338 
nating from an excellent heart, and cor- 
rected by a well-regulated mind. 
The same ease and affability which 
distinguished her conversation, charac- 
terized her epistolary correspondence, 
where the ease and familiarity of the 
style soothed any sense of inferiority, 
and rendered her letters probably not 
the least perfect of her compositions. 
Mrs. Cowley was married at a very 
early period to a gentleman, who died in 
India, a captain in the Company’s ser- 
vice, and brother to Mr. Cowley, an 
eminent merchant, of Cateaton-street. 
She has left a son, now at the bar, and 
a daughter, married in India to the Rev. 
Dr. Brown, provost of the megnificent 
college of Calcutta. 
‘The following is a list of her principal 
known publications, viz. 
Epic Poems.—The Maid of Arragon ; 
Scottish Village; and Siege of Acre. 
Tragedies.—Alibina, Fate of Sparta. 
Comedie3—The Runaway; Belles 
Stratagem; Which is the Man; A Bold 
Stroke for a Husband; More Ways than 
One; A Dayin Turkey; Both Ends of 
the Lown; Second Thoughts are Best; 
with the farce of, Who’s the Dupe. 
These, asthey have individually passed 
the ordeal of criticism, and would be an 
acquisition to the library, we hope to see 
republished in a collective shape. 
M. X. L. 
== 
ACCOUNT OF THE LATE 
. THOMAS HOLCROFT, 
AUTHOR of the ROAD io RUIN, ‘&e. 
Ms R. HOLCRGEFT was born of ob. 
AG scure parentage ; insomucn that 
we have heard that his immediate an- 
eestors spelled their name Ouldcratt, 
which he restored to its true orthogra- 
pny. The name of Holcroft is of some 
eminence in English history, and there 
was a Sir Thomas Holeroft, in the reign 
of Bloody Queen Mary, who delivered a 
protestant from prison aud impending 
death, at the risk of his own life. 
Mr. Holcroft was born in Orange- 
court, Leicester-fields, December 22, 
744. His father was a shoe-maker, 
a calling for which his son always retained 
a peculiar respect. The honest trades- 
nian in the Ruad to Ruin, was originally 
a shoemaker, but at the request of the 
writer of this article, the author changed 
his trade, and he is now a hosier. ‘The 
father of Mr. Holeroft was of an unset- 
tled temper, seldom dweiling long in one 
piace, aud the son accompanied ‘him in 
Memoirs of Mr. Thomas Hoicroft. 
{May I, 
all his peregrinations. When Mr. Hol- 
croft was in his teens, he was a servant 
to the honourable Mr, Vernon, and his 
chief employment was to ride his mas- 
ter’s race-horses, which were in training 
to run for the plate at Newmarket. He 
was always atterward much devoted to 
the art of horsemanship. He was also 
considerably attached to the study of 
music, aud some time after applied nit 
of his attention to conuoisseurship i 
panting. Mr. Helcreft had an ditive 
mind, and was no sooner aware of any 
eli ‘that led to improvement and ex- 
cellence, than he was anxious to enter 
into that path. Notwithstanding ‘this, 
he persevered to the age of twenty- 
five years, with some fittle interrup- 
tion, in his father’s trade of a shoe- 
cae 
About that period of life, Mr. Holeroft 
conceived a passion for the stage, and 
offered his services at the same time to- 
Mr. Charles Macklin, and Mr. Sa- 
muel Foote. Foote encouraged him, but 
Macklin taiked to him in so specious a 
style, and held out to him so many temp- 
tations.and prospects which were never | 
realized, that he was induced to deeide 
for Macklin and Ireland, a decision 
which he continued Jong to repent. 
¥n the profession of a player, Mr. Hol- 
croft continued, not with the mest flat- 
tering success, tll after the preduction 
of the play of Duplicity, in 1781. Im- 
mediately on the exhibition of this 
comedy, he withdrew from the stage as 
n actor, and for several years devoted 
his attention principally to dramatic 
composition. His writings of this kind 
were as follow. 2 The Noble Peasant, 
an opera, 3S. The Cho‘eric Fathers, an 
opera. 4. The Follies ofa Day, a comedy, 
translated from the French of. Beau- 
marchais. 5. Seduction, a aedy,” 
1786. 6. The Geruian Hofel, a drama, 
transiation, 1790. 7. The School for 
Arrogance, a comedy, partly from the 
Freich of Destouches, 1791. 8. The 
Road to Ruin, a comedy, and the best 
of his dramatic w ritings, 1792. 9. Love’s 
Frailties, a comedy, 1794. 10. The 
Deserted Diiughter, a comedy, 1795.. 
41. The Man of Ven Thousand, a co- 
medy, 1796. 12. The Force of Ridicule, . 
a comedy, 1 1796. 13. He is Much to 
Blame, a comedy, very successful, 1792. 
14. Knave or Not, a comedy, 1798. 
15. Deaf and Damb; a comedy, from 
the French, very successful, 1801. 
26. The Tale of Mystery, an after-piece, 
from the French, 1802. 17. Hear Both 
Sides, 
