10 ([return])
[ Chesington, lying between Kingston and Epsom.—ED.]
11 ([return])
[ The picture drawn by Macaulay of Mr. Crisp's wounded vanity and consequent misanthropy is absurdly overcharged. In the first place, his play of “Virginia,” which was first produced at Drury Lane on the 25th of February, 1754, actually achieved something like a succes d'estime. It ran eleven nights, no contemptible run for those days; was revived both at Drury Lane and at Covent Garden; was printed and reprinted; and all this all in his own lifetime. It had, in fact, at least as much success as it deserved, though, doubtless, too little to satisfy the ambition of its author. In the second place, there is absolutely no evidence whatever that his life was long embittered by disappointment connected with his tragedy. It is clear, from Madame D'Arblay's “Memoirs of Dr. Burney,” that Mr. Crisp's retirement to Chesington, many years after the production of “Virginia,” was mainly due to a straitened income and the gout. Nor was his seclusion unenlivened by friendship. The Burneys, in particular, visited him from time to time; and Fanny has left us descriptions of scenes of almost uproarious gaiety, enacted at Chesington by this gloomy recluse and his young friends. But we shall hear more of Chesington and its inmates hereafter—ED.]
12 ([return])
[ Scarcely, we think; when her fame was at its height, Fanny Burney received no more than 250 pounds for her second novel, “Cecilia.” See the “Early Diary,” vol. ii. p. 307.—ED.]
13 ([return])
[ Christopher Anstey, the author of that amusing and witty poetical satire, the “New Bath Guide.”—ED.]
14 ([return])
[ John Wilson Croker.—ED.]