for which no cause then existed, the historian of the stage records with sincere sorrow the destruction, by fire, of the Amphitheatre, a second time, on the 2d of September, 1803. A fatal neglect on the part of those, whose duty it was to see every light in the theatre extinguished, allowed some flame or spark to communicate with combustibles collected together for occasional fire-works; and, the destruction of the whole premises was known to be inevitable at the first perception of the disaster. Mrs. Woodham, the mother of Mrs. Astley, jun., who slept in an apartment in the front of the house, aged and infirm, perished in the flames. Perhaps, at least forty contiguous houses were consumed in the rapid conflagration. The distress of the sufferers, their shrieks, and the fruitless attempts to save part of their slender property, menaced as much by thieves as by the flames, composed a scene of wretchedness, to which the pecuniary loss of the Astleys, considerable as that appeared to be, was of little moment.* A liberal subscription, or a few successful seasons, may repair the losses of a theatre; but the few articles about the dwellings of the poor are accumulated with difficulty; are the produce often, and the pride of a life of labour; are seldom insured; and the loss of them is an almost hopeless destitution, that "weighs upon the heart," and hastens the already faltering feet to the last abode of infirmity and age. *The theatre was estimated at 30,0007.; little or nothing was insured. The horses, by great address and perseverance, were all saved. - CHAPTER II. Weekly Salaries in Mr. Kemble's last year at Drury Lane.---Mr. Kemble negotiates, through Mrs. Inchbald, with Mr. Harris.-Sets out on his travels.-His letter from Paris.— Description.--French theatre.--Friends there.--Lord Egremont.--Lord Holland.-Talma.-Napoleon's hat.-Madrid. -La Tyranna.-Letter from Mr. Kemble while at Madrid. His account of that Capital.-Its population.-Its buildings. Their theatres.-La Rita Luna.-A bull fight.How he was accommodated.-Censures of his countrymen. -His own correct feeling.-The death of old Mr. Kemble. -His son's letter on that event.-Filial piety.-Mrs. Kemble, his mother.-His wife's affection and cheerfulness.-How his father's remains should be distinguished.-Advice to his brother Charles.-Returns to England.-Duties of a stage-manager.-Mr. William Lewis.-His daily habits. -Peculiar opinions.-Once a proprietor.-Schism in the theatre.-Mrs. Lewis alarmed.-Relinquishes his sixth share of Covent Garden.—Mr. Kemble purchases.-Value of the property. And distribution of it.-Improvements of the House. BEFORE we attend Mr. Kemble upon his travels, it may be worth while to look a little at the arrangements of the theatre which he had just quitted. The scale of expense, as to the performers, was then, at all events, moderate. In our own times engagements have been compulsorily formed between managers and actors, which it may be quite clear the former would never concede, had they a less fearful alternative than absolute ruin or no profit. If they yield to the enormous demands and pay the salaries, they cannot gain, with the utmost success if they resist demands quite wanton and really disproportioned to the talent, they are then certainly ruined, because the public will never follow substitutes of lower powers or prices. I am, as I ought to be, quite indifferent as to the opinion which may follow my disclosure. Any influence but that of truth and justice, I hope always to disdain. But I confess I have a wish to try, at all events, to save the stage, by recalling the subject to a new and temperate examination. With this view, I publish the following authentic list of the weekly salaries of the Drury Lane company in the last season of Mr. Kemble's management, 1801-2. Mrs. Jordan averaged about £31 10 Brought up (During the season of 1804-5 I find she received 10817. Miss Mellon Tyrer 14 0 Miss B. Menage 12 Hicks ₤255 14 FLI Bland Young (ci-devant Miss Biggs) 12 0 Campbell 12 0 11 이 10 0 10 0 Henry 3 0 3 0 5 0 5 0 20 Female performers £157 10 117 10 All the salaries below 31. per week I purposely omit, that I may not seem to discredit the names of very deserving people. When Mr. Kemble quitted Drury Lane Theatre, it was decidedly with a view to the purchase of one-sixth of the property of the rival house. The intermediate person was Mrs. Inchbald, who conducted to its close the negotiation between Mr. Harris and himself. Mr. Kemble was not a wealthy man; but he could be at no loss for aid in making the purchase; Mr. Heathcote was anxious to supply what was required on the occasion. In so total a change of interest, the shifting of his scene That is, as actor and manager. of action was judged a matter calling for some interval of preparation. He therefore seized the opportunity of revisiting the continent, in the company of his very dear friend, Mr. R. Heathcote; and ever bearing a wary eye" to what might contribute to the perfection of the English stage, he determined not only to inspect the improvements of our polite neighbours, but to visit the Spanish theatre, which in the cast of its drama bore a closer affinity to our own. The reader shall, however, have the satisfaction of reading Mr. Kemble's own account of the principal features of his tour; and, if I mistake not, the great actor will become endeared to him from the unaffected excellence of the man. The first letter which I shall communicate, was written from Paris to his brother Charles; it is extremely characteristic of his feeling and sincerity. "MY DEAR CHARLES, Paris, July 23, 1802. "How does my mother do? Is she in the country, or does she prefer staying in town? Tell me every thing about her health, and give my duty to her and to my father. "After a circuit, Lille, Douai, and Arras, I arrived here safe and sound a few days ago. You know, perhaps, that we were detained a whole week at Lord Guilford's, who was inexpressibly kind to us, by poor Heathcote's illness. Every thing in Douai is in a state of ruin, poverty, and desolation not to be described. I had not the heart to go up to my old room. The neighbours, with whom I talked, have a notion that the English are coming back, and are overjoyed when they tell you so. "This place (Paris) is such a scene of magnificence, filth, pleasure, poverty, gaiety, distress, virtue and vice, as constitutes a greater miracle than was ever chronicled in history. The plays I have seen are, Iphigenie en Aulide, by Racine; Oreste, by Voltaire; La Mere Coupable, by Beaumarchais; and a farce er two. I will not pretend to say any thing of the actors or the theatres, till I have seen a little more of them. Talma and I are grown very well acquainted; he seems an agreeable man. Last night I was presented to Contat, who is not what she was. I know Michot, Fleury, Dazincourt, Baptiste, and one or two more of the Comedie Française, a little. I should have told you, that I have seen l'Abbé de l'Epée. Monvel acts the Abbé as well as possible; the other characters were very much inferior to the English. There cannot be a more kind reception than I meet with here. My Lord Egremont, Lord and Lady Holland, who live most splendidly, insist on our dining with them every day, and with one or the other we do dine every day, and then you know comes the spectacle. "I have promised Talma to procure a copy of Pizarro, that he may see whether it can be adapted to the French stage. Buy a book of it, make it up in separate packets, and send it me by the next post. I am afraid they will not be able to turn it to any use. Texier told me he would give me a letter or two to some persons of his acquaintance here, who he thought might be useful and pleasant to a stranger. Pray upbraid him with having forgot me. He may send them still, if he pleases. God bless you, my boy! Don't forget to tell me how you do, and be sure to remember all the news. You are to direct to me, Hôtel de Courland, Place de la Concorde, Paris. Remember me to every body I ought to remember. Yours, J. P. KEMBLE. When we came afterwards to talk over the French theatre together, he frankly confessed that their mode of acting tragedy did not please him. There can be little doubt, that much of their former grand style had disappeared, like all other greatness, in the progress of their revolution. La Clairon, late in life, wrote her complaint of the vulgarity of action and the carelessness of pronunciation, on the modern stage. She had lived to hear the quantity of the verse sadly misconceived, from the deficiency of grammmatical studies; and the measured beauty of diction sacrificed to those fiery bursts of passion, which bore no proportion whatever to the actual sentiment of the poet. Mr. Kemble was indeed received warmly in Paris. But my friend was a genuine Englishman, and little likely to answer that demand of display, that is so natural to a Frenchman. The Parisians accordingly wondered at his silence-he appeared to them thoughtful and reserved; but they admired the grace of his manners, and were charmed with the courtesy which so brightened the expression of a countenance essentially tragic. Among other complimentary things, the Parisians thought Mr. Kemble wonderfully like the grand Bonaparte in countenance; the representative of the greatest of the Romans had an opportunity of remarking the restless action of Napoleon, and by no means saw, or endeavoured to persuade himself that he perceived, any external indications of that powerful character, which predominated over all the sanguinary factions of France. He told me that one of Napoleon's hats was presented to him, that he might judge of the comparative capacity of their heads; but this is, indeed, high matter, and as it would be impossible to exhaust the subject in any given number of volumes, it shall occupy no greater space in the present. |