opportunities such as few women can now obtain. One is lost in
admiration at the solidity of one's grandparents' taste, when one
attempts to read the tragedies they delighted in, and yet 'Rienzi'
sold four thousand copies and was acted forty-five times; and at one
time Miss Mitford had two tragedies rehearsed upon the boards
together; one at Covent Garden and one at Drury Lane, with Charles
Kemble and Macready disputing for her work. Has not one also read
similar descriptions of the triumphs of Hannah More, or of Johanna
Baillie; cheered by enthusiastic audiences, while men shed tears.*

*Mem. Hannah More, v.i. p.124.

'Julian' was the first of Miss Mitford's acted plays. It was
brought out at Covent Garden in 1823, when she was thirty-six years
old; Macready played the principal part. 'If the play do reach the
ninth night,' Miss Mitford writes to Macready, 'it will be a very
complete refutation of Mr. Kemble's axiom that no single performer
can fill the theatre; for except our pretty Alfonso (Miss Foote)
there is only Julian, one and only one. Let him imagine how deeply
we feel his exertions and his kindness.*. . .'

*In Macready's diary we find an entry which is not over gracious.
'"Julian" acted March the 15th. Had but moderate success. The C.
G. company was no longer equal to the support of plays containing
moral characters. The authoress in her dedication to me was profuse
in her acknowledgments and compliments, but the performance made
little impression, and was soon forgotten.'

'Julian' was stopped on the eighth night, to her great
disappointment, but she is already engaged on another--on several