probably at his own suggestion, that he was sent to Eton College by Dr. Drury, headmaster of Harrow, by whom he was seen at Windsor. For this wild statement, unsupported by a tittle of evidence, the biography published in 1814 in the ‘European Magazine’ seems primarily responsible. One or two subsequent biographers have been reluctant to dismiss it. Kean certainly disappears from view between 1803 and 1806. A writer in ‘Notes and Queries,’ 4th ser. iii. 535, says that during this period he was acting under the name of Edmund Carter in Goldsmith's company at Grassington Theatre and its offshoots in the district of Craven, Yorkshire. With him were a sister, Sarah Carter, and a Mrs. Carter, said to have been his mother. This statement, although unsupported, has the merit of plausibility. In March 1806 Kean was playing low comedy under Moss at Dumfries. Proceeding to join Butler's company at Northallerton, he is said on his way to have replaced a disabled jockey, and ridden and lost a race.
In 1806, presumably on 9 June, Kean made his first appearance at the Haymarket, playing Ganem in the ‘Mountaineers.’ Peter, a servant, in the ‘Iron Chest,’ Simon in ‘John Bull,’ Rosencrantz to the Hamlet of Rae, the Polonius of Mathews, and the First Gravedigger of Liston, and other subordinate parts followed. An application to Kemble for an engagement was unsuccessful, and Kean returned into the country and played in various towns from Portsmouth to Edinburgh and Belfast, in which last town he acted Osmyn in the ‘Mourning Bride’ to the Zara of Mrs. Siddons, who called him a ‘horrid little man.’ As Jaffier to her Belvidera and Norval to her Lady Randolph he won a more favourable opinion. His experiences as a strolling player were naturally varied, and not seldom disagreeable. While with Beverley at Stroud he refused to play Laertes to the Hamlet of ‘Master’ Betty, saying, ‘Damme, I won't play second to any man living except to John Kemble.’ In July 1808, at Stroud, Kean married Mary Chambers, an actress nine years older than himself, with whom he had been playing. The next six years saw Kean in various country towns suffering unmitigated hardship. Stephen Kemble, struck with his Octavian in the ‘Mountaineers,’ offered him a London engagement; but Kean, with judgment altogether out of keeping with his ordinary proceedings, declared it was early to make the great plunge. While in Wales with Cherry's company, the first son, Howard Kean, was born. Charles, the second son [q. v.], was born in Waterford on 18 Jan. 1811. With these additions to his expenses his position became terrible, and the family were often dependent on charity for sustenance. In Guernsey his Hamlet was bitterly criticised, and as Richard he was hissed and derided. Advancing to the front, he declaimed, with an energy that surprised the audience, the line—
Unmannered dogs! stand ye when I command.
A shout for an apology provoked Kean to further expressions of contempt, and led to a feud with the press and the public, which Sir John Doyle, the governor, had some difficulty in quenching. At Dorchester Kean was seen by Dr. Drury, who made application on his behalf to the Drury Lane committee. Kean meanwhile had accepted an engagement from Elliston to play melodrama at the Olympic. On 14 Nov. 1813 he appeared as Octavian in the ‘Mountaineers’ at Dorchester, and Kankou the savage in a pantomime said to have been extracted by himself from the story of La Pérouse. Kean describes the audience as miserable, but adds that a gentleman in the stage-box appeared to understand acting, and to him accordingly he played. This spectator was Arnold, the stage-manager of Drury Lane, who had been sent by the management. An introduction followed, and Kean was offered an engagement at Drury Lane for three years at a salary rising from eight to ten and twelve guineas a week. The death of his son Howard detained him for a time, but after a visit to Exeter he came to London and took a garret in Cecil Street, Strand. His appearance flustered the committee, who mistrusted his powers, and wished him to appear in a secondary part. Kean was resolute, and insisted upon opening as Shylock, to which the management was compelled reluctantly to accede. Further delay then arose from the claims of Elliston, which Kean resisted with all his power. The committee wished to cancel the engagement, but on the intercession of Dr. Drury they consented to give him a trial, and Elliston, ignorant of Kean's value, waived the exercise of his rights.
At length, on 26 Jan. 1814, the memorable appearance of Kean at Drury Lane took place, an event more stimulating and important than any other in English theatrical annals. On the one side stood Kean, confident in unmatched powers, and on the other a public incredulous and uninterested, and a management seeking only some means of escape from what it viewed as an unfortunate engagement, while his stage associates, taking their cue from those in power, sneered at the newcomer, and stung him
