MEMOIRS OF CHARLES MATHEWS.

THESE two volumes complete Mrs. 3Isentiws's life of her husband; commencing in 1818 with the close of the first season of the " At Homes," and ending with his death in 1835. The subjects they embrace are—his successive monologue entertainments at the Eng- lish Opera-house ; his country trips during the summer and autumn of each year ; the two excursions to America. from the last of which he returned death-stricken ; his Adelphi speculation in con- junction with YATES ; and a few intervening London engagements.

The work is written in the form of annals; each year being treated separately, and at a length somewhat disproportioncd to . the nature of biography or the character of the subject. Like the former volumes, a considerable portion consists of letters from

MATHEWS or his friends, which, though often autobiographical, are more frequently of the nature of I. correspondence ; " or con- sists of topics too personal for the public, though they are all read- able enough. These are connected by 3Irs. Maenews's narrative; which is written with much feeling, but without much art, and is sometimes over-extended by very long stories of the player-kind, upon (of course) very trivial subjects. A variety of contemporary criticism upon MATHEWS, and notices of him after his death, com- plete the matter of the volumes ; which, no doubt, are swelled to . a most unconscionable length. When not writing for rffect to some brother actor or dramatist, the letters of MATnEws are very favourable spechnens of' his powers, especially where the subject possesses any intrinsic weight. The majority of his epistles from America are of this kind ; and he may claim the credit of being mnong the first, it' not the first, to note that the behaviour of the higher classes in America differed nothing from that of the same rank at home, except in a slight defici- ency of finish,—.e fact admitted now, but whose annunciation would have excited an incredulous stare at the time he wrote it (182.2.) Of the people he judged narrowly, and without allowance for custom and the external husk. his sensitiveness was disgusted with their familiarity, his taste offended by their manners : he not only wanted the travelling-philosophy of ABM and IIERRAV, but he took . offence at what seems to us attention,ts 1

ough oddly shown. So far did he carry his aversion, that he exclaims, " It' this be the effect of a Republican fornt of government, give tue a Monarch, even if he be a despot :" and one of the " specimens" he adduces in favour of despetien is, that " an independent landlord of a wretched inn took a chair and sat down while we were at breaktiest, with his hat on." The following chapter of miseries continues the "specimens."

" When we drove up to flue door. its soul came out to greet us, though the landlord and waiter were sittin, in the hall chtek bv jowl se, -sawin, upon chairs, a leivourite mode here. We entered the house and passed them. At length we ascertained which was mine host. Ile shook us both by the hand, and said to cad, How ,r,se es I have Ewen you before." Can we have beds here ?" I glICSS you can.' At night I was stretched on a wretched straw mattress, hut was awoke at fiatr o'clock, before davii,lit, cv mine host who said he had a letter for me. You may judge of liar amazement, for 1 was con- fident when I went to bed that the hilow did not know my name ; however, he hadguessed, and found me out. The letter proved to befrom Price, who had sent a carriage to Brubswick for me, having heard that I w as there. The driver came on in the rosil to Elizabeth Town, and, nu arrival, Bonilitce would call me up.

" When I got up, I agreed to go to Price in the machine in which I came, which had rested there all night. When I was ready, the driver said to the one uho had been despatched for nu.. Will you go inside or out ?' and the fellow, with a cigar in his month, actually hesitated whether he should sit by my side or the driver's. In short, all the Whites of the order are horn black- guards, and the Blacks scent per cent, above them in being grated—a favourite word here."

These, and kindred passages, were merely the ebullition of ill health, nervous sensitiveness, and a perception morbidly refined for manners and habits. On every thing except American be- haviour, and his own worldly conduct, he displayed a sound and considerate judgment. His critical acumen was also good ; and Ile seems to have expressed himself on the delicate occasions of ma- nager to author with reason and candour, yet without offence. The following remark, addressed to a dramatist, whose piece he was apparently returning for the alleged reason of his hands being full, is an example of these qualities, and contains moreover some general hints for playwrights.

MATHEWS ON TITLES AND AUDIENCES.

By the by, I must say I think you have chosen an unhappy subject, totally devoid of interest, and certainly not dramatic. 1 suppose it is the name of a

ballad ; one, however, of which I never heard. " Black-eyed Susan " probably suggested it ; but I think these titles had. An author assumes that the public are acquainted with all ballads, all old legends, Sm. I say, audiences in general are any thing but readers; therefore, novels are bad foundations, and songs worse. 3Iany of my friends have asked me the meaning of " Taylor." One wrote to me from Devonshire, surprised at the run of a piece with such an unmeaning title, and asking what it meant ? Now, I never heard of " Nancy of Yarmouth ; " certainly she is a person of no interest, The piece is also too long, e,pvcially the cobler's part.

The suppression, or perhaps the haze about his pecuniary circtun. stances, which we noticed on the appearance of the first two volumes, is not cleared up in the present pair. We see immense gains, yet we constantly hear of difficulties, sometimes rising to em- barrassment. That his habits were expensive, though not more so than his income would justify, we readily perceive : his grounds, his carriage, and establishment at Kentish Town, must have re-

quired a large annual expenditure. '['hail, his theatrical portrait gallery, and the memorials of various kinds which accompanied it, doubtless cost large sums; in addition to which he had a taste for curiosities. Still, these expenses could not have involved hint; nor his generosity, tbr he was very generous to actors and others in real or alleged distress. Mrs. 31ArnEws hints darkly at losses by loans, and he himself alludes to something of this kind to the extent of fbur thousand pounds ; but our complaint is that these matters are not stated clearly either in their character or amount, so as to enable the reader to follow them. When, however, he had got en- throned, it is easy enough to see how he got deeper. Towards the latter part of his life, a secret sense of his tiffling constitution, and the thought of the narvow circumstances in which he should leave his wife and son, compared with the opportunities he had pos- sessed, induced him to speculate in bubble companies ; the re- stilt of which was the loss of his monev, and in one in- stance an action for thirty thousand pounds, eventually comps°. miscd. After all, he appears not to have died in debt, and to have left the share of the Adelphi Theatre behind him ; which, but for it temporary falling off in attraction, would have been a competence

for his widow. And whatever VMS his he paid the penalty.

With the infirmities :Arising front it series of accidents, excruciating

liatitS which baffled tut and defied medicine, and a consciousness, Ile \Tr uttered, but deeply felt, of sinking health, did INIATnews nightly strain his freulties and his powers both of action and en-

durance, to retrieve his circumstances. This anxiety drove him to America against his will; where his health sank under it life of csietinuous labour, and the severity of climate. This anxiety,

When he returned to England, harassed his deathbed, till thiling perception, and the consideration of' his friends, somewhat composed Iran with the idea that his affairs were better than they were.

As an actor, our recollections Of MATHEWS are not sufficiently precise to warrant a judgment ; but our present impression is, that

he was, before his At Homes, which gave- him " the guinca-stamp,"

too chaste or too subdued to strike the populace or the young. As an imitator, he must be classed in the \TM' first rank, persdnifying

not mimicking. He did not merely give those salient points which the caricaturist seizes upon ; he sank his own identity, and adopted that of the individual personified, in manner, features, and mode of thought and expression. The society he mixed with, and a no-

tural bent, had given him the ideas and feelings of a gentleman; his taste for the arts had the ascribed Latin-Grum:1r effect upon

his "mores ;" and the hours he systematically stole from sleep to devote to reading, gave expansion and elevation to his mind. Hence he had not only a superiority in the mere histrionic excellence of his personations, but he superadded thliele delicacy', and tone. His

admirers say that he would extemporize sometimes in imitation of the greatest orators, in a style equal to their best efflirts; and they regret that his words were not taken down. Had they been, how. ever, we suspect that when wine, good company., excitement, and

the living manner had evaporated, the " words" would only have had "semblance of worth not substance."

As a man, he appears to have possessed in nice proportions a blended dignity and amiability, though sometimes dashed with irritability of temperament. The life of a stroller is not the best school for acquiring lessons of independence or regularity; yet in all his early distresses, it does not appear that 31srliswS stooped to any of those meannesses which disgrace so many of his fellows—he would endure starvation rather than degradation. This feeling continued through life; and while upholding his own dignity as a man, he never exerted his tremendous power as a mimic, to wound or ridicule those who lied °Glided 1dm. This feeling also made him averse to exhibit himself for the amusement of the coin.

pony, when he saw that such was the motive which prompted his invitation. A morbid degree of it rendered hint painfully suscep- tible to publicity : hc could not bear to be stared at in the streets, and always kept the blind down on his side of the carriage. It even went still further : it was painful to him to meet tradesmen to give them orders ; when Mrs. ALsenews engaged servants, he was always placed so as to see them before the engagement was confirmed, lest there should be something about them from which he would shrink ; and he disliked settling his tavern-bills.

" He never paid his inn-bills in travelling when Ile had anybody with him who could settle them, either from dislike of transacting business, (which was in- disputable,) or the bows and courtesies which attended such transactions. Antipathy to both these ceremonies made him what is called sneak out el the inn about ten minutes before closing accounts, and walk onward that the car: riage might overtake and receive him out of the town ; by which he escaped all staring and the &lat of leave-taking." In domestic life, he was irreproachable. 'The affectionate hus- band and father breathe through every line he writes; and there Is little doubt that his efforts for his family hastened his end. hits

MATHEWS'S WRITING.

It was about this period that the idea of writing his life was first seriously entertained. I had suggested to him that a pursuit of such a nature would act in a salutary manner upon his mind and health under present circum- stances, by rousing his energies to exertion, at the saute time by diverting hint tram thoughts not wholesome to dwell upon, while he would in effect be realizing a sum of money by his employment that would ultimately reward his him's. To these and similar suggest hats my husband at length yielded his serious consideration • and, without' premedittition or plan, began the autobio- graphy with which the present memoirs commence. He proceeded at first rapidly to relate what his memory supplied. The occupation seemed to afford huiuuu eujoyment ; but his alacrity did not last : his undertaking flagged front his utter want of power to devote himself long enough and at enough to make the desired progress. I have seen him, as I left the room, established at his writing-table, pursuing his purpose With apparent diligFllee and spirit ; and on sty return, a quarter ot an hour afterwastls. have found him asleep in his chair. Ile would afterwards tell me, and sometimes with tears, that he found himself unable to keep :make; for that a lethargic stupor crept over him the moment he began to write or read, which he could not resist long at a time.

SUM3L\IIY OP MATHEWS'S ACCIDENTS.

There scented linked a fatality attending all may husband's movements from home. How many severe and dangerous accidents did he encounter in the course of his life ! First in Ireland, in 1794, he was almost drowned, (I might almost say «dually, for he suffered all the pains of such a death,) and was taken out of the water in a state of total insensibility. In 1801 a heavy platform fell upon him while acting, and he was taken off the stage as dead. la ISM he was violently thrown front his horse at a review, and was threatened with dangerous consequences ever after. In 1807, on a shooting'-party, his gun burst and shattered his hand, and lie was many weeks after under a surevon's care. In 1814 he was thrown out of Ids tilbury, and because lame .fbr lift: In tt 7 another horse Mt going down a steep hill in a tiliatry, and Mr. Mathews was thrown over the animal's head, and severely cut and bruised. while in a floctimf-liat It at Bright on, the " life-preserver " turned round and forced him upon his flee, in which position he must have been suffo- cated hail not a gentleman witncsed the accident and rescued him from his danger. In the year Its29 the roller of the drop-scene on the Plymouth stage fell upon his head while " At Horne" there, and he was taken up to all tip- penance dead, and remained many minutes itt a state of insensibility. Four year, after this, precisely the saini• accident occurred in the Devonport theatre, aud with the saute resat s ! In 1:1:1, while returning from an evening, walk, a large dog run between his legs, and knocked hint down with a violent shock. 'Ibis accident again placed hint under a surgetm's hands. A few \ \ CC ho after, while recovering from this hurt, another dog threw him oil a garden-seat, and painfully injured his hand and wrist.

THE TROUBLES OF ccmaturrv.

Amongst the extraordinary effects of the popularity of my husband's " At Bow," were the applieablons made, undet• every kind of pretext, letters being sent to Itim from all sorts of professions and trades about town. One man offered him snuff fits himself and friends, if he would only mention the name and shop of the mantilliet tires. Another promised him a perpetual polish for his boots upon the same terms. Ile was solicited to mention every sort of exhibition, and to pull' all the new (pluck medicines; and patents, from sur- geon's instruments to mangles, called far his public approval. There was no Intuit to these requisitions. Lozenges were to be tasted, razors to be used, razor-strops to be tried. The wines sent for hint to titste, though said to be "of this finest quality," nevertheless required a " hush," which was expected to he hung out nightly at his " house of entertainment." for " value received." Patunt tillers, the price of whielt was to be liquidated Iv ltis prai.e ; wigs and waistcoats, boots aud boot-hooks, " ventilating-hats,- and bosun] friends l—all gratis: And an advertising dentist one day presented himself; offering to teethe our whole fluidly, it' Mr. Mathews would draw his metallic teeth into notice. In fact, he was inundated with presents and petitions, so that our cottage sometimes looked like a bazaar ; and I had frequently occasion to exer- cise my ingenuity in contriving how and to whom I might convey the gene- rally useless articles forced upon our acceptance. in flirt, we eventually paid for them by purchases or presents of and to the parties from whom they Caine, in order to smooth down their disappointments at my husband's de- clining to comply with the requests with which they were accompanied. Amongst the most amusing of these varieties, was a petit' from Mrs. Johnson, who yearned to hear her " American Soothing Syrup" commended, and re-commended by my husband; and she otte night held forth the tempting rihe, that she and a part • of' friends would appear. in the boxes, in the fond hope of hearing this "real blessing to mothers ' pointed mit by Mr. Mathews to the maternal part of the audience. At length, my husband's gallantry (and for the )oke's sake) devised the mention of it in the "Dilbery Family," where he made Ain D._ boast that Ile had, its the course of his domestic ditties, found it right to supply his family with this inestimable balm.

OULU HANNIBAL PARTING WITH HIS MONEY,

tastes were simple. His greatest pleasure was the country or the sea; and he delighted in pet animals, flowers, and children. He took little wine and no spirits; and mostly ate of one dish, " plain roast or boiled." A constitutional irritability rendered hint exqui- sitely sensitive : one inattentive auditor in a theatre troubled him, and he played at the dullard till it was aroused. The same muse, purliaps, tdered hint averse to public speaking: " he suffered illness" during the day whenever he had to make a speech ; and though he could rattle on for an hour in burlesque, " he hated.to attempt any thing serious." His compassion was great—too great for his prosperity, for it rendered him the dupe of the designing. Ns religious feeling appears to have been considerable : he was punctual in his attendance at church ; and he read the Bible brims his last illness, and, it would appear front a touching little anectrote, at other times.

‘,116 head is sometimes wild, [Mrs. Mathews is writing to her son,] and he isesev visionary. Ile asked me to read the Bible to him on Thursday, and yesterday 1 oltered to do so again ; but, after listening a few minutes, he said, It is a mockery—my head is too confused to understand it." I placed the book hv his bedside, and when I returned I found hint reading it. After this he seemed trying. to find some place, and turned over the leaves confusedly. Seeing this, I stud, yott want the New Testament ? let me find it tin. Ile patted my hand gently, saying, with a half-smile as it touched the book,' I knew how to read the Bible before you were born ;' and I desisted."

As our notice has been confined to Minims himself, so shall the extracts; omitting altogether a variety of very " good things" on extraneous topics.

Mr. Plunket, and about forty other gentlemen, after dinner one day, at the time when Queen Caroline ibrmed so frequent a topic of discussion, httd grown rather warm upon it ; when Mr. Shchan, since editor of a Dublin paper, wish- ing to turn the channel of the conversation, and longing to draw out Mr. Ma- thews, proposed the health of John Philpot Curran. " Pooh, pooh," said Mr. Plunket, who was at this moment rather matter-of-fact in his perceptions, "time man's dead! What do you mean by proposing his health?" " I differ with you entirely," replied Mr. Shebat] ; " and I return to my toast." "Then," said Mr. Plunket, " maybe you'll back your assertion with a bet ?" With all my heart," replied Mr. Sheltan: "how much are von inclined to bet ?" " VU bet you five pounds," answered Mr. Plunket, " that John Philpot Curran is dead." " Dope!" added Mr. Shehan : " I'll bet five pounds that be is not! So, gentlemen, I repeat my toast." The " health of Mr. Curran" was accordingly drunk with cheers, which l were reiterated on the rising of Mr. Mathews, who hap- pened to be disposed to humour the joke against Mr. Plunket. He began by re- turning thanks, in the tone, look, and manner of Mr. Curran, and in his phraseology, for the " honour done him ;" and afterwards delivered a most elo- quoit speech on a subject upon which Curran could never have spoken, the trial of Queen Caroline, taking the bias of Curran's polities, and presenting altogether such a fine specimen of his style of oratory, and such a personifica- tion of Ireland's celebrated wit, that he completely impressed his hearers with the actual presence of the man, and induced Mr. Plunket, (albeit not fond of parting with his money on such occasions,) in an enthusiasm of wonder and delight, to push over the hank-notes to Mr. Shehan, exclahning, " I've lost, fairly lost ! Conan is not dead, and can never die while Mathews lives!"