LIFE
OF
EDWIN FORREST,
THE AMERICAN TRAGEDIAN.

WILLIAM ROUNSEVILLE ALGER.

"All the world's a stage,

And all the men and women merely players."

VOLUME I.

PHILADELPHIA:

J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO.

1877.

TO
JAMES OAKES,
THE
TRUE PYTHIAS
IN THE REAL LIFE OF THIS
DAMON,
THE FOLLOWING BIOGRAPHY
IS INSCRIBED.

PREFATORY NOTE.

The Author of the following work apologizes for the delay of its publication on the ground of long-continued ill health which unfitted him for mental labor. He has tried to make amends by sparing no pains in his effort to do justice to the subjects treated. The plan of the ensuing biography is that of a philosophical history, which adds to the simple narrative of events a discussion of the causes and teachings of the events. The writer has interspersed the mere recital of personal facts and incidents with studies of the principal topics of a more general nature intimately associated with these, and has sought to enforce the lessons they yield. His aim in this has been to add to the descriptive interest of the work more important moral values. The thoughtful reader, who seeks improvement and is interested in the fortunes of his kind, will, it is believed, find these episodes attractive; and the frivolous reader, who seeks amusement alone, need not complain of disquisitions which he can easily skip.

The author foresees that some opinions advanced will be met with prejudice and disfavor, perhaps with angry abuse. But as he has written in disinterested loyalty to truth and humanity, attacking no entrenched notion and advocating no revolutionary one except from a sense of duty and in the hope of doing a service, he will calmly accept whatever odium the firm statement of his honest convictions may bring. Society in the present phase of civilization is full of tyrannical errors and wrongs against which most persons are afraid even so much as to whisper. To remove these obstructive evils, and exert an influence to hasten the period of universal justice and good will for which the world sighs, men of a free and enlightened spirit must fearlessly express their thoughts and breathe their philanthropic desires into the atmosphere. If their motives are pure and their views correct, however much a prejudiced public opinion may be offended and stung to assail them, after a little while their valor will be applauded and their names shine out untarnished by the passing breath of obloquy. It is, Goethe said, with true opinions courageously uttered as with pawns first advanced on the chess-board: they may be beaten, but they have inaugurated a game which must be won.

CONTENTS.

	PAGE
CHAPTER I.
Prelude	[13]
CHAPTER II.
Parentage and Family	[32]
CHAPTER III.
Boyhood and Youth	[55]
CHAPTER IV.
Psychological Origin, Variety, and Personal Uses of the Dramatic Art	[76]
CHAPTER V.
The Dramatic Apprentice and Strolling Player	[96]
CHAPTER VI.
Life in New Orleans.—Critical Period of Experience	[113]
CHAPTER VII.
Breaking the Way to Fame and Fortune	[140]
CHAPTER VIII.
Growth and Freshness of Professional Glory: Invidious Attacks and their Causes	[156]
CHAPTER IX.
Sensational and Artistic Acting.—Characters of Physical and Mental Realism.—Rolla.—Tell.—Damon.—Brutus.—Virginius. —Spartacus.—Metamora	[193]
CHAPTER X.
Two Years of Recreation and Study in the Old World	[262]
CHAPTER XI.
Professional Tour in Great Britain	[294]
CHAPTER XII.
Meridian of Success and Reputation.—New Roles of Febro, Melnotte, and Jack Cade	[323]
CHAPTER XIII.
Second Professional Tour in Great Britain, and its Consequences.—The Macready Controversy and Riot	[387]
CHAPTER XIV.
Newspaper Estimates.—Elements of the Dramatic Art, and its True Standard of Criticism	432
CHAPTER XV.
Personal and Domestic Life.—Fonthill Castle.—Jealousy.—Divorce. —Lawsuits.—Tragedies of Love in Human Life and in The Dramatic Art	482
CHAPTER XVI.
Professional Character of the Player.—Relations with Other Players.—The Future of the Drama	523
CHAPTER XVII.
Outer and Inner Life of the Man	549
CHAPTER XVIII.
Prizes and Penalties of Fame	582
CHAPTER XIX.
Friendships.—Their Essential Nature and Different Levels.—Their Loss and Gain, Grief and Joy	606
CHAPTER XX.
Place and Rank of Forrest as a Player.—The Classic, Romantic, Natural, and Artistic Schools of Acting	639
CHAPTER XXI.
Historic Evolution and Social Uses of the Dramatic Art.—Genius and Relationship of the Liberal Professions.—Hostility of the Church and the Theatre	671
CHAPTER XXII.
Forrest in Seven of his Chief Roles.—Characters of Imaginative Portraiture.—Richelieu.—Macbeth.—Richard.—Hamlet. —Coriolanus.—Othello.—Lear	720
CHAPTER XXIII.
Closing Years and the Earthly Finale	795
APPENDIX.
I. The Will of Edwin Forrest	849
II. The Forrest Medals and Tokens	855

LIST OF STEEL PLATES.

				PAGE
Portrait of Edwin Forrest ætat. 45.		Engraved by Fred. Halpin		[(Frontispiece).]
" " "	21	Engraved by	Fred. Halpin	[262]
Edwin Forrest as	Virginius	"	W. G. Jackman	[230]
"	Metamora	"	Jas. Bannister	[237]
"	Spartacus	"	Fred. Halpin	[249]
Rebecca Forrest		"	R. Whitechurch	424
Edwin Forrest as	Shylock	"	D. G. Thompson	738
"	Macbeth	"	Augustus Robin	739
"	Richard III.	"	H. B. Hall & Sons	746
"	Hamlet	"	G. H. Cushman	751
"	Othello	"	G. R. Hall	769
"	King Lear	"	G. H. Cushman	781
Portrait of Edwin Forrest ætat. 66		"	H. B. Hall & Sons	795
Forrest Medals		"	Samuel Sartain	855

The engravings of Mr. Forrest in character are after photographs by Brady.

LIFE OF EDWIN FORREST.

LIFEOFEDWIN FORREST,THE AMERICAN TRAGEDIAN.

LIFE
OF
EDWIN FORREST,
THE AMERICAN TRAGEDIAN.