her beauty; no genius could render the contest equal. For her benefit the elder actress was so foolish as to announce herself in Mrs Siddons' greatest part, Isabella. But the boxes were not taken, and she fell ill of the disappointment. Her last appearance upon the stage was as Lady Randolph, at Covent Garden, in 1798. She died in 1801. Notwithstanding all the vicissitudes which followed upon her third marriage, the latter years of her life were passed in prosperous comfort.

MRS. YATES, another tragic actress celebrated for her beauty, although not equal to those just mentioned, was admirable in declamatory characters, such as Medea, which not even Mrs. Siddons cared to play after her. She was rather of the French than the English school, cold and correct. There is a story told of her acting in Constance which gives us a vivid idea of her style. At the lines:

"I will not keep this form upon my head,

When there is such disorder in my wit;"

she should cast her head-dress upon the ground, instead of which Mrs. Yates carefully hung it to her hoop. Grandeur and majesty were the finest attributes of her acting. Violante in "The Wonder," was her only successful comedy part. She made her first appearance at Drury Lane in 1754, but her abilities were little esteemed, until she was called upon to play Mandane (Orphan of

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China) in consequence of Mrs. Cibber's illness. Her last appearance was for Mrs. Bellamy's benefit. She died two years afterwards, in 1787.

MISS YOUNGE, although scarcely to be placed on a level with such superlative actresses as Pritchard, Cibber, and Barry, was an artist of fine powers, and might have have succeeded to the throne they vacated but for the advent of Siddons. She was equally good in tragedy and comedy. Boaden says, "she could play Queen Katherine well, but not equal to Mrs. Siddons; Beatrice excellently, although not equal to Mrs. Abington ;" which remark implies she was good in all, great in none. She made her first appearance at Drury Lane, in 1768; became the wife of Pope, a respectable tragic-actor, and retired in 1797.

She was Garrick's last Cordelia. When the curtain fell upon "King Lear," the night before his farewell, he assisted her to rise, and, holding her hand in his, walked silently towards her dressingroom. He stopped at the door, and, turning to her, said sadly: "Ah, Bessie, this is the last time I shall be your father." Still under the influence of the sublime scenes they had been playing together, and impressed by the solemn melancholy of the great actor's manner, she raised her tearful eyes, knelt down at his feet, and asked him to give her a father's blessing. It was a spontaneous impulse, and both the actors in this touching scene were fully in earnest.

CHAPTER X.

THE COMEDY LADIES.

Peg Woffington-Her First Introduction to the ProfessionAnother Cinderella-An Interview with Rich-A London Success -Her Amour with Garrick-President of the Beef-Steak Club -Defying an Audience-Her Powers as an Actress-Aristocratic Connections-A Melancholy Last Scene-Kitty CliveAs Nell in "The Devil to Pay"-Her Marriage- Her Jealousy of Garrick-Her Penchant for Tragedy-The Disadvantages of Corpulence-Mrs. Abington-Her Early Life-A Leader of Fashion-Her Incomparable Comedy Acting-Miss Pope.

THE ladies of his theatre were the plagues of

Garrick's life. Woffington and Cibber were the torments of his earlier years; Younge, Abington, and Yates, of his later.

"Three thousand wives kill'd Orpheus in a rage, Three actresses drove Garrick from the stage,"

wrote an anonymous rhymester.

While another

thus ridiculed their affectations:

"I have no nerves,' says Y-g, 'I cannot act.'

'I've lost my limbs,' cries A-n, ''tis fact.

Y-s screams, 'I've lost my voice, my throat's so sore,'
Garrick declares he'll play the fool no more."

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First let us take a glance at charming Peggy. "Forgive her one female error," says a biographer, "and it might fairly be said of her that she was adorned with every virtue; honour, truth, benevolence, charity were her distinguishing qualities." Such might have been written of many another actress upon whom untempted prudery, who can boast no other virtue, looks down with scorn. "Truth, honour, benevolence, charity "-surely they ought to 'weigh something against the one female fault. Poor Margaret must indeed have been a veritable angel-or a petrifaction, if she had been one of the unscathed ones. Her origin was of the meanest. She was born in Dublin in 1718; her father, a poor bricklayer, died when she was only a few years old; her mother took in washing as the only means of supporting her two little girls. "I have met with more than one in Dublin," says Lee Lewes in his Memoirs, "who assured me that they remembered the lovely Peggy, with a little dish upon her hand, and without shoes to cover her delicate feet, crying through College Green, and Dame Street, and other parts of that end of the town: All this fine young salad for a halfpenny; all for a halfpenny here!' The little creature's frequent visits to the College in the way of her profession, her early wit, and the sweet features she was blessed with, recommended her to the notice of many generous young students of the University,

who were even then, when she was scarcely nine years old, lavish in their praises of her wit and beauty." Later on, Peggy assisted her mother at the wash-tub, and used to fetch the water from the Liffey. Dirt, however, could not disfigure her dark, brilliant eyes, her exquisitely pencilled eyebrows, the nobility and expressiveness of which was one of the distinguishing traits of her face; or her finely chiselled aquiline nose, although it doubtless obscured the beauty of her complexion; nor could rags mar the singular grace of her figure. There were others who marked these attractions besides the College students, among them one Madame Violante, well known at the time as a rope-dancer, who had a booth in George's Lane, now Great George Street, and who stopped her one day as she was going along with her pail upon her head, and asked her how she would like to learn to dance and wear fine dresses. Peggy's answer need not be recorded; Madame accompanied her home, and there and then prevailed upon the mother to let her take the child as an apprentice. So Peggy left salad-crying and water-bearing, and went away to the booth, where she learned to dance and speak French admirably.

By-and-by Madame Violante added acting to the attractions of her establishment, and trained a company of children to play "The Beggar's Opera." Woffington was the Polly, and, although only