for Plutarch, had led him to commence a tragedy upon one of his heroes Agis
which he finished soon after he was settled in Athelstaneford. In 1749, he
went to London, and offered his work to Garrick, for representation at Drury
Lane, of which that great actor had recently become manager. But the English
Roscius did not think it well adapted to the stage, and declined bringing it on,
much to the mortification of the author, who, with the feeling natural to such a
situation, wrote the following verses on the tomb of Shakspeare, in Westminster
Abbey :
I mage of Shakspeare! to this place I come,
To ease my bursting bosom at thy tomb;
For neither Greek nor Roman poet fired
My fancy first thee chiefly I admired ,
And, day and night revolving still thy page,
I hoped, like thee, to shake the British stage;
But cold neglect is now my only meed,
And heavy falls it on so proud a head.
If powers above now listen to my lyre,
Charm them to grant, indulgent, my desire ;
Let petrifaction stop this falling tear,
And fix my form for ever marble here.
After this unsuccessful journey to London, he turned his mind to the composition of the tragedy of Douglas, which was founded upon the beautiful old ballad of Gil Morris. Having finished this in the intervals of his professional labours, he set out upon another expedition to the metropolis, February, 1755, with the favourable hopes of a circle of most intelligent friends, to whom he had intrusted it for perusal. It was, however, as ill received as Agis: Mr Garrick returned it with the declaration that it was totally unfit for the stage. With this opinion, which many excellent English critics still maintain, neither the poet nor his friends were at all satisfied. Those friends, looking upon it with the eyes of Scotsmen, beheld in it something quite superior to the ordinary run of English tragedies ; and accordingly they recommended that it should be presented upon the Edinburgh stage, which was then conducted by a gentleman named Digges, whom Mr Mackenzie describes as possessed of great powers, (though with many defects,) and of great popularity in Scotland. The recommendation was carried into effect ; and all Edinburgh was presently in a state of wild excitement, from the circumstance of a play being in preparation by a minister of the established church.[1] The actors at the Edinburgh theatre hap-
- ↑ If we are to believe an authority good in theatrical matters the Edinburgh Weekly Chronicle newspaper, while under the management of Mr Edward Hislop, Dr Carl vie, and others of his brethren, not only attended the rehearsals of Douglas, but themselves performed in the first of them: "It may not be generally known," says the authority just referred to, "that the first rehearsal took place in the lodgings in the Canongate occupied by Mrs Sarah Warde, one of Digges's company; and that it was rehearsed by, and in presence of, the most distinguished literary characters Scotland ever could boast of. The following was the cast of the piece on the occasion:
Dramatis Personæ.
Lord Randolph Dr Robertson, principal, Edinburgh. Glenalvon, David Hume, historian. Old Norval, Dr Carlyle, minister of Musselburgh. Douglas, . John Home, the author. Lady Randolph Dr Ferguson, professor. Anna (the Maid) Dr Blair, minister, High Church. The audience that day, besides Mr Digges and Mrs Warde, were the right honourable Patrick lord Elibank, lord Milton, lord Kames, lord Monboddo, (the two last were then only lawyers,) the Rev. John Steele and William Home, ministers. The company, all but Mrs Warde, dined afterwards at the Griskin Club, in the Abbey. The above is a signal proof of the strong passion for the drama which then obtained among the literati of this capital, since
