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- King
Henry
the
Fourth
14-9
On December 11, 1761, and for twenty-two con
secutive days, King Henry IV, Part II, was presented
at Covent Garden in honor of the coronation of King
George III. For this performance an elaborate
coronation pageant was devised which was used again
in 1821 by Macready at the time of the coronation
of William IV. Other revivals occurred at Drury
Lane in 1764 and 1777, and at Covent Garden in
1773, 1784, and 1804. A sensational feature of
the 1773 performance was the appearance of an
anonymous 'Gentleman' as the King, 'his first per
formance on any stage/ and of Mrs. Lessingham, for
whose benefit the play was given, as Prince Hal.
In the 1804 production John Philip Kemble played
the King, and Charles Kemble the Prince. Charles
Kemble again appeared as the Prince in Macready's
production in June, July, and August, 1821.
Of Macready's performance he himself writes in
his Reminiscences; 'Kemble had revived the play in
1804, but produced little effect. Garrick had not
given the prominence he had expected to the part
of the King, and for these reasons I begged to be
excused from appearing in it. But my objections
were set aside. . . . To every line of it I gave the
most deliberate attention, and felt the full power
of its pathos. The audience hung intently on every
word. The admission of the perfect success of the
performance was without dissent. The revival re
warded the managers with houses crowded to the
ceiling for many nights, nor was this attributable to
the pageant only, for the acting was of the highest
order. Fawcett was the best Falstaff then upon the
stage, but he more excelled in other parts.' The per
fection of Macready's success was not, however,
'without dissent.' 'An old playgoer,' in a letter to
Tallis's Dramatic Magazine for April, 1851, says of
Macready's Henry IV: "In this role he approached
nearest to an elocutionist, but generally the effect of
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