A P P E N D I X to the C H RO N 1 C L E. 599 



friend, but at his own, with whom 

 the crime originated, and concluded 

 his observations in the words of the 

 unfortunate Nisus, 



Adsum qui feci, in me convertite 



ferrum : 

 Tantum ini'elicem niiuium dilexit 



amicum. 



This appropriate quotation made a 

 sensible impression upon some of 

 the judges, and, in all probability, 

 mitigated the sentence against Mr. 

 Carlyle. Instead of receiving a se- 

 vere reprimand from the presbj'- 

 terjr, he might otherwise (to such a 

 pitch had fanaticism arrived) have 

 been suspended, perhaps expelled 

 from bis office. Before the conclu- 

 sion of 1757, Mr. Sheridan, then 

 manager of the Dublin theatre, sent 

 over to Mr. Home a gold medal, 

 with a suitable inscription, acknow- 

 ledging his singular merit in having 

 enriched the English stage with the 

 tragedy of Douglas. With his liv- 

 ing, Mr. Home appears for a while 

 to have abandoned liis native land, 

 for he now repaired to London, 

 where he produced several other 

 tragedies, under the patronage of 

 Garrick, who wrote prologues to 

 some,epilogues to others, and warm- 

 ly interested himself in the fate of 

 them all. They are all indeed greatly 

 inferior to his Douglas. Agis, the 

 first of his dramatic pieces, wasfine- 

 ly acted, and assisted by spectacle, 

 otherwise, it is probable, that it 

 would not have been performed a 

 second night. His third tragedy 

 was founded on the cruel treatment 

 which the two Setons, sons of the 

 governor of Berwick, had experi- 

 enced from the English. At Mr. 

 Garrick's suggestion, the title was 

 altered (and consequently the cha- 

 racters and several local passages) 

 from the Siege of Berwick, to the 



Siege of Aquileia, for he very na- 

 turally conceived, that any national 

 allusions might tend to foment the 

 jealousy which then unfortunately 

 subsisted between the Scots and 

 English. It was acted in 1759. 

 Some of the passages are very fine, 

 but upon the whole it is a tame 

 performance. The Fatal Discovery 

 was produced in 1769, and reluc- 

 tantly permitted during nine nights. 

 Though Alonzo had the advantage 

 of Mrs Barry's admirable acting, 

 it shared the same fate ; the author 

 mentions in his preface, that she 

 received applause greater than ever 

 shook a theatre. Mr. Home's last 

 production, Alfred, lived only three 

 nights. In the year 1760, Mr. 

 Home published a volume of plays, 

 containing, Agis, Douglas, and the 

 Siege of Aquileia, which he dedi- 

 cated to his present majesty, then 

 prince of Wales. His other three 

 tragedies appeared some time after, 

 Thewholewascollectedandeditedin 

 two volumes at Edinburgh, in 1798, 

 under the inspection of the late Mr. 

 Woods. Lord Bute having repre- 

 sented Mr. Home to his majesty as 

 a man of talents, his name was 

 placed on the pension list, nearly at 

 the same time with that of Dr. 

 Johnson. He lived in a state of 

 retirement from this period to the 

 time of his death. Nearly half a 

 century after Douglas had been 

 written, when the author had re- 

 turned to, and was settled in his na- 

 tive country, master Betty, better 

 known by the name of the young 

 Koscius, commenced his theatrical 

 labours at Edinburgh, in the cha- 

 racter of young Norval. The au- 

 thor attended the representation, 

 and declared that, that was the first 

 time he had ever seen the part of 

 Douglas played acccording to iiis 



idcas) 



