1826.) The Thealre—Its Literature, and General Arrangement. 55 ~ 
agreeable even to the vulgar people (who know what vulgarity upon the stage 
is when they see it), in the galleries of a minor one. 
To define the qualifications which should go to constitute excellence in a 
serious actor, is hardly less perplexing than to declare what should ensure suc- 
cess in the performance of comedy. That it is not genius which makes a man 
a great actor, is obvious; if it were, Shakespeare must have been the greatest 
actor of his day. That the possession of extraordinary mental faculty is not 
necessary to excellence, is also pretty clear: because, since the time of Garrick, 
(at least) our most successful actors have been people whose intellectual qualities 
(out of their peculiar calling) have seemed to be rather limited. John Kemble’s 
published essays upon the characters of Richard and Macbeth have just the effect 
of shewing, past all question, that John Kemble had noé a poetical, or powerful, 
understanding of those characters. Mrs, Siddons, whose faculties upon the 
stage even exceeded those of her brother—all the written documents which have 
appeared from the pen of that lady, shew rather the reverse of striking intellect, 
or discriminative mind. Of our existing celebrated performers, Mr. Charles 
Kemble has brought out one or two plays, chiefly adaptations, or translations, 
but donein a cultivated and gentlemanly style. Of the rest, one is a coarse 
sensualist ; two others are men of respectable habits and capacity; but none are 
at all known to the public as persons remarkable, either by their works or con- 
versation. 
Then, as it is not mind which is absolutely necessary to qualify a serious actor 
for greatness, so it is not entirely (though these are often most essential points) 
the gifts of a fortunate person, or graceful deportment. For, in the first of these, 
Kean was strikingly deficient; and the deportment of Cooke (George Cooke); 
indeed his whole man, was coarse, and angular, and ungainly ; besides that neither 
a man’s carriage, in real life, nor his advantages of person, form any criterion 
by which to judge of what the samme may appear upon the stage ; and vice versa. 
Then, take the second-rate performers—with whom genius is out of the question 
—and you look at them in vain for any apparent qualities (off the stage) more 
striking than are to be found in half the bankers’ clerks in town; and yet a 
gentleman of polished address, sufficient figure, and undoubted capacity, as 
regards the real affairs of life, shall make such a failure by their sides, as would 
seem not merely ridiculous but disgraceful. 
The main reason perhaps—or at least one material one—why we have so few 
eminent actors in the higher and more heroic departments of the drama, is that 
this cast of performance does, almost necessarily, require some portion of 
gentlemanly habit and cultivation ; and that the prejudice which exists—and must 
exist—against the stage as a profession, leaves the great majority of our actors 
to be furnished out of the infericr ranks of the community. There is a certain 
quantity of ridicule—not to say absolutely of discredit—always attendant on a 
failure upon the stage, which very few persons who have much character to lose 
will choose to run the risk of. The first steps in the profession are always pain- 
ful—generally somewhat repulsive, and seemingly degrading to persons of res- 
pectable taste and habit. Success to a first-rate extent scarcely ever can be 
judged of; a secondary rank (contemplated in the outset), even although the 
emolument be respectable, few men with much prospect would care to accept ; 
and the great objection is, that—let him succeed or fail—the attempt, if it be 
known, sticks by the aspirant for life. Under such circumstances, the supply 
must be, and will be, chiefly from the inferior classes. Schools for acting would 
make abundance of bad actors, but very rarely a good one. The deficiency, as 
far as there exists any, must right itself; and the new system of general educa- 
tion will be very likely to do something—as much as can be done—to remove it. 
Two points, however, out of three make a winning game. The acting talent 
must be left to itself, but the means of at least attempting to improve the state of 
our dramatic writing are simple and obvious; and the general conduct, too, of 
theatrical diversions, as a trade, might undergo revision, with much advantage to 
the popularity of the drama. } 
All property vested in theatres, has paid very ill for some time. Actors drive 
coaches and four, and keep private secretaries ; but proprietors and managers 
