I
A BRIEF HISTORY
OF
THE GLASGOW STAGE.
THEATRE ROYAL, DUNLOP STREET.
THE
GLASGOW STAGE
BY
WALTER BAYNHAM.
ROBERT FORRESTER,
i ROYAL EXCHANGE SQUARE.
1892.
Only 400 Copies Printed.
No ..
DEDICATION.
MY DEAR IRVING,
The fact that in your early life you were so
pleasantly prominent as an actor in Dunlop Street, not
unnaturally suggests a wish on my part, to be privileged
to dedicate this little work to you. Yet, I am prompted
also by other motives equally strong : the desire to record
the pride I feel in the honour of your friendship, the
esteem in which you are so justly held by all interested
in the drama, and your life's devotion to the cause of
histrionic art.
Very affectionately yours,
WALTER BAYNHAM.
To HENRY IRVING, ESQ.
671875
PREFACE.
WHEN I first took up the subject of Glasgow
theatricals, I resolved to call it "Days of Dunlop
Street." The intention was simply to compress
into a few chapters, some personal recollections of
certain facts, anecdotes, and individuals which con-
nected themselves with my memory during the very
few years I was associated with the Glasgow stage.
Reflecting, however, on the title I had chosen, I
found it needful to say something about the origin
of the theatre itself; how it came to be built at all,
and why, of all places in the city, in Dunlop Street.
So it occurred to me that it might be interesting to
the public to ascertain something not only about the
origin and history of the Theatre Royal, Dunlop
Street, but likewise about theatres and players so
far as they related in any way to Glasgow. So these
papers have taken the form of what, I believe, has
never been published before A Brief History of
the Glasgow Stage.
THE GLASGOW STAGE.
CHAPTER
THEATRICAL representations in Glasgow, as every-
where else, owed their origin to the Church. The
subjects of the first plays in Scotland, as in England,
were Scriptural ; the Clergy were the dramatists, the
Church was the stage, and Sunday was the play-day.
Prior to and for some time after the Reformation,
pantomimic representations of the history of our
Saviour, His Passion, and His Miracles, were ex-
hibited in Glasgow. In the sixteenth century the
number of playhouses was so great that they were
complained of as a nuisance, not only in Edinburgh
but throughout the kingdom. Profane, and even
indecent, subjects gradually crept in; and the mem-
bers of the Church who had hitherto been foremost in
supporting them now became foremost in trying to
suppress them. Plays on sacred subjects were pro-
hibited. All kinds of performances on Sundays
were denounced. Every man, woman, and child
I
2 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
who attended any entertainment on that day was
excommunicated without the benefit of clergy. In
the suppression of these theatrical exhibitions, the
Church of Scotland took the lead, and in after
times, when dramatic entertainments were attempted
to be revived, we find, according to an old Scottish
historian, the opposition to them was but more
forcibly renewed.
On the 24th April, 1595, the Kirk-Session of
Glasgow directed the town's drummer to forbid " all
persons from going to Ruglen to see vain plays on
Sundays-.'" ; -Ofrv.the 2Oth May, 1624, the session gave
, , public, m.timation- 'that all "resetters of comedians
.''wd'uicl'te'.sfevdreiy 'punished." And on the 2Oth July,
1670, the Magistrates of Glasgow "interdicted strolling
stage players from running through the streets, and
from performing plays in private houses," which they
called "The Wisdom of Solomon." "The Presby-
tery," writes Mr. Arnot in his interesting book,
" were possessed with the most violent and the most
illiberal animosity against the stage. The writings of
their most popular divines represented the playhouse
as the actual temple of the Devil, where he fre-
quently appeared clothed in a corporeal substance
and possessed the spectators, whom he held as his
worshippers."
In theological Scotland, where belief in demonology
and witchcraft was so slow in dying, such stories
were currently believed. The rage against the
"Temple of Beelzebub," as the theatrical entertain-
ments were styled at that period, was stronger by
far north of the Tweed than in England, and the
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 3
drama consequently made far slower progress in
North Britain than it did elsewhere. But, as in
every case of intolerance and persecution, with each
new assault upon the helpless, the vanquisher was
opening the road to his own defeat. The virulence
of the clergy aroused an antagonistic feeling in a
certain class of the laity, and a strong party rose
in rebellion against priestly tyranny and oppression.
Parties were formed who nightly patronised enter-
tainments in order to vindicate the right of public
opinion, and at the same time to protect the actors
themselves from personal violence, with which they
were threatened.
Scottish actors at that period, in order to defend
themselves from the violent measures adopted against
them, were obliged to register themselves not as
actors but as menial servants to some of their noble
patrons. It was not an uncommon thing for a
tragedian at this period to be received into a noble-
man's house as his butler, and after playing Richard
the Third upon the stage, to act the part of " Scrub "
off it, by drawing a cork at his lordship's side table.
No man of repute at that period would aid either by
his name or his purse in the erection of a playhouse.
No builder would build a theatre, nor could he, if so
inclined, have found workmen to carry on the work.
Even the accommodation of a roof was looked upon
by the wary landlord as too great a hazard ; for the
owner was assured by his zealous pastors that the
devil would be personified beneath it, and that the
whole fabric would vanish away in a flame of
fire.
4 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
No city was at the time more imbued with religious
fanaticism than Glasgow, and no wonder ! Many of
its best citizens had risked not only their fortunes
but their very lives in support of Presbyterianism
against Popery, and this, long before the days of
William of Orange or even those of the first Charles.
All art, grace, harmony, and truth to nature displayed
by a Phidias or a Raphael ; the love of the ideal, the
power alike of painter, poet, author, or actor, were
lost in the one hard sense of what was regarded as
sensuous. Being sensuous, it was pronounced Popish,
and opposed to pure spiritual religion. Anything
which tended to please the eye, charm the ear, or
steal upon the senses, was looked on as in some way
related to Romanism. Thus all plays were aban-
doned. The beams of that brighter sun which shone
on England with the accession of William of Orange
did not for years pierce the darkness and gloom
which an austere theology had cast over Scotland.
In the era of Lillo, William Congreve, and Farquhar,
the drama was not known north of the Tweed ; and
it was not until after the Union in 1707 that any
player could obtain a hearing in Scotland.
What theatrical (?) entertainments had been given
in Scotland up to that period had partaken more of
the style of our present " Variety " stage. The com-
pany had consisted solely of bands of strolling
players, tumblers, acrobats, singers, dancers, and per-
formers on the tight rope. The chosen haunt in
Glasgow for such performances up to 1750 was
" BurreH's Close." This was a passage which led
out eastward from Duke Street, and at the end of
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 5
which was a public hall accessible by a narrow stair-
case.
Mr. Daniel Burrell, the proprietor of this hall, was
a dancing master who had in 1738 been invited by
the civic authorities to come and teach " the poetry
of motion " in Glasgow. The art had been imported
from London by the upper classes, the Duchess of
Gordon having been the chief patroness. But Mr.
Burrell had not driven a thriving trade. He required
the aid and guarantee of the Corporation in the shape
of an annual salary of 20 to enable him to carry
on his profession. His fees were comparatively
moderate, 253. being the sessional one for seven
months, 55. for a Ball, and is. for practising for it
under his supervision.
Some idea of the rigidity and gloom which were
the outcome of the first teachings of the Reformers
may be gleaned from the fact that at the close of the
seventeenth century Dancing was allowed to be taught
only under the following restrictions :
(From a Minute of the Corporation, ntk November,
1699.)
" The quhilk day the Magistrates and Towne
Council, upon a supplication given in re John Smith,
Dancing Master, allow and permitt the said John
to teach dancing within the burgh, with and under
the provisions and conditions under written, viz.:
That he shall behave himself soberly, teach at season-
able hours, keep no balls, and that, he shall so order
his teaching that there shall be noe promiscuous
6 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
dancing of young men and young women together; but
that each sex shall be taught by themselves, and that
one sex shall be dismissed and be out of his house
before the other enter therein."
For a long time after this, no one was allowed to
teach dancing without a license. "Native talent,"
writes Mr. Strang, of a later date (1759), in his
" Glasgow and its Clubs," " seems to have been so
scarce that the Corporation was obliged, for the
better education of the citizens, to bribe parties from
a distance to settle in the City." Hence Mr. Daniel
Burrell's annual stipend of 20 from the Corporation.
Here in Burrell's Close was given, on the 3Oth Septem-
ber, 1751, one of the many of this class of performance.
The following extract is interesting :
" Being," says the Glasgow Courant of that date,
" positively the last night of our performance in this
City. For the Benefit of Mr. Dominique. At Mr.
Burrell's Hall, above the Cross, this present Monday,
being the 3Oth September, will be performed a Con-
cert of Vocal and Instrumental Music. Boxes and
Pit, Two Shillings ; Gallery, One Shilling. Between
the two Parts of the Concert will be given (gratis)
Rope -Dancing and Tumbling. Particularly, Mrs.
Gorman will jump over the Garter forward and back-
ward on the Stiff Rope, such as was never done in
this City before. Likewise, Walking on the Small
Slack Wire, by the famous Russian Boy. Dancing,
both Serious and Comic, by Mons. and Madam
Granier. Likewise, a new Humorous Dance called
the Soldier and the Sailor, the Tinkler and Taylor,
and Bixome Joan of Deptford. To the great sur-
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 7
prise of the spectators Mr. Dominique will fly over
the Double Fountain. To conclude with a Panto-
mime Entertainment called Harlequin Captive, or
the Dutchman Bitt. The Doors to be opened at five,
and to begin exactly at six."
The first edifice erected for regular theatrical repre-
sentations was a wooden booth. This was built in
1752 against an old wall of the Bishop's Palace, in an
area called the Castle Yard, which adjoined the
Cathedral. This wall hung for a long time over
Kirk Street, and overhung it to such an extent that
a certain Mr. Coulter could never be advised to go
near it. He avoided it from a firm belief in a
legend "that whenever the wisest man in the city
came in contact with it it would fall and smother
him."
In this little building, little better than, if so good
as, some of our modern "shows," some of the best
actors and actresses of their day played to most
fashionable audiences. The nobler of their patrons
were carried to the theatre in their sedan chairs,
which were guarded to protect them from insult at
the hands of religious zealots who gathered round,
menacing all who entered "the Devil's Home."
Amongst the artists we find the names of such as
Mrs. Ward, Messrs. Love, Stamper, and last, but not
least, West Digges, whose real name was West. He
was supposed to be the natural son of a nobleman,
and his first appearance in society created, as it did
on the stage, no small sensation.
This wooden building had not existed long when
the religious community were gladdened by the news
8 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
that the greatest clerical luminary of the day was
shortly coming to Glasgow Whitefield !
George Whitefield had himself as a boy been no con-
temptible actor a fact which he wished in his journal
to have been enabled to record in " tears of blood." His
abuse of all stage exhibitions was frequently followed
by violence. His followers would frequently sweep
down on country fairs, take forcible possession of the
booths, and drive out the poor, unoffending strollers,
leaving them to starve, slave, or die as outcasts.
Whitefield came to Glasgow, and Glasgow welcomed
the most famous preacher of his day with open arms.
Our modern revivals and revivalists sink into in-
significance w r hen we read of this man's eloquence
and its effects. Fancy him, then, standing amongst
the graves in the churchyard against the Cathedral.
Look at the man ! Picture him ! One something
above the middle stature, well-proportioned, slender
and graceful, fair complexioned, with regular features,
small lively blue eyes. But what a voice ! unrivalled
in power, melody, and compass ! Let the imagina-
tion paint such a man denouncing the Playhouse in
language and gesture as forcible as that with which
a short time before he had looked up, and, with up-
lifted hands, invoked the great Archangel " Stop,
Gabriel ! Stop, Gabriel ! stop, ere you enter the
sacred portals, and yet carry with you the news of
one sinner converted to God ! " See if you can, with
the mind's eye, that man pointing to this wooden
theatre as the abode of Satan. Who could be sur-
prised at the result ? W r hat wonder if a parcel of
ignorant zealots, inflamed to a pitch of religious
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 9
frenzy by the eloquence of their leader, should sweep
down as they did upon the poor, miserable apology
for a playhouse, and completely wreck it, or that the
affrighted actors and actresses fled the town in order
to save their very lives ! So the first Glasgow Play-
house came to an end.
10 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
CHAPTER II.
FOR twelve years after the demolition of the wooden
building in Castle Yard, no vestige is to be found
in any chronicle of anything bordering on dramatic
entertainments in Glasgow. The theatre was regarded
as the pavilion of Satan, and had the religion been
Catholic instead of Presbyterian, most of the " gude "
people would have crossed themselves at its very
name. As the domicile of the Prince of Darkness, it
was regarded even as recently as 1861 as an infernal
abode. During that year (the one in which I first
appeared as an actor in Glasgow) I strolled on one
Sunday evening into the Trades' Hall in Glassford
Street. It was during the " Hammond " revivals.
The boy evangelist who was holding forth, caught
sight of me. With one hand he slapped his open
Bible vigorously, exclaiming, " Here, here is Heaven,"
and with his other hand he pointed at me, crying
immediately afterwards, "The pit of the Theatre
Royal is HELL."
It was in 1752 that the Castle Yard wooden
building was demolished. For twelve years after-
wards, as I have stated, no actor or manager was
found bold enough to venture into Glasgow. At
Edinburgh, however, a regular theatre had been
erected, and its stage had been illumined by some of
the brightest stars then in the dramatic firmament.
THE GLASGOW STAGE. II
Amongst these, none shone with greater lustre than
the celebrated Mrs. Bellamy.
She was destined to be the first actress who was
to play in the first regular theatre in Glasgow.
Her fame had preceded her to Scotland as much
from certain gossip as on account of her beauty
and talent. She was the only successful rival of
Peg Wofn" ngton, " who loved her accordingly'' When
Dryden's tragedy of the " Rival Queens " was pro-
duced, " Roxana " had been played by Peg, and
" Statira " by Mrs. Bellamy. The latter had ordered
two gorgeous dresses direct from Paris. At sight of
her rival in all her resplendent glories of Parisian
costume, Peg's jealousy had been aroused beyond
control, and raising a real dagger "Roxana" had
tried to stab her fair rival as she drove her from the
stage. "Alexander," writes Dr. Doran, "and a posse
of chiefs with hard names were at hand, but the less
brilliantly-clad ' Roxana ' rolled ' Statira ' and her
spangled 'sack' in the dust, pommelling her with
her dagger, and screaming aloud at every blow
"'Nor he nor Heaven shall shield thee from my
justice.
"'DIE, Sorceress!! and (pommel} all my
( pommel} wrongs (pommel} die (double pommel}
with thee/ "
Mrs. Bellamy had been playing, too, one night
"Alicia/' in "Jane Shore," at Covent Garden. The
King of Denmark, who was then on a visit to George
the Third, was present, but, suffering from the plethora
of a heavy dinner, he fell fast asleep during one of the
actress's finest scenes. In her character of " Alicia "
she had to exclaim, " Oh, thou false love ! " Availing
12 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
herself of the opportunity which the proximity of the
Danish monarch in a stage-box presented, she shouted
the words "Oh, THOU false love" close into the
sleeping monarch's ears. After a stare of blank
astonishment he turned to the King and said audibly
"By G , I vood not marry dat voman vere dere
none oder on earth."
" The morning of my benefit in Edinburgh," writes
Mrs. Bellamy, " I was arrested by the creditor who
had been the occasion of my indiscreet flight from
London. I was, however, soon set at liberty, the
caption being against the laws of Scotland, which
allow some days' notice before they can be taken.
Upon this occasion the first lawyers in the city were
volunteers in my case, particularly Mr. Montgomerie,
afterwards Chief Baron and Dean of the Faculty."
Who wouldn't have taken up her cause ! Who
could be cross with poor, pretty, blue-eyed, frail Mrs.
Bellamy? She so softened the heart of her lawyer
that he introduced his dazzling inamorata, sans cere-
mony, at once into the bosom of his family.
" I remember her finding fault with my approaching
too near her in the balcony scene in ' Romeo and
Juliet,' " writes an Edinburgh actor of that period. " I
apologised by observing that it was impossible to
refrain from even scaling the wall, if accessible, when
so charming an object was in view."
So spoke Mr. Jackson, and so seemed to think five
at least of some Glasgow gentlemen who made part of
the audience that night. These five good Glasgow
citizens succeeded in getting an introduction to the
lady. They promised that they would build her a
theatre if she would but promise them to visit their
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 13
city. Mr. John Jackson, accompanied by two Edin-
burgh managers Messrs. Love and Beatt took them
at their word. Jackson set out from Edinburgh one
wintry day caped, cocked-hatted, and booted to
ride on horseback to Glasgow to ask permission of
the Council to build a regular theatre in the city.
Conveyances then were scarce in the city, which, so
far as traffic was concerned, was as dull as a dry ditch.
Carts, the number of which Mr. Jackson might have
told on his fingers, then dragged their lazy course up
and down the streets by day, and were left to any-
body's mercy in the streets at night. As for the
public roads, they were more like country lanes than
thoroughfares. It was just eight years before Mr.
Jackson determined to apply for the license, that the
first stage coach had been started to run between
Glasgow and Edinburgh. It accommodated but six
passengers ; was drawn by six horses, started twice a
week in the summer, and once in the winter. It left
the George Inn, above the College, at nine o'clock in
the morning, got to Livingstone the same night, and
set its weary freight down in Edinburgh the following
day, leaving that city again for Glasgow the same after-
noon. But nineteen years prior to this, post-chaises
and hackney coaches were unknown to Glasgow.
There were three or four sedan chairs, but these, as
Dr. Carlyle writes, were kept for carrying midwives
about in the night, and old ladies to church, or young
ones to the dancing assemblies, once a fortnight.
The names of the five gentlemen who had guaran-
teed to build the theatre were Mr. W. M'Dowall, of
Castlesemple ; William Bogle, of Hamilton Farm ;
14 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
John Baird, of Craigton; Robert Bogle, of Shettleston;
and James Dunlop, of Garnkirk, all members of the
best social clubs of the day. Of the traits of two of
these gentlemen we may glean something from a
humorous ditty. It was written on the various mem-
bers of the Hodge Podge Club, which held a convival
meeting every fortnight, under the roof of a tavern
kept by a Mr. Cruikshank. Of this club Mr. Dunlop
and Mr. Baird were for some years members :
With feelings too keen to be ever at ease,
A lover of satire, but afraid to displease ;
When applauded a wit, but when censured a dunce
Retort on Dunlop, and you gag him at once.
Does a merchant, a squire, or a soldier come next ?
Or a medley of all these three characters mixed ?
No better companion than Baird have I known,
When he apes no man's manners, but sticks to his own.
The prejudice then existing against the Drama had
only grown more rampant than it was ten years be-
fore. Not a single individual who had ground within
the burgh would sell these gentlemen a site for a
theatre. Could a seller have been found, there would
have been no small difficulty in securing builders.
The majority of the labouring classes were led to
believe that the building, being the Devil's House,
would in all probability be very soon tenanted, even
in its unfinished state, by his Satanic Majesty, who
would remove it in person to his own peculiar realm,
and carry all the workmen with it. The guarantors
were obliged in consequence to go in search of a site
beyond the burgh. It was about this time that Mr.
John Miller, of Westerton, was advertising in the
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 15
Glasgow journals : "A new street to be opened from
Argyle Street to Candleriggs Loan. Whoever wants
to purchase steadings in said street may apply to
John Miller, malt man, in Glasgow, who will show the
terms and agree to plans."
As neither the magistrates nor any private pro-
prietor would sell, feu, or lease grounds for a theatre
on any terms within the whole city, the projectors
were obliged to erect it beyond the burgh, out at
Grahamstown, near where Hope Street now joins
Argyle Street. "What 's the figure?" asked the com-
mittee. The pious maltman stroked his chin, and,
after mature deliberation, replied "Five shillings
per square yard." " But the price is most exorbitant
and extraordinary," they expostulated. "Aye, but
ye '11 see," replied Mr. Miller, " as it is intended
for a Temple of Belial I '11 expect an exorbitant and
extraordinary sum for the purchase." The sum was
agreed to.
The theatre was erected in Grahamstown. The
spring of 1764 saw the announcement that it would
shortly be opened by Messrs. Beatt and Love.
Negotiations were at once entered into with the
Edinburgh company. The date of the opening was
fixed. The fascinating Mrs. Bellamy " George Ann
Bellamy " so she signed herself, was engaged to act
on the opening night.
Those twelve years which had passed since the
mob had torn down the shed in Castle Yard had not
sufficed to extinguish the almost universal and violent
prejudice which existed amongst the clergy and the
middle class against the Plays and Players.
1 6 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
That convulsionary movement known as Revivalism
was a century ago signalised by a fanaticism more wild
than was ever known before or since in our city.
Under the influence of out -door preaching at this
time a Glasgow mob could be inflamed with the same
zeal as that which needed but the fire of Whitefield to
arouse it twelve years before. The unrivalled eloquence
of the latter had never been utterly quenched in those
who had heard him. It needed but a spark now to
kindle old animosities to a blaze. On the evening-
o
before that on which the first regular theatre ever seen
in Glasgow was to open, a crowd had assembled round
a fanatical Methodist preacher. Shouts, groans, and
cries, prayers and psalm-singing had rent the spring-
tide air, then breathing over the popular promenade,
which extended by the river-side from the Green
to the village of Anderston. Not a few educated
people were amid the crowd. They, too, drank in
greedily the preacher's words. The preacher sud-
denly ceased. He pointed with his outstretched arm
towards Alston Street, then continued : " I dreamed
last night I was in Hell, where a banquet was being
held. All the devils in the pit were there, when
Lucifer, their chief, gave them a toast. ' Here,' cried
he, ' is to the health of John Miller of Westerton,
who has sold his ground to build ME a HOUSE on.' "
This was enough. Nothing more was needed the
flame burst forth. SATAN'S TEMPLE ! ! It must
and should be destroyed at once.
With the rays of the setting sun (emblem of Divine
Love and Mercy) upon their faces ; with the joyous
song of spring birds filling the evening air, the mob
THE GLASGOW STAGE. I/
formed into a solid body and advanced at quick pace
on the newly-built theatre. They were led on by those
who had successfully attacked the wooden edifice years
before. The new theatre was set on fire. The stage
properties and dresses were reduced to ashes.
Mrs. Bellamy, driving into Glasgow in a coach and
four from Edinburgh, on the following day was met,
when about two miles from the city, by an actor. He
had an awestruck face. Mrs. Bellamy had had fore-
bodings as to the result of her engagement in Glasgow
from the first. She had started on her journey under
circumstances anything but auspicious.
" When we were about to set off," writes the fair lady,
" after having discharged my debts I found I had not
sufficient to defray the expenses of my journey." One
of her servants was despatched to a neighbouring
tradesman, and at his shop she pawned, as the lady
writes, "the silver repeater Mr. Digges had given me,"
and (she omitted to add) which Mr. Digges had, of
course, never paid for. The servant of the embarrassed
lady most unfortunately had been told to take the
watch to any watchmaker's, and innocently took it to
the man who kept the very shop at which Mr. Digges
had purchased it. The watchmen were sent for, and
the girl locked up in the Tolbooth pending examination
as to how she procured the stolen property. But the
entreaties of the fair Bellamy again succeeded. The
heart of the civic functionary was touched. The ser-
vant was released, and Mrs. Bellamy procured money
enough for her start. She set off in "the chaise"
which was in waiting to carry her to Glasgow.
Twenty-four hours more and the actress looked on the
2
1 8 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
delightful city's fine streets, which fifty years before,
Defoe had described " as the fairest for breadth and
finest built, ever seen in one city together."
The actor's face was the "prologue to a tragic
volume."
"Madam," he exclaimed, "you are ruined. You
have nothing left but what you have in the chaise."
" What d 'ye mean ? " cried the affrighted actress.
" The stage of the new theatre," answered the actor,
" was set on fire last night, and every vestige of scenery,
as well as your dresses, consumed by the flames."
The lady was at least as courageous as she was ex-
travagant. Many a woman would have first fainted,
and then got back again to the place she came from,
as fast as a post chaise with four horses could have
carried her; but Mrs. Bellamy, who had snapt her
fingers in the face of the foreign potentate at Covent
Garden, was not the lady to show the white feather
to a fanatical crowd. She looked her foes in the face.
She determined to defeat their end. She would play
that night, notwithstanding the stage had been burnt
and her wardrobe with it. She sent at once for
Bates, the stage manager, and told him to announce
at the Exchange the Cross at the Trongate, which
served the purpose at that date " Mrs. Bellamy will
appear and act at the theatre to-night." Carpenters,
joiners, upholsterers, were summoned. The actors
were recalled to rehearsals at the Black Bull Inn,
where she stayed. Arrangements for the repairing of
the theatre, to be ready for that night, were set on foot.
The nerve of the woman turned the tide of public
feeling in her favour. She was pressed for cash.
THE GLASGOW STAGE. IQ
Merchants on her bare security offered to lend her
any amount she required. Even the elite of the fair
sex became her champions. Not only did they place
their wardrobes at the lady's disposal, but they flocked
in crowds to the theatre. There, with a rapidly
knocked -up stage, no scenery, heterogeneous cos-
tumes, imperfect lights, and a singed auditorium, did
the corps dramatique assemble. A large room at
the Black Bull Inn which hostelry, in Argyle Street,
had been erected by gentlemen of the hunt served
Mrs. Bellamy as a dressing-room, and a sedan chair
conveyed her to the theatre. She appeared that
night in the comedy of the " Citizen " and the farce
of the " Mock Doctor ; " Reddish being the leading
man, and Aicken afterwards a well-known actor at
Covent Garden the comedian. When the curtain
fell another demonstration took place on the part of
the fair sex. Fears were entertained that a crowd of
the actress's foes might wait for her and the rest of
the members of the company coming out of the
theatre, and take as a signal for her so doing the exit
of the audience. One of the ladies present declared
that none of the audience would stir till all the per-
formers, and even the servants, were safely out of the
theatre ; and, writes Mrs. Bellamy, " the Town Guard
were ordered to escort us back to the city."
2O THE GLASGOW STAGE.
CHAPTER III.
FOR the kindness and hospitality she received, I
believe that Mrs. Bellamy was most honestly grateful,
and with reason. Setting conventionality at defiance;
viewing in Mrs. Bellamy a helpless woman, ruined
through the misdirected zeal of a fanatical mob;
remembering only the talents of the actress rather
than the scandal of her private life, the ladies of
Glasgow had in an unprecedentedly generous way
come to the aid of a defenceless, although fallen,
sister. On the evening following the fire that on
which the theatre was opened before six o'clock,
Mrs. Bellamy had been equipped, through the liber-
ality and thoughtfulness of her lady patronesses, with
more than an entire wardrobe for Comedy. No less
than forty dresses, all of the richest material, some
quite new, had been placed at her disposal. Nor
did the ladies confine themselves to outward garments
only. She received presents of all kinds, and from
every part of the adjacent country ; together with
invitations to parties for the whole time, of her
residence in the neighbourhood.
Who could wonder that Glasgow shone beautiful
to the blue eyes of the fair little lady? "The beauty
of the place and of the country around it," she writes,
" are extremely captivating. The meadow extending
from the Green to Anderston in particular is beyond
description picturesque and charming. It reminds
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 21
everyone who has ever seen it of the beautiful village
of Haarlem. On one side of the river you see
bleaching greens where multitudes are engaged in
the different vocations of the linen trade, some
washing, others attending the coppers. On the other
side, cattle are grazing in a most delightful pasture,
which terminates in a landscape much beyond any
description which it is in my power to give it."
The public soon craved for something more sub-
stantial than ephemeral farce. True to their nation-
ality the Scotch patrons asked Manager Beatt to
play the tragedies of "Macbeth" and "Douglas,"
Mr. Home's newly written tragedy being then all
the rage. But " here was the rub ! " The " Citizen "
and the " Mock Doctor " were all very well. The
costumes required for these pieces were modern.
"But," writes Mrs. Bellamy, " 'Macbeth' and 'Douglas'
could not be performed till cloaths proper for appear-
ing in them were made and brought from Edinburgh."
To play Lady Macbeth, black velvet was at that
period deemed indispensable. "As," continues Mrs.
B,, " I had no black vestment of any kind sent to me
amongst the numerous ones of different colours, I
made that an objection to playing Lady Macbeth,
upon which I was assured by one of the inhabitants
that ''her ladyship's ghost walked every night at the
Castle of Dunsinane dressed in white satin' So in
white satin Lady Macbeth was played."
Poor soul ! But a few years, and the scene had
changed ! The charms of the once famous Bellamy
were gone ; her beauty faded. The soul-entrancing
voice had dwindled into a feeble treble; the bounding
22 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
step now tottered. All gone ! " quite chapfallen ! "
Kind, charitable, generous to a fault, but a few
years after her cttbut in Glasgow, at the compara-
tively early age of fifty-six, this once goddess of
Grace, Mirth, and Beauty, sits in an arm chair on the
stage at Covent Garden taking her final farewell of
the public she so loved and who had so loved her.
The greatest actors and actresses of her day surround
the poor, frail creature, prematurely old, worn, and
sickly. The curtain is drawn up. A crowded
audience rises to its willing feet to greet its former
favourite with cheers. A poor, tottering, careworn
woman, looking the more ghastly through her paint,
tries to rise from the chair which is placed in the
centre of the stage, to which she had been carried.
She stumbles and falls back. One more trial ! She
totters forward. The once melodious tones, now so
thin and faint, are heard to murmur something about
" gratitude," " past favours." Then the shadowy form
totters again, falls back sobbing into her chair, and
the curtain falls.
To return to the opening night in Glasgow. The
pieces were supported by Mr. Aicken and Mr.
Reddish. The latter actor married the mother of
the statesman George Canning. He is described as
possessing
A clumsy figure and a vulgar face,
Devoid of spirit as of pleasing grace,
Action unmeaning, often misapplied,
Blest with no perfect attribute of pride.
Something akin to pathos is, however, connected
with the end of his career. He had recently re-
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 23
covered from an illness, and was met on his way to
the theatre. He presented a sad spectacle. He had
the step of an idiot, his eye wandering, his whole
countenance vacant. " Glad to see you 're able to
get to the theatre once more," faltered his friend.
"Yes, sir," replied Reddish, "I shall astonish you."
He kept his word. He was to play that night
Leonatus Posthumus, but he laboured under a mania.
He could not be persuaded to anything but that he
was going to play "Romeo." Accordingly he kept
repeating the words of the latter character the
whole way to the theatre. He repeated them whilst
dressing in his dressing-room, and then in the Green
Room. At last he was fairly pushed on to the stage.
His fellow-actors, half sympathising with him, half
expecting some fun, all felt convinced he would
begin with a speech of " Romeo." But the moment
he came in sight of the audience his recollection
returned, and he went through the first scene of
" Posthumus " without interpolating or missing a
single word ; acting better than he had ever been
known to act before. He came off the stage. They
crowded round to offer him congratulations. His
eye became dazed. The mania that he was to play
"Romeo" again seized him, and the delusion continued
till he again went on the stage. This was but the
beginning of a sad end. After passing through many
melancholy scenes some shameful ones his brain
became permanently diseased. He was thrown upon
the Actor's Fund for support, and lingered out the
remnant of his wretched life as a maniac in York
Asylum.
24 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
The first managers of the first regular theatre in
Glasgow were Mr. Beatt, an Edinburgh manager,
and Mr. Love, who was also the stage manager. Their
reign, however, was but for four years, and it is
recorded somewhat significantly that the first respon-
sible manager afterwards, was a Mr. Williams. The
latter brought with him a company of strolling players,
and succeeded in keeping the theatre open for three
successive seasons from 1768 to the end of 1771.
In 1772 Mr. Digges turns up once more. He had the
year before signed a lease for the Edinburgh Theatre,
which had been transferred to him from Foote, who
had failed there. In Edinburgh, Digges had been
lauded to the skies. The receipts on his opening
night in that city amounted to ^"120, and "he was
received," says the Courant, "not only with thundering
plaudits, but with loud and repeated huzzas."
Of this latter gentleman I must say a few words.
To the student of dramatic literature the name of
West Digges is as familiar almost as that of Garrick
or Kean. Digges had been in the army, and had
quitted it for the stage. Easy, engaging in style, and
splendidly dressed, he was said to be "a victorious
rogue " with the fair sex wherever he went. It was
this famous Digges who was the innocent cause of the
riot when the good folks of Dublin tore up the seats
and demolished the theatre, then under the manage-
ment of Mr. Sheridan, because that gentleman declined
to allow him to deliver a strongly-flavoured political
speech when Mr. Digges was playing "Mahomet, the
Imposter." He had all the requisites to form a great
actor on the stage and off it. He had every ad van-
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 25
tage of art and nature, except, writes his biographer,
"an harmonious voice." The latter, however, was not
so harsh as to shut the ears of the fair sex against
him, nor to prevent him from swindling confiding
tradesmen.
The next manager was Mr. Ross, who assumed the
reins in 1773. Of this gentleman a portrait is still
extant. We see in it that he has a wide, sensual-
looking mouth, and a round, comfortable body, prone
so much to stoutness that we are not surprised to find
that when he went to London he was described by
Dibdin "as a voluptuous man and a great eater."
Ross had not the perseverance to give the necessary
attention to his profession, and thus he happened to
be admirable or insufferable in proportion as he was
more or less plethoric. Twenty years prior to his
coming to Glasgow at the age of forty-five he had
won his honours as a light comedian at Covent Gar-
den. He was a successful petitioner in a law suit
regarding his father's will. The old gentleman had
bequeathed him "one shilling, to be paid Mr. Ross
by his sister, to thereby put him in mind of the mis-
fortune he (Ross) had to be born." The jury awarded
him 6,000.
The Glasgow Theatre soon passed into the hands
of Tate Wilkinson. With the actors of a past genera-
tion the name of Tate Wilkinson, of the York Circuit,
was a household word. Mr. Charles Mathews, the
father of the late unrivalled comedian, speaks of
Wilkinson as a polished gentleman in private life and
even as a manager. " His liberality," writes Mathews,
" was conspicuous towards the whole of his company,
26 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
from the highest to the lowest ; in manner and con-
duct, he was a Chesterfield in all he said and did."
To Wilkinson, the stage is indebted for some of its
most valued records of actors of the past. He knew
human nature thoroughly, was an excellent manager,
a sound actor, and contrived not only to keep afloat
but to swim safely into harbour through currents
which, in theatrical management, have drowned so
many adventurers.
Tate Wilkinson's brief career as a Glasgow manager
came to an end, and negotiations were soon pending
with Messrs. Bland and Jackson to succeed him. Mr.
Bland was related to the famous Mrs. Jordan, and was,
so it is said, great-grandfather to the well-known
Fanny Bland, who figured in Dunlop Street some
thirty-one years ago. Bland had procured a lease of
the house in Glasgow for the season of 1780. To
the management of the theatre he was destined,
however, never to succeed. Meeting with Mr. John
Jackson in Edinburgh, Bland persuaded Jackson
then an actor in the Theatre Royal, Edinburgh to
enter into partnership with him and a Mr. Mills in
the management of the Glasgow Alston Street
Theatre. The season was not to commence before
May. In the meantime the dresses and properties
were purchased. The three managers organised a
company, and filled up the time till the date of the
proposed opening at Dumfries. On the 3rd of May
Jackson left Dumfries and travelled to Glasgow to
superintend the necessary arrangements for the
opening night. As he approached Alston Street he
saw a crowd gathered about the entrance to it.
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 2/
Smoke was ascending into the clear morning air.
His hopes sank ; with a quickened pulse he at once
divined the cause. A glance told him all.
" When I arrived," he writes, " on the morning of
the 5th May at the place where the theatre had stood
I found it covered with a smoky ruin." For the
moment the actor stood dazed. His little all had
been invested in the wardrobe and in the properties
which had been stored inside the building. Nearly
all were destroyed. He had resigned his own en-
gagement at Edinburgh, and was now comparatively
penniless. Moreover, he had left behind him a com-
pany who were looking expectantly forward to him
for salaries during the ensuing season.
The fire had broken out at one o'clock in the
morning at the gallery end of the house. As to the
cause, no one could determine it. There had been no
play acted there, and consequently no fires for two
days previous. Was the fire caused by accident, or
was it, as it was generally thought at the time, from
design ? Popular prejudice was still strong against
all plays and players. The theatre was burnt at a
period when riot was rampant. But a few months
before a mob had collected on Sunday during the
time of divine service round a Popish chapel. They
had pelted the congregation with stones, and de-
stroyed every picture in the sacred edifice. In that
same year the year of the famous " Gordon Riots "
another outrage had been perpetrated by a fanatical
mob. It had gutted the house of a potter in King
Street, who happened to be a Roman Catholic.
Dispersed for a short time by the arrival of the
28 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
military, the rioters gathered together again, and set
fire to the potter's private dwelling-house. So faithful
were the instigators of this riot to each other, that
notwithstanding the next day the Magistrates offered
by proclamation a reward of one hundred guineas for
the apprehension of any one of the ringleaders, they all
resisted the temptation, and none were ever secured.
What hope was there, then, of tracing the perpetrators
of an act which at that time was deemed honouring
the cause of Christ ? The theatre was yet, in the minds
of nearly all the poorer classes, held in abhorrence, and
this feeling seems to have been shared by the civic
authorities. " I was present at the fire," writes Dr.
Cleland in his famous " Census " book. " I heard the
Magistrate direct the firemen to play on the adjoining
houses and not to mind the Playhouse."
The building had been insured for ^"1,000, but the
premium had by some neglect not been paid up. The
Sun Fire Office, however, generously made a present
of 300 towards the loss.
Soon after this catastrophe Mr. Jackson applied to
the proprietors to know whether they intended to
rebuild the theatre. They replied, " We have not the
least intention of doing so ; but you are at liberty to
erect a house at your own risk, and if you choose to
build on the same spot we will present you with the
ground and the remaining walls." These walls, I
may add in passing, were still standing fifty years
ago, for the ruins had been fitted up, and were then
used as the South-West Granary.
Alston Street, however, was, in the judgment of
Jackson, too far removed from the city. His eye was
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 29
on St. Enoch's Croft, which was just then in the
market. We know it now as Dunlop Street.
St. Enoch's Croft had been acquired ten years
previously by Mr. Colin Dunlop, who was at the time
Provost. The croft then faced the Clyde, and no
prettier place was to be found near the city. On it
were built several elegant mansions. A charming
pleasure ground led down to the Green, and the croft
extended from about the present Morison's Court
westward, nearly to that ground on which Maxwell
Street now stands. This was the fashionable pro-
menade for the bucks, beaux, and belles broad-
skirted laced coats, periwigs, hoops, and furbelows.
Among the first residents in Dunlop Street was Dr.
Moore, father of the well-known hero of Corunna.
Sir John Moore was born here. Almost immediately
opposite Dr. Moore's mansion lived the well-known
Rev. Mr. Porteous, of the Wynd Church, and Dr.
John Gillies, of the South or College Church Parish,
with whom John Wesley lodged during his preachings
in Glasgow.
Mr. John Jackson applied to purchase the ground,
and to build on it a theatre. There was not the same
difficulty in getting ground for such a purpose as had
occurred elsewhere. Mr. Dunlop had sold a large
piece of ground on the east side to Mr. Robert Bar-
clay, of Capelrigg, writer in Glasgow, and he, being
superior to public prejudice, felt no qualms of con-
science in redisposing of it to Mr. Jackson.
3O THE GLASGOW STAGE.
CHAPTER IV.
BUT Jackson had not yet got out of troubled waters.
No sooner was it noised abroad that a theatre was
to be built within the city boundaries, than fanaticism
was once more aroused. Towards the clergy Mr.
Dunlop, it was deemed, had, in letting out his croft as
a site whereon to build a Playhouse, committed a most
serious offence. The reverend gentlemen who resided
in St. Enoch's Croft at once took measures to pre-
vent the building being erected. A clause in their
feu from Mr. Dunlop stated "That it shall not be
lawful to erect any tan work, candle work, soap work,
nor any other work or manufacture upon any part of
the grounds which may be deemed a nuisance by
the Magistrates of Glasgow." On this, as they
deemed, restrictive clause, they determined to oppose
the erection of a playhouse.
Ignorant of the measures which were to be taken
to frustrate the completion of his design, Mr. Jackson
made arrangements for the commencement of the
work. Plans were submitted ; workmen engaged. It
was decided that the foundation stone should be laid
on Saturday, February 17, 1781, and by Jackson
himself. As the future manager stood ready, trowel
in hand, to proceed with the ceremony, a paper
was handed him. He glanced at it and read as
follows: "Dr. Gillies and Mr. Porteous offer their
compliments to Mr. Jackson, and think it their duty
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 31
candidly to inform him before he proceeds further in
the work, they intend to join with other proprietors
in Dunlop Street to apply to the magistrates to
prevent the building of a Playhouse or Concert Hall
for acting plays in this street, as being an injury to
their property, and inconsistent with the conditions
granted by Mr. Dunlop to the feuars. We are to
meet with them on Tuesday forenoon, and though we
might have delayed giving any intimation till the
building was begun, we thought it fair and becoming
our station to give it thus early, i/th February,
1781."
But the zeal of these reverend gentlemen had out-
run their discretion ; they had reckoned without their
host. Jackson was not only an experienced manager
and capital actor ; he was both a scholar and a
gentleman. His father was a clergyman in the
Church of England, and Jackson himself had mixed
in the best society of the day. He possessed a wise
head, which almost invariably prompted him to
decisive action. In this case he deemed at first
silence the better part of valour. He took no notice
of the contents of the note, but quietly proceeded
with the ceremony. He laid the stone, and ordered
the work to be carried on with all speed. Returning
to Edinburgh he consulted with his lawyers, and on
their advice he posted to his reverend assailants a
reply at once as pertinent as their own, and more
grammatical. The following is an extract from it
" That your property should be injured by the building
now erecting, I could in a moment have confuted, for
4 where the carcase is there will the eagles be gathered
32 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
together ; ' where amusements are held forth, there
the body of the people will centre. . . . Your
second assertion ' that it is inconsistent with the dis-
position granted by Mr. Dunlop to the feuars ' is
totally groundless. For, till you can prove that a
Theatre is a Manufacture which may be deemed a
nuisance you cannot seriously suppose the present
building in dispute as coming within the meaning of
Mr. Dunlop. A church, a school, or a ball-room,
might, with equal propriety, be pronounced nuisances
as the building in question. Let me persuade you,
gentlemen, to take the advice of one who has seen
enough of the world to point out your imprudent con-
duct on the occasion. Would you live in neighbourly
comfort with one who has pitched his tent so near
you ? Molest him not in the pursuit of his profession,
for believe him, he means to deport himself with the
greatest deference to yours. The son of a clergyman,
and brought up for holy orders, he will ever pay
honour to the sacred characters of that order. Let it
be your study to preach sanctity without austerity,
for be assured, wherever compulsion or restraint
accompanies admonition and advice, the senses take
the alarm, and Nature and Reason, ever rebellious
under restraint, begin to weigh and to confute the
unreasonable dictates of authority. ... I am
ready on all occasions to meet you on the list of
argument on this point, as I am in Parliament House
before the Lords in Edinburgh, to whom I have
already appealed on the subject of the other. On
more maturely considering the subject, it appears
clear to me that you do not know the plan of the
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 33
intended buildings. That which you complain of will
neither interrupt your sight nor offend your hearing.
A land is intended to be built along the front of
Dunlop Street, according to the rules of that street,
and likewise along Dr. Gillies' passage, as high as
either of your houses. That next, Dr. Gillies will
block up his prospect southwards within ten feet of
his windows. This will entirely screen him not only
from the sight of the theatre, but from every other
object that way. These lands may be either
heightened or lowered, placed forward or backward,
according to the good or bad humour your conduct
may occasion the proprietor. Since writing the above
I have been reminded that one of you (Dr. Gillies)
was last summer a fellow-traveller with me. We
were then not disagreeable to each other. As we
were fellow-travellers in that short journey, let us be
so on a long one through the world, and let us show
to each individual of that world, that brotherly love
and charity are the characteristics of good Christians.
That it may be so with me shall be the constant
care of,
" Gentlemen, your humble servant,
"J. JACKSON."
The letter had the desired effect. The work of
building the theatre was completed in due time, and
met with no further attempt at interruption on the
part of clerical antagonists. Mr. Jackson and his
reverend neighbours lived together in neighbourly
peace, and the property in the vicinity rose in value.
The theatre in Dunlop Street was in reality the first
3
34 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
theatre ever erected in Glasgow, the former one,
having had its site in Grahamstown, had been built
beyond the city boundaries. The cost of Dunlop
Street Playhouse was upwards of 3000. It held at
the then Edinburgh prices from 90 to ;ioo. It
stood upon the east side of Dunlop Street, and was
enclosed by a wall five or six feet high. Its length
extended about 90 feet, and its breadth about 45 feet.
The pit door was in the centre of the west gable, and
before it, was a piazza, supported by Doric columns,
which covered the entry which led to the galleries. It
is said in a history of Glasgow, dated 1795, that " For
either the external or interior appearance of the house
little can be said, as with regard to both, they are
very far from being elegant, either in design or execu-
tion." The date of its opening was in January, 1782.
The performances were represented through the
season by a detached company, which was occasion-
ally recruited from Edinburgh, where the theatre was
likewise open under Jackson's direction at the same
time. Afterwards, the performances were so arranged
that one set of actors supplied both houses, and for
the first fifteen years of Jackson's management the
Dunlop Street Theatre was worked by the Edinburgh
company.
Adjoining the theatre in Dunlop Street, Mr. Jackson
built a country house, which looked pleasantly on to
a pretty flower garden, with an alcove and honey-
suckle training up the walls, a domicile which was
pulled down about thirty-eight years ago. Jackson
Street was also his property.
Barely two months after the opening of the theatre,
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 35
in the early spring, a terrible calamity fell on the city.
This was an inundation of the Clyde. On the after-
noon of Thursday, the I2th March, 1782, the river,
swollen by some days of an almost uninterrupted fall
of snow and rain, came down in a flood, and before
ten o'clock at night it had submerged the Green,
stopped all communication with the country, and
flooded the Bridgegate to the depth of some feet.
The inhabitants, however, were used to inundations
of the river. They went quietly to bed, thinking that
by the morning, the flood would have subsided. The
flood, on the contrary, increased. The ground floors
were swamped, fires were extinguished, and the very
beds were surrounded by the rising water. Cries and
shrieks now resounded on the dark and gloomy night.
Flight was found to be impossible. When morning
broke, boats laden with provisions were sent up and
down the streets, and came back laden with the
terror stricken, who dared no longer remain in their
abodes. The Saltmarket, Stockwell, Jamaica Street,
as well as, the then, village of Gorbals, were overflowed,
the latter being described as looking, like an island
in an arm of the sea. Had the tide but lasted two
hours longer, the two bridges, it is said, must have
fallen a sacrifice to its fury. The Clyde had risen
twenty feet above its ordinary level. The damage
done was enormous. Tobacco, sugar, and other
merchandise in large quantities had been swept away
and destroyed, and general destitution amongst the
poorer classes was threatened. Schemes for chari-
table contributions were at once set on foot, and
amongst those foremost in coming- to the aid of the
36 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
sufferers was Mr. Jackson. He realised for them a
large sum by giving the entire proceeds of a night
performance in the theatre. This disinterested act
of goodwill and kindness on the part of the manager
turned the tide in favour of the theatre. The poorer
class began to recognise the fact that although a
"son of Belial, there was a somethin' akin to true
religion aboot the player." The public extended
their patronage, and all classes for a time went to
the play. Jackson, thus encouraged, set to work to
provide for his patrons the best fare which the stage
could then supply.
The first star which ever shone on the boards of
Dunlop Street was Mrs. Siddons, who appeared there
in 1785. The great actress was then in the first
flush of youth and at the zenith of her fame. A year
previously she had made her triumphal entry into
Edinburgh, and just three years before that, she had
taken London by storm by her impersonation of
Lady Macbeth. In the Scottish metropolis her
receipts amounted to ^"967. On the evenings on
which she acted, the streets became impassable, from
the crowds who flocked to see her. People took
their stand before the doors frequently at noon.
The attraction of going to see the great Siddons
disturbed even the arrangements made by the General
Assembly of the Church of Scotland. It found it
needful to alter the usual hour of meeting to an
earlier one, in consequence of nearly all the young
ministers flocking to the play. Porters and servants
took up their stations at night to be the first in the
morning to secure seats at the box office. The
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 37
military, even were required to be on guard at the
opening of the doors in the evening to prevent a
riot, from the struggles of the public to obtain
admission.
" On the occasion of her first visit to Edinburgh,
she felt," writes Thomas Campbell in Mrs. Siddon's
memoirs, "as if she was speaking to stones. Her
elocution fell in vain on these northern flints. At
last, she coiled up all her powers to the most emphatic
possible utterance of one passage, having previously
vowed in her heart if this could not touch the Scotch
she would never again cross the Tweed. When it
was finished, she paused, and looked at the audience.
A deep silence ensued. This was broken only by
one voice exclaiming, ' THAT 's NO' BAD.' This ludi-
crous parsimony of praise convulsed the Edinburgh
audience with laughter. But the laugh was followed
by such thunders of applause that amidst her stunned
and nervous agitation she was not without fear of
the galleries coming down. At the conclusion of
her engagement, the Faculty of Advocates presented
her with a piece of plate." This took place in
1784.
Before coming to Glasgow she returned to London.
Her visit to that city was destined to be a sadly
memorable one.
By Royal command she read before George the
Third and Queen Charlotte at Buckingham Palace.
It was on this occasion she was the first to discover
symptoms of madness in the King. The good old
monarch had always entertained a profound and
cordial respect for her personal character, and his
38 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
own propriety of conduct had been unquestioned.
His Majesty, as the actress was about to quit the
Palace, secretly handed her a sheet of paper that
was suggestively blank ; all but the signature of his
name. The meaning of the missive was unmistakable.
"She judged," writes Campbell, "too highly both of
her sovereign and herself to believe that in his right
mind he could show such extraordinary conduct."
The event proved the justice of her conclusion. She
immediately took the paper to the Queen, who was
duly grateful for this "dignified proof of her dis-
cretion."
Who supported Mrs. Siddons when she came to
Dunlop Street on I2th August, 1785, nobody now
can say for certain. It was probably the Edinburgh
company. She had no reason to complain of the
sluggishness of Scottish enthusiasm in Glasgow. A
triumph equal to that the great actress had achieved
in Edinburgh awaited her. Some individual in the
gallery appears to have been so enchanted that he
exclaimed, " Mon ! she 's a fallen ANGEL," and before
she left the city its sober-minded inhabitants had,
like those of " the wise men of the east," made her a
public presentation.
" If," wrote Tate Wilkinson, " you ask me what is a
queen ? I should say Mrs. Siddons." " Of all actors,"
wrote Lord Byron, " Cooke was the most natural,
Kemble the most supernatural, Kean the medium
between the two. But Mrs. Siddons was worth them
all put together." " None," wrote a contemporary of
the great actress, " who saw her in the splendour of
her meridian, ever pronounced that name without a
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 39
tone and manner more softened and raised than their
habitual discourse."
Strange ! that a being so beautiful, so loftily grace-
ful, who could excite by her acting an enthusiasm
little short of idolatry, should have married, and for
love ! a being so opposite to her in taste, manners,
speech, and appearance as Mr. Siddons was. That
gentleman became the lover of the great actress when
he was in her father's company of strollers, where the
great Sarah would then occasionally have to stand at
the wings and twang snuffers to imitate a windmill.
He was one of the most unpoetical and egotistical of
creatures. " I can play," he boasted, " either Hamlet
or Harlequin." " I forbade you," said old Roger
Kemble, when he first heard of Sarah's intended
marriage, "to marry an actor. You will not have
disobeyed me when you marry Siddons. He is not,
he was not, he never will be an actor'''
11 Sarah's pathos," remarked Mr. Siddons at a private
party, "always makes me laugh. Small beer, I think,
is good for crying. The day that my wife drinks
small beer she cries amazingly. If I was to give her
porter, she wouldn't be worth a farthing."
4O THE GLASGOW STAGE.
CHAPTER V.
OVER a space of five years, Jackson continued to
manage the Dunlop Street Theatre, bringing to it
from time to time the best of stars and an admirable
company. Among the former, were the great
Henderson, the rival of Garrick ; Mrs. Jordan, Lee
Lewis, Pope, King, and John Kemble. Of the com-
pany, it was said that Glasgow had never seen its
equal. It included Stephen Kemble, fat enough to
play Falstaff without padding ; Henry Siddons, and
Mrs. Duncan.
On the 3 ist July, 1790, Sheridan's "School for
Scandal" was acted, with Mr. King in his original
character of Sir Peter Teazle, and Miss Farren as
Lady Teazle.
The following is a cast of " Much Ado About
Nothing," which was played on August nth, 1790:
Benedick, . . Mr. King
Claudio, . . . Mr. Wood
Dogberry, . . Mr. Wilson
Hero, . . . Mrs- Wood
Beatrice, . . Miss Farren
The subordinate characters were played by Messrs.
Stephen Kemble, Young, Rock, Toms, Turpin, Lam-
lash, Grant, Duncan, H. Siddons, Mrs. Stephen Kemble,
Miss Kemble, Miss Walstein, Mrs. Duncan, and Miss
Duncan. " Glasgow/' wrote Mr. Strang in 1856, "has
never had a company to equal that one."
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 41
Shortly after this season, a cloud fell on Jackson.
In spite of his most strenuous efforts he failed. Busi-
ness at the theatre became bad. The public stopped
its ears to the tones of any theatrical enchanter.
Jackson had finally to own himself defeated. In that
same year (1790) he became bankrupt. His financial
difficulties arose mainly from his trying to work too
many theatres at the same time. These were the
Glasgow, Aberdeen, Dundee, and Edinburgh houses.
His sequestrated estate was put into the hands of
trustees, and his theatres at Edinburgh and Glasgow
were advertised to be sold by public auction. Stephen
Kemble became the purchaser on the understanding
so Jackson alleged that he (Jackson) was to be a
sharer in the profits, provided he (Jackson) found
security for part of the rent. To this arrangement
Kemble subsequently demurred, on the ground that
Jackson's security was not sufficient. Jackson was
eventually excluded, by Kemble's orders, from even a
free admission to the theatre, of which for eight years
he had been a respected manager.
In 1799 Kemble had given up management, and
Jackson again made his appearance in Glasgow. He
had arranged with his creditors. He now came for-
ward as an applicant to resume management in
conjunction with a Mr. Francis Aiken, of Bedford
Square, London. Aiken was one of a large circle of
Jackson's aristocratic acquaintances, and they pur-
chased from the trustees, the Theatre Royal. Once
more the plays of Shakespeare, "Jane Shore,"
"Douglas," "Venice Preserved," the comedies of
Sheridan, Goldsmith, and Coleman were revived.
42 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
Once more, too, was the arena immortalised by Mrs.
Siddons.
In the list of dramatic luminaries during Jackson's
management we find Jack Bannister, " Handsome,
genial Jack," as he was called, before whom, as a light
comedian, even Elliston confessed, "he took off his
hat."
The year eighteen hundred and four, was destined
not to close until a "star" of more than ordinary bright-
ness had illumined the Glasgow theatrical horizon.
This luminary was no other than the Infant Roscius
the great Master Henry West Betty. This youth-
ful comet, who was to achieve the greatest dramatic
success on record, was an Irish boy, the son of a
highly respectable lady and gentleman who resided
in Belfast. His taste for the stage had been cultivated
from the first with an eye to a future public appear-
ance, and his passion for acting had been excited in
the first instance when, accompanied by his parents,
he was taken to the Belfast Theatre to see Mrs.
Siddons play Lady Macbeth. He was a bright, kind-
hearted boy, quick at study so quick that he learnt
" Hamlet " in four days and was a handsome-faced,
neat, little fellow to boot. He made his appearance
first in Belfast with a success, the like of \vhich was
never equalled, and probably never will be, in the annals
of the stage. It was on one night in August, 1803,
the era of the " Peep o' Day Boys " insurrection, when
the streets of Dublin were by law cleared by a certain
hour of night. When .Betty acted in the latter city, he
carried the house at once by storm, and with a force
so irresistible, that even the city regulations were set
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 43
aside. In honour of the " young Roscius " notices were
printed in the bills that people leaving the theatre
would not be subject to be stopped by the constabu-
lary. His fame reached London, and engagements
were offered the boy at 50 per night, at a period
when the best actors in Covent Garden and Drury
Lane were more than content to play for 16 per
week. Before, however, he went to London he visited
the provinces, where his salary was 100 per night.
At Liverpool for fourteen performances he cleared
.1,520. Off the stage as well as on it he became a
demi-god. So great was the Betty mania that no
act, however derogatory in itself, was considered infra
dig. to get a sight of the wonderful boy. Hotel doors
were besieged for a mere passing glimpse of the darling
of the hour.
Macready relates a story that, when the boy stopped,
for the night only, at an hotel in Dunchurch, a lady of
one of the leading county families entreated the land-
lord to get a sight of young Roscius. " She would
give anything." The landlord, unwilling to disoblige
his patrons, suggested there was but one way in which
her wish could be gratified. " Mr. and Mrs. Betty and
their son," said the landlord, "are just going to dinner,
and if you choose to carry in one of the dishes you
can see him ; but there is no other way." The lady,
very grateful in her acknowledgments, took the dish
and made one of the waitresses at the table. The best
portrait painters of the day vied for the honour of
immortalising him on canvas. Politicians were even
at his service. Charles James Fox read Young's
Tragedy of " The Revenge " to the boy, and William
44 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
Pitt once made a motion that the House should
adjourn in order that he and other members might be
able to see young Betty act that night. When
through overwork, the lad became ill, daily bulletins
were issued and waited for as eagerly as if he had
been the king himself. Even the University of Cam-
bridge made him the subject of a prize medal.
Crowds surrounded the theatre every night he played.
Soldiers guarded the entrance and lined the passages
and approaches. When he acted in Covent Garden,
Drury Lane, with a very weak programme, took over
^300 from the overflow of its neighbour.
Before, however, he made his debut in London he
appeared in Dunlop Street. Every lobby, every
passage in the theatre was packed. Women fainted,
men struggled into every nook and corner, satisfied if
they could but hear the tones of the young pheno-
menon. The roar of plaudits which greeted the lad's
entrance on the stage, as young Norval, was equalled
only by the praises lavished by press and public
on him the next day. To such an unprecedented
extent were the laudations carried, that a local critic
who dared to write disparagingly of young Roscius
raised such a storm about his head that he was
obliged (so it is said) to leave the city.
Whether Master Betty was deserving of this popu-
larity remains, however, an open question. As to his
talents, critics disagree. Macready describes him as
a miracle of beauty, grace, and genius. Mrs. Inchbald
complained that his preaching tones fatigued her.
" He is a clever little boy," she said, " and had I never
seen boys act before, I might have thought him ex-
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 45
quisite." Young Betty was no scholar. He was
remarkable for dropping his h's. No originality of
conception seems to have characterised his embodi-
ments. He owed almost everything to one Houghton,
an old Irish prompter, who taught him how to act all
his most successful parts. In the books from which
he studied might be found marked, not merely the
inflections of his voice, but every movement of his
hands, arms, and legs. Every tone, look, and gesture
was stereotyped. Young Betty was a really good
fellow, kind and generous, very unpretentious, and not
spoilt by flattery. He possessed, too, the rather rare
quality of gratitude. He confessed his obligation to
his old tutor, and one of his first acts was to settle an
annuity on the ever-afterwards grateful prompter.
" The popularity," says Campbell the poet, " of this
baby-faced boy, was an hallucination in the public
mind and a disgrace to our theatrical history. Critics
may disagree. One thing is certain, that whether
Master Betty was a transcendent genius or not, his
father and mother were wise in removing the boy as
a boy from a profession in which he would possibly
have failed as a man."
On leaving Glasgow Master Betty went to Edin-
burgh, and in connection with his engagement Jackson
made the following announcement : " It is one of
those singularities of nature that neither history nor
tradition can furnish, but which is now beheld by us,
but never can be seen again till the Author of all
things condescends to endue another stripling in
embryo with a similar incredible combination of
stage endowment for the gratification of contem-
46 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
porary admiration." This " Micawberian " flourish
was, however, destined to be slightly subdued and
toned down, on the first night's engagement of the
hero of the hour at Edinburgh. In order to add
eclat to the reception of Master Betty as Young
Norval, Jackson invited Mr. Home, the author of
"Douglas," who was then in his eightieth year, to
witness the play, and seated him at a side wing.
The curtain fell, the applause was at its height, and
acclamations of delight resounded through the theatre
at the acting of young Roscius. Calls at the end of
the performance were not then in vogue. The
applause, however, was deafening. Mr. Home, in
his innocence, mistook the applause for young Betty
for acclamations at his own play. He stepped on to
the stage and respectfully bowed his acknowledg-
ments. The plaudits swelled into a storm at the
sight of an old Edinburgh favourite, dramatist, and
ex-clergyman, and so served completely to unhorse
the triumph for at least that night of Master Betty.
Home, however, said afterwards "This is the first
time I ever saw the part of ' Douglas ' played, that is
according to my idea of the character at the time I
conceived and wrote it."
Betty's career was as brief as it was triumphal.
In little more than two years he quitted the garish
lights, and enrolled himself as a student at Cambridge
University. When he had finished his curriculum
he returned to the stage ; but alas ! his absence from
it, though but for so short a period, had been long
enough to break the spell. The boy had grown
into a man. The novelty was no more. A " king "
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 47
had arisen who " knew not " Henry West Betty. An-
other idol had displaced the former one in the minds
of the fickle public. No Houghton either was at
hand to coach the actor for fresh triumphs, and so
young Roscius quietly and wisely retired into private
life. He passed the remainder of a very long life
as a retired country gentleman, and died at Chel-
tenham about sixteen years ago at the age of eighty-
three.
For some time prior to this, affairs at Dunlop Street
had been looking anything but cheerful. Jackson had
become careless, not to say penurious, in his manage-
ment of the theatre. The Glasgow theatrical journals
were complaining of the meagreness of his company,
of the wretched mounting of the pieces, and of one
man playing three parts in the same piece. " Romeo
and Juliet" was played. "When Romeo spoke of
the beggarly account of empty benches," writes The
Observer, " there was a general titter. As far as the
audience was concerned, it was a literal fact." " The
theatre," writes the Register, "closed this evening,
after a three weeks very unsuccessful campaign. We
think the managers need not ascribe their want of
success to the badness of the times, but to their own
bad management." Then comes a lament as to the
want of novelty in the pieces which had been played.
" We have had no new plays, probably on account of
the expense of paying their carriage of 2s. gd. per
coach. Had the pieces been provided with proper
actors," the critic goes on to say, " each night should
have proved a bumper." The season wound up with
the " Merchant of Venice," in which the Senate was
48 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
represented by four miserable-looking, dirty reddish
figures wrapped in " faded gowns."
Taste in theatrical matters has undergone strange
changes in a century. What was then deemed a
tragedy would possibly now be considered good
stock for a three-act farce. During the season Jack-
son had produced amongst other novelties Monk
Lewis's then popular tragedy of the " Castle Spectre."
The public were delighted with it. The best tragedians
of the day acted in it. The critics pronounced it a
" splendid " drama. Seventy years afterwards, Mr.
Buckstone, being just then at his wit's end for
novelty, revived the piece, with a strong cast, at the
Haymarket. The audience, most of whom had never
heard of the play before, regarded it in the light of a
burlesque, and, to the chagrin of all concerned, laughed
heartily at it from beginning to end.
With 1804 the glories of Dunlop Street may be
said to have passed, and for a quarter of a century its
triumphs were destined to slumber.
Twenty-two summers had come and gone since the
memorable opening of the theatre in Dunlop Street.
The once bright and handsome face of its manager
had become furrowed with care, and Age had made
itself known in the loss of that spirit of enterprise
which had characterised the earlier years of his
theatrical career. The city had now increased. Its
boundaries had become considerably widened. What
had been rugged lanes and waste patches of ground
when the theatre was first built, were now ornamented
with villas and pleasure grounds. St. Enoch's Croft
had developed into a park, and Queen Street was
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 49
now occupied by handsome villas, in which the
wealthiest class resided. " From time immemorial
(writes Senex in his ' Old Glasgow ') a thoroughfare
existed in the line of this now important artery of the
city. Cow Loan, as Queen Street had been formerly
called, led from St. Enoch's Gait northward to a set
of old roads which branched off near the locality of
the Cowcaddens. It was by this ancient loan that
one hundred and fifty years before, Cromwell had led
his sturdy troopers into the city." Time had effected
a revolution not alone in the outward aspect of the
city, but also in the minds and prejudices of the
people. The venture of the playhouse, made twenty-
two years before, had, despite of certain transitory
failures, been regarded as a success. So well, indeed,
had it answered on the whole, that theatrical enter-
prises were now looked upon as a pretty safe com-
mercial speculation. By no class of people was this
idea entertained more favourably than by certain
merchants of Glasgow. " Dunlop Street," it was con-
ceived, was not a theatre in appearance worthy of the
city. A playhouse, of greater elegance and more
commodious in structure, promised, if well managed,
advantage to the public and profit to the shareholders.
A difficulty was felt at first in obtaining an eligible site.
At length, however, one was found. The unwelcome
news fell on the ears of Mr. Jackson and his partner
that a new theatre was to be built in Queen Street.
Queen Street was, in 1805, at the extreme end
westward of the city. It was within a stone's throw
of the Assembly Rooms (afterwards the Athenaeum)
in Ingram Street, and within hail of the main
4
50 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
thoroughfare of Argyle Street, which was just then
straggling out in Grahamstown. A subscription was
soon set afoot ; and the shares for the new theatre
were sold at 2$ each. The particular spot selected
for the theatre was, that near which now stands the
Royal Exchange. The west boundary of the theatre
ran nearly in line of the modern North Court off
Exchange Square. The Joint Stock Committee of
Merchants comprised the names of Messrs. Lawrence
Craigie, John Hamilton, Dugald Bannatyne, William
Penny, and Robert Dennistoun. At the top of
Queen Street West, was an unsightly spot of earth,
on which stood a decayed farmhouse. This latter
building the Committee purchased from the Magis-
trates ; also a piece of meadow flat ground reaching
along Queen Street northward to the line of what
we now know as St. Vincent Place then likewise a
waste piece of land and these were to form the area
on which the new theatre was to be built. Prepar-
ations for the erection of the building were at once
set on foot. Architects were summoned to lay before
the Committee their plans ; and builders and work-
men engaged. The cost of the entire building was
to be 18,500, and so far as taste, ingenuity, and
money could effect it, the new theatre was to be the
finest in the three kingdoms. In less than a twelve-
month the beautiful theatre was completed. It was
really beautiful. The front was composed of an
arcade basement, supporting six ionic columns, 30
feet in height, with corresponding pilasters, entabla-
tures, and appropriate devices. The principal vesti-
bule led to the boxes by a double flight of stairs, and
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 51
was separated from the corridors by a screen inter-
spersed with Corinthian columns. The proscenium
was 30 feet wide, and decorated with antique orna-
ments ; and the stage balconies were tastefully
executed. The scenery was by the celebrated
Naismith, who resided then in Edinburgh. The act
drop exhibited a picturesque view of the Firth of
Clyde, and was said to be one of the finest bits of
scenic illustration in the kingdom. The theatre was
seated for nearly 1,500 people, and so constructed
as to hold when full about 260- The yearly rental
was fixed at 1,200. On its stage were destined to
appear some of the grandest artists Britain had ever
known. The names of the actors and actresses who
" strutted and fretted " their hour on that stage, so
far from being " heard no more," speak to us still of
a past which has no equal in the present. They in-
clude the Kembles, Cooke, Kean, Macready, Munden,
the elder Mathews, Mrs. Siddons, Miss Farren, Jack
Bannister, Mrs. Jordan, Dowton, Incledon, Fawcett,
Elliston, Braham, Liston, Miss Stephens, Charles
Mayne Young, Sinclair, Miss M. Tree, Catalani, the
great Emery, and Mrs. Glover.
Up to the year 1858 there stood in Argyle Street,
on the site where the warehouse of Mann, Byars &
Co. now stands, at the corner of Virginia Street, a
quaint, old-fashioned tavern with the sign of the
" Black Bull." For eighty years it had opened its
doors to the best of the punch-drinking community
in the city. In this same hostelry were discussed
on many a winter evening gone, over long " clays "
and glasses, the most important topics of the day
52 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
city improvements, politics, hunting, fishing, sound
doctrine, and the drama. The Black Bull was the
home of all the clubs of any repute in Glasgow in
the early days of the nineteenth century. Few men
of any social standing in those days but were mem-
bers of some one or more of the clubs that frequented
the Black Bull. " These were drinking days, and men
drank hard," and hiccupped fidelity to " each brither
man " over their pipes and punch. At a period when
Glasgow boasted but two hotels, the Black Bull was
that generally honoured as the resting-place of the
theatrical stars. It was the rendezvous consequently
not alone for sportsmen, politicians, merchants, and
tradesmen, but likewise the resort of actors. There
" they most did love to congregate." To this same
tavern, after the evening's work was done, the manager
of Dunlop Street resorted, and it was doubtless over
the "britherly bowl" of punch which the "Black Bull"
was famed for brewing, that Messrs. Jackson and
Aiken gained the good will of the proprietors of the
new theatre, and their promise to view an application
from them favourably. Certain it is that these gen-
tlemen were amongst the first applicants for the
management of the Queen Street Theatre. Their
overture met with a ready response, and this in despite,
too, of the deplorable way in which Dunlop Street
had been mismanaged. The theatre was let to them
on the condition that they should bring to Glasgow the
best actors and actresses the market could produce.
Terms were arranged, and nothing remained but to
fix the date when the theatre should be opened, and
what should be the opening piece. A blank verse
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 53
play was deemed then indispensable. The old comedies
had been run upon to any extent, and Tragedy, it was
deemed, would be an ill omen for an inaugural per-
formance. At this period no piece was in greater re-
quest than Tobin's new comedy of " The Honeymoon."
Poor Tobin ! that sad example " of the fallacious
hopes by which half mankind are lured to vexatious
enterprise." He had passed many years in the
drudgery of writing plays, but in vain. Whether his
other plays would have pleased the public, nobody
now knows. The managers never gave them a
chance. They were never accepted. At length
Tobin, prematurely aged, worn in body and mind,
and poverty-stricken, wrote "The Honeymoon."
This was accepted ; but the broken-hearted young
author never knew its fate. Shattered in health,
he had sought rest and change of scene in a sea
voyage, leaving his play in charge of his brother, to
present to the managers. When the vessel reached
its destination (the West Indies) the news had spread
that " The Honeymoon " had created in London
a perfect furor ; but the ears which should have
been most gladdened with the sound, were stopped
for ever. Quietly, but unexpectedly, Poor Tobin had
died on the voyage, and had found an ocean grave.
Tobin's comedy was filling Covent Garden nightly.
It was in demand in every large theatre in the pro-
vinces.
The waves had closed over Poor Tobin's lifeless
body but four months when his comedy was destined
to produce in Glasgow almost as great a stir as it had
done six months before in London.
54 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
The announcement of it on the opening of the
Queen Street Theatre ran as follows :
The Public is respectfully informed that the New
Theatre will be opened Wednesday,
April 24, 1805.
A NEW OCCASIONAL ADDRESS,
After which the new and favourite Comedy, now acting in
London with universal applause, called
"THE HONEYMOON,"
With entire new Dresses, Scenery, and Decorations,
and the Farce of
"RAISING THE WIND."
Tickets to be had of Mr. Wright, grocer, Argyle Street, and
of Mr. M'Gregor at the Box Office of the Theatre, where places
for the Boxes may be taken.
The cast, composed of members of the Edinburgh
company, was as follows :
The Duke Aranza, Mr. Eyre
Rolando, . . . Mr. Evatt
Count Montalban,
Mr. Flowerden
Lampedo, . . Mr. Berry
Jacques, . . Mr. Turpin
Balthazar, Mr. Hollingsworth
Zamora, . . .Mrs. Turpin
Volante, . . Mrs. Young
Juliana, . . . Mrs. Eyre
The theatre was open four nights in the week
Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday.*
* It is about this time we find the first intimation of elocution being
taught in the city by a professional. Mr. Toms, a comedian who had
won his spurs at Edinburgh, appeared in the stock company in Glasgow
and announced " That having taught the practice of Elocution with
great success in Edinburgh, he wished to instruct a limited number of
pupils in the same art during his stay in Glasgow at ' Ross ' Lodgings,
Queen Street."
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 55
The first legitimate star who appeared in Queen
Street was Miss Duncan (Mrs. Davison), the original
Juliana of " The Honeymoon," who made her debut
on June 24th as Lady Teazle. The charm of Miss
Duncan's acting, so I have been told by some few who
were old enough to have remembered her at this
time, has seldom or ever been equalled. Some forty
years after her appearance in Glasgow I, then but a
youth, had the honour of speaking to her. She had
long before that, retired from the footlights ; and for
many years had been married to a Captain Davison
a military gentleman of the "Turveydrop" build
and who was always under "pressure of pecuniary
liabilities." I can just remember being taken by the
hand of my father and led into her room, where a
very beautiful old lady, with a refined but sickly face,
white hair, and attenuated frame, rose from the sofa
on which she had been lying, and, coming forward
with a feeble step, kindly laid her hand on my head
and smoothed my hair. My father told me after-
wards never to forget that I had been " patted on the
head by the great Mrs. Davison." Mrs. Davison was
mother to the late J. W. Davison, for so many years
musical critic to the Times.
The name of Harry Johnstone was, with Glasgow
playgoers, as recently even as 1861, a "household
word." He was born at Lanark and reared in
London. As an amateur he had won the golden
opinions of his confreres, and at the age of eighteen
he made his first appearance as an actor. The tragedy
of "Douglas" being then the rage, Johnstone (who
was a godson of Lord Erskine) selected " Young
56 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
Norval " for his first appearance in Edinburgh. " His
youthful appearance," writes his biographer, "grace-
ful form, and handsome expressive countenance, won
for him the universal approbation of his countrymen."
It was about this time that the stage was undergoing
a radical change with regard to costume. Macbeth,
which used to be played in a Court suit of scarlet
and gold lace, surmounted by a wig " as large as any
now worn by the gravest of our Barons of the Ex-
chequer," was now being costumed as a tobacconist's
dummy Highlander. Subsequently it was held to be
unquestionable that the correct costume of nearly
every Scotch character (if serious) should be that of
the Highlander of the snuff shop. It was Sir Walter
Scott himself who induced Kemble to substitute for
the shuttlecock head dress of ostrich feathers, which
he wore as the ambitious Thane, the eagle's feather.
Young Norval had always been dressed in the trews
and Scotch jacket. Johnstone appeared in the char-
acter in full Highland costume in kilt, breast-plate,
shield, claymore, and bonnet. There was a momentary
pause of astonishment on the part of the audience ;
then an approving murmur; then, one burst of plaudits,
which swelled into an ovation. The whole house rose,
and "such a reception," writes his biographer, "was
never witnessed in the halls of a theatre before." The
reverend author, Mr. Home, was present, and at the
conclusion publicly pronounced Johnstone the beau
ideal of his hero a compliment, however, which he
had lavished on Master Betty a short time before.
Johnstone was said to be one of the best Sir Pertinax
MacSycophants on the stage, and Mr. Phelps gained
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 57
his conception of the character from Johnstone, who,
when Phelps was studying the character, was an old
man. The excellence of Johnstone's acting of the
part may be easily explained he was an extra-
ordinary mimic, and had copied G. F. Cooke, who
was the god of the young actor's idolatry. Johnstone
had an odd style, too, of imitating persons' manners,
gait, and gesture, without even attempting their voices.
He would entertain his friends by showing how the
principal actors would play harlequin the agile
spring of Lewis, the elephantine ponderosity of
George Frederick Cooke, the solemn saltatory efforts
of Kemble, and finally the leap a la Bologna, the
most celebrated harlequin of his day. On one occa-
sion when performing the latter feat he jumped liter-
ally through a window, and fell from a height of 16
feet into the park below. In Edinburgh Johnstone
was declared by the critics to be the best Scotchman
they had seen on the boards for many a day. To
those, therefore, who had not seen Cooke, Johnstone's
acting must have been most pleasingly powerful.
Prior to his appearing in Queen Street, he had played
a short engagement with Jackson in Dunlop Street,
and on his appearance in Queen Street the audience
was prepared to give him a cordial greeting. To a
remarkable episode in the life of Mr. Johnstone I
may have occasion subsequently to refer.
A Mr. Rock, an excellent actor of old men, and a
great favourite in Glasgow, had taken the place of
Mr. Aiken in the management of the Queen Street
Theatre. The wheel of fortune, however, or rather
misfortune, with Jackson never turned. What opinions
58 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
his management was gaming for him in Glasgow may
be inferred from what the Monthly Mirror wrote about
it in Edinburgh, at the close of his season there in
1806: "The experience of this and the two or three
last seasons ought to convince Mr. John Jackson that
the tide of popularity, though never in his favour,
has irretrievably turned against him. It would be
kicking against the pricks to attempt a renewed
management."
Age had now impaired the powers of the once
indefatigable actor. He felt himself no longer
able to breast the tide of trouble which beset him.
Abused by the press, deserted by the public, his health
gave way. With a constitution as shattered as his
hopes, ruined in health, prospects, and means, he
became the victim of disease. Threatened with im-
prisonment for debt, and with misfortune rather
increasing than diminishing, Death came as a kindly
relief to the once prosperous but now broken-hearted
manager. Within one twelvemonth of his taking
the reins of the Queen Street Theatre Jackson had
gone over to the " majority."
To his three children Jackson bequeathed his
interest in the Dunlop Street Theatre. They, in
conjunction with his co-lessee, Mr. Aiken, sold it
in 1807 by public auction. The purchaser was Mr.
Andrew Thomson, a Glasgow merchant, son of the
old George Thomson of " Thomson's Bank," which
had failed fourteen years previously. Thomson knew
nothing about management, and he soon found the
theatre an incubus. For a brief period he endeavoured
to keep it open, but after a few disastrous failures he
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 59
converted part of the building into a warehouse for
the sale of West Indian produce. The rest of the
theatre was let for almost any purpose to anybody
who cared to risk the expenses contingent on a night's
public entertainment. Mr. Knowles, a lecturer on
astronomy, who was very eminent about this time,
took it. Then a w T ell-known quondam jeweller, Mr.
Bauldy Cauchrane, with a mouth of alarming dimen-
sions, would appear on a pasteboard horse, and sing
with much gusto the " Greenock Post" and "Duncan
M'Callaghan/' At another time some itinerant mana-
ger would bring out the dramas of "Blue Beard,"
"Cinderella," "Valentine and Orson/' "Robinson
Crusoe," " Beauty and the Beast," and other triumphs
of histrionic art, whilst Montignani, an Italian dancing-
master, " refreshed the weeping audience with a pre-
paration resembling coffee and chocolate in the small
side room." On the same boards appeared the cele-
brated Tom Cribb, the pugilist, wearing the English
champion's belt ; Molyneaux, the gigantic black prize-
fighter ; Fuller, Jack Carter, Crosbie, and other
members of " the fancy," who starred it at that time ;
and last, though not least, the celebrated William
Cobbett. With hair as white as snow, blue coat,
gilt buttons, white vest, long drab gaiters and in-
expressibles, Cobbett lectured in the same boxing
arena on Parliamentary Reform, Repeal of the Corn
Laws, abolition of the East India Company's Charter,
and other favourite topics of that erratic pamphleteer-
Of the engagements at the old theatre at this time
Cobbett's proved the best. There were those living
thirty years ago who used to quote many and many a
6O THE GLASGOW STAGE.
happy sentence from these said lectures. One of
these I may be pardoned for quoting. It writes a
volume as to the style of the man. A certain
philosopher gravely remarked to Cobbett "I hope,
sir, the time may come when the poor man after the
labour of the day may refresh himself by reading
Bacon." "Much more to the purpose, my dear sir,"
returned Cobbett, " if the time could come when the
poor man, after the labour of the day, might refresh
himself by eating Bacon."
To return to Queen Street. The new management
did their best to fulfil their engagement with the pro-
prietors. The length of the journey from London
and the high salaries demanded by stars compelled
economy in the way of entertainments. With the
exception of Miss Smith, from Drury Lane, few if
any celebrities visited Glasgow till the June of 1807.
The playgoing public were then set astir by the an-
nouncement that "an engagement had been made,
for a few r nights only, with the greatest living actor of
the day George Frederick Cooke." He was to open
as Richard the Third, to follow with Peregrine in
" John Bull," then with Petruchio and with Pertinax
MacSycophant in Macklin's " Man of the World."
The greatest excitement prevailed, and places were
soon at a premium for the opening night. Cooke was
in more than one respect an object of interest. He
had not only obtained the credit of being one of the
greatest actors of the day, but he was also one of the
greatest tipplers. His antecedents, too, were the talk
of the town. How had he come into favour ? What
was the special quality of his talent ? Many at that
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 6 1
time could remember Mr. Cooke's first attempts as an
amateur ; how, when he was apprenticed to a printer,
he had made his first appearance on the stage as a
vocalist, playing Young Meadows in Bickerstaff's
charming little opera of "Love in a Village." How
he had on his first appearance in London as an actor
signally failed, and how he had served his stage
apprenticeship at the Theatre Royal, Manchester, at
the highest salary then known in the provinces viz.,
two guineas per week. Mr. Cooke was forty-five
years of age before he first took London by storm as
a Shakesperian actor. His conception of the character
of Richard the Third had come on the Londoners like
a thunder clap. They had been accustomed to hear
in the part only the measured cadences, and to see
the solemn strides of John Philip Kemble. Cooke's
triumph at Covent Garden was so pronounced that the
directors gave him a free benefit, the profits of which
were ^"560. Kemble was at the time manager.
Cooke's success as Richard was so complete that,
after a struggle, the great John resigned the character
to him, and never afterwards played it. " My remem-
brance of George Frederick Cooke," writes Macready,
" whose peculiarities added so much to the effect of
his performance, served to detract from my confidence
in assuming the crook-back tyrant. Cooke's varieties
of tone seemed limited to a loud harsh croak, descend-
ing to the lowest audible murmur ; but there was
such significance in each inflection, look, and gesture,
and such impressive earnestness in his whole bearing,
that he compelled your attention and interest. He
was the Richard of the day, and in Shylock, lago, Sir
62 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
Archy MacSarcasm, and Sir Pertinax MacSycophant
he defied competition. His popularity far exceeded
that of Kemble." He became, however, the slave of
intemperance, remaining for days together in a state
of debauch. The consummate talent of an actor
whom Edmund Kean called " the finest in the
world " leads me to pause for a moment in this
narrative to describe some of his irregularities.
Cooke's drunkenness subjected him frequently to
the signal disapprobation of the audience, upon
whom he would sometimes retort with more
vehemence than delicacy. It is reported that on
one occasion, when a young officer in the stage box
made himself conspicuous by interrupting the play,
Cooke went close up to him and in his distinctly
audible pianissimo addressed him, " D you, sir,
you an ensign ! Sir, the King (God bless him !) can
make any fool an Officer, but it is only the great God
Almighty that can make an Actor." At another time
in Liverpool, when he was so drunk as to be scarcely
able to go through his part, the audience most justly
manifested their indignation. Cooke stopped and
addressed to them this insolent affront "Your
applause or your disapproval are indifferent to me.
There's not one brick (hie} upon another in your
town that is not cemented (hie) with a fellow-creature's
blood" alluding to the African slave trade, then
principally carried on in Liverpool ships.
Though maddened with the fumes of liquor, the
chain of his ideas would continue unbroken. In his
wildest fits he would begin a dissertation on the
histrionic art, and he seldom or ever became al-
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 63
together lost to the consciousness of who was present,
or what was the special line of stage business his
actor companions who might be his guests had been
playing, and his wit never forsook him. It was no
uncommon thing for him, when at his lodgings in the
provinces, after the performance, to get hopelessly
drunk, and throwing up the window of his room to
shout for "the Watch." Old Mathews, the celebrated
actor, was with him on one of these occasions. The
latter had been playing Mordecai in the farce of
" Love a la Mode " that night to Cooke's Sir Archy
MacSarcasm. He had vainly tried to get away.
Cooke suddenly seized him, flung him into a chair,
and called for the Watch. The alarmed landlady
entered, followed by the Watch, and demanded,
" What 's the matter ? " Cooke, appearing to tremble
in every limb, responded, "Matter! Murder's the
matter ! " " Murder ! " echoed the affrighted group.
The cry was taken up outside, and a crowd of the
terrified inhabitants of the little town soon assembled
with awe-stricken faces round the door. "You'll
find the murderer there," said Cooke, pointing to
Mathews. "I give that man in charge!" "What
do you mean?" echoed the trembling Mathews. "To
my certain knowledge," hiccupped Cooke, "he has
this night committed a most atrocious cold-blooded
murder. He has most barbarously murdered an in-
offensive gentleman named Mordecai. I charge him
with it, in the name of Macklin, the author of ' Love
a la Mode/" Here Mathews by a desperate effort
wrenched himself away, Cooke hurling after him the
candle and the candlestick ; the landlady and Watch
64 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
retreated likewise with great precipitancy. With the
same grim humour on another occasion he repeated
almost the same scene with the greatest vocalist of
the day. He accused Incledon of robbing him
(Cooke always believed in his own powers as a
vocalist) of robbing him of "notes? On this occasion
he dragged Incledon out of bed to give him in charge.
On one occasion he was reproved by many persons in
the pit, who suddenly turned their backs upon his
entree as Falstaff. With great readiness he staggered
forward and called out (quoting FalstafFs famous
words) " Call ye this backing your friend ; plague o'
such backing? Once whilst playing Sir Archy Mac-
Sarcasm, he persisted in calling himself Sir Pertinax
MacSycophant " Sir Archy MacSarcasm, you mean,"
cried a voice from the gallery. "It's a' the same
thing," cried Cooke, "ye've paid yer siller, and ye've
a richt to hae what name ye chuse. Sir Archy, then,
if ye will hae it so." When his drinking fits were on
him he became all but a maniac sometimes. Once,
when in a public-house, he quarrelled with a soldier.
"Come out," roared Cooke, "and I'll fight ye."
"You 're a gentleman," pleaded the frightened soldier;
"you've money, and everybody will take your side."
" Look ye here," cried Cooke, turning out the contents
of his pockets, and producing the sum, " here 's three
hundred pounds ; all I have in the world there."
He staggered towards the fireplace, and threw the
bank-notes into the fire. "Now I'm as poor as you ;
come out and fight, you villain !" He used to drink
out of a small wine glass, and was the creator of the
now stale joke: " I've left off drinking in a great
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 65
measure." Strange to say, he was always less im-
perfect in his part when intoxicated than he was
when he had had no stimulant.
Cooke's influence over the public was astounding.
In Glasgow and elsewhere he continually disappointed
his audience, and night after night the announcement
would have to be made that Mr. Cooke could not
appear in consequence of "a sudden and serious in-
disposition." Everybody knew, of course, the nature
of the indisposition. After these bouts when Cooke
would appear, he seemed always profoundly penitent.
On more than one of these occasions when he stepped
on to the Queen Street stage he was greeted with
mingled cheers, groans, and laughter. These were
succeeded by reiterated cries from all parts of the
house of " Apology ! " Then Cooke would step for-
ward with a solemn stride and mournful look. He
would shake his head, bow very low, and laying his
hand upon his heart, say, " Ladies and gentlemen, I
have had an attack of my old complaint!'' The appeal
was irresistible. The man was at once pardoned, and
the great actor allowed to continue his part. The
last time he ever acted, was in New York, where he
died. He stuck dead in the part of "Horatio" in the
" Fair Penitent." When he came off the stage he
said " I knew how it would be ! This comes of
playing when I am SOBER."
Cooke's impersonations were not all good. He
could do nothing well but what was villainous. His
"Jacques," in "As You Like It," instead of being a
moralising enthusiast, was merely a grave scoffer. In
"Macbeth," in place of a majestic villain, he exhibited
5
66 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
nothing but a desperate craftiness, and of his "Hamlet,"
writes a distinguished critic, " one would willingly
spare the recollection. The most accomplished
character on the stage," the same critic goes on to
say, " is converted by Mr. Cooke into an unpolished,
obstinate, sarcastic madman. He is great in the
hypocrisy that endeavours to conceal itself by serious-
ness as in 'lago' and 'Stukely;' in the hypocrisy that
endeavours to conceal itself by gaiety and sarcasm as
in 'Sir Archy MacSarcasm ;' and, lastly, in the most
impudent hypocrisy such as that of 'Sir Pertinax Mac-
Sycophant' and 'Richard the Third.'" Knowing his
habits, it is surprising that such a man should keep a
diary, but, nevertheless, he did, and the following is his
account of his first visit to Glasgow: "On Wednesday,
June nth, left the Castle and Falcon, Aldersgate
Street, London, in a Manchester coach, about two in
the afternoon ; supped at Northampton, breakfasted
next morning at Leicester, dined at Buxton, and
arrived at Manchester early the same evening. Friday,
1 3th. By laying too long in bed missed coach. Left in
a post-chaise, accompanied by Mr. Rock, with whom I
left London. At Bolton, overtook the coach, but was
soon obliged to leave it in consequence of illness. Pro-
ceeded in a gig and afterwards in a post-chaise to
Preston, thence to Lancaster, where we dined, and in
a coach set off for Kendal, where we supped and
slept. Early on Saturday morning we proceeded to
Carlisle, where we dined. Set out in the mail for
Glasgow, which we reached next morning. Early
in the afternoon Mr. Rock and his son came and
conducted me to a lodging in the same street opposite
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 6/
the old theatre in Dunlop Street with him and Mrs.
Rock. It was agreed I should make one of the family
during my stay. On Monday, the i6th, I went to the
new Theatre Royal, and afterwards called on Mr.
Jackson, who has been many years a manager."
When Cooke stepped on to the stage, he was
greeted with vociferous plaudits, and received through-
out as the magnate of the day. He faced an audience
which completely filled the theatre. In his outward
appearance, the audience saw a man of somewhat pon-
derous gait, but with a marvellously expressive face.
The contour of his features, like those of Edmund
Kean, was rather Jewish a long somewhat hooked
nose of uncommon breadth between the eyes, which
were fiery, dark, and at times terribly expressive ; a
lofty and broad forehead, and the muscles around the
mouth pointedly marked. His countenance, it was
said, was not so dignified as Kemble's, but its ex-
pression, especially when exhibiting the worst passions
of our nature, was stronger. He made his first ap-
pearance in Glasgow, as in London, in " Richard," his
second as " Shylock." " Strange ! " writes the author
of "Our Old Actors," "that a few years afterwards
Kean, who so strongly resembled him, should have
won his triumphs in the same parts, with only the
order reversed." The writer might have added Like
Kean, too, he was an illegitimate child, and like Kean
he had served as a sailor.
68 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
CHAPTER VI.
THE next manager who essayed to cater for the
patrons of Queen Street was a Mr. Beaumont. Who
he was, what he was, where he came from, or whither
he went, no deponent sayeth. The season was one
which proved neither long nor prosperous, and this in
despite of an exceptionally good company, "selected,"
as Mr. Beaumont announced, "from the principal
theatres in Europe. The following list of names may
serve to give an idea of its strength. Amongst the
members of the stock company were Mr. Talbot, Mr.
Holland, Mr. Wewitzer, Mr. Oxberry, Miss Kelly,
Mrs. Glover, Mr. Byrne, and Mrs. Orger. Of the
majority of these ladies and gentlemen little need be
said, except that most of them subsequently made
their mark in London. Four, however, claim special
notice. These are Miss Kelly, Mr. Byrne, Mrs. Glover,
and Mr. Montague Talbot.
Fanny Kelly was called the "Child of Nature."
Under the advice of her uncle the well-known
musician, Michael Kelly she made a provincial essay
at Glasgow in the corps of Mr. Beaumont. Her debut,
however, was something akin to a failure. She was at
the time, barely seventeen years of age, and of a nature
singularly sensitive. On the occasion of her first ap-
pearance in Queen Street she suffered so acutely from
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 69
" stage fright " that her tones scarcely caught the ears
even of those seated in the first row of the pit. Her
nervousness was absolutely painful not alone to her
fellow-actors, but even to those associated with her in
her scenes. Time, however, served to dispel her fears.
Her voice, which was found to be singularly melodious
for she had, in the first instance, been trained as a
vocalist grew stronger; and the schooling in courage
which she gained in Queen Street may be said to have
laid the foundation of her fortunes. Her success in
Glasgow was sufficiently pronounced to reach the ears
of Colman, the manager of the Haymarket, and within
a twelvemonth of her treading the Queen Street stage,
she had won the hearts of the habitues of the most
fashionable theatre in London. Fascinating as her
acting had proved in the metropolis of the west, it
paled before the zeal and passion it created in the
breasts of her London admirers.
Love letters poured in upon her from all quarters.
One hapless adorer, who had been rejected, went mad
and fired a pistol at her whilst she was acting. The
bullet passed over her head, and over that of an actor
who was on the stage with her at the time, and lodged
in the back of the scene. Another outrage of a similar
nature, and almost under the same circumstances, was
made on Miss Kelly at Dublin. She, as before,
escaped unhurt, but the gentleman who was on the
stage with her at the time was slightly wounded.
An actor who was destined subsequently to play no
insignificant part in the management of the Queen
Street Theatre now comes upon the scene. This was
Mr. Byrne. Years afterwards his name became well
/O THE GLASGOW STAGE.
known in London and elsewhere, as the father of the
celebrated Oscar Byrne, who was for so many years
ballet master of the Princess's during the management
of the theatre by Charles Kean.
Mrs. Glover's is a name which old playgoers still
pronounce with reverence. In Mr. Beaumont's com-
pany she figured as the leading lady. As a tragedian
she was not, however, destined to shine, but in the
line of business called "Old Women" the stage has
never seen her equal. Who of us that ever saw that
rubicund face, that massive form, that sparkling eye ;
who that remembers now that singularly rich, round
voice, whose every tone spoke volumes; who that
ever witnessed her " Mrs. Candour," her " Mrs. Mala-
prop," her "Mrs. Heidleberg," her "Widow Green,"
her "Mrs. Coddle," but must bow the knee to the
memory of this truly great actress. Amongst a heap
of old plays which we now seldom see or even hear
of, except in connection with some musty bookstall or
some antiquarian's library, was Dryden's "Alexander
the Great." It was in those days an immense
favourite. The great Peg Woffington had immor-
talised it by that memorable dagger fracas with poor
little George Ann Bellamy. It was in this Mrs.
Glover played. On July 4th, 1807, this revered an-
cestor of the two gentlemen of the same name who
have since figured so favourably in the two highest
forms of art, made her debut in Glasgow. She played
also "Roxalana" in the "Sultan," and on the following
Tuesday " Lady Teazle " to the "Sir Peter" of Mr.
Rock, the " Charles Surface" of Mr. Dwyer, and the
" Joseph " of the elocutionist, Mr. Toms.
THE GLASGOW STAGE. /I
The light comedian and leading man of the com-
pany during this season was Montague Talbot.
Glasgow playgoers said of him that he was in his
line one of the most elegant and refined actors of
the day. It was of Talbot a playgoer wrote :
By art and nature chastely fit
To play the gentleman or wit ;
Not Harris's nor Colman's boards,
Nor all that Drury Lane affords,
Can paint the rakish Charles so well,
Or give such life to Mirabel,*
Or show for light and airy sport,
So exquisite a Doricourt.
Over many a social glass drank (years afterwards) in
the cosy parlour of the Black Bull, Talbot used to tell
how, years before he came to Scotland, he was the
first who discovered the notorious forgeries of William
Henry Ireland. Ireland had long been his friend and
associate. When youths, they shared the same
chambers in the Temple. "All between them was
candour and confidence." Suddenly a change comes
over the spirit of the dream. Ireland talks less and
shuns Talbot's society. Talbot suspects something
wrong ; some secret working for somebody, or at
something. Whenever he attempts to enter his
friend's room, he finds the door locked ; and when he
knocks he has to wait some time before he can gain
admission. Ireland's desk, he then notes, is always
kept locked; all his papers hidden. "Strange," thinks
Talbot, " for a man whose habits have been hitherto
rather careless than otherwise." Neither jest nor re-
* Farquar comedy of " The Inconstant."
72 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
monstrance served to open Ireland's lips as to what
he had been doing. Talbot's suspicions were excited.
One morning, the day being warm, Ireland opened
his window, and placed himself before it at his desk.
With the door locked, he was situated so as to be able
to discern an interloper. It seemed impossible a sur-
prise could happen. Talbot withdrew from his own
desk also at his own window for some time in
order to lull suspicion in Ireland's mind. He then
crept out of his door on his hands and knees till he
arrived under the window. His friend sat there in
fancied security. Talbot then raised himself slowly
and quietly, and when he had attained the window
sill dexterously started up and seized upon Ireland's
papers. Poor Ireland started, and stammered some
excuse. Talbot glanced at the papers. Ireland then
made a virtue of necessity. He owned the papers
were forgeries of Shakspeare's signature, and also of
a play. The fracas at Drury Lane some few years
afterwards, when Sheridan attempted to palm off
Ireland's "Vortigern" as a hitherto undiscovered
play of Shakespeare's, drove Ireland to a public
confession of the fraud.
August 2nd, 1807, witnessed the first appearance of
the celebrated Jack Bannister, who appeared as " Dr.
Pangloss," and also in the drama of the " Children in
the Wood." The advent of this actor suggests a
remark as complacent to our conservative notions of
the superiority of our modern acting. Everything
which is natural goes to the credit solely of the
present. All that is stagey is put down as a remnant
of the past. Is this quite fair? Were there no
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 73
realistic actors in the past ? " Bannister," wrote an
eye-witness, " as handsome in his age as in his youth,
was one who could make you forget you were looking
at a play. He was more than an actor by seeming to
be no actor at all." The character of "Walter the
Carpenter " in the " Children of the Wood," then and
for a long time afterwards a favourite drama with
our forefathers, was one of the most homely nature,
and Bannister's popularity in it as a natural actor
was unbounded.
In the same August came Robert William Elliston.
When his name was announced the theatre was at
once besieged. Places were readily booked, and a
crowded audience assembled to see Elliston's imper-
sonation of his original character, the " Duke Aranza "
in the " Honeymoon." With a Glasgow audience he
at once ingratiated himself. As an actor he was
thoroughly original. " He," wrote a local critic, "can
bid defiance to either Cooke or Kemble in a certain
number of characters. There was a magic in his
voice which could sway any audience in public or
in private to his pleasure." He made many friends
during his Glasgow engagement As to his social
life, his character was summed up in one sentence
" He was a capital minister spoiled."
Of the two next stars who visited Queen Street in
1808, I have myself a childish recollection as they
appeared in their old age. The first of these was
Charles Mayne Young. He opened on January
8th, 1808, as "Beverley" in the "Gamester," to the
"Stukely" of Cooke.
Long after the old actor had retired I used, as a
74 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
very small boy, frequently to see him on horseback
cantering up and down the Clapham Road in all
weathers; bluff and hardy to the last. As I write
these words the face of the white-haired veteran
rises again to my memory out of the forty years
past. What a face ! What magnificent features !
The prominent but well-shaped nose, the firm com-
pressed lip, "an eye like Mars to threaten and
command ; a station like the herald Mercury new
lighted on a heaven-kissing hill."
Young was a mannerist. " He too often," wrote
Leigh Hunt, " plays the orator in his soliloquies and
the philosopher in his passionate encounters." " I had
never seen Young act," said Edmund Kean. " Every
one told me he could not hold a farthing rushlight to
me, but he can. He is an actor ; and though I flatter
myself that he could not act 'Othello' as I do, yet
what chance have I in ' lago ' after him, with his
personal advantages and his d d musical voice?
Young is not only an actor such as I did not dream
him to have been, but he is a gentleman."
Almost immediately after Young left came the
famous Richard Jones. He opened in "Puff" in the
" Critic," and in " Love Laughs at Locksmiths." Of
this comedian in his old age I have, too, likewise a
childish recollection. I can remember one day when
standing in the doorway of a shop in Cheapside, held
by the hand by my father, I saw an eccentric-looking,
brisk old gentleman pass. He wore at that time
(1846) the irrepressible blue frock-coat, short- waisted
and tightly buttoned ; light fawn-coloured, gaiter-cut
trousers, narrow and tightly strapped ; and his still
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 75
handsome features were surmounted by a low-crowned
hat, curled up at the side brims like a bishop's. As
he jauntily made his way through the crowd, swinging
a light Malacca cane, stopping every now and then to
look into the windows of the shops, my father pointed
him out to me, and said, " There goes Richard Jones.
Why, he must be now nearly seventy." He died seven
years afterwards, at the age of seventy-four. As a
comedian Jones was perhaps the best of his day.
He was good enough, at least, for the late Charles
Mathews to take him for his model. But old Glasgow
stagers, who thirty years ago could say they had seen
the acting of both, used to say that, however good
Jones was, Mathews was a great deal better.
76 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
CHAPTER VII.
ON the 1 2th August, 1809, the following advertise-
ment appeared in the Herald and Courier :
" To be Sold, within the Theatre Royal, Glasgow,
upon Wednesday, the i6th August current, at Eleven
o'clock in the forenoon, the whole Movable Scenery,
Dresses, Decorations, and Furniture, which belonged
to Mr. Beaumont, the late manager."
The following January (1810) saw the theatre under
the new management of Messrs. Bartley and Trueman,
With the New Year, 1812, the theatre was reopened
under the management of Mr. Montgomerie. On
January the 2/th came down for the first time Mr.
and Mrs. Charles Kemble. Kemble, who was then
over forty years of age, had but just emerged in
London from a fairly capable walking gentleman into
a light comedian and tragedian, and followed closely
in the mannerisms of his brother. His appearance at
once ingratiated him with his Queen Street audience.
His hero-face, his mellow and manly voice, and his
breadth of style and culture, all won for him a favour-
able reception. He opened as Hamlet, which was
regarded as a careful and classical performance, but
in light comedy he was pronounced unrivalled.
In Mrs. Charles Kemble, the audience were intro-
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 77
duced to a very pretty woman, whose good looks
were thought to atone for her mediocre acting. She
played "Ophelia" to her husband's "Hamlet," "Donna
Violante" to his "Don Felix" ("The Wonder"),
"Juliana" to his Duke ("Honeymoon"), and "Julia"
to his "Captain Absolute," and appeared also in a
round of dramas, which were served up as last pieces.
She is described by a contemporary as a delightful
dark-eyed woman, whose motion was itself music,
ere her voice was heard. In melodrama, or any
piece in which a pretty face and graceful form were
needed, she held her audience spell bound.
Munden made his debut almost immediately after-
wards oh March 1 2th, in the then comparatively new
comedy of the " Road to Ruin." He wound up his
engagement with "Crack," in the "Turnpike Gate," a
favourite character subsequently with Mr. J. H.
Alexander, whose conception of the part was formed
on that of the former comedian.
An advertisement announcing that the theatre was
again " To Let " appeared in the Herald and Courier
about the end of August, 1812, and was destined to be
seed which was to bring forth good fruit. It was the
means of introducing to Glasgow William Charles
Macready. "The Glasgow and Dumfries Theatres,"
so he tells us in his Reminiscences, "were now to be
let, and my father decided on trying his fortune with
them. He brought with him his Newcastle company;
new scenery was provided, the theatre was burnished
up, and everything which the proprietors could do was
done to aid the new management and help to restore
the fortunes of the now unfortunate playhouse."
78 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
Macready had, even young as he was, made some
slight name. Three years before, when only seventeen
years old, he had played " Romeo " very successfully.
He had also acted "Beverley" in "The Gamester"
and " Young Norval " to the " Mrs. Beverley " and
" Lady Randolph " of Mrs. Siddons, and the great
actress herself had stood at the side wings and ap-
plauded him loudly, exclaiming, "Bravo, sir, bravo ;"
but when he came to Glasgow his name had " yet to
become one to conjure by." Although to the general
public at this time young Macready was unknown, not
a few of the more experienced playgoers had heard of
his success in the English provincial cities, and were
prepared to give the young aspirant an encouraging
greeting. On that spring evening, May 3rd, 1813,
when young Mr. " M 'Ready," as the printers an-
nounced him, was to make his debut there was a " fair
appearance in pit, boxes, and gallery." Macready, it
was announced, would make his first bow in the
comedy of " The Wonder," and play " Don Felix " to
the "Lissardo" of his father and the "Violante" of a
Mrs. Garrick, a lady who was by marriage related
to the great actor.
" On my father's remark," Macready writes, " to one
of the old servants of the theatre that the house was
very good. ' Aye, but/ he replied, ' it will be better
when (after a pause pointing to me) his honour there
comes out.' " His prediction was fulfilled when the
future great tragedian then but a mere stripling
made his bow before a Glasgow audience as "Hamlet."
In Macready's reminiscences he states, " It was in the
tragedy of ' Hamlet ' I made my first bow before a
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 79
Glasgow andience." The advertisement in the j ournals,
however, announced that on May 3rd Mr. Macready
would appear in " The Wonder " with the cast I have
quoted. The newspapers of that date took no notice
of the performance, and it is now impossible to state
where the mistake arose. " That audience," Macready
writes, "I remember with peculiar satisfaction the
knots of play-goers that used to club together in the
two corners of the pit, and with their murmurs of
approval every now and then encouraged the young
actor with the belief that they gave their thoughts to
what was going on before them, were calculated to
give confidence to his attempt, and made him feel
that what he did was examined and scrutinised by a
deliberate judgment."
In the course of the season, it appears that
Macready, besides repeating various characters in
his list, added to them " Doricourt," in " The Belle's
Stratagem ; " " Puff," in " The Critic ; " " Young
Marlow," in " She Stoops to Conquer ; " and " Marc
Antony," for the first time.
" In this splendid theatre," continues the tragedian,
" which was the largest out of the metropolis, I derived
benefit from the necessity I was under of more careful
study and practice, and the improvement I made was
perceptible to me." "On one occasion," he writes,
" I had to task my powers of memory. The new play
by Morton, called ' Education,' had been commenced
with the usual parade of a ' novelty,' and the part of
'Count Villars/ a French refugee, acted by Charles
Young in London, had been cast to one of the best
actors in my father's company, of the name of Grant.
80 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
He had read his part at every rehearsal, and held it
in his hand on the morning of the play, but before the
rehearsal was ended he disappeared, and sent word to
the theatre that he was too ill to act that night. The
dismay was great, and there was much perplexity as
to the measures to be adopted. I was sent for by
my father to decide on the change in the pieces to be
made, but as this in theatres is regarded as a last
resource, and always prejudicial, I asked for the book,
and determined if I could not perfect myself in the
words of the part to read it rather than allow the
play to be changed. It was two o'clock in the day.
I ran through the scenes at rehearsal, and, going home,
shut myself up to work at my task. An explanation
was given to the audience of the reason of the change
in the cast, and I had the satisfaction of getting
through the undertaking without missing one single
word in the acting."
Shortly after the elder Macready commenced
management, he determined on the production of a
spectacle. It was one which was made memorable
for many a year after its producer slept with his
fathers. This was the melodrama of "Aladdin/'
which had been recently brought out at Covent
Garden. At Glasgow, no expense in the way of
scenic decoration, supernumeraries, Chinese costumes,
or stage effects was spared, and the result was a
complete triumph. It had been produced shortly
before young Macready undertook the character of
"Count Villars," "And," writes Macready, "at a
very short notice, not to stop the production of the
romance of 'Aladdin.' I undertook in it the part of the
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 8 1
Magician, previously cast to Grant, and by making
something of a character of it, added to the effect of the
piece." Subsequently Macready played "Aladdin."
At Glasgow during this year Macready, Sen., pro-
duced "Richard II.," but succeeded only in obtaining
the applause of very scanty audiences. The season
closed on August i6th with "The Belle's Stratagem,"
Macready playing " Doricourt."
A misunderstanding with the proprietors of the
theatre compelled Macready to abridge the season.
Betty was again upon the Glasgow boards, and
young Macready, in order "to supply his father with
funds, which/' as he tells us, "were much needed,"
proposed to study two characters in Betty's pieces.
One was in a play by Dimond called " Charles's Oak,"
in which Macready played " Wyndham," and Betty
" King Charles." The other was " King Edward the
Fourth," in Franklin's tragedy of "The Earl of
Warwick," Betty undertaking the title-role. " It was,"
says Macready, "my first trial of strength with a
player of celebrity, and," he modestly adds, " in it I
can bear testimony to the very clever acting of my
opponent I did my best with the two sobordinate
parts, and lost no ground in public estimation by the
venture."
The irritability which so embittered Macready
subsequently in the memory of many a subordinate
confrere appears to have been hereditary, for he
significantly winds up this account of his first visit to
Glasgow with " Unhappily my father's temper one
evening was less within control than usual, and very
angry and bitter words after we had returned to our
6
82 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
lodgings " (in Hutcheson Street) " made a severance
between us, and we parted for the night with the
understanding we were not again to occupy the same
house. I was left with a portion of the company to
act another week in Glasgow."
In 1815, the theatre having in the interim been let
to Mr. Harry Johnstone, Macready came again to
Glasgow this time as a star. He repeated his
principal characters to good houses ; but the first
appearance of Edmund Kean being announced over
his head, and at greatly advanced prices Kean
himself being paid one hundred pounds per night
affected the business. Notwithstanding, Macready's
engagement was very satisfactory, and, as events
shortly afterwards proved, in more respects than one.
It was in Queen Street during this engagement that
Macready was destined to meet his future wife. "A
pretty little girl," writes Mr. Macready, " about nine
years of age, was sent on at a very short notice to act
the part of one of the children in Dimond's pleasant
farce of ' The Hunter of the Alps.' She was imperfect
in the words she had to speak, having had no time to
learn them. Not being aware of this, I scolded her
on coming off the stage for her neglect, which I was
afterwards sorry for, as it cost her many tears. In
later life this incident was recalled to me in a very
unexpected manner." Five years afterwards (in 1819)
Macready went to act at Aberdeen. " I reached,"
he writes, " Aberdeen about noon, where I saw my
name announced in the playbills for 'Richard the
Third/ Two young girls were walking up and down
the stage, apparently waiting for the business of the
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 83
morning to begin. One, the manager's daughter, was
a common looking person ; the other, plainly but
neatly dressed, was distinguishable for a peculiar
expression of intelligence and sprightly gentleness.
She rehearsed with great propriety ' the Prince of
Wales,' and was introduced to me as my 'Virginia' for
the next night's play. Just developing into woman-
hood, her age would have been guessed more, but she
had not reached fifteen. There was a native grace
in her deportment and every movement ; and never
were innocence and sensibility more sweetly per-
sonified than in her mild looks and eyes as 'Virginia'
streaming with unbidden tears. I soon learned her
little history. She was the support of her family, and
was the same little girl whom I had rebuked some
years before for supposed inattention at the Glasgow
theatre." Four years afterwards, in 1823, he was
married to the same little lady, Miss Catherine
Atkins. It was on both sides a marriage of love,
and for thirty-two years no couple could have been
more devoted to each other than Macready and his
beloved wife. It is of her he writes : " The web of
life is of a mingled yarn, and for the predominance of
good in mine mainly attributable to the dear partner
of its trials, I can never think without emotion of the
deepest gratitude." Macready's engagements from
time to time in Glasgow extended over the space of
35 years, and with most of them his banker's account
steadily improved. On one occasion, however, his
engagement was a failure. His diary of February 22nd
records: "Glasgow, Feb. 22. Acted ' Hamlet' really
well, but under strange feelings of fretfulness and
84 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
mortification. I sent for Mr. Hield, the acting
manager, and asked him 'what the house was.' He
told me, ' But middling yet.' I was quite cast down.
I do not know when I have in my professional life
suffered so much from mortification. I tried to
rally, and acted as well as I could. Mr. Miller
came and paid me 50 for to-morrow night."
The theatre was the Adelphi. Mr. Miller also
mentions this engagement. " One night," writes
Miller, "when I took Mr. Macready the returns of
the house (Mr. M.'s arrangement with me was ^5
per night certain, and share after ;ioo, consequently
it was necessary that he should know the receipts)
I was particular in directing his attention to the
different items. ' Don't trouble yourself, Mr. Miller,
the sum total is all I wish to know. I have every
confidence in your integrity. I have seldom en-
countered unprincipled managers, and when I do,
whatever I suspect, I generally keep to myself.
However, upon a few occasions, I have had some
little altercations. I was once playing an engage-
ment at Carlisle. My father built the theatre there,
consequently I have a pretty good idea of what
the house contains. The returns of the house one
evening were brought me. " This is not correct,
sir," I said to the manager, whom you and I,
Miller, know pretty well. " I made inquiries," re-
plied the manager, " and they persist in saying that
it is correct. There can be no mistake. My own
relations take the money, sir, and if they wrong us
we must put up with it." " We ! " I answered ;
"you may, Mr. , but I'll be d d if I do."'
THE GLASGOW STAGE, 85
However, Macready went on to say, ' the parties
were suffered to exult in their villany, and no
further notice was taken by me. Some time after-
wards I was waited upon by the manager alluded
to who was a Glasgow one "Have you a few nights
to spare, sir ? " he asked. " I have." " I think two
or three nights might be spent advantageously at
Dumfries." " Certainly." "Shall I go," said the
manager, " and make arrangements there ? " " Do
your relations still take the money, Mr. ? "
" I have made no other arrangement," replied the
manager. " Then," I retorted, " you may go by
yourself; you don't get me there."'
Macready was, despite of his cold cynicism, at
times singularly generous ; and Miller records that
on one occasion during this engagement he re-
turned him 45 out of the night's receipts, in
order to compensate the unfortunate showman
manager for his losses.
Macready's last appearance in Glasgow was on
September 3Oth, 1850, at Dunlop Street. "Acted
'Virginius,' " so he writes. " Called and tried to
say the few words I had prepared. I could not ;
so improvised something which led me into the
current of the short speech intended. It is strange
I cannot find words or thoughts at the moment
they are needed. The audience seemed satisfied
with what I said. Glasgow is ended ! Good
Glasgow ! "
As an actor in some characters Macready took
a stand inferior to none. There was in his im-
personations, however, not so much of genius as
86 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
of marked individual talent. In flexibility of talent
and range of intellectual sympathy, Macready, it
was said, was a better actor even than Kean. All
attempts at impersonation in modern plays were
with the latter, failures. All Macready's original
characters" Orestes," " William Tell," " Rob Roy,"
"Gisippus," " Virginius," "Claude Melnotte," and
last, though not least, " Richelieu " he made his
own, and in them has been found to be unapproach-
able. As a man, Macready, though deeply imbued
with religious principles, was proud and overbearing
to his inferiors. " Stand further off, sir ! " he once
said at rehearsal to an American actor who was
playing " Rosencrantz " to the tragedian's " Hamlet."
" Would you shake hands, sir, with your ' Hamlet ?' "
" I don't know," said the other ; " I do with my
President? As to the virtues of social life, nothing
in Macready was wanting. Affectionate to his
friends and relatives even to a fault, generous and
hospitable, very charitable to the poor ; at once
a scholar and a courtly gentleman, he was also
one whose refined morality was pioneer to that
reform both before and behind the curtain, which
in later years has made itself known, more especially
in the management of Phelps, the Keans, and last,
but not least, to him to whom this little work is
affectionately inscribed.
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 8/
CHAPTER VIII.
Itf 1814, the Queen Street Theatre was under the
management of Harry Johnstone, a man who, since
ht had first appeared in Glasgow, had won the
everlasting good-will of the general public for having
stood up in vindication of a husband's rights, even
to the length of thrashing H.R.H. the Prince of
\\ales. England's future George the Fourth had
prtssed his gallantries so far on Mrs. Johnstone (an
indifferent actress but a pretty woman) as to force
hinself into that lady's dressing-room behind the
scenes at Drury Lane. Johnstone stealthily followed
the Prince and horsewhipped him there and then.
Tie outraged husband was given into custody, but
escaped ; he hid himself in an obscure lodging till
tte hue and cry had subsided, and then, disguised
as an old soldier, left London and made his way
01 foot to Newcastle. Subsequently he became
nanager of a circuit ; made a failure as director
cf the Theatre Royal, Dublin, came over to Glasgow,
aid managed Queen Street for a year. He after-
vards fell into poverty, lived on the chanty of his
jrother actors, died at a very advanced age, and
was buried in Lambeth, the suburb which had been
his refuge when he fled from the wrath of the de-
THE GLASGOW STAGE.
feated heir apparent. A twelvemonth after the
Drury Lane escapade, however, Mrs. Johnstone
figured in the divorce Court, the co-respondent
being the celebrated orator and Deputy Master of
the Rolls, Richard Curran. He ran away from the
country to evade the process of the Court, and
was accordingly proclaimed an outlaw.
To Johnstone, Glasgow is indebted for the intro-
duction of Edmund Kean. Monday, the 2Oth Marcl,
1815, saw the first appearance of the great actcr
in Queen Street. The prices of admission were :
Boxes, 73. ; pit, 5s. ; lower gallery, 35. ; upper gal-
lery, 2s. " We shall never forget," writes an eye-
witness, " the terrific squeeze we had in forchg
ourselves into the pit on the evening of Mr. Keai's
first appearance in Glasgow.'' The boxes had ill
been taken weeks before, and even temporary bo>es
were erected on the stage. All the professors of
the University and the literati of Edinburgh, h-
cluding Francis Jeffrey, were present. Glasgcw
was in an uproar of excitement. Crowds from ill
the surrounding districts flooded the city. Not a
bed in a house, private or public, was to be obtain
The theatre doors were besieged for hours befo
they were opened. Queen Street was literal
blocked by the mass of people eager for admittance
When at last the portals were opened, a crusl;
which was mingled with shouts, cheers, and shrieks
ensued. Men fought, women fainted, and were carried
fainting in some instances into the theatre, unable
to get out of the dense multitude.
In April Kean again flashed with his wonted
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 89
brilliancy and success upon Glasgow audiences, play-
ing "Richard," "Othello," "Sir Giles," "Romeo,"
"Penruddock" ("Wheel of Fortune"), and "Zanga" in
"The Revenge." On his next visit in 1820 his reputa-
tion (socially speaking) was under a cloud. An action,
in which Kean figured as co-respondent, had been
brought by Alderman Cox, and damages had been
awarded to the "injured" husband, who, it was said,
had, with his wife, arranged the whole affair for the
purpose of extorting handsome damages. The press
had denounced Kean in the most ferocious terms, and
called upon the public to drive him from the stage.
The public submitted cheerfully to be hounded on,
and now greeted him with howls and hisses whenever
and wherever he appeared. He came down to seek
rest and quiet at Bute Cottage, Rothesay, which he
had purchased a few years before. An engagement
in Queen Street was offered him, and an arrangement
was made for Kean to play for a month respectively
at Glasgow, Greenock, Ayr, and Kilmarnock. Kean
was announced to open a six-nights' engagement in
Glasgow as " Richard." He made his bow to a house
crowded with men and boys. No female was to be
seen. The uproar commenced with Kean's entrance,
and not a word of the play would the audience allow
to be heard. The tragedy was acted off simply in
dumb show. "Othello," the next night, fared no
better. " Brutus " was the play for Wednesday, and
the audience, consisting solely of the male sex, con-
descended to give the tragedian a respectful hearing.
Responding to the vociferous cheering, which greeted
the fall of the curtain, Kean came forward and said :
90 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
"Ladies and gentlemen, When I used to visit this
city it was always a rich harvest to me, but this time
there has been a great falling off. That, I suppose, is
owing to a certain event which has already cost me
^"999 more than it was worth. I am going to America
(cries of 'No, no') to perform again. If I ever
return to this country I shall certainly pay you a
visit ; for old kindnesses I never forget. For the
present I bid you all respectfully Farewell."
Kean started next morning from the Caledonian
Hotel, where he had been staying, and went down by
the steamer to Greenock. The Glasgow manager,
accompanied by Sheridan Knowles, arrived in the
afternoon, and Kean, only partially sober, went down
to the theatre. Kean dressed himself at the hotel
" the White Hart " where he was stopping, and came
down to the theatre wrapped in his fur cloak to cover
his stage costume. Howling and hissing and cat-calls
greeted him here, as they had done at Glasgow, and
at the end of the first scene, in his stage dress,
concealed by his cloak, he left the theatre. He
went to his rooms at the White Hart, threw himself
on a sofa and refused to stir. Remonstrance and
persuasion proving fruitless, his valet left him, locking
the door on his master. Kean heard the ominous
click ; made at once for the window, leapt from it,
made his way to a water-side tavern, from which,
accompanied by a well-known property man (Mr.
Mackintosh), he, still habited in his " Richard " dress,
set out in an open boat for Rothesay, where he
arrived next morning at four o'clock, and four hours
afterwards reached his retreat, Bute Cottage.
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 9 1
His engagement at Ayr ended most satisfactorily.
Ladies of the highest social standing, as well as
gentlemen, filled the theatre. The sight of the house
and the cordial greeting awarded him so gratified
and inspired the tragedian that his acting, it was
said, was never better than it was as " Richard " that
night.
In the September of 1824 Glasgow was again
favoured with a visit from Kean. No ladies were yet
to be seen amongst the crowded audience, but he was
received by the crowd, notwithstanding, with open
arms. It was during his next engagement in 1827,
whilst he was playing " Reuben Glenroy," in " Town
and County," that Kean received intelligence that his
son Charles had become an actor, and that he was to
open at Drury Lane on the 1st October following.
Kean had not seen his son or wife for years, and had
previously declared " If Charles tries to be an actor I
will cut his throat. I will be the first and last actor
of the name." The announcement so affected
Edmund Kean that, letting fall the letter, he sank
on a sofa in the Queen Street Green Room, fairly
overcome. He was unable to finish his part, and the
announcement was made that Mr. Kean was taken
suddenly ill. Notwithstanding his bitter feelings,
however, he, next morning, sent Lee up to London to
see " how the boy got on." " By the by," he said to
Lee, " I '11 send you up a bill here for that evening,
and you will see that it is stuck up in the Green
Room. Charley may be nervous if he thought I was
in the audience. He doesn't know where I am.
He'll see it in the Green Room, and then he'll know
92 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
I am not in the house." "With the big tears rolling
down his cheeks," adds the narrator, "Kean took hold
of honest John Lee's hand, and bade him farewell."
He went to Hamilton to meet the mail by which Lee
was to return from London, and it was in the former
place Kean received the news that Charles had made
a fairly successful dtbut.
In 1828 a new star was brought to Glasgow. This
was no other than young Mr. Kean. With his father
Charles had not held intercourse for some time, for
the son had resented Kean's insult to Mrs. Kean, Sen.,
in having attached himself to a disreputable com-
panion. This " lady " was then living with the elder
Kean in Bute.
After the first night, the business attendant on the
engagement with young Kean declined, and the
manager hit on a scheme to improve it. He wrote to
Edmund Kean, who had come back from America
a wreck of his former self; bloated and feeble. He
succeeded in engaging him to come to Glasgow and
play for one night, taking care not to hint that it was
for Charles' benefit, and that sire and son were to
play together. Of this fact the elder Kean knew
nothing until he came into the theatre and saw the
bill. " Kean," writes Lee, " got into a terrible passion
upon making the discovery, and wanted to leave the
house; but he was urged not to show spite against his
own son, and persuaded to go on." The play was the
tragedy of " Brutus" "Brutus" by Mr. Kean; "Titus,"
his son, Mr. Charles Kean. The house was the
largest ever seen in the Glasgow Theatre Royal. No
less than 250 persons were accommodated with seats
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 93
in the wings, and on the stage itself. There was no
change of scene, owing to the intrusion of so many of
the public, and the piece was literally played from
beginning to end in a circle on the centre of the
stage.
Except when on the stage together, father and son
never met or recognised one another. Both were
called for at the fall of the curtain, but Kean would
not go on. The afterpiece was " The Hunter of the
Alps," "Felix" by Mr. Charles Kean. Whilst the
latter was waiting at the wing, his father passed by on
his way to go out. Halting for a moment, the elder
Kean simply said, " I hope to see you, Charles, at
Bute to-morrow. There will be a crust of bread and
cheese for you there." Charles politely answered,
<' Thank you, father." So ended the interview
Instead of going to Bute, Kean went next day to
Belfast.
Five years afterwards sire and son met again.
It was on the boards of Covent Garden Theatre.
Kean played " Othello ;" Charles, " lago;" and Miss
Ellen Tree (afterwards Mrs. Charles Kean), "Des-
demona." When Charles came on the scene the
elder Kean advanced towards him, cast off for the
nonce the actor, and became the kind father. All
went well until in the third act he came to the
celebrated exclamation, " Villain ! " &c. On that
word Kean's voice broke up into a falsetto. He
paused a second or two, his voice gradually sank
into an inarticulate whisper, after which his head
gradually fell on his son's shoulder. " Get me off,
Charles," he gasped ; " I'm dying. Speak to them
94 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
for me." Charles led him off the stage. He was
conveyed to Richmond. Two months afterwards,
an hour before he died (on the midnight of I3th
May, 1833) he sprang out of bed, exclaiming, "A
horse, a horse : my kingdom for a horse," and his
last words were the dying words of " Octavian " in
the "Foundling of the Forest,'* "Farewell, Flo
Floranthe." Charles was in an adjoining room.
The only persons present when Kean died were
Mr. Lee and the doctor.
In the June of the year 1833 the house, furniture,
books, &c., belonging to the late Edmund Kean at
Bute came to the hammer. Amongst the tragedian's
papers were found the following lines, which there is
very reason to believe were penned by him :
Thou Tyrant Death ! that doth abuse that power
But lent thee by the Great Creator's hand ;
The virtuous wicked fall in the same hour,
Destined all to thy express commands.
Canst thou not, Tyrant, e'er consistent be ?
Why leave the child to mourn a Mother's death ?
In taking all I loved, why not take me
To sigh my last with her who gave me breath?
One bliss is left above thy firm control,
While Heaven destines me thus to linger here
To indulge the filial duties of my soul,
And daily o'er my Parent drop a tear.
The next great event of Johnstone's season as
manager was the engagement of Miss O'Neil. An
unexpected furore took place. It was an " O.P."
riot. Johnstone had, as in the case of Kean's engage-
ment, raised the prices. The actress was announced
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 95
to open on the 2ist August, 1818, as "Belvidera" in
"Venice Preserved." When the curtain rose a cry
resounded from all parts of the house of "O.P. !!!"
(old prices). A thousand bellowing tongues took up
the shout. It was then discovered by the manage-
ment that copies of the following handbill had been
distributed : " Johnstone, in one week last season
during the engagement of Mr. Kean, in consequence
of raising prices of admission, cleared 2,000. It is
presumed that the public of Glasgow will not submit
to a repetition of a like imposition." The tumult
increased. Johnstone, whenever he entered, was
loudly hissed, but in the end gained the day. Miss
O'Neil's appearance seemed to act like a spell, under
which the ringleaders of the riot found themselves
bound to silence. She played "Jane Shore" the
following night, and by the press was declared to be
" the finest we have ever seen." Miss O'Neil appeared
in Glasgow, in engagements up till 1819, when she
married, left the stage, became, on her husband being
knighted, Lady Beecher, and died, nineteen years ago,
at the age of 8 1 .
Following a brief engagement with Lucius Junius
Brutus Booth (Kean's counterpart) and that of
" Mathews' At Home," came the announcement that
on the 1 8th September, 1818, the "Grand Crystal
Lustre of the front Roof of the Theatre, the largest of
any of that time in Scotland, will, in place of the
Wicks and the Candles and the Oil Lamps, be
Illuminated with Sparkling Gas'' Every seat in the
boxes up to the double and triple tier was at once
engaged, the spacious pit was crammed to suffocation,
96 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
the first, second, and third galleries had not an inch
of standing room to spare. Gas never till then had
been seen or heard of in any theatre (so ran the
advertisement) in this kingdom. The house presented
a most brilliant appearance. Nearly every citizen of
wealth or repute was present with his family. The
signal was given. The green curtain of the stage
was raised. Then the band struck up the National
anthem, the audience joining in the chorus. The
gas, as if by magic, made its first " evolutions," to the
astonishment of all, " leaving some of them," adds
the writer, " to fancy that they had been ushered into
a new world a perfect Elysium on earth."
The programme that night consisted of Mozart's
" Don Giovanni," by a company of Italian artistes
under the baton of Mr. John Corri, father of the late
Henry Corri, and grandfather of Miss Kathleen Corri
(Mrs. Lord), late of the Central Hotel.
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 97
CHAPTER IX.
IT may surprise many to learn that " Rob Roy "
was produced first in Glasgow, nine months before
it was played at Edinburgh. The date of its pro-
duction at Queen Street was June loth, 1818, on the
occasion of the benefit of Mr. W. H. Murray, of
Edinburgh. Murray played "the Bailie" to the "Rob"
of Mr. Yates (afterwards manager of the London
Adelphi, and father of the present editor of the
World), and a Mrs. Eyre played "Helen." No notice
was taken of the performance by the local journals;
but it enjoyed the rather (at that time) lengthened
run of four successive nights.
At the Perth Theatre on the i8th June, 1818,
" Rob Roy Macgregor, or Auld Lang Syne," was
performed, with Mr. Mackay as "the Bailie," for the
first time. It was next played in Dundee, with
Mackay once more as " the Bailie." The " Dougal " of
Williams at Perth and Dundee is said never to have
been equalled Mr. Mackay played " the Bailie " for
the first time in Glasgow in the August of 1819.
The first production of " Rob Roy " in Edinburgh
was on February I5th, 1819, with Hamerton as
"Rob;" "the Bailie," Mackay; " Captain Thornton,"
W. H. Murray; "Francis," Benson; "Rashleigh," J.
7
9 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
H.Alexander; "Diana," MissM'Alpine; and "Helen,"
Mrs. Renaud.
The performance of the piece in Glasgow which
probably will be most vividly remembered was the
revival of the play at the old Prince's Theatre in
West Nile Street, on February 4th, 1852:
Rob Roy, Mr. Edmund Glover.
Helen Macgregor, .... Mrs. Archbold.
Rashleigh Osbaldistone, . . . Mr. J. Silver.
Francis Osbaldistone, . . . Henry Haigh.
(Announced as a young tenor who had just entered
the profession).
Diana Vernon, Miss Josephine Manners.
Owen, Mr. C. E. Marshall.
Captain Thornton, .... Mr. W. Morgan.
(First husband to the present Mrs. J. B. Howard).
Dougal, Mr. Watt.
Sir Frederick Vernon, . . . Mr. C. G. Houghton.
Major Galbraith, .... Mr. W. H. Murray.
Bailie Nicol Jarvie (i,i34th time), . Mr. Mackay.
M'Stewart, David Fisher.
Subsequently, when the piece was revived a few
years afterwards, Powrie played "Rob; " Miss Cleaver,
"Helen;" George Webster, "the Bailie;" Lloyd,
"Galbraith;" Vivash, "the Dougal;" Ashley, "Rash-
leigh;" Miss Fanny Josephs, "Diana;" and Hamblin
for many years afterwards, the stock " Francis."
Some half-a-dozen versions of the novel have been
from time to time staged in London and elsewhere,
but none have approached either in excellence, stage
contrivance, or popularity, that of Peacock.
"Robs" have been found in every tragedian and
actor manager from Macready, the London original,
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 99
to Charles Kemble downwards ; but of the Scottish
actors in the olden time, Corbett Ryder, who played
it shortly after the production of the play in Perth,
is said to have been the best.
To our present class of old playgoers the " Rob "
of Glover and of Powrie will be the most familiar.
Glover's conception of the character was perhaps the
most original. It was that of a more homely type,
abounding in strongly effective traits ; never failing
in his impersonation of "the bold outlaw" to give
glimpses here and there that " Rob " was a man
strongly attached to wife, weans, clan, and dear
old Scotland. Powrie was indebted for his idea of
the outlaw to Mr. Langley, an excellent actor in
Mr. Alexander's company, and for ten years the
highly esteemed manager of the Dundee Theatre.
Mr. Langley's acting of the part was based on that
of Corbett Ryder. Powrie, who was a Dundee man,
was at the time (forty years ago) a promising amateur,
and Mr. Langley encouraged him by allowing him
occasionally to act in his theatre. Powrie's embodi-
ment was from first to last that of the bold and
romantic outlaw. With Anderson, the "Wizard of
the North," the part was also a great favourite, and
after the burning of the City Theatre on the Green,
he opened in the part at " Covent Garden," of which
theatre he was manager, and which likewise was
burned to the ground, shortly after he had entered
on the management. The late Mr. M'Neill, who
married a daughter of Ryder, gave also an admirable
picture of " Rob." The stage has at present no " Rob "
who can approach that of Mr. J. B. Howard. All
100 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
local playgoers remember every " Rob " of note, and
also the actor of nearly every other character in the
drama, from " the Bailie " to " Captain Thornton."
What man, woman, or child who saw it will ever
forget the " Bailie " of Mackay who, in the broadest
situations, even when weilding the red-hot poker,
never forgot that Nicol Jarvie was a magistrate, and
the son of a deacon. He was, we are told, intensely
humorous, never vulgar, always amusing, and not a
vestage of a buffoon. Ever realistic, never otherwise
than refined, he immortalised the part.
Gourlay, who played it some years afterwards, was
an imitator of Mackay, quaint, dry, and funny; but
his " Bailie " was wanting in the delicacy of touch, of
his model. George Webster, J. H. Alexander, Bruce
Norton, all tried it ; and Mr. James Houston displays
a genuine appreciation of the part. The nearest
approach, however, to Scott's " Bailie " that I remem-
ber to have seen, and I only know Mackay 's by
hearsay, was the late Mr. William Campbell's, who
identified his name with the character in Glasgow
some twenty years back, and who almost invariably
played it to the " Rob " of Powrie. Campbell was one
of the only two persons who saw Tom Powrie die.
The earliest "Rashleigh" of note was Mr. J. H.
Alexander, who played it at Edinburgh. Then
came Mr. James Aitken, father to Mrs. Bunten.
But to old Dunlop Street playgoers " Silver " was
the "Rashleigh." Look, gesture everything conveyed
the idea of the cunning, cruel, and vindictive plotter.
" Silver " was one of the best " villains " that trod
Dunlop Street stage. He was the " black-a-vised "
THE GLASGOW STAGE. IOI
murderer to the life. And yet with what genuine
human relentings he played "Hubert" in "King John!"
The last "Rashleigh" who appeared in Dunlop Street
was Mr. Frank Allan, son-in-law to- Mv. Langky,
a gentleman who in his own iTarne^-that of 'Kil-
pack officiated as acting manager at the ''Theatre
Royal, Plymouth, where he died about two * years
ago. Out of the many " Rashleighs " it has been our
good fortune to witness, including that of Mr. R. H.
Wyndham, none gave so good all-round a portraiture
as Mr. A. Lindsay who played it to the "Rob" of
Mr. Henry Talbot some years ago at the Gaiety.
In the ranks of the "Major Galbraiths," no one was
found so fit to command as the veteran, the late
" Old Lloyd." His conception of the character was
founded on that of W. H. Murray's, who soon threw
up the English " Captain " for the more important
part of " the Major."
Various actresses have identified themselves with
" Helen," and amongst their names are those of
Mrs. Egerton, Mrs. Renaud, Mrs. Ternan, Mrs.
Glover, Miss Cleaver, Miss Nicol (the original), Miss
Marriott, Mrs. R. H. Wyndham, Miss Rose Leclerq,
and Mrs. J. B. Howard ; but probably no one of
these ever realised the more ferocious side of the
character better than does Miss Julia Seaman.
Her commanding presence and extraordinary power-
ful voice would have inspired awe even to " Rob "
himself. " Owen " never attained greater promin-
ence than it did in the artistic hands of the late
Mr. Fitzroy.
Amongst the most notable of the " Francis' " was
102 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
Mr. Sims Reeves. As Mr. J. S. Reeves he played
the part at Miller's Adelphi. A local critic of the
day recorded " He (Mr. Reeves) seems to have
something-, of - the * same antipathy to steel as that
described' of James VI. When he ought to have
drawn his sword he had none to draw, and when
he dared 'Rashleigh' to combat he coolly walked off
the stage to provide himself with a claymore." As
to costume, the play has undergone as many
changes as there are checks in the tartan. In
1845, a local critic, describing the production of the
piece in Dunlop Street and at Miller's Adelphi,
says : " But at both the theatres the general ap-
pearance of all the characters must have been, to
say the least of it, startling. Sir Frederick Vernon
was dressed as ' Hamlet;' at Miller's three distinct
checks were seen on one dress ; some of the High-
landers were dressed as English peasants, and
' Helen ' was attended by a faithful servitor in a
modern * pot ' hat and velveteen breeches."
" Rob Roy " has been played little in comparison
with " Guy Mannering." " Rob " has seldom made
its appearance except on some special occasion,
and in nine cases out of ten it has been as a
special spectacle. Up to the period of the Glover
dynasty it was seldom seen in Glasgow, probably
owing to the uninterrupted run of stars and the
difficulty attending its production in the way of
music, the drilling of supers, &c. " Guy Mannering,"
on the other hand, has grown grey in its service
on the Glasgow boards. As the journals of seventy
years ago took little or no notice (even by adver-
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 1 03
tisement) of dramatic entertainments, it is almost
impossible now to fix with any certainty the exact
date when Terry's adaptation was first presented
to the Glasgow footlights ; but it would probably
be anterior to "Rob Roy," and most likely almost
immediately succeeding its production at Edinburgh,
where Murray introduced it on February 25th, 1817,
more than eleven months after it had made its
debut at Covent Garden.
In Glasgow the play has always been a favourite.
Year after year it was played with George Webster
as "Dandie," for which character it seemed as if
nature had specially formed him. It was a rough,
bold, and strong, if not a very artistic bit of acting.
With the " Dominie " will always be associated the
revered name of Mackay, and prominent amongst
his successors, that of Mr. Fitzroy, who invariably
received for a quiet and pathetic rendering of it a
cordial greeting. Listen's "Dominie" was said to
have been far better than his "Bailie."
Every light comedian, from Mr. Harcotirt Bland
downwards, has had his name associated with
" Colonel Mannering." For some years Mr. Ashley
played it to the l< Dirk Hatteraick " by turns of
Vivash and Silver. Danvers, the father of Mr.
Ramsay Danvers, was " Gilbert Glossin." The
" Megs " have been numerous, none of course
equalling that of Miss Cushman, who played it at
Miller's Adelphi. In 1849 an< ^ on several other
occasions Edmund Glover played " Meg " with his
usual success. The strongest cast (vocally) ever seen
in Glasgow was on September 6th, 1852, with the
104 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
Pyne-Harrison troupe, with Louisa Pyne as " Julia/'
Harrison as " Bertram,'* and H. Corri as " Dandie."
When Dunlop Street was reopened after the fire
on December i6th, 1863, "Guy Mannering" formed
the opening piece, with the following cast :
Julia Mannering, . . . Mrs. H. Haigh.
Lucy Bertram, . . . Miss H. Watson.
Flora, ..... Miss Lizzie Wood.
Meg Merrilies, . . . Mrs. H. Vandenhoff.
Mrs. M'Candlish, . . Miss Lavis.
Colonel Mannering, . . Mr. W. Baynham.
Henry Bertram, . . . Mr. H. Haigh.
Dominie Sampson, . . Mr. Fitzroy.
Mr. W. Scott
Dandie Dmmont,
, .
(Press amateurs).
Dirk Hatteraick, . . . Mr. J. B. Howard.
Gilbert Glossin, . . . Mr. Kendal.
Bailie Mucklethrift, . . Mr. R. Lloyd.
Amongst the early productions of Scott's novels
was the " Heart of Mid-Lothian," which was first
acted in Glasgow in 1820, with the following
cast :
Dumbiedykes, ..... Mr. Burns.
Duke of Argyle, .... Mr. Bromley.
Geordie Robertson, .... Mr. Buton.
Jeannie Deans, .... Mrs. Munroe.
Margery Murdockson, . . . Mrs. Penman.
Madge Wildfire, .... Mrs. Baker.
This adaptation was by Dibdin. The piece had
made the year before a great hit at the Surrey, and
had been produced in Edinburgh on February 23rd,
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 1 05
1819, with Calcraft as " Staunton," Mackay as
" Dumbiedykes," and J. H. Alexander as "Ratcliffe."
For some years the piece was a favourite in
Glasgow, chiefly through Miss Aitken's acting of
" Madge ; " but as time went on it gradually sank into
disuse, and probably on account of the melodies not
being so catchy, it never attained the popularity of
" Rob Roy " or " Guy Mannering." Several versions
of the tale have been from time to time produced,
and in 1863 Boucicault sent down his London version,
which was followed by one by Mr. Hazlewood, and
as the latter adhered more faithfully to the novel than
Boucicault, although not by any means so good a
piece, it became with Glaswegians a far more popular
one. It had the advantage of being well staged, and
Miss Marriott made an admirable "Jeannie Deans."
Another play, called " The Whistler ; or, the Fate of
the Lily of St. Leonards," attained a short-lived
popularity.
As early as 1811 Scott's "Lady of the Lake"
appeared in a dramatic form both at Covent Garden
and at Edinburgh. As a spectacle, it has always
been a great attraction, but it was brought into
greater prominence than it had ever attained before
on the accession of Edmund Glover to the manage-
ment of Dunlop Street. His sturdy figure was as
specially adapted as his effective delivery and acting
were to the character of the outlawed chief. The
first really grand revival of the piece was on the
28th April, 1856, with the following cast :
106 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
Roderick Dhu, Edmund Glover.
Fitzjames, Powrie.
Allan Bayne, Fitzroy.
Douglas, ...... George Webster.
Malcolm Graeme, .... George Vincent.
The Monk, Paumier.
Ellen, ...... Mrs. M. Eburne.
Blanche, Miss Aitken.
To Glasgow playgoers a host of happy memories
will rise at the mere mention of the list of the minor
Scottish dramas. "Gilderoy," with Glover as the hero;
Mackay, "Jock Muir;" and Watt, "Walter Logan."
" The Warlock of the Glen," with every leading man
of note in turn as " Mathew." Who does not call to
mind Mackay 's "Jock Howieson" in "Cramond Brig,"
and Glover's "James VI.," or the latter's "Edgar
Ravenswood" to the "Caleb" of Mackay? Then
there was also " Mary Queen of Scots," with Miss
Aitken as "the Queen" and Glover as "Douglas."
These dramas were all more or less adapted by
W. H. Murray, and kept alive by the unrivalled
acting of Mackay, who visited Glasgow now and
again every year from 1819 to 1852.
At the death of Mackay his mantle in Scotch
characters was supposed in Glasgow to have fallen
on George Webster, and at the latter's decease
descended to a great extent on the late Mr. W.
Dobson, who was the last Scotch actor of note in
these roles up to 1875, when Mr. James Houston
and Mr. J. W. Gordon were brought to the front.
Memorable among Scotch impersonations was James
Aitken's " Wandering Steenie " in the drama of " The
Rose of Ettrick Vale."
THE GLASGOW STAGE. lO?
Old-fashioned melodrama, which was introduced
first to the stage in 1802, has had its day. Its
morning was bright, its noontide glorious, but its
sun is setting amid anything but purple and golden
clouds. Since the epoch when travelling companies
became the fashion the old Scotch melodramas have
found their city of refuge only in the shows. Our
only chance now of having our boyish theatrical
recollections revived is at Vinegar Hill during the
Fair holidays. To canvas-covered Temples of the
Drama the plays have fled, and also many of the
players, and some very good actors will still be
found at Collins's at the Fair time. The bold bad
Baron, with his basket-hilted sword, the sentimental
" Crichton " hero, the white-muslined heroine, the
pallid ghost, find no moated dungeon in the modern
sensational drama. Instead of these dear old friends
of our boyhood, the thrilling music, and the soul-
harrowing scenes, we have some insipid masher in
evening dress, who consigns his hapless victim either
to the colonies or a lunatic asylum or, worse still,
" slangy leg-pieces," which young Glasgow applauds
to the echo, but which are too surely driving family
playgoers out of the theatre.
108 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
CHAPTER X.
IT was in the year 1819 that Macready, whilst in
Glasgow, was first introduced to Sheridan Knowles
by Mr. John Tait, theatrical printer, bill inspector,
and kindest and best of friends to poor players.
Knowles had come to Glasgow with his father about
two years before this, and was then teaching elocution
at his own class-rooms in Reid's Court, off the Tron-
gate. Full twenty-five years and more have passed
since the Necropolis received the shell of his departed
spirit, yet flowers spring up in old men's memories
when they call to mind the welcome visits they paid
to the class-room of "Paddy" Knowles sixty years
ago. Poor Knowles, though in receipt of a good
income from his class fees (2 y 2s. per session), was
never well off, always in a muddle, and ever sinking
into poverty. Generous to a fault, he strove to
relieve others beyond the measure of his means,
and so became an easy prey for any rogue or lazy
vagabond.
Mr. John Tait, at Knowles' request, sent Macready
the MS. of "Virginius." Macready stipulated that
.400 for twenty nights should be paid for the play,
and that it should be continued into the following
season, which made a difference of 100 in favour of
THE GLASGOW STAGE. IOQ
Knowles. Twelve years afterwards Sheridan Knowles
was still in Glasgow and in difficulties. Creditors
were clamouring, and a rising young family making
greater the demands on his resources. It was in this
year he wrote the "Hunchback." Despatched to
London, the play was at once accepted. Knowles'
spirits, raised to the utmost, were doomed, how-
ever, to have a sudden downfall. Farren, who
was rehearsing " Master Walter," was stricken with
paralysis. If the play was to be produced at all it
must be within a week or two. Kean, shattered in
mind and body, could not undertake a fresh part ;
Macready declined the character. Driven to their
wits' end, the managers of Covent Garden wrote to
Knowles suggesting he should play the part. The
dramatist consented, went up to London, played the
character, and the play became the great hit of the
season.
The Glasgow manager (Seymour) had reason to
love "Paddy" Knowles for his generosity. Some
supers on the occasion of the spectacle of "Aladdin"
being played, struck for arrears of salary, and a
riot was threatened. Knowles happened to be in the
boxes that evening, and with a full knowledge of the
circumstances which had brought the piece to an
ignominious halt, he went round quietly to some of
his old friends and pupils, who were also present in
the boxes, and persuaded them to save the credit of
the manager and the piece by taking the place, for
that night only, of the recreant supers ; and, Knowles
heading them, the piece reached a successful termina-
tion. Knowles was, however, never thoroughly
IIO THE GLASGOW STAGE.
appreciated by the public. When, at the end of the
season, he came to star with Miss Ellen Tree (after-
wards Mrs. Charles Kean), the curtain drew up on his
own tragedy of " William Tell " with exactly seven
people in the pit, six in the boxes, and thirty-five in
the gallery. A Glasgow critic on the occasion wrote
of Knowles : " He is an actor, though perhaps not of
the very highest class. He cannot for a moment
measure spears with Kean, but with most other living
performers he need not fear comparison."
In March, 1837, Sheridan Knowles came to Glas-
gow, again bringing with him his pupil, Miss
Elphinstone, whom he shortly afterwards married.
They appeared together in a round of Knowles'
plays, including the "Hunchback," " The Wife," and
" The Wrecker's Daughter." This engagement
brought down an actor who was afterwards for many
years a favourite in Dunlop Street, Mr. Paumier, a
gentleman who so soon ingratiated himself with his
audience that at the expiration of one month's
engagement a dinner was given to him by several
of the most influential of the merchant playgoers.
The 1 3th February, 1820, saw the debut of James
Aitken (father of Miss M. A. Aitken), as " Macbeth."
Mr. Aitken, son of an upholsterer in York Street, had
been a student of divinity, and was one of the first
pupils of Sheridan Knowles, when the latter with his
father, fresh from Belfast, first commenced to teach
elocution in Glasgow. Among many professors and
ministers who were present to witness the first ap-
pearance of Aitken as an actor was Dr. Chalmers and
his then helper, Edward Irving. Knowles was there,
THE GLASGOW STAGE. Ill
and the house was crowded for the most part with
the young man's friends and fellow students. " Mac-
beth " was repeated nine times in the following three
weeks a great success. A month afterwards Aitken
made a failure as " Richard the Third," in which he
was so imperfect in the words as at length to take
the book out of the prompter's hand and read them.
Knowles subsequently wrote the play of " Virginius/'
and Aitken came from Aberdeen to play in it "Icilius,"
a part which had been written specially for him.
The summer season of 1825 saw, for the first time,
James Aitken in the character of "Wanderin' Steenie."
He played the part so well that when, two years
afterwards, the original, a Mr. Denham, acted it in
Glasgow he was fairly laughed off the stage.
Aitken's subsequent career is but too well known.
He became " walking gentleman " at Covent Garden,
quarrelled with John Kemble, returned to Glasgow,
taught elocution, was a splendid public reciter,
gradually sank into poverty, and died in compara-
tive obscurity. At Johnstone, at a small tavern, one
Saturday evening, he was, as was his wont, collecting
a trifle from the more ardent of his admirers by
giving a few extracts from the part he was best
known by, when he sank helplessly on the ground,
sighing with a vacant stare, "Puir Steenie's dune"
words prophetic of his approaching end. This
took place at Paisley on Friday, iQth September,
1845. He had been delivering his recitations there,
when he fell senseless from exhaustion. They carried
him to his lodging, where, two hours after they had
laid him on his bed, he died.
112 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
Misfortune had up to this period followed every
attempt at management in Queen Street. The rent,
which had formerly been fixed at ; 1,200, the
directors had been compelled to reduce to ,400,
and even at that sum the receipts barely sufficed to
pay for the gas.
In the meantime Dunlop Street had been pursuing
a very questionable career, and presenting any amount
of " medley " in its bill of fare, as the following copy
of a programme will show :
"Circus, Dunlop Street. On Friday and Saturday, 28th
and 29th December, 1821, the performances will commence
with the admired ballet dance, called * Hurry-Scurry,' after
which the very favourite Melodrama, called * Frederick the
Great,' and Horsemanship. The whole to conclude with the
admired Melodramatic Burlette, called the 'Mill of Glamis.'
Splendid New-Year's Harlequinade Pantomime will be pro-
duced at the Circus. Mr. Simpson (from Manchester) with
his wonderful performing dogs and sagacious bear are engaged,
and will shortly appear in a new grand historical bruno-canine
quadrupedical melodrama."
Mr. Alexander in this year became for a short
time a manager, and converted the circus in Dunlop
Street into a minor theatre, securing for his opening
night a popular vocalist of the day Miss Byrne.
In 1823 the Queen Street Theatre was opened by
a Mr. Taylor, from Belfast, and in the following
August Mr. J. E. Byrne took the reins. In 1823
Listen made his first appearance in Glasgow as "Sam
Swipes" in "Exchange no Robbery," concluding with
" Bombastes Furioso/' He delivered also a comic
address in the character of " Lord Grizzle " in " Tom
Thumb," seated on a donkey. Miss M. Tree, the
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 113
sister of Mrs. Charles Kean, came in August as
Clari, and sang she was the first who ever sang it
the evergreen " Home, Sweet Home."
On the 4th December, Sheridan Knowles's tragedy
of " Caius Grachus " was produced for the first time.
The piece narrowly escaped a failure through Mr.
Seymour being grossly imperfect as the hero.
" William Tell " was next produced, in which
Seymour played the hero and Aitken " Gesler."
A fierce and powerful rival to Queen Street now
appeared. A Mr. Kinloch took a theatre in Dunlop
Street (then christened the Caledonian), where he
produced the hit of the day, a piece founded on
Pierce Egan's " Tom and Jerry," in which the
famous Tyrone Power played "Jerry." It was admir-
ably mounted, and through its success Kinloch wound
up his season with a clear profit of upwards of two
thousand pounds.
This year (1825) brought a pronounced figure to
view for the first time, Mr. J. H. Alexander, who
was destined to make his name famous as at once
one of the most energetic and most eccentric of
theatrical men and managers. Born of respectable
parents in Dunbar in 1796, after having received his
education in Edinburgh, Mr. Alexander served his
apprenticeship to his uncle, Mr. Proudfoot, a hosier,
who carried' on business at the foot of the Candleriggs.
Witnessing the acting of Mr. Harry Johnstone, John
Henry Alexander became infatuated with the stage,
and after passing through the grub condition of
Amateur, finally emerged into the butterfly state of
Professional, through Mr. John Tait having introduced
114 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
him to Messrs. Trueman & Bartley, then managers of
Queen Street. Under the management of Mr. Mont-
gomerie, the successor to these gentlemen, Mr. Alex-
ander made his first appearance before the footlights
by (as a boy) giving out the performances at the end
of the play, and " addressing the audiences in cases of
emergency." The next season saw him at Queen
Street under the Macready dynasty. A few years
afterwards he was again in Scotland, and as an actor
under the management of Mr. W. H. Murray he
remained for some ten years. Here he married. By
that strict economy which characterised his habits to
the very end of his days he amassed a considerable
sum out of the frugal stipend he received, and after
a short curriculum passed in theatres in the North he
reappeared in Glasgow as "Rashleigh Osbaldistone,"
when Murray brought over his Edinburgh company
to play " Rob Roy."
" Alexander " now began to play everything high
tragedy, low comedy, heavies, and eccentrics. Shortly
afterwards, in 1821, he became manager of the theatre
in Carlisle, which he retained for twelve years, coup-
ling with it Dumfries ; and in 1822 he took the minor
theatre in Dunlop Street, which had been hitherto
managed by Kinloch. His open defiance of the law
regarding the infringement of the patentees' rights
soon gained him notoriety, and involved him in a
series of litigations. In 1825, having heard that the
Caledonian Theatre was in the market, he resolved to
add it to his circuit. Seymour, who was then stage
manager to Mr. Byrne in Queen Street, determined
to forestall Alexander, and before the latter was
aware of it Seymour had obtained the theatre.
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 1 15
Alexander came to Glasgow the day after Sey-
mour had signed the arrangement. Discomfited but
not dismayed, he matured his plans. All the premises
in the building in Dunlop Street were not occupied,
and what remained of them free, he resolved should
be his. His eye rested on a cellar beneath. The
ceiling was lofty, and the space large enough for his
purpose. The proprietors of the cellar, a cotton dealer
and a potato salesman, were interviewed as to their
terms for vacating the premises, and at once settled
with. Their goods and chattels were removed, and
two days afterwards Alexander was " monarch of all
he surveyed."
Seymour opened the " Caledonian " with a capital
company and first-rate scenery and appointments.
Alexander opened at the same time the coal cellar,
which he christened "The Dominion of Fancy."
Then commenced the fray. Whilst the actors on the
stage above were playing "Macbeth," those on the
stage below were carrying on the " Battle of the Inch."
" Macbeth " was acted nearly throughout, to the tune-
ful accompaniment of the shouts of soldiery, the
clanging of dish covers, the clashing of swords, the
braying of drums ; with the fumes of blue fire every
now and again rising through the chinks of the
planks from the stage below to the stage above. The
audience laughed, and this stimulated the wrath of
the combative managers. Any new sensation will
draw an audience, and the fact of getting extra-
ordinary effects, unrehearsed, and certainly never seen
before, drew large audiences.
The rival managers now appealed to the rraeis-
Il6 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
trates. Seymour was allowed to open his house for
four nights in the week, and Alexander for only two
Saturday and Monday, then the best nights of the
six. Both being dissatisfied, appealed to the Court
of Session, which only confirmed the previous de-
cision. Now came the struggle which should outvie
the other. On the opening night in the " Dominion
of Fancy " everything was drowned by the clamour
of a brass band which played during the whole
evening by direction of Seymour, upstairs ! Another
appeal to the magistrates ! Decision " Neither
party was to annoy the other, and on any more
complaints being brought both places would be
ordered to be closed." Seymour's people upstairs
now lifted the planks and poured water down through
them on the heads of the unoffending onlookers in
the "Dominion of Fancy" below. The climax was
reached by the production of " Der Freischutz " by
both managers. Seymour's party from above
mustered in strong force on the first night, and by
means of the gaps in the planks before referred to,
managed to spoil the whole effect of the incantation
scene. The dragon was treated ignominiously and
not permitted to emit his fiery saliva. He was also
detained by his tail till all his fire was burnt out.
The skeleton hunters made a like sickly and in-
effectual effort to carry on their wild career. Then
the drop was not allowed to fall on the picture, and
Alexander had to give the word of command to
" come off the stage." Everybody concerned in the
magic circle had to walk off, Zamiel and his skeleton
horseman included. Then suddenly down came the
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 1 1/
curtain with such a crash that the dust which followed
nearly suffocated the audience. Then the manager
came forward and appealed to the public " as to how
long he and his brother huntsmen were to be inter-
rupted in the sport by the misdeeds of foreign
intruders " his rival was an Irishman. Neither Sey-
mour nor Alexander, however, had much to com-
plain of as to the receipts for the season. " Tom and
Jerry" was played at both houses during the same
week. It ran for a month, and so successfully was
public curiosity stimulated to see both productions,
that Queen Street was deserted, and Byrne, the
manager of the latter, made an inglorious retreat.
Seymour made a successful application for the
theatre.
IlS THE GLASGOW STAGE.
CHAPTER XL
THE entrance of Mr. Frank Seymour upon the
management of the Theatre Royal, Queen Street,
was not a triumphal one. The late tenant, Mr.
Bryne, had decamped without paying his rent for
the last six months, and with the keys of the theatre
in his pocket. His successor had, therefore, to get
into the theatre by climbing through a window in
the green room at the back. The first engagement
made by Seymour was with the famous Listen, who
opened in Kenney's comedy of "Sweethearts and
Wives," and also as " Neddy Bray " in the farce
of " X.Y.Z." The comedian proved a tremendous
success, and Seymour with the proceeds of the
engagement determined to renovate the old place.
Whilst the repairs were proceeding the company
played at their old quarters in Dunlop Street, of
which Seymour still retained possession.
When the redecoration was completed, Queen
Street was reopened with " Rob Roy," supported by
a strong company, and for a time matters moved
smoothly. With June came the irrepressible " Battle
of Waterloo," an equestrian spectacle always pre-
sented on every "i8th." The equine arrangements
were under the superintendence of Mr. Davis (from
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 1 19
Astley's), and Seymour gave an excellent impersona-
tion of Napoleon. Perhaps the most memorable
feature of Seymour's management was his production
on the loth May, 1826, of ''Aladdin." Eighteen
newly-painted scenes, a military band, fifty supers,
magnificent properties, a flying palace built on a
platform thirty feet long and eight feet broad, contri-
buted to the success of this, one of the biggest hits
Glasgow had ever known. The last notable feature,
however, in connection with Seymour's brief term
of management was the second engagement within
a year (1828) of Andrew Ducrow, who came with a
double company, including a hundred ladies and
gentlemen, a stud of forty horses, a pack of hounds,
and a stag, all taking part in his famous equestrian
spectacle" A Stag Hunt."
It was in the beginning of 1829 that the fatal
catastrophe to Queen Street occurred. Andrew
Ducrow and his troupe had scarcely departed, and
Seymour had just brought up his company from
Paisley to reopen for his spring campaign. " Tom
and Jerry" was underlined, and on Monday evening
following " Bluebeard " was to be produced. A re-
hearsal of the latter piece was called at eleven on
Saturday, January loth. It was a dull and wintry
day. The workmen were engaged in dismantling
what had been the Royal Bank, preparatory to its
conversion into the front part of the present
Exchange, when the attention of a few individuals
was suddenly attracted to what seemed a light, misty
vapour ascending from the lofty roof of the Theatre
Royal. By the time the fire-engines were dragged
I2O THE GLASGOW STAGE.
to the spot the whole of the interior presented one
living mass of fire, and now and then when part of
the galleries and boxes fell down into the pit, the
flames rose from the building to a height that created
anxiety not only for the safety of contiguous premises,
but also for the new Exchange only a short distance
off. Not a particle of the whole building was saved.
Every bit of property belonging to Seymour was
destroyed, including an assortment of new scenery
for a little theatre in the Isle of Bute, to which Kean
had subscribed 50. Music, books, papers all fed
the flames. The proprietors' losses were partially
covered by insurance, but Seymour's amounted to
nearly ^"2,000. A fancy ball was shortly afterwards
announced for Seymour's benefit, and it took place
on the 23rd February, in the Assembly Rooms,
Ingram Street.
As for the houseless actors, some gave dramatic
readings, others migrated ; but all were terrible losers
by the calamity. Seymour realised from the profits
of the ball a thousand pounds. "At that midnight,
however, there was a whisper" that the manager was
missing from the assembly ; also that he had gone
away mysteriously, taking all the money with him,
without having in any way attempted to settle either
the rent of the hall or certain outstanding debts. He
was arrested that very night on board the steamer
when it was on the point of starting for Belfast. He
paid the watchful creditor who had tracked him,
and got clear off without having then to satisfy any
others.
On Friday, October 2nd, 1829, Seymour returned,
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 121
and, backed by influential friends, opened a theatre
which had been built for him in York Street, and
for which he claimed the patent of the Theatre Royal.
On the first night Edmund Kean played " Shylock."
Braham, Rae, Macready, and a host of London stars
followed. " Rob Roy," with Seymour as " Rob," was
also produced ; but notwithstanding every effort for
its success, the theatre closed ignominiously in about
eighteen months.
Meantime Mr. J. H. Alexander had made vast
alterations in Dunlop Street. On December 5, 1829,
the following announcement appeared : " Mr. Alex-
ander hails with delight the moment which gives
him an opportunity of presenting to the citizens of
Glasgow a theatre which, he flatters himself, will be
deemed worthy of their notice and support." He
inaugurated his season with Dimond's play of " The
Royal Oak, or the days of Charles the Second," in
which he impersonated the "King." The manager of
Dunlop Street was destined to prove a sharp thorn in
the side of the York Street Theatre. Alexander had
succeeded in securing the most popular stars of the
day. Vandenhoff appeared on March i$th in a new
play called "Shakespeare's Early Days." Miss
Jarman, afterwards Mrs. Ternan, followed. Then
came T. P. Cooke with his round of nautical
dramas. In April, Liston came down with " Paul
Pry." Wilson, the Scotch vocalist, made his first
appearance in Glasgow about this time ; so also did
George Horncastle, an excellent baritone (brother
to the first Mrs. H. J. Lloyd). In May, Mackay
played a round of his favourite characters in the
122 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
" Bride of Lammermoor," " Gilderoy," " Cramond
Brig," "Guy Mannering" (the "Dominie"), and his
immortal "Bailie" Montague Stanley playing "Rash-
leigh." Harry Johnstone and Miss Jarman and the
Siamese Twins all appeared in Dunlop Street that
year, also Mr. H. F. Lloyd. Lloyd, who on I5th
November, 1830, opened as the "First Graved igger,"
sang a comic song, " The Humours of a Country
Fair," and appeared in the farce of " Too Late for
Dinner." He became at once a favourite with his
audience. Kean opened a short engagement on the
following Monday. " He looked," writes Mr. Lloyd,
" a little, shrivelled old man, although the tragedian
was then but forty years of age; so much had his
excesses left their mark." Lloyd, it appears, in the
character of the " Lord Mayor " a part which is
always given to the stock low comedian, and is con-
sequently one at which an audience is usually
inclined to laugh had on the first night a mishap.
In kneeling he leant too heavily on his wand of
office. The wand snapped, and Lloyd fell forward
" bringing his nose in contact with the stage."
Naturally the audience laughed at the predicament,
and even Kean himself smiled, though grimly.
"At the end of the act," Mr. Lloyd goes on to
say, " I went up to him and apologised for the
accident an accident he didn't believe it to have
been." " Not at all, sir," he said, deprecating my
apology, " I am pleased to think that your new
' business ' was so successful. It shows that a
Glasgow audience can appreciate talent like yours.
I should advise you by way of variety to introduce
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 12$
next time the original business by shaking your
head well when you say ' Ah ! my lord,' by which
you will bring down a shower of powder from your
wig and at the same time a shower of applause from
a discriminating public." Lloyd innocently (?) re-
plied, " Thank you, sir, I will," and as he turned
away from him he heard Kean exclaim to himself,
" Idiots ! "
Kean, it appears, was doomed during this engage-
ment to meet with discomfitures. The "lago" to his
"Othello" was an old actor called Willie Johnstone.
Johnstone was very rheumatic. Kean was also
weak in the legs. In the business of the third act
both actors knelt in front of the stage, and neither
of them found it possible to get up again. On
" lago's " saying to his general " Do not rise yet,"
Kean was heard to mutter, "D d if I think I shall
ever rise again." Both gentlemen remained unable
to move until Kean managed to raise himself by
clinging to his ancient friend, in which endeavour
both nearly rolled over together, the gallery boys
meantime applauding vociferously, and shouting
" Try it again, Willie ; try the other leg. Now fau't
haun's and knees." "At last," writes Lloyd, "Mr.
Alexander, who was playing "Roderigo," taking pity
on poor Willie, came on the stage and placed him
safely on his feet amid a cry from the gods of ' Hoop
La/ and a round of applause for his humanity."
The year 1832 proved a disastrous one for all
connected with theatricals. It was the fatal year
when Asiatic cholera first invaded our shores. Audi-
ences were miserably thin ; no one cared to stir
124 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
abroad. Kean, however, appeared again, and an
engagement was effected with the incomparable
Irishman, Tyrone Power who went down a few
years later with all on board the ill-fated steamer
" President." Mr. Alexander's stock company at
this time was stigmatised as execrable, " the very
worst, perhaps, that have ever played the legitimate
drama in this city, and Heaven knows we have been
frequently but poorly off in this respect." On the
opening of the engagement of a star there were five
people in the boxes, six in the pit, thirteen in the
gallery.
The Journals of this year not only attacked from
time to time the poverty of the company at the
Theatre Royal, but commented in nearly every case
on the indiscretion of the manager in thrusting him-
self before the public in everything ; as chorus
master, tragedian, low comedian, Yorkshireman,
Scotchman, Irishman, dancer in a word, as fancy-
ing himself the only man who could act. Lloyd,
who had now joined Mr. Murray in Edinburgh, was
spoken of as "our little favourite;" a Miss Richardson
had won golden opinions as " leading lady," specially
in her " Meg," to Alexander's " Dinmont"
With the winter season of 1834 came a fairly
strong stock company, which opened in " Macbeth."
Some of the names of the company may be still
remembered. First is that of John Gray, who played
" Macbeth." He was then a dashing light comedian,
and won golden opinions for some time afterwards
at the Adelphi on the Green, and elsewhere. The
writer was brought into communication with him for
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 12$
the first time about 17 years ago, when he found
him in a dying state in a common lodging-house
in the East-End. Poor Gray was prematurely old,
all but starving, and a subscription was set agoing
for him, which amounted to only a few pounds.
When I brought him the first instalment of it the
fading light in his eye brightened, and with some-
thing of the old professional look he spat on the
sovereign, saying, "That's for luck!" He struggled
into a chair, flattering himself with the hope that
he should soon be himself again. On the following
morning he died.
A name, then unknown to many, crops up about
this time. This is no other than G. V. Brooke, who
was in 1836 a member of the stock company, playing-
Shakespearian and other characters, including such
parts as " Teddy the Tiler," &c. Of Brooke more
will soon have to be told. The 24th August of the
same year saw the advent of Charles Mathews (the
younger) in Glasgow. The piece he chose for his
debiit was " The Old and Young Stager ;" that in
which he had made only a short time previously
his first appearance on any stage in London *>.,
as a professional. As an amateur actor his success
had been great enough to warrant his adopting the
stage as a profession. Mathews, on this occasion,
was accompanied by Mr. Meadows, long an actor
at Covent Garden, subsequently a comedian at the
Princess' and during the Kean's regime. Mathews,
on the night referred to, played also in a little come-
dietta called " One Hour, or the Carnival Ball," in
which he danced the Tarantella with a Miss Palmer.
126 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
In 1838 the theatre was confronted by a formid-
able rival, no other than the great Ducrow, who
after amassing a large fortune as the successor to
Philip Astley in London, increased it considerably
every year by his visits to the provinces. His arena
was then in Hope Street. The success of this
extraordinary equestrian manager may be gathered
from the fact that whilst in Glasgow he purchased
Castle Rosse from Horatio Ross, ex-M.P. for Aber-
deen, which yielded a rental of ^"4000 per annum.
But money brought him one of the best natured
fellows that ever breathed neither health nor peace.
On the death of his second wife, he married the
famous equestrienne, Miss Woolford, of whom he
had long been enamoured. The lady showed her
appreciation of her lord's devotion a few years after-
wards by imprisoning him illegally in a madhouse,
from which he was released through the intervention
of an old and grateful servant Mackintosh, the
well-known Glasgow property man " The Old
Stager " of " Stage Reminiscences," on whose breast
this once Croesus of equestrian managers died.
Sheridan Knowles came down in the early part
of this year, accompanied by his pupil, Miss Elphin-
stone, whom he shortly afterwards married. The
opening of the summer season was distinguished by
the first appearance in Glasgow of the brilliant and
fascinating Mrs. Nesbitt, one of the most beautiful of
women and most sparkling of light comediennes. She
opened in "Juliana" in the " Honeymoon," playing
afterwards " Mrs. Trictrac " in the " Married Rake."
In the March following came Buckstone, then a very
THE GLASGOW STAGE. I2/
young actor, who was growing into as much notoriety
from his pen as from his acting. His benefit was
under the patronage of Sir Walter Scott, and the
programme consisted of Buckstone's own little drama
of " The Maid of Croissy " and the " Lottery Ticket/'
Buckstone playing " Wormwood."
For some months after this no star shone in the
dramatic firmament; and the theatre was soon closed
for enlargement and redecoration. On the i6th
March, 1840, it reopened with a fairly strong com-
pany. The leading gentleman was Mr. Charles Pitt,
an actor who subsequently became a very popular
" star." Mrs. Charles Pitt was also in the company.
Miss Fanny Pitt, so well known about fifteen years
ago at the Cowcaddens Theatre Royal, was their
daughter. The season closed with an engagement
of Templeton, the well-known vocalist, who suc-
ceeded Wilson as a Scottish tenor, and retiring from
public life many years ago, lived a very quiet life as
a country gentleman, and died a few years since at
his residence (next door at that time to my father's) in
Twickenham. Cathcart, the father of Mr. James
Cathcart so long associated with the Keans was
the leading man at this period, and although not one
who was calculated to set the Clyde on fire, he man-
aged to get through all his business respectably. The
season ^proved profitable though not brilliant. No
stars had been allowed to swallow the profits.
128 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
CHAPTER XII.
IN the February of the year 1842, Mr. and Mrs.
Charles Kean the latter who had not acted in Glas-
gow for seven years played a fortnight's starring
engagement. Mrs. Kean's features at this time were
very classical and refined. Her nose might have
been thought by some to be too prominent, but the
general contour of her face was beautiful in the
extreme. Kean, on the other hand, had extremely
little to recommend him. He was undersized, his
head was large, his nose anything but classic, his
legs thin, and he always spoke as if he were suffering
from a chronic cold. He could not pronounce the
consonants M or N. The M he pronounced as if
it were B, and the N was sounded as if it was D.
As " Shylock," for instance, he would commence to
retaliate on "Antonio " with " Benny (many) a tibe
(time) and oft," &c. His G's and R's were always,
like his father's, rendered too prominent. Thus in
his speech to the Senate in " Othello " he commenced
with
Bost (most) potedt (potent) g-er-ave and
r-r-ever-r-r-end seignors.
Notwithstanding his defects in figure, face, and
speech, I have never seen in my experience any
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 129
actor who made such an impression on me as
Charles Kean did in my boyish days. I can never
forget the lightning of his bright, dark eye, the ease
and grace of his action. Many curious stories are
told of him. He was very nervous, and he naturally
made others nervous. On one occasion his best
point in " Richard " of " Off with his head, so much
for Buckingham," in reply to the messenger's an-
nouncing "My Lord, the Duke of Buckingham's
taken," was completely nullified by the nervous
messenger's announcing " My Lord, the Duke of
Buckingham's DEAD ! " was for the moment, to use
his favourite expression, " Flummuxed ; " then he
muttered audibly after a pause, "Then what the
d are we to do with him now?" Kean was
vain, and sought in the flattery of certain dependents
a balm for the unjust scourges which the critics had
inflicted on his earliest attempts at acting. " I stuck,"
I once heard him say, "in that last scene ; didn't
you notice I stuck, M ? " to one of his satellites.
" I I ; no, sir," replied M , who scarcely knew
what reply would please Kean best ; " I didn't notice
it, sir." " Then, sir," replied Kean, with one of his
father's flashes, "where could have been your eyes
and ears. I should have thought your eyes would
for your own advantage solely for your own ad-
vantage as a young actor have been fixed on ME."
On December I2th, 1842, Mr. Alexander was
startled by an announcement in the journals of the
day that Mr. D. P. Miller would at an early evening
open the Adelphi Theatre, and that it would be
his desire to retain so good an ordinary company
9
130 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
as to render the engagement of stars a matter of
secondary importance. The Adelphi opened on
Thursday, December 2ist, 1842. The play was
" Richard the Third." " Richard " by W. Johnstone,
"Richmond" by John Grey. The "Swiss Cottage"
followed, in which Miss Glover, sister to Edmund
Glover, played "Lisette." The evening wound up with
the "Lottery Ticket," with Raymond as "Wormwood."
Miller's Glasgow antecedents are now well known.
In 1839 he came as a showman to Glasgow Fair,
penniless. He set up a conjuring booth opposite to
that of Anderson, the Wizard of the North, who
was coining money through the " Great Gun Trick."
Miller speedily learnt, practised, and became perfect
in the trick charged a penny where Anderson
charged sixpence, cleared seventy pounds by the
transaction, and determined, with his profits, to go
in for theatrical management. He erected a wooden
building, and issued his bills. After he had played
two or three nights Alexander came down upon
him for infringement of the Theatre Royal patent, and
proceeded against him. Miller refused either to pay
expenses or yield. On the contrary, he concocted a
little pantomime, called it the " Licensed Murdered,"
and in it he held up all concerned in the law suit to
ridicule. At the end of the legal proceedings Miller
found himself lodged in jail, where he was detained by
Alexander for thirteen weeks. On regaining his liberty,
he continued conducting his place of amusement, but
refrained from performing plays. On the passing of
Sir James Graham's bill empowering local Justices
to grant licenses, Miller took advantage of it at once,
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 131
applied for and obtained a license, and opened the
Adelphi Theatre.
With " As You Like It," Miller made a great hit.
A Miss Saker made her appearance as " Rosalind."
She is described as "a young lady who frequently
evinces great judgment and taste in the higher
class of stage heroines ; always in earnest, and
perfect in the text." The lady referred to is
Mrs. R. H. Wyndham, who was for so many years
the much-respected manageress of the Theatre Royal,
Edinburgh.
Mr. R. H. Wyndham (the criticism goes on to say)
looked " Orlando " to the life, but the flagrant defect
of his performance was a want of earnestness. The
"Jacques" was Mr. James Johnstone, who subse-
quently became the stock heavy man with Shepherd
and Creswick at the Surrey. Mr. Lloyd was the
" Touchstone," and the "Audrey" was a Mrs.
Raymond, who died about five years since. She fell
in her latter years into poverty, and was dependent
mainly on the kindness and benevolence of the
Episcopal minister, Dr. Gordon, whose sympathy
with, and generosity to, the poor player has been for
many years proverbial.
On January I3th, 1843, Miss Fanny Ternan, who
was announced at the Theatre Royal as the infant
prodigy eight years of age made her debut in
Glasgow in " The Young Actress," in which she
played six different characters.
The first star of any magnitude at the Adelphi was
Phelps, who opened at that theatre, on February 14,
as "Hamlet." Phelps was not a very frequent star
132 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
in Glasgow, but was none the less a favourite when
he came. In his last engagement he played the
" Bailie " and " Sir Pertinax," and in the latter (studied
under Harry Johnstone) he was pronounced unrivalled.
Mr. Miller now produced at the Adelphi his famous
pantomime of " Baron Munchausen."
The season at the Royal closed with the engage-
ment of Mackay, who played during it " Cromie " in
" Young Lochinvar," and " Peter Peebles " in " Red-
gauntlet." In July, Miller produced a gorgeous
spectacle of " Aladdin," Raymond acting as stage
manager. Mrs. Glover, from the Haymarket, shortly
afterwards followed, appearing in the prize comedy of
" Quid Pro Quo."
I should ere this have referred to the fact that
about the year 1835 another place of entertainment
was established at the foot of the Saltmarket, one to
which not a few sexagenarians still look back with
many a happy memory of their childhood. This
temple of the drama was "MUMFORD's." For many
years this penny show held its own, and was largely
patronised.
Mumford was born in Bedfordshire, where he first
learned the straw-plait trade. Far ahead in skill of
the child workers by whom he was surrounded, he
constructed a dress for himself, made entirely of
straw. He became in consequence the lion of his
vicinity. He set off for London, gave open air
exhibitions, baffled the police, travelled far and wide,
set up an " Italian " marionette exhibition, and with
his set of puppets arranged little plays, " Babes in the
Wood," " Valentine and Orson," &c. With these he
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 133
came to Glasgow, where, for many years, he enjoyed
an enormous amount of patronage chiefly from the
younger portions of the community.
A thorough Bohemian, and confirmed tippler,
Mumford would, for weeks at a time, absent
himself; return, give an open air address on the
pernicious influence of immorality, and inform the
crowd outside his exhibition, how his mother
exhorted him not to follow the practice most
showmen did, of exhibiting all day and stealing at
night. Mumford's favourite theme, when in his cups,
was the teetotal question. " If you knew," he
hiccuped, one day, whilst supporting himself by one
of the posts supporting his exhibition, " if you knew
the advantages to be derived from abstaining from
intoxicating drinks you would shun whisky (hie) as
you would the very devil." " You 're drunk yourself,"
cried one of the crowd. " I know it," continued
Mumford, " but what did I get drunk for? Not for
my own gratification, but (hie) for your profit, that you
might see what a beast a man is when he puts an
enemy to his lips. I got drunk (hie) for your good."
Mumford's soon became one of the objects of the
attacks of Alexander, who, by right of the Patent,
prevented him from acting plays. With all Mumford's
faults, his patrons knew him to be thoroughly honest,
generous, and charitable, and felt when he was gone
*' they could better have spared a better man."
On May 3ist, 1843, Lloyd brought over the whole
of the Edinburgh company (seventy in all), whose
engagement at Dunlop Street lasted seven nights.
The programme consisted of" Single Life." Edmund
134 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
Glover made his first appearance the following night
(Thursday), 1st June, as "Romeo" to the "Juliet" of
Miss Montague. Glover next appeared as "Martin
Heywood " in the " Rent Day," and played also
" Petruchio."
On December nth, 1843, J ust seven years after
she had made her first appearance at Covent Garden,
Miss Helen Faucit made her debut in the Glasgow
Theatre Royal, where her father had once played
" Utility." The character she selected to open in was
" Pauline " in the " Lady of Lyons," of which she had
been the original representative. By the Glasgow
press and public she was at once pronounced an
artiste of supereminent talent, and during an engage-
ment of seventeen nights, the houses were crowded.
She appeared as " Pauline " four times, three times as
"Juliet," "Rosalind," and "Mrs. Haller ;" twice in
"Patrician's Daughter," as "Mariana" ("the Wife") ;
and once as " Lady Macbeth." On the Qth April
she returned and played twenty-three nights, adding
to her list of characters " Jane Shore/' " Nina Sforza,"
" Belvidera," and " Desdemona."
To record a list of Miss Faucit's performances from
this year up to December 5, 1870, when she took her
final farewell of the Glasgow stage, in the Theatre
Royal, as " Beatrice " in " Much Ado About Nothing,"
is unnecessary. She was Glasgow's favourite actress
to the last. The company at Dunlop Street, which
was engaged to support Miss Faucit during her
earlier visits to the city, was meagre, and as poor in
number as in talent. In the May of 1845 the on ly
actors who were worthy of mention with her were
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 135
Mr. Paumier and Mr. Alexander. The public were
quite aware of Alexander's "starvation salary" policy,
and on one occasion when Miss Faucit was called
before the curtain to receive the congratulations of the
audience, amidst showers of bouquets and thundering
plaudits from boxes, pit, and gallery. Mr. Alexander,
who followed to announce a new play, was pelted
with vegetables. The badness of the companies she
was so frequently called upon to play with, did not
tend to increase any sympathy which Miss Faucit
might at first have felt for provincial players, nor had
a curriculum under the dictatorship of so austere a
manager as Macready served to make her more
tolerant of the ignorance and proverbial carelessness
of the "subordinates " in Dunlop Street.
But a marked change for the better came when
Edmund Glover succeeded Alexander in the manage-
ment of Dunlop Street. Miss Faucit, under his reign,
may be said to have reached the height of her
popularity in Glasgow. She was supported in all her
principal roles by perhaps the very best stock com-
pany ever gathered together in Scotland. Glover,
Powrie, Paumier, Lloyd, Fitzroy, Webster and a
host of other good actors whose very names are for-
gotten by the present generation of playgoers united
to make almost perfect the production of such plays
as "Macbeth," "As You Like It," "King John,"
"Much Ado About Nothing," "Lady of Lyons,"
" The Hunchback," and " King Rene's Daughter."
Miss Faucit's " Julia," Glover's " Master Walter/' and
Powrie's " Clifford " never were equalled on the stage.
So perfectly did these three seem fitted by nature and
136 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
intuitive genius for their parts, that Knowles' beautiful
study of love and constancy, under the strain of
direst trial and misfortune, never was so finely realised
to that generation of playgoers.
But Miss Faucit was popular with the Glasgow
actors and actresses at no period of her career. Her
coldness, disdain, exacting habits, and want of con-
sideration caused many to think and speak of her
with anything but kindness. She was seldom or
ever punctual at rehearsals, and the company were
frequently kept waiting on the stage a couple of
hours for her. Sometimes the play having been
rehearsed without the star, Miss Faucit on her
coming would insist in its been gone through again.
The preparations made, too, for her comfort during
the rehearsals and at night were looked on by the
corps with a jaundiced eye as depriving them of
recognised comforts and privileges. On no other
star did the management lavish such attention. The
preparations for her rehearsal were as minute as those
for her convenience at night. A large screen was
brought on the stage, and drawn behind her to shield
her from any draughts which might be found lurking
in the theatre. A softly-cushioned, spacious arm-
chair and a footstool were conveyed out of the
property room for the " star " to rest on. But most
galling of all to the actors was the fact that the
" Green Room," the retreat for all during " the waits,"
was on the occasion of her visits confiscated to the
pro tern queen. At night the stage manager was
terribly put about by the tumult in front of the house
caused by the very long time the star took to rest
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 137
and change her costume. To artistes, however, on
whom Miss Faucit knew she could rely, she was most
delightful, affable, and forbearing.
Miss Faucit was usually on her visits to Glasgow
the guest of Sir Archibald and Lady Alison, to whom
the incomparable actress had been introduced in
1842.
Miss Faucit married Sir Theodore Martin in 1851,
and her last public appearance in Glasgow was in
St. Andrew's Hall, where she gave dramatic readings,
shortly after the failure of the City Bank, in aid of a
fund for the sufferers from that great commercial
disaster.
138 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
CHAPTER XIII.
1844 was Miller's second season at the Adelphi,
where there was a much larger but not so good a
company as at Dunlop Street. The only stars
who visited the latter house were Mackay, Charles
Kean, and Lloyd. Miller came in for the lion's
share of public patronage, and on the stage
of the wooden theatre on the Green began to
shine the brightest of London stars. He soon
turned his attention to the strengthening of his
corps, which began steadily to improve. His lead-
ing man was the old London Adelphi favourite,
Tom Lyon, and in the corps were Melbourne, low
comedian ; Stark, the singing Walking gentleman ;
M'Gregor, Scotch comedian ; and Frank Raymond,
stage manager. Among the stars were Graham,
Lloyd, Sheridan Knowles, and Mackay the latter,
as the "Bailie," announced that he "now appeared
for the first time in his ain locality, the Sautmarket."
Mr. Charles Pitt also appeared, and was pronounced
" a Charles Kean with a nobler presence, but a vastly
inferior mind." Christmas of 1844 saw the produc-
tion of the pantomime of " Cinderella," which was
pronounced one of the grandest spectacles Glasgow
had ever witnessed. Miller had intended to have
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 139
brought out Opera, but could not come to terms with
Sims Reeves. In the pantomime were the famous
Leclercq family M. Leclercq, ballet-master ; Charles
Leclercq (now associated with the Daly Company);
Arthur Leclercq (afterwards famous as a clown) ;
Louise, a dancer; Carlotta, and Rose. The two
latter became subsequently "household words" in the
catalogue of favourite actresses in Dunlop Street.
Time passes so rapidly that it will seem strange to
many of their old admirers to realise the fact that
these two charming girls are now recognised as " First
Old Women " in London.
Alexander had meanwhile been gleaning anything
but "golden opinions from either the press or the
public." His company in 1844 consisted of Mr.
Paumier, leading man ; Mr. W. H. Eburne, eccentric
comedy; Mr. Howard, juvenile light comedy; Mr. John
Davis, walking gentleman; Mr. Rogerson, old man.
The ladies were Miss Laura Addison, afterwards
memorable as a Shakespearian actress with Phelps
at the Sadlers Wells, Miss Julia Nicol, &c. The
season was inaugurated by "The Honeymoon,"
Mr. Alexander playing the "Duke."
November 27, 1844, saw the production of "Don
Caesar de Bazan" (a drama which had just then been
made popular in London through the admirable
acting in it of Mr. James Wallack and Mrs. Stirling)
at both theatres. Lyon was the " Don" at the Adelphi,
and Paumier at the Royal.
As the strongest attraction he could think of,
Alexander produced " Rob Roy," with Paumier
as u Rob," May as "Galbraith," Howard as "Rash-
I4O THE GLASGOW STAGE.
leigh," Eburne as " Francis," Miss Nicol as " Diana,"
Wilmore as " Dougal," Rogerson as " Owen," and
Alexander as the "Bailie." The theatrical journals
speak of the latter performance as being a vulgar
imitation of Mackay's. "The whole time," writes
the critic in the Dramatic Review, " Mr. Alexander
was on the stage, he was directing everybody, players,
scene shifters, and gas men ; saying for instance,
audibly, and heard by the whole house ' Come down
here, sir;' 'Stand you there, sir;' ' M'Stuart, that's
not your place, sir;' 'Beat your feet, sir;' 'Keep
time with the soldiers, sir, as I do;' 'Hold up your
hand, sir ; ' ' Speak out.' Never for a moment did he
allow the audience to forget he was manager. He
beat time to the orchestra, he spoke to the musicians,
he sang the music for other people, and he spoke
their words. In theatrical parlance, his greatest
delight was to ' show the company up.' "
It was during a performance about this time of
"Julius Caesar" that one of the many memorable
scenes which characterised the career of this eccentric
actor-manager occurred. A gentleman in the boxes
thought fit to titter aloud at Mr. Alexander's per-
formance of the fiery Roman " Cassius." The manager
paused, and fixed his eyes on the offender. The
laugh was renewed. " Cassius " then stepped forward
and said " I must request the gentleman to pay
more attention to good manners and to the feelings
of the audience. I can't have the entertainment spoilt
by the disgraceful conduct of a Puppy. For myself,"
continued the irate manager, " I consider myself quite
competent to play the part I am engaged in, and if
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 141
that fellow in the boxes " here " Cassius " pointed
to the disturber "continues his annoyance, I shall
feel myself compelled to personally turn him out."
Mr. Alexander was here greeted with ironical cheers
and shouts of "Never mind him!" "He's not
laughing at you ! " " Go on ! " Mr. Alexander had
not proceeded to comply with the latter request long,
when the ribald sound again fell on his ears. Mr.
Paumier as " Brutus " now took up the cudgels. " I,"
cried " Brutus," " can't stand this sort of thing any
longer." The majestic " Brutus " then for the nonce
cast aside his toga and his dignity, got over the
footlights, climbed the railing of the box, engaged in
a wonderfully anti-classical fisticuff encounter with
the object of his scorn, and forcibly put the offender
out of the theatre. The play was then allowed to
proceed.
Another memorable scene shortly afterwards
occurred. The Dramatic Review of February 26,
1845, records "On Saturday evening, the amuse-
ments commenced with the worn-out tragedy of
' Jane Shore,' which was followed by ' Short Cut and
Returns.' In the character of 'Scamp,' Mr. Alexander
interlarded the author with a superabundance of his
own good things ; and the laughter which his grotesque
and absurd personation drew from the galleries
encouraged him to introduce an extra quantum of
his own peculiar dancing. He also busied himself
in giving in a loud voice directions in stage minutae,
ordering Mr. Davis to 'hold up his hand/ Mrs.
Davis to ' Speak out,' &c. The entire proceedings
being viewed by the audience with much dissatisfac-
142 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
tion, an universal hiss greeted him, and he stepped
forward as 'Scamp/ and made a speech to the
following effect :
" ' I own I appear before you under somewhat un-
favourable circumstances ; but the reason is, some of
my people have come to the theatre in such a state
of drunkenness, that in the discharge of my duty to
you, that no one should appear in your theatre who
is not in a fit state to do so, I have been so harassed
that my part has been completely driven out of my
head.'
"The curtain dropped: a minute elapsed: then the
stage door was thrown open, and ' Scamp,' still in his
Highland costume, walked on to the stage, looked
down into the orchestra, and muttering ' It is all your
fault,' commenced another address. ' Ladies and
Gentlemen, I have been told by Mr. Paumier, a
gentleman whom you all know well, that I am an
ill-used man. (Loud shouts of laughter.) I am a
sober, well-doing man myself. I always do my duty,
and try to make others do theirs. It would be robbing
you were I not to see that those who come here are
able to do their duty, and should such a circumstance
as this again happen I will shut the doors of the
theatre and request the indulgence of those who come
to visit it.'
"Then he again retired. The audience thought they
had got rid of him, but no. Immediately afterwards
the orchestra door opened and the head of Mr.
Alexander (still dressed as ' Scamp') again appeared,
with rage stamped on his face, and called Mr. Allwood
(the leader of the orchestra) to ' Come out.' Mr.
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 143
Allwood disregarded the mandate ; looked quietly
about while it was repeated in a still louder key.
The manager then advanced to the middle of the
orchestra and ordered him to quit it. A scene of
indescribable confusion ensued. The audience rose
en masse. Mr. Allwood would not leave the orchestra,
but offered to proceed with the business. Mr.
Alexander said he would not allow a drunkard to
be in the house. Mr. Allwood replied he was per-
fectly sober. He ordered the band to strike up, and
commenced leading in excellent style. Mr. Alexander
wrested the music from him and ordered the musicians
to stop. The audience by turns laughed, chuckled,
cried 'Shame;' shouted for Mr. Alexander to retire
and to allow the pantomime (' The Old Woman who
Lived in a Shoe ') to go on.
" Mr. Alexander, turning his face towards the house,
again addressed the audience.
" ' Mr. Allwood came here to-night after four musics
of the tragedy were over.'
"Mr. Allwood, interrupting, * I am willing to pay
the fine, and am quite sober.'
"Mr. Alexander 'You refused to pay it at the
time. I won't take it now.'
"Mr. Allwood now appealed to the audience, ' Ladies
and gentlemen, I appeal to you if I am drunk ! I
have composed the music of this pantomime. The
music is mine.'
"Mr. Alexander, interrupting, 'The music is mine;
all the music in the house is mine.'
" The confusion increased. The audience, dividing
into factions, rendered the theatre a perfect Babel.
144 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
Cries were bellowed out of ' Go on, or it will be
Sabbath before you begin.' Mr. Alexander ordered
the police to be brought. There is no saying how
long the uproar might have continued, had not some
gentlemen from the boxes stepped forward and per-
suaded Mr. Allwood to retire. He bowed to the
audience, and with Mr. Alexander left the orchestra."
The year 1845, in which Miss Aitken made (as
" Clari ") her first appearance on the stage, was
destined to see another "Richmond" in the dramatic
field. This was no other than Mr. J. H. Anderson,
the great " Wizard of the North." Rumours of the
intention of this far-famed conjuror to erect a theatre
in the immediate vicinity of Miller's Adelphi reaching
the ears of Miller, the latter was induced to seek out
the Wizard, to endeavour if possible to come to terms.
Anderson agreed to give Miller ,1,000, and the latter
consented to take Anderson as a partner. This
arrangement, however, fell through, and Anderson
built a splendid theatre on the Green for himself,
which he called the City Theatre. It was opened for
the display of magic, dancing, &c., during the Fair,
after which season he applied for a dramatic license,
which was at first refused, but subsequently granted.
Anderson's season commenced with great spirit. It
opened on May 7th, 1845, with an operatic company,
consisting of Sims Reeves, announced as Mr. J. S.
Reeves, Mrs. Alban Croft, Mr. Morley, and Mr. Brown.
The magnificence of the City Theatre induced Miller
to reconstruct the Adelphi at a cost of nearly two
thousand pounds. He meanwhile took his company
over to Edinburgh to produce " Cherry and Fair
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 145
Star," and the engagement proved a success ; but
Alexander arrested the whole of Miller's property,
including the cash taken at the doors, upon the claim
of unsettled law expenses incurred in the prosecution
of two years before.
Anderson proved a thorn in the side of both his
rivals. Although he had started eighteen months
after Miller the magnificence of his spacious theatre
became a very powerful loadstone to some of the best
stars. Sims Reeves and Morley both appeared in the
" Bohemian Girl," and the tenor created a perfect
furore. Mrs. Fitzwilliam, the star of the London
Adelphi, charmed all beholders by her matchless
performance in the "Belle of the Hotel" and her
"Starlight Bess" in the "Flowers of the Forest."
A Mr. Couldoch, an American actor, came down and
played a round of parts with the greatest acceptance.
Amongst the members of the stock company was a
Mr. Barry Sullivan, then a very tall, slim young man,
whose " articulation," it was said, " was very distinct,
but who did not appear to understand any character
he attempted." Sullivan shortly after this retired from
public life for a short time, in order to perfect himself
in the study specially of Shakspearian parts. He
opened in 1852 as a "star" at the Haymarket, was
eulogised by the press for certain new readings which
he gave in his "Hamlet;" amassed a large fortune by
acting in the provinces and Australia, and retained
his popularity until his last sad illness, which com-
menced three years ago, compelled him to leave the
stage, which terminated fatally six months since.
Anxious to vary his entertainments, Anderson
10
146 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
turned his attention to spectacle, but with a disas-
trous result. He produced the old melodrama of
"One o'clock; or, the Knight of Wood Demon;"
Mr. Anderson starring himself in large letters as
" Hardycanute." The piece was a monstrous absurdity
from the pen of the well-known " Monk Lewis." It
was, however, well mounted, and the only failure
connected with it was the acting of the manager
himself, whose performance, it was said, was beneath
criticism.
The performances of the evening of November 18,
1845, were destined never to be forgotten by any one
who was connected with them. They consisted of
" Der Freischutz " and " The Jewess," and terminated
about half-past eleven. About a quarter-past twelve
o'clock the watchman employed by the proprietor
discovered that the theatre was on fire at the rear in
the vicinity of the stage. The alarm was immediately
given. The engines were soon on the spot, but too
late to save any portion of the ill-fated fabric. The
wind, blowing northward, carried the flames towards
the Adelphi, on the roof of which were placed a
number of firemen ; their faces lit up by the lurid
glare. By their strenuous efforts they deluged the
theatre, and so saved it from sharing the fate of the
ill-starred " City." The night was dark, and the
gloom lent an additional effect to the weirdness of
the scene, casting a ghastly light on the dense crowd
which, despite the drenching rain, thronged the street
in front, and the Green in rear of the burning pile.
Rumour sent numerous fictions afloat as to the
cause of the fire, but the most probable explanation
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 147
is that some of the sparks from the fireworks used
in " Der Freischutz " alighting on material of in-
flammable nature had caused the disaster. The
walls were left nearly entire. A few minutes after
the flames had burst out Mr. Anderson was seen
struggling through the crowd, and was with difficulty
withheld by the bystanders from rushing into the
building. All the scenery and dresses were burnt
even the night's receipts were lost. The building,
however, was insured in the Sun, West of England,
and York Fire Offices, and a substantial mark of
sympathy was soon offered the unfortunate manager
in the -various benefits and subscriptions which were
at once put on foot in his behalf.
During the brief career of this ill-fated theatre
(from August 25 to November 18) many a memor-
able star appeared. Tragedy and spectacle, too,
were produced, and everything was done well. But
for the fire Anderson would probably have reaped a
golden harvest from his management ; as it was, if
his statement is to be believed, he lost his all as
he also did (so he said) ten years afterwards by the
burning of Covent Garden Theatre, of which he was
at the time manager.
i/^r
148 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
CHAPTER XIV.
THIS year, 1845, witnessed the appearance of the
first travelling company which ever appeared in
Glasgow. It was that of the Theatre Royal, Hay-
market, which, during a summer vacation in London,
came on tour in the provinces Mr. Webster, with
his characteristic generosity, lending the corps, the
costumes, properties, and everything needed for the
representation in the London style of the old
comedies, for which the Haymarket Theatre for
more than a century had been famous. The members
consisted of Messrs. Howe, Holl, Brindal, Braid,
Tilbury, Strickland, Coe, and little Clark, and Miss
Julia Bennett, Mrs. Humby, &c. Webster himself
came for a week and played gratis, refusing even to
accept of travelling expenses. The performances
were an enormous success, and the members of the
company were on many occasions feted by their
numerous friends and patrons.
The close of the year 1845 saw the advent in
Glasgow of that remarkable actress, Miss Cushman,
who was then on tour. She appeared first at Dunlop
Street as " Bianca " in " Fazio," and was at once
pronounced by the press and public as one of the
most original actresses ever seen. Her " Rosalind "
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 149
met with similar approbation. As to her " Meg
Merrilees" "nothing had been seen to equal it since
the days of the elder Kean." It was not, strictly
speaking, Scott's " Meg," but it was, notwithstanding,
a wonderful performance, indescribably thrilling in
its weird originality. Her entrance struck the key-
note to her conception of the character. She glided
noiselessly on to the stage stood motionless, with
her large, lustrous eyes, o'ershadowed by her white
eyebrows, gazing on Henry Bertram. One bare,
gaunt, wrinkled arm was outstretched, and a skinny
ringer pointed at him she supporting herself on a
bough torn from a tree. No one could recognise a
feature of the actress they had seen only the night
before as "Romeo," still less could they recognise
her as " Meg " when on being recalled she appeared
in all the charm of the neatness of her ordinary attire.
The performance of the play at Dunlop Street was
not memorable but for the fact that Mr. Alexander,
who played the " Dandie," appeared in the first
scene leading a chorus consisting of only three, and
that Mr. F. Belton (afterwards lessee of the Prince
of Wales) that night was "Henry Bertram." During
one evening of this engagement Sheridan Knowles,
who was then on a visit to Glasgow, entered the
boxes, and being recognised as the author of the play
of the "Wife," in which Miss Cushman was then
acting " Mariana," was loudly cheered.
The Adelphi opened its season of 1846 with the
"Cricket on the Hearth," Mrs. R. H. Wyndham
playing "Bertha," and Mrs. Dyas (our first " Marquise"
in "Caste"), "Dot/' The principal ''stars" who
I5O THE GLASGOW STAGE.
followed, were Webster and Celeste, and Ira Aldridge.
Macready, who had not acted for fourteen years,
played for a few nights, but was not received with
any special marks of enthusiasm, the press merely
remarking " That to see Macready once was to see
him always." The prices were raised and the business
fell. In this season the famed Taglioni danced for
the first time before a Glasgow audience. J. W. Ray
(our first " Eccles ") played then " old men," and so
well that he was said to be an improvement on
Mackay ; except in Scotch characters. The company
was spoken of most favourably.
From 1846 to 1849 theatricals were at a discount.
Alexander, as an attraction, reduced his prices to
" second price from the commencement," but without
effect Reduction of prices, it was said, was not
what was wanted. It was not the high prices which
prevented the house being crowded, but the low
standard of talent engaged. This latter fact was
amply proved by the crowds which patronised Miller's
Adelphi. From 1846 to 1849 matters at Dunlop
Street were gloomy enough no stars and a poor
company. Alexander produced the Strand version
of " Martin Chuzzlewit," and brought down a clever
comedian, Mr. Henry Hall, the original " Pecksniff,"
who doubled the part with " Sairey Gamp," Alexander
playing "Montague Tigg;" also "Othello" (Travestie)
to Hall's deservedly famous " lago." Down, too,
came Davenport (whom Dickens immortalised in
"Nicholas Nickleby" as "Bricks and Mortar"
Crummies) and his daughter, the " Phenomenon."
As Davenport was found too cumbrous, not to say
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 151
aged, for " Romeo," Alexander determined to play
the youthful lover himself. On this occasion occurred
another of those scenes which made Dunlop Street
and its twenty years' manager notable, not only to
Glasgow but to all the play-going world. Alexander's
appearance as the love-sick swain was the signal for
a storm of ironical cheers. Shout upon shout of
derisive laughter greeted him throughout the earlier
scenes, and the climax was reached when in the
third act the "Friar" summoned him to appear,
crying "Come forth, thou fearful man." When
Mr. Alexander had fallen on the ground, "taking
the measure of an unmade grave," the uproar became
so great that quite unmindful of his being supposed
to be lying unconscious, Mr. Alexander suddenly
raised his head from the stage, and thus addressed
his adversaries: "I know," said he, "you think I
can't play 'Romeo' ('Oh, oh!') I know I 'm not so
young as I was (ironical shouts of ' Hear, hear ')
but I have played it all over the world (a cry of
' Anywhere else, Aleck ! ') and with the best actresses,
and, thank God, I can play it still when there is a
necessity. I have been called an egotist. I am an
egotist, but I know my profession and can play on
it, like Paganini on the one string of his violin, and
to that you are indebted for the proper management
of the theatre. Now ! " Then throwing himself once
more on the ground he resumed his dialogue with
the nurse " Speakest thou of 'Juliet?' how is 't
with her ? " Here the shouts in the gallery were
resumed. Then Alexander got up once more and
turned on his foes " If you treat me civilly I shall
152 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
do the same to you in return, but when roused you
will find I am a lion." He paused, and glared
defiance. Then he lay down again on the stage,
and as " Romeo," inquired of the " Nurse," " Where
is she ? " During the entire evening the fight was
constantly being renewed.
In the course of the evening Miss Davenport came
forward and sang. Mr. Davenport, who was on the
stage, applauded his daughter very warmly, and cried
out " Beautiful ! beautiful ! " The plaudits bestowed
by the public on the "Phenomenon" not being by
her father considered worthy of his child's efforts;
inspired by the example of the manager, Mr.
Davenport now thought he would have his words
with the audience. " I wonder," he murmured
audibly to the audience, " she could sing at all after
playing tragedy in the way she has done, and
'Juliet ' too ! " The opportunity for his addressing the
Public was not long in coming. Miss Davenport sang
a ballad, and then danced with somebody the polka.
" Encore," shouted the delighted gods. Now was
the time for Mr. Davenport's oratorical powers to
assert themselves. " Encore!" he exclaimed, stepping
forward. " I am astonished ! I am shocked ! You
call for a repetition of the polka ! Are you aware
from whom you demand that dance ? Do you not
recognise the fact that Miss Davenport is a tragedy
actress ! That she has to-night sustained one of the
heaviest tragedy parts " (" Order," cried the gods,
" Go on.") " Sir," exclaimed the outraged parent,
pointing at one unfortunate boy in the gallery, "if
you had done as much as she has done yes, YOU,
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 153
sir permit me to remark, you would not have been
able to move." (Hisses.) Mr. Davenport looked
round with indignant astonishment. " These are
sounds," continued the irate parent, " which I am
not accustomed to ! I have travelled, allow me to
inform you, and, as your journals of the universe
have testified, all over Europe and America, with
Miss Davenport, but have never before been treated
in this way." Mr. Davenport then made an appeal
to that justice which had ever, did ever, and would,
he ventured to hope, continue to characterise the
British public. He then bowed mechanically and
retired, amid the jeering and the uproar made by the
scanty auditory of that eventful night.
Miller's engagements were now becoming anything
but remunerative. In connection with the farewell
one of Charles Mathews and Madame Vestris, he
bitterly complained as to their insisting on having
their full demands satisfied, in spite of their being
aware that this so doing would necessitate all but
starvation on the part of the corps. Unfortunately
Mathews had as little pathos in his disposition as he
had in his acting. Externally and internally he was
always easy and finished, and "cool as a cucumber,"
as polished as a sword, and sometimes as heartless.
Mrs. Fanny Kemble was the last star of any
importance who played at the Adelphi, and she
brought more grist to the mill than any of her
predecessors. The audience, when the curtain fell
on her " Juliet," rose en masse, and amid waving of
hats and handkerchiefs testified their enthusiastic
approbation of the gifted actress. Mr. Elphinstone
154 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
was the " Romeo " on the occasion. Great as the
praise was which the press bestowed on her "Juliet,"
it was yet more lavish on her acting as "Julia" in
"The Hunchback;" to this Miss Aitken played
" Helen," and was said at that time to be the best
representative of the character Glasgow had ever
seen.
Miller's lease expired soon after this. The theatre
passed into the hands of Messrs. Reynolds & Munro,
and Miller was cast once more adrift. With borrowed
cash the ex-manager took a public-house. Then he
became again a prisoner for debt. When he was
released, the theatre was again offered to him in
conjunction with Mr. Calvert. Miller accepted
the offer, but after three months Calvert bought
Miller out, and remained sole lessee until the
theatre was destroyed by fire. The fire broke out
about one o'clock in the afternoon of Wednesday,
November 22, 1848, whilst the actors were rehearsing
a drama called "The Ocean Monarch, or Ship on
Fire." By a singular coincidence one of the actors,
who represented Captain Murdoch, was addressing
a speech to the passengers on the impropriety and
danger of smoking in relation to setting a vessel on
fire, when he observed a sudden glare of light in the
north-west corner of the upper gallery. He had
scarcely time to utter an exclamation of alarm, when
the flames shot along the whole range of the gallery
seats. The stage was in an instant deserted. The
actors, carpenters, and musicians all fled in every
direction. Information was at once given to the Fire
Brigade, but it was too late to save the building, and
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 155
efforts had at once to be made to preserve some
adjacent booths, and also St. Andrew's Episcopal
Church, the roof of which the flames had caught.
The heat was so intense as to literally burn the hair
off the back of an unfortunate horse which was
passing within a few yards of the flames. Within
an hour and a half after the fire was first discovered,
every vestige of the theatre had been reduced to a
mere mass of blackened stumps. Calvert, who was
the lessee, had not insured the building, and, with
the exception of a few stage costumes, lost every-
thing. A brick building was afterwards erected by
Calvert, and was called the Queen's Theatre, in
commemoration of her Majesty's recent visit to St.
Mungo. Calvert applied for a dramatic license, but
was refused. In defiance, however, of the refusal, he
opened the following October.
The summer of 1848 was notable chiefly for the
appearance of Charles Dickens, who, surrounded by
his group of literary confreres, gave two performances.
The first of these was in aid of the funds for the
establishment of a permanent curator to Shakespeare's
House, for which Knowles had been nominated by
Dickens. The first night's performance was that of
the " Merry Wives of Windsor " and " Animal Mag-
netism." Of the second performance, Dickens, in
writing to a friend, says: "July 27, 1848. I shall
never be quite happy in a theatrical point of view,
until you have seen me play an English version of
the French piece 'L'Homme Blase,' which fairly
turned the head of Glasgow." Last Thursday night
the cast for " Used Up " was as follows :
THE GLASGOW STAGE.
Sir Charles Coldstream, . . Dickens
Sir Adonis Leach, . . . Mark Lemon.
Ironbrace, Geo. Cruickshank.
Fennell, ..... Augustus Egg.
James, Frederick Dickens.
Mary, Miss Annie Romer.
Lady Clutterbuck, . . . Mrs. C. Clarke.
This was followed by the farce " Love, Law, and
Physic," and the evening concluded with " Two in the
Morning " by Dickens and Mark Lemon. In the
" Merry Wives " Dickens played " Slender," Mark
Lemon " Sir John Falstaff," and John Forster who
took the lion's share of the applause " Mr. Ford."
The second evening the proceeds were given to the
fund in aid of the Glasgow unemployed operatives.
The dress boxes were on the occasion raised to IDS,,
pit stalls (introduced) ios., upper boxes 53., and
gallery 2s.
Mr. Edmund Glover brought to Glasgow on October
2nd and October 4th, Jenny Lind, who, supported by
Signer F. Lablache and M. Roger, appeared in " La
Figlia de Regimento " and " Sonnambula." The
speculation proved profitable to Glasgow in many
ways in one more especially, that it brought to the
City the ablest of managers Mr. Glover himself. By
the Jenny Lind engagement, he netted 3,000, and
he then determined to conduct a theatrical campaign.
A large hall in West Nile Street, which was occupied
from time to time with panoramas and other like
exhibitions, caught his eye. He came at once to
terms with the proprietor, converted it into a play-
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 157
house, and called it the Prince's Theatre. It was
rather larger than the old Adelphi, London. On
January i$th, 1849, he opened it with an operatic,
" Vaudeville," and ballet company. The opera was
one which has since, for some unexplained cause, died
out. It was Loder's " Giselle." The artistes were
Payne, Delavante, Miss Rowland, Miss Bleadon, Miss
Lonsdale, R. Isaacs. " Giselle " was followed by
" The Imperial Guard," which was supported by
Edmund Glover, Lloyd (who was acting manager),
and Miss Fielding ; and the " Swiss Cottage," in
which both Lloyd and Sam Cowell appeared. After
producing a series of operas, and appearing himself in
a round of his favourite characters, such as " Megrin "
(Blue Devil), Robert Macaire," " Claude Melnotte,"
" Horatio Craven/' " Phillippe," &c., he produced a
magnificent spectacle called the "Court Ball in 1740."
The first gentleman Mr. Glover introduced was
destined afterwards to become a celebrity. This was
Tom Powrie. He had risen from the amateur ranks at
Dundee, and made his first appearance in Glasgow on
April loth as "lago" to the "Othello" of Edmund
Glover, the " Desdemona" of Miss Fielding, and
the "Emilia" of Mrs. Ternan. The reception accorded
to Powrie, and the notices he obtained the following
day, warranted Mr. Glover in announcing him the
next week for " Sir Edward Mortimer " in " The
Iron Chest," the cast on the occasion being
Fitzharding, .... Mr. Silver.
Winterton Marshall, . . Sampson Lloyd.
Wilford .... Mr. George Everett.
Lady Helen, .... Mrs. Ternan.
158 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
A few nights afterwards, Powrie played "Antonio"
in the " Merchant of Venice."
Powrie's subsequent career as an actor in Glasgow,
where he resided after his marriage with Miss Julia
Glover, is too well known to need comment. In
every character he played, there was evidence of care,
energy, and forethought. Strangely enough he was
one of the most nervous of men, and in his later
years could never be induced to trust himself in
a new part. On one occasion, in view of Miss
Aitken's appearing in " Julia," he attempted
after a six weeks' notice to appear as " Master
Walter," but at the last rehearsal his nerves failed
him ; he put in no appearance that morning, sent
down to the theatre to say he was unable to act,
and at the last moment, to the great discomfiture
of Miss Aitken, a substitute had to be procured,
and the character was played by Mr. Mortimer
Murdoch.
During this brief season Mr. Glover's corps con-
sisted of Miss O'Brien, a pupil of the great Mrs.
Glover, Miss Fielding, Miss Ada Harcourt, Mrs.
Bland, Miss Massal, Messrs. George Everett, Mon-
tague, Smythson, John Silver, Lloyd, S. Cowell,
Beckett, Melville, Marshall, and C. Bland. The
conductor of the orchestra was Mr. Allwood, Alex-
ander's old foe. As " Rob Roy " Powrie (who was
an enthusiastic student of Scott) was pronounced
unrivalled, and in London probably he would in the
character have created a furore. He appeared as the
" Chieftain " in Drury Lane, but for one night only,
met unfortunately with a slight accident, was unable
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 159
to act there again, returned to Scotland, where he
played occasionally, and retired to Edinburgh, where
he died. In his last moments two friends only were
present. Both were actors. One was Mr. Willie
Campbell, to whom allusion has been made as
having been, with the exception of Mackay, the best
of Glasgow " Bailies." Engagements followed with
the Covent Garden Opera Company Harrison,
Miss Rainforth, H. Corri, Borrani, W. H. Murray,
Rosa Bennett. Then came a famous burlesque of
4< Romeo and Juliet," with Sam Cowell and Lloyd;
and "Bombastes Furioso," with Lloyd, Cowell, and
Honey; then the great Mrs. Glover. The light
comedian at this time was Mr. Belton, one of the
many "who strut and fret their hour on the stage
and then are seen no more." Shortly after quitting
Glasgow he joined Kean's Company at the Princess,
played seconds to Kean, starred in the provinces,
became in 1864 leading man in Dunlop Street,
and afterwards took the Prince of Wales, West
Nile Street, which ruined him. When last seen,
he was standing, as a supernumerary, on the stage
of the Princess', London, the scene of his former
triumphs. " Fortune's wings are made of Time's
feathers, which stay not whilst one may measure
them."
How far Mr. Glover had by this time succeeded
may be judged by the following paragraph from the
Mail: "After a tolerably extensive experience of
the theatres in England and Scotland, we can con-
scientiously say we know of no theatre which ladies
can visit with such comfort, propriety, and freedom
i6o
THE GLASGOW STAGE.
from annoyances as the Prince's, Glasgow. The
house is comfortably and prettily fitted up, the per-
formances are conducted with the utmost propriety,
the audience is highly respectable, and nothing cal-
culated to offend the eye or the ear is permitted on
the stage or amongst the audience."
THE GLASGOW STAGE. l6l
CHAPTER XV.
SATURDAY, the i/th of February, 1849, was destined
to witness one of the most awful scenes which has
ever occurred in the annals of the theatre the never-
to-be-forgotten loss of human life, consequent on a
false alarm of fire. The theatre in Dunlop Street
that night, was filled to overflowing. The upper
gallery admission to which had, during the run of
the pantomime, been reduced to threepence was
crowded with lads, who had saved their pennies out
of their weekly wage to go and see " The Surrender
of Calais," supported by the whole strength of the
Company, and the Pantomime. In the first piece,
Mr. Alexander took the leading part, and among his
supporters were Mr. Langley and Mr. Fred. Younge.
The latter was our first "George d'Alroy" ("Caste").
The performance commenced. " The Siege of Calais "
was an old-fashioned melodrama of the "mail clad"
order, and the first act fell amid acclamations of
vociferous delight, from the crowded audience. This
must have been somewhere between seven and eight
o'clock.
A star had been announced for the following
Monday Hudson, the Irish comedian, from Covent
Garden. He had just arrived, and was standing
II
1 62 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
at the side-wings conversing with the manager
on the subject of the late burning of Anderson's
Theatre on the Green. "They all, sir," said the
manager, with his customary drawing of his fingers
across his chin, "they all, sir, come to the ground.
No theatre seems exempt from fire but MINE.
I Ve been manager now for twenty years "
Before Mr. Alexander could finish the sentence, they
heard a murmur coming from the front of the house.
It grew louder, and finally merged into an uproar ;
but one cry was heard above all " FIRE ! ! ! " It
came from the closely-packed upper gallery. The
people in the immediate vicinity felt at first no
alarm. There was a slight commotion a perceptible
movement in the gallery ; but those who were in
the lower gallery, pit, and boxes, kept their seats.
In the upper gallery many were in doubt as to
whether the alarm was real. The confusion in-
creased. Several gentlemen who were in the boxes
rose and cried to those in the gallery, " Keep your
seats ; there 's no danger." The band continued
playing all the time. The cry of " Fire " now swelled
into a roar. Some were crying out " Order,"
others shouted for "Water" to quench the flames.
The uproar brought the manager at once on the
stage to discover the meaning of the hubbub. What
he said was entirely lost in the din and clamour all
around, but it seems to have been to the effect that
he had sent men up to the gallery to extinguish the
flame. Whilst he was speaking, a young man in the
gallery, dressed in a blue jacket and fustian trousers,
put one of his feet over the front of the gallery, and
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 163
used his heel as a hammer to force out the panel.
Then came a shout of " It 's the gas, it 's the gas ! "
A little smoke now was seen issuing out of the
front of the gallery not more (as described by
an eye-witness) than that which might have ex-
haled from a person smoking a pipe ; but a bright
light soon afterwards shot out, followed by sparks.
One or two men in their shirt sleeves now were seen
amongst the crowd. They wrenched the boarding
up from the inside of the breastwork. A man
named James Finlay, quietly took off his cap, and
stuffing it into the outlet made by the fire, at once
extinguished the flame. Everything seemed now
righted. The band struck up again. There was
a general shout of " All 's right." The young man
in the blue jacket stood up, lifted a piece of wood,
and, flourishing it over his head, proposed "Three
cheers," to which general acclamation he marked the
time. All settled down with renewed zest to see the
play out. All would have gone off happily enough,
but unfortunately, about this time a fireman appeared,
dressed in his uniform, his helmet standing out in
bold relief. It was taken as an evidence that the
fire had not been extinguished. The sight of such
an official was enough. Shouts of " Fire ! " and cries
and screams from the affrighted crowd at once
followed. The general panic was renewed. A
frantic rush was made to the main stair, which
led to the street.
Down the steps pell mell, they rushed in one
tumultuous mass, one confused tangled human
heap struggling, fighting, writhing for life. The
1 64 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
swarm of human beings would soon have exhausted
itself, but in the general derangement, some of the
foremost, on reaching the landing place above the
short flight of steps which led into the street,
stumbled and fell. Whilst the majority of those in
the pit and boxes were watching the stage with
renewed satisfaction, a murmur was heard in the
boxes. One gentleman was telling others near him
that " There were people being killed on the stairs."
The rumour reached the anxious ears of the manager.
He at once made his way from the stage to the
front ; thence to the gallery door through the lane.
What pen can paint the horrors of the scene which
met his gaze ? A mangled death-pack young and
old, men and women, boys and girls, and even infants
lying crushed in a hideous pile ; above it an upheaving
sea of human faces. The air was filled with groans
and cries and shrieks for aid. Alexander roared
himself hoarse in his efforts to subdue the panic.
He rushed to the private door, and was followed
speedily by two of the dramatic company, Mr.
Langley and Mr. Fred. Younge. Some stage
carpenters joined them.
The Fire Brigade, which had been summoned on
the first alarm, but which had gone back thinking
it was a false one, had by this time returned.
Hatchets in hand they broke in the windows of the
lane which looked on the staircase and entered,
literally walking over the heads of the sufferers.
The crowd now made another dash forward towards
the door, trampling on one another. Eight hundred
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 165
people were on this fatal staircase at one time. When
the firemen appeared at the foot of the staircase, they
seemed for a moment to share the general frenzy, and
scarcely seemed to realise the nature of their duty.
To remove the sufferers was now found to be worse
than useless. When one was taken away the others
above, only fell with increased weight on those
beneath them. All chance of escape had been cut
away. Those on the stairs behind, hearing shrieks
in the gallery for even those in safety took up the
general cry pressed forward the more strongly, and
so the more furiously increased the barrier of the
dense block of living and dead.
Meanwhile, Mr. Alexander, Mr. Langley, and
Mr. Younge, clad in all the ghastly mockery of steel-
clad warriors of the drama in which they had so
lately been engaged, assisted by the carpenters,
worked unceasingly to rescue the wretched sufferers.
They never flagged in their energies for an instant.
They firmly, forcibly, but quietly, dragged men and
women out of the crowd and passed them out by
other means of egress. Had those in the gallery
only taken advantage of the many means of exit
which were at once thrown open, that channel might
have been emptied in three minutes. Fifty people
who must otherwise inevitably have perished, owed
their lives solely to the undaunted energy displayed
by the manager and these two actors, whose own
lives were more than once endangered in their laud-
able attempts. The wounded and dying were
dragged out by scores and carried to rooms in the
1 66 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
neighbourhood ; the dressing-rooms connected with
the theatre being far too few and small to hold
the sufferers. The Garrick Hotel opposite the
rendezvous of actors, where some of their sunniest
hours had been passed, whose walls were wont to
resound with the best of jokes and raciest of stories
was transformed into a temporary hospital. Every
house in the vicinity which could afford aid opened
its doors.
The awful night at length came to an end, but
only to usher in a still more ghastly morning. The
bodies had been conveyed to Clyde Street Hospital.
Round about the building hundreds waited through
the hours of darkness, frantic with anxiety to know
whether their missing ones were amongst the victims.
One poor lad, a picture of woe, walked helplessly up
and down looking vacantly on a bonnet and the
remnants of a shawl which he carried in his hands.
They had been taken from his sweetheart, who was
with him in that fatal crush. He cried out piteously
" How can I go home to her parents without her
and tell them of this." At eleven o'clock that
Sabbath morning, as the church bells ceased tolling
for worship, thousands who met to thank God for His
mercies of the week, must have bowed their sad
heads in speechless awe before the inscrutable
Dispenser of sickness and health, of life and sudden
death. The doors of the hospital were opened
for inspection. The number of persons trampled
to death or suffocated was seventy. The faces
of the hapless victims, for the most part, bore no
THE GLASGOW STAGE. l6/
trace of pain no shadow of the last agony all
seemed in peaceful sleep. Their lips were clenched,
but the features were not distorted. Nearly all were
lads. Only six females were amongst them, and one
of these was a little child of three years old. The
money found on the bodies amounted in all to only
173. id.
From the shock occasioned by the awful catas-
trophe of 1849, Mr. Alexander never recovered. The
edge of his humour was from this time blunted, and
the ghastly scene haunted him with a superstitious
dread. His old spirits had fled ; he retired more and
more into himself. His untiring exertions, which for
so many years had been devoted to the theatre,
began to flicker. Those who knew him best now
shook their heads and said " Old Alec " was failing.
Still he struggled on, until in 1851 he felt he could
no longer battle with the attacks from press and
public, and in the summer of that year he transferred
the management of the theatre to Mr. Simpson of
Birmingham. Alexander's life from this time became
aimless. By slow and easy degrees his health began
to wane, and on the i$th of December, 1851, he
quietly slipped away.
" He was a man," says his biographer, and all who
knew him will endorse the statement, " who was
rigidly honest in his dealings, and if he was some-
times blamed for his frugality, those who were the
readiest to censure him on that account, would have
been the first to despise him if, by neglecting his own
interests, he had not succeeded in the world. The
1 68 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
great secret of his success was his energy. He went
through the work of six men daily. He employed no
stage manager no amanuensis. He constructed and
laid out his own scenery put into the hands of his
painter the whole of the work which appeared in the
theatre for years selected a great portion of his own
melodramatic music superintended and directed the
business from the commencement of the rehearsals
each day."
On April 19, 1849, Mr. J. F. Cathcart took a benefit
at Dunlop Street. The tragedy on this occasion of
"Romeo and Juliet" brought Mr. Cathcart for the
first time before a Glasgow audience as " Romeo,"
and Miss Fanny Cathcart as "Juliet." "Jemmy
Cathcart," as he was familiarly called, was an excep-
tionally painstaking young actor. He rose from the
rank of call-boy to that of prompter in Alexander's
company. As the son of an old comrade of the elder
Kean, young Cathcart was offered by Charles Kean
an engagement at the Princess', where the lad gradually
rose from playing Kean's " double " in the " Corsican
Brothers" to the part of " Juvenile Man," and he
eventually became Kean's " right hand " in their pro-
fessional tours. A misunderstanding, unfortunately,
led to an estrangement between Cathcart and his
patron, whom the former held in almost slavish
admiration. At Kean's death, Cathcart joined Mr.
Barry Sullivan, and is now playing " Old men " in
touring companies in Australia.
February 17, 1850, saw the re-appearance at Dunlop
Street of G. V. Brooke. The tragedian was now in
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 169
the zenith of his fame. He had taken London by
storm, and in the provinces was in the habit of driving
to the theatre in a carriage and four, with postillions.
A few years before this, Brooke was only the obscure
manager of the theatre at Kilmarnock, at which town,
being unable to pay his lodgings, he had been com-
pelled to take up his quarters in the dressing-room at
that miserable " Temple of Arts," which was situated
over a stable. A happy accident brought him to the
Olympic in London, and a still happier one made him
world-famous as " Othello," in which he made his
debut. The next morning Brooke found himself "The
lion of the day." His salary of ^"10 per week was at
once raised to 60. The managers of Drury Lane
and Haymarket immediately offered him fabulous
sums for an engagement; but Brooke remained at the
Olympic, and played there for the season. Had he
been but as wise a man as he was talented, he might
have realised an enormous fortune ; but, alas !
generous, courteous, charitable, and kind, poor Brooke
was careless alike of constitution as of character, and
ruined both with drink. He played many engage-
ments in Dunlop Street, the last one shortly before
he took his fatal voyage on board the s.s. " London "
for Australia. Here on the sinking vessel, as she
was going down in the Bay of Biscay, the last that
was seen of Brooke who had worked for hours at
the pumps was leaning over a rail, " his bare feet
paddling with the rising waters," his brilliant eyes
gazing wistfully on the men who were escaping in
the last boat.
1 70 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
Nothing in his life
Became him like the leaving it. He died
As one that had been studied in his death
To throw away the dearest thing he owed
As 'twere a careless trifle.
This season was the last of Dunlop Street under
the management of Mr. Alexander.
THE GLASGOW STAGE. I/ 1
CHAPTER XVI.
MERCER SIMPSON, of Birmingham, opened a short
but disastrous season in Dunlop Street, on October
30, 1851. In an introductory address, Simpson told
the public that three months prior to that evening he
had not thought of becoming a Glasgow manager,
but that he had embarked in his new venture almost
his all. He had been connected with the stage for
twenty-five years, and from that night his services
should be devoted to the best interests of the public.
A succession of "stars" followed. Brooke was
amongst the first, and played during his engagement
" Rob Roy." Then came the first appearance of
Buckstone, accompanied by Mrs. Fitzwilliam. The
unrivalled powers of Buckstone need no comment.
Those who remember the matchless humour of his
nasal drawl, the voice suggestive of distillation of fat
thoughts and unctuous fancies, can alone appreciate
a certain countryman's estimate of this actor's style
when he remarked " Yon 's a capital actor. Pity
he's got /' asthma." The talented couple played
together in "Presented at Court," "Good for
Nothing," " Rough Diamond," &c. Next came
Wright, a comedian whose peculiar quaintness in
Cockney humour we have never seen equalled, and
1/2 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
who was said to have rivalled Liston in his " Paul
Pry." Wright was for many years the favourite
comedian at the Adelphi, and preceded Toole. The
veneration of the latter for his predecessor was so
great that his only fear was, lest his (Toole's) powers
of mimicry should lead him unconsciously into
becoming a slavish copy. No one who ever saw
Wright at this period can forget him as the Cockney
Sportsman in Highland costume, benighted on the
moors in "Harvest Home;" as "John Grumley" in
" Domestic Economy," or as " Muster Grunnidge " in
the " Green Bushes." In the latter piece his powers
of gagging were so great, and increased to such an
extent, that the scene in the third act with "Jack
Gong" (Paul Bedford), and "Wild Murtogh" (O'Smith)
which occupied but ten minutes on the first night
of the piece, played forty minutes before the end
of its run. But this greatest of favourites with a
London audience, failed to interest a Glasgow
public.
Mercer Simpson made a most commendable open-
ing of the purely dramatic season with his pantomime
of " Baron Munchausen " and the " Honeymoon."
Mr. W. H. Davenport appeared as the " Duke," Mr.
Billington (now of Toole's corps) was "Montalban,"
Henry Vandenhoff " Rolando," and Henry Nye
(afterwards for so many years manager of the
Brighton Theatre) "Jacques." The cast included
also George Webster, Belmore, White, Carroll,
Cockerill, Rosa, Bennett, and Miss Kenneth. The
pantomime had been produced under the direction
of Mr. Garden (father of the present comedian) and
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 1/3
Mr. H. Hall. Davenport played for ten nights his
famous " Marteau," " Carpenter of Rouen." Then
came a short run of the dramatic version of " The
Prophet." Miss Glynn, accompanied by James
Bennett, played her usual round of characters,
"Mrs. Haller," &c. "Guy Mannering " followed,
with the well-known David Brown as " Henry
Bertram." Simpson's laudable efforts, however, met
with a very cold response from the public. The
general opinion expressed was that all the pieces,
were well mounted, but that they were poorly played,
and the season was brought to a summary close on
February 22.
The Prince's on November 12, 1849, saw the winter
season opened with " Der Freischutz," which intro-
duced Mr. and Mrs. Donald King and Borrani.
Lloyd and Cowall played "Box and Cox" to the
" Mrs. Bouncer " of Mrs. Bland. Sims Reeves, who
was now in the noontide of his fame, appeared in his
matchless embodiment of " Edgar " to the " Bride
of Lammermoor," of his future wife, Miss Lucombe.
The evening of the iQth of November was for a long
time one of special interest to old playgoers, for it
witnessed the debut of Mr. David Fisher, who, from
being received with singular coldness on the first
night of his appearance as " Captain Levant " in the
" Haunted Inn," met with a reception on the second
as " Tristram Fickle " in the " Weathercock," which
established him as a Glasgow favourite till the end
of his days. His next character was " Captain
Poodle " in " Catching an Heiress," then " Ruy
Gomez " in " Faint Heart Never Won Fair Lady/"
1/4 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
Fisher, who was, perhaps, the most popular of
Glasgow comedians, went at the end of his engage-
ment with Glover to Charles Kean at the Princess's,
and had an enviable career in London, in which city
about six years ago he died.
The first pantomime Edmund Glover produced in
Glasgow was " Mother Shipton," with scenery by
Sam Bough, Connor, and Edmund Glover. The
pantomimists were : " Clown," Mr. George Parry ;
41 Columbine," Miss Massal ; " Harlequin," Signor
Veroni ; " Pantaloon," Carlo Bolero. Morning per-
formances, which had been first started in Glasgow
by Miller, were now announced for the New Year
holidays. Another announcement Mr. Glover made
in connection with his pantomime might be followed
with advantage by not a few of our managers of the
present day. " In reply," he announced, " to several
anonymous letters he begged to state that he was
averse to all personal and local allusions in a
pantomime ; and as to means and substance, poor's
rates, &c., he thought people had more than enough
of them at home." The pantomime was preceded on
the 3 ist December by the "Actress of all Work,"
which was played by Miss Agnes Robertson, destined
afterwards, whilst a member of the corps at the
London Princess's, to become the ill-starred wife of
the talented but erratic Dion Boucicault. The
Queen's first visit to Glasgow afforded an oppor-
tunity for the subject of "Panorama," by Sam
Bough, commencing with her Majesty's departure
from Belfast, and ending with her landing on
the Scottish shore. In April, Macready played for
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 175
his farewell performance, "Hamlet," "Werner," and
" lago," and shortly afterwards the season closed.
On July 7th, in the summer season, Mr. Houghton,
afterwards known as one of the kindliest, gentlest,
and most courteous of acting managers, made his
first appearance as " Grasp " to the " Paul Pry " of
Mr. W. H. Murray (who shortly afterwards died).
The season was remarkable for the production on
July I4th of " Belphegor," the character of the
" Mountebank " by Edmund Glover being pronounced
one of the finest performances of the day the
" Madeline " on the occasion was Miss Clifton ; and
" Belphegor," after a run of three weeks, was after-
wards followed by Glover's hardly less remarkable
acting as " Robespierre."
On December ist, 1851, the Bateman Children
made their first appearance in Glasgow. Kate, who,
fourteen years afterwards, became so famous as
"Leah," played "Richmond," "Macbeth," "Paul
Pry," &c., to her sister Ellen's " Richard," " Macduff,"
&c. On December 26th, Glover produced his second
pantomime, " Flying Dragon of Pekin," which intro-
duced upwards of 100 performers.
With the accession of Edmund Glover to the
management at Dunlop Street on October 3rd, 1852,
an impetus was given to theatricals which had been
unknown in Glasgow for many a season. The new
manager came heralded not only by a well-earned
fame from his career as actor and manager at the
Prince's, but with the highest credentials from men
high in literature and art, headed by Mr. (afterwards
Sir Archibald) Alison, Macready, and Charles Kean.
1/6 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
The new manager's opinions as to the style of
management which should be adopted in Glasgow
were utterly opposed to the " cheese-paring " ones
which had characterised the late Mr. Alexander.
Glasgow, he conceived, as he often stated publicly,
to be " a good theatrical city " an opinion which
has often since been endorsed by such artistes as
Miss Faucit, the Keans, the Kendals, Sothern, Irving,
Toole, &c.
From long experience the new manager could feel
the public pulse. He felt that with good acting, good
pieces, good mounting, and a strictly careful manage-
ment, the dramatic instinct was so strong that the
theatre must be an irresistible attraction ; and he
resolved that Dunlop Street should be conducted
after the model of the Edinburgh Theatre in the
glory of the reign of the late W. H. Murray. When
addresses were needful at the beginning and close
of the season he would give them, but he would
decline to obtrude them on the public. There was
to be no further parleying with the "gods," or
"Caudle Curtain Lectures" to the audience.
The theatre opened with Italian opera, with Grisi,
Mario, and Lablache. Then came a series of
" legitimate," in which Mrs. Edmund Glover made
her first appearance as " Lady Teazle," her husband
playing " Joseph," and David Fisher " Charles
Surface." On November 18, Mackay played his
last engagement in Glasgow. The year wound up
with Glover's first pantomime in Dunlop Street,
which was produced on December 2/th, entitled
"The Great Bed of Ware."
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 1 77
"Uncle Tom" was this year the London rage,
and various adaptations were being played all over
London and the provinces. Culling the best scenes
from the best of the editions, I: lover produced the
Glasgow version on February I5th, 1853. The cast
included Mr. Silver, who was pronounced an inimit-
able " Legree." Miss Fanny Bland was "Eliza;"
Edmund Glover, "George Harris;" and Fitzroy,
who on his first appearance in the earlier part of
the season at the Prince's had been received some-
what coldly, made a distinct hit as " Uncle Tom."
Mr. Sam Glover played " Topsy." Phelps shortly
afterwards came down and played for a few nights
in May, on the 27th of which month the season closed
with the benefit of Edmund Glover. The bill was
the "Corsican Brothers," in which Mr. Bruce Norton
made his first appearance as " Colonna."
In the following September, Charles Mathews
opened the season in a " Game of Speculation " and
" Trying It On." He also played during his engage-
ment in " The Lawyers," " High Pressure," and
" Taking By Storm." The talents of Mathews as
a comedian were always recognised in Glasgow,
although he was not at all times to be relied on as
a star specially attractive.
For some months, preparations for " Macbeth "
had been on foot, and on October 4 the tragedy
was produced on a scale equalling in splendour and
magnitude that of the revival a short time before
by C. Kean at the Princess's. Mr. Glover played
" Macbeth," Powrie " Macduff," Geo. Webster
" Duncan," Messrs. Fitzroy, Lloyd, and Cockerill
12
1/8 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
"The Three Weird Sisters," and Mrs. Hobson (the
wife of a famous Irish comedian) " Lady Macbeth."
" The Walking Gentleman " at this period was
Mr. Edwin Villiers, the late well-known proprietor
of a London music hall, and father of Miss Laura
Villiers. The tragedy enjoyed an uninterrupted run
of a month. " Macbeth " was followed by a revival
of "As You Like It," with Miss Arden as
"Rosalind," Powrie as the "Banished Duke,"
Edmund Glover as " Jacques," and Mr. Heir who
subsequently became the husband of Fanny Cathcart
as "Orlando," "Adam" being played by Fitzroy
and " Touchstone " by Lloyd. Glover shortly after-
wards produced " Richelieu," with himself as the
"Cardinal/' Silver as " Baradas," Fitzroy as "Joseph,"
and Miss Atkinson as " Julie." Mrs. Edmund Glover
played "Katharine" to the " Petruchio " of David
Fisher. The next of Glover's productions was (on
November 2ist) " King John," for which Miss Glynn
was specially engaged for the " Lady Constance."
The play ran till December loth. After the Aztecs
(the eagle-faced children) had appeared for six nights,
Mr. Glover produced his second pantomime, on
December 26, of "Whittington and his Cat."
On April i/th, 1854, Miss Frances Hughes (from
the Lyceum), daughter of the well-known actor
Henry Hughes, made her first appearance in Glasgow
as "Little Pickle" in the " Spoiled Child," and shortly
afterwards Mr. Gaston Murray, whom Miss Hughes
married, was engaged to play " first walking gentle-
man/' He was brother to Mr. Leigh Murray. Both
Mr. and Mrs. Gaston Murray have late joined " the
silent majority."
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 179
The summer season, which was opened by the
Payne family in a serio-comic pantomime on the
subject of " Robert Macaire," introduced to Glasgow
Mr. Harcourt Bland. On Monday, July 3rd, 1854,
he made his debut, filling a gap which had been
painfully felt since the departure of Mr. David
Fisher for London. Mr. Bland opened as " Sir
Charles Coldstream " in " Used Up," and made one
of the greatest successes ever witnessed on a Glasgow
stage. Alluding to his acting, the press of the
following morning regarded his performance of the
blase baronet as establishing him "as by far the
most sterling comedian Glasgow ever possessed as a
member of a stock company." The notice went on
to state " Personally and physically this gentleman
is all that could be desired. His acting, which is
perfectly matured, is entirely free from those con-
ventionalities which reduce the actor to a mimic. He
was received throughout with warm and genuine
applause, and effectually secured the approbation of
a crowded house."
The subsequent career of Mr. Harcourt Bland
revealed him to the public as something even beyond
a successful actor. He was not alone a most satis-
fying artist, but he proved himself a deep theological
student, an accomplished scholar, and a gentleman.
Amid the glare and glitter of the garish scene this
excellent actor found means to indulge in his
favourite theme, which, strangely enough, like that
of the late E. A. Sothern and another well-known
Glasgow light comedian, was theology. He penned
an exceptionally able and valuable commentary on
180 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
"the Apocalypse," and on that subject entered into a
successful controversy with the famous Dr. Gumming.
After his retirement from the Glasgow stage, Mr.
Bland, at the suggestion of Mr. Edmund Glover,
devoted himself to the teaching of elocution, which
art he pursued with so much ardour that his labour
and exertions on behalf of his pupils indirectly
hastened his end. His appointments w r ould prove, if
proof were needed, the respect he had succeeded in
gaining. For years he held the post of teacher of
elocution to the Free Church College in Glasgow and
also in Edinburgh, and was the first of the authorised
teachers of the Art to the University. In the annals
of the lives of actors scarcely can we call to mind
one who left behind him more genial memories
or a more untarnished name. He died suddenly
but very peacefully in sleep on the iSth November,
1875.
September 25th (the company having returned
from Paisley, where they had played during the
race week) saw the production for the first time in
Glasgow of the " Courier of Lyons," now known as
the " Lyons Mail," with Glover as " Lesurcq and
Dubosq," Harcourt Bland as " Couriol," Miss Frances
Hughes "Julie," George Webster "Jerome," Cathcart
"Dorval," Fitzroy " Choppard," Lloyd " Foinard,"
and Mrs. Rignold "Marie." October nth witnessed
the debut of one who, as a juvenile actor, became a
great favourite. This was George Vincent, who
appeared that night as " Malcolm." The next grand
production was that of " Ivanhoe," with Bland as
" Ivanhoe," Fitzroy " Isaac of York," Vincent " Robin
THE GLASGOW STAGE. l8l
Hood," "Rebecca" Miss Aitken, and the "Lady
Rowena" Miss Caroline Maskell, sister to Mrs.
Walter Baynham.
In February, during a short engagement, Miss
Helen Faucit added to her repertoire " Lady
Hester" in the comedy of "To Marry or Not to
Marry." This engagement was followed by one
with Wright, who played "Paul Pry," "Tilly
Slowboy," and " Simmons " in the " Spitalfields
Weaver;" and Mrs. R. H. H. Wyndham as
" Miami" in " Green Bushes." Phelps then played
for a few nights ; then came Mrs. Seymour as " Peg
Woffington," and Charlotte Saunders, for one night
only, as " Hamlet ! ! " " Ophelia " by the afterwards
famous Miss Herbert. In May, Phelps again came
down, and, supported by Glover as " Marc Antony,"
and Swinbourne as " Cassius," played "Brutus."
The theatre was then closed for a short time to
make needful preparation for the military spectacle
of " The Battle of the Alma."
Meantime the Prince's had scored great successes
with Charlotte Saunders in Planche's burlesque of
" Once upon a Time there were Two Kings," Webb
in "The Rag Picker of Paris," and the Misses
Cushman in "Romeo and Juliet" and in "Guy
Mannering." In the latter Stembridge Ray played
"Henry Bertram," and Harry Webb "Dirk Hatterick."
1 82 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
CHAPTER XVII.
THE benefit of Edmund Glover, which took place on
the 3Oth April, 1855, is memorable from the fact
that that evening chronicled the first appearance in
Glasgow of Mr. J. L. Toole. Three years had
elapsed since this, even then, favourite comedian
had made his debut as an actor. A twelvemonth
before he had gone up from Edinburgh to London.
Mr. Glover announced that "Mr. J. L. Toole, the
popular comedian from the St. James's Theatre,
London, would on that evening (3Oth April, 1885)
make his first and only appearance in Glasgow."
The programme consisted of " the tragedy of the
Bridal," supported by Miss Aitken, Powrie, and
Glover. Mr. Toole's part in the evening's .perfor-
mance was twofold. He played "Jacob Earwig"
(Robson's then famous character) in " Boots at the
Swan," and afterwards sang Robson's then popular
ditty of "Villikins and his Dinah." The cast in
the farce is interesting, and is made up of well-
remembered names, two of which shortly afterwards
figured prominently in London successes. " Cecilia
Moonshine " was on the occasion played by Miss
Herbert, subsequently the favourite comedienne and
manageress of the St. James's, London ; " Emily
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 183
Trevor" was Miss Mary Bland; "Sally," Miss
Caroline Maskell (afterwards married to the late
Mr. William M'Culloch, of Pickford's, " the London
Scot ") ; " Betty," Miss Kate Carson ; " Friskly,"
Mr. Harcourt Bland (who had acted on the occasion
when Toole made his first professional bow at
Dublin) ; " Henry Higgins," Mr. Fred Dewar, of
" Captain Crosstree is My Name " fame ; " Peter
Pippin," Mr. Andrews, the late comedian of the
" Beatrice " Company. A Madame Julie danced a
pas seul, a popular violinist also played a Fantasia,
and the evening wound up with the national drama
of " Robert the Bruce."
The " Battle of Alma," which was produced on the
2 1st May, 1855, added another to the list of many
artistic triumphs won during the management of
Edmund Glover. In scenery and mounting this
spectacle could scarcely have been eclipsed ; and a
happy thought displayed itself in an " act drop," on
which was painted a map of the battlefield. As
suggestive of the scale on which the drama was
produced, it may be mentioned that three hundred
and fifty soldiers, accompanied by a military band,
were engaged to heighten the general effect.
After a five weeks' run, Mr. and Mrs. Leigh Murray
played a short engagement in " Victorine," " Camp
at Chobham," " Serious Family," and " His First
Champagne." But to these exquisitely refined per-
formances, the audiences were comparatively small.
Miss Reynolds, Buckstone, and the Spanish Dancers
followed the Hurrays.
On November 4th Glover produced " Henry the
1 84 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
Eighth/' In the mounting of this production Mr.
Glover was said to have gone beyond himself. The
spectator, it was said, whilst witnessing this gorgeous
drama, seemed at the same time to be reading a sug-
gestive page of history. Miss Aitken, in the character
of " Katherine," was pronounced equal to Miss Glynn
and Miss Faucit, and to come up to the critic's
"shadowy remembrance of Mrs. Siddons." Mr. Glover
was not very successful as the "King," and Mr. Powrie,
it was thought, would have made a better " Bucking-
ham" than " Cardinal." The press suggested, too,
that George Webster, who was the " Campeius,"
should have played " Henry VIII.," and Glover
" Wolsey." The spectacle ran for twelve nights.
On December 3 came the " Fall of Sevastopol,"
which proved a brilliant success. The pantomime
this year was the Haymarket one of "Little Bo-Peep."
Mr. Glover introduced on March 29, 1856, half-price
to all parts of the house. The following April 14
saw the debut of Mrs. W. H. Eburne, who made a
most favourable impression as " Juila " in " The
Hunchback," and also as " Jeanie Deans." Then
came an admirable production of " The Lady of the
Lake," which ran up to Whitsuntide.
On the 2 ist May an extraordinary fracas took
place in the Prince's Theatre. A company of
amateurs, hailing from Sunderland, had announced in
very large type, " a grand dramatic entertainment,
on which occasion would be performed Knowles' play
of " The Wife." The sanguine expectations of the
audience, which had been raised by the eulogiums
on their merits, with which the amateurs had enriched
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 185
their bills, received a sudden check by the discovery
that not one of the gentlemen connected with the
representation seemed to be on anything approach-
ing intimate terms with the words of his part. The
usual tittering, however, soon swelled into unmis-
takable jeers, and shortly afterwards resulted in a
tumult, in the midst of which Leonardo Gonzago
came forward to entreat public indulgence on account
of the short time which had been allowed the ladies
and gentlemen for rehearsal. This was the signal
for the bursting out of the pent-up fury of the
outraged onlookers. Many of the latter clambered
on to the stage. The actors flew in all directions
calling loudly for HELP ! and POLICE ! The lights were
extinguished, and in the midst of the confusion, some
screaming, others shouting, the majority struggling to
get out, the money-taker, who had been trusted by
the amateurs "not wisely but too well," was discovered
to have decamped with the entire evening's receipts.
Charles Pitt, David Fisher, Widdicombe, Sir
William Don, Bart, (literally but not artistically the
greatest of low comedians his height was six feet
four) ; Mr. and Mrs. W. Florence, George Vandenhoff,
Julia St. George, the Cushmans, and the triumvirate
of comedians, Lloyd, Cowell, and John Newcombe
(afterwards manager of the Theatre Royal, Plymouth),
preceded the production of the dramatised (Surrey)
version of Mrs. Stowe's then popular but now all
but defunct novel of " Dred," which was played for
the first time in Glasgow on October 24th, with
Glover in the title role. The pantomime " St. George
and the Dragon," which followed on December 22,
1 86 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
was pronounced Glover's greatest success. The
following February (1857) Miss Helen Faucit, during
her annual engagement, added to her repertoire
" Evadne." The play was considered heavy, and
her performance of the heroine not equal to either
her "Julia" or "Pauline."
Kean's revival at the Princess's of "Midsummer
Night's Dream" probably suggested to Glover the
idea of producing the fairy spectacle in Glasgow,
and on March 3rd Shakespeare's fairy comedy was
presented with a cast which included Glover as
" Bottom," Powrie as " Theseus," Bland and Vincent
as " Demetrius" and " Lysander," Fitzroy as
"Quince," Lloyd as "Flute," Miss Maria Simpson
(Mrs. Listen) as " Oberon," and Louise Keely (after-
wards Mrs. Montague Williams) as " Titania." The
production was but fairly successful owing to the
non-dramatic nature of the play. Miss Faucit
appeared on the 23rd. " Celeste " in the " Green
Bushes," and Mr. and Mrs. Barney Williams occupied
the boards in succession till May, when " Fraud and
its Victims," which had been produced with great
success some time previously at the Surrey, smelt
for the first time the Glasgow footlights. The drama
was a translation of " Les Pauvres de Paris," which
was the groundwork of Reade's novel of " Hard
Cash " and of Boucicault's drama of the " Streets of
London."
On the 1 8th Mr. Glover, following in the line of
his talented mother, who had on more than one
occasion played "Falstaff" and also "Hamlet."
attempted (for one night) to impersonate " Mrs..
THE GLASGOW STAGE. l8/
Malaprop " in a scene from the " Rivals " (with
Harcourt Bland as "Absolute"). Toole, accom-
panied by Charlotte Saunders, brought down from
the Lyceum " Conrad and Medora," and was followed
shortly afterwards by Sir William and Lady Don.
The latter was the daughter of an old " Utility
Man " at the London Adelphi. and she had captivated
the heart of the lengthy baronet. Sir William dur-
ing the engagement played the " Bailie " to Eland's
'" Rob Roy." A memorable first production in the
following August was Tom Taylor's " Still Waters
Run Deep," with Tom Mead as " John Mildmay ; "
George Vincent as " Hawkesly ; " Fitzroy, " Potter ; "
Andrews, "Dunbilk;" Hamblin, "Gimlet;" Miss
Cleaver, " Mrs. Sternhold ; " and Miss Fanny Bland
(no relation to Mr. Harcourt Bland), " Mrs. Mildmay."
Mead's " Mildmay " took the city at once by storm.
When " Still Waters " had had its run Boucicault's
version of " Faust and Marguerite " was produced on
August 3 1 st. The play had been for some time in
preparation, and during their previous week's engage-
ment Mead and Carlotta Leclercq had been busy in
assisting Edmund Glover with the rehearsals. The
cast was a strong one. ''Faust," Vincent; "Valentine,"
Sam Glover; " Martha," Miss Cleaver. Mead had
been specially engaged for " Mephistophiles," and
Saker and Carlotta Leclercq came from the Princess's
to sustain the original parts of 4 ' Seibel " and
" Marguerite." The face, figure, and style of the
latter was described as the beau-ideal of Goethe's
heroine. The rise of the young actress had been
rapid. She had first appeared in the metropolis in the
1 88 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
capacity of a pantomimist As " Columbine," her
grace and personelle had attracted the favourable
notice of the Keans. They tried her powers as an
actress in small parts, in which she at once showed
herself such an expert that when "Faust and Marguer-
ite " was tendered to the management the Keans at
once fixed on Carlotta for the heroine. She played it
to David Fisher's " Faust " the character in which
this actor first appeared in London, after leaving
Glasgow. The Glasgow production proved an
enormous success, and had an uninterrupted run of
a month. Mead's " Mephistophiles " has, in the
judgment of certain old Dunlopites, never yet been
equalled. Mead, it may be briefly stated, returned
shortly after this to London, and was leading man
for many years at the Grecian Saloon. He subse-
quently joined the Lyceum as a member of that
company. He died at the age of 70 two years ago.
On May 3rd, Miss Marriott, fresh from laurels
won at the Surrey with Mr. Creswick, made as a
star her first appearance in Glasgow, and met with a
perfect ovation. She opened in " Fazio," and in her
next impersonation Kate Saville, a charming actress,
and niece to Miss Faucit, played " Juliet " to Miss
Marriott's " Romeo." On the 1 5th, our still admir-
able evergreen "Jeanie Deans" appeared as "Hamlet,"
which, as a piece of acting, was, for one of her sex,
one of the best the stage had seen. Her engagement
was extended for a week longer ; and then came two
notable amateurs, Captain Disney Roebuck and Mr.
Montagu Williams. The latter, now Judge Williams,
was then a successful wooer, and shortly afterwards
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 189
married Louise Keeley, who had become a member
of the stock company. After the usual round of stars
had shone, Glover produced " Perourou, the Bellows
Mender," the story on which Bulwer founded the
" Lady of Lyons."
Mrs. Edmund Glover appeared (as she usually did
at her husband's benefit) as " Mrs. Simpson " in
" Simpson & Co.," and shortly afterwards as " Helen "
in the " Hunchback," and the season finished with
an engagement of Lloyd for twelve nights.
The pantomime for the winter season of '58 was
"Sinbad the Sailor." The clown on the occasion
was George Parry, notable for his "Dumb Man of
Manchester," which character he played up to the end
of the pantomime. Then Miss Goddard appeared in a
round of characters, chiefly male impersonations, with
an exceptional amount of success. Miss Faucit's
appearance on April 2ist as " Nina Sforza " was not
pronounced a success. I note May I3th as signalis-
ing the debut of Mr. Lindo Courtenay, who remained
in Dunlop Street for four years, and who is now and
has been for many years the highly-respected manager
of more than one theatre in the English provinces.
His first appearance was as " Stephen Plum " in
"All that Glitters is not Gold." The evening of
22nd August saw the farewell benefit of Harcourt
Bland. His "bill" on the occasion consisted of the
" Love Knot." Miss Louise Keeley sang the old
ballad of " Ever of Thee," and Mr. Bland took his
final farewell as " Jeremiah Bumps " in " Turning the
Tables." The farewell was on the occasion of Mr.
Eland's leaving for London, where he had been
I QO THE GLASGOW STAGE.
engaged to open at the Princess's as light comedian
and stage manager. In the course of his address he
alluded to the fact of his having taken a farewell a
short time previously, prior to a contemplated visit
to America, and after speaking in glowing terms of
the management, he referred to the apathy which
existed in Glasgow as to theatricals, and traced it to
" that spirit of gloomy asceticism which seeks to
transform the world into a region of mere utilitari-
anism ; which even trembles at the least display of
wit and mirth ; which labours hard to represent
Christianity as wholly antagonistic to those lighter
arts and accomplishments which proceed from and
accompany civilisation and refinement/' He con-
cluded by thanking the public for the brilliant re-
sponse which had been made to his appeals on the
occasion.
On October 12 a now very old favourite, but then
a very young man, was presented by his father to
the Glasgow public. This was Mr. Arthur Lloyd,
who made his debut as " Cornet Kavanagh " in the
farce of the " Boarding School." Arrangements
having been made with the Wigans, who had recently
retired from the management of the Olympic, " Still
Waters " was revived, with the stars as " Mildmay "
and "Mrs. Sternhold." In a "Sheep in Wolves'
Clothing," Wigan played for the first time "Jasper
Carew," a part which had been written specially for
him, but which he had at the last hour, through
illness, been compelled to resign into the hands of
George Vining. The pantomine of 1859 was that of
the "Sleeping Beauty," which enjoyed a run of
THE GLASGOW STAGE. IQI
sixty nights. After Kean's visit with Cathcart,
Everett, and the Messrs. Chapman (Kean's nieces), in
February, 1860, Benjamin Webster came with the
most recent Adelphi success, " The Dead Heart," in
which he was supported by Miss Aitken as the
heroine, and Ashley as the " Abbe." Mr. Lindsay,
an excellent actor, who was afterwards in Mr.
Bernard's company at the Gaiety, made his first
appearance as the " Count St. Valere." Webster,
with Miss Aitken, acted also in Watts Phillips' drama
of "Janet Pride."
THE GLASGOW STAGE.
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE specialty of the season of 1860 was the specta-
cular drama of " The Indian Revolt, or the Relief
of Lucknow," a piece which was compiled by Edmund
Glover from many plays, and as an announcement
ran, " written by many authors." It was produced
with considerable care and great splendour. Two
hundred performers were employed to give it due
effect. There were in it, besides, " gorgeous proces-
sions, introducing a perfect menagerie of elephants,
camels, bulls, &c.," and the tout ensemble was regarded
by the Glasgow public as one of the most complete
which had ever been witnessed since the days of
Seymour's "Aladdin." The cast is memorable. In
it the name of Henry Irving appeared for the first
time in Glasgow. The young actor, then but two
and twenty years of age, had been specially engaged
by Mr. Glover to play " Prince Jung Bahadour." It
is generally supposed that in this character Irving
made his first bow to a Glasgow audience. This is,
however, a mistake. His own account is " When
I came to Glasgow (which I did from Dublin) to
attend the rehearsals for ' The Indian Revolt/ I was
surprised and indignant to find myself cast for some
character in the ' Warlock of the Glen/ which was
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 1 93
to be played as a Saturday night ' attraction ' prior
to the 'Revolt' on the Monday. As I had made
my mark as an actor in Dublin, where I had been a
great favourite, you can imagine what I felt when I
found myself announced merely as a Mr. Irwin
they couldn't even spell my name correctly but I
played the part nevertheless." The remainder of the
cast of " The Indian Revolt " included Miss Aitken
("Jessie Brown"), Henry Ashley ("Captain Cameron"),
E. Fletcher (" Geordie Cameron "), and Sam Glover
(" McAllister "). The rest of the characters were in
the hands of Messrs. Charles Vernon, F. Glover,
C. Bland, Josephs, Lindsay, Hamblin, W. Lowe, and
Davie Stewart ; Misses Desborough, Fanny Josephs,
and Barry. The spectacle was an enormous success,
and ran from the i6th April till the 1 5th of May. Mr.
Irving remained as light comedian during the entire
season, playing such parts as " Sir Charles Howard "
("Little Treasure"), "Mr. Aubrey" ("Curious Case"),
"D'Aubigne" ("The Man in the Iron Mask"), and
" Macduff" and the "Juveniles " in the Shakespearian
drama. " The Indian Revolt " was succeeded by an
engagement of the Pyne-Harrison Troupe and
Mr. and Mrs. Charles Mathews. On the 4th June
the Brothers Webb appeared for the first time in the
"Comedy of Errors/' bringing with them the sisters,
Mrs. Webb and Annie Parker, for the " Antipholes."
The winter season of 1860 and 1 86 1, which com-
menced on October I, was heralded ominously by
an address from Mr. C. G. Houghton, in the course
of which he referred to his being then but the deputy
for Mr. Edmund Glover, who, it was thought, was
13
194 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
happily recovering from what had been a dangerous,
but which unhappily proved a fatal, illness. Three
weeks afterwards, on the 24th October, the theatre
was suddenly closed. Edmund Glover had died
that morning at half-past nine, unexpectedly and
peacefully, at the residence of his old friend, Mr. R.
H. Wyndham, in Edinburgh, to which he had been
removed from the cottage belonging to the former
at Luss. At first the change seemed very beneficial,
and the hopes of his loving wife and family had been
brightened with the prospect of his recovery, but he
suddenly, on the evening before he died, grew worse.
Medical aid was summoned, but was found of no
avail, and at half-past nine the following morning,
surrounded by his family, Time rang down for him,
at the mandate of the Universal Prompter, the final
curtain. If any proof has been needed of the respect in
which this admirable actor, excellent manager, tender
husband, and loving father was held, it was shown in
the list of those who made up the mournful procession
to Sighthill Cemetery. Scarcely a citizen of repute
was absent from it. Both on and off the stage, it
was confessed, Edmund Glover " was a man, take him
for all in all, we ne'er should look upon his like again."
Those who knew him best, loved him most. Kind,
considerate, generous, benevolent, and unostentatious,
his dependents were numerous, yet comparatively un-
known. One of his last acts was to give the free use
of his theatre for a benefit to Mr George Webster,
who had long been unable to appear in consequence
of illness. The manager-actor's life had been devoted
to the raising of his art, and his death left a void
which none have since filled.
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 195
On the conclusion of the pantomime of "Little
Red Riding Hood" in February, 1861, Miss Faucit
came to Dunlop Street, supported by Mr. Swin-
bourne, an actor graceful, powerful, and effective, and
possessed of a singularly sympathetic voice. The
star opened as " Lady Macbeth." Miss Faucit played
only four nights in the week, and during her twelve
nights' engagement appeared as "Julia" ("Hunch-
back "), " Rosalind," " lolanthe " (" King Rene's
Daughter"), and "Beatrice" ("Much Ado About
Nothing "). It was in connection with this engage-
ment that, accompanied by Mrs. Baynham (Miss
Fanny Maskell as " Helen "), I, as " Modus," on the
1 7th February, made my first appearance in Glasgow.
The memory of the principal members of the corps
being still green to middle-aged playgoers, the writer
will perhaps be exempted from the charge of egoism
if he ventures to describe briefly the scene of his first
morning on the stage, after his arrival.
At ten o'clock I made my way from the Parlia-
mentary Road, where we lodged, to Dunlop Street,
and found myself in front of the handsome theatre,
over the portico of which, if I remember rightly, was
on one side the bust of Shakespeare, and on the other
that of the late J. H. Alexander. Opposite to the
theatre were a group of actors standing on the pave-
ment in front of the cosy little tavern called the
Garrick's Head. The " call " was for the rehearsal
of (l Macbeth." As I was looking about, not knowing
where to find the stage door, and hesitating whether
I should ask my way of one of the actors, who were
strangers to me, or inquire of a white-headed old
196 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
gentleman who stood at the box door entrance, and
who, I found afterwards, was the time-honoured Mr.
Muir, a tall and very handsome lady, who held by
the hand two little girls all clothed in deep mourn-
ing came up and introduced herself to me. This
was Mrs. Edmund Glover with her two daughters,
Kate and Fanny. We went together down the little
narrow lane which ran along the north side of the
theatre, and in a few minutes I had groped my way
through the dark vestibule and up some narrow
flights of steps on to the dimly-lighted stage ; then
crossing it again, up a flight of stairs, I reached the
office of the acting manager, Mr. C. G. Houghton (one
of the kindest-hearted and most considerate of men),
and that of his assistant, then a very thin and smooth-
faced young man, Mr. Alexander Wright ; (the
latter has now for many years been highly esteemed
as manager of the Theatre-Royal, Greenock. To
Mr. Wright the public were at that time mainly
indebted for the monstre programmes which were then
the order of the Saturday nights.) We went down
stairs on to the stage. Here I was introduced by
Mr. Houghton to a tall, stoutish man, whose broad
shoulders were surmounted by a wide Scotch face
with small twinkling eyes. This was the stage mana-
ger, Bruce Norton, at once the driest and most
irresistibly funny of Scotch comedians, and an enor-
mous favourite with the generality of actors, both on
and off the stage. Coming out of the dusky gloom
at the back of the scenes there emerged a man of
about 50 years of age, whose short, crisp black hair
curled round a rather low forehead, surmounting a
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 1 97
ruddy face. He was attired in a Highland cape,
and wore a deep hatband, as I subsequently learned,
for the late Edmund Glover. This was the late
J. B. Fitzroy. I met for the first time a singularly
quiet and unassuming little man, who was standing
at the wings talking to a dapper little man and his
wife, Mr. and Mrs. Fred Glover. The dapper little
man, was, I fancied, somewhere between 50 and 60
years of age, nearer the latter. We soon got into
conversation, and I remarked that of all the actors I
had hitherto met this little gentleman spoke the least
about himself. This was the late H. F. Lloyd. Then
came sailing down in full sweep (for I can find no
more expressive word for his general walk) a boyish-
faced looking individual, with his hands locked on to
his wrists, and a placid, self-contented smile. This
was the irrepressible and immortal George Hamblin.
Seated in the Green Room were the remainder of the
company Mr. Gresham, Mr. Duff, Miss Laurence,
and a lady of exceptionally refined manners and
appearance, then getting a little into the "sere" of
life, Miss Cleaver. A shabbily-dressed and dissipated-
looking young man, Mr. Charles Brand, and his wife
(a beautiful young woman) were present. Charles
Stewart, the prompter, soon gave the word, " Begin-
ners !" and a short time afterwards on came Powrie
always punctual and perfect. He rehearsed "Macduff."
I found him one of the simplest-hearted and kindest
of confreres a hater of cant in any form, and a
generous helper to all young and careful actors. In
the orchestra the late Mr. Smythe, then a very mild
spoken, very nervous, and bald-headed young man,
198 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
conducted ; the first violin was that good-hearted
Mulatto, little Willie Shaw; the second, Mr. Leveston,
no less courteous ; the violincello was Mr. Fisher,
uncle of " David." Our call boy was Tommy Watson,
now, unfortunately, a low comedian at (when I last
saw him) a Vinegar Hill show. Taken up to the
wardrobe, I was introduced to the costumier, Mr.
John Guy, for many years a most trustworthy
" fixture " in Glover's Theatre.
Miss Faucit's engagement was followed by one
with a Mr. Gardiner Coyne. In a round of Irish
characters he proved himself but a very weak imi-
tator of an actor who was shortly to appear, John
Drew. On the iSth March the Keans, accompanied
by their nieces, the Misses Chapman, Cathcart, and
Everett, appeared. After a week's closing for the
"preachings," the theatre opened with an adaptation
by Charles Webb of " The House on the Bridge of
Notre Dame," in which Mr. Duff sustained the dual
role of the " Brothers," and the present writer a melo-
dramatic villain so intended by the author, but it was
played by the writer as a light comedy part. On Mon-
day we produced " The Woman in White," with Mr.
Lindo Courtenay as the hero, Mrs. Baynham as "Laura
Clyde," Mrs. Charles Bland as Ann Catherick," Ham-
blin "Mr. Fairlie," Fitzroy " Fosco," Gresham as
"Glyde." We ran the piece during the week alter-
nately with "The House on the Bridge." Charles
Mathews opened on the 2Qth. With his characteristic
nonchalance, he seldom or ever attended rehearsals,
and the pieces throughout his engagement would have
been lamentable failures, but for his incomparable
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 199
acting at night, and the ready ease with which he got
various members of the company out of various
bungles, caused by his non-attendance at rehearsals;
and by their not knowing what he meant to do or
even say, for he seldom stuck to the words of his
part. On the occasion of his benefit at this time he
played "Aggravating Sam." It was acted most
deplorably, through Mathews' non-attendance at re-
hearsal, but he seemed himself quite surprised that
it had gone as well as it had done. "What d'ye
think of that ? " he said to me, pointing triumphantly
towards the audience, as the curtain fell to very faint
plaudits. "There! the Curtain down! and without
the goose ! (hiss)." Any other star would probably
have vented his disgust, at the apathy of the audi-
ence, on the company. Not so with Mathews. He
was never put about. If he was cut out of some of
his best lines through an actor being imperfect, he
would at the end of the piece quietly put his hands
in his pockets, and nodding in the direction of the
culprit, remark "Nice man that! What's his name?
Sort of man you'd like to take tea with." In the
instance of " Aggravating Sam," I ventured to remon-
strate with him on his not having given the company
a fair chance in consequence of his not coming to
rehearsal. " My dear fellow," he replied, clapping me
on the shoulder, " that's a piece which wouldn't go
smoothly with fifty rehearsals. If you can't get it
right with fifty, what 's the use of bothering yourself
about one?" Then he quietly strolled into his
dressing-room, lighted a cigar, and was seen no more
till the next night. To the easy way in which he
2OO THE GLASGOW STAGE.
took things he owed probably his exceptional vitality,
which, even when he was seventy-three years of age,
had not deserted him. As an instance of this, during
his last engagement in Glasgow at the Gaiety, he
was, whilst playing " My Awful Dad, 1 ' taken seriously
and suddenly ill. His indistinct articulation at first
had ended in a swoon. The doctor who had been
called in at once ordered him to be taken home, and
predicted that this most accomplished artiste on the
stage would never act again. Mathews, however,
who declined even to take a little brandy to revive
him, gradually recovered full consciousness, struggled
to his feet, and finished the piece. Next morning,
when Mr. Bernard, the manager, fearing the worst,
called to inquire after Mathews, he was asked into
the private room of the latter, where he found him
not only up and dressed, but engaged in painting a
little picture in water colours, which he presented to
his inquirer as a souvenir of the previous evening's
"entertainment." Mathews, though one of the most
brilliant " stars " in the social as well as the dramatic
firmament, made few friends. Out of London he was
scarcely known in private life. He was anything but
"fast" either in his conversation or habits, and his
temperance in every respect was one of the secrets of
his juvenility, which accompanied him to the day of
his death, at the age of seventy-four. Almost his
last words were a joke. The clergyman had attended
him, and left as Mathews was sinking into stupor.
In the meantime another individual in a white cravat
had taken the minister's place. Mathews woke, saw
dimly the white tie of some one standing at the bed-
THE GLASGOW STAGE.
201
side, pressed the hands of the latter, and to that in-
dividual's surprise fervently thanked him for his
ministrations. Opening his eyes wider he quietly
put the astonished individual aside, and calling his
stepson Charles Mathews, the barrister said, " I Ve
made a nice mess of it, Charles. Instead of the
Parson, I Ve blessed the Waiter ! But," he added,
" I suppose it 's the last mistake I shall make."
202 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
CHiAPTER XIX.
Miss JULY DALY, a very clever American actress,
opened the summer season on June 3rd, 1861, with
" Our Female American Cousin," in which Mr. Edward
Price made his first appearance as "Gerald Appleby."
On June 17 "Plot and Passion" was played, with
Mrs. Baynham as " Marie de Fontagnes," Edward
Price as " De Neuville," Fitzroy as " Demarrettes,"
and Mr. Gresham as " Fouche." On the Monday
following, " Lost and Found," a drama founded on
" Nicholas Nickleby," and written by myself,
was produced, and enjoyed a favourable run.
Price played " Nicholas ;" Lloyd, " Squeers ; "
Hamblin, "Ralph Nickleby;" Fitzroy, "Newman
Noggs ; " Mrs. Sennett, " Mrs. Nickleby ; " Miss
Laurence, " Kate ; " and Mrs. Baynham, " Smike."
" Mantalini " and " John Browdie " were, in this
version, omitted. The play ended with the " Death
of Smike." " Lost and Found," which ran the week,
was supplemented by the " Balance of Comfort,"
"Ladies' Battle," and "The Miller and his Men."
On Monday, July I, Mr. James Rogers (better known
as Jemmy Rogers) made his first bow to a Glasgow
audience in "A Race for a Widow," and also as
"Turby" in "The Goose with the Golden Eggs."
Wednesday saw for the first time in our city Byron's
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 2O3
burlesque of " Aladdin," in which Rogers as the
" Widow Twankey " made a hit so great that the
burlesque ran every evening to the end of the engage-
ment. Mrs. Fred Glover (Miss Wilmott) played
" Aladdin," Hamblin the " Emperor," F. Glover the
" Vizier." The next engagement was that of the
well-known actor (afterwards manager of the " Prince
of Wales ") Mr. John Coleman. His own piece called
" Catherine Howard " was produced, and won much
favour with the "gods." As "Catherine" Mrs.
Edward Price made her first appearance, and after-
wards played the " Queen," with Mr. Coleman as
"Ruy Bias," myself as ''Don Sallust." On the
Monday following, Charlotte Saunders brought down
" Kenilworth." On the iQth, Widdicombe opened
on the occasion of my first benefit in " Old Joe
and Young Joe" and the "Two Poults." The
farce ran the entire engagement. During it, Widdi-
combe appeared in two of his most serious characters.
These were "Capias Shark" in "A Bird in Hand,"
and also as " Daddy Hardacre," in both of which he
acted most powerfully. His style has been handed
down to the present generation in that of Mr. J. L.
Toole. Our trump card, however, which we had held
sometime in hand, was to be played, and a magni-
ficent one it proved. This was no other than the
"Colleen Bawn."
The drama proved one of the most thorough old-
fashioned successes ever witnessed in Glasgow. The
cast was as follows : " Hardress Cregan," Courtney ;
"Kyrle Daly," myself; "Father Tom," H. Mellon;
" Myles-na-Coppaleen," T. H. Glenney ; "Corrigan,"
204 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
Holston ; " Bertie O'More," Fenton; " Eily O'Connor,"
Mrs. Sloan ; "Ann Chute," Mrs. Buckingham White;
" Mrs. Cregan," Mrs. Charles Boyce ; " Sheelah," Mrs.
W. H. Sennett ; last, but not least, " Danny Mann,"
Sam Emery. The piece, with ^ome slight alterations
in the cast, ran till the end of the season. During its
run a Miss De Courcy took the place of Mrs. C. Boyce.
Mellon played " Danny Mann " (Emery being obliged
to leave for London), and Mr. Dan Leeson took
Mellon's place as " Father Tom," and Mrs. Walter
Baynham played the " Colleen."
With the opening of our winter season of 1861-62
(November 4th) came J. L. Toole. He played then
in Adelphi dramas, such as the " Harvest Home,"
"Willow Copse," "The Writing on the Wall," &c.,
which have (we say it regretfully) long been laid on
the shelf, a fact principally arising from the system
of stock companies having been abandoned. The
opening drama was Boucicault's " Willow Copse "
and the farce of "The Pretty Horsebreaker," in
which Mrs. Baynham played Bella Sunnysides. He
also produced " Blue Beard " (burlesque), in which
he was excruciatingly funny. When Toole's twelve
nights' engagement came to an end, John Drew, who
had but a few months before made his debut in
Dublin, made his first appearance to a wretchedly
thin house in the " Irish Ambassador," followed by
the "Irish Emigrant," " O'Callaghan," and "Handy
Andy." Since the days of Tyrone Power his equal
had not been seen, and I have never witnessed so
finished a "stage Irishman" since. His career, how-
ever, was, though brilliant, painfully short.
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 2O5
It was during the second week of Drew's engage-
ment I heard that Bruce Norton, who had long been
ailing, was dangerously ill, and next day the news
was brought to the theatre that this genuine
comedian, most humorous of men, and greatest of
practical jokers (despite an occasional coarseness),
was dead. " Tragedy " followed in this instance
" Life's Farce." My diary records that on November
the 2/th I, as Stage Manager, read the forthcoming
pantomime in the green room to the company, and
afterwards attended the funeral of Bruce Norton.
It proved a sadly memorable affair ! He had lodged
in Stockwell Street in a couple of narrow, dimly-
lighted rooms, one of which was made indiscribably
more gloomy that morning by the coffin containing
his remains which was laid upon the table. Several
of his relations were present, including poor Bruce's
two brothers, both Glasgow merchants Bruce Nor-
ton was a Glasgow man and also a few actors. All
sat for some time in that peculiar silence which is
never felt so powerfully as in the presence of death.
At length some uneasiness began to be displayed.
Anxious eyes were cast in the direction of the door.
No clergyman appeared. Through some unfortunate
malarrangement no minister had been sent for. That
all things might be done decently and in order, it was
suggested that some one present should conduct a
short religious service. Every non-professional pre-
sent having declined, a chapter was read and an
extempore prayer offered up by one of poor Bruce's
fellow-actors. There was a pitiless snow-storm raging,
as the lonely procession followed him to the grave
206 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
where again, through some reprehensible oversight,
another scene occurred. The grave was found too
narrow to receive the coffin, and had to be con-
siderably widened before the coffin could be lowered.
Miss Aitken, prior to trying her fortunes as a
dramatic reader in Australia, played a week's fare-
well performances. The character in which she was
to take her farewell was "Julia" in the "Hunchback."
The occasion was memorable in more respects than
one. Tom Powrie was at the time the " leading
man," although he never played in the ordinary
round of melodramas. A Mr. Mortimer Murdoch
was a species of "second man," who was engaged to
share the melodramatic lead. Powrie's nervousness
had been for years proverbial. He felt himself
unable to study any new part, and although four
weeks' notice had been given him to appear as
"Master Walter" to Miss Aitken's "Julia," he at the
last moment was too timid to make the attempt,
and Murdoch, who was to have played "Sir Thomas/'
appeared as the " Hunchback " instead. Miss Aitken
during this engagement played "Jeannie Deans" to
the "Duke of Argyle" of Mr. H. Courte (Mr. Henry
Cooke the elocutionist).
The next week was spent in rehearsals of the
pantomime of "Jack the Giant Killer," which was
underlined for the following Monday, the 1 5th
December. This was, however, postponed in conse-
quence of the death on the I4th of the Prince Consort.
On the I /th it was produced, and received most
warmly by what was always on the first night, at
that time, a poor house. The cast was an excellent
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 2O/
one. Mr. Fenton was the " King," Mrs. F. Glover
"Jack," the "Giant" Hamblin. The "Clown" was
Nicolo Denlin, was well knov/n as one of the fun-
niest of pantomimists, but was, strangely enough,
one of the most melancholy of men. His sadness
was caused by a constant brooding on theological
doctrines, on the subject of which he had more than
one interview with some of the most eminent of
the Glasgow clergy. He would stand at the wings
ready to go on in the comic scenes with the most
dejected of countenances. He seldom or ever smiled
off the stage, and gave directions as to the fun to
his son Paul (the " Pantoloon ") in the most gloomy
tones. His thoughts were always on the "after
state," his soul's salvation, and the attributes of the
Divine Being. The future life engrossed the whole
of his thoughts, and he was never talkative except
upon dogmatic subjects. "Was Calvin right?" If
Predestination was true, where, then, was the ration-
ality of giving a man "free will?" Questions like
these he would break off with "Now, Joey! look
out, here's the Bobby" he would run on to the
stage, tumble, shout, and go through all the business
of the scene. Then, coming off again, with the old
look of gloomy distrust, he resumed the subject of
theology at the point he had left off.
Whilst the pantomime was running at the Royal
the burlesque of " Lalla Rookh " was played at the
Princes. "Delicate ground," "Little Toddlekins,"
" Ladies' Battle," "Mateo Falcone," and several
dramas preceded "Jack" at Dunlop Street. In the
February following G. V. Brooke made his first ap-
208 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
pearance in Glasgow since his return from Australia.
He was accompanied by the late Richard Younge,
subsequently manager of the Tyne Theatre and a
well-known "Eccles ;" and an excellent actress, Miss
Avonia Jones, whom Brooke shortly afterwards
married. She was devotedly attached to her accom-
plished husband, and survived his loss barely more
than eighteen months. The trio opened on February
loth, Younge playing the "Juveniles" and "Seconds."
The business, however, was anything but good. The
public had lost confidence in the reigning " star "
one of the best-hearted, but most erratic of men.
No one could ever be sure of him. He would begin
the play perfectly sober, but would get hopelessly
drunk before the curtain fell. In some cases the
audience were introduced to an unrehearsed effect.
Totally oblivious of the presence of his auditory in
front, he frequently mingled his own personal re-
marks on the acting of those around him with the
text. One evening when we were finishing "Othello,"
and he was reeling up to the bed where his smothered
victim lay, he gave a prolonged howl of " O
O O Desdemona," when he suddenly looked
round and his eye caught Mr. J. C. Mathews, who
was playing " Montano," laughing. Everybody both
on and off the stage was more or less doing the
same, for poor Brooke was hopelessly but ludicrously
staggering about all over the scene. Brooke, how-
ever, singled out the unhappy Mathews. Fixing a
vacant .stare at the culprit, he pointed to the bed
and hiccupped mournfully, but audibly, to the
astonishment of the audience, "Look here, Mr.
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 2 09
Mathews, do you see this ? Do you think, sir,
this is a laughing matter?" When, however,
Brooke was himself, he acted magnificently, and
was the most gentle, genial, and unassuming of
men. When he was intoxicated his temper was
ungovernable. Those who knew him best loved
o
him most, and always showed pity for what the
public pronounced, unpardonable. Not an unkind
word had any to say of poor 'Gus. He was nobody's
enemy but his own. His name will if we accept
perhaps " Othello " never be coupled with those of
really great Shakspearian actors, but in such parts
as "Mathew Elmore" (" Love's Sacrifice"), " Master
Walter" (''Hunchback"), and in a little drama called
"Dreams of Delusion," founded on the tale of the
cure of madness being effected by the re-enactment
of a past incident which caused it, I have never seen
his equal. He was by birth a gentleman and by
education (at Trinity College, Dublin) a scholar.
Our " production " this season was Falconer's
Irish drama of the "Peep o' Day," which was
played for the first time in Glasgow in March 3rd,
1862. Mr. Boucicault has been considered the first
to introduce the present system of travelling com-
panies, although the Haymarket Company had, as I
have previously stated, appeared with almost the
full corps in 1849, an< 3 even Samuel Foote had
eighty years before that, brought down his entire
company from the Haymarket to Edinburgh. The
present system of bringing down a play with a
complete cast was then but in perspective. The
members of travelling corps eight and twenty years
14
2IO THE GLASGOW STx\GE.
ago had to depend upon aid from those of the stock
resident company. In the " Peep o' Day," as in
the " Colleen Bawn," not more than six or seven
artistes were brought from London. These were
Miss Heath (who was shortly afterwards married to
Mr. Wilson Barrett), one of the most refined of
actresses. She played " Mary Grace." Miss Clifford
was the " heroine ; " Mr. Harry Sinclair, " Harry
Kavanagh ; " Mr. J. Barrett (from the Princess's and
Lyceum), the " Irish Priest ; " the late Mr. M'Intyre,
the " Squireen ; " Mr. T. C. Harris (from Sadlers
Wells), " Black Mullens;" and Mr. Stainslaus
Calhaem, under whose direction the drama was
produced, "Barney OToole." " Mr. Grace" was
played by Fitzroy, and "Blind Paddy" by Hamblin.
The scenery for the drama, painted by Glover, was
magnificent, and the arrangement of the Irish fair
and dance in the second act would almost of itself
have been sufficiently novel to ensure for the play
a very long run. It was not, however, as a whole so
successful as the "Colleen Bawn."
On April 7th, John Brougham, a clever Irish
comedian, opened to a wretched house as " Micaw-
ber," playing also during his engagement " Captain
Cuttle" in " Dombey & Son." He produced, too,
an excellent comedy, although not a success, called
"Playing with Fire." Meantime the cosy little
Princes' had been doing very good business with
a modest stock company. It had reopened on
December 2nd, under the stage management of
Mr. Stainslaus Calhaem, with " The Pride of the
Market " and the burlesque of the " Maid and the
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 211
Magpie," in which Mr. and Mrs. Fred Glover were
very successful. The only "star" and that was
but a demi-one was Miss Marion Taylor. The "old
man" was Mr. Bellair, and Mr. H. Courte played the
"lead." The next " production " of the season was
Boucicault's " Octoroon," for which the author sent
down a very strong cast under the direction of
Mr. R. Phillips, the stage manager at the London
Adelphi. Mr. Delmon Grace, a capital actor from
America, was " Salem Scudder ;" Mr. Marcus Elmore,
" M'Cluskey ; " Mr. H. Mellon, Pete ; " Mrs.
Eburne, "Zoe;" Mrs. Buckingham White, "Dora
Sunnyside ; " Mrs. Charles Boyce, "Mrs. Peyton;"
Hamblin, "Captain Ratts;" T. H. Glenney, " Wah-
motee ; " Dobson, " Colonel Poindexter ; " and Miss
Bella Murdoch, the "boy." As a strong attraction
we shortly afterwards played with " The Octoroon "
the " Colleen Bawn," Mr. Elmore taking Emery's
place as u Danny Man ; " and Mr. H. Mellon resuming
" Father Tom " (an incomparably characteristic per-
formance). Mr. Fitzroy appeared as " Corrigan ; "
and Mrs. Eburne, " Eily O'Connor."
212 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
CHAPTER XX.
AFTER a brief engagement, Mr. Charles Calvert made
his first bow to a Glasgow audience in the " Island
Home," and on the following night appeared in his
own translation of the drama of " Rube, the Show-
man," which he played to perfection. His style was
not original ; it was modelled on that of Charles
Kean's in regard to voice, gait, and action. The
next week Calvert acted with similar success in the
" Hive of Life," playing with the drama the burlesque
of "Esmeralda." We next produced, with scant success,
a wretched transpontine drama called "The Pirates of
Savannah," for which Mr. Henry Loydall was engaged.
The attraction of that week was, however, the
charming singing and acting of Julia St. George in
Planche's extravaganza of the " Invisible Prince,"
which was played as an afterpiece to " The Pirates."
Then we revived " Aladdin," with Lloyd as the
"Widow." Chas. Rice came down and made a tre-
mendous hit as " Christopher Chirrup " (his original
character) in the drama of " Jessie Vere ; " Mrs.
Edward Price playing the heroine. As an attraction
an engagement was made with a Herr Tolmaque,
who professed to outdo the then famous Davenport
Brothers in the unfastening of any knot, without
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 213
visible means, his hands being secured and his arms
bound to a chair by one of the audience. He
challenged anyone to bind him so that he could not
extricate himself shielded by an extinguisher-look-
ing covering in one minute. On the second night
he made a most dismal failure a sailor having bound
him to the chair and tied him so that the " spirits " (!)
were unable to untie the knot.
On August 2nd Miss Amy Roselle (now Mrs.
Arthur Dacre) made her first appearance as a very
pretty little girl, who came to play seconds to her
brother, Master Percy Roselle, a child-actor who
acted very cleverly a round of parts the last act of
"Macbeth" and " Richard," &c. They appeared
together also in a little piece called " My Own Blue
Bell," and in a variety of characters in "The Day
after the Fair," and in each and all of their characters
were a pronounced success.
In London at this time Sothern was taking the
town by storm as " Lord Dundreary ; " and Charles
Rice played a little farce called "Lord Dundreary
Settled at Last," giving in it not a very faithful but a
very funny imitation of the great original. With this
and "The Colleen Bawn" we wound up 'the summer
season.
Great changes marked the opening of our next
winter campaign. The stock company had under-
gone a wonderful transformation, one which had
been arranged under the supervision of Mr. Hough-
ton, assisted by Mr. Charles Calvert, who was now
engaged as stage manager. With the exception of
the quartette of Powrie, Fitzroy, myself, and Lloyd,
214 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
scarcely one of the staff who had figured in Glasgow
for many years before, remained. We opened on the
1st of September with "The Hunchback," with the
following cast: "Julia," Miss Kate Saville ; "Helen,"
Miss Henrietta Watson, a young and excellent
soubrette, who was subsequently to figure as a pro-
minent character in more than one of the novels of
William Black ; " Master Walter," Charles Calvert ;
"Sir Thomas Clifford," Powrie ; "Master Wilford,"
Mr. W. H. Kendal (his first appearance) ; " Master
Gaylove," Mr. Beveridge Heartwell ; " Modus," Mr.
Walter Baynham. " The Lady of Lyons," with
Powrie and Miss Saville, served to introduce Mr.
A. Alexander, who made his first appearance as
" Beauseant ; " Fitzroy, " Damas ; " Beveridge, " Gas-
per ; " Mrs. Wallis (mother of Mrs. Lowe), " Widow
Melnotte;" Miss Lavis, as "Madame Deschappelles."
Wednesday saw the company in "Macbeth." This
was succeeded by the "Merchant of Venice" (with
Powrie as " Gratiano "), " Othello," and " King
John." Mr. Calvert's admirable stage arrange-
ment of these pieces drew enormous houses, and,
coupled with the burlesque of " Perseus and Andro-
meda," the business soon became better than had
been known for years. We now revived " Faust and
Marguerite," with Calvert as " Mephistopheles " and
Miss Saville as "Marguerite." Miss Saville shortly
afterwards left the company, and her place was filled
by Miss Agnes Markham, who was then playing in
the burlesque. The production of the legitimate
alone without the aid of stars carried us on fairly up
to the " Preachings " in October, and the pleasantest
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 215
memories of the opening of the following season will
be always revived by calling to mind such productions
as "Still Waters Run Deep," "Much Ado about
Nothing," and " The Fool's Revenge," in which Miss
Rollason (now Mrs. Nye Chart, the respected mana-
geress of the Theatre Royal, Brighton) made her
first appearance on I3th October.
On the 1 5th October, Mrs. Charles Calvert made
her first appearance as " Rosalind." " The Jewess "
was also revived magnificently, and ran till November
8th. But the best stage management is not exempt
from accidents, and the finest tragic acting has occa-
sionally its comic side. One evening we were playing
" Hamlet." Powrie was the " Prince," and Alexander
played the " King." Now it is a remarkable fact
that as a rule the death of the " King," even under
ordinary circumstances, always raises a laugh, and
tends considerably to jeopardise the success of the
ending of the tragedy. Various modes have conse-
quently been from time to time devised to, if
possible, make the close of that monarch's life
convey a stern moral. Sometimes the " Hamlet "
will dare him in pantomime to moral combat, and
then disarming him, inflict the mortal stab, and get
him hustled off the stage. Fechter, used to surround
the unfortunate monarch with guards, as he fell
headlong from the throne. This latter symbol of
royalty is invariably set in the centre of the stage,
and is consequently the most prominent feature of the
scene. Powrie's idea was in the present instance to
render the throne as little conspicuous as possible.
He arranged for it to be erected on the right-hand
2l6 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
side, near the wings. Then he designed to stab
" Claudius," and for the " King " to fall prostrate
on his face on the steps leading up to the throne.
Every arrangement was duly carried out at rehearsal ;
but, unfortunately, the Property man had not taken
into consideration two things the one was the
strength of the back of the throne chair, and the
other the extra force which, in the excitement of
the moment, Mr. Powrie might impart to the fatal
thrust "Laertes" (myself) had been duly despatched,
and was lying head foremost to the audience. Powrie
then made such a rush at Mr. Alexander, that the
hilt of the sword coming with tremendous force
against the edge of the back of the throne chair
the latter gave way, and tipped up, carrying upwards
the slain monarch and his legs with it It got
fixed between the "two wings," and Mr. Alexander,
being at the time quite powerless to extricate
himself from his embarrassing position, remained
with his regal robe thrown up over him, almost
as high as his head, and discovering beneath
it a pair of red-worsted tights, over which were
tucked up Mr. Alexander's street trousers. To
complete the effect, the laughter of the audience
caused " Laertes," who had died a few minutes
before, to look up in order to ascertain what was
the matter. On this unexpected denouement the
curtain fell.
The very latest edition of the " Lady of Lyons "
was played admirably with Lloyd as the " Widow
Melnotte," Miss Reinhardt as "Pauline," Hamblin
as " Damas," and " Claude," Miss Wilmott This
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 2I/
was followed by the burlesque of " Esmeralda/' also
very successful, with Miss Reinhardt in the title
role, Lloyd as the " Monk," and Fred Glover as
the "Hunchback." I must not omit to mention
"The Dumb Man of Manchester," which was at
this time played frequently on a Saturday night,
with Fred Glover as "Tom" a performance which
was said to have equalled that of George Parry. In
July, Miss St. George, as a "star," made a great
success in " Graceful, or the Fair One with the
Golden Locks." " Lucidora," the fair one, was
played by Miss Wilmott ; and " King Lachrimosa "
(a character afterwards immortalised by Alfred
Davis' singing in it of "Likkity Longsha ") by
Fitzroy. Fitzroy made a signal success when we
revived for him the "Porter's Knot," with himself
as " Sampson Burr," Mrs. Sennett as " Mrs. Burr,"
Mathews as "Augustus," Myself as "Scatter,"
Hamblin the "Captain," Fred Glover "Smirk,"
Dobson " Bob," and Miss Reinhardt " Alice."
Charles Rice, who came on July 14, induced
the management, after some little persuasion, to
revive for him the old farce of "The Secret," and
his "Thomas" was one of the funniest performances
ever witnessed on our stage. On the i/th July,
James Anderson reappeared after an absence of
many years. Few, then looking on him with his
splendid figure, his majestic mien, and listening to
his melodious voice, would have recognised in him
the small boy who some thirty years before had, as
the barber's son, lathered their chins in the shop
below the Garrick's Head opposite, whilst his father
218 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
catered for the customers in the public-house above.
He played in a translation of Schiller's " Robbers,"
" Ingomar," " Clouds and Sunshine," " Othello," and
for his benefit in the "Honeymoon." We produced
the pantomime of " Blue Beard " on the I5th with
Lloyd as " Blue Beard ; " Hamblin, " Ibrahim ; " Miss
Watson, " Selim ; " George Hardinge, " Sister Ann ; "
Miss Rollason, the " Fairy Queen."
There was a short three weeks' season at the
Princes' commenced in December, which was very
well patronised. Maria Simpson and W. Ellerton
(who was stage manager) appeared together in " All
that Glitters," " The Little Treasure," " Rough
Diamond," "Maid with the Milking Pail," "Game
of Romps," and "The Artful Dodger." The main
reason for opening the theatre, however, was to
produce the pantomime of " Cinderella," in which the
"Demon King" was played by Lindsay; the tutor,
" Alidora/' with an admirable make-up a la " Dr.
Syntax " by Kendal, the " Prince " by Miss Simpson,
the " Queen " by Miss Mace, the " Baron," Fitzroy,
the " Sisters," Ellerton and Miss Lavis. On the last
night of the season, January 16, Mr. Calvert played
" Rube, the Showman," and Powrie " Petruchio," to
the " Katherine " of Mrs. Calvert. The pantomime
wound up the evening. When the Princes' closed
in 1862, the company came back at once to Dunlop
Street, and played in the pieces introductory to u Blue
Beard." The latter pantomime had run its destined
course, and we reached the last night on Saturday,
January 31. On the following Monday we were to have
opened with Buckstone's drama of the " Dream at
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 219
Sea." Never, however, was the Theatre Royal that
morrow to see. On the night of January the 3ist
it was burnt to the ground. By a remarkable coinci-
dence, as in the case of the burning of the " Prince of
Wales " and the Cowcaddens Theatre Royal, the fire
broke out on the last night of the pantomime. We
had been playing as a first piece "Married Life,"
with the following cast :
Mrs. Lynx, . . . Miss Mace.
Mr. Lynx, . . . Kendal.
Mrs. Younghusband, Miss Watson.
Mr. Younghusband, . . W. Baynham.
Mr. Dismal, . . . Hamblin.
Mrs. Dismal, . . . Miss Lavis.
Mrs. Coddle, . . . Mrs. Wallis.
Mr. Coddle, . . . Fitzroy.
Mrs. Dove, . . . Miss Eliza Hamilton.
Mr. Dove, . . . Lloyd.
As the curtain was falling and the corps were
standing in the usual but now exploded semicircle
fashion round the stage, I remarked sotto voce to my
partner, Miss Watson "What a strong smell of
burning ! " She answered " It smells like burnt
wool'' The curtain fell. "Blue Beard" was got
through very carelessly, the carpenters being, as was
customary on such occasions, very drunk. I left
after the first piece to read at a soiree in the
Merchants Hall, and returned home to my lodgings
in West Nile Street at about half-past eleven. About
one in the morning a violent ringing at the street
door bell awoke me, and, starting up, I heard the
cry of " Fire ! Dunlop Street Theatre ! " The police-
220 THE GLASGOW STAGE.
man, not knowing the address of Mrs. Glover, and
recollecting that I was the stage manager, had come
direct to my house. I dressed as quickly as I could
and made my way to the scene, calling on my way
down, on Dr. Thomson, one of the late Mr. Glover's
trustees. The conflagration was at its height, and
its flames were visible for miles around. In the
ruddy glare, which lit up the dark night and brought
to view the dense crowd below, and the scared faces
at every window and on every roof above, were to be
seen the features of many a patron and many an
actor. Prominent on the stone steps leading to the
Garrick's Head were the figures of Mr. R. H.
Wyndham and Mr. George Alexander.
How, when, or where the fire broke out no one
could tell, but most probably it was caused by
some of the old dresses in the costumier's becoming
accidentally ignited, although no blame was ever
attached to the costumier, who left the wardrobe
safe a few minutes after the pantomime had begun.
The conflagration proved a severe loss to all
concerned in the theatre, especially to the principal
artistes, some of whom had many valuable "pro-
perties " and dresses consumed, and for the loss
of which they received no compensation. On the
following morning the news of the terrible event
was conveyed to Mr. Houghton, by a messenger
despatched to meet him on his return from London,
where he had been making arrangements with stars
for the following season. Measures were taken at
once for the reopening of the Princes', and within a
twelvemonth a handsome theatre was erected on the
THE GLASGOW STAGE. 221
site of the former one. But with the destruction of
the latter, the days of "old Dunlop Street" were
virtually ended.
The roar and shrill whistle of trains, the pon-
derous railway arch, the traffic, and the rising genera-
tion have done their best, or worst, to obliterate the
recollections of those days. But to the grey-haired
play-goer, their memory is still green, and with a
chastened pleasure it will ever conjure up many a
pleasant holiday, many a kindly face both on and off
the boards a careless, joyful time. In its long life
of more than eighty years the old playhouse had, of
course, to answer for many sins of omission and com-
mission ; but as having fathered some of the best
pieces, domiciled the best actors, and trained the best
artistes, old Dunlop Street has carved an eternal
niche in the Temple of Fame. We take leave of the
old-time scene as we bid a farewell to a dear old friend,
and we look back upon it as we gaze upon a child-
hood simple, bright, and pure a gentle and tender
memory, which neither fashion, taste, nor time can
nor will ever efface.
AND BAIN, LIMITED, PRINTERS, GLASGOW.
INDEX.
ACTORS, Houseless, 120.
Addison, Laura, 139.
Adelphi Theatre, 129, 131, 144, 149,
150.
i, ,, Destruction of, 154.
Advocates, Faculty of, 37.
Aicken, 19, 22.
,, J., zoo, no, in, 113.
Miss, 105, 106, 154, 158, 181,
182, 184, 193, 206.
Aiken, Francis, 41, 57, 58.
Aladdin, 80, 109, 119, 132.
,, Burlesque, 203.
Aldridge, Ira, 150.
Alexander, A., 214.
,, Geo., 220.
J. H., 77, 98, 99, 100, 105,
112, 113, 114, 115, 116 et. seq.,
121, 123, 124, 133, 135, 139, 140,
142, 144, 150, 151, 161 et. seq.,
170, 195.
Allan, F., 101.
Allison, Sir. A., 137, 175.
Allwood & Alexander (Scene between),
142 et. seq., 158.
Alma, Battle of, 183.
Alston Street Theatre, 26.
Anderson (Wizard of the North), 99,
130, 144, 145, 146, 147.
Andrews, 183, 187.
Amateurs' Fiasco, 184.
Archibold, Mrs., 98.
Arden, Miss, 178.
Ashley, 103, 193.
Assembly Rooms, 49, 120.
As you like it, 178.
Athenaeum, 49, 120.
Atkins, Cath., 83.
Atkinson, Miss, 178.
Aztecs Children, 178.
BAIRD, J., 14.
Ball, Fancy, 120.
Bannatyne, W., 50.
Bannister, Jack, 42, 51, 72, 73.
Barclay, R., Writer, 29.
Baron Munchausen, 132, 172.
Barrett, 210.
Barry, Miss, 193.
Bartley and Trueman, 76, 114.
Bateman Children, 175.
Baynham, Walter, 104, 195, 198, 202,
203, 213, 214, 219.
,, Mrs., 181, 195, 198, 202, 204.
Beatt, 21.
Beaumont, 68.
Beauty and the Beast, 59.
Beckett, 158.
Bedford, Paul, 172.
Bellair, 211.
Bellamy, Mrs., 11, 12, 15, 17, 18, 19,
20, 21, 70.
Belmore, 172.
Belphegor, 175.
Belton, 149, 159.
Benefit, First, 36.
Bennett, Rosa, 159, 172.
Benson, Mr., 97.
Berry, 54.
Betty, H. W., 42, 44, 45, 47, 56, 81.
Beveridge, 214.
Billington, Jno., 172.
Black Bull Tavern, 19, 51, 52.
Bland, C., 158, 193.
Mrs. C., 158, 173, 198.
Fanny, 177, 187.
Harcourt, 103, 179, 180, 183,
186, 189.
,, first appearance of, 179.
and Jackson, 26.
Mary, 183.
Bleadon, Miss, 157.
Blue Beard, 59, 119.
Pantomime, 218.
Bogle, R., 14.
W.,i 3 .
Bolero, 174.
Booth, L. J., 95.
Borrani, 159, 173.
Boucicault, 105, 174.
Boyce, Mrs., 204, 211.
Braham, 51, 121.
Bromley, 104.
Brooke, G. V., 124, 168, 207.
Brougham, H. , 210.
Brown, 144.
David, 173.
Buckstone, J. B., 48, 171, 183.
Burns, 104.
Burrell, D., 5, 6.
Burrell's Close, 4, 6.
Bute Cottage. 89, 90.
ii
INDEX.
Buton, 104.
Byrne, 69, 112, 114, 117.
,, Miss, 112.
, , Osc. , 70.
Byron, Lord, 38.
CAIUS GRACHUS, 113.
Calcraft, 105.
Caledonian Theatre, 113.
Calhaem, 210.
Calvert, Charles, 212, 213, 214, 218.
Mrs. C., 215, 218.
(Manager), 154, 155.
Campbell, Thos., 37, 38, 45.
,, Wm., loo, 159.
Canning, Geo., 22.
Carroll, 172.
Carson, Kate, 183.
Castle Spectre, 48.
Catalani, 51.
Cathcart, 127, 180.
,, Fanny, 168.
Jas., 127. 168.
Cauchrane, Bauldy, 59.
Celeste, 186,
,, Madam, 150.
Chalmers, no.
Chapman, Misses, 198.
Cherry and Fair Star, 144.
Children in the Wood, 72.
Cholera, Asiatic, 123.
Cinderella, 59, 138.
,, Pantomime, 218.
Circus, ii2.
Citizen, 19.
City Theatre, 144.
,, ,, Fire at, 146.
Clarke, Mrs. Cowden, 156.
Cleaver, Miss, 98, 101, 187, 197.
Cleland, Dr., 28
Clifford, Miss, 210.
Clifton, Miss, 175.
Club, Hodge Podge, 14.
Clyde, Inundation of, 35
Cobbett, Wm., 59,
Cockerill, 172, 177.
Coleman, Jno., 203.
Colleen Bawn, 203.
Comedy of Errors, 193.
Company, Bad, 124.
Conrad and Medora, 187.
Conveyances, Glasgow, 13.
Cooke, G. F., 38, 51, 57, 60, 62, 63,
65, 66, 67.
,, T. P., 121.
Corri, H., 96, 159.
,, Jno., 96.
,, Kathleen, 96.
Couldoch, 145.
Coulter, Mr., 7.
Courant, Glasgow, 6, 24.
Courier of Lyons, 180.
Courte, H., 206, 211.
Courtenay, First appearance of, 189,
198, 203.
Courier (Journal), 76, 77.
Coyne, Gardiner, 198.
Cowell, Sam, 157, 158, 159, 173.
Cox, Alderman, 89.
Craigie, Lawrence, 50.
Cribb, Tom, 59.
Cricket on the Hearth, 149.
Croft, Mrs. Alban, 144.
Cruikshank, Geo., 156.
Crummies, 150. [88.
Curran, Richard, and Mrs. Johnstone,
Cushman, Miss, 103, 148, 149, 181,
[185.
DALY, Julia, 202.
Dancing, First Regulations of, 5.
Danvers, Mr. A., 103.
,, Ramsay, 103.
Davenport (Crummies), 150, 151, 153,
,, Miss, 150, 152, 153.
W, H., 172, 173.
Davis, 1 1 8.
,, John, 139, 141.
Davison, Capt., 55.
J. W., 55.
Delavante, 157.
Denlin, Nicolo, 207.
Denmark, King of, n.
Dennistoun, 50.
Der Freischutz, 116, 146.
Desborough, 193.
Devil's Home, 7, 14.
Dewar, F., 183.
Dibdin, 25, 104.
Dickens, 155.
F., 156.
Digges, West, 7, 17, 24.
Dobson, W., 106, 211.
Dominion of Fancy, 115.
Dominique, Mr., 6, 7. [139.
Don Caesar de Bazan, production of,
Giovanni, 96.
,, Sir W., 185, 187.
Doran, Dr. (quoted).
Douglas (First performance) 21, 41, 44.
Dowton, 51.
Dred, 185.
Dramatic Review, 140.
Ducrow, 119, 126.
Duff, 197.
Duncan, Miss, 40, 55.
,, Mrs., 40.
INDEX.
Ill
Dunlop, Colin, 29, 30, 32.
Jas., 14.
Street Theatre, 33, 49, 59, 58,
112, 133, 150,
195, 219.
,, Accident at, 161.
,, ,, Alterations in, 121.
,, Building of, 30, 33,
34, 40, 44, 48.
Dwyer, 70.
Dyas, Mrs., 149.
EBURNE, Mr., 139, 140.
,, Mrs., 106, 184, 211.
Edinburgh Theatricals, 10, 12, 37,
104, 133.
Egerton, Mrs., 101.
Egg, Augustus, 156.
Ellerton, W. , 218.
Elliston, R. W., 42, 51, 73.
Elmore, Marcus, 211.
Elphinstone, Mr., 153.
,, Miss; no, 126.
Emery, Sam, 51, 204.
Evatt, 54.
Everett, Geo., 158, 198.
Eyre, Mr., 54.
Mrs., 54, 97.
FIRST Appearances of Glasgow
Actors
Anderson, J. H., 99.
Aitken, Mr., no.
Betty, H. W. , 42.
Billington, 172.
Baynham, Mr. and Mrs. Walter,
Belton, 149. [195.
Bland, Harcourt, 179.
Calvert, 212.
,, Mrs. C., 215.
Cooke, G. F.,6o.
Courtenay, Lindo, 189.
Co well, Sam, 157.
Coyne, Gardiner, 198.
Daly, Julia, 202.
Davison, Mrs., 55.
Elliston, 42.
Faucit, Helen, 134.
Fisher, David, 173.
Glover, Edmund, 134.
,, Mrs. E., 176.
Houghton, 98.
Irving, H., 192.
Kendal, W. H., 214.
Lind, Jenny, 156.
Macready, W. C., 78.
Marriott, Miss, 188.
Norton, Bruce, 177.
First Appearances Continued.
Powrie, Tom, 157.
Rollason, Miss, 215.
Roselle, Amy, 213.
Toole, 182.
Vincent, Geo., 180.
Fanaticism, Religious, 2, 7, 10, 14,
15, 16, 28, 36.
Farren, Miss, 40, 51.
W., 109.
Faucit, Helen, 134, 136, 137, 181,
186, 189, 195, 198.
Faust and Marguerite, 187.
Fawcett, 51.
Fenton, C., 204, 207.
Fielding, Miss, 157, 158. [188.
Fisher, David, 98, 173, 176, 178, 185,
,, ,, First appearance of, 173.
,, ,, Sen., 198.
Fitzroy, J. B., 101, 103, 104, 106,
135, 177, 178, 180, 186, 187, 197,
198, 202, 210, 211, 214, 218, 219.
Fitzwilliam, Mrs., 145, 171.
Fletcher, 193.
Florence, Mr. and Mrs., 185.
Flowerden, 54. [175.
Flying Dragon of Pekin Pantomime,
Foote, Sam, 24, 209.
Forster, Jno., 156.
Fox, C. J., 43.
GARDEN, Mr., 172.
"Garrick's Head," 166, 195.
Gas, Introduction of, 96.
George the Fourth, 87.
George the Third, n.
,, ,, Madness of, 37.
Gillies, Rev. Dr., 29, 33.
Glenney, 203, 211.
Glover, Edmund, 98, 99, 103, 106,
134, 135, 156, 157,
159, 174, 175, 177,
180, 182, 184, 186,
193-
Death of, 194.
Mrs. E., 176, 178, 189, 196.
F., 193, 203,
Miss Julia, 158.
Mrs. F., 197, 203, 207, 211.
Mrs., 51, 68, 70, 101, 132,
158, 159-
Sam, 177, 187, 193.
William, 210.
Glynn, 173, 178.
Goddard, Miss, 189.
Gordon, Duchess of, 5.
J. W.,io6.
,, Rev. Dr., 131.
IV
INDEX.
Gorman, 6.
Gourlay, 100.
Grace, Delmon, 211.
Graham, Sir Jas. Bill, 130.
Grahamstown, 15, 50.
Granier, 6.
Grant (Actor), 79.
Gray, jno. , 124, 130.
Great Bed of Ware Pantomime, 176.
Gresham, 197, 198, 202.
Grisi, 176.
Guy, J. , 198.
,, Mannering, 102.
HAIGH, H., 98, 104.
,, Mrs., 104.
Hall, H., 150, 173.
Hamilton, Eliza, 219.
,, Jno., 50.
Hamblin, 98, 187, 193, 197, 198, 203,
207, 210, 211, 218, 219.
Harcourt, Miss A. , 158.
Hardinge, G., 218.
Harris, T. C., 210.
Harrison, W. (Vocalist), 104, 159.
Haymarket Company, Visit of, 148.
Hazlewood, 105.
Heart of Mid-Lothian, 104.
Heath, Miss, 210.
Heir, 178.
Henderson, J., 40.
Henry the Eighth, 184.
Herald, Glasgow, 76, 77.
Herbert, Miss, 181, 182.
Hield, 84.
Hobson, 178.
Holland, Mr., 68.
Holston, 204.
Home, Rev. Mr. , 46, 56.
Honey, George, 159.
Honeymoon, Cast of, 53.
Play of the, 53, 55, 73.
Horncastle, 121.
Houghton, Prompter, 45, 47.
G., 98, 175, 193, 196, 213, 220.
House on the Bridge of Notre Dame,
Houston, Jas., loo, 106. [198.
Howard, J. B., 99, 104.
Mrs. J. B., 101.
W., 139.
Hudson, 161.
Hughes, Miss F., 178, 180.
Hunchback, 109, 154.
INCHBALD, Mrs., 44.
Incledon, 51.
,, and Cooke, 64.
Indian Revolt, 193.
Ireland, W. H., 71.
Irving, Edward, no.
,, Henry, First appearance of,
Isaacs, Miss, 157. [192.
Ivanhoe, 180.
[206.
JACK the Giant Killer Pantomime,
Jackson, J., 12, 26, 28, 30, 31, 34, 40,
41, 45, 46, 47, 49, 57,
58, 67.
,, Death of, 58.
House of, 34.
, , Letter of, 31.
Jane Shore, n, 41, 141.
Jewess, The, 146.
John King, 178.
Johnstone, Harry, 55, 56, 57, 82, 87,
94.9S.ii3>i22,i32.
Mrs. H., 88.
Jas., 131.
,, Willie, 123, 130.
Jones, Avonia, 208.
,, Richard, 74.
,, ,, Personal Reminis-
cences, 75.
Jordan, Mrs. , 26, 40, 51.
Josephs, Mr., 193.
,, Fanny, 98, 193.
Julie, Mad., 183.
Julius Cassar (Anecdote), 141.
KEAN, Charles, 91, 92, 93, 94, 128,
138, 174.
,, Mrs. CHARLES, no, 128, 198.
E., 38, 51, 62, 67, 74, 82, 88,
90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 109, 121,
122 et. seq., 124.
Keeley, Louise, 186, 189.
Kelly, Michael, 68.
,, Miss, 68.
Kemble, Charles, 76, 99.
Mrs. Charles, 76.
Fanny, 153.
John, 38, 40, 51, 61, 67, in.
Roger, 39.
Stephen, 40, 41.
Kendal, W. H., 104, 218, 219.
,, ,, First appearance of, 214.
Kenneth, 172.
King, 40.
,, Mr. and Mrs. Donald, 173.
Kinloch, 113.
Knowles (Lecturer), 59.
,, Sheridan, 90, 108, no, 126,
138, 149, 155.
LABLACHE, 176.
F., 156.
INDEX.
Lady of the Lake, 105.
Langley, 99, 161, 164, 165.
Lavis, Miss, 104, 214, 218, 219.
Lawrence, 197, 202.
Leclercq, Carlotta, 187.
Family, 139.
Rose, 101.
Lee, Jno., 91.
Leeson, Dan, 204.
Lemon, Mark, 156.
Leveston, 198.
Lewis, Lee, 40.
Lind, Jenny, First appearance of, 156,
Lindsay, 101, 193, 218.
Listen, 51, 103, 112, 118, 121.
Little Bo-Peep Pantomime, 184.
Lloyd, 98, 101, 104, 122, 124, 131,
133. *35 138, 157. IS 8 . 159.
173, 178, l8o, 197, 202, 212,
213, 216, 217, 218, 219.
,, Arthur, 190.
Lonsdale, 157.
Lost and Found, 202.
Love, Mr., 7.
,, and Beatt, 13, 15, 24.
Lowe, W., 193.
Loydall, H., 212.
Lucombe, Miss, 173.
Lyon, Tom, 138, 139.
MACBETH, 177.
,, First performance, 21.
Mace, Miss, 218, 219.
Macgregor, Helen, 101.
M'Intyre, 210.
Mackay, 97, 98, 100, 103, 105, 106,
121, 138, 176.
Mackintosh (Mechanist), 90, 126.
Macready, 43, 44, 51, 61, 77, 78, 79,
80 to 86, 108, 109, 174.
Sen., 79, 80, 114, 135,
150, 175.
MacSycophant, Cooke as, 62.
,, Johnstone as, 56.
MacSarcasm, 62.
Maid and the Magpie, 211.
Mail, N.B., 159.
Managers, Rival, 116.
Mann Byars, 51.
Manners, Josephine, 98.
Markham, Agnes, 214.
Marriott, Miss, 101, 105.
First appearance of, 188.
Mario, 176.
Marshall, 158.
C.E.,98.
Maskell, Miss Caroline, 181, 183.
Massal, Miss, 158, 174.
Mathews, C., Sen., 25, 51.
Charles, Jr., 75, 125, 153,
177, 193, 198.
,, Anecdotes of, 198 to 200.
Cooke, 63.
J. C., 208.
M'Alpine, Miss, 98.
M'Dowall, W., 13.
M'Gregor, 138.
M'Neill, 99.
Mead, Tom, 187, 188.
Meadows, 125.
Meg Merrilees, 103, 149.
Melbourne, 138.
Melville, 158.
Mellon, H., 203, 211.
Midsummer Night's Dream, 186.
Miller and Alexander, quarrel be-
tween, 145.
,, D. P., 84, 129, 132, 154.
,, Jno., of Westerton, 14, 15.
,, Second Season, 138.
Mills, 26.
Mock Doctor, 19.
Molyneaux, 59.
Monthly Mirror, 58,
Montague, Miss, 134.
Montgomerie, Dean of Faculty, 12.
,, Manager, 76, 114.
Montignani, 59.
Moore, Dr. , 29.
,, Sir John, 29.
Morgan, W M 98.
Morley, 144, 145.
Mother Shipton Pantomime, 174.
Much Ado about Nothing, First per-
formance of, 40.
Muir, Mr., 196.
Munden, 51, 77.
Munroe, 104.
Mumford, Mr., 132, 133.
Mumfords, 132.
Murdoch, Bella, 211.
M., 206.
Murray, Gaston, 178.
,, Mr. and Mrs. Leigh, 183.
W. H., 97, 98, 101, 106, 114,
159. !75. J 76.
NAISMITH, 51.
Nesbitt, Mrs., 126.
Newcombe, Jno., 185.
Nicol, Miss, 101, 139, 140.
Norton, Bruce, 100, 196.
,, ,, Death of, 205. [177.
,, ,, First appearance of,
Nye (Nye Chart), 172.
O'BRIEN, Miss, 158.
VI
INDEX.
Observer (Journal), 47.
Octoroon, 211.
O'Neil, Miss, 94, 95.
Orger, Mrs., 68.
Oxberry, 68.
PANTOMIME, First, 8.
Parker, Annie, 193.
Parry, George, 174, 189.
Paumier, 106, no, 135, 139, 141.
Payne, 157.
,, Family, 179.
Peep o' Day, 209.
Penman, Mrs., 104.
Penny, 50.
Perourou, 189.
Perth Theatre, 97.
Phelps, 57, 131, 177, 181.
Pitt, Charles, 127, 138, 185.
,, ,, Mrs., 127.
,, Fanny, 127.
Plays, First in Scotland, i.
Plays, Sunday, i.
Playhouses, Number of, i.
Playhouse, First, 7.
Playhouse, Destruction of First, 8.
,, ,, Second, 17.
Pope, 40.
Porteous, Rev. Dr., 29.
Power, Tyrone, 113, 124.
Powrie, 98, 99, 100, 106, 135, 177, 184.
186, 197, 206, 213, 214, 215,
218.
,, First appearance of, 157, 158.
Price, Edward, First appearance of,
202.
Price, Mrs., First appearance of, 212.
Prince's Theatre, 156, 186.
Proudfoot, Hosier, 113.
Pyne, Louisa, 104.
Pyne-Harrison Troupe, 104, 193.
Plays Produced
Aladdin, 80, 109, 119, 132.
Alma, Battle of, 183.
As you like It, 178.
Belphegor, 175.
Blue Beard, 59, 119.
Caius Grachus, 113.
Castle Spectre, 48.
Children in the Wood, 72.
Cinderella, 59, 138.
Citizen, 19.
Colleen Bawn, 203.
Comedy of Errors, 193.
Conrad and Medora, 187.
Courier of Lyons, 180.
Cricket on the Hearth, 149.
Der Freischutz, 146.
Plays Produced Continued.
Don Caesar de Bazan, 139.
Don Giovanni, 96.
Douglas, 21.
Dred, 185.
Faust and Marguerite, 187.
Guy Mannering, 102.
Heart of Mid-Lothian, 104.
Henry the Eighth, 184.
Honeymoon, 53.
House on the Bridge of Notre
Hunchback, 109. [Dame, 198.
Indian Revolt, 193.
Ivanhoe, 180.
Jane Shore, n.
Jewess, 146.
Lady of the Lake, 105.
Lost and Found, 202.
Macbeth, 21, 177.
Maid and the Magpie, Burl. , 210.
Midsummer Night's Dream, 186.
Mock Doctor, 19.
Much Ado about Nothing, 40.
Octoroon, 211.
Peep o' Day, 209,
Perourou, 189.
Richelieu, 178.
Robespierre, 175.
Rob Roy, 97.
School for Scandal, 40.
Sevastapool, Fall of, 184.
Still Waters, 187.
Uncle Tom's Cabin, 177.
Virginius, 108.
Waterloo, Battle of, 118.
Woman in White, 198.
Pantomimes
Baron Munchausen, 132, 172.
Beauty and the Beast, 59.
Blue Beard, 218.
Cinderella, 218.
Dick Whittington, 178.
Flying Dragon of Pekin, 175.
Great Bed of Ware, 176.
Jack the Giant Killer, 206.
Little Bo-Peep, 184.
Mother Shipton, 174.
Red Riding Hood, 195.
St. George and the Dragon, 185.
Sinbad the Sailor, 189.
Sleeping Beauty, 190.
QUEEN Street Theatre, 50, 60, 82.
Applicant for, 53.
Building of, 50, 112.
Burning of, 119.
Cost of, 50.
Decorations, 50.
Queen's Theatre, 155.
INDEX.
Vll
RAE, 121.
Rainforth, Miss, 159.
Ray, J. W., 150.
,, Stembridge, 181.
Raymond, Mr., 132, 138.
,, Mrs., 131,
Red Riding Hood Pantomime, 195.
Reddish, 19, 22, 23.
Register (Journal), 47.
Rignold, 1 80.
Reeves, Sims, 102, 139, 144, 145, 173.
Renaud, Mrs., 98, 101.
Revivalism, 8, 10, 16.
Reynolds, Miss, 183.
,, and Munro, 154.
Rice, C., 212, 213.
Richardson, Miss, 124.
Richelieu, 178.
Riot, O.P., 94.
Riots, Glasgow, 27.
Robertson, Agnes (Mrs. Boucicault),
Robespierre, 175. [174.
Robinson Crusoe, 59.
Rob Roy, 97, 98, 101, 114, 118, 121,
139, 158, 171.
Rock, 40, 57, 66.
,, Mrs. ,67.
Roebuck, Captain, 188.
Roger, M., 156.
Rogers, Jas. , 202.
Rogerson, 139, 140.
Rollason, Miss, 218.
, , First appearance, 215.
Romer, Annie, 156.
Roselle, Amy, 213.
Percy, 213.
Ross, Mr., 25.
Rosse, Castle, 126.
Rowland, Miss, 157.
Ryder, Corbett, 99.
SAKER, 131, 187.
Sampson, Dominie, 103.
Saunders, Charlotte, as Hamlet, 181,
187, 203.
Saville, Kate, 188, 214.
School for Scandal, First perfor-
mance, 40.
Scott, Sir Walter, 56, 127.
W., 104.
Seaman, Julia, 101.
Sennett, Mrs., 202.
Sevastapool, Fall of, Drama, 184.
Seymour, Frank, 109, 113, 114, 115,
117, 118, 119, 120, 121.
,, Mrs., 181.
Shaw, Willie, 198.
Sheridan, Mr., 24.
Siamese Twins, 122.
Siddons, Mr., 39.
,, Mrs., First appearance, 36,
38, Si-
,, Henry, 40.
Silver, Jno., 98, 100, 103, 158, 177, 178.
Simpson, Maria, 186, 218.
Mercer, 167, 171, 172.
Sinbad the Sailor Pantomime, 189.
Sinclair, H., 210.
Sleeping Beauty, 190.
Sloan, Mrs., 204.
Smith, Miss, 60.
Smyth (Musician), 197.
Smythson, Montague, 158.
St. Enoch's Croft, 29, 48.
St. George, Julia, 185, 212.
St. George and the Dragon Panto-
mime, 185.
Stage Coaches, 13.
Stanley, Montague, 122.
Stark, 138.
Stephens, Miss, 51.
Stewart, Charles, 197.
David, 193.
Still Waters, 187, 190.
Stirling, 139.
Strang, Mr., 6, 40.
Sullivan, Barry, 145, 168.
Superstition regarding Plays, 7, 10,
THEATRES, Erection of
Adelphi, 129, 154.
Alston Street, 15.
Caledonian, 114.
City Theatre, 144.
Dunlop Street, 30.
Mumford's, 132.
Prince's, 156.
Queen Street, 50.
Queen's, 155.
York Street, 121.
Theatres Destruction of
Adelphi, 154.
Alston Street, 26.
City Theatre, 146.
Dunlop Street, 217.
Queen Street, 119.
Taglioni, 150.
Tait, 108, 113.
Talbot, Henry, 101.
,, Montague, 68, 71, 72.
Taylor, 112.
,, Marion, 211.
Templeton, 127.
Ternan, Fanny, 131.
Mrs., 101, 121, 157.
Vlll
INDEX.
Theatre, Alston Street, 26.
,, ,, Destruction of, 26.
,, First Regular, 15.
Thomson, Andrew, 58.
,, Dr., 220.
George, 58.
Tobin, 53.
Tolmaque, Herr, 212.
Tom and Jerry, 113, 117, 119.
Toms, 40, 54, 70.
Toole, 172, 182, 187, 203, 204.
,, First appearance of, 182.
Tree, M., 51, 112.
Turpin, Mr., 54.
Mrs., 54.
UNCLE TOM'S CABIN, 177.
VALENTINE and Orson, 59.
Vandenhoff, H., 172.
,, Mrs., 104, I2i.
Vernon, C., 193.
Veroni, 174.
Vestris, Madame, 153.
Villiers, E., 178.
Vincent, G., 106, 180, 186, 187.
,, First appearance of, 1 80.
Virginius, 108.
Vivash, 98, 103.
WALLACK, James, 139.
Wallis, Mrs. , 214, 219.
Ward, Mrs. , 7.
Waterloo, Battle of, 118.
Watson, H., 214, 218, 219.
Hennetta, 104.
T., 198.
Watt, 98, 106.
Webb, Brothers, 193.
Charles, 181.
Webster, 148, 150.
,, Benjamin, 191.
,, George, 98, 100, 103, 106,
135, 172, 177, 180, 184,
194.
Wesley, Jno., 29.
Wewitzer, 68.
White, 172.
,, Mrs. Buckingham, 204, 211.
Whitefield, George, 8.
Whittington, Dick, Pantomime, 178.
Widdicombe, H., 185, 203.
Wigan, Mr. and Mrs., 190.
Wilkinson, Tate, 25, 38.
Williams, Mr., 24.
,, Mr. and Mrs. Barney, 186.
,, as Dougal, 97.
,, Montague, 188.
Wilmore, 140.
Wilson, Mr., 40.
,, Vocalist, 121, 127.
Woffington, Peg, n, 70.
Woman in-White, 198.
Wood, Lizzie, 104.
Mr., 40.
,, Mrs., 40.
Woolford, Miss, 126.
Wright, Alexander, 196.
,, Edward, 171, 172, 181.
Wyndham, R. H., 101, 131, 194, 220.
,, Mrs., 101, 131, 149, 181.
YATES, 97.
York Street Theatre, 121.
Young, Charles Mayne, 51, 73, 79.
,, Anecdote of, 73.
Mr., 40.
Young, Mrs., 54.
Younge, Fred, 161, 164.
Richard, 208.
ERRATA.
Page "LOT., for " the original " read " the original in Edinburgh."
Page n8,yj?r " Bryne" read " Byrne."
Page i8st,for " 1885" read " 1855."
Page ig^for " Messrs. Chapman" read "Misses Chapman. '
RETURN CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT
TO ^ 202 Main Library
LOAN PERIOD 1
HOME USE
2
3
4
5
6
ALL BOOKS MAY BE RECALLED AFTER 7 DAYS
1 -month loans may be renewed by calling 642-3405
6-month loans may be recharged by bringing books to Circulation
Desk
Renewals and recharges may be made 4 days prior to due date
DUE AS STAMPED BELOW
AUG 1 6 1979
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY
FORM NO. DD6, 40m, 3/78 BERKELEY, CA 94720
$
671875
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY
