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 14 Feb. 1853, of ‘Macbeth.’ Douglas Jerrold's ‘St. Cupid, or Dorothy's Fortune,’ given first 21 Jan. 1853 at Windsor Castle and the following evening at the Princess's, proved a failure. On 13 June Byron's ‘Sardanapalus’ was produced. A special feature in this revival was the use made of Layard's discoveries. The production was eminently popular, but complaints about the drama being buried beneath scenery began to be heard. Such adverse criticism Kean attributed to a quarrel between himself and Douglas Jerrold concerning his failure to produce the latter's ‘Heart of Gold,’ and an acrimonious correspondence followed. Cibber's ‘Richard III’ was revived on 20 Feb. 1854, and ran only nineteen nights, and on 19 April Kean appeared as Mephistopheles in ‘Faust and Marguerite.’ Charles Reade's adaptation of the ‘Courier of Lyons’ was given on 26 June, with Kean in the double characters of Lesurques and Dubosc. Jerrold's ‘Heart of Gold’ was ultimately played on 9 Oct. 1854, but Kean did not act in it. Boucicault's adaptation of ‘Louis XI’ by Casimir de la Vigne, 13 Jan. 1855, showed Kean in what was his greatest part. ‘King Henry VIII,’ revived 16 May 1855, furnished him, in Cardinal Wolsey, with a rôle fairly well suited to his powers. This was about the climax of Kean's success. The ‘Winter's Tale,’ with Kean as Leontes, 28 April 1856, mounted with much elaboration, was the great feature of the sixth season, as ‘A Midsummer-Night's Dream,’ 15 Oct. 1856, was of the seventh. In the latter Kean had no part. He had, however, played Rolla in ‘Pizarro’ 1 Sept. 1856. ‘Richard II’ was produced 12 March 1857. As a spectacle this was successful, but Kean's Richard II inspired little interest. The play was withdrawn 1 July, and replaced by the ‘Tempest,’ with the manager as Prospero. After visiting Venice, and being elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in London, a distinction of which he was proud, Kean reappeared in Hamlet and other characters. Much was made of the omission of his name from the performances at Her Majesty's Theatre on the occasion of the marriage of the princess royal. On 17 April he played King Lear in a revival of that play, and on 12 June 1858 Shylock in the ‘Merchant of Venice.’ At the close of a season which involved a loss of 4,000l. Kean announced his intention to resign the management at the end of the next season. ‘Henry V,’ 28 March 1859, in which he played King Henry, was his last Shakespearean revival. Kean had on 21 July 1858 taken the chair at the Princess's at a meeting at which a resolution was passed for the formation of the ill-starred Dramatic College. Of this institution he became a trustee. A public banquet, with the Earl of Carlisle in the chair and a committee of noblemen and others educated at Eton, was given in Kean's honour at St. James's Hall on 20 July 1859. His management of the Princess's terminated on the 29th of the following month. The speech he made on the closing night was a long defence of his theory and practice of management.

After playing in the country Kean began, 28 Jan. 1861, an engagement at Drury Lane, which was renewed on 3 Feb. 1862. In March 1862, at a meeting with Mr. Gladstone in the chair, a presentation of a silver vase, said to be worth two thousand guineas, was made. Similar compliments were not infrequent during his career. His farewell of Drury Lane was taken on 22 March 1862, as Don Felix in the ‘Wonder,’ to the Violante of his wife. On 6 July 1863 he sailed with his wife round the world, appearing in Melbourne on 10 Oct. 1863, and quitting Australia on 9 July 1864. Mr. and Mrs. Kean played in San Francisco on 8 Oct. 1864, and in Vancouver's Island 12 Dec. 1864. After giving recitations at the Cabildo, on the Isthmus of Panama, on 20 Feb. 1865, and at Kingston, Jamaica, they began, on 26 April 1865, in New York, a series of farewell performances ending 16 April 1866. On 2 May 1866 they reappeared at the Theatre Royal, Liverpool, and in the same month played in London at the Princess's. A country tour which followed was interrupted by the illness of Kean, who on 28 May 1867, as Louis XI, made in Liverpool his final appearance on the stage. After a long and painful illness he died at Queensborough Terrace, Chelsea, on 22 Jan. 1868, and was buried on the 30th at Catherington, near Rowlands Castle, Hampshire, near the small estate of Keydall, where his mother had died on 30 March 1849.

Kean was a careful and conscientious, but scarcely an inspired actor. By courage and resolution he triumphed over many obstacles and discouragements. He had an abundant stock of mannerisms, including a vicious style of pronunciation. His performances in Shakespearean tragedy, with the exception of Hamlet, and perhaps Richard III, may be regarded as failures. His Hamlet had more fatefulness and more sombre power than that of any contemporary actor. In Richard III he displayed some variety and contrast of style. His Shylock was purely conventional. Louis XI was immeasurably his greatest part. Its concentrated malignity and saturnine humour were very telling, and the