dBooks desire

Earl Percy has something of the agility of a harlequin
about him, and when he obtains admission into his enemy's castle to
rescue Angela, he is required to climb from a sofa up to a gothic
window high above him, and then, alarmed by the approach of his negro
sentinels, to fall from the height flat again at full length upon his
sofa, and to pretend to be asleep as his guards had previously left
him. Kemble is said to have done this "as boldly and suddenly as if
he had been shot." When people complimented him upon his unsuspected
agility, he would answer: "Nay, gentlemen, Mr. Boaden has exceeded all
compliment upon this feat of mine, for he counselled me from Macbeth
to 'jump the life to come.'" "It was melancholy," comments Mr. Boaden,
recording the success of the play, "to see the abuse of such talents;"
and then he adds the remarkable opinion: "It is only in a barn that
the Cato of a company should be allowed to risk his neck!"
Against "The Castle Spectre" the critics, of course, raised their
voices. Its popularity was viewed with much bitterness and jealousy.


Pages:
320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344