e dew on the opening rose.
And therewithal the veteran may quaff his glass to the memory of another
member of the Wallack family, and speak of James Wallack as Cassius, and
Fagin, and the Man-in-the-Iron-Mask, and the King of the Commons, and
may say, with truth, that a more winning embodiment of bluff manliness
and humour was never known to our stage than the versatile actor who
made himself foremost in those characters. It will be impossible to
remember him without recalling his intimate professional associate,
Edwin L. Davenport. He was the only Brutus of his time, our old friend
will say, and in his prime the best Macbeth on the American stage; and
he could play almost any part in the drama, from the loftiest tragedy to
mere trash; and he was an admirable artist in all that he did. There
will be plenty of evidence to fortify that statement; and if the veteran
shall also say that Wallack's company contained, at the same time, the
best "old men" in the profession, no dissentient voice, surely, will
challenge the names of George Holland, John Gilbert, James H. Stoddart,
and Mark Smith. Cibber could play Lord Foppington at seventy-three; but
George Holland played Tony Lumpkin at seventy-seven. A young part,--but
the old man was as joyous as a boy and filled it with a boisterous,
mischievous humour at once delightful and indescribable. You saw him to
the best advantage, though, in Mr. Sulky, Humphrey Dobbin, and kindred
parts, wherein the fineness of his temperament was veiled under a
crabbed exterior and some scope was allowed for his superb skill in
painting character. So the discourse will run; and, when it touches upon
John Gilbert, what else than this will be its burden?--that he was
perfection as the old fop; that his Lord Ogleby had no peer; that he was
the oddest conceivable compound of dry humour, quaint manners,
frolicsome love of mischief, honest, hearty mirth, manly dignity, and
tender pathos. To Mark Smith it will render a kindred tribute. Squire
Broadlands, Old Rapid, Sir Oliver Surface--they cannot be forgotten.
Extraordinary truthfulness to nature, extraordinary precision of method,
large humanity, strong intellect, and refined and delicate humour that
always charmed and never offended--those were the qualities that
enrolled him among the best actors of his time. And it will not be
strange if Old Mortality passes then into the warmest mood of eulogium,
as he strives to recall the admirable, the incomparable