Springfield Globe Republic

How Edmund Kean Became Famous.

On the 26th of January, 1814, an obscure
country actor, named Edmund Kean, who
had been engaged in sheer desperation, a
very model of a strolling player, shabby,
almost shoeless, whom the mediocrities
treated at rehearsal with unconcealed contempt, appeared at Drury Lane as Shylock to an indifferent and half-filled house, but
when the curtain fell upon the fourth act
it was upon such a burst of wild enthusiasm as had not been heard since the night
Siddons played "Isabella" for the first time before a London audience. The next day
all London was ringing with the fame of
the new actor. Richard was his next impersonation. "Just returned from seeing
Kean in 'Richard,'" wrote Byron in his
diary, "By Jove, he is a soul: Life,
nature, truth, without exaggeration or
diminution." Coleridge said it was reading Shakespeare by flashes of lightning
The receipts rose from £100 to £600 nightly After this third appearance Whitebread raised his salary from £3 to £10. One
week the committee presented him with
£100, the next with £100, while splendid
presents flowed in upon him from all sides
society fawned upon him, flattered him
courted him. During six years he sustained the fortune of Drury Lane upon his
own shoulder. Rivals rose up, fine actors,
but all paled before the splendor of
his overwhelming genius.-Gentleman's
Magazine.