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Miss Mellon witnessed Kean's first London appearance in "Richard the Third," in Company with Mr. Coutts, who was so much struck with the actor's genius, and delighted with his performance, that he hastened behind the scenes, and presented the tragedian with a gold watch and a hundred guineas.

Although Miss Mellon had been the benefactress of Mr. Kean, without his being aware of it, they were never intimately acquainted. She never performed in tragedy on the London stage, therefore their professional engagements were not cast together; and the unfortunate social tastes of Mr. Kean rendered him ineligible as a visitor. After her marriage, it has been stated, that he was frequently invited to dinner by Mr. Coutts; but this (although the old gentleman admired his professional talents excessively) is erroneous; the dissimilarity of their habits having been so forcibly contrasted that familiar intercourse could not have afforded pleasure to either party.

The kindness shown by the Duchess of St. Albans, since 1836, to Mr. Kean's son was, therefore, quite independent of any former in

timacy with his father, and arose solely from hearing that he was a young man of great talent, who felt the want of patronage to place him at once in a prominent position.

The duchess having suffered under a similar disadvantage in her own early career, her sympathy was awakened for any youthful aspirants thus situated, to save them from this disheartening drawback; and she exerted her interest and influence in Charles Kean's favour during his provincial engagements, procuring him introductions to the principal families of the different neighbourhoods, so as to place him everywhere in the best society

CHAPTER IV.

The private box-A misunderstanding-A new dressing-room
-Audrey, in “As you Like it”—Miss Mellon's last ap-
pearance Copy of the play-bill-Retrospect of Miss
Mellon's theatrical career-
-False estimates of her character.

TOWARDS the close of this year, Miss Mellon's intention of retiring was so well known that the actresses were day by day speculating on the event. In addition to Bannister, Wroughton was on the eve of leave-taking; the three performers were therefore of course common topics of conversation with those who, by obtaining the reversion of some capital parts, became interested in their adieux. Lovegrove, Russell, and De Camp, were almost sure to succeed to a vast portion of Bannister's characters; Raymond and Holland to those played by Wroughton; and Miss Kelly and Mrs. Orger of course anticipated sharing be

tween them the Nells and the Cowslips hitherto possessed by Miss Mellon.

Miss Mellon wished to make her last curtsey in Volante, which circumstances prevented her from doing. Miss Walstein had just appeared, and it was Lent. Kean acted three nights per week, Miss Walstein one, and the oratorios filled the other two. As Miss Walstein was to be played against Miss O'Neill she had the choice of her own parts. Juliana was not one in which she excelled; and as the management were making every endeavour to establish her in public favour, it would have been very injudicious to have enacted the Honeymoon" with Mrs. Davison (the original) as Juliana, as it would only have served to remind the public that there was a much better actress than Miss Walstein already in the theatre.

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On January the 14th, 1815, Miss Mellon played Mrs. Candour in the "School for Scandal. As this was her second-best part, it was thought she would retire in it; but she was not improbably deterred by an ill-natured newspaper paragraph that intimated" she

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would cease to play Mrs. Candour in public, and commence playing Lady Teazle in private, life." She repeated Mrs Candour on the 18th and 25th, played Audrey on the 1st of February, and having then hurriedly resolved to leave the stage, urged the performance of the Honeymoon." The management were anxious to oblige her; but unluckily, beside the injury to Miss Walstein, another difficulty arose. Elliston, who had been cast as Bolingbroke in Richard the Second," became partsick, would do nothing he was asked to do, and, in fact, made himself so intolerably disagreeable, that the managers had no wish to do anything that would bring them in collision with him. There was no other Duke Aranza in the house, and the idea of presenting the comedy was immediately abandoned. On the 7th of February, therefore, Miss Mellon took her leave of the stage she had adorned nearly twenty years, as Audrey, in " As You like It."

Before circumstantially recording the retirement of Miss Mellon, some unpleasant circumstances attending it deserve to be noticed.

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