1825,} 
the points of his fingers for half a minute or 
a minute together, to be informed to what 
object he should apply it; abrupt. transi- 
tions from the loud vehemence with which 
he had pronounced the beginning of his sen- 
tence, to the inaudible whisper in which he 
is to utter the more important conclusion ; 
and occasionalbursts of the hurry and 
storm of passion. pei 
In these last, and in the latter part of 
the fourth and whole of the fifth act, he 
used toube grand and masterly; but his 
mannerisms and affectations have broken 
even into these, and marred, in a consider- 
able degree, the effect which, in the final 
scenes, he used so preeminently to produce. 
Even the gladiatorial display, in his com- 
bat with Richmond, wanted, on this occa- 
sion, its usual éclat. The very mode of 
combat was injudiciously altered ; and with 
the glave, or cross-sword, in their hands, 
the combatants tilted at each other as with 
the foil or rapier; and Richard, as if 
already exhausted, suffered himself to be 
quickly mastered: an’ exhibition equally 
inconsistent with the poetical and the his- 
torical idea of the character (neither of 
which are at all ambiguous as to the prow- 
ess of the tyrant), and with the fierce and 
convulsive struggles which Mr. Kean still 
retains after the death-wound has been re- 
ceived. Is the mode of combat thus changed 
and the conflict shortened, because Mr. 
Wallack has notoriously become as accom- 
plished a gladiator as himself, and conse- 
quently must be an equal sharer in the 
applause, which, . heretofore, was all his 
own ?—In this respect we confess we were 
disappointed. We did expect to have seen 
a fine display of the old athletic mode of 
chivalrous struggle, between these two 
great theatric masters of the weapon. In 
the present state of histrionic talent, we 
must learn to be content with these subor- 
dinate gratifications: but if we cannot have 
the drama, we ought not fo be disappointed 
of the spectacle. 
Upon the whole, even independently of 
our objections to the general conception, 
we cannot but pronounce Mr. Kean’s pre- 
sent Richard a very inferior performance to 
that of several years ago. 
. He was received, as usual upon his 
entrance, with considerable applause ; the 
effect of which was, however, very much 
spoiled, by the blunder of a great portion 
of the clappers ; who mistook Mr. Younge, 
‘when he came in as Tressel, for the Ros- 
cius they were to hail, and kept the poor 
messenger in a maze of moveless wonder 
' for four or five minutes, before he could 
_ begin to deliver his dismal tidings to the 
captive Henry. 
There was likewise, as has also become 
usual, when the curtain had dropped, a 
vehement clamour, kept up for a most im- 
moderate time, almost exclusively by the 
eatealls of the galleries, for Mr. Kean to 
come forward and give out the play. . This 
Theatrical Review; and Music. 
559 
at last he did, and said something about 
acknowledgment and exhaustion, of which 
we could catch only a few words; and 
then retired amidst the applause of his 
admirers. 
We are perfectly aware that, to. those 
who are familiar with the character of 
Richard only through the medium of the 
stage-representations of late years, and the 
stage-copies of the play, our animadver- 
sions may appear morose, and be almost 
suspected tobe personal. But the truth is, ~ 
that we should speak little better of any of 
the representatives of the part whom we 
have seen for many years ; and, upon reflec- 
tion, it will be obvious that the general prin- 
ciple and larger portions of this criticism 
apply, equally, to themall. Cooke, in fact, 
(admirable actor as he was,) corrupted the 
taste of the town with respect to so much 
of the character of Richard as Cibber’s 
vulgarisms had not already obscured. He 
made of it, in the place of Shakspeare’s, a 
character of his own—powerful, energetic, 
shrewd and sarcastic indeed—and he pre- 
served, in all their malignity, the deeper 
shades and more desperate passions of the 
original ; but he lost the buoyant humour, 
and vulgarized the whole. He gave us 
(it has been said somewhat coarsely, but 
not without some shew of truth,) “ Di¢k 
the butcher of St. Giles’s,” in place of 
Richard Plantagenet, the most shrewd, the 
most specious and the most profound, the 
bravest and the most accomplished, as well 
as the most sanguinary, treacherous and re- 
morseless, of all the illustrious and royal 
house of York. Cooke, however, knew 
what he was about.’ He knew too, and in 
his cups could boast, “ that he never un- 
derstood the character of Richard;” and he 
could laugh, among his familiars, at “‘the 
stupid public who admired him in it.” Let 
ourreaders trace the entire character through 
the succession of Shakspeare’s plays, and 
they will be convinced that, off the stage, 
Cooke: was entirely right. - 
At Covent-Garden Theatre, on the 15th 
June, Miss M. Tree made, it is under- 
stood, her last appearance, preparatory, as 
it is confidently expected, to her marriage 
with a gentleman of very considerable pro- 
perty. With a delicacy and prudent re- 
serye that cannot be too highly com- 
mended, she perseveringly refused to an- 
nounce it as‘a farewell benefit: thus pre- 
cluding all occasion for future appeal or 
explanations to the public—even in the 
event of any possible misunderstanding or 
disappointment,—such as have sometimes 
lessened the respectability, however they 
may have increased the popularity of -indi- 
viduals of the like profession, less guarded. 
and scrupulous in their demeanour. ‘The 
unblemished correctness of Miss M. Tree’s 
deportment ever since she has ‘been known 
‘to the public, will occasion her to carry into 
private 
