.
represented by Mrs. Jefferson, the most com
plete figure in beauty of countenance anC
symmetry of form ever beheld. The GOOD
woman tor she was virtuous as fair) was S,
unaffected and simple in her behavior tina
she knew not her power Of charming" Th
lady died suddenly after an active life, il
winch the harmony of her domestic circle wa
never married.
Jefferson the First was a great frien
OF Garrick. Now we hear of him sup
porting that actor in his leading roles
now Mrs. Give writes to Garrick tina
she is about playing at Jeiferson's benC
fit; again, an actor named Catherley takes tn
pains to explain by letter to Garrick tn
cause of his not appearing at Jefferson's benz