Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 30.djvu/380

 was for some time ‘boycotted’ in that newspaper. Kemble's first performance in London with Mrs. Siddons took place at Drury Lane, 22 Nov. 1783, as Beverley in the ‘Gamester’ to her Mrs. Beverley. On 10 Dec., at royal command, he played King John to her Constance, in which she was seen for the first time. In both parts he was overshadowed by his partner. Brother and sister appeared together, 2 Dec. 1784, in the ‘Carmelite’ of Cumberland, in which Kemble played Montgomerie and she Matilda, and 27 Jan. 1785 in the ‘Maid of Honour,’ an adaptation from Massinger by Kemble, who played Adorni to the Camiola of his sister. The adaptation is unprinted. On 8 March he was Othello to her Desdemona, and 31 March he played Macbeth. Posthumus followed 21 Nov. 1785, Osman 26 Dec., and Orlando on 18 Feb. 1786, on which night he produced his farce of ‘Projects.’ ‘Richard Cœur de Lion,’ in which he played the King, 24 Oct. 1786, showed him in a singing part. On 7 Feb. 1787 he played Castalio in the ‘Orphan,’ and then repeated his Dublin success as Raymond in the ‘Count of Narbonne,’ and 14 April obtained an overwhelming triumph in Jephson's tragedy of ‘Julia.’ On 26 Oct. 1787 he was Pedro in a prose alteration by himself of the ‘Pilgrim’ of Fletcher.

Under conditions which, as told by Oxberry, are not very romantic, Kemble married, on 8 Dec. 1787, the widow of an actor named Brereton [see ]. A daughter of Lord North was at the time in love with Kemble, and North, who objected to his daughter's union with an actor, promised Mrs. Brereton a dower if she married Kemble. The money was never paid. Kemble and his newly married wife dined on the day of the ceremony with the Bannisters, and at night Bannister and Mrs. Kemble played in the ‘West Indian.’ Kemble went to the theatre and took his wife home to her new house, Caroline Street, Bedford Square. The marriage was not announced till the next night, when his wife played Lady Anne in ‘Richard III’ as Mrs. Kemble. For Mrs. Siddons's benefit he played, 21 Jan. 1788, Lear to her Cordelia, the receipts at the door being 347l. 10s.; on 31 Jan. was the original Cleombrotus in Mrs. Cowley's ‘Fate of Sparta;’ and on 1 April was Manuel to the Dianora of Mrs. Siddons in the ‘Regent,’ a new tragedy by Bertie Greatheed; 30 April he was Benedick to Miss Farren's Beatrice, and, 5 May, Antony, in ‘Love for Love,’ to the Cleopatra of Mrs. Siddons.

In the season of 1788–9 Kemble undertook the management of Drury Lane Theatre. From this period he began to dress characters according to his own conception, forsaking to some extent the conventional costume. An address to the public which he issued, 10 Oct. 1788, denied that he had undertaken the management, as had been said, under ‘humiliating restrictions.’ His first new assumption was Lord Towneley in the ‘Provoked Husband,’ which was followed by Biron in ‘Isabella’ and Leon in ‘Rule a Wife and have a Wife,’ Sciolto in the ‘Fair Penitent,’ Mirabel in the ‘Way of the World,’ and the two parts of Cromwell and Griffith in ‘King Henry VIII.’ On 28 Nov. 1788 he produced the ‘Pannel,’ a farce in three acts, 8vo, 1788, cut down from ‘'Tis well it's no worse,’ a translation by Bickerstaffe from Calderon. This was the period of Kemble's greatest fertility. In addition to the parts named he played Norval, Osmyn in ‘Mourning Bride,’ Zanga, Coriolanus, Paladore in ‘Law of Lombardy,’ Sir Clement Flint in the ‘Heiress,’ Petruchio, Romeo, Wolsey, Macbeth, Malvolio, and was the original Norfolk in St. John's ‘Mary Queen of Scots’ and Marquis in ‘False Appearances.’ Many of these parts, Coriolanus and Wolsey especially, proved to be the best in his repertory. Though assigned to Thomas Sheridan, the alteration of Coriolanus, 8vo, 1789 and 1806, was by Kemble. It was first played 7 Feb. 1789. The ‘Farm House,’ a comedy, 8vo, 1789, acted a second time 2 May 1789, is a three-act version by Kemble of Johnson's ‘Country Lasses, or the Custom of the Manor.’ At the close of the London season, in conjunction with [q. v.], he took the Liverpool Theatre, and on the opening night recited a prologue by [q. v.] Mrs. Siddons being unwell, Kemble began his next London season under some difficulty. He was, 1 Oct., Henry V in his arrangement of that play, 8vo, 1789, 1801, 1806; produced, 13 Oct. 1789, his own adaptation of the ‘Tempest,’ 8vo, 1789 (a second alteration was published, 8vo, 1806), in which he did not appear, and he gave on 24 Oct. the ‘False Friend,’ an ill-starred and poor alteration by himself of Vanbrugh's comedy, in which he played Don Pedro. He was on 7 Nov. the original Hernandez in Hayley's ‘Marcella;’ on 8 March 1790 the original Willmore in ‘Love in many Masks,’ 8vo, 1790, his own adaptation of Mrs. Behn's ‘Rover;’ and added to his London repertory Sir W. Raleigh, Sir Charles Easy, Doricourt, Faulkland, and Young Marlowe, most of them parts in which he was seen at his worst. In 1790–1 he appeared for the first time as Charles Surface, which was not a success; and he afterwards told the story that, when offering to make reparation to a gentleman with whom he had