And the Philadelphia company consisted of Messrs. Wignell, Fennell, Cooper, Moreton, Harwood, Marshall, Blissett, Francis, Hardinge, Fox, Warren, Warrell, Byrne, Green, and Lestrange. Bernard joined after they opened in Greenwich Street, New-York. Mesdames Merry, Marshall, Oldmixon, Hardinge, Frances, Warrell, Lestrange, and Misses Oldfield, Milbourne, &c. Such were the successors, in 1797, to the company sent from Goodman's Fields to Virginia in 1752, and playing for the first time in New-York in 1753.

On the 17th of August, the following notice appeared in the New-York newspapers: "The public are respectfully informed, the entertainments of the theatre, Greenwich Street, will commence on Monday, the twenty-first instant. Wignell and Reinagle." And on the 18th appeared this announcement: "The public are informed, that several principal performers of the Boston and Charleston theatres, on their way to Philadelphia, will perform, on Friday evening, a comedy called The Wonder, with the farce of The Spoiled Child."

CHAPTER XV.

Solee and Company open in John Street, August 18th, 1797—Mr. Whitlock-Wignell and Reinagle's Company in Greenwich Street -Mrs. Merry-Mr. Cooper-Mr. Bernard-Mr. Warren-Mr. Fox-Mr. and Mrs. Hardinge-Mr. and Mrs. Byrne-Mr. John Joseph Holland.

THE performers announced in the last chapter as of the Boston and Charleston theatres played in the John Street theatre, the New-York company being elsewhere. Mr. Solee, a French gentleman, was the manager. He was imperfectly acquainted with the English language, and utterly unacquainted with English literature, especially dramatic. The performers directed the business, which was very bad in every sense, though some excellent actors were employed in it. Mrs. Whitlock appeared in Isabella, and was thus announced: "Mrs. Whitlock, the sister of Mrs. Siddons, and the Siddons of America, is arrived, and will perform at the theatre in John Street the short time the company remains in this city." But the Siddons of America, as we shall see, was playing at the other house, the circus in Greenwich Street, fitted up as an elegant summer theatre.

We shall dwell at some length upon such performers attached to the company of Wignell and

Reinagle as have not already occupied our pages, and although the order in which we shall notice them is not intended to denote the rank which they hold in our estimation, yet we begin with the person who will long be entitled to the character of the most perfect actress America has seen— Mrs. Ann Merry.

This lady was born in the year 1770, and was the daughter of Mr. John Brunton. She made her debut at Bristol in the winter of 1785-6. Her father was manager of a provincial theatre, and a very respectable and truly worthy man. He was an actor, but, though a man of excellent good sense, was not a star in his profession.

Mr. Brunton married Miss Friend, of Bristol, he being then a grocer in that place. He afterwards established himself as a tea-dealer in London; but fondness for the stage and an acquaintance with Mr. Younge, of Covent Garden, induced him to try his success at his friend's benefit, which led finally to leaving trade and becoming professionally an actor. He was successful in the Norwich, Bath, and Bristol companies, and, becoming manager of the Norwich theatre, sustained an exemplary character, and reared a family of six children, three of whom have been distinguished for good acting off and on the stage, and have given celebrity to the name of Brunton.

Mr. Brunton commenced his theatrical career when his daughter Ann was five years of age, in the year 1774. Though her father was an actor

and manager, Ann had seen very few plays. The family resided in an elegant cottage near Bath, and Mrs. Brunton was the instructress of her children. Nothing was further from the thoughts of Mr. Brunton than a future career of fame for his children in the profession he had chosen for himself.

He taught his daughter to read Shakspeare, without any view to her becoming an actress. Coming home from rehearsal one day, he overheard her reciting Calista's speech upon the unfortunate condition of her sex, and, on expressing his surprise at the talents she displayed, he found that she had studied and could recite the parts of Juliet, Belvidera, and Euphrasia. After consulting his friends, the determination was suddenly taken to bring the young lady on the stage, Mr. Palmer, the Bath and Bristol manager, having pronounced her "another Siddons." In less than a week from the discovery of her talent for acting, she was brought on the stage in the character of Euphrasia, and received with the most unqualified applause by the public of Bristol. Her first appearance was for her father's benefit, he playing Evander. The father and daughter played a father and daughter.

Mr. Brunton spoke a prologue, written by Meyler, as an introduction to the young heroine of sixteen. All this was judicious preparation; but still the audience only expected to see a girl, a novice, perhaps a mawkin; but they saw with as

tonishment a graceful and accomplished actress. The applause and commendation in and out of the theatre were proportionate to the surprise and admiration. The characters of Horatia, in The Roman Father, and Palmyra, in Mahomet, parts suited to her age and figure, succeeded, and increased her fame. Thus Siddons, the greatest tragedian we have ever seen, had to struggle through difficulties to reach that pinnacle on which she towered for almost half a century unrivalled, while Ann Brunton, a child in years, soared at once to almost an equal height. Mrs. Siddons had person, power, art, beyond all contemporaries Mrs. Merry had voice and feeling, that went as direct to the heart of a feeling auditor as the ray of light to its destination.

Mr. Harris soon after engaged both her and her father for Covent Garden. In the season of 1785-6, the writer witnessed her first appearance on the London boards in the character of Horatia, in The Roman Father, Henderson playing Horatius. The streets adjacent to the theatre were crowded before the opening of the doors, and all the usual consequences of a rush ensued. Borne into the pit, we remained wedged in where the crowd placed us, but we were amply repaid for the sufferings experienced in narrow passages, while moved (although motionless from the shoulders downward) to the seat we were thrust into. The extraordinary self-possession of this young lady, not yet sixteen, when she appeared at Bristol the preceding year, has