too, that abusing the old Doges and the Venetian senators, was not high treason in England, he let the matter pass.

COLMAN A MANAGER.

In March, 1767, Colman signed an agreement with his friend Powell for a share in Covent-garden Theatre, by which he entirely lost the goodwill of General Pulteney, who had offered him a seat in Parliament, and to provide amply for him, if he would quit his theatrical connexions, particularly Miss Ford, who afterwards became his wife. Of course, there was a coolness between Garrick and Colman: "Our friends," says David, "will stir heaven and earth to bring us together: make the best of it, it will be but a darn." But they were reconciled, and a dinner took place in consequence at Bath, where all were very merry.

Colman, by the death of his mother, acquired 60007., so that, after all, he was not dependent on Lord Bath and General Pulteney for every shilling of his fortune. The General now cancelled all that part of Lord Bath's will, which he had promised to confirm, relative to his succession to the Newport estate, which the General commuted for an annuity of 4007. per annum.

Neither the Earl of Bath nor his brother, General Pulteney, left heirs of their bodies; and the manner in which the latter bequeathed his immense wealth, shows too plainly the disastrous results of the folly of Colman's conduct.

On Sept. 7, 1767, the new manager and his copartners opened Covent-garden with a prologue written by Whitehead, the Poet Laureate. Dr. Johnson had been requested to write the address, but declined. A sort of civil war soon broke out between the four proprietors; notwithstanding which they produced in their first season, Bickerstaff's Lionel and Clarissa; Goldsmith's Good-natured Man; and Murphy's Zenobia. Colman also revived the play of Cymbeline, and Tate's adaptation of King Lear.

* General Pulteney died Oct. 26, 1767. It was stated in November following, that besides the immense fortune left by the General, there was the reversionary grant of the ground in Arlington-street, all Piccadilly, to Hyde Park Corner, in all forty acres, built on, which, at the expiration of the leases, would bring in 100,000l. a year, confirmed by Act of Parliament to Lord Bath, when he obtained his title.-Peake's Colman Family, vol. i. p. 208.

KITTY CLIVE'S LETTER.

Colman resided for several years at Richmond, in a villa which Sanderson, the stage-carpenter, had built for him. On the death of Mrs. Colman, Mrs. Clive, who had some ten years retired from the stage to Little Strawberry Hill, Twickenham, wrote to Colman the following kind letter exactly as it is spelt and punctuated :

SIR,

Twickenham, April 12, 1771.

I hope you heard, that I sent my servant to town to inquire how you did; indeed I have been greatly surprisd and sincerly concernd for your unexpected distress; there is nothing can be said upon these melancholy occations to a person of understanding. Fools can not feel people of sence must, and will, and when they have sank their spirits till they are ill, will find that nothing but submission can give any consolation to inevitable misfortunes.

I shall be extreamly glad to see you, and think it woud be very right if you woud come and dine hear two or three days in a week, it will change the sceen, and by the sincerity of your wellcome you may fancy your self at home.

I am, dear Sir,

Your obliged hum. Servant,

FALLS IN A THEATRE.

C. CLIVE.

On Oct. 22, 1771, when Macklin was announced at Coventgarden Theatre, to perform Shylock, one J. Ferguson, a printer, being foremost in the rush to the upper gallery, ran with such force over the seats to get into the first row, that he fell over into the pit, and in his fall came in contact with one of the glass chandeliers, which descended with him, and was shattered to fragments. Ferguson seemed much hurt; his thigh and three of his ribs being considered as broken. He was carried home, and medical aid applied; and in a week had so far recovered as to be able to walk, for no limbs had been broken; and he soon after addressed to Mr. Colman a letter of thankfulness for his humane attention to him.

A similar instance is recorded of a man falling from the upper gallery into the pit, on Feb. 6, 1739, when Rich was manager of Covent-garden. This accident was, however, attended with worse consequences than that related above, for the poor fellow had a broken limb, and was otherwise greatly injured. Rich paid all the expenses. On his recovery, the man waited on Rich to thank him for his humane con

duct, when the manager, pleased with the sufferer's gratitude, told him, "He was welcome to the freedom of the pit so long as he lived, provided he would never think of coming into it in that manner again."

COLMAN AND "THE BEGGARS' OPERA."

One morning, Colman received from Bow-street the following note:

Bow-street, October, 1773.

The magistrates now sitting in Bow-street present their compliments to Mr. Colman, and acquaint him, that on the Beggars' Opera being given out to be played some time ago at Drury-lane Theatre, they requested the managers of the theatre not to exhibit this opera, deeming it productive of mischief to society, as in their opinion it most undoubtedly increased the number of thieves; and the managers obligingly returned for answer that for that night it was too late to stop it, but that for the future they would not play it if the other house did not. Under these circumstances, from a sense of duty and the principles of humanity, the magistrates make the same request to Mr. Colman, and the rest of the managers of His Majesty's Theatre Royal, Covent Garden; the same opera being advertised to be played there this night.

To this communication the Manager replied as follows:

Mr. Colman presents his best respects to the magistrates with whose note he has just been honoured. He has not yet had an opportunity of submitting it to the other managers, but for his own part cannot help differing in opinion with the magistrates, thinking that the theatre is one of the very few houses in the neighbourhood that does not contribute to increase the number of thieves.

Covent Garden, Wednesday Morning.

In those "Jonathan Wild" days, Mr. Colman's reply to the magistrates was rather severe.

"THE MAN OF BUSINESS."

Walpole sent this piece anonymously to Colman, in 1773: he was much pleased with it, but thinking it too short for a farce, pressed to have it enlarged, "which," says Walpole, "I would not take the trouble to do for so slight and extempore a performance."

Walpole notes, Feb. 19, 1774: "Well, I must dress and dine, and go to the comedy of the Man of Business. As a proof of my incapacity, I read it this morning, and it is so full of modern lore, of rencountres, and I know not what, that I scarce comprehended a syllable. No, I shall never be fit for anything as long as I live."

COLMAN'S MANAGEMENT THE COVENT GARDEN

PATENT.

In 1774, Colman relinquished the management of Coventgarden Theatre, which he had held for seven years, and his share was purchased by his partners. The enormous increase in the value of the Patent was thus explained by Moody, the veteran actor, who received his information from Christopher Rich, brother of John Rich, the patentee of Covent-garden Theatre; Sir Thomas Skipworth's patent falling into his father's hands as follows.

Mr. Rich, the father of John and Christopher, was an attorney. He had a client to whom Sir Thomas Skipworth stood indebted in a large sum of money, and Mr. Rich, meeting the attorney of the latter, made his demand. The other replied, there were no means of paying him but “a patent to act plays by." They agreed to put it up to auction. They did so; and Mr. Rich bought it for fourscore pounds. This patent sold in the lifetime of Christopher Rich after the rate of fourscore thousand! for the proprietors as above gave Mr. Colman twenty thousand pounds for his quarter! It may further be stated, that no receipt having passed, the above proprietors had to pay Sir Thomas Skipworth's relations a large sum of money to substantiate the property.

A THEATRICAL CHANCERY SUIT.

A long contested cause between Macklin, plaintiff, and Colman, defendant, in an action for 1000 guineas, the sum demanded by the plaintiff for the time he was not permitted by the public to appear on the stage, on account of some offence he had given by his non-performance, was determined in the Court of King's Bench, on Friday, February 20, 1774. Lord Mansfield advised a compromise, and it being left to his Lordship, he gave the plaintiff 500 guineas, and each to pay his own costs. The suit had been nine years in Chancery; Macklin making weekly applications for his salary, to keep his claims upon the proprietors, relative to his engagement with them, alive.

COLMAN PURCHASES THE HAYMARKET THEATRE.

On Foote's retirement from the stage he disposed of his property in the Haymarket, in 1776, to George Colman the

Elder, as already narrated at page 234. He began his management by securing Henderson and Edwin from the Bath Theatre: Henderson proved very successful in Shylock, Hamlet, and Falstaff; although Lord Camden, in a letter to Garrick, says: "Your Birmingham counterfeit has stolen your buskin, and runs away with all your applause into the bargain; but I shall soon see him stripped to the skin, and exposed in all his Scotch nakedness to the world. I hope your friend Colman is not privy to the trash we see every day in the papers to put off this clumsy fellow. Charles Fox dined here yesterday, and thinks as I do of Henderson." However, Colman found Henderson so profitable that he presented him with a free benefit at the close of the season. Edwin was a low comedian of extensive range of character: he could look irresistibly funny with a handsome set of features; and in his comic singing, the melody in his upper tones was beautiful. He was exquisite as Liston, yet the rich humour of each was distinct. The elegant Miss Farren, then in her teens, made her début at Colman's theatre, as Miss Hardcastle, in Goldsmith's She Stoops to Conquer; and Colman gave her the principal character in the Spanish Barber, and persuaded Garrick to trust her with the Epilogue: this was, indeed, judicious management.

Next season, Colman produced at the Haymarket Horace Walpole's farce of Nature will Prevail; and the comic opera of the Flitch of Dunmow, founded on the well-known custom of the manor of Dunmow, in Essex. Miss Lee's Chapter of Accidents was another of Colman's Haymarket successes.

When Dr. Johnson heard of this purchase, he said, "What Colman can get by this bargain but trouble and hazard, I do not see." It turned out fortunate; for Foote, though not then fifty-six, played on three occasions only, and died in less than a year from the date of sale.

O'KEEFE AND COLMAN.

When O'Keefe came to London to seek his fortune, at Christmas, 1777, he sent a manuscript play to Colman, requesting that, should he disapprove of it, he would have it left at the bar of the Grecian coffee-house, directed to A. B.; if he liked it, the author would wait upon him. Next day, O'Keefe found at the Grecian a friendly letter from Colman, directed to A. B., with his approbation of the piece, promising to bring