[500] When advanced in life, and unfitted for sprightly parts, Mrs. Abington determined to appear as Scrub, the man-of-all-work to Lady Bountiful in Farquhar’s comedy, _The Beaux’ Stratagem_. “I was present,” says John Taylor, in his _Records of My Life_, “and remember nothing in her performance that might not have been expected from an actor of much inferior abilities. As a proof, too, that, like many of her profession, she thought herself capable of characters not within the scope of her powers, I once saw her play Ophelia to Mr. Garrick’s Hamlet; and, to use a simile of my old friend Dr. Monsey, she appeared _like a mackerel on a gravel walk_.” [501] Hitherto, in the RAINY DAY, _William_ Chambers has appeared, another misleading slip. Sir Robert was the Indian judge, and is referred to by Johnson in a letter to Boswell, dated March 5, 1774: “Chambers is married, or almost married, to Miss Wilton, a girl of sixteen, exquisitely beautiful, whom he has, with his lawyer’s tongue, persuaded to take her chance with him in the East.” Miss Wilton was the daughter of Joseph Wilton, R.A., the sculptor. [502] Mr. Taylor’s father was not only highly respected, but for many years held a principal situation in the Custom House (S.). [503] They were cleaned and “restored” by John Francis Rigaud, R.A. [504] Doubtless the letter from Mrs. Abington to Mrs. Jordan, printed under the year 1815. [505] John Bannister (Honest Jack) left the stage on the night of June 1, 1815, when he played in Kenney’s comedy _The World_, and _The Children in the Wood_. “Your whole conscience stirred with Bannister’s performance of Walter in the _Children in the Wood_,” says Lamb; and Haydon, who in 1826 met Bannister by accident in Chenies Street, Bedford Square, writes: “He held out his hand just as he used to do on the stage, with the same frank native truth. As he spoke, the tones of his favourite ‘Walter’ pierced my heart. It was extraordinary, the effect. ‘Bannister,’ said I, ‘your voice recalls my early days.’--‘Ah,’ said he, ‘I had some touches, had I not?’” [506] John Pritt Harley (1786-1858) distinguished himself as singer and actor. He appeared at Drury Lane in 1815, the year of Bannister’s retirement, and succeeded to many of that comedian’s parts. He was known as Fat Jack--from his thinness. “I have an exposition of sleep upon me,” were his last words, spoken on the stage of the Princess’s Theatre on August 20, 1858. He had hardly made his exit when he was seized with paralysis, and he died at 14 Upper Gower Street two days later. Harley was an excellent Shakespearean clown, and an ardent collector of walking-sticks. [507] Porridge Island and another rookery called The Bermudas disappeared about 1829. These were cant names. GENERAL INDEX Academy, Royal, its origin and foundation members, 12. Ackworth School, 185. Adelphi Terrace, No. 5, 80, 239-240. “Ad Libitum” Society, 213. Admirals’ portraits at Greenwich, 282.