Full in the centre of a spacious plain, It borrow'd ornament, or sought support; In the first seat, in robe of various dyes, A noble wildness flashing from his eyes, Sat Shakspeare.-Ir one hand a wand he bore, 250 253 260 life, of gentle manners, and very engaging in conversation. He was an excellent scholar and an easy natural poet. His peculiar excellence was the dressing up an old thought in a new, neat, and trim manner. He was contented to scamper round the foot of Parnassus on his little Welsh pony, which seems never to have tired. He left the fury of the winged steed, and the daring heights of the sacred mountain to the sublime genius of his friend Churchill." 258 Sir Michael Foster, one of the puisne judges of the Court of King's Bench, and author of an excellent treatise on Crown Law. He died the 7th of November, 1763. 261 Dr. Johnson's highly poetical delineation of the merits of the two fathers of the British drama was first introduced in an occasional prologue, spoken by Garrick, at the opening of Drury Lane theatre in 1747 When Learning's triumph o'er her barbarous foes 265 For mighty wonders famed in days of yore; And traced each passion to its proper source; Exhausted worlds, and then imagined new: Cold approbation gave the lingering bays, For those who durst not censure, scarce could praise. A mortal born, he met the general doom, But left, like Egypt's kings, a lasting tomb. The coxcomb felt a lash in every word, And fools, hung out, their brother fools deterr'd. And the procession comes in just array. Now should I, in some sweet poetic line, 283 290 296 First Order came,—with solemn step and slow, In measured time his feet were taught to go. Behind, from time to time, he cast his eye, Lest this should quit his place, that step awry; Appearances to save his only care; So things seem right, no matter what they are: 290 Alluding to Mason's Ode to Memory, which was also ridiculed by Lloyd in an Ode to Oblivion, as Gray's Odes were by Colman in an Ode to Obscurity. The former was written to expose those poets Who gently lull the senses all the while Who meets his lady muse by moss-grown cell, VOL. I. In him his parents saw themselves renew'd, 3C1 Begotten by Sir Critic on Saint Prude. Then came Drum, Trumpet, Hautboy, Fiddle, Flute; Next Snuffer, Sweeper, Shifter, Soldier, Mute: 305 810 Covent Garden theatre became rich under the management of Beard, who, with Miss Brent in the Beggar's Opera and Artaxerxes, turned the tide of public favour for several seasons to the advantage of that house. 315 William Havard was the son of a vintner at Dublin, and was originally intended for the practice of surgery. His first engagement as a player was at the theatre in Goodman's Fields; he then entered into the service of Rich, at Covent Garden; but moved to Drury Lane upon his friend Garrick becoming the patentee of that theatre. As an actor he was pleasing though not powerful, and his attention to his part and amiable character recommended him to the good-will of the audience, and the most assiduous performer could not deserve, on that score, more encouragement than Havard; he acted a variety of characters both in tragedy and comedy, and was constantly before the eyes of a critical audience. Such was the soundness of his judgment, and so respectable his character, that he never met with any marks of displeasure from the public; but on the contrary, was constantly favoured with their countenance and approbation. His person was prepossessing, his voice clear and articulate, and his critical judgment and perfect understanding of the meaning of his author shone forth conspicuously in every part he performed. He did not want feeling, but, from a degree of monotony, which seemed natural to his voice, he sometimes fell short of impassioned execution. One with full purse, t'other with not a sous: 810 Expletive kings, and queens without a name. 314 He was however always decent, sensible, and correct, and acquired an ease in his manner of deportment not commonly to be met with, and which rendered him a very useful though not a capital performer. The same mediocrity of genius attached to his literary efforts, consisting of three tragedies and a farce, the names of the former were Scanderbeg, Charles the First, and Regulus, and the latter, which has never been printed, was called The Elopement; his Charles the First met with the most success, and possesses some merit. Lord Chesterfield, in his celebrated speech on the licensing act, said of this play "that the catastrophe was too recent, too melancholy, and of too solemn a nature to be heard of any where but in a pulpit." Havard retired from the stage in May, 1769, and died of a gentle decay at his lodgings in Tavistockstreet, in January 1778, at the age of sixty-eight years. Contrary to the accustomed suavity of his disposition, he was extremely offended at Churchill for the above lines. On this occasion it was pleasant to observe how artfully some of the actors, who were in fact the most hurt, pretended to be unaffected by the injury done to themselves, but to feel extremely for the obloquy thrown upon others. "Why," exclaimed one of these disinterested persons, "should this man attack Mr. Havard? I am not at all concerned for myself; but what has poor Billy Havard done, that he must be treated so cruelly?" "And pray," replied a gentleman, "What has Mr. Havard done that he cannot bear his misfortunes as well as another?" |