Memoirs

OF

MISS O'NEILL,

&c. &c.

MISS O'NEILL, the subject of the present Memoir, is the eldest daughter of John O'Neill, Esq. a gentleman descended from the well known family of that name in Ireland. Her mother is the daughter of Mr. Featherstone, of the county of Longford, the representative of a family, antient and respectable.

Mr. O'Neill, her father, early devoted himself with that enthusiasm, which is too often felt to actuate young minds fond of dramatic representations, to the profession of the stage, contrary, perhaps, to the wishes and prudent advice of his friends; a

profession he has continued to pursue, with all that varied fortune which is, for the most part, the attendant of those who enter on this scene of life. Miss O'Neill, therefore, may be said to have been born on the boards, and in the language of the poet, "to have lisped in numbers ere the numbers came." Thus she possesses by inheritance a dramatic taste. Mr. O'Neill, though not highly distinguished as an actor himself, except in some characters, is allowed not to want abilities as a critic on his brethren, and to know well the business and public feeling in regard to scenic effect. Under his tuition his daughter first imbibed her ideas, and received her lessons in the mimic art. Besides Miss O'Neil, Mr. O'Neill is the father of a numerous family. Her eldest brother, Mr. John O'Neill, has been bred in the same school, and though he has not appeared before a London audience, is considered, in the provincial theatres, as making a respectable appearance in a variety of characters. Her second brother is at present studying medicine, under the auspices of Mr. Wilson, of Windmill-street, the celebrated anatomist, and is the close adviser and attendant of his sister in her public concerns, a

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proof equally of his judgment and fraternal affec tion. Her third brother has lately entered upon a military life as an officer in a marching regiment, the generosity of his sister having enabled him to obtain the professional object of his wishes. The rest of the family are yet too young to appear on the stage of life. Thus situated, with the incumbrance of a numerous offspring, it is not to be supposed that Miss O'Neill's education could be conducted by her father, with an attention to all those accomplishments in her first years, which the children of wealth and indulgence are so sure to receive, and which, though received, are too often forgot or disregarded. Miss O'Neill would accordingly owe much to native intuition, and perhaps may be properly said, in some respects, to have been selftaught, and to owe to the powers of her own superior mind that elegance and cultivated understanding, which has fitted her for conceiving and entering into the feelings of those great characters which form her peculiar walk.

Mr. O'Neill, like most actors who are not sta-. tionary in the London theatres, was obliged to change, according to circumstances, from place to

place, and Belfast, Drogheda, and the other provincial towns of the sister kingdom, were the occasional seats of his dramatic representations, and first gave display to his daughter's talents. At the early age of twelve years, Miss O'Neill made her debut on the Drogheda stage, of which her father was then acting manager; and so favourable was her appearance on that and after occasions, as soon to give presage of her future perfection. It may be justly said perhaps, that an actor, like a poet, is born not educated. The fine conception that embodies thought, and the exquisite feeling that gives effect to situations and circumstances are certainly the gift of nature. A Shakspeare could not personate the superior portraits his pen delineated, nor a Garrick use the pencil of a Shakspeare, though he gave such brilliant and striking effect to his characters. Nature, therefore, bestows a peculiar cast on every mind, and education only ripens what her hand has originally planted. Hence, though such talents may be improved, the foundation of them must be innate, and like the varying temper and the features of the face, exist only in a certain appropriate organization.

The eclat of Miss O'Neill's early dawn soon spread beyond the Drogheda theatre, and Mr. Talbot, manager of the Belfast company, immediately tendered offers to secure the advantage of her rising abilities. She was accordingly taken from under her father's wing by this gentleman, and she continued to appear at Belfast with progressive approbation and regular improvement for a period of two years. It would appear from the account of her, even at that time, that her very first representations entitled her to a reputation which it was long before Mrs. Siddons acquired. Great as are the powers of this last actress, it is acknowledged she owed much to time and study, that she was literally broke in, and in the peculiar mode of acting she adopted, that there was much practice and labour necessary to give it the high finish it acquired in her hands.

At the end of two years on the Belfast stage, so much were Miss O'Neill's superior powers the general talk and admiration of the country, that they excited the curiosity and interest of the Dublin manager. Liberal offers were made to induce her to appear in the capital, a situation in which