False Estimate
KEAN once played Young Norval to Mrs. Siddons's Lady Randolph: after
the play, as Kean used to relate, Mrs. Siddons came to him, and patting
him on the head, said, You have played very well, sir, very well. It's
a pity,--but there's too little of you to do anything.
Coleridge said of this little actor: Kean is original; but he copies
from himself. His rapid descent from the hyper-tragic to the
infra-colloquial, though sometimes productive of great effect, are often
unreasonable. To see him act, is like reading 'Shakespeare' by flashes
of lightning. I do not think him thorough-bred gentleman enough to play
Othello.