Memoirs of Charles Mathews, Comedian, Volume 2

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Page 253 - Cromwell, Cromwell, Had I but served my God with half the zeal I served my king, he would not in mine age Have left me naked to mine enemies.
Page 100 - Even such a man, so faint, so spiritless, So dull, so dead in look, so woe-begone, Drew Priam's curtain in the dead of night, And would have told him half his Troy was burn'd; But Priam found the fire ere he his tongue, And I my Percy's death ere thou report'st it.
Page 266 - ... through the heat of the day, drinking our wine, and munching our fruit ; at five, or half-past, the carriages come to the door, and we go either in them or in palanquins to dress, which operation performed, we drive out to the race-ground, and through the Champ de Mars, the Hyde Park...
Page 381 - I hear the happy news of a reconcilement. And as I am confident the prince did not leave the king with any other design than to use all possible means for his preservation, so I hope you will do me the justice to believe that I am incapable of following him for any other end.
Page 255 - comic or tragic, is not to be a mere copy, a fac-simile, but an imitation of nature; now an imitation differs from a copy in this, that it of necessity implies and demands a difference, whereas a copy aims at identity...
Page 65 - Mellon, then a youthful, slight, and beautiful creature. She would come, all joy and simplicity, for a day's recreation. How merry and happy she was ! perhaps happier than when splendour hedged her in from the enjoyment of simple pleasures, the love of which I believe to have been inherent in her nature. I see her now, returning from a tumble into a neighbouring pond, of which her horse had unexpectedly chosen to drink.
Page 264 - Make my kind remembrances to Mrs. Mathews, and tell her that I hope to shake hands with her when we are both twaddlers — that is, when she is as much of a twaddler as old age can make her ; and that when I return upon crutches from foreign parts, I trust she will direct her son to pay me every attention due to my infirmities. ' We have operas in the winter, which sets in about July ; our races, too, begin in July; we have an excellent beef-steak club, and the best Freemasons
Page 255 - Thanks to you next season. — I once had the presumption to address this advice to an Actor on the London Stage. 'Think, in order that you may be able to observe*. Observe, in order that you may have materials to think upon ! — And 3rdly, keep awake ever the habit of instantly embodying & realizing the results of the two : but always think.
Page 59 - Sheridan was generally very dull in society, and sate sullen and silent, swallowing glass after glass, rather a hinderance than a help. But there was a time when he broke out with a resumption of what had been going on, done with great force, and generally attacking some person in the company, or some opinion which he had expressed. I never saw Sheridan but in large parties. He had a Bardolph countenance, with heavy features, but his eye possessed the most distinguished brilliancy.
Page 266 - Freemasons' lodge in the world. We have subscription concerts, and balls, and the parties in private houses here are seldom less than from two to three hundred. At the last ball given at the Government-house, upwards of seven hundred and fifty ladies were present, which, considering that the greater proportion of the female population are not admissible, proves the number of inhabitants, and the extent of the society. ' I dare say some of my fat-headed friends in that little island where the beef...

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