J. p. Kemhle—W. Lewis, Esq. [April I, 



At the close of the sea- he acquired those habits of business, and 

 that quickness at accounts, which distin- 

 guished him through life, till nearly the 



280 



modern theatre. 



SOD of 1801 he devoted a year to travel- 

 ling abroad, and on his return in 1803, he 

 purchased a sixth share of Covent-Gai'<l<'n 

 Theatre, became manager, and appealed 

 for the first lime on those hoards, in his 

 favourite character of Hamlet, on the 

 24th of September. Here he continued 

 his career with eminent Nuccess, both as a 

 manager and a performer, until 1808, 

 when the tremendous tire broke out which 

 destroyed the tiieatre. The raising of the 

 present noble edifice, the O. P. riot of 

 1809, Kemble's taking leave of the Edin- 

 burgh audience in the part of Macbeth, in 

 March, 1817 ; his final retirement from 

 the stage on the t^Sd of June, in the same 

 year; and the magnificent public diimer, 

 and other honours bestowed on him in 

 commemoration of that event; were 

 events which closed his public career. 

 He combined, in an eminent degree, 

 the physical and mental requisites for 

 the highest rank in his profession. To 

 a noble form and classical and expressive 

 countenance, he added the advantages of 

 a sound judgment, indefatigal>le industry, 

 and an ardent love and decided genius for 

 the art of which he was so distinguished 

 an ornament. He possessed, besides, what 

 we have always regarded as an essential 

 characteristic of a first-rale tragic actor, 

 «n air of intellectual superiority and a 

 peculiarity of inaniiur and appearance, 

 which impressed the spectator at the first 

 glance with the conviction that he was 

 not of the race of common men. His 

 voice was defective in the under tones ne- 

 cessary for soliloquies ; but in declamation 

 it was iitrong and efficient, and, in tones 

 of melancholy, indescribably touching. 

 No music was ever heard which could 

 belter revive the tale of past times. It 

 was one of the most exquisite beauties of 

 his peiforniances, that one passage fre- 

 quently recalled to the mind "a whole 

 history." His groupings, his processions, 

 all his arraui;ements, while they were in 

 the highest degree conducive to theatrical 

 etfect, were yet so cliaste and free from 

 glare and undue pompousne.ss, that they 

 appeared rather historical iliiin dramatic, 

 and might have been safely thrown npon 

 the canvass by the puinter, almost without 

 alteration. As an author, Mr. Keinble 

 produced little that is likely to add 

 materially to his fame, out what he has 

 written, contains satisfactory evidence of 

 his learning and sood taste. 



At Hendon, William Lewis, esr/. F.I..S. 

 Mr. Lewis was a native of Jamaica ; but, 

 sent to England at an early age, he re- 

 ceived the rudiments of his education at 

 Hadley, under the father of the present 

 Baron Garrow ; and was afterwards trans- 

 ferred to the counting-house of his own 

 guardian, Mr. William Bond, of Walbrook, 

 an eminent West India merchant; where 



close of it. Mr. Lewis was confidentially 

 concerned in the payment of the principal 

 prizes captured by Lord Keppel ; and ac- 

 cordingly took an essential part in rescu- 

 ing his lordship's character from the 

 charges brought against it. His yiews, 

 however, failing in a connexion with hig 

 guardian, he disengaged himself from his 

 original pursuits, and embarked his capital 

 iu a rectifying distillery ; where, a victim 

 to the odious oppression of the excise-laws, 

 he soon associated himself with certain 

 others, — who, in conjunction with the malt 

 distillers, attempted, by communications 

 with the government, and close attendance 

 on the Parliament, to mitigate the rigour 

 of a system, that, combined with other 

 circumstances, determined him in the end 

 on quitting trade. Through his exertions 

 on these occasions, as they occurred from 

 time to time, as well as from the high opi- 

 nion entertained of his skill and know- 

 ledge in the nicer operations of a scientific 

 business, Mr. Lewis was generally looked 

 up to by its principal members as a leading 

 organ to advise with ; and in that capacity 

 fulfilled the office of honorary secretary to 

 the Society of Rectifying Distillers for a 

 long number of years. Mr. Lewis had 

 studied chemistry under his friend Dr. 

 Hig>!ins ; to whose early researches and sa- 

 gacious conjectures, — as appears by a co- 

 pious detail of them preserved by Mr. 

 Lewis, — he ascribed more merit than to 

 the positive discoveries of subsequent 

 times; and, from being also an adept in 

 the mechanical application of ph'losophical 

 apparatus, to denote and ascertain the va- 

 rious processes of distillation, Mr. Lewis, 

 when a new hydrometer was proposed for 

 the Excise, took a warm interest in the 

 question ; and exhibited many curious ex- 

 periments, to prove the superiority of 

 (Join's instrument, before the late Mr. Ca- 

 vendish, and other members of the Royal 

 Society, who met on the occasion at 

 Messrs. Christian and Lewis's distillery. 

 Mr. Lewis, strongly attached to the poli- 

 tics of Mr. Fox, was known to be opposed 

 to the measures of Mr. Pitt • and it was, 

 therefore, not a little surprising that he 

 should be chosen, but perhaps more extra- 

 ordinary tliat he should undertake, to give 

 effect to one of the most unpopular pro- 

 ceedings of that minister. When the In- 

 come-tax was introduced, Mr. Lewis was 

 returned, with the late Sir Nathaniel Co- 

 nant, by the county of Middlesex, to sit 

 as a commercial commissioner for the city 

 of London and its vicinity, with a select 

 number of the Aldermen, a portion of the 

 Bank and East India Directors, and a few 

 other public characters, in representation 

 of the chief bodies ; and, when the nature 

 of this arduous, responsible, and confiden- 

 2 tial, 



