Spectator
has in another paper given honourable fame to his skill as a comedian. Here there is but the whimsical suggestion of a favourite showman and low comedian mounted on an elephant to play King Porus.
George Powell, who in 1711 and 1712 appeared in such characters as Falstaff, Lear, and Cortez in
the Indian Emperor,
now and then also played the part of the favourite stage hero, Alexander the Great in Lee's
Rival Queens
. He was a good actor, spoilt by intemperance, who came on the stage sometimes warm with Nantz brandy, and courted his heroines so furiously that Sir John Vanbrugh said they were almost in danger of being conquered on the spot. His last new part of any note was in 1713, Portius in Addison's
Cato