were produced, including "Clari," Payne's opera, in which "Home, Sweet Home" occurs. On Christmas day, Booth appeared as Sir Giles, and followed it with other characters, in which he had previously appeared here. January 8th, 1827, Edwin Forrest returned as a star, and was warmly welcomed. The Advertiser said of him: "Forrest is the boast and ornament of the American stage. His improvement has far outstripped what his most sanguine friends here anticipated." Mr. and Mrs. John Barnes came again, and Mrs. Hamlin, wife of Thomas. She did not draw, and the theatre was not well patronized, Mr. and Mrs. Barnes only playing to good business. In March, Dwyer, the old comedian, appeared again, playing Falstaff for his benefit. April 17th, the circus reopened its doors, and the museum, under Henry T. Meech, appealed for patronage, on the merits of a stuffed rhinoceros and a hermaphrodite orang-outang. Mr. Sandford closed his season in May, with no less brilliant a star than William Charles Macready, who played Hamlet on the 7th.* Macbeth on the 9th, and for his benefit, Virginius on the 11th. Mr. Macready was now thirty-four years old, having been born in London, March 3d, 1793, the son of an actor. He made his debut in Romeo, in 1810, and in the intervening years had won a position in England second only to Kean, and on the fall of that great actor, until the period of his own retirement, was unexcelled upon the British stage. It is not our intention to go into the details of his career, as by his Reminiscences and Diaries, edited by Sir Pollock, they are within the reach of every reader. He made three visits to this country, 1826-7, in 1844, and in 1848-9. In May of the last mentioned year, occurred the most terrible riot recorded in the dramatic annals of this country. *On this very night, a tragedy in real life occurred, which exceeded in interest any event in stage mimicry. This was the murder of John Whipple by Jesse Strang, who shot him through a window, as he sat writing in his chamber, and was hanged for it, August 24th, in the Hudson street ravine, in the presence of 40,000 spectators. Through a quarrel between Macready and Edwin Forrest, who had hissed each other in England, a disturbance took place at the Astor opera house, New York (May 10th); the military were called out, and twentytwo men were killed and thirty-six wounded. Mr. Macready died April 27th, 1873. As an actor, he was a model of every thing that was chaste, finished and classical. As a man, his character was above reproach. He has been ridiculed for certain mannerisms, and censured for penuriousness, and it is true that by industry and prudence he acquired a fortune. It is also true that " no friend has ever had occasion to feel a pang for his excesses, and the public never were called upon to pity, pardon, or condemn in him any moral transgression. Lewes saw in him only a man of talent, but of talent so marked and individual that it approached very near genius. He had a powerful voice of extensive compass, capable of delicate modulation in quiet passages (though with a tendency to scream in violent passages), and having tones that thrilled and tones that stirred the tear drops. The intelligence of his readings was always manifest. His person was good, and his face was expressive. As a Shakspearean actor, he did not rank with the greatest of his predecessors. Lewes thought his Hamlet bad, due allowance being made for the intelligence it displayed. "He was lachrymose and fretful; too fond of a cambric pocket handkerchief to be really affecting; nor had he that sympathy with the character which would have given an impressive unity to his performance it was 'a thing of shreds and patches,' not a whole." "As Macbeth, nothing could be finer than the indications he gave of a conscience wavering under the influence of 'fate and metaphysical aid,' superstitious and weakly, cherishing the suggestions of superstition; but nothing could have been less heroic than his personation of the great criminal. He was fretful and impatient under the taunts and provocations of his wife; he was ignoble under the terrors of remorse; he stole into the sleeping chamber of Duncan, like a man going to purloin a purse, not like a warrior going to snatch a crown." On the other hand, he created several of the most popular characters of the modern drama, such as Virginius, William Tell, Werner, Richelieu, Claude Melnotte, and Ruy Gomez. As Virginius, a part in which he was the original, he was at his best. It was always a favorite with him from the hour he first read the lines, when submitted to him by the author, J. Sheridan Knowles, who dedicated the play to him. It was in the character of the Roman father that he had his portrait taken. It was in that character he took his first and only Albany benefit. Macready's farewell to the stage, took place at Drury Lane, February 26th, 1851, his last part being Macbeth, which was always his favorite. At a farewell dinner, March 1st, managed by Charles Dickens, and Sir E. Lytton Bulwer acting as chairman, John Forster read the following tribute to the setting star, by Alfred Tennyson, poet laureate : Farewell, Macready, since to-night we part; Full handed thunders often have confessed Thy power, well used to move the public breast, Go, take thine honors home; rank with the best, Who made a nation purer through their Art. Thine is it that our drama did not die, Nor flicker down to brainless pantomime And those gilt gauds, men-children swarm to see. Farewell, Macready, moral, grave, sublime; Our Shakspeare's bland and universal eye Dwells pleased, through twice a hundred years, on thee. CHAPTER X. 1827-1828. The South Pearl Street Theatre, Under Various Managers. ALTHOUGH Mr. Sandford lost a good deal of money, he paid his debts and left the city with an honorable record. The next man to try his hand at the managerial helm, was Elijah J. Roberts, who opened the theatre July 3d, with "Town and Country" and "The Spectre Bridegroom." Roberts was editor of The Craftsman, and a politician of some note. The following cast for the principal play, included the more prominent members of the company: Reuben Glenroy, Adams; Captain Glenroy, Shadgate; Plastic, Isherwood; Hawbuck, Simpson: Cosey, Somerville; Rev. Mr. Owen, Parsons; Trot, Blanchard; Rosalie Somers, Miss Twibill: Mrs. Glenroy, Mrs. Hatch. The leading man, if we mistake not, was John Jay Adams, who had been bred to mercantile life, and had, at this time, but little stage experience. His readings were remarkably correct, and his Hamlet was, afterwards, regarded as among the best on the American stage. Had he not been intemperate, he would have become famous. He died in 1839. Miss Matilda Twibill was also new to the boards, and very young, scarce sixteen. Personally, she was one of the most lovely women ever known to the stage. She was the daughter of Twibill, the vocalist, and had made her dramatic debut November 29th, 1826, in New York, in this same character of Rosalie. Her father treated her very cruelly, and March 30th, 1828, she married Tom Flynn, the comedian, who broke Booth's nose. Charley Parsons, who was cast for a parson, afterwards became one in reality, and preached in the Methodist church in Louisville. He was of Herculean frame and round shoulders, with a voice like stage thunder, but a bad actor, especially in tragedy. He alternated between stage and pulpit, and did about as well in one capacity as the other, and not very well in either. Stone says he played Roaring Ralph Stackpole, in Dr. Bird's drama, to perfection. James M. Scott ("Big Scott," as he was called, to distinguish him from J. R. Scott), was the first star, and in the course of a week or two, Mr. and Mrs. John Barnes, Peter Richings and Moses S. Phillips (who closely resembled and imitated Barnes) appeared. On the 19th of July, William Duffy made his professional debut in Albany, as Bertram. He had frequently appeared as an amateur, but now came from the New Orleans theatre, and was received with considerable favor, which rapidly increased as his merits became known. Mr. Roberts's management lasted only till about the first week in September, when he succumbed to adverse circumstances. He had sub-leased the theatre from Lement, but was quite unable to pay the rent. During his brief career, Forrest had played an engagement, appearing for the first time in Albany, in what was afterward his greatest personation, that of Lear. The theatre was next managed for a short time by Lement & Adams; the latter then took part of the company west for a few nights. On the 26th of September, James Henry Hackett made, what was probably his first appearance in Albany, in Richard, Monsieur Tonson and a budget of Yankee stories. Mr. Hackett came in with the century, being born March 15th, 1800. He was of Holland descent, but first saw the light in New York city. At the age of nineteen, he married an actress (Miss Leesugg) of the Park theatre, and in 1826, having failed in business as a merchant, in Utica and New York, he tried the stage. After one or two rather |