. The essays of Leigh Hunt. hing from thepoet to give expression to her feelings, she starts withextended arms and casts herself in mute prostration athis feet. I shall never forget the glow which rushedto my cheeks at this sublime action. These are the effects Mr Kemble should study, andnot the clap-provoking frivolities of ending every speechwith an energetic dash of the fist, or of running off thestage after a vehement declamation as if the actor wasin haste to get his pint of wine. If the brother andsister are compared the palm both of genius and of judg-ment must undoubtedly be given to M
. The essays of Leigh Hunt. hing from thepoet to give expression to her feelings, she starts withextended arms and casts herself in mute prostration athis feet. I shall never forget the glow which rushedto my cheeks at this sublime action. These are the effects Mr Kemble should study, andnot the clap-provoking frivolities of ending every speechwith an energetic dash of the fist, or of running off thestage after a vehement declamation as if the actor wasin haste to get his pint of wine. If the brother andsister are compared the palm both of genius and of judg-ment must undoubtedly be given to Mrs Siddons: Iquestion whether she understands her authors so inti-mately, but she gives double effect to their importantpassages, and their unimportant ones are allowed to sink MRS SIDDONS 281 into their proper mediocrity: where everything is raisedinto significance, the significance is destroyed. If anartist would study the expression of the passions, let himlay by the pictures of Le Brun, and copy the looks ofMrs One of the most amiable effects of the modern drama is toinjure those to whom it is most indebted for support. Ifthe principal characters of Reynolds and of Dibdin arealways out of nature, their representation, as I have alreadyhinted, must be unnatural also ; and as our comic actors areperpetually employed upon these punchinellos, as they arealways labouring to grimace and grin them into applause,they become habituated and even partial to their antics, andcan never afterwards separate the effect from the means, theapplause from the unnatural style of acting. The extrava-gance therefore of look and gesture, so necessary to thecaricatures of our farci-comic writers, they cannot helpcarrying into the characters of our best dramatists, to whichit is every way injurious. This is the great fault of Mr Munden, who is unluckilyone of the strongest supports to our gigantic farces, andwhose powers, like his features, have been so twisted out oftheir proper direction
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