Frederick, Prince of Wales, was not half such a practically good patron to Thomson, as James Quin was. When the bard was in distress, Quin gave him a supper at a tavern, for half of which the poet expected he would have to pay; but the player designed otherwise. "Mr. Thomson," said he, "I estimate the pleasure I have had in perusing your works at £100 at least; and you must allow me to settle that account, by presenting you with the money." What are the small or the great faults of this actor of "all the Falstaffs," when we find his virtues so practical and lively? In return, the minstrel has repaid the good deed with a guerdon of song. In the _Castle of Indolence_, he says: "Here whilom ligg'd th' Aesopus of the age; But, call'd by Fame, in soul ypricked deep, A noble pride restored him to the stage, And roused him like a giant from his sleep. Even from his slumbers we advantage reap: With double force th' enlivened scene he wakes, Yet quits not Nature's bounds. He knows to keep Each due decorum: now the heart he shakes, And now with well-urged sense th' enlightened judgment takes." The actor had a great regard for the poet, and was not only active in bringing forward his posthumous tragedy, "Coriolanus," in which Quin played the principal character, in 1749, but spoke the Hon. George Lyttleton's celebrated prologue with such feeling, that he could not restrain his tears; and with such effect, that the audience were moved, it is said, in like manner:-- "He lov'd his friends;--forgave this gushing tear; Alas! I feel I am no actor here;" and Quin's eyes glistened, as he went through the noble eulogy of a poet, whose "Muse employ'd her heaven-taught lyre, None but the noblest passions to inspire; Not one immoral, one corrupted thought, One line, which, dying, he could wish to blot." The last night Quin played as an engaged actor, was at Covent Garden, on the 15th of May 1751; the play was the "Fair Penitent," in which he acted Horatio to the Lothario of Barry, and the Calista of Mrs. Cibber. After this he quietly withdrew, without leave-taking, returning only once or twice to play for the benefit of a friend. In his later years, his professional income is said to have reached £1000 a year. He was the first English actor who received £50 a night, during a part of his career. The characters he created were in pieces which have died off the stage, save Comus, which he acted with effective dignity in the season of 1737-8;--a part in which Mr. Macready distinguished himself, during his memorable management of Drury Lane.