‘He’s much to Blame’ was acted at Covent-Garden in 1798, with great and deserved success. It is a truly elegant comedy. The characters, particularly that of Sir George Versatile, are amusing and original; and the situations, which arise in the progress of the story, give birth to some of the most natural and delicate strokes of passion. The scene at the masquerade, where Maria is discovered by Sir George, is perhaps the most striking; the unaffected and artless expression of her feelings produces an effect which is irresistible. The easiness of Sir George’s temper, and the facility with which he accommodates himself to other people’s humours, without any design or hypocrisy, are admirably described. The passions are less strongly moved in this comedy than in the Deserted Daughter, but they are moved with less effort, and with more pleasure to the reader. Neither has it any thing like the same bustle and broad effect as the Road to Ruin: but in ease, lightness, and a certain graceful simplicity, neither sinking into insipidity on the one hand, nor ‘o’erstepping the modesty of nature’ on the other, it is superior to almost every other modern production. It is the finest specimen Mr Holcroft has left of his powers for writing what is commonly understood by _genteel comedy_. The comedy of ‘He’s much to Blame’ was offered to the theatre in the name of a friend; an artifice to which the author, notwithstanding his dislike to every species of insincerity, was obliged to resort more than once. He informs us in a short advertisement that he was indebted for some hints in this play to _Le Complaisant_, a French Comedy, and the Clavigo of Goethe. ‘The Inquisitor,’ brought out soon after at the Haymarket, and ‘The Old Clothesman,’ an afterpiece, at Covent-Garden, were unsuccessful. CHAPTER VI Having brought Mr Holcroft’s literary history down to the time when he left England, I shall throw together, in the present chapter, such private incidents as occurred within this period, and as have not been already noticed. After the appearance of the comedy of Duplicity, in 1782, Mr Holcroft left his house, in Southampton Buildings, and went to live in Mary-le-bone Street. He afterwards hired a house, for a short time, in Margaret-Street, in conjunction with his friend, Bonneville. In 1789, or the beginning of 1790, he removed into Newman-Street, where he continued till a short time before his going abroad, in 1799, when he took lodgings in Beaumont-Street, near the New Road. In the year 1786, Mr Holcroft first became acquainted with Mr Godwin. This friendship lasted for near twenty years. It was broken off by an unhappy misunderstanding, some time after Mr Holcroft’s return from the continent; and they did not see each other, in consequence of the coolness that took place, till they met for the last time a little before Mr Holcroft’s death.