field; for he closed the long contest with a diverting epilogue, which was spoken by Mrs. Clive.

Though the publick ran in crowds at first to decide upon the merits of the actors in this tragedy; yet many were justly angry at being obliged either to see one play repeatedly, or give up the diversions of a theatre for almost a fortnight.

It was observed, that the managers got no emolument by the contest; for they often played to thin audiences, or such as were made up by art. Those who came from the country, either on business or pleasure, and proposed only to stay a short time in town, had still more reason to complain. The following epigram, which alludes very happily to an incidental speech of Mercutio in the play, was printed during this struggle for theatrical pre-emi

nence.

On the run of Romeo and Juliet.

Well, what's to-night, says angry Ned,
As up from bed he rouses?
Romeo again! and shakes his head;
Ah! pox on both your houses!

Mr. Garrick foresaw that the great actors of Covent-garden would not long maintain their union; he rightly imagined that they would soon break out into feuds and dissentions. Quin was jealous of Barry, and too proud to give way to him. The latter had too much spirit to be brow-beaten by Quin. Cibber and Woffington had a cool contempt for each other, which was frequently communicated by looks, whispers, and half speeches; but Cibber's delicacy never

broke out into reproach, and the other had sense enough not to provoke her by any illiberality of language. Rich was but a bad decider of differences; by interposing, he was sure to make matters worse; like Milton's Chaos,

He umpire sat,

And by decision more embroil'd the fray.

He heartily hated them all, and they very cordially despised him. In private conversation, amongst his dependents, he called Woffington his Sarah Malcolm, and Cibber his Katherine Hayes.*

While the leading players of Covent-garden were wrangling amongst themselves, the manager of Drury-lane pursued his business unremittedly. He was always sure to fill his house when he acted; but to give himself some ease, and at the same time to attack Rich in his strongest hold, by the assistance of Woodward, he, with much care and expense, brought out a new pantomime, called Queen Mab. This was amongst the few farces of that kind which met with encouragement at Drury-lane. The people crowded for above forty nights to see this exhibition, which, it seems, had a kind of novelty to recommend it from the fable. This decided the victory in favour of Garrick; and a print, called the Steel-yards, was published, in which Mrs. Cibber and Mrs. Woffington, with Quin and Barry, were put into one scale; and Woodward, in the character of Harlequin, and Queen Mab, in the other. The first scale kicked the beam.

VOL. I.

*Two infamous women hanged for murder.
9 *

Mr. Garrick now revived his dramatick satire of Lethe, or Æsop in the Shades, which had been acted twice at Drury-lane before he commenced manager, and several times afterwards at Goodman's-fields. He strengthened it with several additional characters; a Poet, a Drunken Man, a Frenchman, a Fine Gentleman, a Methodist Tailor, and a Woman of Quality. To ensure success to this petit piece, he took for his own share in acting, the Poet, the Drunken man, and the Frenchman; the Fine Gentleman he gave to Woodward, and the Lady to Mrs. Clive.

The Poet, notwithstanding the manager's acting it, did not please; with all his art he could not reconcile the audience to that character ; after a few struggles in its favour, he gave it

up.

The drunken Man and the French Barber, after he had diverted the town with them for a few nights, he gave to Mr. Yates and Mr. Blakes, who performed them with applause, but in a manner much inferiour to that of their master.

Woodward excelled in displaying the airy and impertinent sallies of a pretended fine gentleman; and Mrs. Clive entered so naturally into the vicious taste of a woman of quality, who runs mad after all the reigning irregularities and fopperies of the times; and gave such vivacity, humour, whim and variety, to her inimitable action, that the farce gained great advantage from her representation of Lady Riot.

CHAPTER XIII.

Character of Aaron Hill..... His various occupations and projects.... His love of the stage..... His dramatick pieces and instructions in acting.....Intimacy with Booth.....His generosity to authors and actors....Reduced to the necessity of acting his Merope for his own emolument.... Its success....Lord Bolingbroke's letter to him,... His correspondence With Mr. Garrrick.... His death.

This gentleman

SOON after the run of Irene, the Merope of Voltaire, translated and adapted to the English stage by Aaron Hill, was put into rehearsal. was so extremely fond of theatrical representations, and so particularly enamoured of the art of acting, that he well deserves a place in a history of the stage. Mr. Hill in person was tall and genteel; in advanced life, his figure, air, and manner, were gracefully venerable; with a warm and benevolent mind, he had the delicate address and polite manners of the accomplished gentleman. When he was very young, from a noble spirit of indignation against the cavillers of merit, he wrote a poem called Camillus, in vindication of the famous earl of Peterborough. That nobleman was so pleased with it, that he sought for the author, and appointed him his secretary. His marriage soon after to a young lady, whom he tenderly loved, prevented his going abroad with lord Peterborough; this he alleged as an excuse in a letter to his lordship; but added another, which, I believe, also had its weight, that the duch

ess of Shrewsbury had engaged him to superintend the operas. In 1709, he was master of Drury-lane theatre; and, at the desire of Mr. Booth, whose talents he admired, and whose friendship he cultivated through life, he wrote a tragedy, called Elfrida, an imperfect essay, which, about twenty years after wards, he altered and new-modeiled, and called Athelwold. His solicitude about the success of this play was great, and Wilks and Cibber were both entreated by him to act in it; which solicitation, however, they refused; and, I believe, the tragedy was so coldly received, that it was not played more than three nights. The concluding lines of Athelwold deserve to be remembered, for the excellency of the moral contained in them:

O Leolyn, be obstinately just;

Indulge no passion, and betray no trust.
Never let man be bold enough to say,
Thus, and no farther, shall my passion stray;
The first crime past, compels us on to more;
And guilt proves fute, that was but choice before.

The Elfrida of Mason, written on the plan of the Greek tragedy, on the same subject as Athelwold, will deter all future writers from attempting a fable already so nobly executed. Mr. Hill followed Elfrida with the opera of Rinaldo, which occasionally introduced the musick of the great Handel to this nation. Mr. Hill was at this time conductor of two theatres, a task which he discharged to the satisfaction of the publick. But he soon quitted his employments of the stage, on account of some misunderstanding with the lord chamberlain; and though