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entin the parts which he had, by study, made his own ; 

 while at the same time the integrity and honesty of 

 his conduct secured him the friendship and patronage 

 of many respectable and noble individuals. He made 

 one attempt to become a candidate on the London boards 

 in which he failed for want of interest. 



" Kenneth immediately went down to Drury Lane, and fixed an 

 interview with Price and Cooper, for the next day. Accident pre- 

 vented my being in time, and a message was left requesting my 

 presence the following day ; when we met, and I went through the 

 mockery of a rehearsal in a scene of Gambia, and a scene of Macbeth, 

 with Mr. Cooper for my Zelinda, and Lady Macbeth, and the 

 lessee, my agent, an under prompter, and two or three idlers, as my 

 judges. It has been a matter of wonder to me ever since, how I 

 submitted to this humiliation ; for I had resisted the attempt to 

 appoint another time for our meeting, by giving them the alternative 

 of seeing me then, or not at all ; and I can only account for it by an 

 indifference as to the issue, when I perceived the luke-warmness of 

 my reception. Price, if he did not understand my apathy, must 

 have thought me a vile impostor. Cooper, on conducting me 

 through the intricacies of the scenery, said ' I am afraid you will not 

 find your way out. 1 t Oh,' I replied, ' the only difficulty here is to 

 find the way in. 9 An acute friend ever advised against my going to 

 London, until my services were wanted; and perhaps, had I delay- 

 ed, advantageous terms might have been made, for my reputation 

 evidently gained me the interview with Price at my own time; 

 when (on the authority of my agent) many actors, with powerful 

 recommendations, had waited for months, and were still waiting to 

 get speech with him. On the whole, I rejoice I was not wanted. 

 I am happy that my kinder fortune had better things in store for me, 

 than a collision with the interests of London actors, and a participa- 

 tion in the debaucheries of London theatres. My limited stay in 

 town, and hurried visits to the theatres, unfit me for a critical diss- 

 ertation on metropolitan acting; but my impressions were by no 

 means favourable, as I looked in vain for a mediocrity of talent 

 amongst the subordinates ; and, without efficient aid from them, the 

 efforts of the most eminent lost half their power. Except in the 

 magnificence of the houses, the splendour of dress and decorations, 

 and the transcendent merit of two or three in each line of the drama, 

 London theatricals are infinitely inferior to provincial ; and I assert, 

 without fear of contradiction, that the inferior members of a barn arr 



