The collected works of William Hazlitt, Vol. 08 (of 12)Hazlitt, William
General
The collected works of William Hazlitt, Vol. 08 (of 12)
Hazlitt, William
English essays -- 19th century
Mr. Young played the Duke tolerably well. As to the cant introduced into
Schlegel’s account of the Duke’s assumed character of a Monk, we scout
it altogether. He takes advantage of the good-nature of the poet to
impose on the credulity of mankind. Chaucer spoke of the Monks
historically, Shakespear poetically. It was not in the nature of
Shakespear to insult over ‘the enemies of the human race’ just after
their fall. We however object to them entirely in this age of the
revival of Inquisitions and Protestant massacres. We have not that
stretch of philosophical comprehension which, in German metaphysics,
unites popery and free-thinking together, loyalty and regicide, and
which binds up the Bible and Spinoza in the same volume!—Mr. Jones did
not make a bad Lucio. Miss O’Neill’s Isabella, though full of merit,
disappointed us; as indeed she has frequently done of late. Her ‘Oh fie,
fie,’ was the most spirited thing in her performance. She did not seize
with much force the spirit of her author, but she seemed in complete
possession of a certain conventicle twang. She whined and sang out her
part in that querulous tone that has become unpleasant to us by
ceaseless repetition. She at present plays all her parts in the Magdalen
style. We half begin to suspect that she represents the bodies, not the
souls of women, and that her _forte_ is in tears, sighs, sobs, shrieks,
and hysterics. She does not play either Juliet or Isabella finely. She
must stick to the common-place characters of Otway, Moore, and Miss
Hannah More, or she will ruin herself. As Sir Joshua Reynolds concluded
his last lecture with the name of Michael Angelo, as Vetus wished the
name of the Marquis Wellesley to conclude his last letter, so we will
conclude this article with a devout apostrophe to the name of Mrs.
Siddons.
MR. KEAN’S SIR GILES OVERREACH
_The Examiner._
_February 18, 1816._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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