[68] Dr. Doran evidently considers that Kemble became manager about 10th October 1788--the date of his address to the public on the subject of his new position. On the 30th September he had acted Hamlet; on 16th October he played Macbeth; on 20th October Lord Townly. [69] Kemble and Mrs. Siddons retired from Drury Lane in 1802. [70] I can find no record of his having played this part. [71] 7th October 1802. [72] Henry Kemble sank into abject distress; he and his wife were glad to be allowed to take care of unoccupied houses.--_Doran MS._ [73] Is Dr. Doran not thinking of John Kemble's public apology? [Illustration: INTERIOR OF DRURY LANE THEATRE.] CHAPTER IX. GEORGE FREDERICK COOKE. About the time when Garrick was reluctantly bidding farewell to his home on the stage, at Drury Lane, a hopeful youth, of twenty years of age, born no one can well tell where, but it is said, in a barrack, of an English sergeant and a Scottish mother, was making his first grasp at the dramatic laurel, in the little town of Brentford. With the exception of a passing appearance at the Haymarket, for a benefit, in 1778, as Castalio,--when London was recognising in Henderson the true successor of Garrick--the town knew nothing of this ambitious youth for more than twenty years; then he came to Covent Garden to dethrone John Kemble; and he disquieted that actor for awhile. In ten years more, his English race was done, and while Kemble was beginning the splendid evening of his career, Cooke passed over to America, prematurely ending his course, in disgrace and ruin, and occupying a grave which a civilised Yankee speedily dishonoured. If Cooke was an Irishman, it was by accident. He was certainly educated in England; and he early acquired, by reading Otway and seeing Vanbrugh, a taste for the drama. In school theatricals, he made his Horatio outshine the Hamlet of the night; and his Lucia,--though the boy cried at having to play a part in petticoats,[74]--win more applause than his schoolfellow's Cato. School-time over, the wayward boy went to sea, and came back with small liking for the vocation; turned to "business," only to turn from it in disgust; inherited some property, and swiftly spent it; and then we find him in that inn-yard at Brentford, enrolled among strollers, and playing Dumont in "Jane Shore," to the great delight of the upper servants from Kew, Gunnersbury, and parts adjacent, sent thither to represent their masters, who had not the "particular desire" to see the play, for which the bills gave them credit.