he struck his flag. In 1812, his Lordship succeeded the late Sir Charles Cotton, as Commander-in-Chief of the Channel Fleet. On the 14th May 1814, he was created a Viscount of the united kingdom. During the period of the second invasion of France by the allied powers, the noble Admiral commanded in the Channel, and by the judicious arrangement of his cruisers, secured the person of Napoleon Buonaparte, who acknowledged that an escape by sea was rendered impossible an event which secured the peace and tranquillity of Europe.

On the 23d May 1815, Lord Keith laid the first stone of Southwark Bridge.

In 1822 his Lordship was graciously permitted by his Majesty to accept the Grand Cross of the Royal Sardinian Order of St. Maurice and Lazare, for services rendered at Genoa in 1809.

His Lordship died, at Tulliallan house, on Monday the 10th of March 1823, in the 77th year of his age.

Lord Keith married, first, April 9. 1787, Jane, daughter and sole heiress of William Mercer, of Aldie, co. Perth, Esq., and by her (who died Dec. 12. 1789,) had issue an only child, Margaret-Mercer Elphinstone, on whom the English Barony of Keith was settled in remainder, on failure of his Lordship's issue male. He married, secondly, January 10. 1808, Hester-Maria, eldest daughter and coheiress of Henry Thrale, of Streatham, co. Surrey, Esq. the intimate friend of Dr. Johnson, and M. P. for Southwark, in 1768, and 1775. By this lady the Viscount had issue, Georgiana-Augusta-Henrietta, born Dec. 12. 1809.

His Lordship's eldest daughter married in 1817, to Count Flahault, who served as Aid-de-Camp to Buonaparte at the battle of Waterloo.

22

No. II.

JOHN PHILIP KEMBLE, Esq.

Or the fame bestowed by the stage on its votaries, it may more truly be said than of any other, that it is "a fancied life in other's breath." It exists principally in the recollection of individuals, and can never be satisfactorily recorded. The poet and the painter weave garlands for themselves, that continue to bloom in beauty when they are no more; but the chaplet of the actor, if it does not entirely perish with him, inevitably loses all the freshness and brilliance of its hues. It is not in language to convey an adequate notion of those powers, which, when witnessed, exalt the mind to gaiety, or sink it into anguish, extort laughter from the most saturnine, draw tears from the sternest eye, and irresistibly mould our feelings into whatever shape they please.

JOHN PHILIP KEMBLE was born at Prescot, in Lancashire, on the 1st of Feb. 1757. At the time of his birth, his father, Mr. Roger Kemble, was manager of a company of comedians, who had a regular routine of provincial performances. On the 12th of Feb. 1767, when only ten years of age, young Kemble played, in his father's company at Worcester, the part of the Duke of York, in the tragedy of King Charles the First. He soon after, however, went to a Roman Catholic seminary at Sedgeley park in Staffordshire; where he gave proofs of a great taste for literature. On that account he was, in the year 1770, sent by his father to the University of Douay, in order to qualify him for one of the learned professions. During his residence there, he distinguished himself as a scholar, and his elocutionary powers developed themselves in a very striking manner.

Having finished his youthful studies, he returned to England before he was twenty; and entertaining an unconquerable predilection for the boards, he made that which may be considered his actual debut, in Chamberlain's company, at Wolverhampton, in the character of Theodosius, in the Force of Love; but without much success. His second appearance was at the same place, in the character of Bajazet; in which he produced a stronger impression, and gave a decided promise of those talents which afterwards raised him to unrivalled eminence.

Mr. Kemble next acted at Worcester; and afterwards with Mr. Younger, at the Theatres Royal in Manchester and Liverpool. From that time he rapidly improved in his profession. At length he joined that incomparable old man, Tate Wilkinson, at York; who was delighted with him.

While at York, Mr. Kemble tried a new species of entertainment in the theatre of that city, consisting of a repetition of the most beautiful odes from Mason, Gray, and Collins; and of the tales of Le Fevre and Maria, from Sterne; with other pieces in prose and verse; and in this novel and hazardous undertaking he met with such approbation, that the country has ever since been over-run by crowds of reciters, who want nothing but his talents to be as successful as their original.

About this time, Mr. Wilkinson, having taken the Edinburgh theatre, Mr. Kemble accompanied him to "the modern Athens;" and established his reputation there, among men of letters, by the composition and delivery of a lecture on sacred and profane oratory, in which he proved himself an able critic, and an eloquent declaimer.

In 1782 he went to Dublin, and joined the company in Smock Alley, then under the management of Mr. Daly. Here he made his first appearance in Hamlet, and greatly distinguished himself. He also performed the Count de Narbonne, in Jephson's tragedy of that name, which had an extraordinary run; and the author expressed, in the strongest manner, his grateful sense of Mr. Kemble's exertions.

But the wanderings of a provincial actor of ambition are only spiral movements round a centre, to which they finally tend. A London audience is constantly looked forward to as the best judge, and the most liberal rewarder of his deserts. Having remained in Dublin for two seasons, Mr. Kemble quitted it in 1783, and repaired to London.

On the 30th of Sept. 1783, he appeared in Hamlet, on the boards of Drury Lane, and at once established himself with the town; although, from the circumstance of Mr. Smith's being then in possession of the chief tragic parts, Mr. Kemble was prevented from displaying the full extent of his abilities until the year 1788; when, on Mr. Smith's retirement, he was left in full possession of the tragic throne.

In 1787, Mr. Kemble formed a happy matrimonial alliance with Mrs. Brereton, daughter of Mr. Hopkins, the prompter of Drury Lane theatre. At the time that Mr. Kemble married this lady, it was asserted that he wedded suddenly, at the instigation of a nobleman high in rank and importance, Lord North, whose daughter had become ardently enamoured of • him. It was said that the young lady's attachment could be checked only by its being thus rendered hopeless; and that, to insure Mr. Kemble's compliance with Lord North's wishes, he was promised by his lordship the sum of 4000l., as a marriage portion. To darken the affair, it was added, that when the marriage had been solemnized, the money was withheld. In all these reports there was not a syllable of truth. Mr. Kemble's marriage was one of real affection; and those who knew his mind will readily acquit him of being capable of an act so indelicate, so base, as that which black-tongued rumour would attribute to him. The imputation naturally excited much indignation on the part of Mr. Kemble. On meeting with it in a memoir of himself, he wrote with his pencil in the margin, "A LIE!"

On the secession of Mr. King, in 1788, Mr. Kemble became manager of Drury Lane theatre. In this office, which he held, with the intervention of a short period, until 1801, he amply justified the dissernment that had placed him in it,

by the many material improvements which he made in the general conduct of the preparatory business of the stage, in the regular decorum of representation, in the impartial appointment of performers to parts suited to their real abilities, and in giving to all characters their true and appropriate costume. Macbeth no longer sported an English general's uniform; men of centuries ago no longer figured in the stiff eourt dresses of our own time; and

"Cato's full wig, flowered gown, and lackered chair," gave way to the crop, the toga, and the couch. His groupings, his processions, &c. while they were in the highest degree conducive to theatrical effect, were yet so chaste and free from glare, that they appeared rather historical than dramatic, and might have been safely transferred by the artist to the canvass, almost without alteration. The departments of the painter and the machinist were likewise objects of his constant attention; and to his study and exertions the drama is indebted for the present propriety and magnificence of its scenery and decorations.

During the time of Mr. Kemble's management, he did not confine himself merely to the duties of his situation, but added very considerably to the stock of dramatic pieces, by translations of foreign, and revisions of obsolete plays; a list of which will be found at the end of this memoir.

Released in 1801 from the fatigues of management, Mr. Kemble devoted the year 1802 to the pleasures of travel. Having for his main object the improvement of the histrionic art, he visited the cities of Paris and Madrid, and studied the practice of his theatrical brethren in both those capitals. During his residence abroad, he received the most flattering marks of attention and respect from individuals and societies of literary character; and formed an acquaintance with Talma, which afterwards ripened into the closest intimacy. The following extract from a Parisian journal of that day will shew the general interest he excited:

"Mr. Kemble, the celebrated actor of London, whose arrival at Paris has been announced by the papers, possesses a fine figure, and appears to be about forty years of age.