AN EVENTFUL CAREER.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 3211, 23 July 1878, Page 3

AN EVENTFUL CAREER.

[by sniggerer.] (Concluded.) Chapter IV. " All the World's a stage." At the close of a busy and successful geason oiii' hero was offered an engagement as light comedian for the Theatre Royal, Bath. At that period of history it was indispensably necessary as a finishing touch to education for every aspirant for fame in any walk of life to go fco the famous city. It is recorded of the great commoner Mr Pitt that he had gone there frequently. In short, down to quite recent times, upon the commission of any act of rudeness, it was quite common to tell the perpetrator to "go to Bath!" Our hero accepted the engagement of Mr James Would, and derived much benefit from the waters which down there are pellucid and abundant. The weai" and tear, however, of an exhausting season began to tell upon a youthful mind and frame. Nature rebelled against the harsh treatment to which for too long a time she was being subjected, so that Mr iloskins was reluctantly constrained to ask for a brief period of rest and retirement. Many a bright eye was dim when the curtain rose in the Bath Theatre, but the tall and handsome figure of our William came not again. Invigorated and hardened somewhat into manhood he however, again came forth. The Taunton circuit, then in the hands of Mr Dean Davis, was duly done to advantage in every way ; daily knowledge and strengtli being added to the caj>ital stock of our hero. After a year full of instruction and benefit, Halifax was the next place to be visited. Many persons are sent there, but comparitivcly few go. Our William, however, went to Halifax, and from that period he has been able to smile serenely at any further intimations that he should go again. Mrs Robertson at this time became aquainted with him and. as she was a good judge of merit, she immediately engaged him to go upon her circuit. From this point his fortunes began to make a fresh start, but before going further we must mention — Chapter V. " He was my friend, faithful and true to me." " Mine ovm familiar friend." . Mr J. P. Hydes, with whom of course all my readers are well acquainted. At this period of his life, our pleasant friend the manager of the " Royal," Gloucester stree „ was in a position to answer with perfect propriety any advertisement which mig'ib have appeared in the Wisbeach Star for " a smart active youth." As a fact, our friend, " iamiliar as our glove," had probably answered some such invitation with success,

for, as we pick him up, he is already engaged in business in the town, his parental home being pleasantly situated down on the South Brink. A farm of the quaint old English sort, a picture of peace and homely beauty such as we have feebly endeavoured to draw in our opening chapter, and to this happy spot our newly-found friend and our Thespian hero joyously betook themselves upon every convenient occasion. " What peaceful lionrs were then eujoy'd— How sweet their memory still ; But they have left an aching void The world can never fill." " 0 Death in Life, the days— the days that are no more." Everybody knows that the friendship thus cemented in the morning of existence subsists pleasantly to this hour " through many a bitter changing scene of all their busy life hath been." In company our friends set out; from Wisbeack. Together they went to Boston, Lincoln, Spalding, Whittlesea, Peterborough, and Huntingdon. We have mentioned that our hero's fortunes had began to show a rising tendency ; from here they went up rapidly. He was claimed by the Norwich circuit, then a most important one, and it formed the stepping stone to his appearance subsequently in London, the metropolis of the world. Chafteb VI. " The gentle lady married to the Moor And heavenly Una with her milk white laml>." At the Theatre, Cambridge, our William opened in " Love," but we are much mistaken if he had nob played in " Love" with great success previously to this time. So great was his triumph in this performance that for two years he remained on this circuit as leading comedian, and litterly as stage manager and director. It is impossible to recapitulate all the towns visited by him at this time, nor all the brilliant triumphs which he achieved. It was at this period that he became acquainted with a lady ever fair and young, Miss Julia Wallack, a beautiful and charming young vocalist then in the circuit. " Love is the salt of life, a higher taste it gives to pleasure." Our hero loved as other heroes have done. Indeed it is impossible to make a hero out of material hard as adamant to love's unquenchable fire. " Fair tresses man's imperial race ensnare, and beauty draws us with a single hair." "He sought her next morn, and he sought her next day ; he sought her for weeks, until months passed away." It is exceedingly satisfactory to be able to state that the lady yielded — as the best will do — to persistent importunity, and the 3rd September, 1842, saw our hero happily married. A week afterwards the happy pair sailed for New York, under engagement to appear at the Park Theatre, in that city. It was then that occurred one of the gi-eatest commercial panics that certainly America, if not the world, has ever seen, aud its effects were most disastrous. Mr and Mrs Hoskins speedily reembarked for the scenes o£ former successes, and in .Norwich they were received with a hearty, cordial welcome. Propitious fortune at length called them to London, and in Covent G-arden Mr Hoskins appeared on the 19th October, 1843, in " London Assurance." At the close of a prosperous engagement, sweet retirement and the congenial atmosphere of Bath, the scene of well-remembered efforts and struggles, were again sought. To Bristol, strengthened and refreshed, Brighton, Birmingham, Liverpool, Newcastle-on-Tjne, Manchester, and other places, playing leading characters with great k'lat. Again to London in May, this time at Sadlers Wells, where he appeared in " Henry IV " and " Naval Engagements." This may be said to have been up to this time his most brilliant triumph. For no less than ,ten years he remained in London as principal comedian and stage manager of Drury Lane Theatre, and for two years more as manager for Mr William Fan-en. Chaptee VII. " Give kindly welcome As vie draw near home." At the Salle de Ventedom, Paris, our hero played a short season of two months, during May, 1855. Again we find him seeking the scenes of his early achievements, which have always exercised a fascinating influence over his mind. At different periods, after long intervals instinctively he turns to the localities, as a wanderer turns to his home, dear to him by many fond associations and tender recollections, where he put forth his first efforts. Upon this occasion his visit was attended with many circumstances calculated to render it peculiarly gratifying. He was now a " star," with an assured position upon the English stage. Of his accomplished wife he was intensely proud, and he was devotedly attached to her. Old friends and kind faces crowded round him and combined to render all things cheerful and happy. In 1856 a proposition was made to him to visit Australia, then in the full glory of its gold discoveries. On the 27th of June in that year, in company with the popular buffo singer Mr Farqutiarson, Mr Walter Sherwin, and Mr Linly Normer, he arrived in Melbourne, Mrs Hoskins— better known to old colonists as Miss Julia Harland — being prima donna. They opened in the old Theatre Royal, Bourke street, in the English opera " Massaniello," and had a great success. They may be termed the first representatives of the lyric drama that visited the colonies, and, apart from their merits might naturally from that circumstance have been expected to have a good run. In Australia, Mr Hoskins appeared as a star in Melbourne, Ballarat, Geelong, and Sydney, N.S.W., and everywhere he went, fitting tribute was paid by the public to his sterling abilities. Chapter VIII. "Wliat happened then I cannot tell, I never Mew; First came the loss of light and air — And then of darkness too " At this point his present biographer loses him. The death of Mrs Hoskins, to whom he was not only a devoted husband but a warm admirer always, some time about 1871, must have operated very seriously upon his mind and temperament. She sleeps yonder in the Melbourne cemetery. There is a blank here which this deponent is unable to penetrate, and probably it is just as well. In 1874 he is united again again in holy wedlock to a very beautiful and charming actress, Miss Florence Colville, and assiduously he gave himself to the work of improving her representations and perfecting her great natural advantages. Of Miss Colville this biographer is again deprived of the pleasure of description, as she is well known to all frequenters of the theatre in this city. Mrs Hoskins has recently been suffering from ill health, but she lias returned from Sydney, where she has had a most successful season iv star characters much improved in health and spirits. Last night she made her reappearance in tii is city to a crowded house assembled to welcome her, when she played Lady Teazle with a naturalness and sparkling vivacity such as she has never displayed here before. duck an enthusiastic reception as she received must have beer, peculiarly gratifying to her as well as to Mr Hoskins. For a period of about seven years Mr Hoskins has lived amongst us here, during which the Christchurch public have known him as actor, manager and lesseo of the Theatre Royal. Again, however, the longing for the old places and faces seems to have taken possession of him, coupled perhaps with a feeling that lie has done enough. Although "he seems a man of cheerful yesterdays and confident to-morrows," yet a time there is when nature should not be pushed to extremity. There are none that will grudge to our hero the rest he is entitled to and has fairly won, although his enjoyment may be regarded as their deprivation. Chapter IX. " His litlle, namcle.'S, unrememhered acts Of kindness, and of Jove." Our brief history draws to its close. Our hero's figure is familiar to our stage and to our city streets, and his name is a household word in every house in New Zealand. Heis still the excellent actor he always was, ' and his appearance is the certain signal for applause. The shortcomings of others on the stage are forgiven, or viewed with gentle eyes, for the sake of William Hoskins ; and surely in an exacting age, when people are ' nothing if not critical, no more heartfelt testimony could bo given to his fame and ; wide-spread popularity. In addition to his great experience and ability as an actor, Air Hoskins is entitled to bo considered as ono of the greatest authorities now living, on the wo ks of Shakespeare, and upon all occasions when ho can do so with propriety and tasto, Mr Hoskins mukes an endeavour to instil a love and reverence for the great Pcet,

his master, whoße ■works have been his constant and . affectionate study through life^ How many are there now upon the stage who are indebted to kindly hints, suggestions 1 , advice, and practical assisstance in their profession from William Hoskins ? He has not forgotten his own early struggles. Is there a benefit on the tapis for any weary way-worn brother? Mr Hoskins' assistance can surely bo relied upon. After forty«one years' changeful experience of the stage, during which he has come through nearly all the vicissitudes of the poor player, he prepares so make his last final adieu in front of the green curtain. Tha "well graced actor" prepares to leave tke stage. What a parting it will be for him ! What; memories, " images and precious thoughts that shall not die, and cannot be destroyed," will well up within him, as for the last time, lie bids adieu to the stage lie has so long adorned, and all its fond associations. "Farewell, a long farewell to all my greatness !" It is, we understand, Mr Hoskins' intention to return to England — to. Bath — the Norwich Circuit — the scenes of his youth and its attendant pleasures. Thafc I he has many admirers in Canterbury it is unnecessary to say. No doubt he has many pleasant and kindly recollections of his stay amongst us here in New Zealand, but we ara sure the pleasantest, because the kindliest, is yet in store for him. On the 13th of August next it is proposed to pay him a compliment, and there cannot be a doubt it will be such as to be honourable to him, and worthy of Christchurch. We are certain. that when he does depart from amongst us, he will leave behind many warm friends an 4 ardent admirers, who will be delighted to hear good news of him where-ever he goes 5 who will cherish warm, pleasant thoughts o£ him as an actor, student and exponent of Shakespeare, as a citizen, and a right good warm-hearted gentleman. May his figura long continue to cast its shadow on the earth.