BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 117
MR. SUTHERLAND’S range of character seems to have been rather extensive,
for we find him cast for and playing Stukely in the Gamester, Falkland
in the Rivnls, Sciolto in the Fair Penitent, Oroonoko, Old Norval, $c. He made
his first appearance on the Edinburgh stage on the evening of Monday the
2lst January 1783, in the character of Oroonoko, being announced as from the
Dublin Theatre. “Mr. Sutherland,” says a critique of his performance of this
character, “I apprehend, was not well advised when he ventured a first
appearance in this ticklish hero. His person ought to have commanded
respect, and the lustre of his eye to have shone through his sooty complexion.
But his person is not princely, and his eye could not always be distinguished
from the rest of his face, but by the white. His attitudes were in general
well imagined, but not properly supported. If the eye was attracted by the
disposition of the body, the ear was offended by the unmeaniug unexpressive
voice. It is lamentable, indeed, when the voice denies its office, and %-ill not
convey the feelings of its master ; for I am sensible the gentleman frequently
felt the genuine emotions arising from his situation. He is very much in
the predicament of the rest as to action ; where it was not much required he
was redundant, and where the tempest and whirlwind of passion demanded
correspondent agitations of the body, he was unsuccessful. Why should
tears be represented by clapping a white handkerchief to the face, or by
applying the hand to the eyes! When this performer shall have acquired a
proper strength, clearness, and modulation of voice, which are certainly not
unattainable, he may do well.”
Of Rlr. Sutherland’s appearance in Stukely, the following notice is taken :-
“Stukely, upon the whole, was well done, and in some strokes excellent ;
but the voice was too low, and the manner and action too pinched, for such a
bold-faced villain.’’
Very little is known of MRS. WOODS. She seldom acted, and then only
characters of a trifling nature-Elka in Jackson’s Eldred, and Leonora in
the Mmrning Bde, for instance. Her husband was for thirty years the
leading actor in the Edinburgh Theatre, his admirers-the public-having
during that time strenuously opposed every attempt of the manager to supersede
him. Mr. Woods retired on the 19th April 1802, purposing to occupy his
time by giving instructions in elocution; but disease did not permit him to
carry such a scheme into effect, and he died on the 14th December of that year.
On the occasion of his benefit, 17th April 1784, was performed “A New
Local, Farcical, Musical Interlude (never before acted), called Hnllow Fair,” in
which he played “Young Bwt, the drunken buck,” which is curious as not
being included in the Biographia DTarnatica.
118 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
No, LVI.
CAPTAIN GEORGE GORDON,
CAPTAIN GEORGE ROBERTSON, AND
JOHN GRIEVE, ESQ.,
LORD PROVOST OF EDINBURGH.
CAPTAIN GORDOK, the first figure in the Print, is repre nted as in ttendance
on the Lord Provost. He was formerly an officer of the Scottish
Brigade’ in the service of Holland, and was appointed to his situation as
Captain in the Town Guard, on the death of Captain Robertson in 1787. He
lived in Bell’s Wynd, High Street, and was somewhat remarkable for his
forenoon or meridian potations, an indulgence by no means uncommon in his
day. He died on the 25th September 1803.
CAPTAIN ROBERTSON, who is in the attitude of receiving instructions
from the Lord Provost, has already been noticed as one of “ the Three Captains
of Pilate’s Guard,” No. XV.
JOHN GRIEVE, ESQ., the centre figure of this triumvirate, was a
merchant in the Royal Exchange, and held the office of Lord Provost in the
years 1782-3 and again in 1786-7. He entered the Town Council so early as
1765, was treasurer in 1’769, and Dean of Guild in 1778-9. Mr. Grieve possessed
a great deal of natural sagacity, to which he entirely owed his success in business,
The Scottish Brigade in Holland were a body of about six battalions, originally sent for the
purpose of assisting the Republic. They continued to be supplied with recruits from Scotland, and
kept in an effective state ; but under one pretence or other they were detained so long in the service
of the Dutch that it almost came to be a matter of dispute whether there existed a right to recall
them. In 1763 the chiefs or officers of the regiment addressed a strong remonstrance to the British
Secretary at War, expressing a desire to be removed from the provinces on account of indifferent
usage ; but, either from inability or neglect, their remonstrance was not sufficiently attended to. In
1779, they again made offer of their services to the British Government, being unwilling to loiter
away their time in garrison towns, “while the enemies of their country were uniting against her ; ”
but the States of the United Provinces resolved that the Scotch Brigade should, on and after the
1st of January 1783, be incorporated with the Dutch troops, and in every way similarly situated.
At that time the Scotch Brigade had been above 200 years in the service of the States, and in the
numeiwus battles and sieges in which they had been engaged they never lost a single colour, having
on all occasions defended them with the utmost bravery. “At Bergen-op-Zoom, in 1747, in particular,
General Marjoribank‘s regiment consisted of 850 rank and file, of which only 220 survived the fatal
storm of the place ; but these brave handful of men, although many of them were wounded, cut their
way through the grenadiers of France, and carried off their colours in triumph into the lines of the
Allied army of Steebergen.” On this conjunction of the Scotch Brigade with the Dutch regiments,
mauy of the officers refusing to subscribe the new oaths of allegiance, returned to their native country.
