697 



KEMBLE, JOHN PHILIP. 



KEMBLE, CHARLES. 



693 



language, which brought the poetry of the ' Poaten ' into high repute- 

 For several years Kellgren was the most distinguished poet of Sweden 

 with the exception of Leopold, the acknowledged head of the French 

 school. On the institution of the Swedish Academy in 1786, the king 

 Gustavus III., with whom Kellgren was a special favourite, named 

 him one of the members ; and he also named him his private secretary 

 and librarian, both sinecures, with a salary which placed him at his 

 ease. He died within two years after the king's death, on the 20th of 

 April 1795, after two years of suffering from severe illness. His col- 

 lected works, ' Samlade Skriftes,' were published in three volumes at 

 Stockholm in 1796, and have been since reprinted. His death was at 

 the time deplored as a national loss. Posterity has been more disposed 

 to acquiesce in his own modest description of himself : " There was a 

 little man in our literary world whose talents were small : he had not 

 perhaps what is called genius ; most of his writings had little width 

 and weight; but he had one quality perhaps in a higher degree than 

 any of his rivals it was a warmth, a zeal for the improvement and 

 honour of Swedish literature, which kept to him constantly during a 

 laborious life, and which was his last passion at the hour he wrote 

 these lines." 



Kellgren's works consist of lyric poetry, which is still in high esteem, 

 and of four operas, of which he has only the merit of the execution, 

 the plots having been suggested to him by King Gustavus III. Three 

 of them are taken from the history of the Swedish royal family 

 1 Gustavua Vasa ' (1786), ' Gustavus Adolphus and Ebba Brahe ' (1788), 

 and ' Queen Christina;' the fourth is ' -Eneas at Carthage.' The first, 

 ' Gustavus Vasa,' is remarkable for the excellence of its plot, which, it 

 has been said, belongs to the king. Kellgren was a warm admirer of 

 Voltaire, and in consequence was led to admire the institutions of 

 England. " I set Racine before Shakspeare," he says in the ' Stock- 

 holms Posten ' for 1786, " Moliere before Congreve, and the police of 

 Paris before the police of London. I cannot therefore be considered 

 an Anglomaniac. But what I love and venerate are the light and 

 intelligence which pervade the mass of the nation ; the quiet respect 

 for the law, which shows that the law is good, reasonable, humane, 

 and well for all," &c. &c. This was the first occasion, the Swedish 

 critics tell us, on which this sort of admiration for England was 

 expressed in Sweden. 



KEMBLE, JOHN PHILIP, was born on the 1st of February 1757, 

 at Prescot, in Lancashire. His father was Roger Kemble, an actor, 

 and manager of a provincial company. John Kemble was not intended 

 by his father for the btage, although during his childhood he was occa- 

 sionally called upon to represent parts suitable to his age, the first 

 upon record being, when he was just ten years old, that of the little 

 Duke of York in Havard's tragedy of ' Charles I.,' his sister Sarah 

 (afterwards Mrs. Siddons) acting the Princess Elizabeth. He received 

 the rudiments of education in a preparatory school at Worcester, 

 from whence he was sent to the Roman Catholic seminary of Sedgeley 

 Park, in Staffordshire, and afterwards to the English college at Douay, 

 in France, where he made great progress. At the age of nineteen he 

 returned to England, and following immediately the natural bent of 

 his inclination towards the stage, made his appearance in the cha- 

 racter of Theodosius in the tragedy of that name, at Wolverhampton, 

 January 8th, 1776. Two years afterwards he was a regular member 

 of the York company. On Tuesday, 30th of September 1783, Mr. 

 Kemble made his first appearance in London at the Theatre Royal, 

 brury Lane, in the character of Hamlet. In 1790 he became manager 

 of that theatre. In 1803 he purchased for 24,0002. a sixth share 

 in Coveut-Garden Theatre from Mr. Lewis, and became manager 

 of that establishment, having previously made a tour through France 

 and Spain. In 1808 Covent-Garden was destroyed by fire, and 

 on the 31st of December, at the ceremony of laying the foundation- 

 stone of the new theatre, Mr. John Kemble's bond for 10,0002. was 

 munificently cancelled by his Grace the late Duke of Northumberland. 

 On the opening of the new theatre in 1809, under Mr. Keuable's 

 management, an advance in the prices of admission to the pit and 

 boxes gave rise to the well-known O.P. riots, during which the great 

 tragedian waa personally and grossly insulted whenever he appeared 

 upon the stage. A compromise was at last made between the manager 

 and the public, and Mr. Kemble continued to direct the entertain- 

 ments at Covent-Garden in a spirit of enterprise and liberty, reviving 

 the plays ot Shakspere with great splendour and as much propriety 

 as was at that time perhaps within his power. On the 23rd of June 

 1817, he took his leave of the London audience, having previously bid 

 farewell to that of Edinburgh (March 29th), and on the 27th of June 

 a public dinner was given to him at the Freemason's Tavern, when 

 Lord Holland was in the chair. Mr. Kemble, who had long suffered 

 severely from asthma, soon afterwards retired to the south of France 

 for the benefit of his health, and after a short visit to England on the 

 death of his partner, the elder Mr. Harris, he finally took up his resi- 

 dence at Lausanne, in Switzerland, where he expired February 26th 

 1823, aged sixty-six. Mr. Kemble's talents, both as an actor and a 

 manager, were of a very high order : bis fine taste and classical acquire- 

 ments were perceptible in every effort, and in his personation of the 

 loftier heroes of the drama he has never been equalled. His Brutus, 

 Coriolanus, Cato, King John, Wolsey, and Macbeth, are still fresh in the 

 remembrance of many, and, while the recollection of them still remains, 

 his successors to the tragic throne must, in those particular characters, 



suffer by comparison. His King Lear also, as a whole, may be men- 

 tioned amongst his almost unapproachable impersonations. His very 

 feebleness in his latter years added to the terrible truth of the picture 

 In society Mr. Kemble was ever the accomplished gentleman as well 

 as the convivial companion, and to the last enjoyed the respect and 

 regard of the noblest and most estimable in the land. Mr. Kemble'a 

 life has been written by his friend Mr. Boaden, in two vols. 8vo. 



KEMBLE, CHARLES, was born on the 25th of November 1775, 

 at Brecon (Brecknock) in South Wales. His father was Roger Kemble, 

 an actor and theatrical manager. He was educated at the English 

 Roman Catholic College at Douay, in the French department of M ord, 

 whence he returned to England in 1792. He was placed, through the 

 influence of his brother J. P. Kemble, in the General Post-Office, 

 London, but 6oon resigned his situation, and after a few trials in 

 private theatres made his first appearance on the public stage at 

 Sheffield, as Orlando in ' As You Like It.' He had engagements after- 

 wards at Newcastle and other towns. Ou the 21st of April 1794 he 

 made his first appearance in London, as Malcolm, on the opening of 

 the newly-built theatre of Drury Lane, John Kemble performing 

 Macbeth, Mrs. Siddons Lady Macbeth, and Mr. Palmer Macduff. He 

 continued for a considerable time to play secondary characters, but 

 gradually improved in his art. On the 28th of November 1796 he 

 performed George Barn well at Drury Lane, Mrs. Siddons taking the 

 character of Millwood. In 1797 he was engaged at the Haymarket 

 Theatre, where in 1800 he brought out his adaptation of Mercier's 

 ' Deserteur,' under the title of ' The Point of Honour,' which was 

 performed successfully, and became a stock-play. On the 2nd of July 

 1806 he married Miss Marie Therese De Camp, of French parentage, 

 but born at Vienna in 1774. Miss De Camp was engaged by her father 

 as a danseuse at the Opera-House, London, at a very early age. Her 

 father died when she was in her twelfth year; she was then patronised 

 and instructed by some ladies, and had become, when Charles Kemble 

 married her, a favourite actress in the. walk of high comedy, and she so 

 continued as Mrs. Charles Kemble till she left the stage in 1818. She 

 died on the 3rd of September 1838. In 1807 Mr. Charles Kemble 

 brought out with success at Covent Garden ' Tbe Wanderer, or the 

 Rights of Hospitality,' which is an adaptation of Kotzebue's ' Eduard 

 in Schottlaud;' and in 1808, at the Haymarket, with still greater 

 success, the farce of ' Plot and Counterplot,' an adaptation of a French 

 piece called ' Le Portrait de Michel Cervantes.' Three or four other 

 dramatic pieces from the German and French, which he brought out 

 afterwards, were less successful. Meantime he continued to improve 

 in his profession, took a wide range, and in some of his characters was 

 without a rival. Among his best characters may be mentioned 

 Orlando, Falconbridge, Cassio, Leon, Benedick, Young Mirabel, Mer- 

 cutio, Petruchio, Archer, Ranger, Charles Surface, and Friar Tuck. 

 For several of these characters his handsome features, fine voice, and 

 tall well-formed athletic person, peculiarly fitted him. He closed his 

 career as an actor on the 10th of April 1840, shortly after having been 

 appointed to the office of Examiner of Plays. He appeared in public 

 occasionally afterwards as a reader of Shakspere. During some of his 

 latter years he suffered the inconvenience of deafness. He was well 

 acquainted with modern languages, and a tolerable classical scholar. 

 He died on the 12th of November 1854, aged seventy-nine years 

 within a fortnight. 



Mr. Charles Kemble left one son and two daughters. His son, 

 John Mitchell Kemble, is noticed in a separate article. His eldest 

 daughter, 'FRANCES ANNB KEMBLE, known as FANNY KEMBLE, was 

 born about 1811, and made her first appearance as an actress at Covent 

 Garden Theatre on the 5th of October 1829, as Juliet, on which 

 occasion Mrs. Charles Kemble appeared again before the public as the 

 Nurse, Charles Kemble, who was then manager, playing Romeo. She 

 became an excellent actress, and for three years performed the prin- 

 cipal characters in tragedy and high comedy with the greatest 

 applause, her range including Belvedera, Isabella, Lady Macbeth, 

 Lady Townley, Lady Teazle, Julia in the ' Hunchback,' and Louise of 

 Savoy in ' Francis the First,' a tragedy written by herself. In 1832 

 she went with her father to America, where they performed in the 

 principal cities of the United States. While in America Miss Fanny 

 Kemble was married to Mr. Butler of Philadelphia, a man of property. 

 The union proved an unhappy one, and in 1849 they were separated 

 by a divorce. Meantime, in 1835, a 'Journal' of her travels and 

 experiences in America was published in London. In 1837 she pub- 

 lished 'The Star of Seville," a drama, and in 1842 a volume of 'Poems.' 

 Her latest work, entitled ' A Year of Consolation,' is an account of 

 her residence in Italy during a visit to her sister, Mrs. Sartoris. She 

 has siuce been chiefly occupied in giving public readings of Shakspere 

 in London, as well as in the chief provincial cities and towns of the 

 kingdom. Miss ADELAIDE KEMBLE, Mr. Charles Kemble's other 

 daughter, distinguished herself as an operatic singer of a very high 

 order. She became the wife of Mr. Sartoris, a gentleman of fortune, 

 and then quitted the stage. 



The KEMBLE FAMILY form probably the most extraordinary group 

 of actors and actresses ever known. Macklin, when nearly 100 years 

 old, addressing John Kemble, said " Sir, 1 have known your family 

 from generation to generation. I have seen you act, young man ; and 

 I have seen your father, sir ; and I have seen your grandfather, sir. 

 Sir, he was a great actor." Of the grandfather there appears to bo 



