ABSTRACT
Next to David Garrick, Charles Macklin was arguably the greatest actor of his time. His portrayal of Shylock in The Merchant of Venice remained a crowd-pleaser for forty years. Macklin was an anti-social, litigious Irishman with a hot temper and a disposition to violence, but he had a kind and generous disposition, especially to his wife and children. He was also an author: his popular play Love à la Mode denigrated Scots, Jews, and indolent upper-class Englishmen but praised his own people, the Irish. As a teacher of acting, Macklin showed his pupils how to achieve a natural style. In mid-career, he retired from the stage in order to open a tavern and lecture hall, which he called the British Inquisition. When both failed, he returned to the stage.
