Paul's Church-Yard. BOSWELL. See Appendix B.
[740] Burke said, 'I have learnt to think better of mankind.' Ante, iii.236.
[741] He wrote to his servant Frank from Heale on Sept. l6:--'As Thursday [the 18th] is my birthday I would have a little dinner got, and would have you invite Mrs. Desmoulins, Mrs. Davis that was about Mrs. Williams, and Mr. Allen, and Mrs. Gardiner.' Croker's Boswell, p.739. See ante, iii.157, note 3.
[742] Dr. Burney had just lost Mr. Bewley, 'the Broom Gentleman' (ante, p. 134), and Mr. Crisp. Dr. Burney's Memoirs, ii.323, 352. For Mr. Crisp, see Macaulay's Review of Mme. D'Arblay's Diary. Essays, ed. 1874, iv.104.
[743] He wrote of her to Mrs. Montagu:--'Her curiosity was universal, her knowledge was very extensive, and she sustained forty years of misery with steady fortitude. Thirty years and more she had been my companion, and her death has left me very desolate.' Croker's Boswell, p. 739. This letter brought to a close his quarrel with Mrs. Montagu (ante, p. 64).
[744] On Sept. 22 he wrote to Mrs. Thrale:--'If excision should be delayed, there is danger of a gangrene. You would not have me for fear of pain perish in putrescence. I shall, I hope, with trust in eternal mercy, lay hold of the possibility of life which yet remains.' Piozzi Letters, ii.312.
[745] Rather more than seven years ago. Ante, ii.82, note 2.
[746] Mrs. Anna Williams. BOSWELL.
[747] See ante, p. 163, and Boswell's Hebrides, Nov 2.
[748] Dated Oct. 27. Piozzi Letters, ii.321.
[749] According to Mrs. Piozzi (Letters, ii.387), he said to Mrs. Siddons:--'You see, Madam, wherever you go there are no seats to be got.' Sir Joshua also paid her a fine compliment. 'He never marked his own name [on a picture],' says Northcote, 'except in the instance of Mrs. Siddons's portrait as the Tragic Muse, when he wrote his name upon the hem of her garment. "I could not lose," he said, "the honour this opportunity offered to me for my name going down to posterity on the hem of your garment."' Northcote's Reynolds, i. 246. In Johnson's Works, ed. 1787, xi. 207, we read that 'he said of Mrs. Siddons that she appeared to him to be one of the few persons that the two great corrupters of mankind, money and reputation, had not spoiled.'
[750] 'Indeed, Dr. Johnson,' said Miss Monckton, 'you must see Mrs. Siddons.' 'Well, Madam, if you desire it, I will go. See her I shall not, nor hear her; but I'll go, and that will do.' Mme. D'Arblay's Diary, ii. 198.
[751] 'Mrs. Porter, the tragedian, was so much the favourite of her time, that she was welcomed on the stage when she trod it by the help of a stick.' Piozzi Letters, ii. 319.
[752] He said:--'Mrs. Clive was the best player I ever saw.' Boswell's Hebrides, post, v. 126. See ante, p. 7. She was for many years the neighbour and friend of Horace Walpole.
[753] She acted the heroine in Irene. Ante, i. 197. 'It is wonderful how little mind she had,' he once said. Ante, ii. 348. See Boswell's Hebrides, post, v. 126.
[754] See ante, iii. 183.
[755] See ante, iii. 184.
[756] 'Garrick's great distinction is his universality,' Johnson said. 'He can represent all modes of life, but that of an easy, fine-bred gentleman.' Boswell's Hebrides, post, v. 126. See ante, iii. 35. Horace Walpole wrote of Garrick in 1765 (Letters, iv. 335):--'Several actors have pleased me more, though I allow not in so many parts. Quin in Falstaff was as excellent as Garrick in Lear. Old Johnson far more natural in everything he attempted; Mrs. Porter surpassed him in passionate tragedy. Cibber and O'Brien were what Garrick could never reach, coxcombs and men of fashion. Mrs. Clive is at least as perfect in low comedy.'
[757] See ante, ii. 465.
[758] Mr. Kemble told Mr. Croker that 'Mrs. Siddons's pathos in the last scene of The Stranger quite overcame him, but he always endeavoured to restrain any impulses which might interfere with his previous study of his part.' Croker's Boswell, p. 742. Diderot, writing of the qualifications of a great actor, says:--'Je lui veux beaucoup de jugement; je le veux spectateur froid et tranquille de la nature humaine; qu'il ait par consequent beaucoup de finesse, mais nulle sensibilite, ou, ce qui est la meme chose, l'art de tout imiter, et une egale aptitude a toutes sortes de caracteres et de roles; s'il etait sensible, il lui serait impossible de jouer dix fois de suite le meme role avec la meme chaleur et le meme succes; tres chaud a la premiere representation, il serait epuise et froid comme le marble a la troisieme,' &c. Diderot's Works (ed. 1821), iii. 274. See Boswell's Hebrides, post, v. 46.
[759] My worthy friend, Mr. John Nichols, was present when Mr. Henderson, the actor, paid a visit to Dr. Johnson; and was received in a very courteous manner. See Gent. Mag. June, 1791.
I found among Dr. Johnson's papers, the following letter to him, from the celebrated Mrs. Bellamy [ante, i. 326]:--
'To DR. JOHNSON.
'SIR,
'The flattering remembrance of the partiality you honoured me with, some years ago, as well as the humanity you are known to possess, has encouraged me to solicit your patronage at my Benefit.