466 CHERRY fretting profession was, however, too firmly seated in his mind and heart, to be so suddenly got rid of. He forgot entirely the misery he bad so lately suffered, quitted his home, and after making some excursions of little mo- ment, enlisted himself under the banners of a Mr. R. W. Knipe, a well-known dramatic veteran, "a scholar and a gentleman." In his company (we are told) Cherry enjoyed much com fort and satisfaction, and remained attached to it till Mr. Knipe's decease. He then joined the principal provincial company of Ireland under the management of Mr. Atkins, where he performed a most extensive round of characters, and was for many years the popular favo- rite of the north of Ireland, during which period he mar- ried the daughter of his old friend and manager, Mr. Knipe, by whom he had a large family. In 1787, Mr. Ryder having been engaged at Covent Garden theatre, Cherry whose provincial repute had reached the capital, quitted the audiences of Belfast, to supply his place at the theatre in Smock alley, Dublin, where, for six years, he stood at the top of his profession in the comic line. Having long entertained a desire of visiting the sister coustry, he engaged Mrs. Cherry and himself to the cele- brated Tate Wilkinson, at the period when Mr. Fawcett entered into articles with the managers of Covent Garden, whose situation he filled at the theatres of York, Hull, &c. for three years, when he again returned to his native country He continued two seasons in Ireland; after which the irregular payments of the manager, and other disgusting circumstances, induced him to return to England, and he accepted an engagement with Messrs. Ward and Banks, managers of the Manchester theatres where, with his wife, he suecessfully performed two years. From thenee he went to Bath, where for four seasons he enjoyed an ample share of public favour. On the abdication of the late Mr. King, Mr. Cherry was enguged at Drury Lane theatre, where he made bis
