An Opera with loud applause is play'd, To view the triumph of their sovereign's Court. The wings are led by chiefs of matchless worth: to him, in 1697, that piece, which was acted at the Theatre in Dorset Garden, is said to have been played under his own roof; and in 1706 THE FAIR EXAMPLE, a comedy, was dedicated "to Christopher Rich, Chief Patentee, Manager, and Governor of the Theatre-Royal in Drury-Lane." We see, however, that at an early period Sir Thomas Skipwith was, for some time at least, invested with this sovereignty; and Cibber says, that " he had an equal share with Rich in the property;" which he probably derived from some of the Killigrew family. About the year 1708 he transferred his right, whatever it was, to Colonel Brett; and died in 1710. 7 Mary Tudor, natural daughter of Charles the Second, by Mary Davies, a celebrated singer on the stage. See vol. iii. p. 269, n. She was born in 1673, and married in 1687-8 to Francis, Lord Radcliffe; who, on the death of his father in 1696-7, became Earl of Derwentwater, then corruptly written (as it was sounded,) Darentwater. She * Arabella, daughter of Sir Edward Allen, Bart. first married Francis Thompson, Esq. and was at this time the wife of Lord George Howard, (eldest son of Henry, the sixth Duke of Norfolk, by his second wife,) who died in March, 1720-21. 9 Elizabeth, daughter of Digby, Lord Gerard; and Commands the left; and England's dear delight, He said :-Blest angels! for great ends design'd, second wife of James, Duke of Hamilton, who was killed in a duel by Lord Mohun, in Nov. 1712. 'Elizabeth, daughter of Charles Bertie, of Uffington, in the county of Lincoln, Esq., a younger son of Montague, the second Earl of Lindsey. She was at this time the wife of Charles Mildmay, the second Lord Fitzwalter, of that family. 2 Margaret, daughter of George, Lord Chandos, and relict of William Brownlow, of Humby, in Lincolnshire. She is represented in one of the lampoons of that day, as much older than her husband: } "Sackville wants leisure to attend his Muse, "His time is taken up with these reviews, "And Skipwith with his grannam of a spouse." 3 Richard Norton, of Southwick, in Hampshire, Esq. Cibber's comedy, entitled Love'S LAST SHIFT, was dedicated to this gentleman, in Feb. 1696-7. In "A Dia And I, not last of the harmonious train, To him great Derwentwater thus replied: logue between Poet Motteux and Patron Henningham," who is charged with writing the Dedication of BEAUTY IN DISTRESS to himself, (STATE POEMS, ii. 251,) he is thus introduced: "PATRON. Here, Sirra, here's five guineas then. "POET. What do you mean? you promis'd ten; "And Norton gave a hundred pieces, "To own a better thing than this is, "Even to Southerne,-." The piece here alluded to is PAUSANIAS, a tragedy, which Southerne published in 1696, without the author's name; who, we learn from THE DISPENSARY, was Mr. Norton. Garth highly commends it : "And Britain, since PAUSANIAS was writ, "Knows Spartan virtue, and Athenian wit." In my copy of PHAETON, a tragedy, by Gildon, 4to. 1698, (which is dedicated to Charles Montague,) is the following inscription to this gentleman, in Gildon's handwriting, which accompanied a presentation copy, and probably produced the effect intended by the poet, a donation of a few guineas: "Domino Domino "Ricardo Norton, de Southwick in agro Hamptoniensi, Armigero; viro eximio, tam virtutibus quam genere claro, Musis dilectissimo, ipsarumque cultorum fautori colendissimo, libellum hunc offert "CAROLUS GILDON." Mr. Norton died Dec. 10, 1732, in his sixty-ninth year. His extraordinary will, which was made in 1714, and the last codicil in Nov. 1731, may be found in THE GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE, vol. iii. p. 57. He left a Born to dispute severe decrees of fate, For beaus will always wait upon the fair: For thee kind Beereton and bold Webbe shall fight, ' poor; real estate of £.6000. per ann. and personal property to the amount of £.60,000l. "to the that is to say," (says the testator) "to the poor hungry, and thirsty, naked, and strangers, sick and wounded, and prisoners, to the end of the world." He also bequeathed two saphire rings to the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, and a ring with a holy lamb enameled thereon, and set round with diamonds, to each of the Bishops, " to be by them, and all and every of them, daily and successively worn, to the end of the world."-Of this will, which is very long, was all written with his own hand, and was lodged for several years in the custody of the Bishop of Winchester, he appointed the Parliament of Great Britain, executors. But on a trial at Bar in the King's Bench, in May, 1739, the testator was found to be insane, and his will was set aside. Anthony Henley, of the Grange in Hampshire, Esq., a man of parts and learning, who died in 1711. He was father of Robert, the first Earl of Northington, Lord Chancellor; and at this time represented Andover in Parliament. There are three letters written by him. to Swift, in Swift's Works, vol. xviii. Garth dedicated his DISPENSARY to this gentleman; and Southerne, in the Dedication of PAUSANIAS to him, says, that he was at once a master of poetry, painting, and musick. The Thus shall thy Court our English youth engross, But O! this change alarm'd the rival state; Epilogue to PAUSANIAS was written by Mr. Henley, who was probably a friend of Mr. Norton. 5 Perhaps General Webbe, whose "firm platoon" was afterwards celebrated by Tickell. Of the prowess of Mr. Beereton no memorials have been discovered. Lord Henry Scott, second surviving son of James, Duke of Monmouth; who was born in 1676. In 1706 he was created Earl of Deloraine, and died about 1730. 7 The Earl of Derwentwater's poetry, which appears to have been composed when he was Lord Radcliffe, is spoken of with contempt in a lampoon written about this period. The person addressed is Colonel Heveningham, who has been already mentioned: 66 Lord Radcliffe's poems might thy satire fit; "But what hast thou to do with men of wit?" Again, ibid. "if to charge the fair thy fancy moves, "Write Popham's life, or Madam Griffin's loves. "One labour too to Ranelagh is due, "Who with false beauty does deface the true; "And may arrive with diligence and care "In time to rival Derwentwater's heir. 66 On such as these thy doggrel numbers try," &c. In the last age, and the early part of this century, the o in engross was pronounced short, as in loss. So Pope, who perhaps remembered the lines before us : "But all our praises why should lords engross? 66 'Rise, honest Muse! and sing the Man of Ross." Pope had diligently read the STATE POEMS, and may be sometimes traced in them. Thus, "Peace is my dear |