myself.' He, I am afraid, had no settled system of any sort, so that his conduct must not be strictly scrutinized; but his affections were social and generous, and when he had money he gave it away very liberally. His desire of imaginary consequence predominated over his attention to truth. When he began to rise into notice, he said he had a brother who was dean of Durham, a fiction so easily detected that it was wonderful how he should have been so inconsiderate as to hazard it. He boasted to me at this time of the power of his pen in commanding money, which I believe was true in a certain degree, though in the instance he gave he was by no means correct. He told me that he had sold a novel for four hundred pounds. This was his Vicar of Wakefield.' But Johnson informed me that he had made the bargain for Goldsmith, and the price was sixty pounds. And, Sir,' said he, 'a sufficient price too, when it was sold; for then the fame of Goldsmith had not been elevated, as it afterwards was, by his "Traveller;" and the bookseller had such faint hopes of profit by his bargain, that he kept the manuscript by him a long time, and did not publish it till after the Traveller" had appeared. Then, to be sure, it was accidentally worth more money.'"

66

Benjamin Cooke.

BORN A. D. 1730.-DIED A. D. 1793.

THIS Composer was educated by Dr Pepusch, under whom his progress was so rapid, that, at twelve, he was competent to the duty of deputy-organist of Westminster abbey. On the decease of Dr Pepusch, in 1752, he became conductor of the Academy of Ancient Music, a post he continued to hold for thirty-seven years. In the same year, he succeeded Bernard Gates, as lay clerk, and master of the boys at Westminster abbey; and in 1762, he was appointed organist. In 1775, he proceeded to the degree of doctor of music, at Cambridge, where he performed, as an exercise, his anthem, Behold, how good and joyfully' In 1782, he was elected organist of St Martin's-in-the-Fields. He died on the 14th of September. His private character was extremely amiable, and he is described by Miss Hawkins, daughter of Sir John, as one of the worthiest and best-tempered men that ever existed. Dr Cooke's compositions-which were chiefly written for the Academy of Ancient Music, and the Catch Club-are characterized by correctness. His chief printed works are, two books of canons, glees, rondos, and duets; Milton's Morning Hymn,' and 'Collins's Ode on the Passions.' Amongst the most popular of his secular productions, are 'Thyrsis,' 'When he left me; and, Let Rubinelli charm the Ear; his chorus. I have been Young; and his glees, Hark, hark, the Lark,'' As the Shades of Eve,' How Sleep the Brave,' and, 'In the Merry month of May.'

、

Jeremiah Markland.

BORN A. D. 1693.-DIED A. D. 1776.

THIS learned and acute critic was son of Ralph Markland, vicar of Childwall, in Lancashire. He was admitted of Christ's hospital, London, in 1704, whence, in 1710, he was sent to the university of Canbridge. In 1717 he was chosen a fellow of St Peter's.

The first publication which introduced him to the notice of the learned world was his Epistola critica ad eruditissimum virum F. Hare, in quâ Horatii loca aliquot et aliorum veterum emendantur,' Cantab. 1723, Svo. In 1728 he edited an edition of the Sylvæ' of Statius, in which he greatly restored the integrity of the text, and exhibited uncommon felicity of judgment and conjecture. In 1745 he published Remarks on the Epistles of Cicero and Brutus,' in which he attempted to prove that these remains were not genuine; he likewise extended his scepti cism to some of the orations ascribed to Cicero, which he characterized as "silly and barbarous stuff." Markland was, in this discussion, aided by Tunstall; and opposed by Middleton, and Ross afterwards bishop of Exeter.

About the year 1752 Markland retired into private life, selecting for his retreat the hamlet of Milton, near Dorking in Surrey. In this retirement he edited, by piecemeal, the plays of Euripides, but it was not without much difficulty that his friends prevailed on him to lay his valuable annotations before the public. He died in 1776.

Markland was a truly profound scholar; but his timid and shrinking disposition deprived the world of much of the fruits of his unwearied industry, fine taste, and extensive acquaintance with the stores of classical antiquity. He was a man of high moral integrity and independence of character.

Samuel Foote.

BORN A. D. 1720.—DIED a. D. 1777.

SAMUEL FOOTE, the modern Aristophanes, was born at Truro in Cornwall. He was descended from a very ancient family. His father was member of parliament for Tiverton in Devonshire, and enjoyed the post of commissioner of the prize-office. His mother was heiress of the Dinely and Goodhere families. He was educated at Worcester college, Oxford. The church belonging to the college fronted the side of a lane, into which cattle were sometimes turned during the night, and from the steeple hung the bell-rope very low in the middle of the outside porch. Foote, one night, slily tied a wisp of hay to the rope as a bait for the cows, and one of them, after smelling the hay, instantly seized on it, and tugging, made the bell ring, to the astonishment of the whole parish. This trick was several times repeated. Such a phenomenon must be investigated for the honour of Oxford and philosophy, and accordingly the provost with the sexton agreed to sit up one night,

and on the first alarm to run out and drag the culprit to punishment. They waited in the church shuddering for the signal: at last the bell began to toll-forth they sallied in the dark. The sexton was the first in the attack: he cried out 'It is a gentleman commoner, for I have him by the gown.' The doctor, who at the same moment caught the cow by the horn, replied, 'No, no, you blockhead, 'tis the postman, and here I have hold of him by his horn.' Lights, however, being brought, the true character of the offender was discovered, and the laugh of the town was turned upon Doctor Gower. When Foote was enjoined to learn certain tasks in consequence of his idleness, he used to come with a large folio dictionary under his arm, and repeat his lessons, and then the doctor would give him several wholesome lectures on the dangers of idleness. In this lecture he usually made use of many hard words and quaint phrases, at which the other would immediately interrupt him, and after begging pardon with great formality, would take the dictionary from under his arm, and affect to search up the word, would then pretend he had found it, and say, 'Very well, Sır; now please to go on." On leaving the university he commenced student of law in the Temple; but as the dryness of this study did not suit the liveliness of his genius, he soon relinquished it.

In 1741 he married a young lady of good family and some fortune; but their tempers not agreeing, harmony did not long subsist between them. He now launched into all the fashionable foibles of the age, gaming not excepted, and in a few years spent his whole fortune. His necessities at last drove him on the stage, and he made his first appearance at the Haymarket, on the 6th of February, 1744, in the character of Othello. He attempted Lord Foppington likewise, but prudently gave it up. The fact is, Foote never was a good actor in the plays of others. In 1747 he opened a little theatre in the Haymarket, and appeared in a dramatic piece of his own composing, called The Diversions of the Morning.' This piece consisted of nothing more than the exhibition of several characters well-known in real life, whose style of conversation and expressions Foote very happily hit off in the diction of his drama, and still more happily represented on the stage. This performance at first met with some opposition from the magistrates of Westminster, under the sanction of the act of parliament for limiting the number of playhouses, as well as from the jealousy of the managers of Drury Lane playhouse; but the author being patronized by many of the principal nobility, and other persons of distinction, this opposition was overruled. Having altered the title of his performance, Foote proceeded without further molestation to give 'Tea in a Morning' to his friends, and represented it through a run of forty mornings to crowded and splendid audiences.

"This entertainment," says Galt, "resembled in many respects the kind of monologues which have been so much the delight of our own age by the admirable tact and humour of Mathews. Foote at the time and during his whole life had the peculiar zest of personal mimicry, but Mathews has gone a step farther, by performing alone different imaginary characters in the same manner that Foote imitated the peculiarities of well-known persons. The success of Foote in this novel species of

1 Galt's Lives of the Players.'

entertainment excited the jealousy of the great theatres; complaints were made as if he had really immorally violated the law; constables were employed to dismiss his audience, and for a time his career was arrested. But as Mathews holds his at Homes,' Foote invited the public to Tea,' and his invitation was accepted with avidity. The conception of this entertainment did credit to his eccentric taste and talent. While the audience were sitting wondering what it would be, the manager came forward, and after making his bow, acquainted them 'That as he was training some young performers for the stage, he would, with their permission, whilst tea was getting ready, proceed with his instructions before them; and he then commenced a series of ludicrous imitations of the players, who, one and all, became exceedingly exasperated against him, but their anger only served to make him more visited. Few amusements were ever so popular."

The ensuing season he produced another piece of the same kind, which he called 'The Auction of Pictures.' This piece also had a very great run. His 'Knights,' the produce of the ensuing season, was a performance of somewhat more dramatic regularity; but still, although his plot and characters seemed less immediately personal, it was apparent that he kept some real characters strongly in his eye in the performance; and the town took upon themselves to fix them where the resemblance appeared to be the most striking.

6

Foote's dramatic pieces, exclusive of the interlude called Piety in Pattens,' are as follow: Taste,' The Knights,' The Author,' The Englishman in Paris,' The Englishman returned from Paris,''The Mayor of Garrat,' The Liar,' 'The Patron,' The Minor,' 'The Orators,' The Commissary,' The Devil upon Two Sticks,' The Lame Lover,' The Maid of Bath,' The Nabob,'The Cozeners,''The Capuchin,' 'The Bankrupt,' and an unfinished comedy called 'The Slanderer. All these works are only to be ranked among the petite pieces of the theatre. In their execution they are loose, negligent, and unfinished; the plots are often irregular, and the catastrophes not always conclusive; but, with all these deficiencies, they contain more character, more strokes of keen satire, and more touches of temporary humour, then are to be found in the writings of any modern dramatist, with the exception of Sheridan.

Foote, finding his health decline, entered into an agreement with Colman for his patent of the Haymarket theatre, according to which he was to receive from Colman £1600 per annum, besides a stipulated sum whenever he chose to perform. After this he made his appearance two or three times in some of the most admired characters; but being suddenly affected with a paralytic stroke one night whilst upon the stage, he was compelled to retire. He was advised to bathe; and accordingly repaired to Brighton, where he apparently recovered his former health and spirits, and was what is called the fiddle of the company' who resort to that agreeable place of amusement. A few weeks before his death he returned to London; but, by the advice of his physicians, set out with the intention to spend the winter at Paris and in the south of France. He got no farther than Dover, when he was suddenly attacked by another stroke of the palsy which in a few hours terminated his existence. He died on the 21st of October, 1777, in the 56th year of

IV.

Ꮓ

his age; and was privately interred in the cloisters of Westminster abbey.

Johnson said of Foote: "He is not a good mimic; but he has art, a fertility and variety of images, and is not deficient in reading. He has knowledge enough to fill up his part: then he has great range for his wit; he never lets truth stand between him and a jest: and he is sometimes mighty coarse." It being observed to him that Foote had a singular talent of exhibiting character, the doctor replied: "No, Sir; it is not a talent, it is a vice: it is what others abstain from." At another time, Dr Johnson, in speaking of his abilities, said, "I don't think Foote a good mimic. His imitations are not like: he gives you something different from himself, without going into other people. He cannot take off any person, except he is strongly marked. He is like a painter who can draw the portrait of a man who has a wen upon his face, and who, therefore, is easily known. If a man hops upon one leg, Foote can hop upon one leg; but he has not a nice discrimination of character. He is, however, upon the whole, very entertaining, with a particular species of conversation, between art and buffoonery. I am afraid, however, Foote has no principle. He is at times neither governed by good manners nor discretion, and very little by affection. But for a broad laugh-and here the doctor would himself gruffly smile at the recollection of it-I must confess the scoundrel has no fellow." "The first time," said the doctor on another occasion, "I ever was in company with Foote, I was resolved not to be pleased—and it is very difficult to please a man against his will. I went on eating my dinner pretty sullenly, affecting for a long time not to mind him; but the dog was so very comical that I was obliged to lay down my knife and fork, throw myself back on my chair, and fairly laugh it out with the rest; there was no avoiding it—the fellow was irresistible."

Thomas Arne.

BORN A. D. 1710.—died A. D. 1778.

THOMAS AUGUSTINE ARNE, a celebrated musical composer, was born on the 28th of May, 1710. He was the son of Thomas Arne, upholsterer, Covent Garden, the person supposed to be depicted by Addison, in his well-known character of the Politician, in Nos. 155 and 160 of the Tatler. He was educated at Eton, and originally designed for a legal profession; but his passionate love of music ultimately induced his father to consent to his following it professionally.

Under the tuition of Festing, an eminent violin performer, he soon rivalled the skill of his master, and recommended himself to the notice and favour of Farinelli, Senesino, Geminiani, and the other great Italian musicians of the day. His first regular engagement as a public performer was that of leader of the band at Drury Lane, and his first public essay as a composer was the opera of Rosamond,' which was brought out in March 1733, and met with considerable success. In 1738 he produced music for Milton's masque of Comus.' "In this masque," says Dr Burney," he introduced a light, airy, original, and pleasing