RECOLLECTIONS OF THE OLD ACTORS, &C. &C. 525 



modesty or feeling, as ever fell to the lot of an actor. He had a much 

 better figure and face, as well as manner, where manner only was con- 

 cerned, but had no comprehension of the feelings of a gentleman 

 when they were wanted, or other superior qualities connected with 

 beings of a higher order ; his representation of Comus resembled the 

 manners of a dashing journeyman linen-draper in his cups. Mrs. 

 Inchbald, I think, played the Lady with advantage ; and, as far as 

 they were seen together, Miss Catley supported Henderson with 

 great advantage, by her performance of Euphrosyne. This was one 

 of the most remarkable females on the stage during her time : she 

 /deserves to be remembered, besides her professional performances, 

 because, in her early days, she had committed many female errors : 

 as she proceeded in her career she reformed them all, and ended her 

 days in the highest respectability. 



She was daughter of a hachney-coachman. Possessing a remark- 

 ably fine voice and pure musical feelings, she was found by one of 

 the great musicians of the day (I think Dr. Arne), who brought her 

 on the stage with much advantage; being very young she was 

 seduced by Sir Francis Blake Delaval, one of the great Lotharios of 

 that day : lawsuits were instituted between the baronet, the father, 

 and the master ; these were so conducted that a habeas was obtained 

 to bring the body of the infant into court; when there, she was asked 

 by the judge, which of the then contending parties she would wil- 

 lingly consent to live with as her accredited guardian ; she quietly 

 took the baronet by the arm, curtsied, and walked out of court. When 

 these parties were satiated with each other, they separated ; the lady 

 preserving her great popularity with the public, and, as a female, 

 living a life that can only be described as the most regularly irregular 

 that could possibly be. At last she attached herself to a gentleman of 

 large fortune in Yorkshire ; they lived together several years, then 

 married and had a large family ; she quitted the stage, remained in 

 private life several years, but was induced to return to it by the 

 temptation of a very large salary offered her by Harris, principally it 

 was believed to get her to play with Henderson in COWZM.V, which 

 contrary to the usual practice was acted at full length as a first, 

 instead of being given as an after piece as it usually had been. 



The performance of Euphrosyne was most remarkable ; without 

 any of the grossiertees which the habits of her early life might be 

 supposed to fix upon her, it was every thing spirited and elegant, as 

 well as comic, that would make a fit companion for Henderson's 

 Comus. At the end of this season she left the stage, and was seen no 

 more by the public though she lived many years afterwards in the full 

 eujoyment of that happiness in private life to which her praise- 

 worthy conduct so fairly entitled her. 



"Sir Giles Overreach," may be called almost an original creation of 

 Henderson's, the " New Way to Pay Old Debts" having never been 

 acted in the memory of any one living. Henderson revived the 

 piece, took the character of Sir Giles to himself, and stamped a cha- 

 racter upon it that will never, in all probability, be lost, while any good 

 taste and feeling remain upon the British stage. Captain Bobadil 

 was another character of the old English drama, in which he shewed 



