duced it to its present form. Still, Garrick had great misgivings as to his study of Oakley, which are very amusing, as he was the original representative of the character: it was first played Feb. 26, 1761, and met with greater approbation than anything since the Suspicious Husband. Colman dedicated the Jealous Wife to his noble patron: this refutes the report which obtained general belief, that he forfeited Lord Bath's friendship through his pursuit of the Drama.

Walpole misrepresents the Jealous Wife, as "a very indifferent play, so well acted as to have succeeded greatly. Upon this, Croker notes: "The Jealous Wife still keeps the stage, and does not deserve to be so slightingly spoken of: but there were private reasons which might possibly warp Mr. Walpole's judgment on the works of Colman. He was the nephew of Lord Bath, and the Jealous Wife was dedicated to that great rival of Sir Robert Walpole."

"THE ST. JAMES'S CHRONICLE."

This newspaper, which exists to the present day, was established in 1761, by Colman, in co-partnership with Bonnell Thornton and Garrick, aided by contributions of lite rary intelligence, literary contests, and anecdotes of wit and humour. Colman wrote for it a series of essays and humorous sketches, among which was the Genius, which greatly pleased Lord Bath. By his Lordship's suggestion, Colman now collected and published Mrs. Carter's Poems, with a dedication to the Earl of Bath, which his Lordship himself wrote.

The printer of, and co-partner in, the St. James's Chronicle was Henry Baldwin, bred under Mr. Justice Ackers, of Clerkenwell, the original printer of the London Magazine. He commenced business, first in Whitefriars, then in Fleetstreet, and finally in Bridge-street, Blackfriars, in a house. built for him, in our time the office of the Standard newspaper. He died at Richmond in 1813.

COLMAN AND GARRICK.

In the St. James's Magazine, April, 1763, Colman thus mentions Garrick and himself:

Garrick's a dealer in grimaces,

A haberdasher of wry faces,
A hypocrite in all his stages,

Who laughs and cries for hire and wages ;

As undertaker's men draw grief
From onion in their handkerchief,
Like real mourners cry and sob,
And of their passions make a job.
And Colman too, that little sinner,
That essay weaver, drama spinner,
Too much the comic sock will use,
For 'tis the law must find him shoes;
And tho' he thinks on fame's wide ocean
He swims, and has a pretty notion,—
Inform him, Lloyd, for all his grin,
That Harry Fielding holds his chin.

When Garrick and his wife set out on the tour of Italy, in the autumn of 1763, David judiciously assigned Colman some share in the management of Drury-lane. Here he revived, with alterations, Beaumont and Fletcher's Philaster, for which Colman wrote a prologue, one of the best things of the kind we have. He next produced his farce of the Deuce is in Him, which became very popular.

The dramatist and the Roscius, however, soon differed, and the breach was not healed before Garrick, in this verse complimented, Dec. 20, 1765, Colman on his Terence: Joy to my friend, an English wit, Which Johnson, Congreve, Vanbrugh writ,

My Terence shall be known:

Joy to myself! for all the fame
Which ever shall attend thy name,
I feel as half my own.

Then he writes to tell Colman that Dr. South pronounces Colman's translation most excellent. Next we find the politic David writing this kind of rondeau while the parson was preaching on Christmas-day morning :

TO GEORGE COLMAN.

Christmas Day.
May Christmas give thee all her cheer,
And lead thee to a happy year!
Though wicked gout has come by stealth,
And threats encroachment on my health;
Though still my foes indulge their spite,
And what their malice prompts will write;
Though now to me the stage is hateful,
And he who owes me most, ungrateful;
Yet think not, George, my hours are sad;
Oh no! my heart is more than glad :
That moment all my cares were gone,
When you and I again were one.
This gives to Christmas all its cheer,
And leads me to a happy year.

DEATH OF LORD BATH.

The Earl of Bath, on whom Colman relied for a provision, died somewhat suddenly, on July 7, 1764, leaving an annuity of 900 guineas per annum to Colman, to whom he had continued his favour and protection to the day of his death: he entered his house as familiarly as his own chambers, and occupied without invitation a place at his table: his son, Lord Pulteney, received Colman as his friend, and in his will made a sort of bequest to Colman, which Walpole thus describes:

Lord Bath's extravagant avarice and unfeelingness on his son's death rather increases. Lord Pulteney left a kind of will, saying he had nothing to give, but made it his request to his father to give his postchaise and one hundred pounds to his cousin Colman; the same sum and his pictures to another cousin ; and recommended the Lakes, his other cousins, to him. Lord Bath sent Colman and Lockman word they might get their hundred pounds as they could, and for the chaise and pictures, they might buy them if they pleased, for they would be sold for his son's debts; and he expressed great anger at the last article, saying, that he did not know what business it was of his son to recommend heirs to him.--Walpole's Letters, vol. iv. p. 91.

COLMAN'S "TERENCE."

In 1765, Colman published his admirable translati on of the comedies of Terence; the Eunuch he inscribed to the King's Scholars at Westminster School, and presented a copy to Thomas Winstanley, their captain, who, in reply, sent the following lines:

Siccine captat adhuc purus te sermo Terenti,

Ut juvet eloquio jam decorare novo?

Nec mirum interpres quas reddis adultus, agendo
In senis aderas haud minor ipse puer.

To make the turn of this epigram clear, it should be understood that when Colman was a King's scholar, he was reckoned a very good actor in Terence's Comedies, which are

* Poor Lady Bath had a paralytic stroke, in August, 1758: Walpole writes: "Never heard a greater instance of cool sense: she made signs for a pen and ink, and wrote Palsy. They got immediate assistance, and she is recovered.' But she died in the following month, at Bath House, Piccadilly.

represented by the Westminsters previously to the Christmas holidays; and the following paraphrase, by the late George Colman the Younger, gives the English reader some idea of the point in the Latin tetrastic:

Is then your love of Terence still so true,
That his pure style is graced again by you?
Well may the man whole dramas thus translate,
Whose parts the boy so well could personate.

We find evidence of the translator's proficiency as an actor in the following cast of characters for the Phormio, acted in December, since it contains the names of Colman and Lloyd, and of Hobart, who for some time conducted the Italian Opera. There is a doubt about the correctness of the parts assigned to two of the actors. The list is from the notes of Archdeacon Nares:

"THE CLANDESTINE MARRIAGE."

In the summer of 1765, Colman and Garrick set about completing the comedy of the Clandestine Marriage: though, professedly, a secret on both hands, there are sufficient facts to show that the conjoint labour of the writers was known to their particular friends.

As the season advanced, Garrick positively refused to play the part of Lord Ogilby, upon which Colman had caloulated. At this he grew petulant, which being carried to Garrick by an intermeddler, he felt aggrieved. Among other things, it was said that Garrick claimed to have written the character, which much incensed Colman; and the rights of the authorship of the piece do not appear to have been

cleared up until 1820, by George Colman the Younger. The probable process was that they both consulted, first, as to the general plan, and secondly, as to the conduct of the incidents and scenes; then wrote separately, and afterwards compared and modified together what each hadcomposed. The rough sketch in existence affords no clue to discover which of the authors first started the idea of founding a comedy on Hogarth's plates of Marriage à la Mode; but it establishes the fact that the plan and principal characters were designed by Colman. One of Garrick's greatest merits in the work was planning the incidents of the last act-the alarm of the families, and bringing them from their beds, was Garrick's.

Walpole says of this comedy, "I don't wonder that Colman and Garrick write ill in concert, when they write ill separately; however, I am heartily glad the Clive shines."

BENSLEY REHEARSING.

Bensley was originally a lieutenant in the Marines, and commenced his theatrical career, in 1765, at Drury-lane, as Pierre, in Venice Preserved. He was drilled into this character by George Colman the Elder, at whose house, at Richmond, then in the Vineyard,* Bensley was a frequent guest. There were then upon the small mount in Richmond Park, the well-known "Six Tubs," placed upright. Thither Bensley used to repair alone at sunrise, to rehearse Pierre, till at last he excited the suspicion of one of the park-keepers, who wondered to see a stranger at so early an hour every morning, violently clenching his fists at the green seats or tubs. The park-keeper, therefore, thinking it his duty to watch the stranger's motions, lay wait in the ferns, close to the spot; and on hearing him not only say to the tubs,

You, my Lords, and Fathers,

As you are pleased to call yourselves of Venice,

but also perceiving him to single out one particular tub as "the Great Duke," of whose wife† he made a very scurrilous mention, he concluded poor Bensley to be as mad as a March hare; but finding that he did no mischief, and conceiving,

*Colman hired a house in the Vineyard, before he built his villa, Bath House, on the banks of the Thames.

"And saw your wife, the Adriatic," &c.-Otway's Venice Preserved.