as a writer if he would have confined himself to some department
of literature in which nothing more than sense, taste, and
reading was required. Unhappily, he set his heart on being a
great poet, wrote a tragedy in five acts on the death of
Virginia, and offered it to Garrick, who was his personal friend.
Garrick read, shook his head, and expressed a doubt whether it
would be wise in Mr. Crisp to stake a reputation, which stood
high, on the success of such a piece. But the author, blinded by
self-love, set in motion a machinery such as none could long
resist. His intercessors were the most eloquent man and the most
lovely woman of that generation. Pitt was induced to read
"Virginia" and to pronounce it excellent. Lady Coventry, with
fingers which might have furnished a model to sculptors, forced
the manuscript into the reluctant hand of the manager; and, in
the year 1754, the play was brought forward.

Nothing that skill or friendship could do was omitted. Garrick
wrote both prologue and epilogue. The zealous friends of the
Page xxi

author filled every box ; and, by their strenuous exertions, the
life of the play was prolonged during ten nights. But though
there was no clamorous reprobation, it was universally felt that
the attempt had failed. When "Virginia" was printed, the pub lic
disappointment was even greater than at the representation. The
critics, the Monthly Reviewers in particular, fell on plot
,characters, and diction without mercy, but, we fear, not without
justice. We have never met with a copy of the play; but if we
mayjudge from the lines which are extracted in the "Gentleman's
Magazine," and which do not appear to have been malevolently