Mr. Hopkins Robinson, who has the merit of having raised himself from the tailor's shopboard to the stage of the theatre, at this time filled respectably many parts of the drama.

In January, 1806, Master John Howard Payne, afterwards to be noticed as a performer and dramatist, commenced a publication, entitled "The Thespian Mirror," which was discontinued on the 18th of March. He was then under fourteen years of age.

Mr. Jones died at Charleston, on the 7th of August, 1806; he possessed a good person, and talents for serious speaking of more than common magnitude. It will be remembered that a low comedian of the same name died at the same place many years before; i. e. in 1797.

Mr. and Mrs. Johnson did not engage with Mr. Cooper, but returned once more to England.

Mr. Holland being engaged at Philadelphia, and Mr. Ciceri not agreeing to Mr. Cooper's proposals, and going to France, the theatre was for a time without an architect or scene-painter.

CHAPTER XXXI.

Philadelphia Company in 1806-Mr. Cooper opens the New-York Theatre-Company-Mr. Morse-Mr. Cooper's second Season of Management-Theatre re-modelled-Boston Theatre-NewYork Theatre under Cooper and Price-Mr. Twaits's Prince of Wales-Death of Mr. Hallam-Theatre in Lexington, Kentucky -Death of Mrs. Warren-Master Payne's first AppearanceComedy of Man and Wife-The Duke of Buckingham-Mr. and Mrs. Duff.

In the year 1806, the Philadelphia company was composed of Messrs. Wood, M'Kenzie, Warren, Mills, Webster, Woodham, Cone, Cross, Cain, Francis, Robins, Sanderson, Blissett, Bailey, Jefferson, Taylor, Durang, Bray, and Seymour; Mesdames Melmoth, Woodham, Wood, Warren (late Wignell), Francis, Seymour, Morris, Jefferson, Cunningham, Mills, and Miss Hunt.

On the 6th of October, 1806, the theatre of NewYork was opened under the direction of Mr. Thomas A. Cooper. The company engaged were Messrs. Tyler, Harwood, Twaits, Hogg, Darley, Martin, Hallam, jun., Sauberè, Fennell, Shapter, and Rutherford; Mesdames Villiers, Darley, Simpson, Oldmixon, and Miss Dellinger.

VOL. II.

R

Mrs. Placide, the second wife of the Charleston manager, and daughter of Mrs. Pownall (once Wrighten) played two or three times successfully.

the

On the 28th of November, Mr. Morse made his first appearance on the stage in Pierre,-Cooper, his instructor, playing Jaffier. He succeeded so far that the play was repeated, and Mr. Morse continued in company. This gentleman, the son of a Massachusetts yeoman, had been destined by his father for the law, and educated accordingly; but he travelled out of the record, and preferred a life of dissipation and adventure to the dull routine of duty, or the study of Coke upon Lyttleton: and a life of adventure he had. After playing under Cooper in various theatrical establishments, he was for a time the hero of the Boston company. He possessed a towering figure, more than six feet in height, a face rather round for a hero; limbs muscular and well formed, particularly the legs, which were a beautiful compound of the Hercules and Apollo; his voice was good, and his judgment of his author tolerable. His early associates had not been of the most polished kind, and consequently he lacked the ease of a gentleman at the time of his debut. With such talents and such a person, he determined to try London, and did so with some success; but in that vast metropolis the handsome Yankee's head was turned, and he was all but lost in unbridled dissipation. He returned to Boston little more than a skeleton, and with entire loss of the sight of an eye. He so far regained his health, that on the breaking out of the second war

with England, he entered the army, and served in Macomb's regiment. At the close of the war he was destitute; but he told a good story, and that recommended him for what a chaplain then was on board one of our famous frigates. He went one or more cruises in this capacity, and had leisure to reflect on his follies and his consequent sufferings: his health had been fully re-established; and he, with a grateful heart, determined to devote himself to the service of God, and the instruction of his fellow-men, as a minister of the episcopal church. During his preparatory studies, he became a real chaplain to the frigate in which he had taken this salutary resolution from reflection and conviction.

In the year 1819, a gentleman who had known Mr. Morse in 1806, and subsequently while he was on the stage, and again when he was in the army, being at Norfolk, was struck by the elegant appearance of a gentleman in black, who had just landed from the Portsmouth ferry-boat. This was on a Sunday morning, as the stranger stood at the door of his hotel, waiting the hour of attending the Episcopal church, where, he was told, the Reverend Mr. Low, who had once been a player, was that day to take leave of his congregation, in consequence of ill health. Mr. Low reserved his strength for his sermon, and the tall elegant gentleman, now in canonicals, read the service. The uncommon propriety of his reading, and the musical cadence of his powerful voice, arrested the stranger's attention, and some of the tones sounded familiar to his ear. He was at the greatest distance

from the pulpit of which a very long church admitted, and in the gallery. He could not resist the desire to use an opera-glass, and immediately perceived that it was his old acquaintance, the tragedian. Thus in the same pulpit, at one time, were two men who had both been players. Mr. Low was the son of the author mentioned in an early portion of this work, whose play was rejected by Hallam and Henry. The son was a man of talents and virtue; his talents were not fitted for the stage, but eminently so for the pulpit. Mr. Morse was at this time still attached to the United States frigate, but soon after received deacon's orders from Bishop Moore, of Virginia, and settled at Williamsburg, where the Old American Company first played in 1752. In this ancient metropolis of Virginia he died, after a short, eventful life, passed as a lawyer, actor, soldier, sailor, and clergyman.

Mr. Rutherford, from the Philadelphia theatre, appeared for the first time in New-York, as George Barnwell, on the 2d of January, 1807; and on the 19th, Mr. Bernard commenced playing for six nights. His characters were Lord Ogilby, Sheva, Ruttekin, (very like Edwin's,) Lovegold, Touchstone, Farmer Ashfield, Sir Robert Ramble, Dennis Brulgruddery, and Sharp.

In February, the late Mrs. Wignell, now Mrs. Warren, played her usual characters in New-York; and, in March, Mr. Cooper returned the compliment by playing in Philadelphia. In April, 1807, Mr. and Mrs. Darley, and Mr. Morse went to Charleston, and