ORSET Gardens Theatre. Since DOR the account of this Theatre appeared in vol. LXXXIII. ii. p. 221, 1 have met with The Young Gallant's Academy, or, Directions how he should behave in all Places and Company, &c. By Sam. Overcome, 1674; again reprinted as by S. V. 1696. This little octavo volume was a slight alteration of Decker's Gull's Horn-book (a circumstance the Editor of the late valuable edition of that amusing work does not appear to have been acquainted with), and the characters and places re-adapted to the times. The scene of the Theatre is therefore altered from the Globe; and Chap. 5. concludes, "Some are gone to one theatre, some to the other. Let us take a pair of oars for Dorset-stairs, and so into the Theatre after them as fast as we can." With other alterations of the original, the following is given as instructions: "The play-house is free for entertainment, allowing room as well to the Farmer's son as to a Templer; yet it is not fit that he whom the most Taylor's bills make room for when he comes, should be basely, like a viol, cased up in a corner: therefore, I say, let our gallant (having paid his half crown, and given the door-keeper his ticket) presently advance himself into the middle of the pit, where hauing made his honour to the rest of the Company, but especially to the Vizardmasks, let him pull out his comb, and manage his flaxen wig with all the grace he can. Hauing so done, the next step is to give a hum to the China orange-wench, and give her her own rate for her oranges (for 'tis below a gentleman to stand haggling like a Citizen's wife) and then to present the fairest to the next Vizard mask. And that I may incourage our Gallant pot like Tradesman to save a shilling, and so sit but in the middle gallery, let him but consider what large comings-in are pursed up sitting in the pit. First, A conspicuous emi pence is gotten, by which means the best and most essential parts of a gentleman, as his fine cloaths and perruke are perfectly revealed.-Second, By sitting in the pit, if you be a knight, you may happily get you a mistress; which, if you would, I advise you never to be absent when Epsome Wells is plaid: for, GENT. MAG. July, 1814. We see the Wells have stoln the Vizardmasks away." There may also be added the following further particulars of the final destruction of this Theatre. In the Spring of 1703, a general repair of the building for the purpose of re-opening having commenced, the Grand Jury of London, at the July Sessions held at the Old Bailey, by their presentment stated there was something yet wanting towards carrying on the new reformation of manners; and therefore they humbly proposed the following matter for the consideration of the Court, which may be given in their own words: viz. "The having some effectual course taken (if possible) to prevent the youth of this city from resorting to the play-houses, which we rather mention because the play-house bills are again posted up throughout the city, in contempt of a former presentment and a positive order of the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen to the contrary; as also because we are informed that a play-house within the liberties of this city, which has been of late disused and neglected, is at this time refitting in order to be used as formerly. We do not presume to prescribe to this honourable Court, but we cannot question, but that, if they shall think fit, humbly to address her Majesty in this case, she will be graciously pleased to prevent it." 66 This measure was echoed by the fastidious cauting author of the Observator, as a very good presentment against the play-houses, particularly against one of them now fitting up in Dorset Gardens” +. The expected opposition of the Citizens, or, perhaps, some order from the Master of the Revels, occasioned the plan for re-opening this Theatre to be abandoned; and I have not yet discovered that any diversion was In June 1700, there was an order made by the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen, forbidding to affix in any part of the city or the liberties thereof the Play-house bills, according to the pre sentment of the Grand Jury at the last sessions at the Old Bailey. Postman, June 25, 1700, + See Observator, July 14-17, 1703, and the consistent reply to same in Heraclitus Ridens, No. 1. August 1, 1703. afterwards afterwards exhibited. In 1709 it was razed to the ground; as appears by the following extract from a periodical paper, called The Gazette à-lamode: or Tom Brown's Ghost, No. 3. Thursday, May 26, 1709. "I wonder (says the Writer) that a man whose wits run so much a wool gathering as my Coz. Bickerstaff's should not all this time have pick'd up some Epigram, Elegy, or other doleful ditty, on such a lamentable occasion as the pulling down the Theatre in DorsetGarden; upon which melancholy subject, an old acquaintance of my friend Isaac's, a water-poet, has been so kind as to oblige me with the following lines, composed and dated on board the Folly, now lying opposite to the ruined Playhouse. "Ye Muses weep, weep all ye Nine, The Poets vainly call Divine: See there that scene of Melancholy While yet here floats the sinking Folly; From whence that falling pile we view, Once sacred to the Gods and you, Which buskin'd Heroes use to tread, And represent the glorious dead. Now, now, alas, 'tis servile made, And is from pleasure turn'd to trade. The manag'd stage, and well-wrought scene Adorn'd with exquisite machine, No longer please our wand'ring eyes, doom Whether perform'd in Greece or Rome. As it in Babylon cou'd fly, *Now made a Wood yard. Shall burlesque Theatres arise, The site was used as a timber-yard for several years. It is described as such in some lines "On a Lady's favourite Cat," inserted in "Count Pi per's Packet, being a choice and curi, ous Collection of Manuscript paper's in prose and verse. 1732." "Near that fam'd place, where in old times there stood A Theatre; but now huge piles of wood: Where silver Thames runs gliding by the stairs, [fares; And Watermen stand bawling to their Where noble Dorset claims a royalty, And Bride's fair steeple towers to the sky; Where mug-house members kept their clubs of late, And rioters met their untimely fate: Close in a nook a little house you'll find," &c. A South view of the Dorset Gardens Theatre is given in the present Num ber (See Plate).-Some alteration was made in the exterior of the building after the view was taken that is given in Settle's Empress of Morocco, un less that represents, as probable, the North front. At the time of the repairing above noticed, the arms and ornaments might be altered, as the view from which the present engrav, ing is copied is supposed to have been made after the repairs were com pleted. Other views, in the same direction, may be found in the large sheet maps of a Prospect of London and Westminster, taken at several stations to the Southward thereof, by William Morgan; and also in Henry Overton's New Prospect of London of the South side, &c. dedicated to Gideon Harvey by the publisher Jas. Walker. It stood near the mouth of Fleet ditch, which had on the opposite side a handsome structure, with a balcony, belonging to a noted empiric, Dr. Salmon; a part of which is shewn in the annexed View. In Buck's Views (1749) the site is represented as a Timber-yard. 'China-hall, Rotherhithe. This suburbian Theatre is supposed to have + A Saw-pit, been been opened in the summer of 1777. It was formed from the warehouse of a paper-manufacturer; and novelty crowning the first season with sufficient encouragement, the proprietors ventured to embellish and materially improve the premises: the adver tisement for the commencement of the following season, stating the Proprietors" have spared no expence in en larging and beautifying the Theatre; and as they are determined to preserve the exactest punctuality in the time of beginning, and to make regularity and decorum their chief study, hope they shall render themselves de serving of that favourable encouragement they have before experienced." The prices of admission were,boxes 3s. pit 28. gallery 1s. and time of commencing varied by the season from half past six to seven o'clock. The Wonder and Lying Valet; Love in a Village with Comical Courtship (a new piece) were among the pieces performed; and in the season of 1778 one of the performers was the late celebrated George Frederick Cooke. Some time in the winter of 1778-9 the whole building was destroyed by fire. Ruckholt-house, Leyton, Essex.Ruckholt-house is said to have been once the mansion of Queen Elizabeth; and is now mentioned as forming, for a short period, an auxiliary place of amusement for the Summer to the established Theatres,and situate within the environs of London. It was open ed about the year 1742 by the proprie tor, Wm. Barton, with public breakfasts, weekly concerts, and occasional oratorios. The place is thus described in a ballad addressed TO DELIA, An Invitation to Ruckholt-house. "Delia, in whose form we trace All that can a virgin grace, Hark where pleasure blith as May, Bids us to Ruckholt [haste] away. Verdant vestos, melting sounds, Magic echoes, fairy rounds, Beauties ev'ry where surprize, Sure that spot dropt from the skies. Delia, in, &c.* The "sweet singers of Ruckbolt" are immortalized by Shenstone; and the place appears to have been the drive of fashion for about three seasons. In Music in good time, a new ballad, 1745, fol. it is enumerated with other places in the following stanzas: "Oh L--c--n, oh C---ke, and each belman appear, With your songs and your sonnets to charm ev'ry ear; To spin catches and odes, and your pas t'rals fine, Assist them Grub Phoebus, assist bunters Derry down, &c. nine. * The following votive ditty upon Hampstead, and the Wells, I have only discovered since the note in the last Volume, ii. p. 554, was printed; and which is not mentioned, I believe, by the intelligent Author of the recent valuable Volume upon The Topography and Natural History of Hampstead. It may be found in The Musical Entertainer, engraved by George Bickham, Jun. fol. vol. II. No. 15, entituled "The Beautys of Hampstead," and also as a broad-side, from which the present copy is taken. HAMPSTEAD. A Ballad, set by Mr. ABEL WHICHELLO. Sung by Mr. JOHN BAKer. "Summer's heat the town invades, Here are grottos, purling streams, Shades defying Titan's beams, Rosy bowers, Fragrant flowers, Lovers wishes, Poets themes. Of the chrystal bubbling well, Life, and strength, the current swell, (Heav'nly treasure!) Smiling here, united dwell. Here, nymphs and swains indulge your Share the joys our scene imparts, [hearts, Here be strangers To all dangers, All- but those of Cupid's darts.” July 1. It is not prefer the invective of T is not proper that I should re Mr.Hawkins, because it involves some matters of fact, necessary to state in vindication of my own fidelity as a Literary Historian; and equally so, to shew what kind of an Historian Mr. Hawkins is likely to turn out. A little patience is required for the Reader as well as the Writer, while we are trying the perspicacity and shrewdness of the present writer. He tells us that "He very well knows the reasons of his Father's intention that the Edition of 1765” should have been preferred. Good! it is the only point to be ascertained-but if Mr. Hawkins's knowledge is to be proved by his "reasons," they unluckily shew, that he knows nothing of the matter! His first "reason," for he counts it as one, is, that the Preface of 1765 should have been preferred, because "it was written on occasion of the is, that this Preface of 1765 was really públication of that Edition." That written for the Edition of 1765! but he can take nothing, as the Lawyers say, by this motion; 'tis granted that a Preface is a Preface! Secondly, that "this Preface of 1765 more particularly referred to that Edition" and therefore, being a Preface to the obsolete Edition of 1765, it should be republished in an Edition of 1787. This still is no "reason;" and of this the Bookseller, as we shall see, was fully aware. reasons" Among my researches, in the topic of" Literary Quarrels from personal motives," I had to record one, where the late Sir John stood in a dilemma as the Editor of Johnson's Works. Hawkins owed no good-will to SteeAnd now the Reader bas his "reavens for his caustic pleasantries; and he was not a magnanimous enemy. sons!" though with all his strainings Averse to preserve Johnson's high he hardly reaches the plural number. commendation at the close of the Pre- But any one thing is, or are, face to Shakespeare, of Steevens, he to him who from such untenable prepretended that he reprinted the Premises with the most provoking conface of 1765; which, having appeared before Johnson's union with Steevens, was free from the tender passage. On examination, however, it was discovered that all the collected Works were properly reprinted from the latest Editions. This fact was apt enough for the purpose of my illustrations; it is noticed as derived from “a periodical Critic," and marked as a quotation. This detection, of the mutilated Preface originating, as the Reviewer expresses it," from the spleen and the covered malice of the Editor" may be found in the Monthly Review, vol. LXXVII, p. 69. And here I would willingly have closed this literary quarrel, had I not considered it as my duty, not indeed to reply to the invective of so weak a temper; but to discover what sort of a genius it is Mr. Hawkins displays, in that magrative of absurdities which he has so clumsily wrought into a kind of Bibliographical Romance. fidence infers, that "every intelligent man must see, that to have printed the Preface in its latter state, and not as originally written, would have been improper." It is then the result of this 66 Propriety," that the work touched by the finishing hand is not so proper for preservation, as the first state!a critical discovery! which adds one more to the celebrated "Canons of Criticism." If Sir John had really this odd taste, why did he not prefer reprinting the original Ramblers, which, the curious diligence of Mr. Alexander Chalmers has discovered, often scarcely exhibit the same work. Mr. So much for the clear exposition of the "intention" of Sir John! Hawkins has added another confirmation to a valuable truism, that it seems impossible to know the intention of any man! But a greater difficulty remained to overcome, than assigning such shadowy and impalpable grounds, for the |