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Forrest add to the obscurity of the following intractable passage of Macbeth by following John Kemble's unintelligible reading.

If it were done, when 'tis done, then 'twere well It were done quickly; if the assassination, &c.

Mr. Forrest reads as follows

If it were done! When 'tis done then 'twere well. It were done quickly if the assassination, &c. This reading cannot be understood, and the actor consequently places himself in the awkward predicament of talking nonsense, which Shakspeare certainly was not in the habit of doing.

It is impossible to read the plays of him who may be justly called the father of the British stage, without lamenting that such a man, the poet of all time, should have been so utterly unmindful of his own future reputation, as to have permitted those scandalous mutilations of his writings, by which they have unquestionably come down to posterity so different from what they were originally produced. These mutilations, it is true, are found for the most part in the subordinate portions of the plays; they, nevertheless, to a certain degree, pervade every portion; and some of the dramas are so defaced by barbarous interpolations, as to render it still a question whether they are really the productions of Shakspeare; though, as Dr. Johnson has justly asked, if they are not Shakspeare's, to whom can we attribute them? for they bear the stamp of his hand, however the impression may have been partially effaced by the presumptuous application of a ruder touch.

The low estimation in which the drama was held in the sixteenth century may be presumed from the price given for a play,

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thirteen shillings and four pence sterling. The drama, when printed, was sold for sixpence a copy, and the usual present obtained for the dedication was forty shillings. The plays of Shakspeare were represented under all the disadvantages of inadequate scenery; two or three menials armed with swords and bucklers forming an army, and the scenic changes being almost entirely left to the imagination of the audience. "Thus scanty and meagre," says Mr. Malone, were the apparatus and accommodations of our ancient theatres, on which those dramas were first exhibited, which have engaged the attention of so many men and delighted so many thousand spectators. Yet even then, we are told by a writer of that age *, 'dramatic poesy was so lively expressed and represented on the public stages and theatres of this city, as Rome in the auge of her pomp and glory never saw it better performed, in respect of the action and art, not of the cost and sumptuousness.''

With all the want of "appliances and means to boot," could any thing but the wonderful inherent merit of those immortal dramas have secured for them the first place, not only upon the stage, but in the closet? It is not too much to say of them that they are still read with delight by millions, and are the subjects of national veneration. Every Englishman is proud to be able to say that Shakspeare was of the same country with himself, and of all the great men which this island has produced, the bard of Avon is the most universally venerated. To withhold our admiration from his works would be deemed nothing short of literary heresy.

*Sir George Buc, who wrote a treatise on the

which was thirty nobles, or six pounds English stage.

LINES WRITTEN BY SIR KENELM DIGBY IN THE TOWER.

When on my little babes I think, as I do oft,

I cannot choose, but then let fall some tears.

Methinks I hear the little prattlers, with words soft,
Ask where is father that did promise pears,

And other knacks, which I did never see

Nor father neither when he promised me.

GENEALOGICAL MEMOIR OF LADY AUGUSTA WENTWORTH.

LADY AUGUSTA WENTWORTH is the second daughter of the present Marquis of Aylesbury, and the wife of Thomas Vernon Wentworth, Esq., of Wentworth Castle, in the county of York.

The house of BRUCE, that of her ladyship, is of royal descent; it springs paternally from the ducal house of Montagu, and by the mother's side from Robert Bruce, king of Scotland.

Thomas Bruce, first Earl of Elgin, in the peerage of Scotland, was created a peer of England, by Charles I., on 1st of August, 1641, as Baron Bruce of Whorlton, in the county of York. His Lordship married, first, Anne, daughter of Sir Robert Chicester, of Raleigh, in the county of Devon, Knight, by whom he had an only son, Robert, his successor. He espoused, secondly, Anne, daughter and co-heir of William Lord Burghley, and widow of Henry de Vere, Earl of Oxford, but had no other issue: he died in 1663, and was succeeded by his son,

ROBERT, second Earl of Elgin, Baron Bruce, of Kinloss, and Baron Bruce, of Whorlton. This loyal nobleman did good service to the cause of monarchy, in the civil war. He was a stanch adherent of Charles I., and an active promoter of the Restoration. On the 18th March, 1663-4, he was created Baron Bruce, of Skelton, in the county of York, Viscount Bruce, of Ampthill, in the county of Bedford, and Earl of Aylesbury, in the county of Bucks. At the coronation of James II., 23d April, 1685, the Earl of Aylesbury was one of the Lords who bore St. Edward's staff, and the July ensuing he was appointed Lord Chamberlain of the house

hold. His Lordship married Diana, daughter of Henry Grey, first Earl of Stamford, and dying 20th October, 1685, was succeeded by his eldest son,

THOMAS, Second Earl of Aylesbury. This nobleman was among the first to invite the Prince of Orange into England, as a mediator between the Crown and the people, but peremptorily refused to sanction his advancement to the throne, or to swear allegiance to the government of the Revolution.

His Lordship married, first, 13th August, 1676, Elizabeth, only surviving daughter of Henry, Lord Beauchamp, son of William, second Duke of Somerset, who at the death of her brother, William, third Duke of Somerset, became sole heiress of Tottenham Park, and divers other estates in the county of Wilts. By her his Lordship had issue,

CHARLES, his successor.

Elizabeth, married to George, third Earl of Cardigan, by whom she had, with other issue, THOMAS BRUDENELL, who succeeded his uncle, the Earl of Aylesbury, in the Barony of Tottenham.

In 1691, during the absence of King William in Ireland, Queen Mary issued a proclamation for the apprehension of the Earl of Aylesbury, with other suspected persons, but he was not then imprisoned; in a few years afterwards, however, being accused of attending meetings, at the old King's Head Tavern, in Leadenhall-street, for the restoration of King James, he was committed to the Tower, which so affected his Countess, that she died in childbed, 12th Jan., 1697. The Earl was admitted to bail on the 12th of February

[graphic][subsumed][merged small][merged small]

following. His Lordship subsequently obtained leave, from King William, to reside at Brussels, where he married Charlotte, Countess of Sannu, of the ancient and noble house of Argentau, in the duchy of Brabant, and by her, who died 23d July, 1710, he had an only daughter, Charlotte Maria, married to the Prince of Horne. His Lordship died in Nov. 1741, and was succeeded by his only surviving son,

CHARLES, third Earl of Aylesbury, who married, first, Anne, eldest daughter and co-heir of William, Marquess of Halifax; and secondly, Juliana, second daughter of Charles, Earl of Burlington; and thirdly, Caroline, only daughter of John, Duke of Argyll. In consequence of the failure of male issue, his Lordship obtained, 17th April, 1746, by patent, the Barony of Bruce, of Tottenham, in the county of Wilts, with remainder to his nephew, the Hon. Thomas Brudenell, and dying the 10th Feb., 1747, the earldom of Aylesbury, &c., became extinct. The Scottish titles devolved upon Charles, ninth Earl of Kincardine, and the Barony of Bruce, created as above, descended to his nephew,

The HON. THOMAS BRUDENELL, second Baron, who thereupon assumed the name and arms of Bruce, in addition to those of his own family. On the 8th June, 1776, his Lordship was created Earl of Aylesbury. He married, first, 17th Feb., 1761, Susanna, daughter of Henry Hoare, Esq., of Stourhead, in the county of Wilts, and relict of Viscount Dungarvon, by whom he had, with two daughters, Charles, the present Marquis. His Lordship married, secondly, Anne, eldest daughter of John, first Earl of Moira. He died 19th April, 1814, and was succeeded by his only son,

Count de Montreville, Colonel of the late Royal Garde-du-Corps, and a Knight of St. Louis. AUGUSTA FREDERICA LOUISA. Mary Anne Jemima.

Elizabeth, married to Count Christian Danneskiold Samsoe.

His Lordship married, secondly, in 1833, Maria, youngest daughter of the Hon. Charles Tollemache, and has a son.

His Lordship's second daughter, the LADY AUGUSTA BRUDENELL BRUCE, the lady whose portrait forms this month's illustration, was married, the 23d May 1826, to Frederick William Thomas Vernon Wentworth, Esq., of Wentworth Castle, in the county of York, and has issue,

Thomas Frederick Charles, born 20th
October, 1831.

Louisa Mary Hamilton.

The family of Wentworth, originally Winterwade, is one of the oldest in the kingdom; it is said to have derived its designation, in Saxon times, from the Lordship of Winterwade, in the Wapentake of Strafford, and the county of York. In the reign of Henry III., William de Wyntword, of Wyntword, married Emma, daughter and heir of William Wodehous, of Wodehous, by whom he acquired that estate; and taking up his abode there, the family have ever since been denominated the Wentworths, of Wentworth Woodhouse. Of this family, was the great but unfortunate Sir Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, who suffered decapitation on the 12th of May, 1641. Thomas Wentworth, a subsequent scion of the same house, and also Earl of Strafford, was an eminent military commander in the time of William III. and Queen Anne, and in the latter reign participated in the victories of Marlborough. Henrietta, youngest daughter of this Earl of Strafford, was married, in 1743. to Henry Vernon, Esq., of Hilton, in, the county of Strafford, whose grandson, the present Mr Vernon, assumed the additional surname and arms of Wentworth, in compliance

CHARLES, who was created, 17th July 1821, Viscount Savernake, Earl of Bruce, and Marquis of Aylesbury. His Lordship married, first, 10th April 1793, Henrietta Maria, daughter of Noel, first Lord Berwick, by whom, who died 2d Jan. 1831, he had issue, George William Frederick, Earl with the testamentary injunction of his

Bruce.

Ernest Augustus Charles, M.P., married Louisa, second daughter of Lord Decies.

kinswoman, Augusta Hatfield Kaye, wife of John Hatfield Kaye, Esq., of Hatfield Hall, and sister and heiress of Frederick Thomas Wentworth, third Earl of Straf

Maria Caroline Anne, married to the ford.

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