Foote, at Old House, for even Foote will be, during Bartholomew Fair, which scene of riot and low debauchery was then of several weeks duration; but both he and Shuter were precluded from any longer diverting the pub lic, either in Southwark or Smithfield, by an order of the Court of Common Council, of 17th June, 1762, directing, that Lady Fair in the Borough of Southwark should not be held for the future; and that shows, interludes, and other unlawful pastimes should not be suffered at Bartholomew Fair. His characteristic merits as an actor will be noticed towards the conclusion of this Poem. 83 Samuel Foote, the well-known author of several of the best farces in the English language, was descended from two of the most considerable families in Cornwall, and received a suitable education in the university of Oxford, from whence he moved to the Temple, but the law not suiting his inclination, he, in 1747, hired the old Playhouse in the Haymarket, which had been built in 1720, and opened it, in the double capacity of author and performer, with a dramatic piece of his own writing, called "The Diversions of the Morning," in which he introduced several well-known characters in real life, whom he very amusingly represented by a most exact imitation of not only the voice and manner, but even of the person; in this plan he met with some difficulties, owing to his having no license; but by the powerful intercession of his friends, he overruled the opposition of the magistrates, and by an alteration in the title of his bill to that of "Mr. Foote's giving tea to his friends," he proceeded occasionally to perform there without farther molestation. It was not until the year 1762 that he regularly occupied it as a summer theatre, and began his career with his celebrated farce of The Minor. In July, 1766, it was advanced to the dignity of a theatre royal, by patent, authorizing Mr. Foote to exhibit dramatic performances therein, from the 14th of May to the 14th of Septem ber; on this grant he purchased and pulled down the Old House and built the New One, recently still farther enlarged and improved, and very successfully managed it until the year Which Wilkinson at second-hand receives, The town divided, each runs several ways, before his death, when he disposed of his patent to Mr. Colman. Before he obtained the royal patent he frequently performed at the regular theatres some important parts in old comedies, such as Fondlewife in the Old Bachelor, Sir Paul Pliant in the Double Dealer, and Ben in Love for Love, in which he gave a loose to the most ridiculous burlesque and the vilest grimace. However, the people laughed heartily, and that, he thought, was a full approbation of his grotesque performance. In short, Foote was a despicable player in almost all such characters as were not expressly written by and for himself. From this censure we must, however, except his representation of Bayes in the Rehearsal, into which he introduced so much new matter as to make the character more his own than the Duke of Buckingham's. His fancy was so exuberant, his conceptions were so ready, and his thoughts so brilliant, that he kept his audience in continual laughter. Public transactions, the flying follies of the day, debates of grave assemblies, absurdities of play-wrights, politicians, and actors, all came under his cognizance, and felt the force of his wit; he laid hold of everything and everybody that could furnish merriment for the evening. Foote could have written a new Rehearsal equal to the old. We shall have occasion to notice some farther particulars of Foote, and of the resentment he felt on the publication of the Rosciad. Foote's advertisement was thus worded: "Mr. Foote presents his compliments to his friends and the public, and desires them to drink tea at the little Theatre in the Haymarket every morning at Playhouse prices." The house was crowded: he advanced before the curtain and said, that while the tea wag preparing, as he was then training some young actors for the A dress well chosen, or a patch misplaced, From galleries loud peals of laughter roll, And thunder Shuter's praises ;-he's so droll, Embox'd, the ladies must have something smart, Palmer! oh! Palmer tops the janty part. 46 stage, he would, with their permission, proceed with his instructions. The manœuvre was highly relished, and it became the universal fashion every noon to drink a dish of Mr. Foote's tea, and for two or three years he termed his pieces of imitation, giving tea. All the actors were the objects of his imitation or rather caricature in their respective parts; of Garrick, who was apt to hesitate in his dying scenes, he gave the following specimen in Lothario: "adorns my fall And chea-chea-chea-chea-chea-chears 85 Tate Wilkinson, a comic actor, whom our author in a subsequent part of this poem characterizes as the mere shadow of Foote, was, at the publication of the Rosciad, a principal proprietor and one of the managers of Sadler's Wells, which concern he afterwards quitted and commenced manager of the theatre at York, where he died in the summer of 1803. He was the author of an incoherent rambling work entitled, The Wandering Patentee, or, The History of the Yorkshire Theatres, in 4 vols. 8vo. His performance of the part of Shift, in Foot's Minor, was considered his highest effort. Wilkinson, in his Memoirs, disclaims the charge of imitation, and alleges "that the desire to become an actor at only ten years of age appeared very conspicuous, and will fully prove and clear an error conceived by Mr. Churchill (who was afterwards convinced to the contrary) that Mr. Foote instructed me in the art of imitation." 46 John Palmer, a favourite actor in genteel comedy. He married Miss Pritchard, daughter of the celebrated actress of Seated in pit, the dwarf with aching eyes When place of judgment is by whim supplied, And our opinions have their rise in pride; When, in discoursing on each mimic elf, We praise and censure with an eye to self; All must meet friends, and Ackman bids as fair that name, and died about the year 1780, in consequence of an improper draught being given to him, for what might otherwise have proved but a slight indisposition. He was a very respectable player, and a man much esteemed for his integrity. 48 Spranger Barry, an actor of first rate eminence, whose peculiar merit will be the subject of a future note, was in his person above five feet eleven inches high, finely formed, and possessing a countenance in which manliness and sweetness of feature were so happily blended, as to form one of the best representatives of the Belvedere Apollo. With this commanding figure he had acquired such an easy and unembarrassed management of his limbs, as never to look encumbered, or present an ungraceful attitude in his various traverses on the stage. 50 John Coan, an uncommonly diminutive dwarf, was a native of Norfolk, and died in March, 1764. He, during some years before his death, gratified the curiosity of his countrymen at the small charge of sixpence per head. 55 Ackman ranked with the lowest comic actors of his time; but as no talents are proof against satire, so no inferiority precludes praise. This man had lavish encomiums bestowed on him for his acting by Hugh Kelly, in an humble imitation of the Rosciad, entitled Thespis. In which poem, Kelly with perfect consistency treated Mrs. Clive, Mrs. Barry, and other excellent actors with the utmost severity. In such a court, as Garrick, for the chair. At length agreed, all squabbles to decide, By some one judge the cause was to be tried; But this their squabbles did afresh renew, Who should be judge in such a trial:—who? 56 60 For Johnson some; but Johnson, it was fear'd, Would be too grave; and Sterne too gay appear'd ; Others for Franklin voted: but 'twas known 61 Churchill, who in this poem had a character to esta blish, possibly thought it prudent to abstain from that acrimonious mention of Dr. Johnson, which too often occurs in some of his subsequent poems;-or most probably he had not yet formed that close intimacy with Wilkes, which might in its progress induce him to ridicule the foibles of the one, that the public attention might be diverted from contemplating the odious vices of the other. 62 The Reverend Dr. Laurence Sterne, whose Tristram Shandy, published in 1760, was now at the zenith of its popularity. Dr. Ferriar, in an ingenious Essay in the Transactions of the Philosophical Society of Manchester, has successfully established many plagiarisms by Sterne from Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy, and other obsolete works; and which may be allowed to exist, without detracting from the exquisite tact and happy mannerism of Shandy, and the Sentimental Journey;-would that they could be as readily absolved from the more serious charge of indelicacy. 63 Dr. Thomas Franklin, the translator of Sophocles, Phalaris, and Lucian, and the author of a volume of Sermons; he also permitted his name to be prefixed to a translation of Voltaire's works. He wrote several plays, among which his Orestes and Electra were avowedly taken from Voltaire, but his most popular effort in the dramatic walk was "The Earl of Warwick," a tragedy, which, without any acknowledgment, he took from M. de la Harpe's celebrated play of the same name, and on the same subject. This gentleman, though |