after night at Covent Garden, and London was enraptured with her. Her 'Lothario' was not so successful as her 'Sir Harry'; but her high-born ladies, her women of dash, spirit, and elegance—her homely, humorous females—in all these she triumphed, and triumphed in spite of a voice that was almost unmanageable for its harshness." She is described in her prime as having dark eyes of the greatest brilliancy and lustre; her eyebrows were arched, and endowed with a flexibility which greatly increased the expression of her features: her nose was gently aquiline; and her dark tresses, free from powder, played in luxuriant gracefulness on her neck and shoulders. Her profession was with her a passion. She never sought to set off her great beauty at the expense of her part. She and Garrick were on the most intimate terms. In the summer of 1742 they visited Dublin, and on their return lived openly together. Johnson is said to have occasionally taken tea with them, and even to have cherished for her a Platonic affection. After a career of undiminished popularity in London, she acted from 1751 to 1754 in Dublin, where she became a popular idol, wrote verses to the Lord-Lieutenant, presided at the meetings of the Beefsteak Club, and is said to have ruled "the court, the camp, and the grove." With Sheridan she made an excursion to Quilca, in Cavan, where she formally abjured Catholicism, to preserve an estate of £200 a year, left her by one of her admirers. She returned to Covent Garden in the season of 1754-'5, and thenceforward she resided principally in London. On 3rd May 1757, while acting "Rosalind" in "As You Like It," she was seized with sudden spasms, and staggered off the stage, never to appear on it again. She died at Teddington, near London (where she had resided two years), 28th March 1760, aged 39, and was buried in the parish church there. This beautiful, gifted, yet unhappy woman exercised a remarkable fascination over all with whom she was brought in contact. She was unselfish and kind-hearted; she supported her mother, and educated her sister Mary, who married the second son of the Earl of Cholmondeley, and survived until about the year 1811. She devoted herself to the poor, and regularly visited and knitted stockings for a number of old retainers. She is said to have been much impressed by the preaching of Wesley. Percy FitzGerald says in his Life of Garrick: "From her portraits we can see that this notorious lady was not a bold, rosy-cheeked hoyden, as we might expect, but had an almost demure, placid, and pensive cast of face. She wore her hair without powder, and turned back behind her ears, nearly always with a cap carelessly thrown back, or a little flat garden hat, set negligently on. … Certainly, a deeply interesting face, but with a little hint of foolishness and air of lightness in all its calm, pale placidity. 3 116(64) 127 286
Wolfe, Arthur, Viscount Kilwarden, son of John Wolfe of Forenaghts, County of Kildare, was born in 1793. He was educated at Trinity College, and soon rose to eminence at the Bar. He was appointed Solicitor-General in 1787; Attorney-General in 1789; and became Chief- Justice of the King's Bench in 1798. For his support of the Union he was raised to the peerage in 1800. He was by no means a great lawyer, but was of a noble and humane disposition. He refused to strain the law against those tried before him for taking part in the Insurrection of 1798, and displayed great spirit on the occasion of Wolfe Tone's trial by court-martial. When Emmet's emeute took place, on the evening of the 23rd July 1803, he was at his country residence, four miles from Dublin, Hurrying to town with his daughter and nephew to attend a privy council at the Castle, his carriage was stopped in Thomas-street by a crowd of insurgents, who demanded his name. He said: "It is I, Kilwarden, Chief-Justice of the King's Bench," whereupon a wretch, whose brother he had sentenced to death some years previously, rushed forward, and plunged his pike into his body, crying, "You are the man I want." Lord Kilwarden's nephew was killed immediately, while his daughter found her way to the Castle and entered the Chief-Secretary's office in a state of distraction. The military at once cleared the street, and the Chief-Justice was found dying on the sidewalk. Wine was brought, but he could not drink it. He was carried to the watchhouse in Vicar-street, where he lingered about an hour. Major Swan and the other officers present swore they would erect a gallows whereon to hang all the prisoners next morning, when Lord Kilwarden feebly asked: "What are you going to do. Swan?"—"Hang these rebels, my Lord." Whereupon the Chief-Justice rejoined: "Murder must be punished; but let no man suffer for my death, but on a fair trial, and by the laws of his country." Barrington speaks of him as a "good-hearted man, and a sound lawyer. … In feeling he was quick, in apprehension slow, … He had not an error to counterbalance which some merit did not exhibit itself," 22 196 331
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