Pratrrs.

The week which terminates today has been marked by a "great fact" —the farewell benefit of Mr. Macready at Drury Lane Theatre. The anticipatory taking of places, the conversion of the slips and the orchestra into a series of numbered seats, all of which were occupied, the crowd assembled in Drury Lane, Great Russell Street, and the other approaches, are all of them so many smaller facts, which swell up the "fact" par excel- lence, that the retirement of Mr. Macready was regarded as a matter of me- tropolitan if not of national importance. If Pope Pio Nono flatters himself that his "aggression" was on any one day so momentous in the eyes of Englishmen as Mr. Macready's retirement was on Wednesday last, he is egregiously mistaken. And let us add, that it was not a mere mob, in the depreciatory sense of the word, that attended to witness the great tragedian's exit : the audience comprised the picked men, representa- tives of the literary and artistic intellect of this country. Moreover, the throng was not drawn together by the ordinary feeling of curiosity. Pro- bably there was not one person in the whole house who had not seen Mr. Macready's Macbeth over and over again ; and there was no circumstance, beyond the fact of his retirement—no Royal visit, or anything of that sort—to give a stamp of novelty to the performance. A desire to pay a tribute of respect to our greatest histrionic artist seemed to have inspired the inhabitants of London, and demonstrated itself with a force which old pLavgoers regard as unprecedented.

The professional critics of the day have celebrated the event by length- ened dissertations on Mr. Macready's peculiarities. From the earliest period votive offerings have been regulated by the position of the devo- tees. The earliest agriculturist loaded his altar with specimens of the vegetable kingdom ; a sheep represented the adoration of the first shep- herd. So in modern times the mere auditor solemnizes a theatrical event by the hand, hat, or handkerchief; while the critic makes a more im- posing appearance in the triumphal procession by his characteristic essay. An evening like Wednesday last is just the occasion for "fine writing "— for weaving a net of categories that will do anything but catch the object in view. One ingenious gentleman will praise the artist for emancipating the stage from a cold, artificial, declamatory style ; as if coldness and art were inseparable terms, and verse written as verse ought not to be spoken with moderate regard for metre. Another will likewise give his meed of applause because the actor has exhibited actualities rather than poetic creations ; as if the principle were established, as a matter of course, that the individual man, with all his accidents, isto be represented, rather than the man ideally elevated. A third will prove to you, that the artist was no genius, because what he did was the result of labour ; as though genius were not in itself an impulse to labour, and true conscientious la- hour were not one of the exponents of genius. A fourth will, perchance, cross the stage-lamps, discuss the actor's internal motives and peculiari-

ties of temper, and But with a gentleman of this kind we have nought to do excepting to remark that he goes beyond the proper limits of his vocation.

If we too must give our votive characteristic, we can only recapitulate what we have frequently said before, and have found uttered in a more expansive form by many of our contemporaries. According to our view, Mr. Macready was an intellectual actor—an artist who worked from a conception, at a time when others worked according to tradition, without any fresh impulse from their own minds : and this, after all, was his great merit. His tendency was to the natural rather than the ideal, to the concrete rather than to the abstract ; and hence, the more definite features a part presented, the more complete was his impersonation. Ex- ceptions to this general statement may indeed be found in his large re- pertoire; but still it is near enough to the truth when only generalities are possible. A peculiarity of utterance and of gesture, which cannot be conveyed otherwise than by imitation, and which will be handed down by mimics long after Mr. Macready's excellencies are inaccessible, should not be passed over, as they were a most important element in the artist's performance. The manner in which he would turn this peculiarity, half- mental half-physical, to account, now in the ironical touches by which he relieved the graver passages of tragedy, now by the genuine humour of his comedy, was a remarkable instance of an artist making the best even of a drawback.

But high as is the position which Mr. Macready has occupied for more than five-and-thirty years in his profession,—being during the latter por- tion of that period the only original intellectual tragedian on the stage, for his younger contemporaries are disciples, not originators,—high 88 as this position, it is only one of the causes which produced the excitement of last Wednesday. The exertions of Mr. Macready in reviving, a taste fur the poetical drama at a time when its revival seemed hopeless ; his ' superior literary acquirements ; the really high station he has ocenpied in ' society, not as a "lion," but as one of its worthiest members,—all these I circumstances must be taken into consideration, to account for the enthu- siasm displayed at Drury Lime, and the anxiety with which tickets are sought for the "Macready Dinner" which is announced to take place this day. A tie of esteem, binding the public to the artist, has gradually and without interruption been strengthened during a long series of years ; and this was strongly expressed by the demeanour of Mr. Macready's audience, and the look—we would almost any of affection—with which he took leave of them. It is worthy of observation that his performance (,f Macbeth was unaccompanied by the vulgar patronizing forms of applause the tragedy was respectfully heard throughout.

The short speech which was delivered by Mr. Macready after the tra- gedy and in plain clothes, is greatly to be commended for the modest

manner in which the artist set forth the real facts of his position ; and we would add, that the style of dthvery was completely in keeping with the style of the words, which we give entire.

"Ladies and Gentlemen—My last theatrical part is played ; and, in ac- cordance with long-established usage, I appear once more *before you. Even if I were without precedent for the discharge of this act of duty, it is Or e which my own feelings would irresistibly urge upon me ; for, as I look bac:: on my long professional career, I see in it but one continuous record of in- dulgence and support extended to me, cheering me in my onward progress, and upholding me in most tryin.., emergencies. I have therefore been de- sirous of offering you my parting acknowledgments for the partial kindness with which my humble eflorts have uniformly been received, and for a life

made happier by your favour. The distaue2 of more than five-and-thirty years has not dimmed my recollection of the encouragement which gave fresh impulse to the inexperienced essays of my youth, and stimulated me

to perseverance, when struggling hardly for equality of position against the genius and talent of those artists whose superior excellence I ungrudgingly admitted, admired, and honoured. That encouragement helped to place me, in respect to privileges and emolument, on a footing with my distinguished competitors. With the growth of time your favour seemed to grow ; and,

undisturbed in my hold on your opinion, from year to year I found niends

more closely and thickly clustering round me. All I can advance to testify how justly I have appreciated the patronage thus liberally awarded

rue, is the devotion, throughout those years, of my be..4 energies to your service. My ambition to establish a theatre, in regard to decorum and taste worthy of our country, and to have in it the plays of our divine Shakspere fitly illustrated, was frustrated by those whose duty it

was, in virtue ot the trust committed to them, themselves to have under- taken the task. But some good seed has yet been sown ; and in the zeal and

creditable productions of certain of our present managers, we have asseranee

that the corrupt editions and unseemly presentations of past days will never be restored, but that the purity of our great poet's text will from hencefor- ward be held on our English stage in the reverence it should ever coirmrind.

I have little more to say. By sonic the relation of an actor to his audience is considered as slight and transient. I do not feel it so. The repeated ma- nifestation, under circumstances personally affecting me, of your favourable

sentiments towards me, will live with me among my most grateful memories; and because I would not willingly abate one jot in your esteem, I retire with the belief of yet unfail'ng powers, rather than linger on the scene, to sit iii contrast the feeble style of age with the more vigorous exertions of my better years. Words—at least such as I can command—are ineffectual to convoy my thanks. In offering them, you will believe that I feel far more than I give utterance to. With sentiments of the deepest gratitude I take my leave, bidding you, ladies and gentlemen, in say professional capacity, with regret, and most respectfully, a last farewell."

The spirit and vigour with which _Ifaehrth had been played srera suf- ficient to justify the avowed conviction of the actor that lie ri tired with "yet unfailing powers" ; although an occasional effort, both on Wed- nesday and during the recent performances at the Haymarket, may have shown that those powers are not precisely what they were years ago.

One great moral to be drawn from the demonstration of Wednesday 'a this, that the artist who labours worthily in any department of art is cer- tain of respect, not to say veneration. There are persons who affect to look down on the histrionic profession ; but who that saw the head of that profession honoured with an ovation which royalty itself could not command, would venture to deny that a great actor is one of the highest objects of esteem in an enlightened metropolis ?