It is also my will that all the above legacies be paid and discharged within three months after my decease.

It is also my will to be privately interred.

All the rest and residue of my Estate, both real and personal, of what nature or kind soever, I give unto the above said Mr. Thomas Nobbes, and Mr. Charles Lowth, to enjoy to their use and behoof, to share alike, half and half. And I do hereby constitute and appoint the abovesaid Thomas Nobbes, Charles Lowth, and Edward Parker, to be the executors of and to this my last Will and Testament, hereby revoking and declaring void all former Wills by me made.

In Witness whereof, I the said James Quin have to this my last Will and Testament, contained in one sheet of paper, and written with my own hand, set my hand and seal this tenth day of July, in the year of our Lord, one thousand seven hundred and sixty-five.

JAMES QUIN. (L.S.)

Signed, sealed, published and declared, as and for the last Will and Testament of James Quin, in the presence of us who have hereunto subscribed our names in presence of each other, and in the presence, and at the request of the said James Quin,

HANBURY PETTINGAL,

JOSEPH PHILLOTT.

SUPPLEMENT.

CONTAINING

ORIGINAL FACTS AND ANECDOTES

RELATING TO THE LIFE OF QUIN.

ALSO

THE REMARKABLE TRIAL FOR THE

MURDER OF MR. BOWEN.

COLLECTED AND ARRANGED FROM AUTHENTIC SOURCES.

We shall now give in the form of an Appendix, some interesting matter respecting this celebrated actor, not included in the preceding work. In certain particulars this will be found to differ somewhat from the foregoing, as for instance, with respect to the fatal duel which involved Quin in such unpleasant consequences, but in the main it may be relied upon as more authentic, the information being drawn from the most reliable authorities; the account of the duel, in fact is taken from an ancient report of the trial at the Old Bailey, now seldom met with.

With regard to Quin's birth and the circumstances of his early life, there is some difference between the statements made by the few writers who have expressed themselves thereupon. The following facts related by accredited writers of various times may be read side by side and compared with the narrative already given.

This celebrated actor was born in King Street, Covent Garden, 24th Feb. 1693. His ancestors were of an ancient family in the kingdom of Ireland. His father, James Quin, was bred at Trinity College, Dublin, from whence he came to England, entered himself of Lincoln's Inn, and was called to the bar; but his father, Mark Quin, who had been Lord Mayor of Dublin in 1676, dying about that period, leaving him a plentiful estate, he quitted England in 1700, for his native country; taking with him his son, the object of our present attention.

E

The marriage of Mr. Quin's father was attended with circumstances which affected the future interest of his son so materially, as probably to influence his future destination in life. His mother was a reputed widow, who had been married to a person in the mercantile way, and who left her, to pursue some traffic or particular business in the West Indies. He had been absent from her near seven years, without her having received any letter from, or the least information about him. He was even given out to be dead, which report was universally credited; she went into mourning for him; and some time after Mr. Quin's father, who is said to have then possessed an estate of £1000 a year, paid his addresses to her and married her. The consequence of this marriage was Mr. Quin. His parents continued for some time in an undisturbed state of happiness, when the first husband returned, claimed his wife, and had her. Mr. Quin the elder retired with his son, to whom he is said to have left his property. Another, and more probable account, is that the estate was suffered to descend to the heir-at-law, and the illegitimacy of Mr. Quin being proved, he was dispossessed of it, and left to shift for himself.

Mr. Quin received his education at Dublin, under the care of Dr. Jones, until the death of his father in 1710, when the progress of it was interrupted, we may presume, by the litigations which arose about his estate. It is generally admitted that he was deficient in literature; and it has been said, that he laughed at those who read books by way of enquiry after knowledge, saying he read men-that the world was the best book. This account is believed to be founded in truth, and will prove the great strength of his natural understanding which enabled him to establish so considerable a reputation as a man of sense and genius.

Deprived thus of the property he expected and with no profession to support him, though he is said to have been intended for the law, Mr. Quin appears to have arrived at the age of 21 years. He had therefore nothing to rely upon but the exercise of his talents, and with these he soon supplied the deficiencies of fortune. The theatre at Dublin was then struggling for an establishment, and there he made his first essay. The part he performed was Abel in The Committee, in the year 1714; and he represented a few other characters, as Cleon in Timon of Athens, Prince of Tanais in Tamerlane, and others, but all of equal insignificance. After performing one season in Dublin, he was advised by Chetwood not to smother his rising genius in a kingdom where there was no great encouragement for merit.

This advice he adopted and came to London, where he was immediately received into the company at Drury Lane. It may be proper here to mention, that he repaid the friendship of Chetwood by a recommendation which enabled that gentleman to follow him to the metropolis.

At that period it was usual for young actors to perform inferior characters, and to rise in the theatre as they displayed skill and improvement. In conformity to this practice, the parts which Mr. Quin had allotted to him were not calculated to procure much celebrity for him. He performed the Lieutenant of the Tower in Rowe's Jane Grey; the Steward in Gay's What ď ye Call It; and Vulture in The Country Lasses: all acted in 1715.

In December, 1716, he performed a part of more consequence, that of Antenor, in Mrs. Centlivre's Cruel Gift; but in the beginning of the next year, we find him degraded to speak about a dozen lines in the character of the Second Player, in Three Hours after Marriage.

Accident, however, had just before procured him an opportunity of displaying his talents, which he did not neglect. An order had been sent by the Lord Chamberlain to revive the play of Tamerlane, for the 4th of November, 1716. It had accordingly been got up with great magnificence. On the third night, Mr. Mills, who performed Bajazet, was suddenly taken ill, and application was made to Mr. Quin to read the part; a task which he executed so much to the satisfaction of the audience, that he received a considerable share of applause. The next night he made himself perfect, and performed it with redoubled proofs of approbation. On this occasion he was complimented by several persons of distinction and dramatic taste upon his early rising genius.

It does not appear that he derived any other advantage at the time from his success. Impatient, therefore, of his situation, and dissatisfied with his employers, he determined upon trying his fortune at Mr. Rich's Theatre, at Lincoln's Inn Fields, then under the management of Messrs. Keene, and Christopher Bullock; and accordingly in 1717, quitted Drury Lane, after remaining there two seasons. Chetwood insinuates that envy influenced some of the managers of Drury Lane to depress so rising an actor. Be that as it may, he continued at the theatre he had chosen seventeen years, and during that period supported without discredit, the same characters which were then admirably performed at the rival theatre.

Soon after he quitted Drury Lane an unfortunate transaction

took place, which threatened to interrupt, if not entirely to stop his theatrical pursuits; this was an unlucky rencounter between him and Mr. Bowen, which ended fatally to the latter.

The account of this duel in which Quin mortally wounded his adversary, and his indictment for the same, as narrated by the writer of the treatise forming the first part of this work, is no doubt in many respects somewhat inaccurate; we here give the interesting and authentic report of the trial, with the evidence then taken for and against the prisoner, published in the year 1721, in A Compleat Collection of Remarkable Tryals of the most Notorious Malefactors at the Sessions House in the Old Bailey, from the year 1706, to the last Sessions 1720.

The Trial, &c., of James Quinn, Gent.

HE was indicted for the Murther of William Bowen, Gent., on the 17th of April, 1718, by giving him one mortal Wound with a Sword on the right side of his Belly, of the breadth of one Inch and the depth of four Inches, of which Wound he languished till the 20th, and then Died. He was also indicted a second time upon the Coroner's Inquest for Manslaughter. The Evidence was as followeth :

Robert Martin deposd: That he being at the Fleece Tavern, in Cornhill, the 17th of April, about 4 or 5 o'clock in the Afternoon, Mr. Bowen being there, and espying him, called to him and desired him to drink a Glass of Wine with him, which he did, and that then Mr. Quinn, was with Mr. Bowen; that as they drank, Mr. Bowen and Mr. Quinn put pretty smartly upon one another with cutting jests, and fell to talk of their Performances in Acting, whereupon Mr. Quinn told Mr. Bowen, he had no occasion to value himself so much on that score, since Mr. Johnson, who had but seldom acted it, did act the part of Jacomo in the Libertine as well as he who had Acted it often. That from this Discourse they fell into Discourse about their Honesty, and Mr. Bowen giving himself the Character of as honest a man as any was in the World. To which Mr. Quinn replied by asking Mr. Bowen if he should tell the Story of the Court, Mr. Bowen said no, it was no matter; but at last said he might tell it if he would, which Mr. Quinn did, and Mr. Bowen still persisting to abide by the assertion of his Honesty, they proceeded so far as to lay Wagers about it, and Money was laid down. Mr. Quinn charged Mr. Bowen with sometimes drinking Healths to the Duke of Ormond and at other times refusing it. Asking Mr. Martin, to whom the Decision of the Wager was left; how