Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Obituary.
Obituary .
DEATH or GKI . IIAI . DI . —The patriarch of Clowns , JOSEPH GRIMILDI IS dead ! ¦ - > " So fa les , so vanishes , grows dim and dies , All that this world is proud of . " To those who recollect Grimaldi in his prime , it must cost an effort to consider him in grim association with " dusty death ! " His antics seemed not for but for all time
" an age , . " How gloriously did he despoil butchers ot their legs of mutton , apple-women of their pippins , makinn- by his " so potent art , " petty larceny the most humorous of all conceits But he who has robbed with fame for nearly half a century , is carried off by the general thief—the gaunt , stark highwayman , who stops even monarchs on their own road , rifling them with no more ceremon y than the be ™ ar at the ditch side . ' Grimaldi is dead . Remembering his tricks , we doubt as we read , his Hie jacct ! ' The following lines have been sent to us by one of his early and passionate admirers . J
Adieu ! great Clown ! for great indeed thou wort , Who lent to mummery and wildest farce True humour ' s power , and even moral ' s force ; Proving how truly genius can inspire All things , from poesy to pantomime—The lowest branch of histrionic art . Thou hadst not then one jumptrick device
, , or , Longer to ' scape from the all-magic wand Of the dark-visaged Harlequin , old Death . Well , till he strike us , doubt not but thy name Shall be remembered with the prouder ones AVho trod in tragic pomp or polished grace , AA ^ ith steps contemporaneous , the stage .
"Poor 'Joe , ' tumbled into existence on the 18 th of December 17 ? 9 and made his first appearance on any stage at Drury Lane Theatre in the pantomime of' Robinson Crusoe , ' the 26 th of December , 17 S 1 He remained as the Fairy , Imp , Goblin , Cupid , Zephyr , & c , of this establiswent , for some years ; and when only seven years of age had a regular engagement , which contributed not only to his support , but also to elevate him in no little degree , above his minor playmates . His first
appearance as a man , was in the melo-drama of Valentine and Orson , ' in which he sustained the arduous character of Orson , his astonishin g agility and fine conception amply compensating for his want of figure . After passing upwards of a quarter of a century at Drury Lane , he went over to Covent Garden , where he made his first appearance in that most successful of comic pantomimes , Mother Goose . From that period his progress in his profession be traced as graduallrising
may y every vear in public esteem and favour . His difficult and original delineation of the character of Clown , full y deserved the encomiums that were at that time lavished on him ; and an after performance of Acres , in Sheridan ' s comedy ot The Rivals , gave promise of great talent in the regular drama , had his inclinations tended that way . Mr . Grimaldi had been part proprietor of Sadler ' s AVeils for many years , and havinrr survived two
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Obituary.
Obituary .
DEATH or GKI . IIAI . DI . —The patriarch of Clowns , JOSEPH GRIMILDI IS dead ! ¦ - > " So fa les , so vanishes , grows dim and dies , All that this world is proud of . " To those who recollect Grimaldi in his prime , it must cost an effort to consider him in grim association with " dusty death ! " His antics seemed not for but for all time
" an age , . " How gloriously did he despoil butchers ot their legs of mutton , apple-women of their pippins , makinn- by his " so potent art , " petty larceny the most humorous of all conceits But he who has robbed with fame for nearly half a century , is carried off by the general thief—the gaunt , stark highwayman , who stops even monarchs on their own road , rifling them with no more ceremon y than the be ™ ar at the ditch side . ' Grimaldi is dead . Remembering his tricks , we doubt as we read , his Hie jacct ! ' The following lines have been sent to us by one of his early and passionate admirers . J
Adieu ! great Clown ! for great indeed thou wort , Who lent to mummery and wildest farce True humour ' s power , and even moral ' s force ; Proving how truly genius can inspire All things , from poesy to pantomime—The lowest branch of histrionic art . Thou hadst not then one jumptrick device
, , or , Longer to ' scape from the all-magic wand Of the dark-visaged Harlequin , old Death . Well , till he strike us , doubt not but thy name Shall be remembered with the prouder ones AVho trod in tragic pomp or polished grace , AA ^ ith steps contemporaneous , the stage .
"Poor 'Joe , ' tumbled into existence on the 18 th of December 17 ? 9 and made his first appearance on any stage at Drury Lane Theatre in the pantomime of' Robinson Crusoe , ' the 26 th of December , 17 S 1 He remained as the Fairy , Imp , Goblin , Cupid , Zephyr , & c , of this establiswent , for some years ; and when only seven years of age had a regular engagement , which contributed not only to his support , but also to elevate him in no little degree , above his minor playmates . His first
appearance as a man , was in the melo-drama of Valentine and Orson , ' in which he sustained the arduous character of Orson , his astonishin g agility and fine conception amply compensating for his want of figure . After passing upwards of a quarter of a century at Drury Lane , he went over to Covent Garden , where he made his first appearance in that most successful of comic pantomimes , Mother Goose . From that period his progress in his profession be traced as graduallrising
may y every vear in public esteem and favour . His difficult and original delineation of the character of Clown , full y deserved the encomiums that were at that time lavished on him ; and an after performance of Acres , in Sheridan ' s comedy ot The Rivals , gave promise of great talent in the regular drama , had his inclinations tended that way . Mr . Grimaldi had been part proprietor of Sadler ' s AVeils for many years , and havinrr survived two