THE

LIFE AND THEATRICAL TIMES

OF

CHARLES KEAN; F.S.A.

INCLUDING A SUMMARY OF

THE ENGLISH STAGE FOR THE LAST FIFTY YEARS.

BY JOHN WILLIAM COLE.

"Orator ad vos venio ornatu prologi:

Sinite exorator ut sim.-

Quia sciebam dubiam fortunam esse scenicam,

Spe incerta certum mihi laborem sustuli."-TERENTII HECYRA.

RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET,

Publisher in Ordinary to Her Majesty.

909

K24
C68

ENGL. LIB. FD.

LONDON:

R. CLAY, PRINTER, BREAD STREET HILL.

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.

My work, published at the close of the London Season, has reached a Second Edition much sooner than my warmest hopes could have anticipated. For this success I am entirely indebted to the indulgence of the public, and the highly complimentary tone of a great majority of the leading papers which have honoured me with their notice. To the latter, however, there have been a few remarkable exceptions.

I

pass these over without comment, being on all occasions an advocate for freedom of opinion, and feeling, in the present instance, abundantly satisfied with the general result.

LONDON,

November, 1859.

1

JOHN WILLIAM COLE.