[1789-c.1817], Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) on John Philip Kemble (1757-1823) as Macbeth (pp. 218-19) and on Coriolanus’ death scene (p. 224); from Scott’s review of James Boaden’s Memoirs of the Life of John Philip Kemble, in The Quarterly Review, 34 (

Abstract John Philip Kemble, actor, manager, and play adapter, was the leading figure of the English theatre between the death of Garrick and the emergence of Edmund Kean, whose fiery genius threw him into eclipse in his final years. Kemble managed Drury Lane from 1788 to 1802, and Covent Garden from 1803 till he retired in 1817. He often played Macbeth with his sister, Sarah Siddons, as his Lady. Sir Walter Scott was a favourite drinking companion who helped him to write a farewell speech in verse, delivered after his last performance, as Macbeth, in Edinburgh during his final season. Scott’s long review of Boaden’s biography gave him the opportunity to assess the actor’s qualitities with affectionate but judicious nostalgia.