Having, by my admiration of the laudable example of the stage, been led into a digretion, I return with double avidity to continue my commendation of that part of the practice of the Bar; which feems in my apprehenfion to be a broad and brilliant reflection, except in the article of kneeling, of that great mirror of the morals and manners of mankind; and I think that thole advocates, who with gigantic force feem difpofed to ftorm the gates of heaven, and attack the Almighty upon his throne, have not only adopted the fublime expletives of their great prototypes, whether exotic or indigenous, the fimall poets of the times," but, piling metaphor upon metaphor, have indeed afcended much higher, and have made difcoveries in, and obtained polieflion of, a part of the celeftial globe, to them unknown, and from which it does not feem that they are in any danger of being speedily ejected. Nor does it appear that thefe learned and pious gentemen, although they have properly copied their language from, and improved their ideas by, thefe of our dramatic poets, until they have loared far beyond the tphere of common comprehenfion, have ever been led, by the abfurd tate that once prevailed, to found their rhetoric upon the model of the ancients. Demofthenes, Cicero, Quintilian, and Longinus, are tame and infipid, when Compared to the metaphysical and celeftial fights of the modern Bar: neither have thote craters, whom I admire for having left their claffical crutches at their relpective ckges, to be hung in trophies, like thote at Path, been more obliged, for the ears of thofe fky rockets which they occafionally fire, to works which fill they may probably confider as waffe paper. I mean thofe containing the fpeeches of Hale, Atkins, Finch, Hoit, Trevor, Powers, Neville, Ward, Conniers, Tracy, Darnel, Price, Cow per, Dodd, Phipps, and a hundred others, as, upon examining folio after folio, with that laudable jealoufy which is apt to en flame a mind enraptured with modern clecution, and almoft trembling left I fhould find their pages illuminated with feme of thofe rays of genius, whofe pervading influence has often warmed the Court in which they were displayed, I was happy to obferve. that they were uniformly in this refpect in a demi-tint. They feemed in no part to rife above the

mediocrity of common fenfe, to contain no declamation but what any one could understand, and which from the fimplicity of their flyle were never calculated to intereft the paffions, to attract the attention, or employ the difquifitorial faculties of a Jury. In this refearch it alio gave me great pleasure to meet a confirmation of my opinion of the vast fuperiority, in point of religious tendency, of our orations over those of our ancestors; and to find that there are other fpiritual courts in this metropolis befides Doctors Commons.

In another point of view, I think the fymptoms of piety, which fo eminently diftinguish this legally virtuous age from all that have preceded it, deferve particular notice, and confequently praile for there was an idea, that the people had fome time fince a little relaxed in their ftrict attendance on divine fervice, therefore we may exceedingly rejoice that Weftminfter Hall has become, in its language, nearly as pious as Weltminster Abbey; fo that they are fure of hearing edifying difcourfes fomewhere: nay, much doubt whether the names of the Almighty, Providence, and a long fring of celestial expletives, the use of which

at the Bars of the former I have had cccafion to celebrate, have not, while they evidently tended to the edification of the age, frequently attracted the admiration and approbation of their reverend neigh bours, and induced them to imagine that the two profeflions of Law and Gospel will again be blended, fo that, by a counter reformation, they may have one day the happiness to hear an advocate begin his addrefs to a Jury in the fiyle of a Pope *, and continue it in nearly the following terms:

"I am, Gentlemen, although the humbleft of the Servants of the Servants of God, placed, by his divine permiflion, in the fituation of an advocate in this caufe, which my learned friend has opened as you, Gentlemen, would have opened your hops; and, as you must have obferved, every fhutter he has removed has let in the broadest gleams of light; fo that now, under Providence, having poured his fcientific oil into your fconces, he has, as far as he has gone, wept all before him, and rendered even the darkeit paffage as clear as noon day, He has in limine performed his duty, and conducted you to the threshold of this

nefarious

nefarious tranfaction. I will, with the afittance of Heaven, open the door, lead you to the desk, and shew you the ledger in which this account is itated- Debito jate conclude, by your flaking your heads, Gentlemen, that you do not understand Latin. I do! The Almighty, a prioti, endued me with a genius to attain that branch of erudition; and my fchoolmaster, a pofteriori, under the direction of Providence, rivetted it with repeated (trokes, and fixed it in my brad; you fmile, Gentlemen; but I muft inform you, that it is the nature of the flame of knowledge, like the flame of a chearful fire, to ascend. So that all the leaning which is to be pick'd up in the courte of a liberal education (and, by the way, there are many kind of things be. fides book learning to be pick'd up in a progrels through school and college), Providence has bestowed upon me. But did the care of Heaven over ine its unworthy fervant ftop there? No! you would fay I were ungrateful to God if I averr'd fo much. The Almighty has, after protecting me through life, permitted me this day, for I must, it is my duty to tell you, Gentlemen, that day and night, particularly in the night, and from night-walkers, the Almighty hath protected me! and I would knock a man down, and then bring a crot action againit him, who thould be weak and wicked enough to fay, that Angels and Minifters of Grace' do not defend me much better than it ever was in my power to defend a client

*

This fragment may ferve as a fpecimen of the fpiritual or celelal ftyle of pleading, fomething like which has already

obtained, and which, as I have in the course of this fpeculation obferved, I exceedingly admire; because it seems to me to be not only a bold but laudable attempt to purity our morals, to make us more familiar with divine images, and confequently more frequent and tervent in our pious alpirations; but to enrich our fentences, by preffing into our fervice, and introducing upon the moft trivial occafions, words which were never uttered by our cautious ancestors but upon the molt folemn. In conclufion, if this fpiritual mode of pleading is pura fued, as I have great hope it will be, it muit, belides the advantage it gives to an advocate over his opponent, who is perhaps "afraid of his loul," and, like Sir John Brute, in the play, has kept fheaking cowardly company "" fellows that went to church, faid grace to their meat, &c." it mult, I fay, in time, be of the greatest benefit to the public; inafmuch as the lower claffes of fociety, from whom the frequent and indifcriminate ufe of the holy name of the Almighty feems originally to have been borrowed, will be induced to confider this as a prelude to the adoption of all their expletives, and confequently fuch a compliment to their talents, as will fi mulate them to the greatest mental exertions, in order to invent new figures of rhetoric, which will doubtlefs be ingrafted into our police converfation as foon as coined: fo that we may hope, in future, our declamatory fchools will exhibit only gay parterres of artificial flowers, uncontaminated by the conneftion of a tingle weed; which we may gather and form into literary bouquets, for the benefit and amulement of the prefent age, and, if we can keep them dry, for the incalculable advantage of posterity.

M

of

of the latter; but being partly educated by a priest, a brother of his mother, he inclined to her religion and when he grew up to man's eftate, continued it as much as a man may be faid to belong to any religion, who was fo careless as he was about its ceremonies and injun&tions. He became a convert to Proteftanifm about the age of forty, from the following accident:

As he was ftrolling one day through Lincoln's-inn-fields, he faw a little book upon a tall, called "The Funeral of the Mafs." This book truck him from the fingularity of its title, and he bought it for nine-perce, took it home with him, and read it two or three times over very attentively; the confequence of which was, that he deferted his mother church, and became a convert to the Proteftant religion. And fo, Sir (aid a perfon prefent as he was telling this anecdote), you are now, I fuppofe, a ftaunch Proteftant." Yes, Sir, as flaunch as the Archbishop of Canterbury, and on as pure principles."

At what particular period Macklin married, we don't exactly know. It might be fuggefted, were there not evidence to the contrary, that it was between the

years 1734 and 1736; as we find Mifs Macklin, his eldest daughter by that marriage, playing, fo early as 1742, the Duke of York in Richard the Third, when, in all probability, the must be at leaft fix or eight years old. Mrs. Mack lin's maiden name was Grace Purvor; fhe was the early and humble friend of Mils Saintlowe, afterwards Mrs. Booth, and we believe the friendship continued to the death of the former. Macklin ufed to tell fome little anecdotes relative to this courtship, and amongst the reft, the following:

His Grace John, Duke of Argyle, who was a great Patron of the Theatre and principal performers, was a vifitor amongst many other perfons of high fashion that used to call upon Mrs. Booth, both during her husband's life-time, and after his death. "In thefe vifits I perceived (faid Macklin), or thought I perceived, he cast a bark's eye on Mifs Purvor. Now, Sir, as I meant bonourably by her, I thought I had a right to explain myself on that fubject-fo, Sir, the next time his Grace called, I took that opportunity to tell him that I was afraid he was my rival, and in that cafe there was room for a great deal of fear; but that as I meant to make her my

wife, if I could obtain her confent (which I was fure be would not), therefore I hoped his Grace would not interrupt the union," The Duke took this remonftrance with his ufual good-breeding and affability; affured him, he would be one of the last men to interrupt his happinefs; and afterwards dropt coming to the houfe till Macklin was married.

This marriage was very profitable to Macklin, and we believe in other refpects very accommodable: it must be confeffed, fhe "had a hard ruled husband to ma nage," from the temporary intracticablenefs of his temper; but having no in confiderable fund of good-nature at bottom, with upright intentions, from all that we can learn of their union, it was tolerably happy. He fubmitted a good deal to her in ftage matters; and her advice, no doubt, often cooled the fudden intemperance of his paffions.

Of what value fhe was eftimated on the Theatre may be collected from fome old ftage anecdotes. In 1748 the elder Sheridan engaged them both to perform in Dublin, at the very confiderable falary of eight hundred pounds per annum, for two years; but this extravagant engage ment never was finished, owing to the diffentions between the Actor and Manager.

The principal parts which Mrs. Macklin was remarkable for, were Lappet in The Mifer, Lady Wrangle, Lady Wronghead, the Nurfe in Romeo and Juliet, and in all characters of that complexion. She was befide, according to her hufband's account, a woman of much reading, good strong fenfe, and knowledge of the world. She excelled likewile in narration, particularly in ftories of dry hu mour, which she told fo well, and with fo little affectation of any merit in the telling, that old Cibber to the lait ufed to look in upon them of an evening to goffip with her, and hear her anecdotes, which he always liftened to with pleafure, and repaid with applause.

When Macklin fucceeded Theophilus Cibber as Prime Minister to Mr. Fleetwood in Drury Lane Theatre, his experience, his advice, and humility, fo gained upon the Manager, who did not know much of the great task he was engaged in, that he food forward as his principal adviser and director in all theatrical matters. By thefe means he gained an opportunity of fhewing himlelf in many characters, which his rank and standing otherwife would not have entitled

him to fome of these, no doubt, gained him confiderable and deserved applaufe; others, we think, must have funk him in the opinion of good judges-fuch as his Mercutio, Lord Foppington, and others

of this caft-at no time of life could

Macklin's figure, tafte, or natural vivacity, bear him out in fuch characters: he was judicious enough, it is true-affiduous, and well ftudied; but he must have wanted the peculiar felicity of exbibition, without which the true imprefficns of a character can never be brought forward. Even in his Sir John Brute (which we have often feen him in, and which was reckoned in the catalogue of his ftrong parts), he wanted mellowness and fofthels: instead of the diffipated and furly Gentleman, it was the ill-manner'd brutih Mechanic, in the habit of getting drank every night at the ale-houfe, and on his return beating his wife: the poet no doubt has drawn the character, coarse enough; but fill Sir John Brute is a

Gentleman from his birth and education, though "fhorn of his manners," by his love of drinking, and the indulgence of ill temper. Garrick, with that admirable art which rendered him fo justly preeminent above his fellows, caught the true fpirit of this character-by giving a fofter fhade to all its vices and irregularities, without once lofing fight of the original.

Though Macklin's intimacy with the Manager opened the way to his profeffion with more rapidity than otherwife he could have done, he was very near paying very dear for this in another line. Fleetwood, as 'tis well known, though originally a man of large fortune, had, by his excelles and imprudences (amongit which his turning Manager may perhaps be a principal), about this period, become fo confiderably involved in debt, that he made no fcruple of obtaining money or fecurity from every body he could. Though confcious of his inca. pacity to repay any fums he borrowed, he till borrowed on; his best friends were no exemptions to his arts and promifes; and Macklin, though so near falling a victim, perhaps for ever, to his deceptions, often ufed to fay, that the person, the addrefs, the manners, and felicitations, of Fleetwood, when under the neceflity of borrowing, appeared fo artles, fo unpractifed, and fo delicately embarraffed, as made his attacks irrefiltible; and none but thofe who had

repeated experience of his merely acting this part, could escape his solicitations.

He had often borrowed small fums of

Macklin, fuch as twenty or thirty pounds at a time, without ever repaying him, but frequently mentioning his obliga tions and affurance of repayment."Thefe fums (faid the Veteran), fome times borrowed from me after a fnug benefit night, and fometimes after a lucky run of play (for I was a gambler, Sir, at that time), I did not much mind to press him for; confidering them as neft eggs in his hands, and as a kind of fecurity for my engagements at his theatre, which

even at that time was confiderable: but

I foon found I was a chicken in point of worldly knowledge to my Chief-whilft I thought I was trenching myfelf in my profeflion, he was plotting my ruin; not that he had any particular antipathy to me, Sir-far from it; but fomebody was to fave him from a temporary embarraffment, and I was found to be the moft convenient scape goat."

The fact was, that Fleetwood, finding himself hard preffed for a confiderable fum of money, for which he muft either go to prifon or give fecurity, prevailed upon Macklin, in one of thofe irrefiftible bours of folicitation, to become his bondfman; the fum, we believe, was no less than three thousand pounds.

Macklin foon faw his error; but it was too late to remedy it: he found the Manager plunging into difficulties more faw lefs hopes of his being enabled to and more every day, and confequently

take

up this bond. Full of thele gloomy reflections, he went down to Britol, to towards the clofe of the feafon, hearing perform the fummer afterwards; when, fome fresh anecdotes of Fleetwood's einbarraffment, he refolved, on his return to London, to make one defperate push to difengage himfelf from an affair which very feriously menaced the future liberty

of his life.

viewing the curiofities of Bartholomew Fair, he hattened initantly to the spot, and eit a prefentiment, that this very ei sumitance might turn out to his advantage *.

When he had got to Bartholomew Fair, he foon difcovered his Manager, who was accompanying the Prince and his fuse by torch light to the several booths. Here he affumed the actor, and calling up as much terror and alarm into his face as he could, pulled the Manager by the fleeve, and told him, "he myl fpeak with him."

Fleetwood.-Good G-d! Macklin, is it you ?-what's the matter?

Macklin Matter enough (halily, and femingly terrified)! I have juft broke out of Bridel fali, where I believe I have killed the jailer in my efcape, and here I am.

Flewood.--My dear friend! I'm heartily forry for this accident; but how can I relieve y u?

Macklin, Sir, I have no time to trifle -I was put intɔ Briñol jail for a imall dus I incurred on my wife's delivery aud the confequence of a bad featon, In this fituation I received a letter from the holders of the band, for which I am fecurity for you, demanding payment, or threatening me with imprisonment, which you know, mult, to a man in my circumftances, be an imprifonment for litt I therefore broke jail, and now want to be releafed from my bond.

Fleetwood. Well, well, my dear friend, compofe younelt; I will, in a lit le time, do every thing in my power to relieve you.

Macklin. I can't wait, by G-d, Sir, it must be done inftantly, or I'll

Fleetwood.-Huth! nih! my dear freund, conhder the Prince is just before us, and I should be ruined if he should overhear this converiation.

Macklin (leemingly in an increased -rage).-Don't tell me of Prince or Emperory God nor D-1. I muft bave this affair lettled diretly, or I'll blow you, mylelf, and all to the D-1.

Fleetwood --Good G→i! the man's, mad! but Mac, my dear Mac, cunpole yourself a httle. Every thing fail be fettled directly, now do go home, and plestine at the Bunch of Grapes in Clare

market this night at 'ten o'clock, and you may depend upon it every thing thail be fettled to your fatisfaction. Macklin. No trifling, Sir! Can I depend on you?

meeting.

Fleetwood.-Most certainly! Mackiin.-Well, Sir, I'll give you the [Exit Macklin.] We have thrown the above convertation into dialogue for the purpote of better elucidating the two characters: it is in iubitance what we have often heard from himleli, animated by thofe looks of terror and alarm, which no man could affume better than Macklin.

Fleetwood was punctual to his promife, and brought with him, as his mot particular and intimate friends, Mr. Forreft the Soliciter, Mr. Havord, and Paul Whitehead the Poet. When Macklin told his cate, which in tact was a piti. able one; but under the exaggerations of the actor ride every one of the company, but Fleetwood, feel for his litua. tion: he, however heard him with great Teening commileration, and then alked him to point out any line he could pollibly affid hin) in. To this Macklin repled, that if he could any way get hit teleated from the bond, the fum be owed in Bridel was not above thirty pounds, which perhaps he could borrow, to as to regain his liberty; and as to the jaikr, why, Si (laid ho), we have hitherto been upon fuch intimate terms, that it the fellow happens to be more irightened than hurt, I my felf will become his furgeon."

To this Fleetwood could make no reply; but putting his hand to his head, and renting it on the table, leemingly in great agony of mind, remained fome minutes in this fituation. At lait, Paul, Whitehead broke filence, and aikid Macklin, "Whether his being related from the bond, would perfectly content hia? Macklin antwered, "Moft cer taily."—" Why then (laid Paul), you fhall be contented, for I myself will stand in your shoes, and be refponsible for the debt. Mr. Forreit (faid he, turning to hun), will you be lo good as to call upon the lenders to-morrow, acquaint them of this circumitance, and let Mr. Macklip be, releated from all his engagements.”

Fleetwood,