RECOLLECTIONS OF THE OLD ACTORS, &C. &C. 527 



admirable comedy without the mixture of farce, that has been in 

 later times too frequently substituted for it. 



Woodward had been a favourite in Bobadil, but giving it more the 

 extravaganza of ancient Pistol, became a favourite with the public, 

 by departing from a true representation of the character. Henderson 

 made it the serious character the author intended it to be, while the 

 audience was delighted with the gravity he gave to his most absurd 

 pretensions, which ended with the complete detection and exposure 

 of his cowardice. I am not aware that any one has attempted to 

 perform thecharacter of Bobadil, since Henderson left it; so far 

 as I know it died with him. The public taste no longer patronizes 

 attempts to revive Maskrvell, in Congreve's " Double Dealer." I know 

 not if Garrick ever performed that character ; but Betterton, the ori- 

 ginal performer of it, was greatly'eminent in it, and if Garrick did not 

 take it up, it passed into inferior hands, and it was seldom acted ; for 

 when Henderson first shewed himself in it, it came forward with all 

 the lustre of an important new character ; the lago-like villany of it 

 was displayed by him in the most interesting light ; but after his 

 death it again sunk and was neglected principally, I believe, because 

 no actor since his time, who had a chance of succeeding, ventured to 

 attempt it. 



Many other characters represented by this really great actor might 

 be described ; but it will here be sufficient to say, that no two cha- 

 racters represented by him were alike. He had a fixed and well 

 settled opinion that no two human beings exactly resembled each 

 other, or that when he represented any established character that had 

 been acted by others, he still gave his own version of them ; so that 

 though he and Garrick, for example, represented Macbeth, Richard 

 the Third, or any other character equally well known, though there 

 might be some general resemblance between them, no one could ima- 

 gine that either was copied from the other. Had Henderson lived to 

 the full extent of human life, we should have seen on the English 

 stage greater variety of characters, as well as greater degrees of merit 

 than have since been shown ; but he was, unfortunately, cut off unex- 

 pectedly at the early age of thirty-six years ; his illness was at first 

 not believed to be dangerous, but he sunk under it; and when the 

 body was examined after death, the disease that destroyed him was 

 found to be palsy of the heart, for which it is certain there was no 

 remedy. Cruikshank, the' well-known anatomist; performed the 

 melancholy examination ; and happening to dine with me after he 

 had done it, in describing what he saw, though he had nothing but a 

 mere anatomist mind, could not refrain from tears when he described 

 the state in which he found the remains of that accomplished man, 

 who had contributed so largely to the enlightened pleasures of the 

 public, as well as of the private circle in which he lived. 



Two excellent portraits of Henderson were painted, and are be- 

 lieved to exist: by one he is represented reading; the action in which 

 this represents him indicates that he is studying something in which 

 he appears to be much interested this was painted by Gainsborough. 

 The other may be called an historical portrait, representing him as 

 Macbeth, when stopped by the Witches on the heath ; this is an admi- 



