Marshal regarded the productions of which he had witnessed. the begetting and watched the gestation with a feeling amounting to veneration. Godwin had, moreover, made up his mind that the play, if damned at all-a possibility he could hardly contemplate-would be so only because the public knew that he was the author, and would be venting their scorn on him through his play. Hence the authorship was to be kept profoundly secret, and in all those who were in the secret, there grew up a certain feeling as of conspirators bound to carry through their undertaking, which by that very fact appeared nobler in their esteem.

Though constantly afterwards retouched, the play was yet sufficiently finished in June to be submitted to Colman, then Manager of the Haymarket, not as Godwin's own, but as a composition of which he approved, and which he highly recommended. Colman replied that

"On perusal of the MS. which you have done me the favour to send for my inspection, I do not think its representation would serve the interests of my Theatre. I return it, therefore, with this letter, and with many thanks for the offer.-I am, Sir, your obedient very humble servant, G. COLMAN."

It is not unlikely that the refusal was peculiarly mortifying from Colman, who had given evidence already that he recognized a certain dramatic, if not poetical, power in his correspondent; Colman's play of "The Iron Chest" being adapted from the novel of " Caleb Williams."

The play was again carefully revised, and was submitted to Curran and Sheridan, the latter of whom-whose taste may well be thought less unquestionable in tragedy than in comedy-mentioned it to Kemble, on whom, at his request, Godwin called with a portion of the MS, urging that the earlier acts should at once be put in rehearsal, and pro

CORRESPONDENCE WITH KEMBLE.

41

mising to send the rest-still in want of revision-within a month. To this somewhat strange demand Kemble at first consented, and promised suggestions, but soon after wrote as follows:—

7. P. Kemble to William Godwin.

"T[HEATRE] R[OYAL], D[RURY] L[ANE], Sept. 24, 1800. "MY DEAR SIR,-Any hints that my professional experience enables me to offer, you shall command. I find, however, that, till I see the Catastrophe, I can be of no service. I overrated my sagacity.-Yours, J. P. KEMBLE.”

When the play was completed and in Kemble's hands, he did not think it would succeed, but Godwin claimed a promise made to him by Sheridan that it should be represented, and that he was himself "prepared cheerfully to encounter any theatrical gauntlet which the rules of your play-house may be thought to prescribe."

The Same to the Same.

[DRURY LANE, Oct. 30, 1800.]

'MY DEAR SIR,-I shall give your Play to the Copyist this very day; and I believe that is the only answer that can be made to so plain a statement as you have just sent me.—Yours truely,

"J. P. KEMBLE.”

Godwin, however, again reclaimed the MS. for further revision.

The Same to the Same.

"No. 89 GREAT Russel Street, Bloomsbury Square,

Νου. 3, 1800.

"MY DEAR SIR,-All I can say in answer to your letter of yesterday is, that you asked me my sincere opinion of your Tragedy,

and I sincerely told you that I thought it would not succeed. I am of that opinion still. I wish I had known that you were from the Beginning decided to have it acted, because I would have spared myself the ungracious task of giving any Opinion at all. As Matters stand, I have only to beg that you will let me have the Manuscript, at least two or three acts of it, by the end of this week, otherwise I will not answer that the engagements the theatre is under may not oblige me to defer your Play till next year, which I should be very sorry for, believe me.

"I mention this circumstance of Despatch again and again to you, because you seem to think that your Piece cannot be acted as long as any other new Play is in preparation. This is a Mistake. Your Tragedy will be the next novelty in representation, as it is the next in Promise. There is another Mistake of no great moment, indeed, yet it is one. I never ventured to say that Antonio would be acted only one Night-very possibly it may be acted five or six or seven nights, but that kind of success would at once be a great loss to the theatre, and I daresay a great disappointment to your expectations. In all events, you may rely on my doing everything a Manager can do towards the Furthering of your Success.—I am, my dear Sir, truely yours, J. P. KEMBLE."

The Same to the Same.

"T. R., D. L., Nov. 11, 1800. “MY DEAR SIR,-Depend on my observing all your Instructions. I don't know how to advise you respecting the Papers. I have no confidential Intercourse there. Perhaps the best way will be to trust entirely to another Person's being ostensibly the Authour. Nobody will suspect otherwise unless Doubts are excited by over caution.—Yours truely, J. P. KEMBLE.”

The Same to the Same.

"No. 89 GREAT Russel STREET, BLOOMSBURY SQUARE,

Νου. 15, 1800.

"MY DEAR SIR,—I shall be glad to see you about four o'clock to-day, if not inconvenient to you, to settle all the Parts in Antonio

for the Reading on Monday. I wish you success with all my heart, and I will undertake Antonio. I fear the event, but you shall not want the Assistance you are so good as to say I might render you. -Yours truely, J. P. KEMELE

The Same to the Same

"No. 89 GREAT RUSSEL STREET, BLOOMSBURY SQUARE, Thursday, November 27th, 1800. "MY DEAR SIR,-An accident I met with on the stage on Monday evening, and which has confined me to my bed till this Morning, must be my Apology for not answering your note sooner. You may rely on my taking care that the Parts shall be faithful to your Copy; and the Copy shall be returned to you as soon as a Transcript can be made for the Prompter. I really don't know how to set about such an affair as sending word to any newspaper that Mr Tobin is the Authour of Antonio while I know the contrary, but it will glide into a Paragraph, of course, as other undesigned mistakes do, after he has been seen at a Rehearsal or two, that you may be sure of. I will only add, that if I don't answer every line you send me, it is because I think it unnecessary to assure you, over and over again, that I shall punctually observe all your wishes.—I am, my dear sir, yours,

“J. P. KEMBLE.”

Some unfinished drafts of letters from Godwin to Kemble remain, which it is not always easy to date, but it would seem that quite late in the correspondence, apparently towards the end of November, Kemble again expressed his dislike to undertake the character of Antonio, which had been from the first almost forced upon him by the author's importunity. He placed his objection on the somewhat strange ground of the villainy of the character he had to represent, as though he had played none but model heroes, but his object was no doubt to save the author and himself also the humiliation of failure, by inducing him to

withdraw the play. The following extracts from a draft of one of Godwin's voluminous letters, in so great contrast to Kemble's notes, are curious as showing Godwin's own estimate of his tragedy, of Kemble's acting, and of some favourite plays.

William Godwin to J. P. Kemble.

-And now, sir, for the essential point, the character of Antonio. Your objection turns upon this assertion that his conduct admits of no justification, and that the audience will not feel with him. Surely this objection requires to be reconsidered. Instantly on your mentioning it, it occurred to me that there was a host of the most popular tragedies to which that objection would completely lie. The one I immediately recollected was the Grecian Daughter, and you willingly admitted that the ferocious and inhuman character of the tyrant, who produces all the distress, did not prevent the piece from being on the whole a very interesting exhibition. But, who, I beseech you, sir, sympathises with Richard? Who feels for him when he is stabbing King Henry, murdering the young Princes, and poisoning his wife? Who sympathises with Macbeth? I hope no one when he assassinates his benefactor and his guest; I am sure no one, when he murders the infant family of Macduff,' all the pretty chickens and their dam, at one fell swoop.' Who feels with the delectable Iago? Who feels for the vile and slave-hearted hypocrisy of Zanga? Yet these are among the most inestimable treasures of the British Theatre.

"And now, sir, to conclude this appeal to your candour, and your justice. The decision you have to make in the present instance is not a decision of an every-day magnitude. Upon an occasion like this, to speak of myself ceases to be justly liable to the imputation of egotism. I am neither a young man nor a young author. I am now in the full maturity of my age, and vigour of my mind. Persons of various descriptions have repeatedly solicited me to turn my mind to dramatical composition. It was,