--
Mr. Kean has since in a great measure effaced the impression of his
Richard III by the superior efforts of his genius in Othello (his
masterpiece), in the murder-scene in MACBETH, in RICHARD II, in SIR
GILES OVERREACH, and lastly in OROONOKO; but we still like to look
back to his first performance of this part, both because it first
assured his admirers of his future success, and because we bore our
feeble but, at that time, not useless testimony to the merits of
this very original actor, on which the town was considerably divided
for no other reason than because they WERE original.
The manner in which Shakespeare's plays have been generally altered
or rather mangled by modern mechanists, is a disgrace to the English
stage. The patch-work Richard III which is acted under the sanction
of his name, and which was manufactured by Cibber, is a striking
example of this remark.
The play itself is undoubtedly a very powerful effusion of
Shakespeare's genius. The ground-work of the character of Richard,
that mixture of intellectual vigour with moral depravity, in which
Shakespeare delighted to show his strength--gave full scope as well
as temptation to the exercise of his imagination. The character of
his hero is almost everywhere predominant, and marks its lurid track
throughout. The original play is, however, too long for
representation, and there are some few scenes which might be better
spared than preserved, and by omitting which it would remain a
complete whole.
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