tion to such acts; but that, at their worst, they do not exceed the horrors of authorized and deliberate war, commenced upon idle and often capricious grounds, and continued with a dry calculating malevolence-obstinacy flattered into the fame of magnanimous perseverance.

But Mrs. Inchbald's chief employment this year was the serious labour of a five-act comedy, which she named Every One has his Fault.' This piece was accepted at once by Mr. Harris, and contains that masterly and original character Mr. Harmony, the breather of peace among the children of discord.

Early in the present year, 1792, she was pressed by Mr. Kemble, and by Mr. and Mrs. Twiss, to accept an engagement as an actress at Drury-Lane theatre. Undoubtedly great advan

tages were held out to her; but we have not the slightest doubt whatever that there her talent as an author would have been smothered. At the almost command of Mrs. Jordan, the great managers had bought a farce from her; but we are not to forget that, from the year 1783, the combined admiration of her old friends, Siddons and Kemble, had produced no call upon "their Muse" to write for Drury-Lane. The truth was, that Sheridan really did not wish for any striking talent there to dispute his sovereignty; and, as to his deputy, Mr. Kemble, he never scrupled to declare his opinion that we had plays enough, and far

VOL. I.

U

beyond all modern competition; that these, care fully revised and well acted, with good farces and melo-drames, with the aid of opera, now in the hands of Storace, and Cobb, and Hoare, constituted the proper attractions of a rational theatre besides, we naturally prefer a plan in which we are the leading instruments ourselves. We willingly suppose that Kemble would not have insulted her with Harris's thirty shillings or two pounds per week, nor have required the author of the Simple Story' to walk in a Christmas pantomime. He would have probably given her six pounds per week; but then he would not have expected that she should write for the other house, however she might be paralysed in his. These, and many other reasons more obvious, no doubt influenced the friends whom she consulted, when they advised her to decline the offer. They were people of discernment-Robinson, Woodfall, and the Whitfields.

The present year, therefore, cannot be imagined very productive; yet Colman allowed her a benefit for her farce Young Men and Old Women,' and she chose his Inkle and Yarico.' As soon as she received her money, she sent her usual presents to her sister Mrs. Pardon, Mrs. Hunt, and Dolly. She now allowed herself but twentyfive shillings a week for her ménage, out of which she gives £2. 8s. in Christmas-boxes, and absolutely saves £6. 16s. in the course of the year.

On the score of her admirers we find Sir Charles Bunbury now usually admitted when he calls, probably from their joint intimacy with Mrs. Phillips, lest it should seem rudeness to repel him. Dr. Warren was as highly in favour as ever, and the very stones of Sackville Street might cry out upon the repeated efforts of his fair patient to catch a glimpse of him. One morning she was told, before breakfast, that a print of the doctor was to be seen in a shop-window; she immediately went to look at it; a few days afterwards she bought it, and was charmed with it; the next day writes-" Read, worked, and looked at my print;" and yet we should suspect it was herself that she really loved.

As to her family, her brother Simpson was in town a great part of the year at the Staple-Inn coffee-house; his wife sometimes with him. The intercourse was almost daily while they staid. Her sister Dolly at length obtained a situation as companion to a Miss Pearce in Shoe Lane, and came to town accordingly in May. Mrs. Inchbald immediately called upon the lady, and invited and entertained them in Leicester Square. Not so her sister Debby; she having one day called upon Mrs. Inchbald in a coach, that lady went herself to the door and denied her. Mrs. Wells too was once admitted for a moment, and after denied. Her friend Babb entertained her whenever she chose on the Sundays; and, on the

5th of December, he invited her to meet the Westminster Boys engaged in their Christmas play the young scholars, we may be sure, were highly pleased with her dramatic countenance, which Terence himself would have equally valued. Her legal friend Hardinge's house, near Kew, afforded some pleasant days; so did Mr. Woodfall's. She obtained an engagement at Covent-Garden theatre for Miss Grist, and zealously attended her performances. Poor Davis, "the first dresser in the world," as the theatrical empresses thought him, was now quite discarded, and Miss Hemet besought Mrs. Inchbald to lend him ten pounds, which we should think her unable to refuse.

Her miscellaneous reading this year does not seem to have been of very great importance. A novel of Holcroft's, Mrs. Radcliffe's Romance of the Forest,' Lord Chatham's Life,' and 'Mrs. Billington's Memoirs.' In her religious studies we find her more than usually earnest. She regularly attends Mass, unless prevented by the weather; and once we find her record, that she prayed and made an examination of her conscience. The best close that can be put to the year 1792 is that of her own estimate, that she was, during it, "cheerful, content, and sometimes rather happy."

CHAPTER XIV.

Splendid success of Every One has his Fault'-Buys Five per cent. stock-Politically attacked by the True Briton'-Her defence in a letter to Wood fall-Impostors at her door-Holcroft's passion for her-Her regulations for Brandenburg House -Attempts to extort money from her-Describes her feelings as to Dr. Warren-Taylor, the oculist, removes something from her eye -Horror at the regicides of France-Finishes' Nature and Art' and copies it for the press-Mr. Hardinge's letters; those from his lady also-Copious illustrations of them.

SHE Commenced this year, 1793, with the very necessary attendance at the rehearsals of her fiveact comedy, Every One has his Fault.' On the 29th of January it was acted for the first time with the greatest applause. She had the usual three benefit nights; and, her piece threatening to go beyond the twentieth repetition, she asserted her claim to a fourth. On this occasion she received a severe letter from Harris, but it inclosed a present, (probably a one-hundred-pound note,) as she states its proceeds at seven hundred pounds, and purchases immediately six hundred and fifty pounds Five per cent. stock, at 107, £698. 15s.