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Article MEMOIRS OF CHARLES MACKLIN, ← Page 7 of 8 →
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Memoirs Of Charles Macklin,
servile compliance , or resort to some Provincial Theatre for mere subsistence . _ Macklin ' s intention was certainty laudable , but the effect of his success may be injurious to the Public and to his profession . Actors have now no appeal from the caprice and tyranny of a Manager . The most respectable and admired Performer may now be discharged
upon the slig htest pretence , or thrown aside to make room for some raw adventurer , who may have nothing to recommend him but novelty , or the patronage of a great man . If a favourite Performer should artfully be disgusted into a resignation of his engagement , and a secret compact should prevail between the Managers , by which the conductor of one Theatre binds himself not to employ those who quit , or who are discharged from the other , how precarious and how unpleasant must he the situation of an Actor I Yet such is the effect of Macklin ' s success .
The Public may now be obliged to endure a repetition of the veriest trash , if it be " the will of the Theatrical Sovereign . It may be urged that the Public need not attend the Theatre if the Entertainment should be disapproved ; but if a Manager should be inclined to convert his Stage into a Bear-garden , there will always be found an audience of a correspondent taste . Hence the Drama , which is one of the noblest amusements of a refined people , and . which may be
rendered , in proper hands , the friend of Virtue , Taste , and the decencies of life , may become a wretched instrument of Avarice , and the resort of vulgar dissipation . , ' We are far from intending to insinuate that there are any London Managers at present capable of such conduct as we have described ; but we state these as possible consequences of the legal triumph which Macklin erroneously considered as an advantage to his
profession . ' The person of Macklin , in the middle period of life , for he was unknown and unregarded in youth , was well formed , and his manners , though never graceful and elegant , were easy and spirited . His face was capable of expressing the stronger emotions of the heart , but was totally unfit to display any of its delicate and amiable affections . He was bno means so ill-favouredas the phrase isas might be supposed
y , , from the appearance of his countenance in declining life . He was said to be , at the period we allude to , a smart black little man ; a description , however , which , judging from the strength of his limbs , seems hardly to have been correct . Wanting the advantage of earl y culture , he had to struggle over an up-hill coarse through life ; but he was inquisitive and diligent , and supplied his deficiencies with
commendable zeal and considerable success . That he possessed abilities cannot be denied , but his character has been much over-rated since he became known to the world . Observation , care , and reflection he displayed ; but if may be fairly said , that he has shewn no evidence of genius as an Actor , or as a Writer . As an Actor , all his merits were " the mere result of labour . There was nothing of native humour , or of that Kiiimating spirit which marks the orig inal Performer , who ,
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Memoirs Of Charles Macklin,
servile compliance , or resort to some Provincial Theatre for mere subsistence . _ Macklin ' s intention was certainty laudable , but the effect of his success may be injurious to the Public and to his profession . Actors have now no appeal from the caprice and tyranny of a Manager . The most respectable and admired Performer may now be discharged
upon the slig htest pretence , or thrown aside to make room for some raw adventurer , who may have nothing to recommend him but novelty , or the patronage of a great man . If a favourite Performer should artfully be disgusted into a resignation of his engagement , and a secret compact should prevail between the Managers , by which the conductor of one Theatre binds himself not to employ those who quit , or who are discharged from the other , how precarious and how unpleasant must he the situation of an Actor I Yet such is the effect of Macklin ' s success .
The Public may now be obliged to endure a repetition of the veriest trash , if it be " the will of the Theatrical Sovereign . It may be urged that the Public need not attend the Theatre if the Entertainment should be disapproved ; but if a Manager should be inclined to convert his Stage into a Bear-garden , there will always be found an audience of a correspondent taste . Hence the Drama , which is one of the noblest amusements of a refined people , and . which may be
rendered , in proper hands , the friend of Virtue , Taste , and the decencies of life , may become a wretched instrument of Avarice , and the resort of vulgar dissipation . , ' We are far from intending to insinuate that there are any London Managers at present capable of such conduct as we have described ; but we state these as possible consequences of the legal triumph which Macklin erroneously considered as an advantage to his
profession . ' The person of Macklin , in the middle period of life , for he was unknown and unregarded in youth , was well formed , and his manners , though never graceful and elegant , were easy and spirited . His face was capable of expressing the stronger emotions of the heart , but was totally unfit to display any of its delicate and amiable affections . He was bno means so ill-favouredas the phrase isas might be supposed
y , , from the appearance of his countenance in declining life . He was said to be , at the period we allude to , a smart black little man ; a description , however , which , judging from the strength of his limbs , seems hardly to have been correct . Wanting the advantage of earl y culture , he had to struggle over an up-hill coarse through life ; but he was inquisitive and diligent , and supplied his deficiencies with
commendable zeal and considerable success . That he possessed abilities cannot be denied , but his character has been much over-rated since he became known to the world . Observation , care , and reflection he displayed ; but if may be fairly said , that he has shewn no evidence of genius as an Actor , or as a Writer . As an Actor , all his merits were " the mere result of labour . There was nothing of native humour , or of that Kiiimating spirit which marks the orig inal Performer , who ,