The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1877-11-10
Edmund kean.

tumunu Mean peEan on the Atm o
November, 1877, in solitary room il
the neighborhood of Gray's Inn, in Lon
don. His father was one Aaron Kean,
stage carpenter, and his mother bore tn,
name of Ann Carey, a poor, depraved
wandering girl, themost abandoned ant
wretched of unmarried mothers. file wa,
only three years old when he started {,
earn his livelihood on the stage, rs n re
cumbent Cupid in ballet at the Opers
House. His boyish beauty, set off with
pair of fine black eyes, won him thS
chance of appearing as the god of love
above all the other children offered te
the manager at that time. Soon after
this he rose to the dignity of demon in
a pantomime at Drury Lane, and al
though only four years old, surprised
everybody by the hexibility and drollery
of his posturing. Pretty soon we hear
of young Edmund as one of the goblin
troupe in Macbeth which addition to
the cauldron scene John Philip Kemble
had the rashness to introduce.
When Edmund arrived at the age of
eight, he ran away to sea, but soon re-
turned home, thoroughly cured of his
saltwater fever. Some of his friends
sent him to day-school and, as he was
thrown only among players, they in
structed him vigorously in the mechanical
forms of their art. They taught him to
dance, to fence, and to sing, and he re-
paid all their exertions by a quickness to
learn altogether unrivaled Shakespeare
he began very early to study and COM
nit to memory. Boy as he was, he had
acquired, before he was fourteen, fine
comprehension of Richard III, and re-
hearsed it constantly before his strolling
friends sometimes in barn, and FREE
quently in garrett near the theater. AT
eighteen years Of age we hear of him as
losc conedianin Moss's company, at Dunn
fries, but still earnestly studying the
tragedy of Shakespeare, whenever he
could find the time to do so. The COM
mon impression with regard to Edmund
Kean is, that when he leaped into fame
he did it without much preparation,
whereas no artist ever gave more intel
lectual energy TO early and late study,
in order to perfect his ability. His wife
says he would often stand up all night
before pier-glass in his chamber, en-
deavoring to acquire the right facial ex-
preston for some new part. No man or
woman ever succeeded on the stage with
out persevering toll, through innumer-
able hours of diligent, Jealous work.
1t requires great variety of qualifica-
tons to become eminent in a profession
which has been raised into exceptional
importance by such artists as Garrick,
Siddons. Booth, Macready, Matthews,
Jefferson and the Kembles. Imagination,
passion, understanding, and many other
requirements, are necessary to hold the
minds and hearts of an audience, and
only an immense amount of practice
ever makes perfect the performer, either
in tragedy or comedy.
Kean was small man in stature, and
when Mrs. Siddons first saw him she
made the mistake of saying, there is
too little of him wherewith to make a
great actor" for she had no means of
knowing what prodigious intellectual
power was in his keeping to overcome all
physical deficiencies. When mere boy,
he played the part Of Alexander the
Great, and, as he stood up in the tri-
umphal car, foolish fellow in the stage
box sneered at his diminutive figure, ex
claiming, Alexander the Littlev'
Kean's eye flashed fire upon the coxcomb,
and he replied, with unchanged express
sion, " Yes; but with great soulP'
At twenty Kean had made his mark
but not as yet a metropolitan one. He
was five feet four inches in height, and
had sallow complexion. His hair was
raven black, his eye full of wonderful
light and expression, and his whole
countenance shone with genius. He was
11Ix hut xyaf fri .l,a mt
one.
On the evening of January 26, 1914,
Kcan, being then twenty-seven years
old, ceased any longer to be. a strolling
actor That night he stepped forward
as Shylock before the floats of Drury
Lane, and from that period he was
second best to no tragcdian in Great
Britain. HencefoIth there will be no
question as to who commands the stu
alton ON the English stage. Sheridan
was in raptures. Hazlitt burst into
blaze of enthusiasm, and declared that
Kean's appearance that night was the
first CLEAN of genius breaking athwart
the gloom of the stage" Byron was en-
tranced with the newcomer into the
arena of tragedy, and hailed his advent
with intense and liberal praise. Lord
Holland became at once his ardent adj
mirer and patron. Another lord sent
him anonymously bank-note for f200.
A visitor called on Kean one morning,
took his little son Charlie on his knee,
and put ESQ into the child's hand. The
Duchess Of St. Adams did the same
graceful act Of kindness. have always
admired Jack Bannister's capital wit on
the night of Kean's first appearance in
London. A group of envious idle actors
were discussing the new star in the
green-room, in very illiberal spirit.
Referring to the fact that Kean had
been attached, in his boyhood, toa circus
troupe, one of the actors said, with a
sheer, understand that he is an adj
mirable harlequin" Bannister, coming
in among his brother actors at that
moment, and overhearing the remark,
replied: Yes; lam certain of that, for
he has jumped over all our heads" And
so he had, and held his place like a
monarch ever after.
From all accounts that have come
down to us, the acting of Edmund Kean
in his great Shakspearian parts was the
noblest effort of human genius ever
witnessed ON the stage and Blackwood's
estimate of it is no doubt the true one,
when such words as these are used in its
eloquent pages when speaking Of Kean's
transcendant genius: Hisperformances
were worthy to have taken place in
Shakespeare own age-with himself and
! Fletcher, and Ford, and Spenser, and
r f 90