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country companies, is a token of success very unequivocal. Mrs. Inchbald thus proceeds in her journal:-On the 26th of May I rose at three in the morning, and left Manchester in a post-chaise with Mrs. Siddons and her maid. The gentlemen rode on the stage-coach. They breakfasted at Macclesfield; after which they proceeded on their journey to Birmingham; Mr. Inchbald on horseback-Mr. Kemble was taken into the chaise by the ladies; till very late in life he was an indifferent horseman. At Birmingham, in their usual style, the Siddons and the Inchbald families lived together; and sometimes Mr. Inchbald painted in the apartment of Mrs. Siddons, whose exertion had given her a fit of illness. His wife went through her parts with Mr. Kemble, and, there will be little doubt, benefited much by his critical remarks. The usual course of study was persevered in; she read Telemachus in French, and began in that language an abridgement of the Bible. In the midst of these labours, the theatre had its full share of her time; there were few plays in which she did not act. The company was under the direction of Mattocks. Here, in the old style, these amusing people, as rogues and vagabonds, were informed against; and their worships the magistrates, in their sagacity, not wiser than the laws, though perhaps wishing they had alike been permitted to sleep together, stopped the performances. Something was now,

of necessity, to be done. The society, so delightful to them, was broken up; the Siddonses and their brother Kemble went for a few days, first to Warwick, and then to Wolverhampton; what was still worse, on the 21st of June they finally set out for Liverpool: and now, left to draw merely from themselves, Mr. Inchbald left off painting, and went out after such amusement as he could find; his wife very naturally thought herself neglected. While the society held together, they had no disputes; these duets were but rival harmonies. On the separation they soon began to disagree; the sooner therefore that they put themselves in motion, the better for both. Canterbury now afforded an opening; and occupation they saw was the only means of either existing happily, or indeed existing at all. As the first step, it was necessary to get to London, that they might begin their pilgrimage from the right spot; so on the 29th of June they took the stage for the metropolis, and on the day following arrived in safety, and slept at her sister Hunt's. After a day's loitering in town, and only one, they left it for the city of Becket, and arrived, not loaded with offerings for his shrine; for on the first evening they had neither tea nor supper, and the day following neither dinner nor tea.

CHAPTER V.

Peculiar feelings of actors-Mr. Inchbald improves as a painterHolcroft her literary adviser-Two months at CanterburyAspire to the York Company-Visit Standingfield-Join Wilkinson's Company at Hull-York-Davis dresses her hairLittle jealousies-The Kemble family at Liverpool-Driven from the stage-Had not acted before the King-Mrs. Inchbald at last acts Lady Sneerwell-Scene-painting-Kemble writes to Mrs. I. His tragedy at Hull-The Inchbalds are rising in professional importance-Sudden death of Mr. Inchbald-Kemble's epitaph upon him-Translation by Mr. Twiss-Friendly intimacy with Kemble-Finishes her novel-Dr. Brodie sends it to Stockdale-He declines the risk-Kemble a guardian of her reputation.

Ir might at first seem probable that persons who met with no greater encouragement than is here recorded, would become weary of a profession so little profitable, and so constantly harassing; but we seldom find that the feet which have once entered the charmed circle of a stage, can avoid lingering about its limits; and indeed players are not more disinclined to enter into other walks of life, than the professors of other arts are averse to welcome such encroachers upon their monopo

lies. There is something too in the very assumption of characters of different ranks, that while it stores the memory with good language, is apt to infuse contempt for vulgar occupation and illiterate society. The actor on a circuit must solicit the patronage of all who can take his tickets, and express his obligations to those with whom it would be misery to associate. We commonly find, therefore, that the intercourse of our present subject is chiefly with the better part of her own profession, her landlady, and her select friends; and such gentry in the neighbourhood, as, being themselves Catholics, accompany her to some chapel of their communion, and please themselves in promoting her welfare as a religious duty. At Canterbury they found a chapel very well attended, on St. Leonard's Hill. She soon had walking acquaintance from the service to her lodgings, and Mr. Inchbald now again turned himself to painting with avidity. He borrowed a likeness of Garrick of a friend, and was anxious to copy it perfectly; but a sudden call to dinner not being immediately obeyed by Mr. Inchbald, his more eager lady, without mercy, tore his labours to pieces. He really seems to have been the most indulgent of husbands. His wife's beauty had constantly foiled him, but at Canterbury the difficulty was surmounted; he got a likeness with which they were both pleased, and it was not the only subject on which they agreed.

He now walked with his wife constantly, read with her, heard her repetitions of her characters; and the rest of her leisure hours were filled up by correspondence with Mrs. Siddons and her own family.

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The Canterbury season seems to have been a speculation of Dimond's, for whose benefit play she acted Lady Randolph, and studied a part in an interlude. Holcroft, who was to become her literary adviser, was acting with them at this time, and threw some of his stage experience into a novel, which was entitled Alwyn, or, the Gentleman Comedian.' She played the first-rate characters usually, and her husband the second; generally speaking, she was exempted from farce : but, notwithstanding this elevation, she did not reach the distinction of a night for her sole benefit, but was coupled with Burton, whom some of our readers may remember for his laughable simplicity at Drury Lane in the Days of Tilbury Fort,' when poor Waldron was his "accomplished Christopher," and Miss Pope, with all the "finches of the grove" fluttering about her, was the enamoured Tilburina. It was a stroke from which tragedy could hardly have arisen, but for the genuine inspiration of the Siddons.

The Inchbalds passed two months at Canterbury profitably and pleasantly; but their views had pointed to a permanency in the York company, under that "father of the fatherless"

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