manner, action, and voice, as he could, of Bartley." Hackett wrote, on a clipping of that notice which is preserved among his papers (for access to which I am indebted to his son, James Keteltas Hackett): “I never saw Bartley's Falstaff but once in my life and then I was a boy, and when I took up the character as a study, twelve years later, I could not remember a single point of his, except his general and pleasing appearance." Hackett customarily acted "King Henry IV." in a five act version, the text suitably cut and altered and with some transposition of scenes. He sometimes presented it in a three act arrangement, made as follows:

The text was cut and a little altered, where necessary.

WILLIAM RUFUS BLAKE.-JOHN HENRY JACK.

William Rufus Blake (1805-1863), so prominently associated with Wallack's Theatre in its great days

and so pleasingly remembered as one of the foremost comedians of his time, though he gained no special repute as Falstaff, gave a respectable performance of the part, appearing at the Walnut Street Theatre, Philadelphia, in 1843, in "King Henry IV.," First Part. His associates were Henry Henkins (18091853) as the King, James W. Wallack, the Younger, as Hotspur, William Wheatley as the Prince, Mrs. Wallack as Lady Percy, and Mrs. G. H. Jones as the Hostess. That was an uncommonly good cast. A little later in 1843 Blake repeated his performance at the Park Theatre, New York, alternating with Hackett, who fulfilled two engagements at that house in that year, and who,-Falstaff being a heavy part,liked to be relieved from acting it night after night. Associated performers at the Park were Thomas Barry as the King, Charles W. Hield as Prince Henry, John Dyott as Hotspur, Mrs. Abott as Lady Percy, and Mrs. Vernon as the Hostess. Blake might have given a completely satisfactory performance of Falstaff in the Comedy, but for the entirely satisfactory performance of Falstaff in the History he did not possess either the intellectual force, the rugged character, or the predominant personality. I remember him well, and in many characters, among them Jesse Rural, Geoffrey Dale, in "The Last Man"; Sir Anthony Absolute, and Admiral Kingston. In humor he was

exceedingly rich, and his use of pathos was skilful and deeply affecting. He was capable of being coarse, and sometimes he was so, even to the extent of vulgarity. In youth he was slender and elegant, but in later years he became corpulent, so that his Falstaff would have needed no padding. One of his notable peculiarities was extreme formality of speech and precision of articulation. For the genuine Falstaff, stalwart, rubicund, vigorous, effervescent, overwhelming, he was unfitted. To be fat and jolly and frolicsome is not difficult, for a good actor; to be Shakespeare's formidable Falstaff, with his powerful mind, large experience, prodigious affluence of humor, readiness of wit, and stern, aggressive, original individuality, is to be something possible only to genius of a peculiar order, different from that which Blake possessed. The part was not retained in his repertory. He played it at the Arch Street Theatre, Philadelphia, as late as 1848, on which occasion the accomplished and elegant comedian Edward Thayer acted Prince Henry; but not long after that time he seems to have laid it aside. I have found no explicit record of his appearance in it later than that date. Blake was of English parentage, a native of Halifax, Nova Scotia. His grave is in Greenwood Cemetery.

John Henry Jack, who had acted as a member of several stock companies supporting Hackett,

playing, among other parts, Justice Shallow, in "The Merry Wives of Windsor," and who admired Hackett's performance of Falstaff, subsequently adopted that part, and in time gained valuable reputation in it. He was a good actor, of considerable natural talent, and experienced and versatile. Long before he assumed Falstaff he had acted parts of many kinds, gaining special success as old men. In the course of his career he played in Shakespeare, in Old English Comedy, and in modern drama; his were parts as strongly contrasted as Sir Anthony Absolute, in "The Rivals," and Grandfather Trent, in "The Old Curiosity Shop." In person he was tall, muscular, stout, and inclined to portliness. His head was large, his hair dark. His complexion was light, his features were regular, the jaws being prominent, so that, facially, his aspect was stern. His eyes were steel-gray in color and cold in expression. His bearing was dignified, his general appearance austere. In temperament he was hard, though not wholly deficient of sensibility. His voice was loud, clear, and strong, and his use of it was peremptory. His manner was self-assertive, even aggressive. His humor was of the rough and jovial order. In his later years his face became almost moon-like and he was so corpulent that he could dress for Falstaff with but little, if any, padding. As an actor he respected

his profession and was industrious, zealous, conscientious, and scrupulously careful in the practice of it. His personation of Falstaff may, I think, fairly be deemed his best achievement: he considered it to be so, and certainly it marked the height of his professional endeavor. He had diligently studied the part and attentively observed Hackett's acting of it. He did not, and indeed could not, directly copy Hackett, but his portrayal of the Fat Knight was colored by the influence of that great exemplar. He was punctilious in adherence to the text, and he retained every particle of the tried, proved, and established stage business. The animalism of Falstaff, the burliness of his humor, the greed, the slyness, the relish of life and sport and mischief, the fun of the situations, the jocund, rubicund aspect of the character, all these elements were within his comprehension; the mind was not entirely so. His Falstaff, it was evident, had never been anything better, finer, higher, than the jovial, gross roysterer whom he presented. Aside from this defect in the personation there was in the actor a complete lack of personal charm, a quality inherent in all great acting and inseparable from it. Falstaff, in Shakespeare's historical plays, notwithstanding all his faults and vices, possesses a magnetic personality, and no actor can truly and wholly represent him who cannot reveal