liked his brandy not wisely but too well, and who made such passionate
love on the stage that Sir John Vanbrugh used to wax nervous for the
fate of the actresses. One great artiste was missing, however. Mrs.
Verbruggen was ill in London, and that shining exponent of light
comedy, who Cibber said was mistress of more variety of humour than
he ever knew in any one actress, would never more tread those boards
which were dearer to her than life.[A] Before she disappears for ever
from these "Palmy Days" let us read a page or two about her from the
graphic pictures in that famous "Apology for the Life of Mr. Colley
Cibber":--

* * * * *

"As she was naturally a pleasant mimick, she had the skill to make
that talent useful on the stage, a talent which may be surprising in
a conversation, and yet be lost when brought to the theatre.... But
where the elocution is round, distinct, voluble, and various, as Mrs.
Montfort's was, the mimick there is a great assistant to the actor."

[Footnote A: A brief memoir of Mrs. Verbruggen and her first husband,
handsome Will Mountford, will be found in "Echoes of the Playhouse."]

* * * * *

Which reminds one that more than a baker's dozen of modern comedians,
so called, are nothing less than mimics. However, this is digressing,
and so we continue:

"Nothing, tho' ever so barren, if within the bounds of nature, could
be flat in her hands. She gave many heightening touches to characters