"tinence and good sense as he could have done in any former "part of his life. Such was the power he had over his mind, "when roused to exert himself by some interesting occasion. "But this was an effort, which could not be sustained very "long. In less than half an hour the family returned, and "he relapsed into his usual forgetfulness and inattention."

It was of course in this season of parental agony, worldly indifference, abstraction from all amusements, failure of memory, inattention to associates, and incurable melancholy, that the anecdote supposes him to have welcomed an itinerant actor to his table, discussed with him his new readings in Hamlet, and to have sported the monitory dissuasions from indulging in too much ale.

Perhaps the reader may excuse me for having made the above extract fuller than the refutation of an idle tale required, as the whole passage is extremely striking, and closes the history of one of the first of men. Bishop Hurd had but little more to add to the above picture. Warburton expired at the palace in Gloucester, on the 7th of June, 1779, and was buried in his cathedral, at no great distance from the west door, and near to the grave of one of his predecessors, Bishop Benson.

Mr. Craddock was the person who was said to have introduced Kemble to Bishop Warburton, and he did interest himself greatly about the success of his young friend; but the actor in question never had the happiness, such he would indeed have thought it, to be presented to the author of the Divine Legation.

CHAP. II.

His York engagement.-His writings for the stage.-Orestes. -His portrait by Stuart.-Lord Percy's interference for Mr. Kemble.Mrs. Mason in Zenobia.-Miss Eleanora S., her behaviour and its perplexing consequences.-Kemble's manliness.-Sharp contest.-Dr. Burgh, General St. Leger-General reflections on such annoyances.-Lunatic Asylum-Kemble's prologue.-Mr. Inchbald's DeathMr. Kemble's fugitive pieces in 1780.-Theatrical fete.Mr. Kemble's Irish engagement.-Digges.-Mrs. Crawford. Mrs. Siddons.-Miss Phillips and her champion.

THE provincial engagements of Mr. Kemble produced to him frequent mortification, and little of either profit or fame, with the exceptions of Manchester and Liverpool; in both of these towns he left a favourable impression, which has constantly been kept up by summer engagements; and he could name many persons of talent and consideration, who looked upon his ultimate triumph as a matter of absolute certainty.

It would not be my wish, if I had the means, to trace him through his severe pilgrimage among our country theatres; more particularly as I intend to give a pretty ample sketch of his progress, during the three years he continued in the York company. It was early in the October of 1778 that he joined them, then, and long, under the management of Tate Wilkinson.

Mrs. Siddons had experienced so much favour from the audiences of Yorkshire, that it seemed advisable for her brother to try the effect of claims, every way kindred. The company had just made the experiment of an additional week at Wakefield; as it did not answer, it is useless to detail the mortifications of the manager. I have mentioned it solely for the purpose of stating that Mr. Kemble made his first appearance in the character of Captain Plume, in Farquhar's lively comedy of the Recruiting Officer-with a pantomime.

But it was at Hull that he made the first appearance of any consequence; and there he played Macbeth on the 30th of October. There are no means of estimating how nearly then his performance approached to his maturer efforts; but I have strong reason to think that, to sound judges, the dawn sufficiently indicated what the day would prove.

To be sure, the eye, accustomed to all the splendour of our present theatres. may turn with apprehension to the deficiencies of provincial stages; and it may be conjectured that the actor was lost for want of our brilliant aids. But I doubt this extremely. I incline, from early recollections, to think, that, as the actors then occupied the whole attention, they had greater power over the spectator. If the scenery had decent propriety, it was sufficient; if the dresses were not old, the costume was little regarded.

In a country company, the more extensive an actor's powers are, the better for the concern. Although I should conceive that Mr. Kemble, even in his youth, could never have been wholly at ease in comedy, yet we find him following Macbeth by Archer, and becoming speedily an object of great importance to the manager.

To those who remember Mr. Kemble's latter diffidence, as an author, it may excite surprise that, on his just attaining manhood, he should venture before an audience a tragedy of his own composition. On the 29th of December, this year, he brought out his tragedy of Belisarius for his own benefit. As I have never seen a line of this play, I cannot speak to its merits it appears to have been well received, to have been thought creditable to his talents, and to have acquired for him both money and reputation.

As I well know his extreme humility as to his writings, the real inducements to this exhibition must have been of a politic nature. He had felt that the report of his education was serviceable to him; it gave him consideration with those who had learning, and a little awed the decisions of those who had none. The more various the display he could make of his powers, therefore, the better. He had no rivals in the company as an author; it insinuated a suspicion, that he might really have none as an actor.

But at York it seemed there were difficulties to be surmounted. There was a good deal of prepossession to strive against his rivals, it may be readily imagined, did not yield to him without a struggle; Cummins had long been the favourite with the MANY.

On the 19th of January, 1779, he acted on the York stage the character of Orestes, a part to which he was long attached; the scene where his imagination suggests to him the persecution of the Furies, was at all times one of his greatest efforts. The artist called American Stuart subsequently painted him in this character: it is a head, and conveys the incipient madness with perfect identity of expression. It affords a fine opportunity of ascertaining the change which

time brought upon his features, and is still, I believe, in the possession of his friend the Rev. C. Estc. It might be compared with Sir Thomas Lawrence's portrait of him in Cato. Mr. Kemble chose Ranger for his second performance at York.

It is a curious circumstance, that his early love of a more perfect exhibition of the drama should have been the fortunate cause of his intimacy with the late Duke of Northumberland. On the 22d February, 1779, that distinguished nobleman, then Lord Percy, arrived at York with two troops of the king's own dragoons. They remained in the town until the 26th of the following April. It occurred to Kemble, that a few soldiers might be rendered highly serviceable in the processions of the theatre, and he applied to the officer on duty for permission to employ them on such occasions. The officer, in his zeal for military discipline, told him that the men had more important duties to attend to. Mr. Kemble, however, was not easily induced at any time to give up a favourite object, and solicited the powerful interference of Lord Percy. His lordship condescended to interest himself about it, and the objection was immediately withdrawn.

On the 10th of April, the officers bespoke a play for the benefit of Mrs. Hunter. The play was the School for Lovers. To add a novelty to the attractions of the evening, Mr. Kemble presented to that lady a comedy which he had written, ·called the Female Officer. I presume the real soldiers to have been employed on this occasion.

After the performances of the evening, Lord Percy took Mr. Kemble home to sup with him. I learn from a most accurate and excellent friend of his through life, that Kemble did not then first become known to his lordship, though the favourable impression made upon the mind of that nobleman this night appears to have ripened into esteem, and ultimately suggested to him the desire that his son, the present duke, might receive the benefit of his instructions.

An Arabian proverb tells us, that "the habitation of danger is on the borders of security." I am now to relate a circumstance in his dramatic life, which led him to feel, very painfully indeed, the condition of an actor, among the proud, the thoughtless, the indelicate, and yet sometimes the leading parts of the community.

On the 13th of April, 1779, Murphy's tragedy of Zenobia was performed, and a Mrs. Mason was the heroine of the evening. The stage-box was unfortunately occupied by a lady of some distinction, whose ill-nature vented itself in the form of criticism; and Mrs. Mason became the object of her

derision, which she expressed by loud and ill-bred laughter, to the annoyance of the poor victim, and of every body but the persons in her immediate suite.

Mr. Kemble, too, because he perhaps could not shout like Cummins, or because he had a dark complexion; because he had the reputation of learning, or because the lady cared not about a reason when she wanted to amuse herself, he also became a mark for this silly woman's annoyance.

I do not suppose that she was aware of Dr. Johnson's opinion of Zenobia, that it had too much Tig. and Teri. in it (the names of two of the characters being Tigranes and Teribazus); but Mr. Kemble performed the part of the latter, who is the lover of the piece, and shared with Mrs. Mason the contempt and derision of Miss S. and her party. In the interesting scenes of the last act, she found full gratification for her spleen, as both her objects were together upon the stage, and she redoubled her efforts to cover them with disgrace. The actress had made little impression on any body, but Kemble was shocked at the brutal treatment she received. As to the insults designed for himself during the evening, he had retorted them by looks of infinite disdain. His sensibility was noticed in the box by loud and repeated peals of laughter from the lady and her echoes. At this, Kemble suddenly stopped, and being called upon by the audience to proceed, with great gravity and a pointed bow to the stage-box, he said he was ready to proceed with the play as soon as THAT "lady had finished her conversation, which he perceived the "going on with the tragedy only interrupted.”

The audience received this rudeness of the stage-box as an insolent attempt to control their amusements, and with shouts, which could not be laughed down, ordered the lady and her party out of the theatre.

That an actor, however, should presume to resent the conduct of a lady of family, was an outrage not to be endured; and some officers of the militia, at her desire, undertook to obtain a full and public reparation of the affront. They went round to the manager, and tried to alarm him on the side of his interest. He appears on this occasion to have done Kemble justice; to have urged to them his education, his talents, his spirit, and gentlemanly feeling; and to have shown how vain it would be to expect from him any submission where, in truth, HE was the injured person.

Mr. Kemble attended these gentlemen in the manager's room, and very coolly and temperately repeating his provocations, refused compliance with their demand. The officers returned to the lady, and reported their failure. The an