signed to Lee Lewes, and the play had a considerable run. Unhap pily Mr. Lewes was carried away by this strong tide of success. He indulged ideas of his own importance, which neither prudence nor propriety could justify, A difference hereupon arising between him and the manager, he withdrew from the theatre. He after, wards (in 1783) obtained a situation at Drury Lane, but his popularity being on the decline, his stay there was but of short duration.

When John Palmer opened the Royalty theatre, Lee Lewes assisted him with Steeven's Lecture on Heads, altered by his friend Pilon, several of whose dramatic productions found their way to the stage, in a great measure, through the interest and exertion of Mr, Lewes. When the scheme in Goodman's Fields was abandoned, he went with his family to the East Indies, but the pecuniary advantage he hoped to derive from this voyage, fell far short of his expectations. On his return he joined Messrs. John and Robert Palmer, and the late Mr. Wilson, in a theatrical tour through Scotland. He performed also in Dublin, and occasionally in most of the principal theatres in England. On the death of his friend Palmer, he again endeavoured to obtain an engagement in London, bạt without effect, the decay of his powers being too strikingly obvious to all except himself. It was the constant error of this performer to estimate his merits above their real value. At one time, when his embarrassments, from which it was not in his nature to keep himself free, though often in his power, he rejected as we have been informed, a very handsome offer from Mr. Harris, on the ground that nothing less than the highest salary in the theatre was worthy of his acceptance.

His last appearance on a public stage was at Covent Garden, on the 24th of June, 1803, for his own benefit, having obtained the use of the house from Mr. Harris, and the gratuitous services of several distinguished performers.* He lived only a few weeks to enjoy the profits arising from this liberal assistance. He supped with some friends on the 22nd of July, apparently in his usual state of health, and on the following morning was found dead in his bed.

It was not till Mr. Lewis, the present eminent comedian of Covent Garden theatre, was engaged at that house, that our hero made that addition to his sirname which distinguished the two performers. He was christened Charles Lee Lewes; the name of Lee

See the M. M. Vol. XV. p. 418.

was given to him at the request of one of his godfathers, Mr. Lee, a relation of the earl of Litchfield. He was married three times. By his first wife, whose name was Hussey, he had several children, of whom two daughters are living. The eldest was married to Wilson the actor; the youngest continued with her father. The mother, who had a little patrimony of her own, left it to her children in such a manner that Lee Lewes could not acquire any control over it. His second wife was the daughter of a respectable innkeeper at Liverpool, named Rigley. By this lady also he had several children. There are two sons alive who inherit from their mother a very considerable property. The name of the third wife we do not know. He was buried at Pentonville, his funeral being attended by a few of his relatives. He was in the sixty-third year of his age.

CHURCH YARDS.

FORMERLY few persons chose to be buried on the north side of a church. The original reason was this:-In the times when the Roman Catholic religion prevailed, it was customary, on seeing the tomb-stone or grave of a friend or acquaintance, to put up a prayer for their soul, which was held to be very efficacious. As the common entrance into most churches was either at the west end, or on the south side of the church, persons buried on the north side escaped the notice of their friends, and thereby lost the benefit of their prayers. This becoming a kind of refuse spot, only very poor, or persons guilty of some offence, were buried there. Persons who, actuated by lunacy, had destroyed themselves, were buried on this side, and sometimes out of the east and west directions of the other graves. This is said to be alluded to in Hamlet, where the second clown bids the grave-digger make Ophelia's grave straight. The same was observed with respect to persons who were executed,

HAMLET.-ACT V. SCENE 1.
Enter two Grave-diggers.

1st Grave-digger.-Is she to be buried in christian burial, when she wilfully seeks her own salvation?

2nd Grave-digger.-I tell thee she is; therefore make her gravę straight the crowner hath sat on her, and finds it christian bu rial,

:

1

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF

MR. PRATT.

[Continued from page 12.]

FROM the various commendatory verses prefixed to the sixth edition of this very popular work, we borrow the following, by the venerable Mr. Graves, the friend of Shenstone, and the patriarch of his school. They are truly descriptive both of the author whose fame they celebrate, and of his appropriate merits as a writer, and composed, as he tells us, in the eighty-eighth year of the age of the latter,

"Though various tours of travellers abound,
In which descriptive narratives are found,
Of buildings, statues, and each work of art,
Which, in due form, they pompously impart :
The power, the wealth, the commerce of each state,
With care they search, and faithfully relate.
This is their praise-but they convey no truth
To interest the heart of age and youth.

What they, for want of taste, neglect, you glean,
And often charm us with some cottage scene;

With hum'rous or pathetic tales amuse,

And to our minds present instructive views.

Thus, 'midst the various scenes through which you rove,
Even whilst we laugh, our morals we improve.

The politician, connoisseur, and sage,

With straw and stubble seem to load their page,

(Their stages regular, th' adventures few)
And leave full sheaves of golden grain to you.”

RICH. GRAVES, now 88 years old.

On the whole, we have no hesitation in declaring, with the editor of some partial selections from the works of our author, which have been given to the world under the titles of "Pity's Gift," and the "Parental Present," that whether the heart is to be melted, or the understanding to be enlightened, there are few authors of the present day who have furnished better or more ample materials than Mr. Pratt.

To conclude our remarks on his literary character, we must observe, that some have declared him, as a poet, an imitator of GOLDSMITH, and, as a prose writer, of STERNE. That he is of the school of Goldsmith we will not pretend to deny, for a sweeter

L-VOL. XVI.

poet than Goldsmith never wrote, and it shews good taste to catch his manner; but we will boldly assert that, instead of being an imitator of Yorick, he is not even a member of his school. Both were original writers, and a judicious critic has thus contrasted them.

66 Sterne gave up the reigns to his imagination, and transported us through ideal scenes, frequently delightful, indeed, but often deformed by grossness and buffoonery. His beauties are the offspring of genius, but they are not a little heightened by juxta-position and contrast with faults. Mr. Pratt, on the other hand, with an eye to penetrate into nature, a heart to feel, and a pen to describe, seizes on real circumstances in life and manners, and works them up into the most commanding attitudes and bewitching forms. We see we hear-we feel the force of his descriptions, and wonder why we should hitherto have overlooked what carries an appeal for its truth to every heart of sensibility. Always writing from the heart, and presenting objects to our contemplation, which are familiar to every discerning eye, his compositions derive a charm from his manner of selecting and grouping, which irresistibly wins the affections. In short, Mr. Pratt is as much an original writer as the delightful author of Shandy.”

But permanent as will be the fame of the subject of this memoir, because it has been well earned, it is with sincere pleasure we have to bestow, from the concurrent testimony of those who know him best, a still higher degree of praise as a man than as an author. We are not unacquainted with passages in the history of Mr. P.'s early life, replete with misfortune, and almost every severity of trial, the details of which could not fail to wring every heart; but we shall spare ourselves and our readers the pain of recital.

Mr. P. passed the season of his life which is usually most free from care-that season when "the tear is forgot as soon as shed;" in a house unhappily not the scene of domestic enjoyment: and it is no wonder if, when wandering from the parental roof, he encountered the storms without that bore heavily on his youth, and more or less tinged with darkness his future destiny; as well as, in some measure, involved others in the gloom. The lady whom Mr. P. married is still living; her name is Larry; of a very respectable family, and of many worthy qualities in herself; and though for a number of years separated, for private reasons, no blame of any kind attaches to her character or conduct. In proof of which, the writer of this article has frequently heard her mentioned with high

regard by Mr. Pratt himself, who has invariably preserved an unbroken intimacy and confidence proportionate to that sentiment.

Of the fruit of this union, which took place in the extreme youth of Mr. P. out of three children there is but one who survives, who is spoken of as a very accomplished and amiable woman. She is now married to a gentleman of great wealth and fortune, of the kingdom of Ireland.

To have surmounted the difficulties which early gloomed his prospects, and to have resisted the pressure of ills, which would have overwhelmed minds of less vigour and elasticity; to have possessed sufficient philosophy to bear the descent from affluence and independence to slender means, which charity and benevolence to others have frequently rendered less, and to have established, on the ruins of health, of fortune, and of happiness, a reputation which has been gradually increasing, is an irrefragable testimony of private worth, combined with public talents. The writings of Mr. Pratt, indeed, are only the mirror of his life: the same playful fancy, the same tenderness of nature, the same sensibility, the same easy flow of language, adorn both his page and his conversation. Endeared to his friends, among whom are many estimable for talents or distinguished for rank, by a zeal for their welfare, and an assiduity to oblige, in which all personal sacrifices are overlooked, he justly enjoys their unbounded confidence; and this confidence he invariably applies to forward their interests, and direct them to happiness. Feeling for all mankind, and regarding angry and discordant passions as the principal sources of their misery, he is always ready, by advice and example, to reconcile differences, and to do away unfavourable impressions. In fact, wherever variance has arisen, and Mr. Pratt's influence has had fair opportunity of being exerted, it may be said of him, as of the Man of Ross, that

any

"Baulk'd are the courts, and contest is no more."

If his generous exertions have not always been sufficiently ap-preciated; if, in some instances, obligations which could not be repaid have been basely cancelled by ingratitude; if his best and kindest actions have been distorted by misrepresentation, circumvented by malevolence, or discoloured by prejudice, it has never taught him timid caution, nor abated the ardour of his philanthropy. There is an enthusiasm in his character, as in his writings, which conceals the dark side of objects, and makes him view them in their fairest aspects. Though his whole life, except at its dawn,