[205] Pickwick, chap. ix.
[206] A corruption of Moses in the Vicar of Wakefield.
[208] His sense of the reality of his characters is shown by his daughter’s recollection of her father pointing out the exact spot where Mr Winkle called out, “Whoa! I have dropped my whip.”
[209] William Charles Macready, 1793–1873, the son of William Macready, actor and manager, was born in London; his mother was an actress.
In 1803 he went to Rugby, the idea being that he should go to the Bar. In 1810 Macready made his first appearance on the stage, taking the part of Romeo with considerable success. Mrs Siddons, with whom he acted, encouraged him—telling him to “study, study, study, and do not marry till you are thirty.” During the four years he remained with his father he played seventy-four parts. He seems to have failed to agree with his father, and took an engagement at Bath in 1814. In 1816 he made his first appearance at Covent Garden. Kean was in the audience and applauded loudly. His Richard III. (in London 1819) took a firm hold of the public and established “a dangerous rivalry for Kean.” His temper seems to have been violent, for in 1836 he knocked down Bunn as “a damned scoundrel” and had to pay damages. In 1837 he was manager of Covent Garden Theatre. He was the original Claude Melnotte in 1838.
In 1850 he played at Windsor Castle under Charles Kean, who “sent him a courteous message and received a characteristically churlish reply.” He took the last of many farewell performances in 1851. His diary and reminiscences have been edited by Sir F. Pollock.
[216] In 1858 he wrote to a friend asking him to convey a note of thanks “to the author of Scenes of Clerical Life whose two first stories I can never say enough of, I think them so truly admirable.” He adds that they are undoubtedly by a woman.
[219] Lady Holland.
[221] Mr Arthur Smith, his friend and secretary.
[228] It was curious that he should use so provincial an expression as riding in a cab.