The Master's Report is dated July 10, 1728.[173] Mr. Bennett said that the plaintiffs' solicitors having allowed Wilks, Cibber, and Booth 13s. 4d. apiece for every day a play was acted, from the 18th June 1723, as the same had been allowed up to that time, he had taken an account of Steele's fourth part of the profits from the said 18th June to the present time, and found that that fourth part amounted to £2,692 3s. 3d., in discharge whereof he found that the said defendants had paid to Steele or order several sums, amounting to £1,601 3s. 3d., leaving due to Steele £1,091. And the clerk in court for Woolley had admitted that Woolley had been already paid off and discharged all the principal and interest due to him on Steele's account; and the Master had already, by his Report of the 5th instant, taxed Woolley's bill of costs at £29 2s. 10d., which sum he appointed Wilks, Cibber, and Booth to pay Woolley out of the said sum of £1,091 in their hands, and the residue, £1,061 17s. 2d., they were to pay to Scurlock, as directed by the order of the 17th February. On the following day, July 11, 1728, upon motion made by the counsel for the defendants in the original cause, this Report and all contained therein was confirmed by order and decree of the Court.[174] NOTES. [1] Readers desirous of knowing more about Steele may be referred to Forster's Essay, first printed in the _Quarterly Review_ for 1855; to Mr. Dobson's "Richard Steele," 1886, in the _English Worthies_ series; and to the _Life of Richard Steele_, 2 vols., 1889, by the present writer. From the last-mentioned work I have occasionally borrowed a phrase or sentence in this Introduction. [2] See Appendix. [3] This is not true. The second edition was corrected and enlarged. [4] See Appendix. [5] _Athenæum_, Sep. 20, 1884, article by the present writer. [6] Public Record Office, Chancery Decrees, 1709 B. p. 320, "Steele v. Rich." [7] See a paper by the present writer in the _Athenæum_ for Dec. 27, 1890, and the _Life of Steele_, ii. 72-3. [8] Tonson paid for the copyright £40, "and other valuable considerations"; and he had to institute proceedings to prevent the play being pirated (_Athenæum_, Dec. 5, 1891). As early as March 1, 1772, Lintot has agreed to give Tonson £70 for a half share of Steele's comedy that was to be published. [9] "Hired mourners at a funeral say and do A little more than they whose grief is true; 'Tis just so here: false flattery displays More show of sympathy than honest praise." CONINGTON. [10] Isabella, second daughter of the Lord of St. Gravemoer, General of the Forces to the States General, and wife of Arnold Joost van Keppel, Earl of Albemarle, and Colonel of the first troop of Horse Guards.