50 LADY OF LYONS PRODUCED. [1838. from a long succession of performances of Hermione, Desdemona, Belvidera, Julia, Mrs Haller, Jane Shore, and Lady Townley, and still more welcome the opportunity of playing Cordelia to Mr Macready's Lear. In Lear Mr Macready was in later years certainly seen at his best. Miss Faucit always spoke of it with admiration. During this season it was only performed for a few nights. But after Mr Macready became manager at Drury Lane, she was very often his Cordelia, delighting in the part, and clothing it with all the charm which this exquisite creation of the poet demands.1 The success of the season came with the production, on the 27th of February 1838, of The Lady of Lyons, by Bulwer. During the rehearsals, Miss Faucit writes in her letters, this had been thought very doubtful. "The defects of the play, from a literary point of view, seemed obvious to those who were capable of judging, and its merits as a piece of skilful dramatic construction could not then be fully seen. My master and dear friend [Mr P. Farren] thought the character of Pauline, when I was studying it, very difficult and somewhat disagreeable. I remember well his saying to me, 'You have hitherto, in your Shakespearian studies, had to lift yourself up to the level of your heroines; now you must by tone and manner and dignity of expression lift this one up to yourself."" This, by universal consent, she succeeded in doing, making the character her own by putting into her impersonation qualities of mind and heart which are not to be found in the author's text. The cast of the piece was very powerful. Every character was in strong hands, and on the first night the play gave every promise of assured success. But for some nights afterwards the audiences were so scanty that Mr Macready talked one day at rehearsal of withdrawing it. Against this Mr Bartley, his stage manager, the Colonel Damas of the play, and himself a fine actor, protested. "Could you see, as I see," he said, "the effect upon the audience of the cottage scene, you would never dream 1 J. H. Foley, the eminent sculptor, executed two fine statuettes, one of Macready with Cordelia lying dead in his lap, the other of Prospero and Miranda, suggested by Mr Macready and Miss Faucit. Both are in my possession. |