The Mirror of Taste, and Dramatic Censor, Vol. I, No. 2, February 1810Arnold, Samuel James
History
The Mirror of Taste, and Dramatic Censor, Vol. I, No. 2, February 1810
Arnold, Samuel James
Drama -- Periodicals; Theater -- Periodicals
In Master Payne's performance of this character we perceived many
faults, which call for his own correction. They are, we think, such as
he has it in his power to get rid of. As they are general and pervade
all his performances, we reserve our observations upon them till we
close the course of criticism we are to bestow upon him, when we mean to
sum up our opinion of his general talents. Meantime we beg leave to
remind him that Mr. Garrick himself, after he had been near forty years
upon the stage, often shut himself up for days together restudying and
rehearsing parts he had acted with applause a hundred times before. _Sat
sapienti._
Nature has bestowed upon this young gentleman a countenance of no common
order. Its expression has not yet unfolded itself; but we entertain no
doubt that when manhood and diligent professional exercise shall have
brought the muscles of his face into full relief, and strengthened its
lines, it will be powerfully capable of all the inflexions necessary for
a general player. At present the character of his physiognomy is
perfectly discernible only upon a near view. When he advances towards
the front of the stage, the lines may be perceived from that part of the
pit and boxes which are near the orchestra; even then the shades are so
very much softened by youth, and the parts so rounded, and so utterly
free from acute angles, that they can, as yet, but faintly express
strong, turbulent emotions, or display the furious passions. In a boy of
his age, this, so far from being a defect, is a beauty, the reverse of
which would be unnatural; and if it were a defect, every day that passes
over his head would remedy it. What is now wanting in muscular
expression, is in a great measure supplied by his eye, which glows with
animation, and intelligence, and at times SPEAKS the language of a soul
really impassioned. Upon a close view, when apart from the factitious
aids and incumbrances of stage-lights, costume, and paint, he must be a
shallow-sighted physiognomist who would not at the first glance be
struck by Master Payne's countenance. A more extraordinary mixture of
softness and intelligence never were associated in a human face. The
forehead is particularly fine; Lavater would say that genius and energy
were enthroned there; and over the whole, though yet quite boyish, there
is a strong expression of what is called manliness; by which is to be
understood, not present, but the indications of future manliness. How
strongly and distinctly this is characterised in the boy's face, may be
collected from an anecdote which, exclusive of its application to this
subject, we think well worth relating on account of the other party
concerned in it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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