Charles Macklin

Charles Macklin, portrait of John Opie, circa 1792

Charles Macklin (September 26, 1690 – July 11, 1797), originally MacLaughlin, was an actor and dramatist born in the village of Culdaff in Inishowen, Co. Donegal, Ireland, and one of the most distinguished actors of his day, equally in tragedy and comedy. He gained his greatest fame in the role of Shylock in The Merchant of Venice.

Quotes

• The law is a sort of hocus-pocus science, that smiles in yer face while it picks yer pocket; and the glorious uncertainty of it is of mair use to the professors than the justice of it.
  • Love à la Mode (1759), Act ii. Sc. 1.

• Every tub must stand upon its bottom.
  • The Man of the World (1781), Act i. Sc. 2. Compare: "Every fat must stand upon his bottom", John Bunyan, Pilgrim’s Progress, Part i.

External links

• Works by Charles Macklin at Project Gutenberg
• Tablet at St. Paul's Churchyard