Life and art of Joseph Jefferson, together with some account of his ancestry and of the Jefferson family of actors . Chancellor Camden and Lord Chief Justice Mansfield, WilliamHogarth and Charles Churchill, Edmund Burke and Edward heard Goldsmiths child-like laugh and Dr. Johnsons gruffapplause. He saw the courtly sarcasm sparkle in Horace Walpoleseyes, and the jest quivering on Selwyns lip. He recognised thequaint figure of Sir Joshua Reynolds in the boxes, and the brilliant,homely face of Thomas Gainsborough in the pit. And, above all,he trod the same stage with the English Roscius
Life and art of Joseph Jefferson, together with some account of his ancestry and of the Jefferson family of actors . Chancellor Camden and Lord Chief Justice Mansfield, WilliamHogarth and Charles Churchill, Edmund Burke and Edward heard Goldsmiths child-like laugh and Dr. Johnsons gruffapplause. He saw the courtly sarcasm sparkle in Horace Walpoleseyes, and the jest quivering on Selwyns lip. He recognised thequaint figure of Sir Joshua Reynolds in the boxes, and the brilliant,homely face of Thomas Gainsborough in the pit. And, above all,he trod the same stage with the English Roscius, and was privi-leged to watch every movement of that marvellous face. This was,indeed, an uncommon and a happy fate! What pleasant hours hemust have spent with Garrick, at Hampton, and what a fund ofanecdote he must have accumulated, with which, in his age, tocharm his cronies at Plymouth! He had seen King carry the townby storm as Lord Ogleby in The Clandestine Marriage, and Garricktake his farewell of the stage. He could recall the airy flutter ofDodd; the rollicking Irish humour of Moody; the well-bred ease. THOMAS JEFFERSON LIFE OF JEFFERSON 37 of Palmer; the eloquent by-play of Parsons ; the versatility of Ban-nister ; the strong, melodious voice of Holland; the ardour ofPowell; the whimsical drollery of Reddish; Mossops harmoniousdelivery, and Macklins rumbling growl. He had seen the Abing-tons, the Baddeleys, the Cibbers, the Clives, and the whole splendidphalanx of the Garrick dynasty, pass from the scene; and he hadlived to view the rise of the Kembles, and to hear the thrillingaccents of Mrs. Siddons, and the sweet, bubbling laugh of DoraJordan. What reminiscences might have been written by ThomasJefferson! Dramatic art is not the assumption of disguises, butthe idealised exposition of nature and the poetic inter-pretation of character, by means of action. Humancapacity in that art — as experience and observationhave amply shown — is sharply limited ; for, in act
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectjeffers, bookyear1894
