MACREADY, ma-kre'd1, William Charles, English tragedian : b. London, 3 March 1793; d. Cheltenham, 27 April 1873. He received his education at Rugby, and originally had the in tention of adopting one of the learned profes sions. The change in his career was brought about by his father, a theatrical manager, hav ing fallen into embarrassed circumstances, to relieve which he joined his father's troupe, then acting at Birmingham. He appeared there for the first time in 1810 in the character of Romeo, in which he was successful. On 16 Sept. 1816 he made his first appearance on the London boards, acting Orestes in The Distressed Mother,' at Covent Garden Theatre. He did not achieve an immediate triumph in London, but gradually rose in popular favor. His Vir ginius was the first of his London successes. From the time when he appeared in this part he continued steadily to improve as an actor, and his successes were no longer confined to the lower walks of the profession. In 1826-27 he made his first tour in the United States, making his debut at New York on 2 Oct. 1826 as Virginius, and again visited America in 1843, In 1841 he became a theatre manager of Drury Lane, but met with no success, so that he re signed at the end of the second season. His managership at Drury Lane had brought upon him considerable financial loss, to repair which he made his third visit to America (1848-49). he was involved in an unfortunate quar rel with the American actor, Forrest, which in May 1849 culminated in a riot at the Astor Place Opera House, New York, at which Ma cready was appearing as Macbeth, and in con sequence was obliged to leave the country. On
his return to London he gave some farewell performances, and then retired from the stage in 1851.
McREYNOLDS, James Clark, American lawyer, cabinet officer and jurist: b. Elktown, Ky., 3 Feb. 1862. He was graduated at Vanderbilt University in 1882 and from the law department of the University of Virginia in 1884. He engaged in law prac tice at Nashville, Tenn., attaining a distin guished reputation; and in 1900-03, without relinquishing his practice, he was professor at the Law School of Vanderbilt University. While of Democratic party affiliations he was appointed Assistant Attorney-General under the Roosevelt administration in 1903-07, after which he engaged in law practice in New York. He was on several occasions retained as counsel by the United States in service connected with the application of the anti-trust laws, his part in dealing with the tobacco trust and with the anthracite coal dealers and the railroads being especially prominent. In 1913 he was appointed United States Attorney-General by President Wilson, succeeding Attorney-General Wicker sham. While in office the cases of the Union and Southern Pacific Railroad merger, the In ternational Harvester Company, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, the Reading Company and the New York, New Haven and Hartford, under the Sherman Anti-Trust Law, came under his direction. He was appointed associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States in August 1914 and took his seat in October.