CHAPTER XXXIII.

A short Chapter of additional Autobiography.

In my memoirs of George Frederick Cooke, it will be seen that I was connected with the theatre of NewYork during the year 1810 and part of 1811.

In 1812, I resumed the pencil, many years neglected; and was again, in 1813, called from the palette and easel by an unsolicited and very unexpected appointment as assistant paymaster-general to the militia of the state of New-York, then in the service of the United States. This appointment was made by Daniel D. Tompkins, governor of the state, and commanderin-chief of the third military district; and was conferred upon me in a manner which beyond measure enhanced the value of the office. Happily the war terminated triumphantly, but my services were required until 1816.

During an absence from the city of New-York, on duty, in the western part of the state, in 1815, I was informed that my name was joined with that of my friend John Joseph Holland, as the intended managers of the New-York theatre; and soon after I received a request from John K. Beekman, Esq. (who had called

at my house repeatedly to see me,) that I would, immediately on my return, call on John Jacob Astor, Esq. if Mr. Beekman should be absent.

On my return to New-York, I accordingly called on Mr. Astor, and told him that I did so in compliance with Mr. Beekman's wishes. He took me into a private cabinet, and mentioned certain negociations then pending for a renewed lease of the theatre. I repeated that my only motive for calling was the expressed desire of his partner in the property. He again mentioned that Messrs. Price and Simpson were in treaty with him, and asked if I had any proposal to make. I answered, "No," and took my leave. As I was retiring, he asked me to call again. I replied, "If you have any communication to make to me, you know my place of residence ;" and without any further explanation I departed. As I left his counting-house, I saw Mr. Simpson go to his dwelling-house, and heard shortly after that the gentlemen holding the lease had renewed it. I have been assured that my name was not used to further or hasten the agreement. I only know that I had no further connexion or agency in the business than above stated, although as free to bid for the lease as any other person; but I was without thought or desire of the kind.

Again being in Norfolk, in the year 1821, engaged professionally, and enjoying the friendship of many in that region of hospitality, particularly that of Thomas Williamson, Esq., who had erected a building for my painting and pictures, I received a letter

from Mr. Beekman, suggesting an engagement to conduct the New-York theatre on the account and risk of the proprietors, and an immediate voyage to England on the business. I notified my willingness to enter into a negociation for such purpose. This was on the 27th of April. I received an answer, dated May 5th, saying that Mr. Simpson had that day concluded his agreement for the theatre.

How far, without my knowledge or intention, I have been made to influence the contracts of others, I know not. The facts above stated appear to belong to my theatrical history, and as such I record them.

It will be seen by the catalogue of American plays, that I wrote and translated some pieces for the Bowery theatre. This was at the request of the managers, and in the plain way of trade, receiving meagre compensation for poor commodities. Thirty Years, or The Life of a Gamester, was faithfully translated from the French, and was generally well played. Mr. George Barrett represented the hero skilfully, and Mrs. Gilfert (above mentioned as Miss Holman) played the heroine with great pathos. Mrs. G. Barrett added her talents and beauty, both of a high order, to the strength which gave success to the piece.

The last piece I wrote for the stage was a farce, called A Trip to Niagara, the main intention of which was to display scenery.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

Present State of the English Stage-Plan of and Wish for Reform.

We have spoken of the state of the English drama in the year 1752, when William Hallam sent off a colony, led by his brother, to settle in the North American wilderness; when Garrick directed the stage of the metropolis, and Johnson and Goldsmith, and their associates, wrote for it; when the pit was the centre of wit and learning, and the boxes of taste and elegance.

We have noticed slightly the London theatre of 1787,-when Sheridan was the manager of Drurylane, Harris of Covent Garden, and Colman of the Haymarket, when Henderson and Lewis, Mrs. Billington, Mrs. Martyr, Mrs. Mattocks, Mrs. Abington, Miss Brunton, with Farren, Irish Johnstone, Pope, Holman, Macklin, Edwin, Quick, Wilson, and their inferiors, enlivened the stage of one house; and Smith, Bensley, Kemble, two Bannisters, Mrs. Siddons, Miss Farren, Mrs. Jordan, Mrs. Crouch, Palmer, Dodd, Parsons, Suett, and King, with their followers, shone on the boards of the other, - when the élite of both houses joined at the minor theatre to

sport the wit of Foote and his successors, in warm weather, making the little theatre in the Haymarket the seat of the Comic Muse,-when Sheridan, Burgoyne, and Colman wrote comedies, and O'Keefe farces, when wit yet lingered in the pit, and beauty and taste in the boxes ;-and we now will take a glance at the drama of Great Britain in 1832.

A flippant and (though scurrilous) amusing writer in Fraser's Magazine, under the head of "Sock and Buskin," will serve our turn for a text-book, and our commentaries shall be brief.

"It is long," he says, "since we have said a word about these poor rogues; like the rest of the world now-a-days, we think very little of them: we seldom see them at the theatres, and never meet with them elsewhere it was once otherwise: we adored the princesses, and affected the company of Doricourt and Hamlet. In fact, we knew them in every walk, and every degree, from the haughty star, that to vulgar eyes shone afar off in the distant heavens, a glory and a mystery, to the no less haughty farthing-candle that twinkled, an idol and an oracle to the Zoroasters of the pot-house."

man."

He goes on to say, that they are "bad acquaintance, "-"worse, by Jupiter! than marching officers." "No player (not even Garrick) ever was a gentle"Take a player from the first-the debuthow is it that any creature who has ever known a decent hearth, the care of parents, the respect of men, can stand with a painted face and antic dress to mimic human passions and human actions,-exposed