LEAR.

Betterton was the predecessor of Booth in this part, but how he performed it we have no very particular critique: we may, however, conclude, that a man of his general genius, who kept possession of the character so long, must have made it a least respectable. Booth, though a professed admirer of his great master, never servilely copied him-though he has often confessed to have studied him, on the whole, so as to transplant what beauties he could from him after his own manner. In Lear, we are told, "That his fire was ardent, and his feelings remarkably energetic; but that, in uttering the imprecations in general, he was more rapid than Garrick: nor were his feelings attended with those struggles of parental affection, and those powerful emotions of conflicting passions, so visible in every look and attitude of our great Roscius."

And here let the pen of a living witness throw in his mite in favour of the last mentioned Lear, which, from first to last, was, perhaps, the finest exhibition of the passions since the invention of the drama.

How awful was his preparation for the impre cation on Goneril!-He stood for a moment like

one

one struck dumb at the sudden and unexpected feel of his daughter's ingratitude-then throwing away his crutch, kneeling on one knee, clasping his hands together, and lifting up his eyes towards heaven, rendered the whole of the curse so terribly affecting to the audience, that, during his utterance of it, they seemed to shrink as from a blast of lightning. Indeed, the picture he represented, independent of the language, was worthy the pencil of Raphael in the divinest moments of his imagination.

In the scene where Lear is represented asleep in Cordelia's lap, and where he breaks out,

"Old Lear shall be a King again,"

Booth was inimitably expressive, from the full tones of his voice, and the admirable manner of harmonizing his words.

Upon the whole, Booth rendered the character of Lear less terrible than Garrick; but the latter filled up the whole with a truth, energy, and fire, which all who ever saw him, must remember with gratitude and enthusiasm.

Barry's figure in this part was dignified and ve nerable; and some passages were so well suited to his voice, particularly the curse, as to make a con

siderable

siderable impression. Powell caught a good deal of the fire of his master; but both wanted those energies, and exquisite touches, with which Garrick vivified the whole. But he, indeed, was the leading deity in almost all the departments of the drama!

MARC ANTONY.

The play of "All for Love," of which this part forms the principal character, was revived, some years before Booth's death, for the purpose of giving strength and variety to the list of stock plays; and his dignified action, and forcible elo cution, gained him so much applause, that the play was acted six nights successively to crowded audiences, without the assistance of pantomime or farce, which was at that time remarked as something very extraordinary.

When Booth and Mrs. Oldfield, as Marc Antony and Cleopatra, met in the second act, "their dignity and deportment commanded the applause and approbation of the most judicious critics; but when the former (addressing himself to the latter) said,

"You promised me your silence, and you break it
"Ere I have scarce begun;"

the authoritative, yet dignified manner of speaking it, could only be equalled by the respectful manner in which Mrs. Oldfield felt this checkhere, in the phrase of Shakespeare, “ her bendings were adornings."

We have an account of the cast of this Trage dy as it was then performed; and it does honour to the judgment of the Managers, who, without any false pride, or stage vanity, not only came forward themselves, but brought out the strength of their company in support of it.

Here we see two of the most trifling parts of the drama, Dolobella and Alexas, undertaken by two of the Managers; parts that would scarcely be accepted now by third-rate Actors, merely to give weight and importance to the whole. Even the little part of Octavia, which only consists of a scene or two, Mrs. Porter, then in the meridian of her fame, did not disdato accept-Nor was it unworthy of her reptance, as, with her powers, she drew the most affecting approbation of tears from every part of the audience.

MORAT,

MORAT, in Aurengzebe.

We are told in the dedication of this play, that Charles the Second altered an incident in the plot, and pronounced it the best of all Dryden's Tragedies. Of his rhyming ones we believe the King was right, as the passions are strongly depicted, the characters well discriminated, and the diction more familiar and dramatic than in any of his preceding pieces. Kynaston was the original Morat in this piece, and is preferred by Cibber to Booth, for throwing more arrogance and savage fierceness into it than the latter. But Booth's retort to this criticism, which was the opinion of others before Cibber wrote his Apology, we think not only sufficient, but shews the superior taste and discernment of the Actor. The passage particularly alluded to is this; when Nourmahul says,

""Twill not be safe to let him live an hour,"

Morat answers,

"I'll do't to shew my arbitrary power."

"It was not through negligence," says Booth, "but design, that I gave no great spirit to that ludicrous bounce of Morat. I know very well