Lights of the Old English Stage |
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Page 10
... Hamlet lie at Ophelia's . The Bankside theatres must have been of a very low class , the entertainment being probably a mixed one of singing , dancing , fencing , and buffoonery ; the Swan and the Rose were shut up early in James I.'s ...
... Hamlet lie at Ophelia's . The Bankside theatres must have been of a very low class , the entertainment being probably a mixed one of singing , dancing , fencing , and buffoonery ; the Swan and the Rose were shut up early in James I.'s ...
Page 12
... Hamlet of Rosencrantz . " There is , sir , " is the reply , " an aïery of children , little eyases , that cry out on ... Hamlet's advice to the players : 12 LIGHTS OF THE OLD ENGLISH STAGE .
... Hamlet of Rosencrantz . " There is , sir , " is the reply , " an aïery of children , little eyases , that cry out on ... Hamlet's advice to the players : 12 LIGHTS OF THE OLD ENGLISH STAGE .
Page 13
struck him . Hence Hamlet's advice to the players : " Let those who play your clowns speak no more than is set down for them : for there be of them , that will themselves laugh , to set on some quantity of barren spectators to laugh too ...
struck him . Hence Hamlet's advice to the players : " Let those who play your clowns speak no more than is set down for them : for there be of them , that will themselves laugh , to set on some quantity of barren spectators to laugh too ...
Page 16
... Hamlet ; but that is no proof of his own excellence , since there are many men who , although they are admirable judges of acting and excellent stage managers , are very inferior perform- We know that he played the Ghost in his own “ Hamlet ...
... Hamlet ; but that is no proof of his own excellence , since there are many men who , although they are admirable judges of acting and excellent stage managers , are very inferior perform- We know that he played the Ghost in his own “ Hamlet ...
Page 18
... Hamlet , Othello , Lear , Shylock , Macbeth , Henry V. , Prince Hal , and Richard the Third . Bishop Corbet , in his " Iter Boreale , " talking how his host at Leicester described the battle of Bosworth Field , says : " Besides what of ...
... Hamlet , Othello , Lear , Shylock , Macbeth , Henry V. , Prince Hal , and Richard the Third . Bishop Corbet , in his " Iter Boreale , " talking how his host at Leicester described the battle of Bosworth Field , says : " Besides what of ...
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Popular passages
Page 22 - Nature, was a most gentle expresser of it : his mind and hand went together ; and what he thought, he uttered with that easiness, that we have scarce received from him a blot in his papers.
Page 13 - And let those, that play your clowns, speak no more than is set down for them : for there be of them, that will themselves laugh, to set on some quantity of barren spectators to laugh too ; though, in the mean time, some necessary question}: of the play be then to be considered : that's villainous ; and shows a most pitiful ambition in the fool that uses it.
Page 194 - Her face, her tones, her manner, were irresistible. Her smile had the effect of sunshine, and her laugh did one good to hear it. Her voice was eloquence itself : it seemed as if her heart was always at her mouth. She was all gaiety, openness, and good-nature. She rioted in her fine animal spirits, and gave more pleasure than any other actress, because she had the greatest spirit of enjoyment in herself.
Page 12 - Nay, their endeavour keeps in the wonted pace : but there is, sir, an aery of children, little eyases, that cry out on the top of question, and are most tyrannically clapped for't : these are now the fashion; and so berattle(38) the common stages (so they call them), that many wearing rapiers are afraid of goose-quills, and dare scarce come thither.
Page 54 - Horatio — heavens, what a transition! — it seemed as if a whole century had been stept over in the transition of a single scene; old things were done away, and a new order at once brought forward, bright and luminous, and clearly destined to dispel the barbarisms and bigotry of a tasteless...
Page 165 - Yes, as rocks are, When foamy billows split themselves against Their flinty ribs ; or as the moon is moved, When wolves, with hunger pined, howl at her brightness.
Page 123 - She was not less than a goddess, or than a prophetess inspired by the gods. Power was seated on her brow, passion emanated from her breast as from a shrine. She was tragedy personified. She was the stateliest ornament of the public mind. She was not only the idol of the people, she not only hushed the tumultuous shouts of the pit in breathless expectation, and quenched the blaze of surrounding beauty in silent tears, but to the retired and lonely student, through long years of solitude, her face...
Page 54 - ... light upon them, yet, in general they seemed to love darkness better than light, and, in the dialogue of altercation between Horatio and Lothario, bestowed far the greater show of hands upon the master of the old school than upon the founder of the new. I thank my stars, my feelings in those moments led me right ; they were those of nature, and therefore could not err.
Page 117 - It was my custom to study my characters at night, when all the domestic cares and business of the day were over. On the night preceding that on which I was to appear in this part for the first time, I shut myself up, as usual, when all the family were retired, and commenced my study of Lady Macbeth. As the character is very short, I thought I should soon accomplish it.
Page 32 - It may be observable, too, that my muse and my spouse were equally prolific ; that the one was seldom the mother of a child, but in the same year the other made me the father of a play...