MONTHLY MIRROR,

FOR

DECEMBER, 1807.

MEMOIR OF

WILLIAM DIMOND, ESQ.

(With a Portrait.)

Ir would be an enquiry both amusing and instructive to trace the gradual progress of the human mind, as exhibited in the writings of the dramatic poets of this kingdom. The imagination of the youthful bard, unclouded by adversity, but at the same time unstored with images drawn from real life, naturally luxuriates in the regions of romance. In process of time the flowers of fancy lose their fragrance, and are succeeded by the mellow fruits of experience; invention then gives place to judgment, the fairy palace vanishes, and the temple of reason is erected on its ruins.

Numerous instances might be taken from the writers of the last age, to prove the truth of this remark; examples, however, may be found nearer home. The first dramatic essay of Mr. Reynolds was extracted from the woes of the lovesick Werter. Who, from such a debut, could have prognosticated that lively vein of satire, in which that amusing writer is wont to lash the follies of the passing day; and who, on witnessing Mr. Morton's Columbus, his maiden effort as a dramatist, could have imagined that he was destined, at no very distant period, to delight the town with that humorous display of human nature, which we have seen in Speed the Plough and The School of Reform?

William Dimond, the subject of our present Memoir, has already evinced considerable talent as a dramatic writer. His productions have been received with general approbation, and if he has lingered rather longer in the regions of fiction than his dramatic brethren, and has not yet

Stoop'd to truth and moraliz'd his song,

like the two gentlemen above mentioned, the cause of this delay may, perhaps, be ascribed to a circumstance, which we shall alJude to in the course of this brief memoir. He is the second

born, but eldest living son of William Wyatt Dimond, Esq. one
of the patentees of the theatres royal Bath and Bristol. He was
born at the former of those cities, and received his education un-
der the Rev. Dr. Morgan. His first literary effort appeared at a
very early age, in the Morning Herald, under the signature of
Castalio, and soon occasioned an amatory correspondence with
some accomplished females, who assumed the poetic titles of
Rosa Matilda, Clara, Cornelia, Pyrrha, and Rosetta. These
ladies were simpering students in the academy of Della Crusca ;
they fretted "their hour upon the stage" with some celebrity,
but now
"are heard no more of," having quitted the fountain of
Aganippe for the waters of Lethe. The motive of two of those
ladies for adopting the names of heroines of antiquity we have
yet to discover. If Cornelia, like her Roman predecessor, intro-
duced the offspring of her muse, to the public, with the exclama-
tion of " these are my jewels," we should be tempted to answer, in
the words of the miser, in Cecilia," nothing but Bristol stones."
As to her companion, the Pyrrha of the Morning Herald, she
may console herself with the reflection, that she is now, like the
favourite of Horace,

Grato, Pyrrha, sub antro.

At the period to which we allude, the Della Cruscan poets had already smarted under the lash of Mr. Gifford's Baviad and Maviad. Our satiric Hercules had then laid aside his club: his promise of Mor in Dracones was unperformed, monsters began to reappear, and the press again groaned under the weight of dulness and Della Crusca. We are not to be surprised that Mr. Dimond, then a Gracilis puer, who had not attained his sixteenth year, was dazzled with the meretricious attractions of the modern Pyrrha. We may, however, be allowed to regret what we cannot condemn; his early connection with that feeble and fantastic crew, having imprinted on his style a flowing prolixity, extremely prejudicial to the growth, at least to the display of genius, which his maturer judgment has not yet entirely eradicated. About this period Mr. Dimond published, under the patronage of the Duke and Duchess of York, a volume of poems entitled Petrarchal Sonnets, an opinion upon the merits of which has already been given in our Review, O. S. His earliest dramatic attempt, appears to have been made in a musical afterpiece, produced at Covent Garden theatre, on the 12th May, 1801, entitled a Sea Side Story. The admirable acting of Mrs. Mattocks in the

chief character, secured to this piece a very favourable reception: it was printed with a dedication to that excellent actress, and from the previous state of favour in which its author stood with the Della Cruscans, reached a second edition before the expiration of the season. At the age of eighteen our author produced The Hero of the North, an historical opera, which was acted at Drury Lane theatre, on the 19th Feb. 1803, with great success and attracted overflowing houses throughout the season. Since that period Mr. Dimond has not suffered a season to elapse without favouring the town with some dramatic production. His Hunter of the Alps made its appearance at the Haymarket, on the 3d July, 1804. Youth, Love and Folly, was first acted at Drury Lane, on the 24th May, 1805, and Adrian and Orrila, or a Mother's Vengeance, at Covent Garden, on the 15th Nov, 1806. The excellent acting of Miss Smith, in the heroine, contributed greatly towards the success this play experienced. Our author's last production was the Young Hussar, acted at Drury Lane, on the 12th May, 1807. Two political pamphlets, one upon the Catholic Question, and the other upon the nature of the Coronation Oath, are also attributed to this author.* The lines inscribed upon the monument erected to the memory of Mrs. Crouch, in Brighthelmstone church-yard, are, we believe, the latest production of his pen. Mr. Dimond is a member of the Temple, and designed for the bar, but has not yet completed the necessary number of his terms.

From the above brief statement, it will appear, that the subject of the present memoir is a successful and promising writer for the stage, and when time and reflection shall have matured his judgment, will probably, if he shall continue to write plays. reach a higher rank in that department of literature than he has yet attained. He will then discover that the skilful dramatist places his characters on the stage as nature has placed them on the great stage of life, to feel, to reason, and to act, and that the progress of the scene is retarded, and the interest of the spectator weakened, by lengthened descriptions of rural scenery, and periods too har moniously modelled.

Mr. Dimond has written a variety of poetical pieces, amongst which, two, the Mariner's Dream, and the Mermaid and her Bridegroom, have obtained particular notice.