Henry Johnstone, who by-the-bye, is a remarkably fine young man, but he does not know what he writes about when he asserts that Garrick had never played before the king. Now at the time 'The Chinese Festival' came out, Johnstone surprised me very much with his strength, for in the first place he threw little Lucky, the black boy, over a high bank, and carried Mr. Orford, who performed Captain Halpin' (reverse the order) on his back into a cavern, lifting him up as easily as I lift this puppy, so you must suppose he must be pretty strong; he's thorough-bred, and he'll let you hold him up by the tail without squeaking, as you see; but then he's a fine pantomime actor, sir. Still, as I said to Mrs. Wilkinson, where is there to be found such another as Mrs. Siddons ?"

Tate Wilkinson died in 1808, and, spite of his eccentricities, universally regretted.

CHAPTER IX.

THE TRAGEDY QUEENS.

Mrs. Pritchard-Compared with Mrs. Siddons-Their Different Readings in Lady Macbeth-Mrs. Pritchard in the Banquet Scene Mrs. Cibber-Titania and Bottom-Contemporary Descriptions of her Acting-Her Unhappy Domestic Life-A Sir Pandarus-Garrick's Valediction upon Her-George Anne Bellamy-Her Début- An Eccentric Duchess-A Romantic Abduction-Garrick Counter-checked-An Irishman Puzzled-An Actress's Vengeance-A Singular Marriage Contract-A Ladies' Battle-A Faded Beauty-The Last Chapter of a Sad Romance -Mrs. Spranger Barry-A Persecuted Pair- Her Second Husband-Twice a Widow-Hamlet Fiddling an Irish Jig-Mrs. Barry and Mrs. Siddons-An Unequal Contest-Mrs. YatesMiss Younge-A Touch of Nature.

OF

the ladies of this period precedence must be given both on chronological and artistic grounds to HANNAH PRITCHARD.

Her early career was very humble; as Miss Vaughan she acted at the fairs about the neighbourhood of London, and married a poor actor of little talent, named Pritchard. Then she appeared at the Haymarket in one of Fielding's pieces, and soon afterwards went over to Drury Lane. She held a leading position upon the London stage some ten years before Garrick appeared. In her youth she was attractive and genteel, and her simple yet

expressive manner, and admirable unaffected delivery of dialogue both in tragedy and comedy, charmed every spectator. In all characters of intrigue, mirth, and gaiety, as Rosalind, Lady Brute, Estifania, Beatrice, Lady Townley, Lady Betty Modish, she could not be surpassed, and even in her latter years, when her face and figure had become too full and coarse, the beautiful Woffington shrank from her rivalry. She was equally famous in scolds, as Termagant, Doll Common, Mrs. Oakley. Indeed it was agreed by all contemporaries that her comic powers exceeded her tragic. She raised the character of the Queen in "Hamlet," however, a part despised by modern actresses, to a grandeur and importance such as no other had ever imparted to it; and Davies says, in nothing was her loss regretted more than in that. As Queen Katherine, again, Mrs. Siddons could never shake her supremacy. In comparing the two as artistes, the palm must be given to Mrs. Pritchard on account of her versatility, which Sarah Kemble entirely lacked; she excelled in tragedy only. When," says a contemporary, "Mrs. Pritchard plays Merope she is Merope, and nothing of herself appears; but all the character, the spirit of Mr. Garrick, the softness of Mr. Barry, and the melancholy of Mrs. Cibber attend them in whatever part they play; but Mrs. Pritchard, having tinguishing marks of this kind, carries with her nothing that is peculiar to herself into the

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MRS. PRITCHARD AS LADY MACBETH.

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character." Dibdin says, "She was everywhere great, everywhere impressive, everywhere feminine."

She is now chiefly remembered as Mrs. Siddons' greatest predecessor in Lady Macbeth. Great was the disputation at the appearance of the latter in that part over the comparative excellencies of the two ladies. Lord Harcourt said that Mrs. Siddons wanted the dignity, compass, and melody of Mrs. Pritchard; he considered her inferior in the banquet scene, and, although he approved of her dispensing with the taper,* and imitating the washing of the hands-effects impossible to the elder actress-he said her sigh was not so terrible, nor her voice so sleepy, yet articulate, as Mrs. Pritchard's.

The points made by the two actresses were different, as an instance, when Lady Macbeth is urging her husband to the murder of Duncan, her answer to his, "If we should fail?" was daring and scornful. "We fail! But screw your courage to the stickingplace, and we'll not fail." Mrs. Siddons' reply was subdued, “We fail! But screw your courage to the sticking-place, and we'll not fail." The former was decidedly the grander rendering. Davies finely describes her acting in the banquet scene :

"Mrs. Pritchard showed admirable art in endeavouring to hide Macbeth's frenzy from the observation of the guests, by drawing their attention to conviviality. She smiled on one, whispered to * See Vol. II., page 28.

another, and distantly saluted a third; in short, she practised every possible artifice to hide the transaction that passed between her husband and the vision. his disturbed imagination had raised. Her reproving and angry looks, which glanced towards Macbeth, at the same time, were mixed with marks of inward vexation and uneasiness. When at last, as if unable to support her feelings any longer, she rose from her seat, and seized his arm, and, with a half whisper of terror, said: "Are you a man?" She assumed a look of such anger, indignation, and contempt as cannot be surpassed."

It has been said, but the assertion is doubtful, she never read a line of Macbeth beyond what affected her own part. Dr. Johnson called her an inspired idiot. But, whatever might have been her intellectual calibre, she bore an irreproachable character in private life. "Her voice as free from blemish as her fame," writes Churchill. She was an immense favourite with all classes of people, and few actresses have ever been so sincerely beloved and powerfully patronized.

After thirty-eight years of toil, she took her farewell of the stage in 1768, as Lady Macbeth; Garrick wrote an epilogue for the occasion. It was the last time he ever appeared as Macbeth; he could never hope to find such another partner of his greatness. She survived her retirement only a few months.

The most famous representative at this period of