DEATH OF SAMUEL PHELPS.

Globe, Volume XX, Issue 1480, 13 November 1878, Page 3

DEATH OF SAMUEL PHELPS.

A cablegram of November 7th, contains tbo intelligence of the death of the eminent tragedian, Samuel Phelps, and with him ha? passed away another and almost the l int <>l tlio great school of actors, of whom William Charles Mar-ready was the founder. J'hn Vandenhoff, James Anderson, William Creswick, the brothers James and Henry Wallack, Charles Mathews, Bartley, Harley, end a hi st of lersor lights were his coniemporaries, and shed such a lustre on the dramatic proT 9 ijn as has never shone since. Phelps was one of the unnvdled comp my of artistes who, under Macready’s management at Covent Garden Theatre, made hy sheer force of sterling ability a 1 irge part of the lasting success and popularity of many of Sheridan Knowles’ and Lord Lytton’s plays. Ho virtually created many of the original parts he pLyed, and stamped them with a force and originality peculiarly his own. It was, however, in the rehabilitation of Sadlers’Weils Theatre, which he converted from one of the lowest melo-draraatic theatres in London into a home of Shakspeare, that Phelps’admirable genius and management displayed themselves. Ho certainly rendered great service to the classical stare by the manner in which he produced in rapid succession the masterpieces of Shakespeare, and, aided hy such actors as George Bennett, Henry Marston, William Hoskins, tho Misses Glyn, Goddard, and the Etc Mrs Warm r, stamped with a living vraisemblanco many of the mott masterly creations of Shakspeare. Samuel Phelps, although what is* termed a tragedian, was a character actor of rare excellence, as those can- testify who have witnessed his performance of King James 6th and Trapbois in the dramatic version of Sir Walter Scott’s “ Fortune? of Nigel,” Sir Pcrtimx Macsycophant in 11 The Man of the World.” Malvolio (“Twelfth Night”) Bottom, the Weaver’s(“ Midsummer Nights’Dream”), Sir John FaUtaff, Captain Pmollos (“All’s Well that Ends Weil”), and list, though by no means least, Jeremy Diddler, in “Raising the Wind.” There was an unctuous fun in his comedy, which aided by a heavy and

somewhat stolid cast of countenance, was as p i rfect in its way aa was his dignity, fire and pathos in tragedy. He was an accomplished master of elocution, and many of the beet actors of the prisant day are largely indebted to him f.>r whatever of excellence they have attained in their profession. His death will leave a gap in the stage not easily filled up. The following biography of ttie deceased actor is from “ Men of the I'irne”:

Phelps, Samuel, actor and manager, born at Devonport in 180 G, was apprenticed to a printer ; but the bent of bis mind lay in another direction, and he made Ins first appearance on the stage at York in 182 S. His first attempt before a London audience was in the character of Shylock, at the Huymurket Theatre, under the management of Mr Webster, and the performance was favorably received ; nor was bis next essay in the arduous part of Hamlet less successful. When Mr Macready undertook the management of Covent Garden Theatre in 1837, Mr Phelps was engaged as one of the leading performers, and at the public entertainment given to Mr Macready on his retirement from the stage in 1851, he pointed to Mr Phelps as the most promising, if not the most accomplished, Shakoaperian performer of the day. In 181 i he became manager of Sadler’s Wells Theatre, and in so doing one of his chief obj of s was to restore the popularity of the legitimate drama, then at a very low ebb ; atid in this experiment he was completely successful. He was engaged by Mr Feebler at (ho Lyceum, and akerwards at Drmy Lane Theatre, where he has app ared regularly for several seasons. His leading characteristics as an actor both in tragedy and comedy are, a scrupul"us adherence to the meaning of tin author, and a fi ic elocution, combined with a. careful regard to (hear lieilogical requirements of the wise cn He edited an edition of Shakspere, publ.shed in 1853.