Emmet, who acted Flora, in Hob in the
Well.' What merit this lady had as an actress, or what was her figure,
or her manner, I have not been informed: but, if we may believe Mr.
Garrick, his old master's taste in theatrical merit was by no means
refined; he was not an elegans formarum spectator. Garrick used to
tell, that Johnson said of an actor, who played Sir Harry Wildair at
Lichfield, 'There is a courtly vivacity about the fellow;' when in fact,
according to Garrick's account, 'he was the most vulgar ruffian that
ever went upon boards.'
We had promised Mr. Stanton to be at his theatre on Monday. Dr. Johnson
jocularly proposed me to write a Prologue for the occasion: 'A Prologue,
by James Boswell, Esq. from the Hebrides.' I was really inclined to take
the hint. Methought, 'Prologue, spoken before Dr. Samuel Johnson, at
Lichfield, 1776;' would have sounded as well as, 'Prologue, spoken
before the Duke of York, at Oxford,' in Charles the Second's time.
Much might have been said of what Lichfield had done for Shakspeare, by
producing Johnson and Garrick.
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