in conjunction with Woodward of Covent Garden, undertook a journey to the sister kingdom, where they built two elegant and commodious theatres, one in Crow street, Dublin, and the other in Cork; and, as joint managers, exerted their respective abilities, assisted by a very respectable company, part of which they brought with them from England. Unfortunately, however, after giving their scheme a fair trial for some years, on account of the expenses of the building, the great salaries, the increase of performers, and the uncertainty of their nightly receipts, they both found, that far from benefiting themselves by the exchange, they had altered their situations lamentably for the worse. Woodward was the first to discover the error into which they had fallen; and he immediately made the best bargain he could with Barry, to be paid his share in annuities, and, bidding adieu to Ireland, rejoined the corps from which he had deserted; and in a very laughable prologue (which is still well remembered, and is to be found in print,) restored himself once more to the favour of the public.
Barry staid but a few seasons behind him, for, in 1766, both he and Mrs. Barry played at the Opera House in the Haymarket, under Mr. Foot's management. Here it was Mrs. Barry[1] made her first appearance before a London
- ↑ This lady, whose maiden name was Street, was a native of Bath, and the daughter of an eminent apothecary in that city, who, unwisely preferring temporary gratification to the future prospects of his family, gave into all the extravagant expenses of that fashionable place; so that, although his practice was extensive, it was always balanced by his expenditure. Mrs. Barry, from her childhood, amidst several promising qualifications, expressed a warm and decided preference for theatrical amusements; which, joined to a figure pleasingly feminine, great sweetness of temper, and the fashionable station she filled, made her, as she grew up, an object of general attachment. When she was arrived at the age of seventeen, she was particularly noticed by a young gentleman of large fortune, and the brother of a noble lord, who was then resident at Bath. From seeing her casually in the Rooms, he was struck with her manners, &c. and he contrived to drink tea with her at a third person's house. Here her conversation established what her charms had begun; and, after a few visits to the house, he formally asked permission of the father to become
