assin now resounded on every side. He was
grasped by a hundred hands, and torn out of the house. Then the universal
voice demanded "God save the King" once more: the performers came forward
and the national chant, now almost elevated to a hymn, was sung by the
audience with a solemnity scarcely less than an act of devotion. All the
powers of the stage never furnished a more touching, perhaps a more
sublime scene, than the simple reality of the whole occurrence before my
eyes.

But at length the tumult sank; the order of the theatre was resumed; and
the curtain rose, displaying a remarkably fine view of Roman architecture,
a vista of temples and palaces, the opening scene of Coriolanus.

The fame of the admirable actor who played the leading character was then
at its height; and John Kemble shared with his splendid sister the honour
of being the twin leaders of the theatrical galaxy. I am not about to
dwell on Shakspeare's conception of the magnificent republican, nor on the
scarcely less magnificent representative which it found in the actor of
the night. But I speak to a generation which have never seen either
Siddons or Kemble, and will probably never see their equals. I may be
suffered, too, to indulge my own admiration of forms and faculties which
once gave me a higher sense of the beauty and the powers of which our
being is capable. Is this a dream? or, if so, is it not a dream that tends
to ennoble the spirit of man? The dimness and dulness of the passing world
require relief, and I look for it in the world of recollections.

Kemble was, at that time, in the prime of his powers; his features
strongly resembling those of Siddons; and his form the perfection of manly
grace and heroic beauty. His voice was his failing part; for it was hollow
and interrupted; yet its tone was naturally sweet, and it could, at times,
swell to the highest storm of passion. In later days he seemed to take a
strange pride in feebleness, and, in his voice and his person, affected
old age. But when I saw him first, he was all force, one of the handsomest
of human beings, and, beyond all comparison, the most accomplished classic
actor that ever realized the form and feelings of the classic age. His
manners in private life completed his public charm; and, in seeing Kemble
on the stage, we saw the grace and refinement acquired by the
companionship of princes and nobles, the accomplished, the high-born, and
the high-bred of the land.

From t