646 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES ON THE LATE F. J. TALMA. 



illusion even upon a child, and that child only about four years of 

 age. The anecdote about to be related occurred at the Birmingham 

 theatre, during the performance of the popular spectacle of " Peter 

 Wilkins." The child was standing up, holding by the orchestra rail- 

 ing, when Phelim (the Irishman) comes in, in almost breathless 

 haste, in search of the wild man (who had just passed across the 

 stage), and says, " Now, I wonder which way that hairy divil went !" 

 The child, with feelings so powerfully wrought upon as to be un- 

 conscious of anything but the desire of aiding in the capture of the 

 wild creature, instantly exclaimed (at the same time pointing with 

 its little outstretched arm and extended forefinger), " That way, he's 

 just gone that way !" So instantaneous and so powerful was the 

 appeal to every breast, that even the iron " gods " of Birmingham 

 felt, and answered it with hearty cheers. Such is dramatic illusion, 

 and such were the vivid feelings of this intelligent child ! 



In the early part of the year 1817, Talma paid a visit to England, 

 and gave two soirees dramatiques at the Opera-house, assisted by 

 Mademoiselle Georges and M. Mainvielle. These were well attended 

 by the middling and higher ranks of society, eager to witness, 

 though unaided by scenic effect, the exertions of the Roscius of the 

 French stage. The applauses and reception he met with, in private 

 as in public, gave him unmingled gratification. He renewed, at this 

 time, his acquaintance with John Kemble, who, like himself, had 

 done so much to reform the costume of the stage, and to bring to 

 perfection the art he had so highly adorned, and of whose last per- 

 formances on the stage he was now a witness. He was present, too, 

 at the dinner given to him on his retirement from a stage of which, 

 for the space of between thirty and forty years, he had been the or- 

 nament and pride. On this occasion Talma's health was drunk ; and 

 the accomplished and noble president, Lord Holland, in proposing 

 it, highly complimented the French tragedians, and the Theatre 

 Franais : to this he replied in a speech delivered in the English 

 language. 



Talma had now long remained confessedly without a rival on his own 

 stage, when " I witnessed/' says the author of one of his Memoires, 

 " his last appearance in the character of the ill-fated Charles VI. The 

 seeds of his fatal disease were already sown within him. On be- 

 holding the old monarch, worn down by sufferings and misfortune, re- 

 covering for a moment his reason before resigning it and life together, 

 I could not but call to mind the age of the actor, nor conceal from 

 myself the existence of that malady which was visibly wearing him fast 

 away ; though he displayed upon the scene all the energy and depth 

 of feeling which distinguished his acting in his best and youngest 

 days. I felt as if I had been witnessing the last efforts of the ( dying- 

 gladiator.' I saw Talma after this, but never again upon the stage. 

 ' His scenic hour ' was ' for ever past,' ' and the valued plaudits ' 

 which that night rung upon his ear ' were his last.' " 



From this time his complaint made such rapid progress as soon to 

 convince his friends that his master-pieces must live thenceforward 

 only in their yet warm remembrances j though they still cherished 

 the delusive hope that he might recover so far as to bless and enliven 



