He related to us several other incidents in the life of Garrick, and concluded with a just tribute of praise to the memory of his great master.— "No actor," said he, "ever did, or perhaps ever will, possess such universal talent as Garrick. He may, indeed, have had rivals in some particu lar parts; but who could ever perform like him, on one and the same evening, such opposite characters as Archer and Lusignan, Bayes and Benedick, a Country Clown and Selim, Sir John Brute and the Guardian, Romeo and Lord Chalkstone, Hamlet and Sharp, King Lear and Fribble, King Richard and a Student, &c.? What versatility of genius he possessed, and what wonderful contrasts, and what perfection he presented in every character he sustained!

'We ne'er shall look upon his like again."

I could almost imagine myself listening to an old amateur of the Theatre-Français, who had forgotten Talma and Lafont, to celebrate the apo theosis of Lekain.

LETTER XXXI.

TO MADAME GUIZOT.

MACBETH is one of the dramas of Shakspeare which leave the deepest impression on the mind

of the spectator, on account of the union of tragical situations with supernatural agency. At the very opening of the play, the imagination is powerfully excited by the aspect of the wild scenery, the apparition of the witches, and the irresistible curiosity awakened by their mysterious predictions. I am now fully convinced of the justice of the remark made by a celebrated dramatic critic, namely, that most of Shakspeare's plays lose very much in representation. I know not what effect would be produced upon us if the Eumenides of the Greek drama were suddenly to appear at the moment when Talma, in Orestes, fills the minds of his auditors with all the terror with which he is himself agitated at their approach. But the Weird Sisters, whom my imagination had pictured such as Shakspeare has pourtrayed them, were, at Drury Lane, only so many actors of low comedy. Though Messieurs Harley, Knight, and Gattie have acquired a certain degree of reputation in these characters, yet they certainly destroyed all my illusions. I laughed like a child who discovers that his nurse has been frightening him with an idle tale. Talma's recital, which has been so highly extolled by Madame de Stael, would probably now only suggest to me the idea of a parody.

Kean performs Macbeth in a most masterly style, and admirably defines the distinction between the timid and undecided ambition of the Scottish general, and the proud and triumphant ambition of Richard III. Richard is actuated by instinctive perfidy and cruelty: he has no other counsellors

than his own ferocious and sanguinary disposition. He is disturbed by no compunctions of conscience -and when he has attained the object of his ambition, crime, which was at first only the stepping stone to his power, becomes his amusement. Macbeth is naturally virtuous; every wicked action costs him severe stings of remorse; but he is urged on from crime to crime, by the instigation of his wife, and by a sort of mysterious fatality. The predictions of the witches act upon him like a charm. His courage, which was at first so noble, becomes merely the blind energy of a disordered mind. Lady Macbeth, on the contrary, by her obstinate ambition and masculine perseverance, exercises over her husband all the ascendancy of a great mind. Her criminal thirst for power assumes an air of heroism. Yet she is not without some touches of feminine tenderness, and she excites a certain degree of interest through her attachment to her husband, and the feeling of filial affection which is awakened in her bosom by the resemblance of the venerable countenance of Duncan to that of her father.

Mrs. West, who is as beautiful as one of Guido's Magdalens, is, unfortunately, too much of the woman for the correct personification of Lady Macbeth. She appears particularly tame and feeble to those who recollect Mrs. Siddons. Of this celebrated woman Hazlitt observes, that it is impossible to conceive anything superior to her performance of Lady Macbeth. The dignity of her deportment, her expressive countenance, and the

exquisite tones of her voice, all combined to render her a perfect representative of the tragic muse. The performance of Mrs. Siddons was powerfully impressive in that appalling scene in which Lady Macbeth walks in her sleep. Her eyes were open, but "their sense was shut;" she seemed to have lost all consciousness of existence; her lips moved as it were involuntarily; all her gestures were mechanical; and she glided on and off the stage like a ghost.

Kean, in spite of all his genius, is not in himself sufficient to give full effect to the representation of this tragedy. The vigour and truth of his performance would be shewn off to infinitely greater advantage with an actress equal to himself in the character of Lady Macbeth. Kean's Macbeth is, upon the whole, a less perfect performance than his Richard III.; but he surpasses even himself in the scene in which he rushes from Duncan's chamber, after the perpetration of the murder, Shakspeare has not made Macbeth launch into one of those declamations of remorse which are, perhaps, of too frequent occurrence in tragedy.. Macbeth enters, after the commission of the murder, overwhelmed by the weight of his crime; his knees tremble, and almost refuse to support him; his lips are agitated by a convulsive movement, and only half articulate the stifled accents of his voice. Lady Macbeth takes the bloody daggers from him and carries them to Duncan's chamber, where she lays them beside his sleeping attendants, to make it appear they are the mur

derers. A knocking is heard at the gate of the castle. Macbeth trembles, and gazes with terror on his blood-stained hands. He has not power to fly, and Lady Macbeth drags him to his chamber. From that moment Macbeth seems to be absorbed in a continual dream. Amidst the splendour of his usurped greatness, his diseased imagination feeds itself on superstition, and the Weird Sisters, by their artful prophecies, excite his impatience and urge him to his destruction.

I was fearful that Kean would descend to some of those trivialities, which, though perfectly natural in Richard, would have compromised the dignity which a less bold usurper, such as Macbeth, must feel the necessity of maintaining. Familiarity would be utterly inconsistent with the situation of a king de facto, who, being conscious of his own weakness, and feeling his throne totter beneath him, naturally clings to any support, whether real or imaginary. Kean has evidently studied Shakspeare profoundly. He has philosophically analysed all those characters, with which, on the stage, he seems to identify himself by inspiration.

On the evening on which I saw Kean in Macbeth, Cooper sustained the part of Macduff. He performed this character very much in the style in which he played Richmond, and his fencing was admirable. He was very effective in the scene where Rosse informs him that his wife, children, and servants have been slaughtered by the tyrant, and where, on his friends wishing to console him