Life of Edwin Forrest, the American Tragedian. Volume 1 (of 2) — John Shaqi
Life of Edwin Forrest, the American Tragedian. Volume 1 (of 2)Alger, Horatio, Jr.
General
Life of Edwin Forrest, the American Tragedian. Volume 1 (of 2)
Alger, Horatio, Jr.
Forrest, Edwin, 1806-1872
He was also spoken of in the same strain by the journals of Albany, one
of them using these words: "Our citizens will regret to read of the
death of Mr. William Forrest. He was known here not only as a manager
of much taste and enterprise, but as an actor of conceded merit and
reputation. He was also esteemed here, as in Philadelphia, by numerous
acquaintances for his personal worth and social qualities. The tidings
of his decease will be received with sorrow by all who knew him."
So, on the modest actor, manager, and man, after the short and
well-meant scene of his quiet, checkered, not unsuccessful life, the
curtain fell in swift and tragic close, leaving the mourners, who would
often speak kindly of him, to go about the streets for a little while
and then fade out like his memory.
The three daughters of the family--none of them ever marrying--lived to
see their youngest brother at the height of his fame, and always shared
freely in the comforts secured by his prosperity. They were proud
of his talents and reputation, grateful for his loving generosity,
devoted to his welfare. In his absence from home their correspondence
was constantly maintained, and the only interruption their attachment
knew was death. Henrietta lived to be sixty-five years old, dying
of liver-complaint in 1863. The next, Caroline, died from an attack
of apoplexy in 1869, at the age of sixty-seven. And the youngest,
Eleanora, after suffering partial paralysis, died of cancer in 1871,
being sixty-three years old.
No one among all our distinguished countrymen has been more thoroughly
American than Edwin Forrest. From the beginning to the end of his
career he was intensely American in his sympathies, his prejudices,
his training, his enthusiasm for the flag and name of his country,
his proud admiration for the democratic genius of its institutions,
his faith in its political mission, his interest in its historic men,
his fervent love of its national scenery and its national literature.
He was also American in his exaggerated dislike and contempt for the
aristocratic classes and monarchical usages of the Old World. He did
not seem to see that there are good and evil in every existing system,
and that the final perfection will be reached only by a process of
mutual giving and taking, which must go on until the malign elements of
each are expelled, the benign elements of the whole combined.
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