The opening of this theatre was the continuation of a history of many comic and tragic events, from its foundation as a chantry to the church of the Holy Trinity, to this last and most indiscreet undertaking to transform it to a theatre.
The opening of the theatre was, moreover, an event of considerable importance to Mr. Owenson and his family.
The first performance was to be altogether national, that is, Irish, and
very Irish it was. The play chosen was The Carmelite, by Captain
Jephson, with an interlude from Macklin’s farce of The Brave Irishman, and a farce of O’Keefe’s, The Poor Soldier. The
overture consisted of Irish airs ending with the Volunteer’s March, which was
chorussed by the gallery to an accompaniment of drums and fifes. An Irish audience was
always en rapport with the stage, and frequently
commented aloud on an absurdity in the actor, public or private, in a manner to excite
quite as much laughter as
| 24 | LADY MORGAN'S MEMOIR. |
This, by way of parenthesis,—to proceed with our “opening day,” or rather night:
My father wrote and spoke the prologue in his own character of an “Irish Volunteer.”
The audience was as national as the performance; and the pit was filled with red coats of the corps to which my father belonged; and the boxes exhibited a show of beauty and fashion, such as Ireland above all other countries could produce. What added to the éclat of the evening was the first appearance on any stage of an Irish lady of rank—the Honourable Mrs. Mahon—then known by the pretty cognomen of the “Bird of Paradise.” She was the daughter of Lord Perry, afterwards Lord Limerick. She imprudently eloped with her singing master, Mr. Mahon, the Irish Mario of his time, her family threw her off, and she was obliged to share the artistic exertions of her husband.
The National Theatre flourished. Everybody took boxes, but few paid for
them. Orders were given in profusion, when, lo! in the midst of the apparent success of
this rival to the great Royalties, Government granted an exclusive patent for the
performance of the legitimate drama to—Mr.
Daly! with the additional honour of creating him deputy Master of the
| THE NATIONAL MUSIC HALL. | 25 |
The cousinhood of Ireland extends itself beyond the Green Island to remote lands, and if the
“Blakes and O’Donnels
whose fathers resigned The green hills of their youth, amidst strangers to find, That repose which at home they had sought for in vain,” |
| 26 | LADY MORGAN'S MEMOIR. |
My father boasted of his claims to relationship with this eminent family—a claim never denied; and his witty and clever letters had long kept up a correspondence with his cousin Ffrench of Bordeaux; the value of his Irish news and Irish fun being paid back in frequent presents of wine and liqueurs, with pretty cadeaux sent to my mother of scented pincushions and sac d’ouvrage, worked by the nuns, and smelling of pious incense. One of these I well remember; it was of yellow satin, embroidered in holy devices in white silk, of which my mother made a present on account of the smell, she said, but more probably on account of the Catholic devices which emblazoned it.
My father proposed himself as “commercial correspondent” of their house. He told them his story in his own pleasant yet pathetic way; and proved his fitness to become a Dublin wine-merchant, by his intimacy with all the great wine drinkers of the day, gentle and simple! He referred them to his connections in Connaught.
The Ffrenches acceded to his proposition, and consigned a cargo of wines to his account. Such was his interest, that before they were delivered, he obtained “the freedom of the six and ten per cents.,” which was considered a high commercial honour at that time in Dublin; but of its nature and advantages I am utterly ignorant, and I don’t suppose that my father knew much more, except that Sir John Ferns, the great wine-merchant of the day, had found some difficulty in obtaining it.
Grand changements des décorations in the Music
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The pretty theatre and its adjoining rooms were leased out for public meetings. The family dwelling-house was enlarged by the addition of other apartments, and made comfortable. Before the ensuing winter my mother, whose confusion had been worse confounded by all the chances and changes her fortunes had undergone, was settled with her little family in Dublin, with her pretty retreat at Drumcondra in reserve, and whilst my father’s life was “double, double, toil and trouble,” she passed the quiet tenor of her days in avocations suited to her domestic habits.
Her greatest anxiety was for the education of her little girls, and her next for the salvation of mankind through the influence of the Countess of Huntingdon.
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