The consequence of this letter was, that Victor was obliged to dissolve the company from acting any longer on Mr. Sheridan's account; and as this was so early as the 20th of April, when they were not only sufferers by arrears of salary, but few of them had commenced benefits, this prompted them to solicit the favour of the town, independent of their Manager, (which Sheridan very readily granted, by giving them the use of the house, scenery, clothes, &c.) in a long advertisement, signed with all their names, and concluding in the following humiliating manner :

"Unforeseen losses will, it is hoped, recommend us to the continued patronage of the town: and we beg leave to assure the public, that it shall be our pride and study to perform the ensuing representations with as much accuracy and diligence, now we are left to our own conduct, as we have been compelled to suffer irregularity and confusion, from having been subjected to a variety of disappointments."

But, alas! this advertisement did them no service: the warm weather was too far advanced; and their endeavours ended with three or four unsuccessful performances, which threw this little corps under the greatest embarrassments. Macklin, however, had greater projects before him than joining the Irish Theatres: at this time he got an engagement

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gagement at Drury-Lane Theatre, at a very considerable salary; and, beside, had it in meditation to bring out his farce of Love-a-la-Mode; which, though it met with some opposition in the beginning, afterwards received such applause, both here and in Ireland, as made amends for all his former dramatic miscarriages, and crowned him with no inconsiderable share of reputation.

Of the origin of this little piece we have often heard Macklin speak, and speak with a pleasure which most men take in telling of events which, trifling or ludicrous in their beginnings, lead to happy and prosperous consequences. It was as follows.

Some time before their going to Ireland on the Crow-Street expedition, Barry and Macklin had been spending the evening at a public-house in the neighbourhood of Covent Garden, when they were joined by an Irishman who had been some years in the Prussian service, and who, from his first appearance, attracted their notice. In his person he was near six feet high, finely formed, of a handsome manly face, with a degree of honesty and good humour about him which prejudiced every body in his favour.

He happened to sit in the same box where Macklin and Barry sat; and as Barry perfectly under

stood

stood the Irish character, could tell many agreeable stories in that way, and was beside considered as no inconsiderable humbugger, (a species of wit very much attached to an Hibernian humourist,) he soon scraped an acquaintance with his countryman, and brought him out in the full blow of self-exhibition.

The stranger told them of his birth, parentage, and education in Ireland; "of his being originally designed for a priest, and following an uncle of his to France, who was in that profession, for that purpose: that luckily his uncle died, and left him at liberty to follow the profession of his soul, which was the army: that he afterwards listed in the Prussian service, and was in most of the early battles of the great Frederick, who rewarded him with a lieutenancy for his services; and that he was just come over to England to receive a legacy left him by a cousin of his mother's, who was a cheesemonger in the Borough."

To this account he gave them a long list of his amours both in France and Prussia, accompanied with some humorous Irish songs, as made him, on the whole, a most diverting character, With all this, he was so extremely simple and unsuspicious, that when Macklin (who passed himself off for an Englishman all the while) attributed his successes with the ladies from having a tail behind,

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as common to all Irishmen, he instantly pulled off his coat and waistcoat, to convince him of his mistake, assuring him, "that no Irishman, in that respect, was better than another man."

Macklin, who seldom wanted observation in his profession, saw that this was a character who would stand prominent in a Comedy. He therefore helped to draw him out in all his absurdities, till he had satisfied himself in sketching the full outline of the portrait. The next day he communicated his idea to Barry, who so much approved of it, as to offer to play the principal character himself; and, by way of encouraging Macklin to go on, offered him a wager of a rump and dozen, he would not produce a dramatic piece upon that subject in the course of three months.

The wager was accepted; and Macklin, according to his own account, produced a Comedy of five acts, sketched out in plot and incidents, without having all the parts of the dialogue filled up, in the course of six weeks; which Barry was so pleased with, that he paid him his wager; Macklin pledging himself, at the same time, to finish it before the end of the season.

Though Macklin's outline of "Love a la Mode" was thus planned, and highly approved of by Barry, for whom the principal character was intended, it

was far from being finished. In the early part of his authorship, Macklin had suffered from hasty sketches; and he seemed to be determined, in respect to the present piece, to give it every kind of attention in his power.

His first design was to make it a play of five acts, and he had disposed the business of it in that manner. However, before he brought it before the eye of the public, he determined to take advice; and as there was nobody to whom he could with more friendship and propriety address himself than Mr. Murphy, who was, and is, considered as one of our first dramatic writers, he wrote a letter inviting him to dine with him on a certain day, in order to sit in judgment on his Comedy.

This was in the summer of 1760. Murphy had country lodgings in Kew Lane, and Macklin and his daughter lived upon Richmond Hill. They met two hours before dinner for this purpose, when Macklin began, with great gravity, to read his piece, first requesting the Critic "to use the pruning knife, if necessary, with an unsparing hand." Murphy accordingly called for pen, ink, and paper; and as Macklin read, he made his remarks. They had not proceeded long in this manner, when Macklin (who, from the beginning, was on the tenter-hook of expectation) called

out,