Know, then, that he has found means to obtain
leave from Bonaparte, without making use of any _incredible romantic
pretences_, as some have done, who never meant to fulfil them, to come
home; and I have seen him here and at Holcroft's. An't you glad about
Tuthill? Now then be sorry for Holcroft, whose new play, called "The
Vindictive Man," was damned about a fortnight since. It died in part of
its own weakness, and in part for being choked up with bad actors. The
two principal parts were destined to Mrs. Jordan and Mr. Bannister; but
Mrs. J. has not come to terms with the managers,--they have had some
squabble,--and Bannister shot some of his fingers off by the going off
of a gun. So Miss Duncan had her part, and Mr. De Camp took his. His
part, the principal comic hope of the play, was most unluckily
Goldfinch, taken out of the "Road to Ruin,"--not only the same
character, but the identical Goldfinch; the same as Falstaff is in two
plays of Shakspeare. As the devil of ill-luck would have it, half the
audience did not know that H. had written it, but were displeased at his
stealing from the "Road to Ruin;" and those who might have home a
gentlemanly coxcomb with his "That's your sort," "Go it,"--such as Lewis
is,--did not relish the intolerable vulgarity and inanity of the idea
stripped of his manner. De Camp was hooted, more than hissed,--hooted
and bellowed off the stage before the second act was finished; so that
the remainder of his part was forced to be, with some violence to the
play, omitted.
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