their appearance. The figures were nearly as large as life, constructed with admirable skill, all exceedingly well dressed, their action managed with great adroitness, and their features made striking and expressive.

"On Saturday, March 6th, Foote again opened his theatre, for a renewal of his attempt to revive the Primitive Puppet-show. The sentimental comedy of the The Handsome Housemaid; or, Piety in 'Pattens' (in which two new songs were introduced, and sung by Mrs. Jewell), was performed in a manner more regular and perfect than before the audience tasted the salt of the satire, and loudly approved what might justly be termed 'Foote's Mirror for Sentimental Writers.' On its first exhibition the entertainment was too short, but it was now very considerably lengthened. After the exordium, the comedy, and the justice-scene, Punch was introduced, who complained loudly of Foote's interfering in his immediate province, without calling for his assistance: he attacked the humourist, as having been touched to be silent on some characters whom it had been reported he meant to satirize, and particularly mentioned a barrister of considerable fame and practice: Foote, however, replied,' He is too fond of a fee himself, to part with one to silence me.' Punch then declared himself well qualified to succeed in the drama, both as an author and an actor ;

proof of the former, he produced to the manager two theatrical performances; Mr. Foote read the titles; the first of which was, 'The Bastard Baronet; or, Punch in a Puddle;' on which Foote remarked, that this was a dangerous subject, and expressed a dislike of the word 'puddle,' for fear it should lead to too gross an idea, The second piece was called 'The Ceded Island; or, the Carribees cribbed.' This Punch declared was a tragedy after his very best manner; for what with the sword and the season, the actors on each side must be left dead on the stage. After this, Punch insisted on being engaged as a principal performer; and, as a proof of his merit as an actor, he imitated the manner and voice of Mr. Barry, Mr. Reddish, Mr. Cautherley, Mr. King, Mr. Hartry, Mr. Weston, Mr. Bannister, and Mr. Vernon. Foote paid him some compliments on his mimickry; but Punch, as a part of his bargain, demanded that his wife Joan also should be engaged a jest or two was cracked on the deformity of her face and person; but Foote positively refused to engage her, and gave his refusal in words, form, and manner, so similar to the language and method of Mr. Garrick, that the house could not but see the imitative intention, and applaud the successful imitator."

Proceeding with the list of Foote's plays according to the order

in which they were acted or printed, we find "The Bankrupt" attracting great applause in 1776: it was a comedy excellent in its object and strong in characters. "The Devil upon Two Sticks," an extremely popular comedy, printed in 1778, is memorable for a personification of Sir William Browne, then President of the College of Surgeons, who took the ridicule so good-naturedly that he disarmed even the parent satirist. For while praises of the performance were re-echoed from all parts of the town, Sir William sent a card to Foote, complimenting him on the accuracy of the imitation in general, but reminding him that he had forgotten the Doctor's muff, which was forwarded as a present. "The Maid of Bath,” also printed in 1778, can hardly be supposed to have failed when it is stated, that the circumstances of the piece were generally known to be real; and that Mr. Long, who left the great heiress Miss Tilney Long, late Mrs. Wellesley Pole, a fortune of £200,000, was the hero of the story. Next in the printed volumes come the f Nabob," and the "Cozeners," both good and successful pieces. Mr. Simons, in the latter, was accepted as a satire upon Dr. Dodd.

Hitherto the licentiousness of Foote's theatrical caricaturing had flourished without interruption, but it was now destined, like every thing human, to receive the bridle of adversity; and such was the severity of the application, that what remained to him of life was embittered by the change. About the year 1775, the Duchess of Kingston made herself a topic of general conversation ; and Foote, ever prompt to avail himself of a palpable subject, unscrupulously brought her Grace under the character of Lady Kitty Crocodile, into a new comedy, entitled the "Trip to Calais," upon the composition of which he was then employed. Taking care to give publicity to his intentions, he was soon gratified with proposals of a pecuniary compensation for suppressing the exposure. But his demand was so exorbitant, that the negociation broke abruptly off, and the lady resorted for protection to the Lord Chamberlain. Over him her influence prevailed: the character was officially interdicted, and Foote was forced to condense all the innocent parts of the Trip to Calais" into a new piece, which he called The Capuchins,' and made attractive by advertising, after his fashion, the characters, of a friend to her Grace, and that of the Rev. Mr. Jackson, who, in 1795, committed suicide while under a charge of high treason at Dublin.

While the fate of "The Trip to Calais" remained undecided, the propriety of the Lord Chamberlain's interference was discussed in a public epistolary controversy, remarkable for the gross violence with which it was waged, and the abominable vilifications with which it abounded. One horrible imputation thus bruited acquired a fatal colouring from a prosecution which was soon after instituted against Foote for unnatural criminality with a discarded servant. In subjoining the fact of his acquittal, in full accordance with the opinion of the presiding judge, it is but fair to explain that the affair was generally supposed to have originated in the malice of a revengeful female. Nor was his personal bearing, that last criterion, barren of evidence for believing him innocent of such infamy: his vivacity flagged under the odium of suspicion, his mind became perceptibly troubled, and his health rapidly decayed. Urged by the weight of these afflictions, he disposed of his theatre to Mr. Colman the elder, for an annuity, and some special privileges as an actor. But he was in every respect incapable of his former exertions: in the course of a few months he was seized with paralysis on the stage, and though he found himself sufficiently recovered to spend the remainder of the summer at Brighton, he could never once return to the stage. As the winter approached, his physicians recommended warmer climate, and he repaired to Dover, with the intention of passing into the south of France. That journey, however, was not to be performed: he fell into a second fit on the 1st of October, 1777, and quietly expired during the course of the day. His body was conducted to London, and honoured with a public funeral in Westminster Abbey. The grave is indicated by no stone, nor has any memorial of his name been erected under the fabric.

a

Over and above the dramatic pieces already mentioned in this sketch, Foote put his name to a work entitled the Comic Theatre,' taken from the French, and published in 5 vols. 12mo. during the year 1762; but out of the sixteen plays it contains, only one, The Young Hypocrite,' is understood to have been his composition. Of his own works, printed in 4 vols. 12mo. to the number of six and twenty, The Mayor of Garret' alone retains rank on the modern stage: it is therefore reasonable to infer that they owed their popularity solely to the subtle mimicry of their singular author. For this talent no follower has surpassed him in reputa

tion; he was perfectly a Proteus in changes and imitations, and is described to us dancing from character to character, and person into person, with the agility of a puppet. Metamorphosis seems no fable when we read of the simulations practised by Foote; he was an automaton of Pythagorean transmigrations. But at this praise his panegyric ceases; the actor was inimitable, the man insufferable. A spendthrift in fortune, and prodigal in talent, he prostituted his powers to gain, and cared nothing for the effect of his performances beyond the amount of money which they brought to his purse. Moral or immoral, he would make any hit that could tell; and although his writings may not offend with the grosser vices of our early dramatists—although his dialogue does not abound with profane oaths and naked obscenity, the spirit of his compositions will be found to have been more treacherously injurious. His language was defamation, and his actions were crimes; his wit poison, and his sport death. He pounced upon his victim as a cat paws a mouse, with humorous eccentricity. How he would have been bribed not to expose the Duchess of Kingston has been related; and how he could be deterred from mocking others through fear of a beating, Dr. Johnson rendered notorious. Can any conduct then be more frigidly heartless, or any vice more meanly abject? Yet was his address so arch, and his flattery so fine, his conversation so prompt, fertile, and jocose, and his every point so brilliant, that he was the delight of society, and a charm to all who heard him. Such is the magic of the mind-Foote was the Harlequin of Genius.

451

RIGHT HON. CHARLES JAMES FOX, M. P.

THE cases are innumerable in which successful ambition has elevated individuals of inferior mind to greatness; the instances are also many in which happy genius has added brightness to the lustre of successful ambition; but the examples are few indeed in which the consistent voice of popularity alone has established a deserving man in fame. Honours thus compared indicate the rank in which they should stand preferred by their intrinsic worth. Ambition claims a double means of support; first, from the influence which the pomp in which it proceeds is always sure to exercise over the multitude; and secondly, from the power to reward and punish, which promotion usually confers. But popularity rises from one only source-the voluntary applause and natural affection of mankind. Thus derived from the heart, and founded on conviction, it becomes the most generous of distinctions. Nor is this its greatest praise; the fickleness of human nature, and the instability of public opinion, render it at all times a precarious tenure: it can never be retained, therefore, but by constant integrity and incessant meritoriousness. Such, nevertheless, are the signal pretensions to commemoration possessed by the subject of this sketch, a statesman, whose standard title preeminently was, THE MAN OF THE PEOPLE.

Charles James, the third son of Henry Fox, first Lord Holland, by the Lady Georgiana Lennox, daughter of the Duke of . Richmond, was born on the 24th of January, 1748. Lord Holland is remembered in history as a paymaster of the forces, in which place he was the butt of many severe aspersions, a Secretary of State, and an opponent of the great Earl of Chatham; and it is a fact somewhat singular, that two sons of these statesmen resumed the career of political hostility persisted in by their parents,