Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1873-04-23
rha Acinr,n Fame.

Most people would like to live in the
future, but it was the desire OF Hazlitt
that he might live over again that por-
ton of the past upon which the names
of the great artists of tragedy and com
edy had been recorded, from Mrs. Bet
terton, the first Juliet" to Mrs. Sid
dons, the last that he saw. We can i'm
agine no nobler company, most ofwhom
won honored graves in Westminster
Abbey, side by side with the authors
whose lines they interpreted, with the
kings and warriors and statesmen be-
fore whom they played. We k;ow so
little about them, and so much less re-
garding the manner of their art, for they
alone of artists could leave no copy be-
hind. They come down to US now only
rs so many names, laden with an anec-
dote or so. Yet, after all, we are not
certain that the actor fame is not the
most satisfactory. Itcomes to him quick
upon his earning OF it, and not, like the au-
thor or painters after he is dead. The
actor leaps to his reward in a single
night; he may have to wait, toll, and
hunger for that night for years together,
but his moments of triumph are supreme
ones, When Charlie Macklin walked of
the stage aftsF playing "Shyloek for
the first time, be exclaimed in the full
ness of his success: am not worth
fifty pounds in the world; nevertheless,
On Iris night am ] Charles the Great"
when Keah esAe hoMs to his wife after
his debut as !FSir Giles, she asked him
how that dreaded CRITIC, Lord Essex, had
liked the performance. His iubilant
reply, "psmn Lord Essex-the pit rose
at me-" is suggestive still Of bis great
victory; but what must have been to him
vet iner triumph was when the pit
rose at him TO drive him from the stage,
not because he did not play well, but
because he loved his neighbours wife
better than his own. For one instant
he sayagely confronted bis audience,
then flung at 1t, to Its entire diseomft'
ure, q speech from the part of Richard,
that he Was playing: "Unmannered
dogs stand ye when command. v
Among the men Of the dramatic
period to which we have referred there
was Betterton, on seeing whose Ham
let old Pepys exclaimed, to the annoy
ance of his neighbors, Fore God it
the best acted part / ever saw" Mack
lin, whom Pope declared to be the very
Jew that Shakespeare drew, and who
walked upon the stage with good Miss
Pope as Portia," to play "Shylock,
after his one hundredth year, and there
after played it no more forever. A few
days later hs was standing at the grave OF
an old-time comrade Of the theater be
stood so wrapped that friend touched
his arm to arouse him. DO not dis
turb me, sir! he said, am at my re-
hearsal." Only few days more and his
mourning associates were at his grave.
There we're also Booth, Wilks, Sanford,
Nokes. Leigh, ,Penkethman, Bullock, Est
court, pogget, who played the dew as a
low comedy part Cihher, the prince Of
and the FIRST reformer Of the
stage; Quin, Rich, Weston, Shutter,
DoUtou and Garrick. Among the wo-
men we're good Mrs. Hettertoni Mrs.
Barry. scarcely so good, sor Lord
Rochester kept her; Mrs. Brscegirdle,
who left the theatre because Anne Old
field acted better than she did, aud who
presented to her conQueror All her stage
Jewels and dresses, so great a woman
was she in her defeat; Mrs. Cisber,
whose husband, Theophilus Cibber, sold
her ior a thousand pounds; Mrs. Pritch-
ard. who DIR. johnson said always spoke
Of her "Eown'd;' beautiful Mrs Abing-
don. Anne Bellamy, Peg Wofington,
who kept Gsrrick, Mrs. Crawford, Mrs,
Yates, Mrs. Jordan, Miss Kelly, and
greatest Of all, Sarah Siddons- Gossip
About actors.