526 RECOLLECTIONS OF THE OLD ACTOES, &C. &C. 



himself to advantage, and so he did in Maskrvell, in the " Double 

 Dealer/' making it, as it deserves to be, a character of the first import- 

 ance to display the talents of an actor of high order, though in its 

 circumstances quite disagreeable to the spectator, But that for 

 which he deserves to be remembered with the greatest reputation 

 was Falstaff, which had been for many years only known by the re- 

 nown of Quin. That actor, if he was truly represented, was a great 

 mannerist ; incapable of varying his style of representation of any 

 character from that of his own natural feelings, however different the 

 character to be represented actually was. Thus, being naturally sar- 

 castic almost to brutality, he converted every passage in the character 

 of Falstaff, that could be so converted, into bitter-biting satire ; as 

 enjoying the audity of his own reflections. This is not certainly in 

 the character of Falstaff; Henderson, with better taste and more 

 truth, made him a gentleman, degraded indeed by all the necessities 

 that his profligate society drew him into, was conscious of his own 

 meanness, and the situations into which it had sunk him, yet had 

 not resolution to reform, but continued his practices, at the same time 

 laughing at himself as well as his associates. This was more con- 

 sistent with truth than the version of Quin, and certainly more 

 pleasing to the spectators ; the hilarity, the jocundity, with which he 

 uttered his jokes upon his associates, and the visible delight with 

 which he said that he was not only witty himself, but the cause of 

 wit in others, was equalled by nothing that I have seen, but some 

 passages in his representations of Comus, and made this the truest as 

 well as most delightful representation of Sir John Falstaff that ever 

 was seen by me, or, 1 believe, by any other person. 



Henderson was the last representative of JBayes in the <f Rehearsal," 

 a character first brought forward to burlesque the peculiarities of old 

 John Dryden; then, by succeeding representatives, made a vehicle in 

 the hands of several eminent actors to ridicule the peculiarities of 

 their cotemporary tragedian, who gave opportunities for making 

 them ridiculous : in that light Garrick used it, to make it a pleasant 

 entertainment ; and Henderson followed his steps without indulging 

 in personal imitations, and yet made it a diverting entertainment to 

 those who were familiar with the absurdities of the tragedies of 

 Dryden and Lea ; but when Henderson was removed from it, it was 

 seen no more, and, as it is now obsolete, it may be said to be lost to 

 the stage. 



Captain Bodabil, a Ben Johnsonian double to ancient Pistol, was as 

 admirably represented by Henderson as a character passing into the 

 shades of antiquity could be. The delight experienced by the older 

 frequenters of the theatre in Garrick's time consisted in the perfect 

 resemblance of the play in all its parts to the manners of the city in 

 the time of Elizabeth ; Garrick, the Kitely to a certain extent a 

 counterpart to the Ford of Shakespeare, but more serious and 

 earnest in his jealousy and every character in the play, the decided 

 well-drawn character of some distinct species of citizen, cotemporary 

 with Kitely ; Garrick, by his authority as well as his example, kept 

 all to their duty, and made that play the most correct imitation of old 

 city manners that could tnen be seen, at the same time that it was 



