rofession until his death. He was
then succeeded in his place of predominance by John Philip Kemble, who
derived invaluable support from his association with one abler than
himself, his sister, Mrs. Siddons.

John Philip Kemble, 1757-1823. Mrs. Sarah Siddons, 1755-1831.

Somewhat stilted and declamatory in speech, Kemble enacted a wide range
of characters of Shakespearean tragedy with a dignity that won the
admiration of Pitt, Sir Walter Scott, Charles Lamb, and Leigh Hunt.
Coriolanus was regarded as his masterpiece, but his renderings of Hamlet,
King John, Wolsey, the Duke in 'Measure for Measure,' Leontes, and Brutus
satisfied the most exacting canons of contemporary theatrical criticism.
Kemble's sister, Mrs. Siddons, was the greatest actress that
Shakespeare's countrymen have known. Her noble and awe-inspiring
presentation of Lady Macbeth, her Constance, her Queen Katherine, have,
according to the best testimony, not been equalled even by the
achievements of the eminent actresses of France.

Edmund Kean, 1787-1833.

During the present century the most conspicuous histrionic successes in
Shakespearean drama have been won by Edmund Kean, whose triumphant
rendering of Shylock on his first appearance at Drury Lane Theatre on
January 26, 1814, is one of the most stirring incidents in the history of
the English stage. Kean defied the rigid convention of the 'Kemble
School,' and gave free rein to his impetuous passions. Besides Shylock,
he excelled in Richard III, Othello, Hamlet, and Lear. No less a critic
than Coleridge declared that to see him act was like 'reading Shakespeare
by flashes of lightning.' Among other Shakespearean actors of Kean's
period a high place was allotted by public esteem to George Frederick
Cooke (1756-1811), whose Richard III, first given in London at Covent
Garden Theatre, October 31, 1801, was accounted his masterpiece. Charles
Lamb, writing in 1822, declared that of all the actors who flourished in
his time, Robert Bensley 'had most of the swell of soul,' and Lamb gave
with a fine enthusiasm in his 'Essays of Elia' an analysis (which has
become classical) of Bensley's performance of Malvolio. But Bensley's
powers were rated more moderately by more experienced playgoers. {338}
Lamb's praises of Mrs. Jordan (1762-1816) in Ophelia, Helena, and Viola
in 'Twelfth Night,' are corroborated by the eulogies of Hazlitt and Leigh
Hunt. In the part of Rosalind Mrs. Jordan is repor