Page:A dictionary of printers and printing.djvu/901

 893

HISTORY OF PRINTING.

his master had offered him his indentures, he fled from his former shackles, on the wings of hope, to Watford, where he obtained an engage- ment from Mr. Jerrold, and sustained those parts designated by the name of the heavy line. At the close of the season, an accident threw the part of Dan in his way, which he played with the greatest success ; but, notwithstanding this success in comedy, either from necessity or choice, he continued to woo Melpomene. He left Mr. Jerrold and joined Mr. Trotter, manager of the Worthing and Hythe theatres, and went to his circuit as a low comedian. As he played all the principal low comedy, some part* in tragedv, occasionally sang between, axiA printed the bills, it may easily be imagined that lie had his hands full ; yet the heart of an itinerant comedian is Tulnerahle, and Oxberry " snatched a moment" to gaze upon Miss Catharine Elizabeth Hewitt, then little better than sixteen i^ears of age ; a lady of most respectable connexions, and under the protection of Mr. Trotter's family ; he, how- ever, pleaded his cause in such a manner as to render refusal impossible, and in 1806 she be- came his wife, by whom he had three children. Whilst at Worthing, in 1807, Mr. Oxbeny at- tracted the attention of Mr. Siddons, the husband of the celebrated actress, through whose recom- mendation he obtained an engagement at Covent- garden theatre, and on Nov. 7, made his debut m Robin Raughhead ; and although he only played occasional]y,be managed to obtain friends and attract notice.* At the end of the season he removed to Glasgow and Aberdeen, in both of which places he was a decided favourite. On the 22nd of July, 1 809, he returned to the Lyceum, and immediately was ranked amongst the stock favourites of the London theatres, obtaining very advantageous engagements at the English opera house, and DiuTv -lane. Hehadresumedthetrade of a printer ; ana in December, 1 821, our hero de- termind to show the veisatilitT of his pursuits, as well as of his genius, by taking the Ciaven's- head chop-house, in Drury-lane, which instantly became the resort of a great deal of the dramatic and literary talent of the town ; as the good- humoured host used to tell his visitors — ^" We vocoMxe on a Friday, «>nt«r#a<toni« on aSunday, and chopize every day." Oxberry was always a free liver ; and the allurements of company led him into excesses, which, perhaps, shortened his existence. He expired in an apoplectic fit.* The day before his death he had been to Camberwell to inspect the operations of his printing-office. As an actor he stood alone in parts like Slen- der 'and Abel Day ; and was, perhaps, second

Mr. Leman Thomas Tertias Rede, well known u an actor, and also a* an anttaor of the Uemoin of Cmning, Boad to the SiagCt Oxberry *8 Dramatic Biography, itc. He possessed considerable literary talent, and dlM Dec. 13, 1831. WOIiam Henry Oxberry, the only son, was born in London, April Sl, 1808, and educated at Merchant taOon' school. He was intended for an artist, bnt his inclinations led him to follow the steps of his father, and be made his ;>ii4<ie rftiW at the Olympic, March 17, isas. (Jka his father he is uneqaalted In a certain line of charac- ters in low comedy.
 * The widow of Mr. Oxbenj wu mairied, in IB24, to

only to Emery,* in Tyke, John Lump, Robm Roughheadt 4re. He feU below Liston m Litim Log and Neddy Bray, but soared far above him in Mawworm and Master Stefiten, and in his Shaksperian assumptions. He bestowed too little study on his profession, or he must have held a much higher place than Listen, who hat acquired by conduct what Oxbernr lost by neg- lect. A short time before his death, he had con- clnded an engagement for three years at Dnuy- lane for £12 per week.

In literature Mr. Oxberry was for ever com- mencing something, and scarcely ever finided anything. He edited a miscellaneous weak, called the Flowers of Literatttre, got up a col- lection of tales, &c. called the 7%Mlrical Baa- quel ; or, the Actor's Budget, two vols. 18mo. 1809. 7%« Eneyelopcedia of Anecdote, 1812. The History of PugUisni, 1814. Commenced A Dictionary of Idiomatic Phrases, &c. At one period he edited the Monthly Mirror Jaftemitis called the TheatriceU Inquisitor.) He was the author of the petite piece of the Actress of AU- Work,f performed with success at the Olympic Altered Pilon's He Would be a Soldier, into the High Road to Marriage, produced at the Olya-

Sic theatre with great success: and a mdo- mma from his pen, called the Bandies Bride, from a novel of that name, was in the hands of the Drury-lane management, when deatbpnt aa end alike to his labours and his cares. He was in treaty with sir Richard Phillips for a work (tf a dramatic nature, in June, 1824. Mr. Oxberry was five feet nine inches and a half in height, and was latterly very corpulent ; of a dark com- plexion, with a blue eye, that, though EnciaU,was peculiarly expressive. The engraving prefixed to his memoir, in Oxberry's Dramatic Butgr^phy, is a most excellent likeness. He was bnrieid in the church of St. Clement Danes, Strand.

1824, June. At the sale of the second portion of sir Mark Sykes'4 splendid library, the cde- brated edition of Livy, printed by Sweynheym and Pannartz, upon vellum, in 1469, sold for 450 guineas. Erasmus's far-famed Greek Testa- ment, on vellum, printed at Basil, 1519, in which edition Erasmus omitted the celebrated verse in St. John's epistles, respecting the three heavenly witnesses, was purchased by the archbishop of Canterbury for £140. There is but one copy of it known to exist upon vellum, and that is in the cathedral at York, for which copy sir Mark Sykes once offered 1000 guineas, but was refused.

where both his parents, who enjoyed some degree of re- gard as proTlndal performers, were then engaged in tte exercise of their pnblic duty. Before he had attained his twenty-first year, John Emery was settled in the capital, and sustained a branch of bnaineas, remarlcable for its labour, variety, and importance, a&d he reposed during the reM of his life in the sunshine of pnblic favour. In May, 1802, be married Miss Ann Thompson, daughter of a tradesman in the borough, by whom hcleft four eons to lament his U»s. He died J nly 25, 1 822.
 * John Emery was born at Sunderland, Dec. IS, 1777,

t It was written alter Matthews's M< in the Actor 0/ All-Work.

t Sir Mark Masterman Sykes, bart. was a bibUomaniac of the first class, and a member of the Roxbnrghe chib. He was born Angust 20, 1771, and died Feb. 16, I823.

LjOOQ IC