an idle thing-Catholic confession a sacred one. She fairly stated her alarm to the Catholic priest, and he replied to her immediately. In pursuance of his advice, she notices that on the 27th of February, Mr. Inchbald being from home, she insisted upon being alone, and imagined that her Iago submitted to her pleasure; but he soon resumed his calls as if they had never been checked, and passed such evenings in reading to her. In all this, her mind had the opportunity of comparing very assiduous attention with very palpable neglect: the husband used to mutter something as to the apathy of his wife, and she expressed her conviction of the infidelity of her husband. Whether Sterling pointed her jealousy, or with more refined policy treated his conduct as usual in the present state of the world, I know not; but her displeasure against Mr. Inchbald made her insist upon separate chambers more than once. Hitherto there was no very great indiscretion; but they left Edinburgh on the 26th of April for Glasgow, Wilson accompanying them, and during her absence from Edinburgh she corresponded with Mr. Sterling; a dangerous indulgence; and she discontinued her visits to chapel. She records both circumstances ingenuously, but leaves no reflection as a comment upon either. She seems to have taken a dislike to the boy Bob, a son of Mr. Inchbald's, by whom she does not

say, and after their next return to Edinburgh he had separate lodgings.

At Glasgow she performed two or three times a week, and was now the representative of all the beauties in the current plays: she added to her characters those of Clarissa in 'All in the Wrong;' Lucia in Cato;' Mary Queen of Scots; Zulima in The Prince of Tunis;' Lady Jane Grey; Miranda; and Louisa Dudley.

The sad realities of life however mingle with these professional records, and on Sunday the 23rd of May, being the first occurrence of the sort since their marriage, her husband leaves her for a day and one night-on a party of pleasure too!— with that son of mischief, Wilson. The bare proposal of such a thing excited violent displeasure in the lady; but the Major (Wilson) kept our Mr. Oakley steady to his point, and carried him off very triumphant and very angry, on this party of pleasure. On the following day Mr. Inchbald came home, very sick of the excursion, and ashamed of the almost repentant limping, which a fall he had met with obliged him to display on his entrance. Perhaps the best tempered wife in the world might have deemed, or even pronounced the accident a judgment upon the sufferer, for resisting her lawful authority in at least all parties of PLEASURE.

The genius of speculation on the 17th of June

led them, in conjunction with the rest of the company, to open their house at Greenock, taking lodgings at Port Glasgow. On this occasion Mr. Digges the manager did not accompany them. Here she came into very full employment as an actress, and speaks of Miss Aubrey in The Fashionable Lovers' as having been honoured with a repetition. This was the comedy with which Cumberland too hastily seconded his 'West Indian.' Angelica, in 'The Constant Couple,' was followed by Violante in The Wonder,' in which her husband acted Don Felix.

A month having passed among the good people of Greenock, a party of them set out in chaises for Edinburgh, where the Inchbalds got their old lodgings, and Mr. Sterling resumed his old habit. They renewed their former intimacy with the Blands and the Peats, and became very closely associated with the manager and (n'en déplaise) the manager's lady, Miss Witherington. Mrs. Inchbald was often honoured with an airing in their chaise to and from the theatre; generally spent Sunday with them; and thus propitiated, by her indulgence as to the lady, on the 22nd of July Mr. Digges gave her orders to write for her brother George Simpson. We shall have to show greater ladies, ere long, making the same gentle sacrifice to their interest.

But she was soon to experience more of the annoyances of those comedians "who chance to

travel," as Hamlet says. In the evening of the 2nd of August they went to Leith, and took shipping for Aberdeen the wind was foul, and their vessel made so little way, that they were not above fourteen miles on their voyage when the morning broke. On the evening, reluctant to keep his passengers in a state of sickness without progress, the captain put to shore. Mr. Inchbald and his wife got a lodging by themselves at a small inn, in a little village called Ely, where, after having refreshed themselves, they took a delightful walk together to a seat which afforded them a beautiful prospect of every thing but a fair wind. On the 4th they were often at the seaside; but her professional witchcraft could not give them a wind.”1 They grew very uneasy, and the day following she and Mr. Inchbald, with Mr. and Mrs. Wilson, and Bob, as she styles him, set off on foot on their journey to Aberdeen. They dined in a garden; rode a little way on coalcarts; drank tea at St. Andrews; hired a cart part of the way to the ferry, where they slept. Early in the morning of the 6th they crossed the river, and walked eight miles. Mrs. Wilsonhowever, having tired, they took a cart to Aber

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The three witches in Macbeth, like those of Norway, have the entire control of the winds.

2 W. I'll give thee a wind.

1 W. Th' art kind.

3 W. And I another.

1 W. I myself have all the other.

brothick, where they dined. Another cart took them all to Montrose. They set off late in the evening to walk the next stage; but a farmer whom they met on the road recommended a halfway house to them, where they slept; and early in the morning Mr. Inchbald and she, "renewed in all their strength," set out to walk alone to Bervie, which they reached by breakfast-time. They went in a cart to Stonehaven, and, having joined their companions, at length reached Aberdeen, Mr. Inchbald and Mr. Wilson going before.

Here they lived in their usual society, as to calling acquaintance; but they frequently visited Mr. Digges and Miss Witherington. Her professional utility now suffered a very serious interruption : on the 3rd of September our lovely heroine was attacked by an ague and fever, which lasted above a fortnight, and was succeeded by a swelled face, from which she suffered considerably. Here her acquaintance commenced with Dr. Brodie, who attended her with the utmost solicitude, and it is very probable restored her by his skill; for at one time she was in such danger, that Mr. Inchbald sent for a priest, and in this and every other attention to her demonstrated his affectionate and hearted value for her. We do her the justice to say, that though she leaves her occasional complaints uncrossed, she uses no niggard measure when recording her husband's kindness. Mrs. Burrel was during her illness a great part of

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1" Yield up, O love, thy crown and hearted throne."

VOL. I.

OTHELLO.

D