380 



HACKETT, JAMES II. 



HAIDINGER, WILHELM. 



several new parts, one of which was Rip Van 

 Winkle in which, for many years, he. held a 

 proud preeminence in public favor. His per- 

 sonation of this character was based directly 

 upon Irving's sketch, and it was a true and 

 marvellously strong reproduction of the com- 

 monplace, good-natured vagabond. Those 

 who recall Mr. Hackett's acting, at the point 

 where Rip Van Winkle hears that his wife is 

 dead, will remember as true a touch of nature 

 as ever was seen. Facial expression, voice, 

 and gesture the mournful, half-physical rem- 

 iniscence, the convulsive sob, the artless, in- 

 voluntary utterance all concurred to reveal 

 the deep sincerity of that love which was the 

 man's second nature, and which dignified his 

 wretchedness, his rags, and his degradation. 

 This, and certain bits of his Monsieur Mallet, 

 and his Falstaff, displayed Mr. Hackett for 

 what he really was an original, natural, 

 unique actor in domestic drama. His great- 

 ness, as an actor, consisted in his power of 

 illustrating with vigor and perfect naturalness 

 the strongly defined eccentric characters of 

 the drama, and his complete impersonation of 

 their behavior under comical circumstances. 

 His Falstaff was a wonderfully symmetrical 

 blending of intellect and sensuality. The ex- 

 ternals were perfect. The burly form, the 

 round, ruddy face, the rimy fringe of gray 

 whisker, the bright, penetrating, merry eyes, 

 the rows of even, white teeth, the strong, hard 

 voice, the pompous, gross, selfish, animal de- 

 meanor, tempered at times by wily sagacity 

 and the perfect manner of an old man of the 

 world, combined to make this an admirably 

 distinct and natural embodiment, in all that 

 relates to form. The humor of Mr. Hackett's 

 Falstaff was not so much unctuous as it was 

 satirical. He interpreted a mind that was 

 merry, but one whose merriment was strongly 

 tinctured with scorn. It knew nothing about 

 virtue, except that some people traded on 

 that commodity; and it knew nothing about 

 sweetness, except that it was an attribute of 

 sugar, and a good thing in " sack." The es- 

 sence of his conception was most perceptible 

 in two scenes in the delivery of the solilo- 

 quies on honor, in " Henry IV.," and in the 

 fat knight's scene, at first alone, then with 

 Bardolph, and then with Master Brook, after 

 the ducking in the Thames, in "The Merry 

 Wives of Windsor." The first in its sly 

 shrewdness, contempt for self-sacrifice, and 

 utter inability to comprehend nobleness of mo- 

 tive or conduct was almost sardonic. The 

 latter in its embodiment of the discomfort 

 of a balked and fretted sensualist, and the 

 rage and self-scorn of a sensible man at hav- 

 ing been physically humiliated was indescrib- 

 ably ludicrous because of its absolute and pro- 

 found seriousness. In 182C and 1830 he was, 

 for a time, associated with the management 

 of the old Bowery and the old Chatham Thea- 

 tres. It was about this time that he first played 

 Falstaff. In 1832 he made a second visit to 



England, and in 1840, 1845, and 1851, he mad 

 other visits to that country, and quite success- 

 ful professional tours. In 1837 he managed 

 the old National Theatre in New York ; and 

 in 1849 he was lessee and manager of the Astor 

 Place Opera-House, when certain persons of 

 the city, adherents of Forrest, attempted to 

 drive Macready from the stage, and thus occa- 

 sioned a bloody and disastrous riot. Mr. Hack- 

 ett lost upward of $4,000 through this ex- 

 citing demonstration of the mob. In 1854 

 Mr. Hackett introduced Grisi and Mario to 

 the American public, presenting them in New 

 York, at Castle Garden, on the 4th of Septem- 

 ber in that year. Subsequently, on the 2d of 

 October following, the New York Academy 

 of Music was, for the first time, opened to the 

 public, and these artists appeared there, under 

 Mr. Hackett's direction. The professional ca- 

 reer of the actor, during the last seventeen 

 years, was marked by no considerable vi- 

 cissitudes. He continued to act occasion- 

 ally, and somewhat intermittingly, till about 

 two years ago, when he finally abandoned ac- 

 tive employment. His first wife died in 1840. 

 They had three sons, of whom the second, 

 John K. Hackett, is well known as the Re- 

 corder of the city of New York, and ex-officio 

 City Judge. Mr. Hackett held his profession 

 in sincere esteem, and strove by all the means 

 at his command to advance its interests and its 

 repute. To him is due the honor of projecting 

 l&e plan for a Shakespeare monument in the 

 Central Park, the corner-stone of which was 

 laid, under his auspices, on the 23d of April, 

 1864, the Shakespeare tercentenary. Socially, 

 Mr. Hackett had always been respected as a 

 gentleman and prized as a friend. 



HAIDINGER, WILHELM, Ritter von, a Ger- 

 man geologist, geographer, and mining en- 

 gineer, born in Vienna, February 5, 1795 ; died 

 at Dornbach, near Vienna, March 19, 1871. 

 His father, who was an eminent mineralogist 

 and a member of the Council of Mines, early 

 directed the attention of his son to geological 

 and mineralogical studies. In 1812 he became 

 the pupil and soon the friend of Friedrich 

 Mohs, then a distinguished Professor of Min- 

 eralogy at Gratz, and in 1817 followed him to 

 Freiberg. From 1822 to 1827 he journeyed 

 as a mineralogist over the greater part of 

 Europe, residing for some time in Edinburgh, 

 where he became acquainted with the British 

 geologists, took part in some of their labors, 

 and published a translation into English of 

 Mohs's "Treatise on Mineralogy," and pre- 

 pared numerous papers for scientific societies. 

 In 1827 he made his home at Elbogen, in 

 North Bohemia, having an interest in a por- 

 celain-manufactory established there by his 

 two brothers. In 1840 he was called by 

 Prince von Lobkovitz, then Minister of Mines 

 and the Mint, to succeed his old preceptor, 

 Prof. Mohs, as superintendent of the large col- 

 lection of minerals, etc., known as the Mon- 

 tanistic Museum. He arranged this very com- 



