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Article MEMOIRS OF CHARLES MACKLIN, ← Page 2 of 8 →
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Memoirs Of Charles Macklin,
About this time a very lamentable circumstance happened , which lessened the credit of Macklin , and almost rendered him an object of public abhorrence ; though his conduct was certainly not imputable to malignity , but to the accidental anger of a moment . The melancholy circumstance to which we allude , happened one morning , during the rehearsal of a new piece . Mr . Hallam , uticie , wc believe , of Mrs . Mattocks , the present admired Actress , was :
a performer at the same Theatre with Macklin , and was upon very good terms with him . Hallam had obtained a wi g from the Property-man , in which he intended to play in the new Drama . Macklin , unluckily , had chosen the same wig , and resolved not to relinquish it . The dispute , though arising from such a trifle , and between friends , at length became so violent , that Macklin , in the heat of his passion , pushed his stick in the face of Hallam . Unfortunately it entered deeply in the orbit of the eye , and was attended by such dreadful consequences , that poor Hallam died in a
veryshort time . Macklin was tried for this action ; but as the persons who appoared in his behalf were some of the most respectable characters in this country , as well as many of the theatrical profession , and as they all represented him to be a man of a humane disposition , though of harsh manners , ' and as it clearly appeared that he was upon amicable terms : ¦ with the deceasedand that the whole of this unfortunate affair was
, the mere result of the moment , Macklin was acquitted . The consciousness , however , of having been the occasion of the death of a fellow-creature , made a strong impression upon him , and almost disposed him to look with disgust upon a profession which had led to such a lamentable event .
During the time that he was distinguished for theatrical merit , he employed all his leisure in teaching elocution ; an attempt that was rather daring , considering that he did not possess the advantage of a regular education , and gathered his knowledge as well as he could , while in the daily labour of an occupation by which he subsisted . By his private teaching of Elocution he very much improved
his finances : for his fame was , strange to say , very high in tins respect , and he was followed b y many Citizens and members of the Church of England , the former wishing to figure in the Arena of the Common Council , and the hitter to shine as models of oratorical precision in the place where , as Voltaire satirically says , ' they are luckily placed above contradiction . ' Churchill has the following
allusion to the high reputation of Macklin in this respect : ' Dull Cits , and grave Divines , his worth proclaim , And join with Sheridan ' s their Macklin's name . ' ' At length Macklin began to dislike the dail y and ni ghtly toil of the theatrical profession , and determined to retire from it . He therefore opened a Coffee-house under the Piazza in Covent-Garden . This
Coffee-house was , according to his plan , to be a source of intellectual as well as animal gratification : it was to administer food to the mind us well as body : for he issued proposals for a Disputing Club , 01 which himself was to be the President ,
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Memoirs Of Charles Macklin,
About this time a very lamentable circumstance happened , which lessened the credit of Macklin , and almost rendered him an object of public abhorrence ; though his conduct was certainly not imputable to malignity , but to the accidental anger of a moment . The melancholy circumstance to which we allude , happened one morning , during the rehearsal of a new piece . Mr . Hallam , uticie , wc believe , of Mrs . Mattocks , the present admired Actress , was :
a performer at the same Theatre with Macklin , and was upon very good terms with him . Hallam had obtained a wi g from the Property-man , in which he intended to play in the new Drama . Macklin , unluckily , had chosen the same wig , and resolved not to relinquish it . The dispute , though arising from such a trifle , and between friends , at length became so violent , that Macklin , in the heat of his passion , pushed his stick in the face of Hallam . Unfortunately it entered deeply in the orbit of the eye , and was attended by such dreadful consequences , that poor Hallam died in a
veryshort time . Macklin was tried for this action ; but as the persons who appoared in his behalf were some of the most respectable characters in this country , as well as many of the theatrical profession , and as they all represented him to be a man of a humane disposition , though of harsh manners , ' and as it clearly appeared that he was upon amicable terms : ¦ with the deceasedand that the whole of this unfortunate affair was
, the mere result of the moment , Macklin was acquitted . The consciousness , however , of having been the occasion of the death of a fellow-creature , made a strong impression upon him , and almost disposed him to look with disgust upon a profession which had led to such a lamentable event .
During the time that he was distinguished for theatrical merit , he employed all his leisure in teaching elocution ; an attempt that was rather daring , considering that he did not possess the advantage of a regular education , and gathered his knowledge as well as he could , while in the daily labour of an occupation by which he subsisted . By his private teaching of Elocution he very much improved
his finances : for his fame was , strange to say , very high in tins respect , and he was followed b y many Citizens and members of the Church of England , the former wishing to figure in the Arena of the Common Council , and the hitter to shine as models of oratorical precision in the place where , as Voltaire satirically says , ' they are luckily placed above contradiction . ' Churchill has the following
allusion to the high reputation of Macklin in this respect : ' Dull Cits , and grave Divines , his worth proclaim , And join with Sheridan ' s their Macklin's name . ' ' At length Macklin began to dislike the dail y and ni ghtly toil of the theatrical profession , and determined to retire from it . He therefore opened a Coffee-house under the Piazza in Covent-Garden . This
Coffee-house was , according to his plan , to be a source of intellectual as well as animal gratification : it was to administer food to the mind us well as body : for he issued proposals for a Disputing Club , 01 which himself was to be the President ,