"A very great Personage pays no regard to Lovers' Vows: he has been disgusted with a German translation—that accounts for it.
"Buonaparte wishes to return to Paris, though he should go thither as naked as the back of his hand; he prefers soup-maigre to water melons—that accounts for it.
"Women complain of the want of Gallantry in men, though the modern dress shows more than enough to excite passion, but—that accounts for it.
"This cant phrase would comprehend all the science of Logic, if properly used, and appropriately designed. It might be amplified, in the present instance, to any length of space, but exemplification breaks off because ne quid nimis—that accounts for it."—(Times, Dec. 14, 1798.)
"The mania of private acting, rages with more fury than ever. There are, at present, no less than six Private Theatres, in the Cities of Westminster, and London. This is a kind of amusement which, on the ground of morality, should be 'more honoured in the breach than the observance,' and calls for the interference of the Magistracy."—(Times, Dec. 26, 1798.)
"During the representation of the play of Macbeth, at a Provincial Theatre, some nights since, an incident occurred, which totally disconcerted all the gravity of the Tragic Muse. In the Banquet Scene, Banquo's murderer was, by some untoward accident, missing, and the business of the drama was threatened with suspension, when in the exigency of the moment, an ignorant candle-snuffer was pushed forward to tell the horrible tale:—on seeing him, Macbeth, who had been motionless with confusion, and embarrassment, burst from his state of torpor, and exclaimed, 'There's blood upon thy face!' 'Is there by G—,' cried the astonished clown, and clapping his hands to his cheek, with a mixture of anger, and alarm, continued, 'Then that domn'd blunt razor has cutten me agen.'"—(Times, Jan. 7, 1799.)
A notice of the Stage, of this time, would be incomplete, if Ireland's impudent forgery of "Vortigern and Rowena," were not mentioned. It was supposed to be an undiscovered play of Shakespeare's, and, with many other Shakespearean forgeries, was fabricated by W. H. Ireland, who is classed as follows:—
"Four forgers born in one prolific age,
Much critical acumen did engage:
The first[6] was soon, by doughty Douglas, scar'd,
Tho' Johnson would have screen'd him, had he dar'd.
The next had all the cunning of a Scot;[7]
The third, invention, genius,—may, what not?[8]
Fraud, now exhausted, only could dispense
To her fourth son, their threefold impudence."
Sheridan believed in the play, and engaged with Samuel Ireland, the father of the forger, to pay down £300, and half the profits of the first 60 nights. It was produced at Drury Lane Theatre, on 2 Ap. 1796, Kemble, playing Vortigern. He was an unbeliever in the authenticity of the MS., and, certainly, did not attempt to uphold it by his acting. In fact he burst the bubble, altogether, in the fifth Act, by emphasising, with much meaning, the words, "And when this solemn mockery is o'er," that the audience caught at it, and, amidst a chorus of yells, and hisses, the play was utterly condemned. W. H. Ireland soon afterwards confessed all his forgeries.
