OBITUARIES, FOREIGN. (FAUCIT.) 



591 



iturday, and on Thursday this notice headed the 

 bill of the day: "Mr. Osb'aldiston has the gratifi- 

 jation of announcing to the public that in conse- 

 quence of the complete overflow to all parts of the 

 theater, the enthusiastic applause that again at- 

 tended the entire performance of 'The Hunch- 

 ack,' and the brilliant success that crowned the 

 Ubut and subsequent appearance of Miss Helen 

 Taucit, in the character of Julia, that popular play 

 rill be repeated this evening, to-morrow, and Satur- 

 lay." So it continued during the entire month of 

 January, and Helen became the favorite of London. 

 Her first formal engagement was for three months at 

 the Covent Garden, but hers was the history of the 

 English stage for forty years. Wednesday, Jan. 27, 

 1836, she made her first appearance in the character of 

 "lelvidera in Otway's "Venice Preserved," and 

 [onday, Feb. 8, 1836, her first appearance in Lon- 

 lon as Mrs. Haller in " The Stranger." Then fol- 

 swed in quick succession the following first per- 

 ormances, all repeated to crowded audiences : 

 ? eb. 25, 1836. Margaret in Joanna Baillie's tragedy 

 ' Separation " ; March 10, 1836, Juliet, Mr. Charles 

 emble as Mercutio ; March 26, 1836, Lady Town- 

 j n " The Provoked Husband " ; April 16, 1836, 

 jnna Florinda de Sandoval in the first production 

 " Don Juan of Austria " (from the French) ; 

 [ay 27, 1836, Mariana in " The Wife " (first time 

 London) ; June 1, 1836, Clemanthe in Talfourd's 

 'Ion," with Mr. Macready as Ion. Helen Tree 

 played Ion in the first production of the play a 

 jw nights before, May 25. On June 30, 1836, 

 liss Faucit took her benefit as Mrs. Haller in "The 

 Stranger." Charles Kemble was in the last year of 

 iis career on the stage, and during the autumn 

 lonths Helen Faucit played the opposites to him, 

 icluding his farewell performances ending Dec. 23, 

 836. During this time, in addition to the parts 

 above enumerated, she played with him Sept. 24, 

 1836, Portia in " The Merchant of Venice " ; Oct. 1, 

 Lady Teazle in " The School for Scandal " ; Oct. 6, 

 Constance in " King John " ; and on the same 

 night Katherine in " Katherine and Petruchio," 

 with Sheridan Knowles as Petruchio. On Dec. 23, 



1836, she played Beatrice to Mr. Kemble's Bene- 

 dick in " Much Ado About Nothing," his farewell 

 to the stage. Thus in one year, the seventeenth of 

 her age, this wonderfully gifted woman played for 

 the first time fourteen greatly differing and ardu- 

 ous characters. On Jan, 4, 1837, she played the 

 title role in the first production of " The Duchess 

 de la Valliere," a new play by E. L. Bulwer (after- 

 ward Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton). Her other first 

 appearances in this year at the Covent Garden 

 were : March 13, 1837, " Bertran " ; April 20, Erina 

 in Sheridan Knowles's " Brian Boroihme " (first 

 production), with the song " Would you Hear my 

 Sweet Harp?" ; May 1, Lady Percy in Browning's 

 "Strafford" (first time); May 8, Queen Catharine 

 in " Henry VIII " ; May 8, Editha in " Walter Tyr- 

 rell"; May 18, Imogen in " Cymbeline " ; May 31, 

 Marian in " The Wrecker's Daughter," for the ben- 

 efit of the author, Sheridan Knowles. In July, 



1837, Helen Faucit became the leading woman of 

 William Charles Macready on his assuming the 

 management of Covent Garden Theater, an asso- 

 ciation which continued many years to the glory of 

 the English stage. During the first months of the 

 season of 1837-'38 Miss Faucit played many Shake- 

 spearean parts for the first time, as Cordelia, Desde- 

 mona, and Hermione. On Feb. 15, 1838, "The 

 Lady of Lyons " was produced for the first time, 

 and Miss Faucit contributed in the greatest degree 

 to the triumph of the anonymous dramatist by her 

 brilliant performance of Pauline. It was an- 

 nounced next day, with the name of the author, 

 for indefinite repetition. On March 7, 1839, Sir 





Edward Lytton Bulwer achieved another great 

 success in " Richelieu," wherein Miss Faucit was 

 the Julie de Mortemar. Oct. 31, 1839, another orig- 

 inal play of Bulwer's, " The Sea Captain," afterward 

 called " The Rightful Heir," gave her an original 

 part in Violet, the heroine. While Mr. Macready 

 was at the Haymarket Theater, Dec. 8, 1840. .Mi>V 

 Faucit was the original of another of Bulwer's 

 heroines, Clara Douglas in "Money." Other plays 

 in which she acted the leading female role with Mr. 

 Macready on their first productions were Knowles's 

 " Woman's Wit " and " The Secretary," Talfourd's 

 " Glencoe," Serle's " Master Clarke," Dr. Westland 

 Marston's " Patrician's Daughter," Byron's " Marino 

 Faliero," and Troughton's " Nina Sforza." In 1842 

 Miss Faucit accompanied Mr. Macready to Drury 

 Lane Theater as his leading woman, and here on 

 Feb. 23 she played Sophonisba in the first produc- 

 tion of Gerald Griffin's tender tragedy of " Gissip- 

 pus," after the gentle Irish boy had been laid in his 

 humble grave at Cork. Browning's "Blot in the 

 Scutcheon" was first produced Feb. 11, 1843, and 

 in it Miss Faucit originated the character of Mil- 

 dred Tresham. Mr. Macready's retirement from 

 management left London without a home for classic 

 plays, and Helen Faucit became a "star." She 

 was hailed with acclamations of delight in Edin- 

 burgh, Dublin, Glasgow, and Manchester, and she 

 continued traveling for two years. In 1845 she 

 joined Macready again in a series of Shakespearean 

 performances at the Salle Venladour, Paris. They 

 played there with great success, especially for Miss 

 Faucit. " Othello," " Hamlet," " Macbeth," " King 

 Lear," " Romeo and Juliet," " Werner," and " Vir- 

 ginius." In March, 1845, she played "Antigone" 

 in Dublin, and was presented with a bracelet of 

 Irish gold by the Royal Irish Academy. She also 

 played " Iphigenia in Aulis " during the same en- 

 gagement. After playing through the provincial 

 towns, Miss Faucit reappeared in London, Nov. 5, 

 1846, with a wonderfully attractive performance of 

 Rosalind in "As You Like It." One of the notable 

 plays in which she was the original heroine was 

 Dr. Marston's " Philip of France," in which her 

 Marie de Meraine never has been equaled. On 

 Aug. 25. 1851, Miss Faucit married Theodore Mar- 

 tin, author of the "Bon Gaultier Ballads," "The 

 Life of the Prince Consort," " Translations of Hor- 

 ace," and other works. She continued to play, with 

 intervals of rest. April 25, 1853, Robert Browning's 

 play in five acts, " Colombe's Birthday," was pre- 

 sented at the Haymarket Theater, London, then 

 under the management of J. B. Buckstone. Miss 

 Faucit began a special engagement of ten perform- 

 ances in London on this occasion and personally 

 directed the production of Mr. Browning's play, in 

 which she charmingly executed the role of Co- 

 lombe. In Mrs. Sutherland Orr's"Life of Robert 

 Browning" (Vol. I, page 281) this event is thus 

 noted : " Mrs. Browning writes about the perform- 

 ance, April 12th : ' I am beginning to be anxious 

 about " Colombe's Birthday." I care much more 

 about it than Robert does. ... I should like it to 

 succeed.' She communicates the result in May : 

 ' Yes, Robert's play succeeded, but there could be 

 no run for a play of that kind. . . . Miss Faucit 

 was alone in doing us justice ! ' " Mrs. Orr contin- 

 ues: " Mrs. Browning did see Miss Faucit on her 

 next visit to England. She agreeably surprised 

 that lady by presenting herself alone one morning 

 at her house and remaining with her for an hour 

 and a half. The only person who had 'done jus- 

 tice ' to ' Colombe,' besides contributing to what- 

 ever success her husband's earlier plays had ob- 

 tained, was much more than a great actress to Mrs. 

 Browning's mind, and we may imagine it would 

 have gone hard with her before she renounced the 



