nevertheless, some soul of redemption, compared with the utter heartlessness and hoar-frost glitter of the age of William III. There is little doubt that Congreve was, indeed, a faithful and "brief chronicler" of the spirit, morals, and manners of his contemporaries, a race of whom the Queen, Mary, used to say, despairingly, of their unprincipled recklessness with regard to every social tie, "Can these dry bones live?"-a society wherein personal infidelity was considered the requisite accomplishment of a gentleman, and open. adultery an exceedingly good jest. Throughout the whole of the three dozen dramas of Shakespeare-which people who have never read them call immodest-there is not one sentence so unsound, and not one principle so rotten, as are the foundation and main structure of the four comedies that accurately portray the aristocratic society of the boasted Revolution and "Glorious Memory" of 1688.

PLAYERS OF OUR DAY.

貓

IV. MR. SOTHERN.

OST pleasant are the memories of the old Haymarket

nights, when that extraordinary phenomenon, "Lord Dundreary," first took the humour of the town.

The overwhelming crowds, the joyous urbanity, the perfect enjoyment, without any Solon-like pausing to investigate principles, the hysterical bursts of laughter, make up a picture of a night's entertainment seldom to be found. That odd, diverting, and most original character will be for ever associated with the name of Mr. E. A. Sothern; who, apart from his own gifts, has certainly the praise of having made the greatest "hit" of modern times, and, unlike other "hitters," has successfully maintained the position he at first won. The delineation of this character had a deeper merit than was at first supposed. Granting the reckless absurdity of the character, the surprising and logical elaboration, down to the minutest details, has scarcely ever been rivalled. Such a detailed exhibition of happy fatuity could hardly be conceived. The expression of a conception could not be more perfect. The character or the piece may not have reached a very high standard, but as to the humourousness of the performance, there could be no question. Mr. Sothern may try to win a reputation for talents more universal: his name and fame will always be convertible with Lord Dundreary. If nothing succeeds like success, it has also this drawback-that it is jealous, and makes a second effort in another direction difficult. He is obliged to compete with himself. But it was impossible to strike out another type as eccentric as the first, and the public found themselves invited to meet their favourite in the character of a chivalrous lover, a half-mad poet, a drunken actor, and other surprising parts.

The charm of Dundreary was its amazing versatility and finish. All the details were so delicate, and worked in with so nice a regard to the propensity of the character. Of course, the extraordinary revised edition, with which the public was indulged later, must be excepted: -when the eccentric sings a song of his own composition, goes to bed tipsy, mistakes rooms, &c. This was the mere wantonness of

assured success; but in his earlier representations, the perfect gentlemanliness of his folly, the good nature and self-possession which were imported by the actor, show a real instinct. There were wise bits of folly, where he was sagacious and giving good advice, which showed the same delicacy. Even his little oddities of demeanour, his little skip, and a hundred other little touches, show the careful study and true instinct brought to bear upon the part.

In "David Garrick," his next attempt, he seems to have had much success. The part was certainly played with entrancing energy and animation, but neither it, nor the piece, appeared to rise above average melodrama. For actors to act actors is certainly "false heraldry," but the impression left is as of something belonging to the thousand-and-one dramas of interest set out upon the ordinary boards. It was, of course, announced as "by T. W. Robertson," though it was no more than a free translation. Mr. Sothern carries it through with such vivacity amd energy, as to cause the unusual phenomenon of a "recall" at the end of his "drunken scene." Still its popularity is amazing. Of the other réchauffés, continuations of Lord Dundreary, "Brother Tham," "Dundreary Married and Settled," nothing is to be said they were poor "fine-drawings" of what had served its turn more than sufficiently.

As a gentleman, irreproachable in dress and delivery, Mr. Sothern deserves infinite praise. In light comedy he can show a gaiety of humour that would not be suspected. He would shine in Mirabel we would fancy. We have seen him in a little adaptation of his own from the French, called "My Aunt's Advice," which he played in a buoyant, gay, and exuberant fashion-at the same time duly refined -which made it highly entertaining. Indeed, the spirit and elegance infused into this charming little piece seemed to give a hint of a new department of qualities, which only want a suitable piece to call them And this makes us regret that when an artist is endowed with a special class of eccentric gifts, these should not be specially studied by special craftsmen, who could, as it were, take their measure and write characters which should exhibit them to the fairest advantage. This it is for which Mr. Sothern waits, and I believe there are some eccentric types to be borrowed from the ranks of genteel society, in which he might make a success quite as remarkable as was that of his Lord Dundreary.

out.

Mr. Sothern is one of the fortunate ones in a profession where very little money is to be made nowadays. The best actors find that uncertainty attends even the most favourable engagements-theatres closing abruptly, managers breaking, &c. Mr. Sothern has been

securely established at the Haymarket from the beginning, and during the season makes handsome profits. But it is when he sets out on tours in the country that money begins to pour in. Then every night becomes precious. A fair indication of the scale of his earnings was furnished some time ago by his reply to a proposal to proceed to Australia, when it was shown fairly that the weeks of the voyage out, during which his earnings must be fallow, would represent a loss of some thousands, which no success could recoup. At the lowest calculation Mr. Sothern's earnings must be a thousand a month all the year round—a noble income for a popular player. Mr. Sothern, as we have said, has given a good tone to the profession; he is a gentleman, well connected by birth and marriage, is much sought after for his own agreeable gifts, and has hosts of friends in the highest ranks of society. He is industrious, conscientious, and liked in the profession.

No. V.-MR. JOHN S. CLARKE.

This name brings us to a class of players who may be “grotesques,” and who, if we make a stern analysis, must be counted with professional "delineators " and humourists of the music-hall class. This may seem a forced and ungracious definition, but it will be admitted to be a truly logical deduction from their own system of "making the business pay." These, as we have seen in a previous paper, strive to make all the entertainment rest on themselves, and invite their supporters to come and see them act, not to see a play in which they will act. This is no more than what the ingenious "Geo. Leybourne," or "the Great Baggs," does. These artists are only more downright, and dispense with the pretence of a few lay figures who carry out the pretence of a play. All this comes from the auri sacra fames-we almost add "Virgil-ahem !"-fresh from the performance of Mr. Clarke. More money is to be made by this solitary exhibition, and therefore, by all nineteenth-century rules, philosophy, principle, correctness, and propriety itself all give way.

Mr. John S. Clarke is a terrible offender in this way. His showbooth has been for some years the little Strand Theatre, where he has reigned supreme. He possesses the power of throwing his audience into convulsions of laughter. People will pay largely to be thus tickled, and his success has been tremendous. This power, it may be said, considered "in the aibstract," is amusing and cheap. It is distributed among a good number of the human race, and most

of those within our own circle know amusing fellows enough who possess it. The result of this money-drawing power is that the player is privileged with a sort of licence, and exhibitions are given which literally amount to no more than grotesque tumbling. As, for instance, in "The Toodles "—an old-fashioned, utterly stupid farce, which had not a particle of wit or sense to recommend it; but a single scene made it a histrionic triumph. Mr. Crummles might have looked out of his grave with delight-if he be there now-to see his famous idea of "the pump" carried out-not only carried out, but made the provocation for shrieks of agonising laughter. And the same far-seeing manager might have lamented that his other suggestions of "the washing-tubs" had not been added, and that, by a stupid arrangement, a gate had been substituted. As the whole was intended as a representation of what is called "beastly' drunkenness, surely a stumble into the tubs, the splashing flounderings in the attempt at extrication, would have been valuable histrionic additions. Many will recall the elaborate inebriate business of that scene-the laborious attempts to get over the gate, the entanglement, the staggering, the recovering, and finally the glorious pump malentendu, when the intoxicated being shook hands warmly with the handle. The painful and hysterical shrieks of laughter that followed-renewed again and again, and sustained for minutes, while those posturings went on-conveyed a miserable idea, not of the actor, but of the enlightened audience who were entertained in the fashion they required.

Nor should we pass by yet another illustration of the same kind. A farce was specially to bring out Mr. J. S. Clarke's peculiar abilities, and this turned altogether on what, will it be supposed? On that really surprising power of facial expression which the actor possesses? No. On his powers of intonation and inflexion, also great? No. Simply on an overtight pair of trousers-another piece of homage to Mr. Crummles. As far as can be recollected this did not appear to be the author's contribution to the business of the piece, or, at least, it was developed into the grand convulsing proportions it assumed by the genius of the actor. Again, as before, hysterical enjoyment on the part of the audience, tears in the eyes, &c.

After these feats we might be fairly inclined to dismiss this exotic player to the travelling vans-to the ranks of the Dulcamaras of the provincial circuits. But we should do him great injustice. The audiences of the present day cruelly enforce-shaking their purses in the air-the well-worn principle, "Those who live to please, must please to live." What they call for must be supplied. Glimpses of VOL. VII., N.S. 1871.

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