command a few yards of copper-lace in his management. Kemble put his brother Charles through all the ranks of the profession-here he was a friendly Indian, and coppered his skin, like the great Barrymore, and Messrs. Sedgwick and Caulfield and Phillimore. How often must he have wished himself in the post office !

"Uno avulso non deficit alter." Not at all hurt by the fall of All's Well, on the 30th of December Kemble revived Measure for Measure, with Mrs. Siddons in the towering virtue of Isabella, and himself in the Duke; it remained on the stage a perpetuity, finely acted throughout.

On the 31st of January, 1795, under the management of Mr. Kemble, Miss Mellon, the future Mrs. Coutts, and the present Duchess of St. Alban's (for such fortune may well render a man's style giddy,) acted Lydia Languish, in the Rivals, and obtained an engagement, as an intended double for Mrs. Jordan. Miss Farren had Mrs. Goodall in the same secondary station, and Bannister, jun. now obtained a locum tenens in Capt. Wathen, who had long figured in private theatricals. But Miss Mellon must not be passed over so lightly.

The

public do not generally know that Coutts was not the first banker who had distinguished this young actress. While she was in Stanton's company, Mr. Wright, a banker at Stafford, shewed her great attention; and it was creditable as well as valuable, for his wife and daughters concurred in protecting her. It was there that the Member, Sheridan, saw her, and he might strengthen himself abroad and at home, by giving her an immediate engagement at Drury Lane. He saw her in two of Mrs. Jordan's most favourite characters, Rosalind and the Romp. She was certainly above mediocrity as an actress, though I used to think too careless to do all she might have done. Her figure was elegant in those days, and there was a rather comic expression in her countenance. Had Jordan never appeared, she might have reached the first rank, and been contented with her station in a theatre few, in any kind of miscarriage, have received such ample consolation. Chance, itself, once contributed a prize of ten thousand pounds to this minion of "Fortune's Frolic." I think there seems to have been a good deal of sagacity in her conduct : she saw her object with that singleness which is

I

necessary to all great success, and made her very disposition itself a herald to her elevation. never thought her one of those who

"Plan secret good, and blush to find it fame."

But a little ostentation may be pardoned in our imperfect virtue.

The name of Arne is dear to all who love music; and great hopes were entertained that the doctor's grand-daughter would augment as a singer the family honours-but her voice proved too weak for so large a theatre. Her conception of Polly was no doubt traditional; Mrs. Cibber having played the character divinely.

On the 11th of February, M. D'Egville brought out his grand pantomime ballet of Alexander the Great, or the Conquest of Persia. He here exhibited the general incidents of that conqueror's progress; his difficulties in surmounting the apprehensions and reluctance of his army-his Amazonian alliance-his furious impetuosity at the storming of Gaza-the battle of Arbela-his treatment of Darius and his family-his triumphant entrance into Babylon, and marriage with Statira. Gran

deur and magnificence, splendid scenery, graceful, energetic, expressive action, characterise this ballet throughout.

I anticipate the reader's mistake, who may suppose me to have been recording a triumph at the Opera House. This performance was at the NEW DRURY, and designed to show all the capabilities of that vast concern. It already rivalled the Italian Opera itself, by its possession of the two Storaces, Kelly, Crouch, Mrs. Bland and Dr. Arnold's pupil, Miss Leake; and now Ballet was added to their attractions, and they defied every thing like competition. For three months together this beautiful exhibition astonished and delighted the public.

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CHAPTER XII.

The death of Parsons-His peculiar merits-Holland and Powell-Spouting Clubs-Political Orators-Parsons and the Lion-The Wheel of Fortune-Madame D'Arblay—Jerningham's Welsh Heiress, Mrs. Jordan in Plinlimmon-Drury attacking its own splendors-Chaos umpire in the concern -Seven Ages for Mrs. Siddons-First Love, by Cumberland; Sabina Rosny, Mrs. Jordan-Her enchanting effect-Some pleasing recollections-Cumberland's opinion of her-Nature to be upheld by Mrs. Jordan-Winter of 1795-6-The Dependent-The Rival Queens-Kemble in AlexanderMrs. Jordan confined-Miss Decamp in Columbine—Mrs. Jordan in Fidelia, her power upon Mr. Kemble-His sense of her acting in the Plain Dealer-Gives it to the author in the words of Sterne-The Iron Chest, and its failure-Sheridan wished Mrs. Jordan in that play-Vortigern has that advantage, she acts Flavia-Ireland-Chatterton-Queen Elizabeth, her little attention to players-Mrs. Jordan speaks Merry's Epilogue-Poor Benson's death-Mrs. Jordan does every thing for his family.

THE stage had just now sustained a loss, which almost palsied comedy in the old humourists of her train. I allude to the death of Parsons on the