[!-- Note Anchor 24 --]Note 24: In his "History of the Stage," Genest tells us Mrs. Robinson made her first appearance on the stage as Juliet, on the 10th of December, 1776, but leaves us in ignorance regarding the actors who took part in the tragedy. Romeo was evidently played by William Brereton, who had rehearsed the principal scenes with her in the greenroom before Sheridan and Garrick. Genest adds: "Mrs. Robinson was received with great applause. She had an engagement previous to her first appearance, and received what was considered a handsome salary. She was a most beautiful woman, and a very good breeches figure."—Ed.
[!-- Note Anchor 25 --]Note 25: According to Genest, the second character she attempted was Statira, in "Alexander the Great," played on the 17th of February, 1777; Amanda, in "The Trip to Scarborough," produced seven nights later, being her third personation.—Ed.
[!-- Note Anchor 26 --]Note 26: Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, and afterward King of Hanover, was the fifth son of George III, and perhaps the most profligate and unpopular member of the royal family.—Ed.
[!-- Note Anchor 27 --]Note 27: Horace Walpole, writing to his friend, the Rev. William Mason, on the 28th of May, 1780, says: "Lady Craven's comedy, called 'The Miniature Picture,' which she acted herself with a genteel set at her own house in the country, has been played at Drury Lane. The chief singularity was that she went to it herself, the second night, in form; sat in the middle of the front row of the stage box, much dressed, with a profusion of white bugles and plumes, to receive the public homage due to her sex and loveliness.... It was amazing to see so young a woman entirely possess herself; but there is such an integrity and frankness in her consciousness of her own beauty and talents, that she speaks of them with a naïveté as if she had no property in them, but only wore them as gifts of the gods. Lord Craven, on the contrary, was quite agitated by his fondness for her, and with impatience at the bad performance of the actors, which was wretched indeed. Yet the address of the plot, which is the chief merit of the piece, and some lively pencilling, carried it off very well, though Parsons murdered the Scotch Lord, and Mrs. Robinson (who is supposed to be the favourite of the Prince of Wales) thought on nothing but her own charms and him."
"The Irish Widow" was a farce founded by David Garrick on Molière's "Le Mariage Forcé," and produced on the 23d of October, 1772.—Ed.
[!-- Note Anchor 28 --]Note 28: Thomas Linley, who was considered "one of the finest violin players in Europe," was drowned through the upsetting of a boat on the 5th of August, 1778. He was a brother-in-law of Richard Brinsley Sheridan.—Ed.
[!-- Note Anchor 29 --]Note 29: George Colman, a popular and prolific dramatist, who in 1777 became manager of the Haymarket Theatre, and continued as such until 1785, introducing meanwhile many new players and some dramatic novelties.—Ed.
[!-- Note Anchor 30 --]Note 30: Elizabeth Farren, born 1759, made her first appearance before a London audience as Miss Hardcastle, in "She Stoops to Conquer," on June 9, 1777. After years spent in strolling through the provinces in her father's company and that of other managers, she now captivated the town. Her beautiful face, exquisitely modulated voice, elegant figure, and natural grace, rendered her an ideal representative of the fine ladies of comedy. She was welcomed into the most distinguished society in London, and whilst acting as manageress of private theatricals at the Duke of Richmond's house in Whitehall, met Edward, twelfth Earl of Derby, whose wife was then living. This did not prevent him from falling in love with Miss Farren, who, it was understood, would succeed his first wife as countess did the latter predecease the actress. Lady Derby died on March 14, 1797 and on the 8th of the following month Miss Farren took leave of the stage in the character of Lady Teazle, and on the 1st of May was married to Lord Derby, she being then in her thirty-eighth year. Even in this scandal-loving and licentious age no imputation had ever been cast upon her honour. Of the three children born of this union, but one survived, a daughter, who marred the Earl of Wilton. The Countess of Derby lived until 1829.—Ed.
[!-- Note Anchor 31 --]Note 31: Mrs. Robinson played Lady Macbeth on the occasion of her benefit, when was also performed a musical farce she had composed entitled, "A Lucky Escape."—Ed.
[!-- Note Anchor 32 --]Note 32: The famous politician, Charles James Fox, a friend of the Prince of Wales.—Ed.