Scott, for instance. At that time and
here George Jones ("Count Joannes") was a young, handsome actor, and
quite a favorite. I remember seeing him in the title role in "Julius
Caesar," and a capital performance it was.
To return specially to the manager. Thomas Hamblin made a first-rate
foil to Booth, and was frequently cast with him. He had a large,
shapely, imposing presence, and dark and flashing eyes. I remember
well his rendering of the main role in Maturin's "Bertram, or the
Castle of St. Aldobrand." But I thought Tom Hamblin's best acting was
in the comparatively minor part of Faulconbridge in "King John"--he
himself evidently revell'd in the part, and took away the house's
applause from young Kean (the King) and Ellen Tree (Constance,) and
everybody else on the stage--some time afterward at the Park. Some of
the Bowery actresses were remarkably good. I remember Mrs. Pritchard
in "Tour de Nesle," and Mrs. McClure in "Fatal Curiosity," and as
Millwood in "George Barnwell." (I wonder what old fellow reading these
lines will recall the fine comedietta of "The Youth That Never Saw a
Woman," and the jolly acting in it of Mrs. Herring and old Gates.)
The Bowery, now and then, was the place, too, for spectacular pieces,
such as "The Last Days of Pompeii," "The Lion-Doom'd" and the yet
undying "Mazeppa." At one time "Jonathan Bradford, or the Murder at
the Roadside Inn, "had a long and crowded run; John Sefton and his
brother William acted in it. I remember well the Frenchwoman Celeste,
a splendid pantomimist, and her emotional "Wept of the Wishton-Wish.
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