Mathews, CHARLES

Mathews, CHARLES, comedian, was born in London, 28th June 1776, and educated at Merchant Taylors'. His father was a bookseller, and intended his son to follow the same 'serious calling;' but his early inclination for the stage overcame parental counsel, and he made his first appearance as an amateur—in the part of Richmond—at the Richmond theatre in 1793, and as a professional comedian in the Theatre Royal, Dublin, the following year. He then served an apprenticeship in the famous York company under Tate Wilkinson, and made his first appearance in London on 15th May 1803, at the Haymarket, then managed by George Colman. Next year he played at Drury Lane, and he afterwards acted at Covent Garden and the Lyceum; but he was not satisfied with the class of part given to him, and in 1818 he took up the profession of 'entertainer' and made an immense success with his 'At Home' and other entertainments. In this class of business he passed the remainder of his life, appearing frequently in the provinces and visiting America twice. He died at Plymouth on 28th June 1835. Mathews was a true comedian, with extraordinary powers of impersonation, entering into the very mind of the persons he imitated. He was not merely a 'mimic'—one who reproduces oddities and peculiarities; he was the person he represented. See his Memoirs by Mrs Mathews (4 vols. 1838–39).—His son, CHARLES JAMES (born 26th December 1803; died 24th June 1878), was a delightful light comedian, with no depth of feeling, but with charming grace and delicacy. In 1838 he married the famous Madame Vestris. See his Life, chiefly Autobiographical, edited by Charles Dickens (2 vols. 1879).