BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 147
shortly afterwards to Newport-Papell, where she contrived to live upon the
interest of a small sum of money. At an early age, by means of his mother,
he imbibed a taste for poetry ; and Shakspeare being almost his constant study,
a wish to embody his characters on the stage was soon created. The play he
admired most was the Winter’s Tab. When arrived at or near the age of
eleven he was sent to a school at Hemel-Hampstead, and employed the short
time he was there most advantageously. From thence he returned to London,
to be placed under the charge of Mr. Fournier, an eminent artist, as he
had given early indications of a taste for drawing. To the house of Mr. Cripps,
a silversmith of very considerable business in St. James’s Street, to whom
he was nearly related, he was soon afterwards transferred for the purpose of
making drawings and designs for that business ; but the sudden death of Mr.
Cripps put an end to his prospects iu this line. His ardent passion for acting
now gained the ascendency, and Henderson made his first public appearance
in a barn at a village in Islington, where he recited Garrick’s Ode to Xhakspeaw,
at that time very popular. This effort procured him a number of admirers
and many invitations to parties, at all of which he displayed his powers.
Exertions were made to obtain the notice of the managers; and after
several years’ attendance at the levee of the presiding genius of Drury Lane,
during which he was refused an engagement at Covent Garden by Mr. Colman,
Mr. Garrick condescended to grant him a day of audience, and heard him
rehearse several scenes in a variety of characters. After some hesitation, the
manager gave it as his opinion that he had in his mouth too much worsted,
which he must absolutely get rid of before he was fit for Drury Lane stage.”
The same fault has been found with the able representative of fiends and ruffians,
0. Smith, and a rhyming critique on the merits of his acting concludes
thus :-
“ But his delivery is very shocking-
He speaks as if ’twere through a worsted stocking.”
Garrick, however, having no wish to discourage the “young stager,” furnished
him with a letter to Mr. Palmer, manager of the Bath Theatre, who gave him
an engagement for a term of three years, at the very liberal salary of “ one
pound one per week.”
On the 6th of October then, in the year 1772, did “the Bath Roscius,”
under the assumed name of Courtenay, make a most successful debut in the
character of Hamlet, the known recommendation of Ganick operating upon the
attendance at the theatre that evening, and controlling in no small degree the
judgment of the audience after they went. In an address written for the
occasion, Henderson shortly afterwards reclaimed his own cognomen. So
attractive did he prove, that the manager found it for his interest to send him
on ” that season in upwards of five-and-twenty different parts. He was noticed
by people of the first rank and talent, among others Paul Whitehead,
Gainsborough the painter, Dr. Schomberg, and Mr. John Beard.
After the first Bath campaign ha repaired to London, fondly imagining that
