812 



WALLACE, JAMES W. 



WATSON", WILLIAM R. 



first time. He appeared in " Macbeth," at the 

 Park Theatre in New York, on the 7th of Sep- 

 tember, 1818, and achieved an. immediate and 

 remarkable success. For twc years he acted 

 in this country, and in 1820 returned for a 

 single season to Drary Lane. The popularity 

 and prosperity he had experienced in America 

 led him to adventure a second visit in 1822, 

 when he again met with a brilliant New York 

 reception. While journeying to Philadelphia, 

 the stage coach in which he travelled was over- 

 turned, and he suffered a compound fracture of 

 the leg, which interrupted his professional la- 

 bors for eighteen months, and the effect of 

 which was always partially discernible through- 

 out his life. This recess was passed in England, 

 but his reappearance took place in New York, 

 where he had left his wardrobe and personal 

 effects. The New York public had shown 

 great regret at his misfortune, and assembled 

 in overflowing numbers to welcome him, all 

 the more heartily because of a general convic- 

 tion that his thorough recovery was impossible, 

 and that his future career must be limited to 

 the representation of a few exceptional parts. 

 He came forward in the character of Captain 

 Bertram, an old sailor on crutches, and the 

 apprehensions of his friends thus seemed to be 

 realized; but in the second piece, "My Aunt," 

 he electrified the audience by bounding upon 

 the stage with an elasticity and vigor hardly 

 surpassed in his earlier engagements. After 

 the close of this visit Mr. Wallack became stag; 

 manager of Drury Lane Theatre, where he 

 remained for a considerable number of years, 

 making only occasional appearances on this 

 side of the Atlantic. His popularity was such, 

 however, that in certain cities he was enabled 

 to play four long and brilliant engagements in 

 a single season. In 1852 he ceased to travel as 

 a "star," and became manager of the theatre 

 which now stands near the corner of Broome 

 Street and Broadway, to the advancement and 

 improvement of which he honorably devoted 

 nine years. During this period he was the 

 acknowledged leader of dramatic art in Amer- 

 ica, and his theatre rose to a rank which no 

 other had ever held in this community, and 

 which, we are disposed to believe, no other had 

 ever merited. In 1861 he built a new theatre, at 

 the corner of Broadway and Thirteenth Street, 

 the success of which has been deservedly unin- 

 terrupted. The same conscientious adherence to 

 the most refined purposes of the drama, and the 

 same strict care, delicate taste, and sound judg- 

 ment which were conspicuous in his administra- 

 tion of the old establishment, have been exhibit- 

 ed in perhaps even a greater degree in the new. 

 His eminence as an actor was a well-established 

 i'act. His reputation was highest in dramas of 

 a romantic and picturesque order, in which his 

 vigor and energy produced extraordinary effects. 

 II is Shakespearian personations, although strik- 

 ing, and popularly successful, were not remark- 

 able for breadth and majesty, but seemed rather 

 to be composed of a series of delicate, carefully 



studied, and elaborately wrought points, worked 

 together with exquisite skil.^ like a piece of 

 intellectual mosaic work. His Eolla, in " Piz- 

 arro," is universally pronounced to have been 

 an unrivalled performance of its kind. The 

 last representations in which he took part were 

 at his theatre near Broome Street, where, in 

 1859, he played most of his principal parts, 

 besides sustaining for upward of a hundred 

 nights the leading character in " The Veteran." 

 His last appearance in any public capacity was 

 at the close of the season of 1 862, at the new 

 theatre, when he delivered a brief address to 

 the audience. Since that time he has only been 

 seen on special occasions in his box, from which 

 it was his habit, when not prevented by illness, 

 to overlook the representations of all " first- 

 nights." To the last, his mind was intent upon 

 the practical supervision of his theatre. Ilia 

 death will be a serious and almost irreparable 

 loss to the dramatic interests of the community, 

 no matter how powerfully his influence and 

 teaching may continue to guide the destinies 

 of his theatre. 



WATSON, WILLIAM E., died at Providence, 

 E. I., Aug. 29, 1864. aged G4 years. He was 

 born in South Kingstown, in Ehode Island, 

 Dec. 14, 1799. lie pursued his early classical 

 studies at the Plainfield (Ct.) Academy, and 

 was graduated at Brown University in 1823, in 

 the same class with Chief Justice Ames of E. 

 I., George D. Prentice, the distinguished editor 

 of the " Louisville Journal," and Judge Mellen, 

 of Mass. He studied law with Samuel W. 

 Bridgham, in Providence, and was admitted to 

 the bar, but engaged only to a very limited ex- 

 tent in the practice of his profession. His life 

 was devoted preeminently and almost exclu- 

 sively to politics. For nearly forty years ho 

 was one of the most active and prominent poli- 

 ticians in Rhode Island, and probably no indi- 

 vidual ever exerted a greater influence in its 

 local politics. In June, 1827, he Avas chosen by 

 the General Assembly, then controlled by the 

 National Republicans, to the office of Clerk of' 

 the Court of Common Pleas for the County of 

 Providence, at that time the most lucrative 

 office in the State, and in consequence a place 

 much contended for by political parties and 

 their rising favorites. This office he held until 

 May, 1833, when he was displaced by a combi- 

 nation of opposing parties. He, however, re- 

 gained the office in 1835, but held it only for a 

 single year. In 1841, on the accession of Presi- 

 dent Harrison, he was appointed Collector of 

 the port of Providence, which office he held 

 till the beginning of President Polk's adminis- 

 tration in 1845. In 1849 he was again ap- 

 pointed to the same office by President Tyler, 

 and retained it four years, till he was removed 

 by President Pierce. Through his influence 

 while Collector of the port of Providence, a 

 construction is now given to a provision of the 

 tariff of 1833, relating to the compensation of 

 certain collectors, adverse to the written opin- 

 ions of John J. Crittenden And Eeverdy John- 



