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Kay's Originals Vol. 2

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 259 in his own hands, and the dispute was only settled towards the close of the season, by the decreet-arbitral of the Dean of Faculty, Amongst the performers engaged by Mr. Kemble were Mr. and Mrs. Lee Lewes, who made their second appearance in Edinburgh on the 28th of February 1792. To this period the Print refers, the “Road to Ruin” having been performed a few nights after their arrival. In the characters of Goldjnch and Widow Wawm the parties appeared to great advantage; and it must be confessed that Kay has done them ample justice in the Etching. The run of pieces - chiefly comedy - during the season, were “ The Rivals,” “ The Belle’s Stratagem,” “The Maid of the Mill,” etc.; and a piece called the ‘‘ Aberdeen Orphan ; or, the English Merchant ” (Spatter, Mr. Lee Lewes- Lady AEton, Mrs, Lee Lewes) was repeated several nights-the locality and the title probably forming the chief attraction. When the benefits came on, the following bill of fare was proposed by Mr. Lee Lewes as a banquet for his friends :- “MR. LEE LEWES Most respectfully informs the Public that his BENEFITw ill be on SATURDAYth, e 19th instant (May), when the evening’s entertainments will be preluded with COMIC SKETCHES, OR NATURE’S LOOKING-GLASS. The apparatus is entirely new, and consists of Whole-Length Figures, painted in transparency by Mr. Hodgins, of the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, and Mr. Dighton, of Saddler’s Wells : and is a selection of the laughable part of an entertainment Mr. Lee Lewes has long been yreparing for the public, and which, at a future period, he means to submit to them on a large scale. Specturn admissi, riswrn teneatis. To conclude with a representation of the late KING OF PRUSSIA AND QENERAL ZEITHEN, in figures, as large as life, executed at Berlin. After the prelude will be performed (positively the last time this season) THE ROAD TO RUIN; To which will be added TOM THUMB THE GREAT. Tickets to be had of Mr. Lee Lewes, No. 6 Shakspeare Square.” The “Comic Mirror” was repeated on the two subsequent nights. Towards the close of the season, when Mr. John Kemble played for a few nights, Mrs. Lee Lewes appeared in the parts of Lady Macbeth and Lady Randolph. On the termination of the dispute betwixt Jackson and Kemble, by the decreet of the Dean of Faculty-a decision, however, far from satisfactory to either party-Mr. Jackson obtained a settlement with the majority of his creditors, and conceiving himself to have been ill-used by his opponent, contrived, by a negotiation with Mrs. Eston-(an actress of considerable celebrity on more accounts than one), t,o disappoint him of a renewal of his lease. In consequence of this, and aware that he stood pretty high in the estimation of the public,
Volume 9 Page 345
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