2««* a N« 77., JC5E 20, '57.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



49a 



eagerness of gentlemen to gain admittance. 

 Mr. Ireland's father, I remember, sat in the 

 front box on the lower tier, with some friends 

 around him. His son was behind the scenes. 

 But I think your correspondent is mistaken in 

 ascribing the following passages to the scene 

 before him. " ' Then catch him by the throat,' 

 and Mr. Kemble, grasping his own throat with 

 ludicrous action, — that a slight laugh arose, — 

 and he appeared to be struggling with convulsive 

 laughter, and then burst a roar of genuine mirth 

 from the pit, which was taken up by the whole 

 house." Surely there is exaggeration here, as well 

 as mistake. There was little or no disapprobation 

 apparently shown by the audience until the com- 

 mencement of the fifth act, when Mr. Kemble, it 

 was probable, thought the deception had gone on 

 long enough. Such, I think, was Ireland's own 

 opinion ; for in his Confessions, published in 1805, 

 I find the following account of the disapproval of 

 the audience given by himself. Your corre- 

 spondent's extract I can find nowhere in the 

 whole play. If anywhere, it must have occurred 

 in Vortigern's soliloquy in the fifth act, where 

 alone allusion is made to " the progress of death 

 upon the human frame." 



Ireland's account, which I transcribe, is long ; 

 but as it is a curiosity in dramatic occurrences, I 

 think it is worth insertion in " N. & Q." 



I may be allowed to add, that the prologue was 

 written by Sir James Bland Burgess, and spoken 

 by Mr, Whitfield, who took the character of Wor- 

 tiraerus in the play ; the epilogue was written by 

 Robert Merry, Esq., and spoken by Mrs. Jordan, 

 who sustained the character of Flavia. Mr. 

 Charles Kemble, then a young man, was also a 

 performer, I think, in the character of Pascentius. 

 William Henry Ireland's account of the con- 

 demnation of the play is as follows : 



« Mr. Kemble. 



" The conduct of this gentleman was too obvious to the 

 whole audience to need much comment. I must, how- 

 ever, remark, that the particular line on which Mr. 

 Kemble laid sucli a peculiar stress was, in my humble 

 opinion, the watchword agreed upon by the Malone faction 

 for the general howl. The speech alluded to ran as 

 follows; the line in Italics being that so particularly 

 noticed by Mr. Kemble : 



" Time was, alas ! I needed not this spur. 

 But here's a secret and a stinging thorn, 

 That wounds my troubled nerves. Conscience ! Con- 

 science ! 

 When thou didst cry, I strove to stop my mouth, 

 By boldly thrusting on thee dire Ambition: 

 Then did I think myself, indeed, a god ! 

 But I was sore deceived ; for as I pass'd, 

 And traversed in proud triumph the Basse-court, 

 There I saw death, clad in most hideous colours : 

 A sight it was, that did appal my soul ; 

 Yea, curdled thick this mass of blood within me. 

 Full fifty breathless bodies struck my sight ; 

 And some, with gaping mouths, did seem to mock me ; 

 While others, smiling in cold death itself, 



ScoflSngly bade me look on that, which soon 

 Would wrench from off my brow this sacred crown, 

 And make me, too, a subject like themselves : 

 Subject ! to whom ? To thee, Sovereign death ! 

 Who liast for thy domain this world immense : 

 Church3'ards and charnel-houses are thy haunts. 

 And hospitals thy sumptuous palaces ; 

 And, when thou would'st be merry, thou dost chooso 

 The gaudy chamber of a dying king. 

 0! then thou dost ope wide thy boney jaws. 

 And, with rude laughter and fantastic tricks. 

 Thou clapp'st thy rattling fingers to thy sides: 

 jdnd when this solemn mockery is o'er. 

 With icy hand thou tak'st him by the feet. 

 And upward so ; till thou dost reach the heart, 

 And wrap him in the cloak of 'lasting night." 



Mr. Ireland then makes the following com- 

 ments : 



" No sooner was the above line uttered in the most se- 

 pulchral tone of voice possible, and accompanied with 

 that peculiar emphasis which, on a subsequent occasion, 

 so justly rendered Mr. Kemble the object of criticism 

 (viz. on the first representation of Mr. Colman's Iron 

 Chest), than the most discordant howl echoed from the 

 pit that ever assailed the organs of hearing. After the 

 lapse of ten minutes the clamour subsided, when Mr. 

 Kemble, having again obtained a hearing, instead of pro- 

 ceeding with the speech at the ensuing line, very politely, 

 and in order to amuse the audience still more, re-deli- 

 vered the very line above quoted with even more solemn 

 grimace than he had in the first instance displayed. 

 This remark is not meant as invidious, foes as well as 

 friends to the manuscripts allowed it ; and according to 

 the trite adage, ' What is by all allowed must be true.' " 



Worcester. 



J. M. G., an Octogenarian, 



PHOTOGRArHIC COKBESPONDENCB. 



The Archer Testimonial. — Mr. F. Scott Archer, to 

 whom the photographic world is mainly indebted for the 

 application of collodion to the photographic process, by 

 which a complete revolution in the art was almost in- 

 stantly effected, has died without realizing any substan- 

 tial benefit frorh what has proved a source of delight to 

 thousands of amateurs, and of profit to thousands of pro- 

 fessional photographers. Under these circumstances, a 

 committee has been formed for the purpose of receiving 

 subscriptions for the benefit of his widow and family. 

 The committee, at the head of which are the names of Earl 

 Craven, and of that zealous patron of photography, the 

 Lord Chief. Baron, consists of some twenty of the most 

 distinguished amateurs and professors of the art. Sir W. 

 Newton and Mr. Fenton are the treasurers, and Professors 

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 can be no doubt that the benevolent intention of the com- 

 mittee will be fully realized. 



Swift and Stella (2"'J S. iii. 422.) — The sup- 

 posed consanguinity between Swift and Stella was 

 discussed in the Old Series. In iv. 160. I sug- 

 gested that it existed between Swift and the 

 mother of Stella, Will no one search the registry 



