PAGE 143. Mr. Payne Knight. Richard Payne Knight gave evidence in 1816 before a Select Committee of the House of Commons upon the value of the Elgin Marbles. He placed them in the second rank of art, and valued them at £25,000. They were bought by the nation for £35,000. Haydon the artist wrote a long letter to The Examiner (March 17, 1816) on the subject, entitled "On the Judgment of Connoisseurs being preferred to that of Professional Men, Elgin Marbles, etc.' 144. Mr. Soane. John Soane (1753-1837), knighted in 1831. His house and its contents, presented by him to the nation in 1833, now form the Soane Museum. 145. "With riches fineless. Othello, Act 111. Scene 3. Beastly; subtle as the fox, etc. Cymbeline, Act. 111. Scene 3. "The link, etc. Troilus and Cressida, Act 1. Scene 3. It is many years ago, etc. Apparently, says Mr. W. C. Hazlitt, about 1798, 'How were we then uplifted.' Troilus and Cressida, Act III. Scene 2. E. O. Tables. A new game introduced shortly before 1782, when a Bill was • Cutpurses of the art, etc. 'A cutpurse of the empire and the rule, That from a shelf the precious diadem stole And put it in his pocket!' Hamlet, Act III. Scene 4. THE SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED 146. That a great man's memory,' etc. Hamlet, Act II. Scene 2. 147. Their late President. Sir Joshua Reynolds. Feel the future in the instant. Macbeth, Act 1. Scene 5. 148. Depend upon it,' etc. This letter was not avowed by Burke, but was attributed to him by Barry himself and by Sir James Prior in his Life of Burke, (Bohn, p. 227). 149. Playing at will, etc. —and played at will Her virgin fancies, pouring forth more sweet, Wild above rule or art, enormous bliss.' Paradise Lost, v. 294-296. Highmore, etc. Joseph Highmore (1692-1780); Francis Hayman (1708- 'Like flowers in men's caps, etc. Macbeth, Act IV. Scene 3. PAGE 150. * Gome to the vault,' etc. A favourite quotation of Burke's from the lines in Shakespeare: 'To that same ancient vault Where all the kindred of the Capulets lie.' Romeo and Juliet, Act Iv. Scene 1. The picture... of Charles I. In Hazlitt's time this picture was at Blenheim, and he referred to it in his Sketches of the Principal Picture Galleries in England (Pictures at Oxford and Blenheim). It was bought by Parliament from the Duke of Marlborough in 1885, and is now in the National Gallery. The Waterloo Exhibition. The Waterloo Museum in Pall Mall which now (according to the advertisement) presents to public view upwards of 1000 mementos of the late extraordinary events upon the Continent.' * From this time forth,” etc. Othello, Act v. Scene 2. The English are a shepkeeping nation. Hazlitt probably refers to the exclamation of Barère said to have been repeated by Napoleon. The expression seems to have been first used by Dean Tucker of Gloucester in a Tract of 1966. • Baim of hurt minds, etc. Macbeth, Act 11. Scene 2. 151. Smoothing the raven down, etc. Comus, 251-252. ON POETICAL VERSATILITY This fragment is taken from the third of a series of four Illustrations of the Times Newspaper,' which Hazlitt contributed to The Examiner under the heading of Literary Notices.' The first of these four papers (Dec. 1, 1816) has not been republished; the other three, dated respectively December 15, 1816, December 22, 1816, and January 12, 1817, were published in Political Essays. PAGE 151. 'Heaven's own tinct?" Cymbeline, Act 11. Scene 2. • Being so majestical, etc." Hamlet, Act 1. Scene 1. 152. Pets, it has been said. See Political Essays (Mr. Southey's New Year's Ode). They do not like, etc. The reference is to Southey, Poet Laureate, and Wordsworth, distributor of stamps for the county of Westmoreland. ON ACTORS AND ACTING This essay and the next are based upon the last (No. 48) of the Round Table series, which appeared in The Examiner for Jan. 5, 1817. Hazlitt has, however, interpolated into both essays various passages from former theatrical criticisms. The paper in the Round Table appears to have been inspired by Colley Cibber's Apology for his Life. A general reference may here be made to that work, to the volume in the present edition containing Hazlitt's dramatic criticisms, and to Lamb's and Leigh Hunt's essays on the stage. PAGE 153. The abstracts, etc. Hamlet, Act 11. Scene 2. 154. George Barnwell. By George Lillo (1693-1739), produced at Drury Lane Theatre on June 22, 1731. The play was frequently revived, and was in some places acted annually as a moral lesson to apprentices. The Inconstant. Farquhar's comedy (1702). Orinda should be Oriana. PAGE 155. Sir George Etherege (1635?-1691), the dramatist. See English Comic Writers, where a part of this passage is repeated. John Kemble. John Philip Kemble (1757-1823). Hazlitt wrote an account of his retirement from the stage, which took place at Covent Garden on June 23, 1817. Pierre. In Otway's Venice Preserved (1682), 'one of the happiest and most spirited of all Mr. Kemble's performances' (A View of the English Stage). The Stranger. Benjamin Thompson's (1776 ?-1816) play, The Stranger,' translated from Kotzebue, was produced in 1798, Kemble playing the titlerôle. See Hazlitt's essay on 'Mr. Kemble's Retirement.' 'A tale of other times. A tale of the times of old!' the opening words of Macpherson's Ossian. One of the most affecting things, etc. This paragraph is taken from a "Theatrical Examiner' (June 4, 1815) on the retirement of John Bannister (1760-1836) from the stage. For Bannister and Richard Suett (1755-1805) see Hazlitt's essay On Play-Going and on Some of our old Actors,' and Lamb's 'On Some of the old Actors.' The Prize. By Prince Hoare (1755-1834), originally produced in 1793. My Grandmother. By Prince Hoare, produced in 1793. The Son-in-Law. A comic opera by John O'Keeffe (1747-1833), produced in 1779. Scrub. In The Beaux' Stratagem of Farquhar. Thomas King (1730-1805), the original Sir Peter Teazle; William Parsons (1736-1795); James William Dodd (1740-1796); John Quick (17481831), who made his last appearance in 1813; and John Edwin the elder (1749-1790). See Hazlitt's essay 'On Play-Going and Some of our old Actors.' 156. All the world's a stage,' etc. As you Like it, Act 11. Scene 7. THE SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED A large part of the first paragraph of this essay appeared originally in a notice of Kean's Sir Giles Over-reach (Theatrical Examiner,' Jan. 14, 1816). See A View of the English Stage. PAGE 156. 'Leaving the world no copy. Twelfth Night, Act 1. Scene 5. Colley Cibber's account. See Chap. iv. of Cibber's Apology. Miss O'Neill. Eliza O'Neill (1791-1872) made her last appearance on the stage on July 13, 1819, shortly before her marriage with Mr. Becher, who afterwards became a baronet, Hazlitt in an article on her retirement (see A View of the English Stage) said that her excellence (unrivalled by any actress since Mrs. Siddons) consisted in truth of nature and force of passion.' Mrs. Siddons. Sarah Siddons (1755-1831) appeared without success in London in 1775 and 1776, gained a great reputation in Manchester and Bath, and reappeared in London on October 10, 1782 in Garrick's Isabella, a version of Southerne's Fatal Marriage. After a long series of triumphs she made her farewell appearance on June 29, 1812, as Lady Macbeth. Hazlitt's notices of her are confined to two of the occasional benefit performances which she gave before she finally retired in June 1819. See A View of the English Stage (June 15, 1816, and June 7, 1817). PAGE 157. 'We have seen what a ferment,' etc. See the essays above, 'On the Catalogue Raisonné of the British Institution.' Betterton, etc. Thomas Betterton (1635 ?-1710); Barton Booth (1681-1733); Cibber himself. Colley Cibber (1671-1757), actor and dramatist, Poet 'Gladdened life, etc. A composite quotation from Johnson's well-known Our hundred days. The reference is a characteristic one to Buonaparte's hundred days in Europe in 1815. Betterton's Hamlet or his Brutus, etc. Colley Cibber (Apology, Chap. iv.) refers particularly to these two impersonations, describes (Chap. xiv.) Booth's performance of Cato in 1713, and specially eulogises Mrs. Barry's Monimia and Belvidera in Otway's plays, The Orphan and Venice Preserved. (Chap. v.). See Hazlitt's lecture On the Spirit of Ancient and Modern Literature' in his Lectures on the Literature of the Age of Elizabeth for a criticism of these plays. He saw and reviewed Miss O'Neill's performances See A View of the English Stage. in both these characters. Penkethman's manner, etc. See The Tatler, No. 188. Dowton. Hazlitt spoke of William Dowton (1764-1851) as a genuine and excellent comedian' (On Play-Going and on Some of the old Actors"). There are frequent notices of him in A View of the English Stage. 157. Note. Marriage à la mode. By Dryden, first produced in 1672. In The Examiner this note forms part of the text. At the end of the passage quoted Hazlitt proceeds: "The whole of Colley Cibber's work is very amusing to a dramatic amateur. It gives an interesting account of the progress of the stage, which in his time appears to have been in a state militant. Two actors, Kynaston and Montfort were run through the body in disputes with gentlemen, with impunity; and the Master of the Revels PAGE arrested any of the two companies who was refractory to the managers, at his pleasure. Dogget was brought up in this manner from Norwich, by two constables but Dogget being a whig, and a surly fellow, got a Habeas Corpus, and the Master of the Revels was driven from the field.' Edward Kynaston (1640-1706) was beaten more than once at the instance of Sir Charles Sedley whom he impersonated on the stage. For the story of the Lord-Chamberlain and Dogget, see Cibber's Apology (Chap. x.). 158. Sir Harry Wildair. Farquhar's Sir Harry Wildair, a continuation of The Constant Couple, was produced in 1701. The Jew that Shakespeare drew.' This is an exclamation (attributed to As often as we are pleased. The following passage from The Examiner is Players, after all, etc. This passage to the end of the paragraph is from a "Theatrical Examiner,' January 14, 1816. Actors have been accused, etc. The whole of this paragraph is taken from a "Theatrical Examiner,' March 31, 1816. The web of our life, etc. 159. Like the giddy sailor, etc. All's Well that Ends Well, Act IV. Scene 3. A neighbouring country. Hazlitt probably refers to France where the dis- Hamlet, Act 111. Scene 1. 160. 'Hurried from fierce extremes,' etc. and feel by turns the bitter change Of fierce extremes, extremes by change more fierce,' etc. Paradise Lost, II. 599 et seq. The strolling player in 'Gil Blas.' Gil Blas, Liv. 11. Chap. viii. WHY THE ARTS ARE NOT PROGRESSIVE: A FRAGMENT In The Morning Chronicle for January 11 and 15, 1814, Hazlitt published two papers entitled "Fragments on Art. Why the Arts are not progressive?' Later in the year he contributed two papers to The Champion (August 28, 1814, and September 11, 1814) under the heading "Fine Arts. Whether they are promoted by Academies and Public Institutions?' and in a letter (October 2) replied to the criticisms of a correspondent. The present 'Fragment' is composed of (1) the first of the articles in The Morning Chronicle and part of the second, and (2) part of the |