referred to, that "the Bard had had an efcape by dying," as he was actually upon the point of marrying her; in deed matters had proceeded so far that her wedding-clothes were befpoken. It has been also stated, that afterwards her circumstances were fo affluent, "that he was enabled to keep her coach, frequent the Theatre every night, and lup by herself at the taverns in the neighbourhood."-Droffiana, European Magazine. MACKLIN. I think it was in or about the year 1778, when this veteran, then confiderably more than eighty years of age, performed at Covent Garden Theatre, and, as I have been informed, he often appeared much hurt at the little notice that was taken of his very extraordinary exertions, and mortified to obferve the fmall power of attraction which even the performance of his best characters feemed to poffefs. One evening that the MISER was announced, he was, when dressed for that part, previous to the beginning of the play, walking behind the curtain with that truly excellent Actrefs the late Mrs. Green, who was alfo dreffed for the part of Lappet. While thus engaged, he was lamenting the degenerate tafte of the age with refpect to fcenic exhibitions, and the caprice which too frequently operated against once fayourite Actors. In the course of these lamentations, he every now and then took a peep through the flit. bell rang to clear the ftage. Macklin ftopped a moment to take a laft look, and obferving that he was likely to play to empty benches, he turned to Mrs. Green, and, in a manner most emphatical, exclaimed, "Ah! Jenny Jenny ! when Mrs. Clive played Lappet, we did not use to draw up the curtain to fuch houfes as this!" The Lady, piqued at his obfervation, took a peep in her turn, and, mimicking his folemnity of manner, retorted, "Ah! Charles! Charles! when Mr. Shuter played Lovegold, we did not ufe to draw up the curtain to fuch houfes as this!" Humph !" growled the veteran, as he flowly Italked toward the Green-room. The which we receive of the failure of our faculties to any caufe rather than the real one. DISPERSION OF ANCIENT RECORDS. Among the many learned obfervations which I have heard in the Court of Exchequer; a Court in which, from the nature of the fubjects frequently difcuffed, it is neceffary both for the Judges and Advocates more particularly to advert to the ancient itate of the kingdom than, perhaps, in any other; I was once ftruck with fome obfervations upon the difperfion of manufcripts at the fall of the abbeys, which feemed to me, as I was then confidering the fubject, so curious, that I retained them in my memory until. I had an opportunity, which a crowded Court would not afford, of committing them to paper, and believe the quotation that follows is generally correct. "When the leffer abbeys were diffolved, an event that happened in the 27th year of Henry the VIIIth, the Priefts, who still retained hopes of better times, although they were commanded to fend their papers to the Augmentation Office, generally dif obeyed those orders, and endeavoured to fecure the most valuable of their deeds and records, either by configning them to the care of private perions, or by fending them to Rome, where they were depofited in the Vatican or in other places of fecurity. Of those that remained in the kingdom, many have been difcovered in the archives of private families, and fome were reclaimed when better times for their owners did arrive. But the reign of Mary being too short a period for restoring the establishments which had been fo violently overturned, the writings and records of monasteries have, like the estates which they described, conveyed or adapted to peculiar ufes, to a confiderable degree remained in the hands of lay poffeffors, who feem, while they grafped them with. avidity, to have, with a more than religious tenacity, adhered to them. Thole that are preferved in the Vatican, or difperfed over Italy, are now of little ufe, and indeed, when found and referred to, are confidered only as ob. jects of curiofity." HOGARTH. This short trait, like the anecdote of the Archbishop of Grenada's homilies, may ferve to fhew how little we are fenfible of our own imbecility, and I was informed by Dawes, the pupil how ready to attribute the least hint of the late Mr. Hogarth, that while this original genius had his Analyfis of Beauty in contemplation, he has, more than once, accompanied him to the Fleet Market, and Harp-alley adjacent, which were, in thofe times, the great marts, and indeed exhibitions, of figns, of various defcriptions, barbers'-blocks, poles, &c, &c. which were then more in request than they have been of late years. In thefe places it was the delight of Hogarth to contemplate thofe fpecimens of genius emanating from a fchool which he used emphatically to obferve was truly Englith, and frequently to compare with and prefer to the more expenfive productions of thofe geniufes whom he ufed to term the Black Mafters; and it was his delight to confider the blocks +, which used to be ranged in thofe fhops in great order one row above another, like the fpectators in the galleries of a theatre, in different points of view, and to remark upon the different characters which the workman had beltowed upon their countenances, to endeavour to guefs from their appearance at their dates, and thence deduce the effect which they would have if decorated with the va rious wigs which the fashion of their different periods might have clapped upon them-He thence, I have no doubt, frequently made a tranfition to the animated blocks of their wearers, and, like many ingenious authors, ar ranged his particular obfervations under general beads. In thefe excursions, I have been told that he was equally attentive to the abfurdities that were difplayed betwixt us and the Zenith, among which he probably difcovered constellations of monsters fufficient to have framed the figns of a hundred new Zodiacs; and I have often thought, that could Addison have heard his obfervations, they would have furnished him with hints for many papers replete with genuine humour. What a fund of amusement would a genius like his have extracted from the remarks of Hogarth, could he have heard him defcant alfo upon the eccentricities which the wooden fculpture of this great city exhibited, in Highlanders, Black Boys, Golden Heads, Peftles and Mortars, Lions, Hogs, Dogs, Cats, Mermaids, Unicorns, and a hundred other monsters, chimeras, &c. which the artists of that age were in the habit of producing, and of which fome, though, alas! few, fpecimens are ftill to be seen. Thefe, nay even the chalk figures fcrawled upon the walls as may be feen by his works, Hogarth was in the habit of contemplating with vaft satis faction; and I have heard, that the fign-painters' exhibition arofe from a hint which the Gentleman I have already quoted, and my ingenious By this appellation this Fielding of the graphic art denominated those smoky pictures which were the fashion of the day, namely, bad copies of frequently bad originals of the Italian and Flemish fchools. Incredible numbers of thefe were annually fold by Langford and others, which, when exhibited, were generally fo obfcured by dirt, or fcambled down with afphaltum, &c. in order to accommodate them to the idea box of a connoiffeur," that it was many times impoffible, at leaft till they had been well sponged, to diftinguish even their fubjects. This falle tafte of the town (now happily eradicated), Hogarth took every opportunity, both with his tongue and pencil, to ridicule and expole. Nor did this deviation from common fenie pafs unnoticed by Garrick, who, in his Prologue to Talte, in the character of Peter Puff, animadverts upon it with much truth and fome humour. It is a curious circumftance to obferve the great alteration that has taken place in the formation of these inftruments upon which wigs are moulded. In the frequently notelefs blocks of the old School we could difcern little to be admired, except their folidity: their fex was not then to be difcerned by their countenances, though as wigs, at that time, were only worn by one part of the human species, we might take it for granted they were male. We have them now, as I have with plea fure cbferved in thofe beautiful exhibitions which I think fome of the greatest ornaments of the City, of the malculine and feminine gender. We have this is a fubje&t of too much importance to be thrown into a note, I fhall referve fome obfervations that have occurred to me upon it for a feparate fpeculation. -but as The figure of the King of France, in the invafion print (England), has always ftruck me as a correctly humorous fpecimen of his attention to this branch of his art. friend, had gefted to him that he should refuse an application, he frequently did it in a manner that not only precluded the poflibility of a repetition of the re.. quest, but obliquely conveyed his fentiments of the fubject that gave rise to it of which, from unquestionable authority, I quote the following in. stance. : Among the peculiarities of Dr. Jortin's difpofition, I do not mention it as one that he had a most unconquerable averfion to the Italian Opera, because his works, though not generally, have been fufficiently read to give the world a very exalted opinion of his genius, his piety, and his understanding; though the mode in which he once difplayed this averfion may, as I have oblerved, furnish a fmall difcriminative anecdote. It happened one day that Lady Delamer called at the Doctor's house at Kensington, for the purpose, as the ftated to the young Lady in his prefence, of taking Miss Jortin to the Opera. The Doctor made no observation upon this, but fat fome time, while the other parties were engaged in converfation, playing with a favour ite Cat. At laft, when he found that the bufine's of the evening was per fectly arranged, he faid, addreffing the Cat, "Puls, can you fing? I think, by what I have heard of your exertions, that you must be a tolerable judge of mufic: and though you do not speak English, you may, for aught I know, underland Italian. If you choose to improve your taste, and edify your mind, this evening at that rational entertainment the Opera, you may go. But I do affure you, that you are the only one of this family that shall.” : This fingular humour of the Doctor's received once a little check for as he was going, one facrament Sunday, into the church at Kensington, he over friend, the late J. Collet, Efq. DR. JORTIN. It is, I conceive, highly to the credit of the taste of the Conductors of this Magazine, that, among fuch a numerous affemblage of other curious particulars, fo many notices of this eminent Divine and learned and elegant writer have, in the preceding volumes, been preferved. Every hint that through fuch a medium meets the public eye, feems to me to impede and roll back the ftream of time, and to arreft the objects floating upon its rapid current in their paffage toward oblivion. The works of Dr. Jortin have, neither by his cotemporaries nor the prefent age, met with that univerfal reception to which their unaffected piety, their intrinsic merit, and general erudition, entitle them but, as it was faid of a comic poet, that he might be tracked in the now of Moliere," fo I have obferved, that many Authors have, by mounting upon the volumes of Jortin, exalted themfelves in the opinion of the publick, although they have perhaps fpurned the ladder by which they had afcended. Of fuch a man, therefore, the fmallest domeftic trait muft, I think, be deemed worthy of prefervation, because it recalls his name, and by that means attracts the attention of the reader to fubjects connected with it which can never be attended to without pleafure and improvement. The Doctor, it is well known, had, like many learned men, fone habits of fingularity in his difpofition, but they were inoffenfive incentives to morality and virtue. When his judgment fug This artist, whofe pictures abounded with true, though what may be deemed broad, humour, died at Chelsea about twenty years fince; he was a man of learning, of confiderable fortune, and of the molt amiable manners and benevolent turn of mind: he was, like his friend Dawes, who was alfo independent, languid in the purfuit of his art; and, though he painted many pictures, viz. Courtship, the Elopement, Honeymoon, Matrimony, Picquet, or Virtue in Danger, &c. from which there are prints by Geldar, he is perhaps better known by the Taylor riding to Brentford than any other of his works. There are alfo prints from feveral pictures of Dawes, particularly the Cavern Scene in Macbeth, engraved by Bannerman, and Captain Bobadil Cudgeiled. But I think the piece which may be efteemed his CHEF D'ŒUVRE is, the Drunkard reproving his diforderly Family. He died about twenty-four years fince in Green. Atreet, Leicefler-fields. took took a Nobleman who was not in the habit of being very regular in his attendance; to whom he faid, I muft confefs with more zeal than politeness, "My Lord, I am glad to see you here; I fuppofe you are come now to qualify." "Indeed, Doctor, I am !" his Lordfhip mildly replied; an anfwer of which, no doubt, the querift felt the force. MR. MALLET. A Gentleman once called at the houfe of this Author, in May Fair, upon business, and was informed that, in confequence of indifpofition, he kept his chamber. When he had sent up his name, he afcended the ftairs, upon a green carpet, the floor was fpread with green, the bed and window curtains were green, and the invalid, who was feated upon a green elbow chair, writing at a green covered table, had on a green night-gown and a green velvet cap! When the Gentleman mentioned the collection of greens which he had ob. ferved at this vifit, at the Club †, fome of the wags, glancing unquef tionably at Shakspeare's "Green ey'd monster, that doth make "The meat it feeds on," obferved, that probably the fuccefs of fome cotemporary Author had caufed their friend to be afflicted with the Green Sickness. THE MENDICANT AND SAILOR. A fellow well known in the district, lame, having alfo but one arm, and dreffed in the habit of a Sailor, was the other day, with much vociferation, begging near Tower-hill. A Tar, who had just come out of a publichoufe, where he had probably paid his reckoning, and received change for a note, was, as he walked, counting his money with more attention than is ufual to perfons of his defcription. While he was thus ufefully engaged, the Beggar fet him, and, thrufting his hat before him, exclaimed, "Blefs your noble heart, my worthy meffmate, fpare a few coppers for poor Jack ! ftumped in the ftarboard-arm; his knee-braces fhot away; and turned out of the fervice without a smart ticket." The Sailor, ftill intent upon his calculation, which indeed feemed to require the utmost stretch of his arithmetical abilities, threw a fhilling into his hat, and was walking away. The Jame fellow, fluthed with fuccefs, limped after him, bawling out, "Blefs you, my noble mafter! Have you no more small change for poor Jack? My bread-room's quite empty, indeed, mas ter." THE CHELSEA PENSIONER. Though perhaps a trite, it is neverthelefs a true, obfervation, that accident has frequently excited thofe fenfations in the human mind, however low the for a moment, elevates the man, and fituation of its poffeffor, that, at least at other times infinitely his fuperiors. places him upon a level with characters How frequently has a spark been elicited from the bofom of an object apparently callous to fuch impreflions ! How often has a word caufed the countenance of even fickness and indigence to glow with animation, which has, like a fhock of electricity, vibrated through the whole fyftem. Of this I had lately an inftance related to me, by an accurate obferver of life and manners, that seems to elucidate the propofition. As a Sergeant (who was a Penfioner in Chelsea College), worn out with hard fervice and feeble from age, was one day, with cautious though unsteady fteps, defcending the ftair-cafe, he was met by two or three other Penfioners, one of whom, probably with a fneer, cried, as the Sergeant was fupporting himself by the hand-rail, Make room, and let the Gentleman pass !” Thomas Mallet has been justly esteemed an ingenious Author. I think the work in which he difplayed the deepest infight into the human character was the finding a niche for Garrick in the life of the Duke of Marlborough. Holden firft at the Turk's Head in Greek-ftreet, which tavern was almost half a century fince removed to Gerrard-ftreet, where it continued nearly as long as the houfe was kept open, and was compofed of artifts and a number of literary and theatrical characters. "Gentle been loft more than thirty years, the fubject, I remember, was to commemorate and deplore the effects of a dreadful fire which happened upon London Bridge the 13th of February 1632, two years before the death of the Poet. It began in the houfe of one Briggs, a needle maker, and confumed more than forty houfes, among which was the Mitre Tavern; the fall of which, and allufions to the triple crown, are some of its principal features, and mark with confiderable accuracy the fpirit of the times: I can only recollect one verfe of it, which is lefs valuable for its poetry than to fhew that the violence of Peter was about to be adopted by Jack, while Martin feemed an unconcerned fpecta RANDOLPH. This Poet, who was cotemporary with Ben Jonfon, who furvived him three years, is one of thofe few that Ben has celebrated, and whom it appears, according to his familiar cuftom, he had adopted as his fon. There is in the works of Randolph a gratulatory poem add effed to Jonfon upon this occafion; but it does not appear, whatever might have been his opmion, that his effufions, which are published in a small volume, and confit of Poems; Amyntas, a Paftoral ; the Mufes Looking-Glafs, a Play; Aristippus, a Shew; and the Jealous Lovers, a Comedy; though they run through many editions in the feventeenth, were much esteemed in the eighteenth century. I once had a copy, on the blank leaves of which was written a poem by this Author, and which was (as stated in a note to it) never printed. Though the book has tor. "Tho' fome affirm the Devil did it, ERRATUM in the firft Note in the preceding page. For Thomas read Though, and put a Comma after the word Author, inftead of a Period. In this play there is, I think, fomething truly original and ingenious; and if it had not in it too much humour, I should think it well adapted to the taste of modern times; for it confits, with lefs fyitem than exifts in many of our comic productions, entirely of scenes-independent of each other, in each of which a virtue and a vice are exhibited fuch as the extremes of courtely, the extremes of fortitude, temperance, liberality, magnificence, truth, justice, &c. &c. &c. many of which are well written, and worked up with a confiderable difplay of learning and art. The characters of Bird and Flowerdew, two of the trait laced Puritans of thofe times, are excellent, as is that of Rofcius, who acts as Prolocutor. The piece is wound up by the "Mother of the Virtues," Mediocritie, and ends in the conversion of Flowerdew and Bird, the latter of whom lays in conclusion, "Hereafter I will vifit Comedies, and fee them, often they are good exercises "To teach devotion now a milder temper; not that it thall lole any of its heat Or purity, but henceforth fhall be fuch "As fhall burn bright, altho' not blaze so much.” It is a curious circumstance, that there is, diffimilar as in fact they are, to be traced in this play the ground plan upon which the Rehearsal might, for aught I know, have been erected. This is certainly the original model, in this country, of that mode of writing; though probably both Randolph and the Duke of Buckingham might have copied from the Athenian Ichool, and have confidered Ricius and Bays as a kind of Chorus. Be it fo: Flowerdew and Bird, Johnfon and Smith, are till perfectly English; and certainly, though their characters are different, their bulinels on the ftage is the fame; and I do conceive, it was as ealy for a man of genius to build the latter upon the former as to construct the Critic, and many other pieces of interior merit, upon the Rehearsal. VOL. XLIII. JAN. 1803. |