THE LIFE AND THEATRICAL TIMES OF CHARLES KEAN, F.S.A. INCLUDING A SUMMARY OF THE ENGLISH STAGE FOR THE LAST FIFTY YEARS, AND A DETAILED ACCOUNT OF THE MANAGEMENT OF THE PRINCESS'S THEATRE, FROM 1850 TO 1859. BY JOHN WILLIAM COLE. "Orator ad vos venio ornatu prologi : Sinite exorator ut sim.— Quia sciebam dubiam fortunam esse scenicam, Spe incerta certum mihi laborem sustuli."-TERENTII HECYRA. "There's nothing simply good nor ill alone; Of every quality, comparison The only measure is, and judge opinion."-DR. DONNE'S POEMS. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON: RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET, Publisher in Ordinary to Her Majesty. 1859. 210. c. 56. [The right of translation is reserved.] PREFACE. MANY reasons and suggestions not necessary to enumerate here, have induced me to offer these volumes, which have been long thought of, to the consideration of the public. Years of uninterrupted private friendship, and professional association of the most intimate nature with the leading personage of, the work, have afforded me facilities and information which no other person possesses to the same extent. With these adantages and materials, I shall endeavour to add a faithful and, as I trust, a profitable contribution to the dramatic records of our country. It is an easier, as well as a less delicate task, to write a memoir of the dead than of the living. Facts may be stated and opinions delivered with more unreserved confidence, and diminished danger of offence or controversy, when they relate. to one whose transitory probation has been completed, whose earthly career is finally closed, and to whom may be applied the touching elegy of Shakespeare: "Fear no more the heat of the sun, Thou, thy worldly task hast done, Home art gone and ta'en thy wages." In the present instance, we may safely foreshadow the future by the past, and predict with certainty that the end (far distant may it be) will crown the work, and that "the catastrophe will do no dishonour to the conduct of the piece." † A biography must be undertaken by one of four persons by the subject of it himself, by a stranger, an enemy, or a friend. If a man chronicles his own deeds, although it is quite certain that he knows his motives of action and phases of thought, more minutely than they can be interpreted by another, human weakness interferes with a true delineation. In spite of himself, or his inherent conscientiousness, he will palliate or justify his errors, exaggerate his good intentions, or gloss them over to avoid the charge of egotism.. If he descends to " Con fessions," he commits moral suicide. The reputation of Rousseau, unenviable as it is, suffered immeasurably from his; and the fame of Lord Byron would have been tarnished for ever, if Moore had not consigned his private diary" to the flames. A stranger must acquire his knowledge from desultory sources, when and where he can; from current report, popular fallacies, general conversation, or imperfect documents. He can scarcely be ranked higher than a secondary evidence. An enemy dips his pen in gall, misrepresents everything, and systematically distorts truth for the express purpose of presenting a repulsive portrait. An honest friend is most to be depended on. He speaks from his own knowledge, has means at command, and may be expected to use them fairly. In this light I hope to be considered; and if the following pages evince a general disposition to praise rather than to censure, I have at least chosen the less popular course of the two, and would rather be accused of partiality than malice. A few passages, scattered here and there, have appeared before. They are my own, and I trust there is no plagiarism in borrowing from myself. I have been most anxious to state facts correctly. The |