Letter of March 1830

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Kemble letter March 1830 part b

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I envy you having seen Miss C. Kemble, but was quite provoked at your giving up the party that was proposed to you for her first night in Mrs Beverley. It was quite absurd to suppose that there could be any objection to your going. But I hope by this time that the disappointment has been made up to you. I do not much like the play. It is calculated rather to excite the most painful feeling of horrour than to affect one deeply. At least so I who am rather given to "the melting mood" have found it. I have the most perfect recollection both of Mrs Siddons and Miss O'Neill in that character. Probably Miss Kemble's acting will be more like that of the former, which was admirable. But this part was one of the few in which I gave the preference to Miss O'Neill. Her acting was better suited to domestick life, as Mrs Siddons would never quite lay aside her Tragedy Heroine. The scene with Stukeley (Miss O'Neill's) was as perfect as anything I ever saw on the stage, and the manner in which she said "Well, Sir, my redress" made an impression which is this moment as strong, as if I had seen her only yesterday. The subsequent passages in which I see great praise is given to Miss Kemble, were also inimitable.