THFATRICAL REVIEW. 615 



magnificent part of " Othello" we have much to blame, and, sorry 

 are we to add, little to praise. Mr. Forrest is utterly incapable of 

 level speaking-. In the scene with the senators his declamation 

 was painfully emphatic ; almost every other word seemed to be 

 marked by a stress of the voice. The simple dignity of the single- 

 hearted Moor was entirely lost. We could scarcely believe that the 

 actor comprehended the meaning of the words. He seemed on 

 thorns lest he should not make himself sufficiently prominent, and in 

 the effort to be distinguished, overwrought the character most woe- 

 fully. In the drunken scene he was not satisfied to quit the stage, as 

 his predecessors have done, without saying more than is set down for 

 him, but must needs Sj o p short in his exit to interpolate such iniqui- 

 tous stuff as this 



tl Cassio, I make an example of thee.* 



Shade of the Swan of Avon! hear riot the violence done to thy im- 

 mortal song. 



In the third act, which is usually considered the test of ability in 

 the actor, he fell still farther from the high mark he aims at. His 

 attempts at pathos were much on a par with the sorrows of an oyster 

 crossed in love, as some of our readers will recollect Grimaldi sing- 

 ing- them. He seems to think that heart-rending grief can only be 

 portrayed by a convulsive shivering of the frame, and a queer kind 

 of sob, like a schoolboy whimpering after a sound flogging. He mis- 

 takes grimace for expression, and violence for passion. Even in the 

 burst of feeling, 



" Villain, prove my wife a whore," 



and what follows, which it must be confessed was not wanting in 

 energy, he so out-did and over- acted the part, that the mo- 

 mentary feeling of satisfaction engendered by the force and vigour 

 with which he uttered the threat was succeeded by regret that he 

 should have so far overstepped the limits of good taste. The same 

 remark applies to his reproaches of Desdemona, and indeed to all 

 that remains of his part. Having carried our analysis thus far, it will 

 scarcely be necessary to add that we consider Mr. Forrest but an in- 

 different second-rate actor ; and as he is at present very much over- 

 rated, so in a short time, when the nine days' wonder has ceased, 

 he will sink much too low in the public estimation. Those who 

 are old enough to remember Kean in his prime, would scarcely be- 

 lieve thai so low a quality of talent could be endured a second time 

 in that rank in his art to which this gentleman aspires. But John 

 Bull is always gaping after novelty, and would rather wear a new 



* In the play not as it is acted, but as Shakspeare wrote it after the words, 



" Cassio, I love tliee, but never more be officer of mine," 

 " Desdemona " enters and " Othello " continues, 



" See how my gentle love is raised up ; 



I'll make thee an example." 



We mention this because though the sentiment is excited by a cause which is entirely 

 new, it is just within the sphere of possibility that Mr. Forrest may have converted 

 the words, 



" I'll make thee an example," 



into the trash we have already quoted, thinking that he was playing up (o the text. 



2X2 



