Garrick, as we have said, was one of the first actors to begin this movement, and it is no wonder that he won the applause of London, and that crowds came to hear him, so that in 1744, when he was to act Hamlet, servants were sent at three o’clock in the afternoon to keep places for their employers, for there were then no such things as reserved seats. Fine actors and actresses abounded in the eighteenth century; Mrs. Siddons, who was born in 1755, did not give her farewell performance in Lady Macbeth until 1812, and lived long after. Both Mrs. Oldfield and Peg Woffington, however, had passed away before Jane’s time. [Illustration: THE REV. GEORGE CRABBE] It was an age when people were wild about acting, and private theatres were a common hobby, many a young spark ruined himself in this extravagance, and _The Times_ of 1798 mentions that there were no fewer than six private theatres in London and Westminster. The plays commented upon in Jane’s letters seem to us very dull, “Fanny and the two little girls are gone to take places for to-night at Covent Garden; _Clandestine Marriage_ and _Midas_. The latter will be a fine show for L[izzie] and M[arianne]. They revelled last night in _Don Juan_ whom we left in hell at half past eleven. We had Scaramouch and a ghost, and were delighted. I speak of them; my delight was very tranquil, and the rest of us were sober minded. _Don Juan_ was the last of three musical things. _Five Hours at Brighton_, in three acts, and the _Beehive_ rather less flat and trumpery.” “We had good places in the box next the stage box.... I was particularly disappointed at seeing nothing of Mr. Crabbe. I felt sure of him when I saw the boxes were fitted up with crimson velvet. The new Mr. Terry was Lord Ogleby, and Henry thinks he may do, but there was no acting more than moderate.” In the following year, 1814, her comments are, “We went to the play again last night. The _Farmer’s Wife_ is a musical thing in three acts, and, as Edward was steady in not staying for anything more, we were home before ten. Fanny and Mr. J. P. are delighted with Miss S—— all that I am sensible of ... is a pleasing person and no skill in acting. We had Mathews, Liston, and Enery; of course some amusement.” “Prepare for a play the very first evening, I rather think Covent Garden, to see Young in _Richard_.” Miss S—— was probably Miss Stephens, a singer who made her debut in 1812 in concerts, and appeared on the stage at Covent Garden in 1813; she afterwards became Countess of Essex. She was considered “unsurpassed for her rendering of ballads.” Jane mentions her again— “We are to see the _Devil to Pay_ to-night. I expect to be very much amused. Excepting Miss Stephens, I daresay _Artaxerxes_ will be very tiresome.” The Mathews she mentions was Charles Mathews senior.