Rowe.

This poet equally excelled in reading well. Mrs. Oldfield, herself a fine reciter, and an acknowledged judge, declared "that all the merit she acquired in the modulation of her tones, was from Rowe reading his own tragedies."

Hooke.

This elegant writer of the Roman History, during his progress in that work, read some of the orations to Speaker Onslow, who was himself an acknowledged good orator; and he delivered them with such grace and elocution, that Onslow exclaimed, "How can I tell whether those lines are sense or nonsense, when you bribe me with such a harmony of voice?"

Thomson, Author of the Seasons.

He read so badly, and with such a broad Scotch accent, that he latterly never attempted it, but to divert the company.

One of the players was obliged to read his two tragedies of Agamemnon and Sophonisba.

Congreve.

Southern says of Congreve," that when he brought a comedy of his to the players" (Dr. Johnson believes it to be The Old Bachelor)," he read it so wretchedly ill, that they were on the point of rejecting it, till one of them good naturedly took it out of his hands and read it; when they were so fully persuaded of its excellence, that for half a year before it was acted he had the privilege of the house."

Addison.

On the first reading ofhis Cato in the greenroom, he succeeded so ill, that he would not attempt it a second time. He therefore consigned that task to Cibber; who acquitted himself so much better than the author, that the latter requested he would perform the part of Cato. But Cibber

knew his own talents too well for this; and he yielded the part very judiciously to Booth.

Isaac Hawkins Browne,

Who was himself a fine poet (as he proved by his Latin poem on the immortality of the soul), never could thoroughly relish Milton till he heard the elder Sheridan read some passages from that divine author.

Though Sheridan's voice was never, in my opinion, harmonious enough for the tender and pathetic parts of this divine poem; yet in the sublimer passages I have often borne witness to his dignity, force, and elocution.

Mr. Browne, beside being a good poet, was a very fine reciter, and a most delightful companion; which latter quality Dr. Johnson, in his Lives of the Poets, thus elegantly describes:

"His conversation was at once so elegant, so apparently artless, so pure, and so pleasing, it seemed a perpetual stream of

sentiment, enlivened by gaiety, and sparkling with images."

Lord Chatham.

This illustrious statesman, so justly celebrated for his oratory, integrity, and transcendant abilities, was likewise a very fine and animated reader. Shakspeare was one of his favourite authors; whom he occasionally read to his family and private companies, with great power of voice and manner. He generally selected the heroic characters; such as Hotspur, Henry V, Coriolanus, &c.; assigning the comic parts to some of his relations. He had likewise an elegant turn for poetry; in which he would probably have greatly excelled, had he not been summoned away by the higher duties which he owed his country.

Bois Robert,

Who lived in the reign of Louis the Fourteenth, was celebrated for telling anecdotes with uncommon grace and vivacity; and by this talent ingratiated himself very

much with Cardinal Richelieu. His friends often solicited him to publish them; but he had the good sense to know, that though a man may talk himself into reputation, he may print himself out of it.

Shuter.

This celebrated comedian had the peculiarity of Bois Robert, that his stories would not bear printing; nor indeed would many of them bear reciting by any other person than himself. It was in his manner that he excelled; and that manner, aided by the luxuriance of his comic features, and the drollery of his eye, was irresistible.

Garrick.

Garrick read dramatic poetry with infinite grace, judgment, and versatility; so much so, that he could generally impose any part he pleased on a performer, though ever so bad, by his manner of repeating it in the green-room. Dick Yates often told the . Editor of these Memoirs, that it required