1905.] on Dramatic Thoughts: Retrospective — Anticipative. 69 



Deep as is my respect, profound as is my admiration, for the 

 leaders in " the palmy days," " the good old times," I know well that 

 such sayings are the tiresome chorus attached to other callings than 

 the stage — the lawyer, the soldier, the painter, even the bishop, is as 

 much haunted by them as the actor, who from time immemorial has 

 listened to the cuckoo-cry — "the drama is dead." I have had to 

 stop my ears to its sad refrain ever since my earliest recollections of 

 the theatre ; when I was taken as a child to see the attractive 

 Madame Yestris, to listen to the laughing Mrs. Nisbett, and to be 

 conscious of the waning powers of the elder Farren. I might, at 

 that time, have also seen the farewell performances, given too early, 

 of that chieftain of his day, William Charles Macready, whose career 

 both on and off the stage was of high repute : in spite of the fact 

 that the theatre was not his sweetheart, for, strange to say, he was 

 never passionately in love with his work. Had I seen him I might 

 have been in a like position to an aged friend of mine who, quite 

 recently, to my amazement gave me his personal views on the acting 

 of Edmund Kean ; being afflicted with a memory for dates I could 

 not resist reminding the dear old man that he had barely reached the 

 mature age of nine at the time of the lamented death of that dazzling 

 genius. Some amount of such careless criticism still exists, and 

 always will exist, but 1 do claim to remember, and with distinctness, 

 the acting of Helen Faucit : the embodiment of Rosalind, Beatrice, 

 Imogen and others of the most poetic creations in our tongue ; of 

 Charles Kean : whose fame as the pioneer of gorgeous Shakespearian 

 revivals has long survived the venom of Douglas Jerrold's undignified 

 attacks ; of Samuel Phelps : with many masterly performances in 

 simple but scholarly productions ; of the ill-fated Gustavus Brooke : 

 whose natural gifts were akin to those of Salvini ; of Charles Fechter : 

 my hero of romance ; of Frederick Robson : who had he not been 

 almost a dwarf might have excelled in tragedy, he may be best de- 

 scribed as a blend of Edmund Kean and John Liston, for he was, 

 indeed, "tragical-comical-historical-pastoral" ; of Benjamin Webster: 

 whose remarkable, varied powers as an actor were crippled by his 

 cares as a manager of two theatres ; of Charles Mathews : most cap- 

 tivating, unique and natural of comedians ; of the old Haymarket 

 company in the days of its strength ; but although I cherish the 

 recollection of these and other idols of my youth I must not forget 

 Bacon's warning, " They that revere too much old time, are but a 

 scorn to the new." I will not, therefore, pay so poor a compliment 

 to the living as to praise only the dead, and shall dare — with no 

 bated breath — to mention the names of five women who have reigned 

 in their kingdom as Thalia's champions with a splendour equal to 

 the great ones of the past — Marie Bancroft, Margaret Kendal, Ada 

 Rehan, Ellen Terry, Matilda Wood (Mrs. John Wood) ; the very 

 salt of the beautiful art they have adorned and justified : whose 

 mere presence in their bright spring time, their affluent summer. 



