It was generally considered by contemporaries that, at his retirement, Garrick's mantle descended upon HENDERSON. He was the son of a respectable Cheapside tradesman, but was left fatherless at an early age; having some artistic talents, his mother thought of apprenticing him to a silversmith; but he joined a spouting club at Islington, won great applause for his recitations, frequented the theatres, sometimes met Garrick at a bookseller's shop, the owner of which was a friend of young John's, and of the Roscius as well, saw with wondering longings the court and deference paid to the great actor-and resolved to become one himself. One day Garrick heard him recite; was not greatly struck, but procured him an engagement at Bath. And on October 6th, 1772, the play bills of that city announced that Hamlet would be performed "by a Young Gentleman." On October 21st, he appeared as Richard III., under the name of Courtney. Before the end of the year he resumed his proper name, and soon established himself as a favourite actor in the leading parts of tragedy and comedy. In 1777, Colman engaged him for the Haymarket, where he made a great hit as Shylock, Hamlet, Falstaff, drawing into the little theatre in about a month between four and five thousand pounds. His Falstaff was said to have been an extraordinary performance, only to

JOHN HENDerson.

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be compared with Quin's, to which it was even superior in the scenes of riotous mirth. The next season, Sheridan engaged him for Drury Lane, where he was equally successful. During Lent one season, he gave readings with the elder Sheridan at the Freemason's Hall. He was a most exquisite reader, and would recite the pathetic stories from "Tristram Shandy" and the "Sentimental Journey," with a simple pathos that never failed to draw tears. Among his selections was Cowper's Johnny Gilpin," which although it had been published three years was still little known, but he gave it with such verve and drollery that it at once became the rage. "He broke the people's hearts with the story of Le Fèvre,'" writes Tom Dibdin, "and then nearly killed them over again with laughing at Johnny Gilpin.""

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Boaden says, that his acting was analytic and artistic, but that he was careless in dressing, and his Lear always reminded the audience of his Falstaff. Ireland speaks highly of his Macbeth in the murder scene, "I think the countenance of horror and remorse he assumed was equal to anything I have ever seen;" but he found fault with the other portions. Kemble considered his Shylock was the greatest effort he had ever witnessed upon the stage, and the elder Macready preferred his Hamlet to John Philip's.

He was professedly of the Garrick school,

Ex

and imitated the great master so closely in Benedick, as to render the conception identical. In private life he was in every respect a gentleman, and was received as such in society. In figure he was short and ungraceful, with features nɔt at all expressive; his voice too was neither powerful nor tender, Garrick called it "woolly." travagantly praised and harshly criticised by his contemporaries, it is difficult to form a just estimate of his powers; by many he was pronounced to be little, if at all inferior to Garrick; but this was only the prejudice of friendship and a clique. Henderson was an admirable imitator, a man of undoubted talent, but when compared with Garrick he was only what the moon is to the sun. Taylor pronounces him to have been the best general actor of his time; but adds, that his style was heavy and that he lacked care and vivacity. Yet had not his carreer been prematurely closed, in 1785, Kemble might have had a harder battle to fight for supremacy. He was only thirty-eight when he died, of an opiate, it is said, administered in mistake for another medicine, and so highly was he esteemed, that burial was granted his remains in Westminster Abbey, where he lies close to Garrick.

CHAPTER V.

SOME FAMOUS COMEDIANS OF THE GARRICK PERIOD.

Harry Woodward-His Acting as Petruchio-Ned Shuter-His Singular Character-Anecdote of Whitfield-Making Royal Visitors Useful-Weston-The Life of a Wandering Thespian-The Original Jerry Sneak-His great Comic Powers -Lichtenberg's Picture of his Acting as Scrub-Quick, George the Third's Favourite Comedian-The Handsome O'Brien-His Elopement with an Earl's Daughter.

ONE

NE of the finest comedians of the last century was HARRY WOODWARD, the inimitable Mercutio, Bobadil, Touchstone, Marplot, Captain Absolute, Mimic and speaking Harlequin, who made his first appearance as Rich's pupil at Covent Garden in 1730, when quite a boy. He was born in 1717. His father was a tallow-chandler, and Harry was educated at Merchant Taylor's. Leaving Rich he went over to Drury Lane in 1738, where he became a supreme favourite. Davies tells us that his face was of a serious cast; but the moment he opened his mouth upon the stage, a certain ludi

crous air laid hold of his features, and every muscle ranged itself on the side of levity. The very tone of his voice inspired comic ideas. Although Clive was admirable as Katherine in "Taming the Shrew," she seemed to be overborne by the extravagant and triumphant grotesqueness of Woodward's Petruchio, and to be as much overawed by his manner of acting as the lady is supposed to be in the play. So naturally graceful was he, that it was said he could not throw himself into an ungraceful attitude. He made his last appearance at Covent Garden in 1777, and died in the same year.

Garrick pronounced NED SHUTER to be the greatest comic genius he had ever known. He was the original Old Hardcastle and Sir Anthony Absolute, Papillon in "The Liar," and Justice Woodcock in "Love in a Village." Strange to say he was a follower of Whitfield's, a constant attendant at the Tottenham Court Road Chapel, and divided his time pretty equally between drinking, playing, and praying; when drunk he could scarcely be restrained from going into the fields and preaching upon original sin and regeneration. Tate Wilkinson, who was a hanger-on upon Shuter, relates how he used to accompany him on Sunday mornings at six to the Tottenham Court Road Chapel; at ten to another Meeting House in Long Acre; at eleven back to Whitfield's Chapel; at three to