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CORRESPONDENCE.

We acknowledge the receipt of the following communications; most of which are intended for insertion.

Olla Podrida, No. 5, and continuation of the Tour into South Wales, by MORTIMER,

The Starling, a novel in miniature.

The Negro of Sensibility, by Mrs. HANWAY,

Thoughts on Good Nature, by UNA.

Elegy on the death of a favourite Dog; and Sonnet to Mr. HENRY KIRKE WHITE, on his poems lately published; by ARTHUR OWEN, Esq. whom we recommend to carry his intention into effect,

Two Poems by E -e, and three by JoHN ARMSTRONG,

Ode for the Birth-day of the author of the Seasons, by C.

The Traveller, written at Pembroke.

Portrait of Delphine, from the novel of that name.

Lines by J. A. S. written on the sea-shore in Wales.
Sonnet written on the sea-shore, by George Bonner.

The latter, transmitted by a Constant Reader at Liverpool, is not adapted to the plan of our work.

ERRATUM IN THE LAST NUMBER.

In Petrarch's sonnet, for "dolente" read " dolenti."

+++ Mr. Lofft has lately produced "EMMA," A DOMESTIC TRAGEDY, founded on Fact, in which the UNITIES of Time, Place, and Action, are strictly observed.

We should be obliged to any friend who could furnish us with a portrait and accurate memoir of the late ingenious Mr. JACKSON, of Exeter.

MONTHLY MIRROR,

FOR

AUGUST, 1803.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF

MR. SUETT

With a Portrait.

RICHARD SUETT was born in London; and his father, who was a butcher, for many years officiated in St. Paul's Cathedral, in pointing out the beauties and curiosities of that noble building. While yet a boy, he performed a little part at the Haymarket theatre, as his first essay, and sung at a place of public resort in the vicinity of the metropolis. His musical education he received, as we understand, in the choir of a cathedral.

Soon as he attained the appearance of manhood, he became a votary of the sock in the country, and in the York company hẹ acquired the reputation of being a pleasant low comedian, and an industrious respectable young man.

He was cotemporary with Mr. Kemble, and went to Edinburgh with that gentleman and the rest of the York company, where he gave equal satisfaction as in Yorkshire. From thence he was engaged at Liverpool, and soon afterwards he accepted an offer from the Drury-Lane managers. He made his appearance in Ralph, in the Maid of the Mill, and was well received. He gradually became a favourite in London, and on the death of Parsons succeeded to most of his characters. Mr. Suett is perfectly original in his style of acting; his humour, which is genuine and unforced, is greatly assisted by the comicality of his features, and the height and slenderness of his figure. He is besides an able musician, which has rendered his services almost indispensible in most of the operas which have been produced for a number of years past.

He married a Miss West, a dancer, before he appeared on the London boards, by whom he has a son, who possesses considera ble vocal merit, and who has performed occasionally, in the Iron Chest, and other musical dramas, with some degree of eclat,

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF

MR. BRAHAM.

[Continued from page 8.]

In the same year in which he appeared at Drury-Lane theatre, Mr. Braham likewise sung at Salomon's concert, Hanover-square, the oratorios, &c. every where crowned with the applauses of his enraptured audience. Yet, such is the humility of real genius, and, at the same time, so elevated are its conceptions and desires of excellence, that, although at once established as a public favourite, he thought his attainments and qualities unimportant, while there yet remained for him to seek in Italy the last and highest accomplishments of his talents. For this purpose, therefore, he set out for the continent, and Signora Storace, our first comic singer, leaving England at the same time, he travelled in company with her; and, united by congenial talents, they reached Paris on the day preceding the memorable 18th of Fructidor. At Paris he wished to have remained a few weeks only, but the unexpected, though not unpleasing attentions which he, as well as Signora Storace, experienced from the Parisian public, detained him there for eight months, during which time, the concerts which they gave together were crowded at the price of a Louis for a ticket, though admittance to concerts in general was not more than six francs; and ́an offer was made to them of 1400 Louis per annum, if they would remain in Paris and superintend the establishment of an opera. But gold was not the object of our traveller's ambition. In the ensuing May, he took leave of his French friends, and set forwards for Italy, loaded with letters of recommendation and protection from the Directory to the various ambassadors of France in the Italian States.

Mr. Braham's first engagement for the Italian stage was at Florence, where he received the highest complimentary eulogiums from persons of all ranks. From Florence he proceeded to Milan and Genoa, and accepted several successive engagements, particularly at the latter city, where he was the more willingly detained, as, from the anxiety to omit nothing that might perfect his musi'cal skill, he had devoted himself to the study of composition, under the able Maestro Isola, of whose school he has since exhibited such successful specimens.*

It was during the siege of Genoa that he was there employed, and it is for the honour of professional talents, that, amidst the horrors of war and national enmity, they were still able to command security and respect.

At this place he received offers also from the conductors of the theatre at Naples, but the troubled state of the country did not make it desirable to accept them, and he therefore directed his route to Leghorn, Venice, Trieste, and, finally, to Hamburgh, every where accompanied with the most gratifying applause and admiration.*

At length, satiated with foreign fame, he panted to revisit his native country, from whence he had, by this time, received various solicitations for his return. He therefore found means to wave some pending engagements with the theatres of Milan and Vienna, and accepted one from Mr. Harris, at Covent-Garden, where he appeared in the winter of 1801, in the opera of CHAINS OF THE HEART.

His attraction and success from this moment are too well known to render any farther history requisite of him as a singer; but we have still to mention him as a composer. In the opera of the CABINET, afterwards produced at the same theatre, Mr. Braham composed his own songs, as well as some of those sung by Signora Storace, and several other pieces of music. The success of these was equal to his reputation. The same taste, the same natural force and pathos, appeared to pervade the style of his writing as of his singing. He has since shewn a similar specimen of his abilities in the opera of FAMILY QUARRELS.

Offers were now again made to him from Germany and Italy, but Mr. Harris was too conscious of the great advantages of his talents to let him be drawn away from his theatre. He was re-engaged to perform there for the last season, and is likewise for the ensuing one.

MR. LEE LEWES.

Of this comedian, though of considerable celebrity in the profession, we have not been able to trace any biographical notice in the numerous publications whose professed object it has been to record the history of our theatrical favourites. The following particulars,

* Marchesi, the singer, whom he met in the opera at Milan, regretted that his time of life would not allow of his attending him through the various theatres of Italy; and the Florentines addressed an elegant compliment to him, in which they professed to admire, in the instances of Mrs. Billington, Signora Storace, and himself, the singular change which had taken place in the relative pretensions to excellence, in vocal music, between their own country and England, to which latter they now ●wed the most distinguished singers at their opera.

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therefore, which we promised to furnish in our last number, and which we have obtained through the medium of a literary friend, are to be considered as perfectly original, and of their authenticity we believe there can be no doubt.

Charles Lee Lewes was the son of a hosier, who lived in Bond Street many years, and was employed as a letter-carrier in the postoffice. Young Lewes frequently acted as his father's deputy, and his liveliness and activity occasioned him to be noticed by several persons of distinction in the neighbourhood, by some of whom he was patronised after he was upon the stage. He was never initiated in any trade, and becoming fond of theatrical amusements, his inclination towards which was much strengthened by the encouragement he met with at some spouting societies, with which the town at that time abounded, and which Murphy has so well described and satirized in his excellent farce of the Apprentice, he entered into a strolling company. After experiencing, for a few years, the vicissitudes of an itinerant life, he was offered a situation at Covent Garden theatre. Though engaged chiefly to do the duty of a Har lequin, he performed several trifling parts in plays, which required a good figure, such as "the Princely Burgundy," in King Lear, &c. Upon the death of Mr. Dyer, he succeeded to most of the characters performed by that respectable actor, and was rising gradually into notice, when a circumstance occurred which rendered him an object of considerable importance to the manager, and firmly established him in the opinion of the public.

When Dr. Goldsmith's comedy of She stoops to conquer was put into rehearsal, there was a difficulty in casting the characters. Mr. Colman and several other judges predicted its failure. Under a supposition, therefore, that the comedy would be unsuccessful, some of the popular actors were unwilling to appear in it. It has been said that the part of Young Marlow was intended for Mr. Smith, who declined it. Be this as it may, the author in his dilemma entrusted it to Mr. Lee Lewes, and to his success in this character he owed his subsequent reputation. Goldsmith was so well satisfied with him that he wrote him an epilogue, at his benefit, to be spoken in the character of Harlequin, and concluding with a jump through the stage door. Mr. Quick established himself in the same play by his performance of Tony Lumpkin.

The death of Woodward soon after, viz. in April 1776, was another means of our hero's advancement. Dashwou'd, in Know your own Mind, which was to have been acted by Woodward, was as

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