402 



BEAN, CHARLES J. 



KEARNY, LAWRENCE. 



the United States, and Ms reception here was 

 very cordial, and he returned early in 1833 

 with considerable added reputation, and ap- 

 peared at Covent Garden, where he met his 

 father again, and played lago to his Othello, 

 the last time the elder Kean appeared upon the 

 stage. Charles Kean now struggled on with 

 but moderate success, making a long tour 

 through the provinces. In January, 1838, he 

 appeared again at Drury Lane, as Hamlet, in 

 which he made a most favorable impression ; he 

 followed this by Sir Giles Overreach, and Rich- 

 ard III., and in each fairly took his position 

 as a tragedian of the highest rank. Thence- 

 forward his course was one of successive tri- 

 umphs. Honored at home, by the encomiums 

 of the young Queen, and the public recognition 

 of the most eminent men of the kingdom, he 

 was not less honored when, in 1839, he visited 

 America and made a triumphal tour through 

 the principal cities of the Union. He returned 

 to England in 1840, and engaged himself at the 

 Haymarket for three seasons, and was received 

 with great enthusiasm. In February, 1842, he 

 married the amiable and accomplished actress 

 Miss Ellen Tree, with whom thenceforth his 

 name and his affections were united by an in- 

 dissoluble bond. After the expiration of his 

 London engagements, in 1845, he visited the 

 United States a third time, with Mrs. Kean, 

 and for two years delighted the theatre-going 

 population of the Atlantic cities by his vivid 

 production of Shakespeare's best plays. On his 

 return to England, at the close of 1847, both 

 he and Mrs. Kean appeared at the Haymar- 

 ket in Mr. Lovell's "Wife's Secret," which 

 was their own property. He soon after took 

 the sole direction of a series of dramatic rep- 

 resentations given at Windsor Castle, for the 

 amusement of the royal family. In 1850 he un- 

 dertook the management of the Princess's Thea- 

 tre, and soon after commenced a series of repre- 

 sentations of Shakespeare's " Henry VIII.," 

 "King John," "Winter's Tale," "Tempest," 

 etc., in which all the resources and pageantry 

 of the scenic art were called into action for the 

 effective acting of these plays. The scenes, the 

 costumes, and all the accessories, were most 

 carefully studied, and the period covered by 

 the plays represented with an accuracy and 

 truthfulness previously unknown. The archae- 

 ological knowledge displayed in this work as- 

 tonished even the ablest English antiquaries, 

 and led to his election as a Fellow of their So- 

 ciety. After nine years of extraordinary suc- 

 cess in the management of this theatre, Mr. 

 Kean retired from its arduous duties. At this 

 time a public banquet was tendered to Mr. 

 Kean, over which the Duke of Newcastle pre- 

 sided, and at which over six hundred of the 

 most eminent men in England were' present to 

 do honor to the scholarly and accomplished 

 actor and ^ manager. After fulfilling a round 

 of provincial engagements, Mr. and Mrs. Kean 

 returned to London early in 1861, where, at 

 another banquet, he received from his Etonian 



friends a service of plate valued at 2,000, 

 equal to $10,000. For more than a year Mr. 

 and Mrs. Kean were engaged at Drury Lane, 

 but, in 1863, they left England on a profes- 

 sional tour round the world. Their tour in- 

 cluded Australia, California, Cuba, the Atlan- 

 tic coast of the United States, and Canada. 

 They arrived in New York in the spring of 

 1865, and Mr. Kean's personation of Cardinal 

 Wolsey and King John, in Shakespeare's plays, 

 Louis XL, in Boucicault's drama, and Mr. 

 Oakley, in the Jealous Wife, were universally 

 regarded as the finest efforts of art in their 

 kind known to the modern stage. Returning 

 to England in the summer of 1866, Mr. Kean 

 continued upon the stage, giving great satisfac- 

 tion, until the 29th of May, 1867, when he was 

 seized with a lingering illness, which, in the 

 following January, terminated fatally. Mr. 

 Kean's private life was, in all respects, exem- 

 plary, and his reputation without a stain. 



KEARNY, LAWRENCE. The brilliancy, fre- 

 quency, and magnitude of the operations on 

 sea and land which characterized the late civil 

 war, among other effects, tended in a great 

 measure to withdraw public attention and 

 recollection from the distinguished services 

 rendered in former years by those who, though 

 still in life, were nevertheless relieved from 

 active duty. The death of such a one as Law- 

 rence Kearny recalled the large share he had 

 in making the American Navy renowned for 

 acts of gallantry and bravery. He was born in 

 Perth Amboy, New Jersey, on the 30th day of 

 November, 1789, and entered the Navy as a 

 midshipman, July 24, 1807, under President 

 Jefferson ; was promoted to a lieutenancy in 

 1813 by President Madison ; to the rank of mas- 

 ter commandant in 1825 by President Monroe ; 

 and to that of captain in 1832 by President 

 Jackson. His first service after receiving his 

 midshipman's warrant, in 1807, was under 

 Commodore Rodgers in the flotilla of gunboats 

 during the continuance of the Embargo and 

 Non-intercourse Acts ; he afterward served in 

 the Constitution and President frigates on the 

 coast until the year 1810, when he was trans- 

 ferred from the latter to the U. S. schooner 

 Enterprise. He was first lieutenant of this 

 vessel when war was declared with Great Brit- 

 ain in 1812, and was in her when wrecked 

 after leaving New Orleans on a cruise. His 

 services on the coast of South Carolina and 

 adjacent States during the war were bril- 

 liant and valuable, and received favorable 

 notice in Cooper's naval history and in Niles*s 

 Register. After the war, as commander of 

 the Enterprise he rendered services which 

 were of the highest importance not only to 

 the commerce of the United States, but that of 

 other nations trading to the West Indies and 

 the Gulf of Mexico. These seas were infested 

 with powerful gangs of pirates, engaged in 

 depredating upon the commerce of all nations, 

 and causing not only great pecuniary loss, but 

 that of life, to innocent and unoffending parties. 



