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included. My father had some conversation with him the next morning telling him what he had done in his behalf, news which seemed to overwhelm him with joy and expectation. He said that acting such parts as Harlequin was most grating to every feeling but that the Country managers would get all they could for their money. His wife (on whom my Mother and I called to see their little boy) a downright and rather vulgar Irishwoman exclaimed Oh Ma'am, my husband came home last night fatigued to death and all to make such a fool of himself, he who can act so well, and he says he hates to play to a country Audience, and all for seven pounds-but they all impose on him, for while he has one guinea he never thinks of the next-but when he is acting he looks at Dr. Drury, for he says his censure is more valuable to him than another's applause.' This speech you will own savours of Ireland. Kean himself is of a very different stamp, about four or five and twenty apparently, perfectly gentlemanlike with a countenance that I call remarkably handsome; but others say remarkably expressive is the right term. Eyes of extreme brilliancy, quickness and keenness, a very long nose and an interesting smile. A deep harmonious voice, possibly not quite strong enough for these large Theatres, a very good figure but under the common size. The story gone about in Exeter concerning him says he was bred at Eton; about this however we entertain doubts as we can find no Etonian that recognizes him. Also that he is the natural son of some nobleman, and his little boy being christened Howard savours of the Duke of Norfolk! However these were only reports and since his arrival in Town the papers have a hundred stories about his birth and parentage, all different. My Father told Kean not to be too sanguine about these future prospects, and obtained his direction in case of hearing more from the great men of Drury Lane. He went afterwards to a country town in Devonshire where he received an application from Elliston, one of the great Actors of the day who has several little unlicensed Theatres about Town, to come and act for him at the Olympic or little Drury in the Strand for three pound a week-it seems there was no engagement properly entered intothe terms were altered by the one, and not fully accepted by the other, when the little boy was taken dangerously ill at Dorchester. Impelled by poverty and a wish to be near medical advice he wrote and offered himself to Elliston, but received no positive answer when my Father sent him word he had just received a letter from Whitbread, desiring him to engage him. for Drury Lane, which was immediately followed by Arnold's the Manager going down to Dorchester to see him perform, who was so well pleased that he engaged him for 3 years certain

at the increasing salary of eight, nine, and ten pounds a week! is it surprising that the poor man in the joy of his heart was afraid to tell Arnold he had ever wished to act for Elliston, fearing, as he wrote to my Father, that this being the only beam fortune had ever shed on him, to banish it by mentioning what he believed to bear not the slightest nature of an engagement. In the midst of this the pretty little boy died, and his loss made such an impression on him for a time he could think of nothing else. However he shortly came on to town with his Wife and Infant, settled himself in respectable lodgings suitable to his income which he already received, tho' not called upon to act. At the expiration of a fortnight he met Elliston who said to him, So, Sir, you are come here to act first parts, are you? but you are my man, and I will claim you.' He went on the Saturday as usual for his Salary; it was discontinued, Arnold highly offended at him for not mentioning his treaty with Elliston would not employ him, tho' from having taken the salary of the Theatre, he said he was its Servant and could act for no one else, while Elliston (one of the principal Actors at the same house) declared he was his man. The poor man wrote a most melancholy letter to my Father saying he was friendless, unknown and starving, without money or the means of getting any, for Elliston was evidently jealous of so formidable a rival, and it was on every account his interest to keep him away from a Theatre which deficient in a lamentable degree of good actors relies upon him as a main support. When my Father came to Town he found a letter from this poor man of fourteen pages, detailing all his hardships. He of course assisted him in a trifling degree with some money, but having in a manner brought him here, felt very uncomfortable at the whole affair. He strongly advised his bending to superior strength and so at last the matter is ended, Elliston condescending to accept two pounds a week from his little pittance, to make up for what all who have heard the circumstances deem to be nothing in the shape of a contract. By my Father's advice he made his début in Shylock, and the applause he met with both the first and second night is beyond any that an Actor has met with for years, with the exception of Kemble, young Betty and Miss Stephens, etc. Mr. Grenfell who attended both nights told my Father the public as well as the Theatre were deeply indebted to him for discovering such a prodigy and he has done more than shewing his zeal for the cause in mere words, he invited him to breakfast the next morning, tipped him handsomely, and assured him he would use his best endeavours with Mr. Whitbread to get the two pound removed, which he thought a very unfair thing

VOL. XXXV.-NO. 199, N.S.

6

on the part of the imposer, and to have his withheld salary repaid. You may imagine what gratitude and delight the young man feels. He seems to feel it in its full extent, for my father more particularly who has been the means of raising him from poverty to a most respectable, and if he pleases, affluent condition. The next thing to be wished is that a young man of such extraordinary talent should not get into low society, while the veterans of his corps, probably from jealousy may keep aloof from him. Mr. Grenfell thinks the same, and I have no doubt will notice him very kindly, while we mean to use our best endeavours to the same purpose and have invited him to dinner on Sunday to meet two or three lawyers, an honour which he seems to feel most gratefully. The papers teem with accounts of his performances, particularly the Morning Chronicle, tho' I don't suppose your eyes ever light upon such an unhallowed, anti-ministerial paper as that is. I need not add how highly his success delights my father and how much we participate in it, and how anxiously we watched his progress in Shylock the other night. We walked to the Theatre (for a Coach is still more hazardous) in spite of the slippery paths which have confined me to the house, both before and since, fearing a repetition of a fall which I had in the beginning of this reign of ice, rather a tremendous one and for which bleeding was necessary, though I am not now in the least the worse for it. I hope I have not tired you with this long theatrical story, but at present it occupies our thoughts a great deal, and if Kean really turns out a second Garrick (as some have already called him) it will be delightful to reflect on the share one has had in bringing forward so much excellence. L. H. MERIVALE.

This was written in February. Three months later Kean's success had been established, and Mrs. Merivale could write as follows:

London May 15th, 1814. My dear Angel,-I hope to venture on Wednesday to meet a party in Queen Square to which Mr. and Mrs. Kean are invited and on the Wednesday following to attend his benefit. These are bold prospects, but I hope they may be realised as I am most interested in all that concerns this extraordinary genius. If you are a newspaper reader the accounts of his wonderful success must have often struck your eye, unless indeed you take in the Herald' or one or two stray papers which from being in a rival interest make a point of decrying his merits. They however speak for themselves in drawing houses crowded beyond any precedent for such a length of time. The Heaths

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and I attended the representation of Iago' last night, having had their box engaged two months beforehand as the earliest time of procuring one, and those who wish to secure one now must wait till the middle of July! His engagement with the Exeter Manager last Spring was twenty-five shillings a week. He applied to the Bath Manager to be received there for thirty, but was three time refused. Judge then what a sudden and unheard of rise he has undergone in Fortune. Twenty guineas a week, a Benefit from which presents in all quarters will probably amount to £1,000. A beautiful horse for riding, magnificent gifts of books, three sets of Shakespeare (one of the three a twenty pound touch of Ben's 1) two shares given him. by Lord Essex and another Gentleman in the Theatre, which dubs him a Proprietor, a capital engagement in Dublin for seventeen nights in the summer, and all ranks of people calling upon him, inviting him to their parties; in short every one making much of him. This he has borne with such modesty and simplicity of manners as to charm his admirers as much as his talents astonish them; but if my Father and Mother pay their intended visit to Fahan you will hear enough of this young Roscius. On Thursday and Saturday week, he played alternately Othello and Iago and as getting into the Pit is attended with a dangerous degree of cramming and crowding my Mother applied for admissions into the Orchestra (a place much frequented by Amateurs) which is a matter of favour due to them. She succeeded and forthwith wrote to my Father who was quietly stationed at Cockwood, not dreaming of a London Jaunt after his recent sojourn here, to come up and witness this new exhibition of their Protegé's powers. He had intended giving her the meeting at Bath but this temptation was too strong to be resisted, he arrived here on the Wednesday before the Play, and only left with my Mother on Tuesday last.

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Edmund Kean's life-history is too well known to need recalling in this slight sketch of his discovery'; but a few more extracts from the family letters of Merivale and Drury may be added as giving a personal touch to what followed.

Mrs. J. H. Merivale to her sister-in-law, Feb. 3rd, 1815. We have been very much vexed at the disrepute poor Kean has got into, through the scrapes into which his evil geniuses are continually leading him. John at last mustered up resolution to write him a long, serious admonitory letter; and singularly enough, Mr. K. tells us, Lord Essex, Mr. Grenfell, and

' Mrs. Merivale's brother, Ben Drury.

one or two other real friends, were all at him at the very same time. I most earnestly hope this may be attended with success, for it would be glorious to save such a creature from ruin. Mrs. K. says, no one can, in their nature, be kinder or more well-intentioned than he is, but these myrmidons beset him, waylay him after the play (for he never allows them to visit him at home), and when they have made him drink, he is quite their tool, and up to any mad scheme. We called there yesterday, never did I see any one more mild, gentlemanly and pleasing than he was. She is, I think, a very good creature, her manner of speaking of her husband has pleased us very much. You may suppose report exaggerates his failings. These people that beset him are the lower order of actors and the like beings, to whom he gives his money whenever he is asked, therefore they literally are always surrounding him, then they persuade him to go into the country and act, which of course is immediately blazoned out to his discredit.

The same to the same, February, 1815.

Mrs. Kean dined with us on Wednesday, bringing little Charles with whom the boys had a fine afternoon's romp. Kean was otherwise engaged. She came in a mere family way, a way in which it might be of use to them to visit, as our knowledge of the world is rather more than theirs, that is of the world comme il faut (by the bye, she dines to-day with Lady E. Whitbread). Charles has grown more beautiful than ever, and has the archest way of saying things and looking that you can imagine in a child. John took Kean this morning after Church to make calls, one of the most essential of which was to the Blackmans', who had taken umbrage at his never returning Mr. B.'s call made last spring. She was at home, and John says quite in a flurry of delight at seeing Mr. Kean in her house. John returned home at 12 last night, having spent a very agreeable day. He and Mr. Denman were dining with Lord Essex to meet Kean. Mr. Grenfell was there, and Sir Henry Halford, and Messrs. Leach and Greenhill, two Chancery men, in the evening one or two ladies and gentlemen came in. Mr. Denman (afterwards Lord Chief Justice) has invited Kean to dine with him, and we are to meet him.

Then in 1817 comes an amusing account of a benefit night of Kean's:

Mrs. J. H. Merivale to Miss Angel Heath.

Woburn Place: May 1817.

The Allotts, Keans, Mr. Allen, were our Saturday party. As for Kean, no one could be more silent or stupid or be missed

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