COOKE IN "RICHARD THE THIRD." I remember a mass of things, but nothing distinctly- 85 My old-fashioned critic, in speaking of Kean, used to say that he often uttered his speech as if he had a mouthful of hot potatoes. Strange as the remark was, it finds a fellowship with what Garrick said of Henderson's "wool-and-worsted" obstruction to vocality. As an evidence of the estimation in which Mr. Cooke was held by the scholars of his time the fact may be cited that Mr. George Ticknor pronounced him the only perfect embodiment of natural acting he had ever seen, either in this country or in Europe. The impression made by Mr. Cooke's impersonation of Richard the Third was that of bold and manly defiance. There was an almost entire absence of the aspirated and smothered tones of fretful spite and complaint which in our day, with but one illustrious exception, have marked the acting of Shakespeare's boldest villain. Cooke's tone of voice indicated a man conscious of power and sure of success, who looked upon the physical obstacles in the way of his schemes as so many feathers which it only required a breath of his will to blow aside. The removal of obnoxious personages was to him a natural means to the accomplishment of an ambitious end, that end being simply the perpetuation of the kingly rule of the house of York, which of course meant the good of the kingdom wrought through the instrumentality of the axe and block. 86 THE ELDER KEAN AS RICHARD. The actor impressed his auditor with the idea that it was the inherent right of the strong to put the weak out of the way; which, by the by, was much the fashion of the times. Practically, he seemed to consider his deformities as something which entitled him to compensation at the hands of fortune for the ill turn Nature had done him. He sported with his infirmities in the spirit of an unrelenting philosophy, not attempting to shelter himself behind them or making them apologies for his hate. On the other hand, the elder Kean by his hissing and snarling tones made the auditor feel that Richard, in the poet's phrase, "nursed his spleen to keep it warm." He excited within himself a constant state of ferocity and disgust for his infirmities of mind and body, and snarled out his hatred for the whole world. In short, he seemed to feel that if for a moment he lost sight of these incentives to mischief he would fail to execute his evil work. Thus the tiger, by his angry growls and the lashings of his tail, it is said, excites his passion to a state of intensified fury. But Cooke, in a more comprehensive treatment of language, gave it a varied complexion. To the utterance of exalted thought he gave the clear ring of a pleasing vocality, and when under the lash of excited feeling his intonations were those which Nature has furnished for the expression of varying kinds and degrees of human passion. CHAPTER V. ANECDOTES OF ACTORS. MR. THOMAS COOPER was the first distin guished star-actor on the American stage. He was an Englishman, and came to this country before he had won any marked distinction on the London boards. It is evident that he modelled himself, if we may so speak, halfway between Kemble and Cooke; for he exhibited some of the peculiarities of both those great actors, he being a young man and a rising performer when they were in the height of their popularity. He was endowed with a fine figure and a voice of great richness and compass, and was equally effective in tragedy and the higher range of comedy. Without sinking individuality in his imitation, Cooper depended upon a certain imposing bearing and the power of his well-modulated voice, rather than upon the strong and determined effects of dramatic action which have since his time become so popular. In such characters as Damon, Virginius, Pierre, and William Tell he found the material for the special exemplification of his peculiar powers. The distinction intended to be suggested here 88 COOPER IN "VENICE PRESERVED.". is that which exists between the descriptive language of human feeling and passion and the more realizing effect of those qualities when illustrated in forms which present them direct from the sources of natural emotion. An exemplification of these different modes of treatment may be observed in a thoughtful contemplation of the language used by Shakespeare in illustrating men and manners, and in that of many of the elder dramatists, as well as in the impassioned poetry of Byron and other writers of that form of composition. In the one case passion may be said to speak directly from the central point of its creation in the human breast; in the other it is described as existing there. This difference marks the dividing-line between dramatic poetry and the other forms-epic, lyric, and ballad. The tendency to a declamatory style of delivery, with a voice pleasing in melody and harmonious in general effect, gave to Mr. Cooper's acting a character consonant with the spirit of the following lines from Otway's tragedy of Venice Preserved. His acting of Pierre was considered a grand exposition of the "romance of the stage." JAFFIER. I'm thinking, Pierre, how that damned starving quality PIERRE. Why, powerful villainy first set it up PIERRE AND JAFFIER. Are the soft, easy cushions on which knaves They'd starve each other; lawyers would want practice, To bind the hands of bold, deserving rogues, And lord it uncontrolled above their betters. JAFFIER. Sure, thou art honest ? PIERRE. So, indeed, men think me; 89 I'm a rogue as well as they A fine, gay, bold-faced villain, as thou seest me! 'Tis true I pay my debts when they're contracted; I steal from no man; would not cut a throat To gain admission to a great man's purse or a lady's favor; I scorn to flatter A blown-up fool above me, or crush the wretch beneath me; Yet, Jaffier, for all this, I am a villain. A villain? JAFFIER. PIERRE. Yes, a most notorious villain To see the sufferings of my fellow-creatures, |