518 RECOLLECTIONS OF THE OLD ACTORS, &C. &C. 



made to excite ridicule. The characters being cast, Quin was made 

 Bassanio, always the principal character, and all the others settled 

 except Shylock, of which nothing was said. At last, as the rehearsal 

 was going on, some one formally, asked, " who is to be Shylock ?" 

 " O ! I shall do that myself," was Charley's reply. " You ! you ! 

 you ! " exclaimed all who were present. " Yes, I, I, I, will do that 

 myself," he rejoined, very firmly. All were silent; but "quips, and 

 cranks, and wanton smiles" sparkled from the eyes of one to another. 

 In the mean time, Macklin continued reading the part, as they all 

 thought, very insipidly. 



At last the first night of representation came ; a most numerous 

 and splendid audience filled the theatre to overflowing. The per- 

 formers, dressed for action, filled the green-room, into which walked 

 Macklin, clothed in his, till then, unseen dress ; all eyes were fixed 

 upon him ; but all were silent. The call-boy having made the signal 

 to begin, Macklin, and the other characters who accompanied him, 

 walked on the stage, beginning 



Shylock. " Three thousand ducats well ?" 



Bass. " For three months." 



Shylock. " For three months well ?" &c. &c. ; 



and proceeded in the same quiet tone which the scene required. The 

 audience remained silent and attentive ; the performers, confounded 

 by the novelty of their situation ; and the scene being ended, as they 

 walked off the stage, Quin said, in one of his malignant under- tones, 

 " let the fool ruin himself, if he mil." But when the great actor re- 

 turned, exclaiming in the highest paroxysm of rage, 



" You knew it I None so well as you," 



and went through that scene in the manner that he had then shown 

 for the first time, and continued to the end of the piece, the audience 

 burst into perpetual shouts of applause, which continued incessantly 

 to the end of the piece ; the other actors were confounded ; and from 

 that moment Macklin became a very great actor in the general opinion. 

 He was invited into many companies, where his opinions were can- 

 vassed ; among others by Pope, who is known to have said, on wit- 

 nessing this performance 



" This is the Jew 



Which Shakspeare drew." 



And on being asked by Pope, what he meant by lining the top of his 

 hat with scarlet silk ? is said to have replied, he did so, because he 

 had read that, in Venice, all the Jews were obliged to do so, as a 

 badge to distinguish them from all others. " Indeed ! " said the poet, 

 " I did not know that players accustomed themselves to notice such 

 particulars." His opinion was correct as to the general practice of 

 the actors of that time : but to that rule Macklin was a singular ex- 

 ception. This account of Macklin likewise confirms the correctness 

 of Pope's opinion as to the resemblance between the acting of Bet- 

 terton and that of Garrick. It is certain, that Macklin a child of 



