Lights of the Old English Stage |
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Page 30
... voice too . " His success was immense . " A much better actor might have been proud of the applause that followed me ; after one loud plaudit was ended , and sunk into a general whisper , that seemed still to continue their private ...
... voice too . " His success was immense . " A much better actor might have been proud of the applause that followed me ; after one loud plaudit was ended , and sunk into a general whisper , that seemed still to continue their private ...
Page 40
... voice and sweet face had secured her success . Whatever possessed so delicate a creature to listen to the addresses of such an ugly ruffian as Theophilus Cibber , our Titania was married to this Bottom , and had bitter cause to repent ...
... voice and sweet face had secured her success . Whatever possessed so delicate a creature to listen to the addresses of such an ugly ruffian as Theophilus Cibber , our Titania was married to this Bottom , and had bitter cause to repent ...
Page 41
sibility which despised all art - the harmony of her voice was as powerful as the animation of her look - in grief and tenderness , her eyes looked as if they swam in tears - in rage and despair they seemed to dart flashes of fire - in ...
sibility which despised all art - the harmony of her voice was as powerful as the animation of her look - in grief and tenderness , her eyes looked as if they swam in tears - in rage and despair they seemed to dart flashes of fire - in ...
Page 57
... voice gave him great personal advantages ; the balcony scene of this most exquisite of the stage lovers was unapproach- able ; but Garrick excelled in the scene with the Friar . " Had I been Juliet to Garrick's Romeo , " said a lady ...
... voice gave him great personal advantages ; the balcony scene of this most exquisite of the stage lovers was unapproach- able ; but Garrick excelled in the scene with the Friar . " Had I been Juliet to Garrick's Romeo , " said a lady ...
Page 62
... voices choked with emotion , as he passed behind the curtain which was never again to rise upon him . Not long did he enjoy his retirement . Within three years afterward there was a magnificent funeral proces- sion to Westminster Abbey ...
... voices choked with emotion , as he passed behind the curtain which was never again to rise upon him . Not long did he enjoy his retirement . Within three years afterward there was a magnificent funeral proces- sion to Westminster Abbey ...
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75 cents actor actress admirable afterward appeared applause audience Barry beautiful became Betterton brought Burbadge character Cibber cloth Colley comedy Cooke Covent Garden crowded houses curtain daughter David David Garrick début delight dramatic dress Drury Lane Dublin Edmund Kean engagement eyes Fair Penitent farewell father favorite fell fortune friends Garrick gave gentleman green-room Hamlet honor husband Jane Shore John John Heminge John Kemble Kean Kemble King lady laugh Lear Lichfield London Lord Macbeth Macklin manager mother Nathan Field never night once Othello passion patent theatres performance play players poor pounds a week prince profession quarrel Quin received retired returned Richard rival Romeo Roscius says scarcely scene season seemed Shakespeare's Sheridan Shylock Siddons soon stage story Street strolling success Tarleton Tate Wilkinson theatre theatrical Theophilus Cibber thousand pounds tion told took town tragedy voice wife Woffington words young
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...