It is believed that having involved himself in pecuniary difficulties, he found it expedient to retire to the continent. He went to Hamburgh, where being one day engaged in a dispute at a billiard-table, a duel ensued, in which he forfeited his life. What became of his unfortunate wife is not known.
Vera incessu patuit dea.
CHAPTER LX.
It has been remarked, in the course of these Memoirs, that the manuscript document from which the substance of what has been communicated was drawn, was distinguished by any thing rather then regularity, or chronological accuracy. Some pains have been taken in our progress, to form the materials into shape, but not always to our satisfaction.
We come now to a remarkable proof, that these Memorandums were noted down, as they presented themselves to the recollection, for the two females about to be mentioned, should, in point of time, have taken the lead of the class to which they belong. Both are mentioned in terms of no ordinary esteem or regard. We shall first introduce
Mrs. Yates.
To this distinguished lady, our Sexagenarian appears to have been introduced, on his first arrival at the metropolis. He could not well have been more fortunate, for at her house he immediately became acquainted with some of the most distinguished literary characters of the time. There he met Murphy, Home, the Author of Douglas, Richard Cumberland, Hoole, the Translator of Ariosto, the Adelphi Adams, old Macklin, Mrs. Lennox, Mrs. Brook, and various other eminent individuals, all of whom, alas! have now paid the last awful debt of nature.
Of Mrs. Yates’s talents in her profession, it would be unavailing and useless to speak here. The few who remember her, cannot but allow, that in characters which required majesty, dignity of person, and of manner, she was incomparable. It is rather our province in this place to render the justice which is due to her pre-eminent intellectual endowments, her very highly cultivated mind, her polished manners, her graceful and elegant elocution, her urbanity, and universal benevolence. It was utterly impossible for a young man, hitherto ignorant of the world, and but little acquainted with the higher cast of society, to have been placed in a better school. Where she took a liking, (and no recommendation was so effectual to her as a desire of improvement) she enjoyed a particular pleasure in making a young person acquainted with those little, but inexplicable essentials, about which Lord Chesterfield has written volumes, and which the French emphatically denominate petites morales, agremens, and bienseance. Nobody understood them better, or practised them with greater effect. She was particularly partial to young clergymen, and as she was in no common degree delighted with the church service, and remarkably punctual in her attendance at public worship, she derived great satisfaction in instructing her young friends in the art of reading with emphasis and effect. She herself read the liturgy in the most impressive manner, and there were many clergymen who were not reluctant to acknowledge, that if they possessed this valuable accomplishment to any degree of excellence, it was imputable principally to her suggestions, taste, and judgment.
For a considerable period, Mrs. Yates, in conjunction with her most intimate and beloved friend, Mrs. Brook, (hereafter to be mentioned) was manager of the Opera-house. Under the direction of their taste, the undertaking flourished to no common degree. This circumstance also increased the satisfaction of being an inmate at her house, which consequently became the resort of many distinguished foreigners.