Garrick offered to bury him, but a kinsman who would have nothing to say to the actor, claimed the satisfaction of consigning him to the grave, whither, after all, his brother actors carried him. So ended the promising player who combined gastronomy with his study of the drama, and ordered his dinner according to the part he had to act; sausages and Zanga; rump-steaks and Richard; pork-chops and Pierre; veal-cutlets and Barbarossa; and so forth! The antagonism of the two Irish actors seems to have wearied the Dublin people, who, at last,
"Did not care a toss-up,
If Mossop beat Barry, or Barry beat Mossop."
Of some other actors who left the stage about the same period I will speak in the next chapter.
FOOTNOTES:
[117] It is perhaps scarcely worth noting, but the form of this speech seems to me so much better as given by Cooke, that I venture to quote it:—"Pray, sir, don't disturb me; consider, I am now at my rehearsal."
[118] I cannot help remarking that Dr. Doran does not give Mossop anything like his proper importance. He was one of the three great actors of his period: Garrick, Barry, Mossop. I may also say that the date of his death is uncertain. It may have been 1775.
