About the Book
Excerpt from St. Patrick's Eve: Or, the Order of the Day, a Drama in Three Acts IT is with more than ordinary pleasure we sketch the I'lif'e of the above popular actor, who is in public and private equally estimable; for such qualities combined, add a degree of respectability to a profession, too often maligned by its enemies, and degraded by the members of it, from improvi dence, and a proneness to associate with those who neither {in station nor intellect are their equals, but who flatter their vanity for the sake of their company. If the followers of 'thespis would unite in their endeavours to raise their art in the public's e ye, which is ever upon them, by a rectitude of conduct, and a studious avoidence of the many temptations 10 err incident to their calling, they would render it among ihg most honoured, as it is one of the most delightful of pro fessions - Mr. Power was born in the county of Waterford, Hreland, on November 2ud, 1798. His first dramatic essay was at Newport, in the Isle of Wight, 1815, as Alonzo, in lsheridan's play of Pizarro. He was afierwards united to the fthird daughter of the late John Gilbert, Esq, of that town, by whom he has seven children. From the Newport com pany he went to Margate, and after figuring there in the Seading parts of tragedy and comedy for a season, joined the Dublin corps, and opened in the opposite characters of Romeo and Jeremy Diddler, under the stage management of Mr. W. Farren. His success was equal to his hopes, but the treasury of the Dublin theatre not being at this period inthe most solvent condition, at the close of the season he withdrew llls services, and went to aid De Camp, the then lord and master of the Newcastle stage. In 1818 he re tired from the scene until 1822, when he appeared at the Olympic, of which theatre, we believe, he was the stage manager. Mr. Arnold then secured his services for the English opera-house, where he began to make Irish char acter his study, which line has been a source of profit to himself and his employers, and Of amusement to the public, he being the only competent representative of the various peculiarities Of our brethren of the sister kingdom now on the stage. The Adelphi next became his scene of action, and his increasing fame led to his being engaged at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, where he made a most suc cessful debut as Rolando in the Honeymoon, a character somewhat away from his present style, though we are ih clined to think, if he would present his claims to the town in high comedy, he would be found to be the best represen tative of that line of acting we have had since the days of Mr. Elliston and Mr Charles Kemble. His first original part in the major establishment was o'shocknessy, in Mr. Pealre's highly popular farce of the 56100 Note. This at once established him, and all fears for the future were at an end. In 1833 he paid our American friends a visit, where he remained two years reaping a, golden harvest - proving himself the most attractive star that had hitherto crossed the Atlantic. On his return to England, he performed at Covent Garden then went to Dublin, and gave morta. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.