the theatrical excellences of Kynaston, Sandford, &c. he thus speaks of
Mountford. 'Of person he was tall, well made, fair, and of an agreeable
aspect, his voice clear, full, and melodious; in tragedy he was the
most affecting lover within my memory; his addresses had a resistless
recommendation from the very tone of his voice, which gave his words
such softness, that as Dryden says,

--'Like flakes of feather'd snow,
'They melted as they fell.

All this he particularly verified in that scene of Alexander, where
the hero throws himself at the feet of Statira for pardon of his past
infidelities. There we saw the great, the tender, the penitent, the
despairing, the transported, and the amiable, in the highest perfection.
In comedy he gave the truest life to what we call the fine gentleman;
his spirit shone the brighter for being polished by decency. In scenes
of gaiety he never broke into the regard that was due to the presence
of equal, or superior characters, tho' inferior actors played them; he
filled the stage, not by elbowing and crossing it before others, or
disconcerting their action, but by surpassing them in true and masterly
touches of nature; he never laughed at his own jest, unless the point
of his raillery upon another required it; he had a particular talent
in giving life to bons mots and repartees; the wit of the poet seemed
always to come from him extempore, and sharpened into more wit from his
brilliant manner of delivering it; he had himself a good share of it,
or what is equal to it, so lively a pleasantness of humour, that when
either of these fell into his hands upon the stage, he wantoned with
them to the highest delight of his auditors. The agreeable was so
natural to him, that even in that dissolute character of the Rover, he
seemed to wash off the guilt from vice, and gave it charms and merit;