friend and brother adventurer Dr. 

 Paul Hiffernan, under the title of 

 " The Heroine of the Cave,'' and 

 though it was left in an unfinished 

 state by the author, evidently skewed 

 a species of wilting eqilal to " The 

 Earl of Essex." 



Of " Harold," wc bc-lieve it is 

 nowentirely lost to the world. Jones 

 iised to speak of this as his chef- 

 d'auvre, and we I'emember to have 

 heard Dr. HifFernan repeat some 

 passages of it that were very poeti- 

 cal, both in point of sentiment and 

 power of language. It was never 

 brought upon the stage, or publish- 

 ed ; therefore to say what is become 

 of it now, must entirely be conjec- 

 ture. The late Mr. Reddish, of 

 Drury-larie, possessed himself of all 

 Jones's manuscripts, and by this ob- 

 tained " The Cave of Idra," which 

 Hiffernan, as we have already said, 

 extended to live acts, and broug'it 

 outforReddish'sbcneliL. " Harold," 

 in nil probability, was amongst the 

 number of these papers, and, per- 

 haps, intended for some future be- 

 nefit ; but the subsecjuent insanity of 

 Reddish deranged all this, and, per- 

 haps, consigned " Harold" to the 

 flames, or irripenetrable obscurity. 



That Jones had been playing 

 %7hat garrrblcrs call "the best of the 

 game'' with the booksellers, relative 

 to tliis tragedy, is pretty evident, as 

 he obtained some money on it from 

 Mr. Cooper, the printer, and, per- 

 haps, fiom ot'ders ; but such is tlie 

 impolicy of knaves, that in cheating 

 their friends, they cheat themselves. 

 Had Jones meant honestly to ha\e 

 brought this play forward, the pro- 

 bability was, that he could have 

 •redeemed wliat he borrowed on it, 

 and put a considerable sum in iiis 

 own pocket ; but he chose to make 

 it an engine of deciir, and thus ;ia- 



VoL. XXXVI. 



Characters. 28^ 



crificed his interest and reputa- 



tion. 



Sortie critics thought they got 

 scent of " Harold," when it was 

 known that M;-. Cumberland was 

 bringing out his tragedy, called 

 "Ti'ie battle of Hastings;" and Mr, 

 Cooper, who was interested to know 

 this fact more than others, attended 

 the theatre On the first night's re- 

 presentation for that purpose. But 

 whatever " The Battle of Hastings" 

 was like, it was not hke Jones's 

 " Harold ;" and this Mr. Cooper 

 was so sensible of, that to atone for 

 his own suggestions on that head, as 

 well as to do every degree of justice 

 to Mr. Cumberland, he published 

 the following letter in the General 

 Advertiser. 



To the editor of the General j^dverliser. 



SIR, 



" Having beard several gentle- 

 mefi, not only in the theatre, but 

 in private company, question whe- 

 ther Mr. Cumberland is the author 

 of the tragedy now playing, called 

 ♦' The Battle of Hastings," and de- 

 claring it to be an alteration of a 

 tragedy, written by the late Mr. 

 Jones(author of theEarl of Essex), 

 called " Harold ;" I beg leave, 

 tlirough the channel of your paper, 

 to relate a few circumstances, which 

 may tend to clear all doubts upon 

 that subject. 



" Some years' ago, Mr, Jones 

 brought me a tragedy, called 

 " Harold ;" which was to have 

 been my property, upon terms then 

 agreed on between us. It remain- 

 ed in my hands for some months, 

 and I read it twice with great at- 

 tention. After this, Mr. Jones 

 called on me aeain, and left with 



