asperity. Fruit was offered to him, and he told the girl he was "sick of seeing her face." Soon after, she brought him wine." Why, you "little black angel!" says Cooke, taking the wine, "you look like the devil, but you bear a passport that would carry you unquestioned "into Paradise!" The company separated early, and Mr. Payne happily resigned his visitor to the safe keeping of the waiters of the Tontine coffee-house.' We shall conclude this sketch with an anecdote, which equally shews the estimation in which Mr. Payne was held by his countrymen, and that peculiar character of precocity by which we have always considered the minds, as well as the persons, of the North Americans to be distinguished, Mr. Payne was present at a public school examination of the female pupils of the Rev. Mr. Taylor, of Norfolk, Virginia, where the fair students were required to write something unpremeditated either in prose of poetry upon a slate, and then to parse it. One of the ladies, a young girl of about thirteen, with much blushing and hesitation, read the following, when called upon to produce her exercise; "That pain can give pleasure, we boldly maintain, "And yet there's one merit to which we lay claim; "We admire real genius, and give it its fame. And hence, tow'ring youth! with true pleasure we view, "An abstract of all that's enchanting in YOU!" 25 THE accident which has thrown into our possession the American Publications from which this Biography is compiled, and the first portion of the following Criticisms selected, could not, of course, be expected to afford more than a mere gleaning from the various productions upon the same subject. We do not, by any means, pretend to the offer of a complete collection. There are enough, however, to exhibit the general style of American criticism, and they display an intimate knowledge and love of the Drama, which could scarcely have been expected from so new a country. In this particular they are curious, as shedding some light on the history of the American Stage. The criticisms of Charleston, and some other portions of the United States, have been rejected, as being mere repetitions of those which are retained. We sincerely lament, however, that it has not been in our power to procure any one of the criticisms on Mr. Payne's first appearance on any stage, the first in this work having been written after he had acted four or five nights. E 26 MR. PAYNE's PERFORMANCES IN NEW-YORK. FROM THE LITERARY MISCELLANY. AMERICAN ROSCIUS. MASTER PAYNE continues to merit the encomiums, which on his first appearance were lavished upon him. His Zaphna, in Mahomet, deservedly fincreased his reputation. Perhaps it is his master-piece. When Octavian, in the Mountaineers, was an nounced, expectation was on tip-toe, and anxiety was felt, lest our young hero should sink under the weight of this very arduous character; but his conception of it was clear, and his execution in many instances so fine, that he drew from the audience loud and repeated bursts of applause. His Achmet, in Barbarossa, was exquisite, his deportment manly, and his utterance free and deliberate. In Tancred, on Wednesday evening, he was not, throughout, equally successful. He is a gentle little lover, but in the violence of passion, nature, which lie must correct by art, burries him into such a quickness of utterance as to impair the effect which he intends, and which a regulated effort would undoubtedly occasion. In his interview with Osmond, after the fatal marriage, where he at once appeared as the hero and the tyrant, he had great merit, and his merit was rewarded by the reiterated plaudits of the house. Master Payne's engagement, we understand, expires on Monday evening next. He plays Romeo for his benefit on Wednesday, on which occasion we hope and trust the taste and genial spirit of our citizens' will shine conspicuous, in fostering the dawnings of genius;: by a general attendance of the Theatre. New-York, March 11, 1809. FROM THE NEW-YORK CITIZEN. MASTER PAYNE's engagement here terminated on Monday evening last, when he performed for his own benefit, the part of Zaphna, in Voltaire's tragedy of Mahomet. Many persons have thought Payne chargeable with indiscretion, for attempting characters whose marks of age he could not possibly assume. Happily, in the present instance, he did not subject himself to the embarrassment attending such a choice, but in personating Zaphna, found that in figure and voice' he was sufficiently at home. The writer of this ar ticle had seen in Master Payne's effusions, proofs of no common genius, and was therefore more delighted than surprised at the irresistible claims on applause urged by his Zaphna. Did I consider clapping of bands, and stamping of feet, as the only or principal evidences of judicious approbation, the guilt of palpable solecism would here press heavily upon me; for of this noisy praise there was little but when I reflect that "expressive silence" may indicate the strongest admiration and the deepest interest, and when I assert that this silence was Zaphna's boon, candour must forbid the blush which captious ridicule might wish to excite. Possessing as I do but a slight knowledge of this tragedy, it is not my intention to attempt a minute criticism on the various parts of Payne's performance; I shall only mention a few instances in |