MR. CHARLES KEMBLE'S " FAN." "Peter ! My fan, Peter!"
Shakspeares Merentio, ae corrupted by Mr. Kemble.
ON the 10th of this month, we expressed our regret that Mr. CHARLES KEMBLE should have condescended to imitate the buffoonery by which preceding actors had polluted one passage in the character of Mercutio. On the Monday following, Mr. KEMBLE reformed the villanous practice which we had reprobated, and gave us the pure text of SHAKSPEARE. Mr. KEMBLE was applauded for this in a respect- able evening print of Tuesday ; and we took it for granted that lie would adhere to an emendation of which he had in so unequivocal and pub- lic a manner admitted the necessity. We find, however, that such is not the fact ; and that Mr. KEMBLE having for one night deviated into propriety, has again returned to a practice which is perhaps as dis- gusting to himself as it undoubtedly is to all persons of good taste among the audience. Wishing to satisfy ourselves by the evidence of our own senses upon the fact of this paltry relapse into absurd vul- garity, we went to Covent Garden on Monday night, and actually saw Mr. KEMBLE, whilst professing to sustain the character of a gay and elegant cavalier sans pear et sans reprocke, caper off the stage with the gait of a merryandrew, amusing the dregs of the audience by dusting his face with the feathers of his bonnet, and squeaking out three or four senseless words, in pronouncing which he imitated the articulation of a toothless and rheumatical old woman. This an- tick of Mr. KEMBLE, though not very weighty in itself, yet being thrown up into the air of Covent Garden theatre, pretty exactly shows the way in which the wind sits in that place.. The cause of Mr. KEMBLE'S having (like a certain domestic animal) returned again to that object which his taste had previously rejected, is most pro- bably to be found in the fact that the correct representation could not command the applause of those persons to whose taste vulgarity was congenial, and to whose eyes and ears it had been made familiar in this case by the original audacity of some one actor, and the servile imitation of others : and the manner in which Mr. KEM- BLE has openly and deliberately sacrificed his judgment to his ima- gined interest or his real vanity, throws some light upon the way in which actors and audiences mutually corrupt each other, whilst no performer has the courage to forego the noisy lestimcny of the galleries for the more quiet approbation of the judicious. We are ready to admit, (and much we lament the fact), that in the case of the general herd of performers, the breath of popular applause is the breath of their life. But is Mr. KEMBLE in such a stale of de- pendence, or is he so avaricious of the very lowest fractions of popular favour, that he should discredit his character actual and drnmatical, for the purpose of "setting on some quantity of barren spectators to laugh," and " wringing from the hard hands of peasants " their vile contribution of senseless clapping ? There was a time when the,name of KEMBLE could make even folly appear inconsistent and out of place upon the stage, and when Lord BYRON could exclaim,
" Heavens ! on that stage shall nonsense rear her head, Where Garrick trod and Kemble lives to tread !
We think ourselves warranted in adding, that late events have given the intelligent lovers of the drama reason to expect from Mr. KEMBLE a sort of temper and disposition very different from those which he has sltown upon the present occasion. However, since it is deter- mined that SHAKSPEARE must be outraged, and the graceful Mei.- call° turned into a buffoon for the amusement of the groundings, we suggest to Mr. KEMBLE, as an improvement upon the present prac- tice, that he go oil' the stage to the tune of the Bold Dragoon, singing as he retires,
" There was an ancient fill'', And she loved a neat young. 2nan ; And she could not get sly winks at him, But only through her fan, With her winks and blinks, This waddling minx, Her quizzing-glass, Her leer and sidle, Oh ! she loved this bold dragoon, With his long sword, saddle, bridle,— "hack !—row de dow," &c.
Here we have in a popular song a passage ready-made, and in wonder- ful harmony with all the circumstances of the scene. The words printed in Italics may be dwelt upon with great effect, as containing sly allusions to the principal persons then upon the stage ; and pecu- liar stress could be laid upon the fan, ‘vhieli has been so very properly made an integral part of illercatio's charism er. If the actor would go on to favour us with the burthen, and, stamping loudly with his right foot, make his exit exactly at the words " Whack ! row de dow," we undertake for his receiving from one part of the house more decided applause than has been yet bestowed upon his action in this passage. He would moreover afford the critics in the gallery an opportunity of joining in the chorus, and thus participating in this buffoonery which they must now be content with admiring and applauding.
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