MACKLIN. I RECOLLECT going to Covent-garden Theatre to see Macklin take leave of the public. Shylock was the character he appeared in; he spoke very low, and was deficient several times; and at last, on his coming forward with a wish to address the house, he could only utter, in a tremulous voice, "My age, my age!" Upon which simple and feeling appeal, the audience encouraged him with reiterated plaudits. I have seen in the possession of a theatrical friend, a whole-length portrait of Macklin, in a Highland dress, holding a dagger in his left hand, entitled " Shylock turned Macbeth. Young Vanity, inv. Old Envy, sculp." At the back of this print, which is of a quarto size, a remarkably good likeness of that celebrated actor,* and * Nollekens, by refusing to model a bust of Macklin, incurred his bitterest displeasure. "Do I not see," demanded the Actor, "your bust of Garrick in every barber's shopwindow, as a block for wigs?""No," answered Nollekens, "it is not my bust; it's Van Nost's. Mr. Garrick was always fond of patronising foreign artists: he employed Roubiliac to carve the figure of Shakspeare; and he was frequently sitting to Demar, the wax-modeller, who did hundreds of profiles of him. Zoffany and Loutherbourg he always recommended, and he used to have them at his country-house." extremely rare, for I know of no other impression,—some former possessor has made the following observations: "Mr. Macklin, some short time before he left the stage, thought himself capable of performing Richard, Macbeth, and other of Shakspeare's principal characters. He had been superior in Shylock to almost any person who had ever attempted it; but it certainly was too late for him to attempt Macbeth, &c. Had he been permitted to have proceeded without opposition, the attempt would have died away of itself; but opposition made him persist, though he was at last obliged to give it up. No man conceived the part better than Macklin; but he was too old to carry his own ideas into execution. To commemorate this attempt of Mr. Macklin's, many caricatures appeared, and this among the number.” Within the last year of Macklin's life, I saw him stand in Covent-garden, watching the weight of some cherries, and heard him say, "I will have my weight; give me my weight." It is a very remarkable fact, that when he died, the persons who conducted his funeral differed widely as to his age; and the coffinplate was, on that account, left blank, though many persons had been applied to in order to ascertain the period of his birth. My amiable friend, the late Thomas Grignon, attended the funeral, and just as the men were lowering the coffin into the vault, a letter, containing a copy of the register of his birth, was put into the hand of the chief-mourner, who immediately took out his pen-knife, and scratched upon the blank space 107. The following is a copy of the inscription upon the monument erected to his memory on the south wall, within the church of St. Paul, Covent-garden, where he was buried. "Sacred to the Memory Of CHARLES MACKLIN, Comedian. (With the aid of Public Patronage) Macklin! the Father of the modern Stage, Whose Years a Century and longer ran, "Tis all a grateful public now can give : Their loudest plaudits now no more can move; Yet hear thy Widow's still small voice' of Love." PATTERSON, THE AUCTIONEER. In my boyish days, I was much noticed by that walking-library, Samuel Patterson, when he was an Auctioneer, and residing in Kingstreet, Covent-garden, after he had left his rooms in Essex-street, in the Strand, formerly the residence of Sir Orlando Bridgeman.* Patterson was originally a Stay-maker; he was a most amiable man, and the best book-cataloguemaker of his time. He was the earliest auctioneer who sold books singly in lots; the first bidding for which was six-pence, the advance three * The late Mr. John Nichols favoured me with the following card, which may now be considered as a great rarity. "MR. PATTERSON, at Essex-House, in Essex-street, in the Strand, purposes to set out for the Netherlands, about the middle of the month of May, and will undertake to execute commissions of all sorts, literary or commercial, in any part of Flanders, Brabant, or the United Provinces, with the utmost attention and integrity, upon reasonable terms. "Neither is it incompatible with his plan, to take charge of a young gentleman, who is desirous of improving by travel; or to be the conductor and interpreter of any nobleman or man of fortune, in that, or a longer tour, during the summer and autumn vacation from his usual business. "To be spoke with every day, at Essex-House aforesaid. "27th March, 1775." pence each bidding, until five shillings were offered, when it rose to sixpence; and by this manner of disposing of property, no book was overlooked. Mr. Patterson's reading was so extensive, that I firmly believe he had read most of the works he offered for sale in the English language; and I was induced to believe so from the following circumstance. I happened to be with him one evening, after three cart-loads of books had been brought into the auction-room, to be catalogued for sale; when, upon his taking up one, which he declared to me he had never seen, he called to the boy who attended him to bring another candle and throw some coals upon the fire, observing, that he meant to sit up to read it. I have also frequently known him, on the days of sale, call the attention of the bidders to some book with which he considered that collectors were but little acquainted. In one instance, he addressed himself to Dr. Lort nearly in the following words. "Dr. Lort, permit me to draw your attention to this little book. It contains, at page 47, a very curious anecdote respecting Sir Edmondbury Godfrey, of which I was not aware until I read it during the time I was making my catalogue." I recollect two shillings had been of |