FEW writers for the stage, in modern times, have been more successful than JAMES KENNEY, who almost rivals O'Keeffe in the numerical amount of his dramas, while he exceeds that rich humorist in variety of style. Tragedy, play, comedy, opera, farce, interlude, and melodrama, alternately employed his pen, which was seldom idle for forty years, during which long period he produced as many different pieces, the greater number of which are eminently attractive, and still keep the stage with undiminished popularity. It would be difficult to parallel him with any other author who has written so much and failed so seldom. Without the powerful or commanding originality by which a few greater names are distinguished, he is always fresh and agreeable, and cannot be classed as a copyist of any preceding school.

James Kenney was born in Ireland, about the year 1780. His family, on the male side, were genuine Hibernians for multiplied generations. His father filled, for many years, the situation of manager of Boodle's Club, in St. James'sstreet, of which he was also, in part, proprietor and institutor, and was well known and respected in the sporting world. The son, while yet a youth, being intended for a mercantile life, was placed in the banking-house of Messrs. Herries, Farquhar and Co.; and there (although not in the most congenial soil), in common with other young men of his own grade, imbibed a taste for the muses, and figured in private theatricals. His first acknowledged literary attempt appears to have been a small volume, published in 1803, entitled "Society, a Poem, in two parts, with Other Poems." The object was to set forth an agreeable antidote to the rhapsodical declamations of Zimmermann, and other disciples of that mystical school, in praise of solitude, by picturing, in strong

VOL. XLVII.-NO. CCLXXVII.

contrast, the pleasures and blessings of social intercourse. The work, as an indication of promise, was not without considerable merit, but has long been forgotten, and its very limited circulation naturally and fortunately induced the author to cultivate a much happier talent for dramatic composition. He wrote a farce, called Raising the Wind, for the amateurs already alluded to, and acted Jeremy Diddler himself, preceded by Shylock.

The rapturous applause with which this celebrated farce was received, and the urgent advice of his coadjutors in the representation, induced him to offer it to the managers of Covent Garden, by whom it was immediately accepted. The production took place on the 5th of November, 1803, which proved an important epoch in the life of the writer. Raising the Wind ran thirtyeight nights without interruption, and still retains its place on the acting list as one of the best pieces of the class

The

A

the English language. Perhaps no farce has ever been repeated so often, in so many theatres, public and private, and none is more likely to enjoy a lasting immortality. On the night when it was first acted there was great attraction at Covent Garden. performances commenced with The Fair Penitent, revived on that occasion for the combined talents of Mrs. Siddons, John Kemble, Charles Kemble, and George Frederic Cooke. tragedy thus supported, and a crowded house, were almost certain heralds of success to a new farce of any pretensions. The original cast of Raising the Wind was as follows:-Jeremy Diddler, Lewis; Fainwood, Simmonds; Sam, a Yorkshireman, Emery; Plainway, Blanchard; Miss Laurelia Durable, an old maid, Mrs. Davenport; Peggy, daughter to Plainway, Mrs. Beverley. The acting was excellent throughout; that of Lewis, Emery, and Simmonds, inimitable. No suc

C

ceeding Jeremy Diddler ever came up to the original, although every executive light comedian has added to his reputation by personating the scheming hero, whose name has become generic to denote a numerons species, not likely to become extinct with the rapidity of modern changes. The character of Diddler is not entirely new on the stage. Lackland in O'Keeffe's Fontainbleau, and Sponge in Reynolds's Cheap Living, are his theatrical progenitors; but Kenney is entitled to full praise for the skill and neatness with which he has arranged his piece, filled it with life and bustle, and introduced several of those whimsical situations which it is the legitimate province of farce to exhibit.

On the 20th of November, 1804, Kenney's second dramatic effort was ushered in at Drury-lane, under the title of Matrimony; a petite opera, taken from the " Adolphe et Claire” of Marsollier. The materials are too scanty for an entertainment of two acts, and the piece has since been most judiciously improved by curtailment into one, and by the omission of unnecessary songs. Matrimony was almost as successful as Raising the Wind, and is still in constant requisition. The contrivance of the plot, as far as respects the bringing the married couple into the same prison, is new and ingenious, but the idea has been somewhat forestalled by Dibdin in the Jew and the Doctor. It will also remind many, of the scenes between Sir Robert and Lady Ramble, in Mrs. Inchbald's Every One has his Fault, and Sir Charles and Lady Racket, in Murphy's Three Weeks after Marriage. At the beginning of the present century, the companies of the two great London theatres presented an array of ability that would have illustrated with honour the best authors of the Elizabethan era.

In a trifling afterpiece, such as Matrimony, there were combined the talents of Mrs. Jordan, Mrs. Bland, Elliston, Dowton, and Jack Johnstone. Too Many Cooks, another musical farce, by Kenney, acted at Covent Garden, on the 12th of February, 1805, must be included in the list of the condemned. It was received with some unequivocal marks of disapprobation, and after the third night, was withdrawn by the author. In his title he cut the proverb short, but he might have added the sequel as a commen

tary on his failure. His next productions more than regained the ground he had lost. False Alarms, or My Cousin, a comic opera, in three acts, the music by Braham and King, had a very successful and attractive run of twenty-one nights, at Drury-lane, in the early part of 1807. In this piece the author appears to have trusted entirely to good dramatic music, poetical words for the songs, smart dialogue, humour, incident, and situations; in fine, to have discarded machinery, drums, trumpets, noise, and spectacle, which were then high in the ascendant, and to have aimed at the restoration of a legitimate opera. In this instance he was fortunate; and while he repaid himself amply, brought money to the treasury of the theatre, without previously exhausting a larger sum on scene - painters, machinists, tailors, dressmakers, ovations, processions, elephants, camels, horses, dogs, and monkeys. In False Alarms Bannister had a comic song, "Major M'Pherson," which was long chanted in every street by itinerant melodists; and Braham introduced, for the first time, his popular ballad, “Said a Smile to a Tear.' True comic opera is a very pleasing form of dramatic composition, and is invariably enjoyed by any audience with intense relish. The sentimental charlatan, Rousseau, says, "Le plaisir du comique est fondè sur un vice du cœur." If this be true, a very large majority of the world are in an awful and hopeless extreme of human depravity.

Ella Rosenberg, first performed at Drury-lane, on the 19th of November, 1807, is one of the most agreeable and successful melodramas that the stage possesses. The serious nature of the subject prevented much introduction of those traits of broad humour which are usually looked for in an afterpiece; but what was wanting on the score of farcical effect, was amply compensated by the glow of natural feeling and strong interest which pervades the entire piece. The heroine was originally performed by Mrs. Henry Siddons, one of the most accomplished actresses in her line that ever trod the boards, and who upheld, with undiminished lustre, the distinguished name that she acquired by marriage. Leigh Hunt characterised her style with happy accuracy when he wrote thus, in 1805:"Her genius is entirely feminine, for

actresses, like queens, lose something of the woman, in proportion as they exhibit the powers of command, and the more rigorous acquirements. Assassinations and bloodshed are as little conducive to female delicacy of effect on the stage, as they were in real life with Christina of Sweden, or Catharine of Russia," He then observes"The only prevailing fault in this actress is a monotonous delivery. The tones, indeed, are the sweetest in the world, but we should become tired of Apollo's lyre were it always in one key.

The cast of Ella Rosenberg included Elliston, Mathews, and Bannister, It ran above forty nights during the first season, and is still constantly acted in all the theatres throughout the kingdom. Du Bois, who was then considered the Jupiter Tonans of critics, thus delivered his opinion in The Monthly Mirror

"It will be seen, from the rough outline we have given, that the author rests his hope entirely on interesting incident and situation, which in some scenes were potent beyond anything we have lately beheld. How this operated on the house was very observable, on the encore of a good glee, by King, which the majority of the audience evidently objected to, merely because they could not bear the action of the piece to be interrupted. Mrs. H. Siddons's Ella was full of every beauty of acting, exquisite pathos, and most eloquent and impressive dumb show. The scene where she rushes in as Storm is proceeding to execution, was, by the joint skill of Mrs. H. Siddons and Mr. Bannister, wrought up to the highest perfection of all that is fine and effective in theatrical art. The pleasure of the house on seeing Mr. Bannister return to his professional duties, after a long and severe sickness, was testified by a greeting that must have been most grateful to him. He is introduced singing, Begone

dull care,' words to which his presence generally compels a prompt and strict obedience. On this occasion, however, his comic powers yielded to a display of that talent in which he has no equal; the man of years, honest, plain, and unsophisticated, with a heart overflowing with affection and kindness. He and Mrs. H. Siddons were the great support of the piece. Mr. Elliston was clever, but his dress and moustachios gave him the look of a cut-throat, the very opposite of his character. The sole attempt at anything comic is in Sigismond Fluttermann, personated by

Mathews, whose only humour consists in repeating his name, and talking about a speech which he makes in a blundering manner to the Elector. This is old and weak; nothing could be made of it. Ella Rosenberg is, we understand, 'not translated, only taken from the French.' The dialogue throughout has much the smack of French liquor, which pro bably sparkled a little when in its Gallic flask, but, being poured off into an English decanter, is exceedingly flat. Much as we admire the ingenuity of Mr. Kenney in Matrimony, and in this piece, we could wish that the author of Raising the Wind would not, so unnecessarily, covet his neighbour's goods, but give us more of that happy vein with which he at first entertained us.'

It seems as if our author had taken the hint, for, in his next effort, he went back to originality, soaring higher than he had hitherto ventured to ascend, and produced a comedy in five acts, entitled The World, which came out at Drury-lane, on the 31st of March, 1808, and had an attractive run of twentythree nights, throughout the remainder of that season. It was occasionally repeated during the next, until the operations of the company were suspended by the burning of the theatre, on the night of the 24th of March, 1809. Lord Byron speaks harshly of this play in "English Bards." He says:—–

"While Kenney's World - ah! where is Kenney's wit?

Tires the sad gallery, lulls the listless pit."*

The criticism is unjust, and the fact mis-stated. The World has not the brilliancy of The School for Scandal, or the power of Money; but still it may take place above the average of modern dramas. The great fault lies in the construction of the fourth and fifth acts, which sink exactly where they should rise. The object is to show the folly of a blind submission to the dictates of fashion, and the mischief resulting from too great a fear of "its dread laugh." This is principally exemplified in the character of Echo, a young man from the country, who has deserted the girl of his heart, and comes to town for the purpose of making a figure in the world. With this view, he apes every fool or coxcomb he encounters, until failure of success and better counsel induce him to return to common

sense and blighted affection. Cheviot the poet, author, and foundling, living by his wits, is the ostensible hero, but he is rather dull and prosaic, though high-spirited and independent. The incidental characters of Dauntless and Loiter, two idle nonentities, are amusingly drawn ; but that of Index is, perhaps, the best in the play. He is an old bachelor, who, without employment, really does more than half the men of business in the world. He is popping in everywhere, knows everybody, and will do everything, because "he has nothng to do." When Jack Bannister retired from the stage, he selected his original part of Echo, with Walter, in The Children in the Wood, for his final appearance. This occurred on the 1st of June, 1815, and was the last occasion on which The World was revived in London. Hazlitt, in a notice of Bannister's farewell, says :"The comedy of The World is one of the most ingenious and amusing of the modern stage. It has great neatness of dialogue, and considerable originality, as well as spriteliness of character. It is, however, chargeable with a grossness which is common to modern plays; we mean the grossness of fashionable life in the men, and the grossness of fine sentiment in the women." We confess that we are unable to discover this blemish in the dialogue, which is written throughout with ease and elegance. Kenney rarely descends to pun, and where he is equivocal, he is remarkably neat. As, for instance, Echo telling Lady Bloomfield, in an obscure way, that he had been pursued by bailiffs, she observes, mistakingly "Yes, I know that you literary men are very much run after."

Kenney's next production, a comic opera, called Oh! this Love, or the Masqueraders, appeared at the Lyceum, in June, 1810. This proved to be a sad falling off, bitterly disappointing to his friends and the public, and was doomed to total extinction, after a few profitless repetitions which ended with the season. Perhaps be wrote in a hurry, or to order, or disliked his subject, or lent his name to what was not his own; but in either case (except the last) he must have found it difficult to put toge

ther three acts so utterly vapid and uninteresting.

On the 7th of March, 1812, Kenney's musical afterpiece of Turn Out, was acted at the Lyceum Theatre, by the Drury-lane company. It was very successful, commanded twenty-eight repetitions, and still keeps the stage. Dowton and Miss Duncan (afterwards Mrs. Davison) acquired much credit in the two principal characters, Restive and Marian Ramsay. Before the close of the same year, another excellent farce, Love, Law, and Physic, added considerably to our author's reputation. It ran forty-four nights during the first season (at Covent Garden), and is still constantly acted in the metropolis and provinces. There are many yet living who have seen Liston, Mathews, Emery, Blanchard, and Mrs. Gibbs, in their original characters, and all together. Such acting is not easily forgotten. Hazlitt says of Liston in this farce"It is hard to say whether the soul of Mr. Liston has passed into Mr. Lubin Log, or that of Mr. Lubin Log into Mr. Liston; but a most wonderful congeniality and mutual good understanding there is between them. A more perfect personation we never witnessed. Moliere would not have wished for a richer representative of his Bourgeois Gentilhomme."

We cannot say much in praise of the comedy of Debtor and Creditor, produced at Covent Garden, on the 20th of April, 1814, which died quietly after eight repetitions, and is principally to be remembered as containing the last original part (Barbara Green) acted by the inimitable daughter of Thalia, Dorothea Jordan. On the 1st of June, in that same year, her musical voice and ringing laugh were heard for the last time on the boards of a London theatre, in the character of Lady Teazle. took no farewell, and had no intention of then leaving the stage. In little more than two years after, she died in a strange land, deserted, overwhelmed with pecuniary embarrassment, and prematurely hurried to the grave by anguish of mind. The inscription on her tombstone, in the church - yard of St. Cloud, near Paris, fixes her age at fifty; but she must have been older,

She

seeing that she made her first public appearance under Ryder's management, in Dublin, in 1777, as Phoebe, in As You Like It; when, if the record alluded to above be correct, she could only have been in her eleventh year. Boaden, in his "Memoirs," places her birth as far back as 1762, which seems likely to be correct. This would make her fifty-four when she died, and fifteen when she went on the stage. Waterford may feel proud of having been the birthplace of such a brilliant genius.

Her public career was a series of triumphal processions; but in her private life there were some dark, intervening clouds, and the close was melancholy in the extreme. A mound was raised over her humble grave, shadowed by an acacia-tree, and planted at the proper season with cypresses. This was executed with taste, but has since fallen into dilapidation, in the absence of a small sum of money necessary to keep it in repair. The effects which Mrs. Jordan possessed at St. Cloud were taken possession of by the officers of police,and after a certain time put up to auction. The proceeding seems to have been official, in consequence of her dying in France intestate, when it became the duty of the King's solicitor to collect and dispose of her property for the benefit of creditors. Even her personal wardrobe was sold, amidst coarse jibes and vulgar mockery. The fact rests on the evidence of a gentleman who was present. This sad instance is painfully suggestive of a new application of Pope's lines, in his celebrated "Elegy on an Unfortunate Lady":

"What can atone (O ever injur'd shade!
Thy fate unpitied, and thy rites unpaid!
No friend's complaint, no kind domestic tear
Pleas'd thy pale ghost, or grac'd thy mournful bier.
By foreign hands thy dying eyes were clos'd,
By foreign hands thy decent limbs compos'd;
By foreign hands thy humble grave adorn'd,
By strangers honour'd, and by strangers mourn'd!”

It has been often said that Mrs. Jordan wrote the farce of The Spoil'd

Child, which, through her admirable acting in Little Pickle, obtained more notoriety than it deserved. But there is stronger reason to suppose that it is the production of Isaac Bickerstaff.

In 1815, Kenney's farce of The Fortune of War obtained a run of fifteen nights at Covent Garden. At the commencement of 1817, a drama, founded on some facts which happened in France, in 1687, as recorded in "Les Causes Celèbres," was brought out in Paris, with great momentary attraction, under the title of The Portfolio, or the Family of Anglade. The managers of Drury-lane and Covent Garden pounced on the novelty simultaneously, and each produced his edition on the same night, February the 1st. Howard Payne and Kenney were the respective adapters. The Covent Garden version (Kenney's) was acted oftener than the other, but neither lived beyond a few nights. It is needless now to discuss the comparative merit of two pieces that have long been forgotten.

In May, 1817, Kenney produced two novelties at Drury-lane, of a very different character, and within a few days of each other. The first, a comedy, in four acts, called The Touchstone, or the World as it Goes; the second, a musical farce, in one act, under the whimsical title of A House out at Windows. The comedy was scarcely successful, and the farce a failure. The former contained a good hit at pretended esquires, who at that time were as prolific as mushrooms. Croply, a bailiff, says of one of the characters," Bless ye, he be turn'd squire." "Squire !" replies Probe. "What do you mean? a bank director, or a strolling player?" In the farce, the greater part of the dialogue was carried on between parties who appear at the windows of a house, and others standing on the stage. The idea was new, but the audience neither understood nor relished it. In Dec., 1817, the comedy of A Word for the

for her.