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Article MEMOIRS OF CHARLES MACKLIN, ← Page 8 of 8
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Memoirs Of Charles Macklin,
though he , like his competitors , must copy from the same common life and nature , yet looks on both with his own eyes . Except his Sh ylock , and his own Sir Archy Mac Sarcasm , he " seldom , if ever afforded pleasure . It has been said , that in the latter he did not speak the Scotch dialect correctly ; biit it must be acknowledged that he gave force and prominence to the character . What Churchill has said of him was hardly too severe .
' Macklin , who largely deals in half-form'd sounds , Who wantonly transgresses Nature's bounds ; Whose acting ' s hard , affected , and constnjin'd ; Whose features as each other they ciisdain'd , At variance set , inflexible and coarse , Ne ' er knew the workings of united force ; Ne'er kindly soften to each other ' s aid ,
Nor shew the mingled powers of light and shade . ' He Was quite a System-monger , as a teacher of Acting . He never directed his pupil to attend to the distinction , the degrees , the progress , and the combination of the passions , but talked of the importance of pauses . Pie had his simple ' pause , his middle pause , and his grand pause . The b . st pause was his favouriteand he sometimes
, indulged himself so long in it , that the Prompter , supposing he had forgotten his part , has often given him the cue , as it is-called , and by repeating the words still louder , made him quit the Stage with indignation , and complain of being interrupted in the midst of his grand . pause . As a Dramatist he has , as Johnson expresses it , only regarded 'the
surface of manners . '—His characters are all common place . Pie knew not how to select originals from the mass of life , to explore the recesses of the mind , to give animated colouring , and nice discrimination to the imitations of Nature . In conversation he had an imposing manner , that upon every subject rather scared than convinced , and what he said was delivered with such terrific force , that those who
ventured to differ in opinion with him , were reluctant to express their sentiments , lest they should be involved in a quarrel . What Johnson said of him was generally true— ' Macklin ' s conversation is a constant renovation of hope , with a perpetual disappointment . ' We have here attempted to give an impartial estimate of Charles Macklin , from candid report , and personal observation , in which we may truly affirm , that it was throughout our intention , viewing him in private life , upon the Stage , and in the Dramatic World , to
' Spsak of him as he was , nothing extenuate , Nor set down aught in malice . ' He died on Tuesday , the nth of July , in the 97 th year of his age . He had long been in a state of natural decay ; but although incapable of quitting his bed for several days previous to his dissolution , his spirits did not forsake him till within a few minutes of his final exit from
the stage of life . After a severe struggle against the invincible force of death , lie passed quietly ' into eternity without a . groan . His remains were interred oirthe following Sunday , in the Rector ' s vault , under Covenr-Garden church . The funeral was attended by the principal performers then in town ,
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Memoirs Of Charles Macklin,
though he , like his competitors , must copy from the same common life and nature , yet looks on both with his own eyes . Except his Sh ylock , and his own Sir Archy Mac Sarcasm , he " seldom , if ever afforded pleasure . It has been said , that in the latter he did not speak the Scotch dialect correctly ; biit it must be acknowledged that he gave force and prominence to the character . What Churchill has said of him was hardly too severe .
' Macklin , who largely deals in half-form'd sounds , Who wantonly transgresses Nature's bounds ; Whose acting ' s hard , affected , and constnjin'd ; Whose features as each other they ciisdain'd , At variance set , inflexible and coarse , Ne ' er knew the workings of united force ; Ne'er kindly soften to each other ' s aid ,
Nor shew the mingled powers of light and shade . ' He Was quite a System-monger , as a teacher of Acting . He never directed his pupil to attend to the distinction , the degrees , the progress , and the combination of the passions , but talked of the importance of pauses . Pie had his simple ' pause , his middle pause , and his grand pause . The b . st pause was his favouriteand he sometimes
, indulged himself so long in it , that the Prompter , supposing he had forgotten his part , has often given him the cue , as it is-called , and by repeating the words still louder , made him quit the Stage with indignation , and complain of being interrupted in the midst of his grand . pause . As a Dramatist he has , as Johnson expresses it , only regarded 'the
surface of manners . '—His characters are all common place . Pie knew not how to select originals from the mass of life , to explore the recesses of the mind , to give animated colouring , and nice discrimination to the imitations of Nature . In conversation he had an imposing manner , that upon every subject rather scared than convinced , and what he said was delivered with such terrific force , that those who
ventured to differ in opinion with him , were reluctant to express their sentiments , lest they should be involved in a quarrel . What Johnson said of him was generally true— ' Macklin ' s conversation is a constant renovation of hope , with a perpetual disappointment . ' We have here attempted to give an impartial estimate of Charles Macklin , from candid report , and personal observation , in which we may truly affirm , that it was throughout our intention , viewing him in private life , upon the Stage , and in the Dramatic World , to
' Spsak of him as he was , nothing extenuate , Nor set down aught in malice . ' He died on Tuesday , the nth of July , in the 97 th year of his age . He had long been in a state of natural decay ; but although incapable of quitting his bed for several days previous to his dissolution , his spirits did not forsake him till within a few minutes of his final exit from
the stage of life . After a severe struggle against the invincible force of death , lie passed quietly ' into eternity without a . groan . His remains were interred oirthe following Sunday , in the Rector ' s vault , under Covenr-Garden church . The funeral was attended by the principal performers then in town ,