Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 17.djvu/145

Edwin  Dr. Arne and Edwin's great prototype Shuter. The pall-bearers were O'Keeffe, Shield the musician, Quick, 'Gentleman' Lewis, Holman, Wilson, Hull, and Johnstone. Edwin left a widow. Miss Mary Hubbard, whom he married on 13 June 1790 at St. John's Church, Westminster, and who, according to Reed's manuscript 'Notitia Dramatica,' died 8 Jan. 1794. Colman classes Edwin as the best burletta singer that ever had been, or perhaps will be, and adds that 'Nature in gifting him with the viscomica had dealt towards him differently from low comedians in general, for she had enabled him to look irresistibly funny, with a very agreeable, if not handsome, set of features, and while he sung in a style which produced roars of laughter, there was a melody in some of the upper tones of his voice that was beautiful' (, Memoirs of the Colman Family, ii. 10-11). Reynolds, the dramatist, says that Edwin, disdaining buffoonery, 'established a sort of entre-nous-ship... with the audience, and made them his confidants' (Life and Times, 1826, ii. 61), and did it so neatly as 'frequently to enrich the business of the stage.' He says that he was present at a performance of the 'Son-in-Law,' when in the scene in which Cranky, objecting to Bowkitt as a son-in-law, observes, 'Besides, you are such an ugly fellow!' Edwin thereupon, as Bowkitt, came to the front of the stage, and pointing to Reynolds, said, 'Now I submit to the decision of an enlightened British public which is the ugliest fellow of the three — I, old Cranky, or that gentleman in the front row of the balcony box.' (1756-1828) [q. v.], who claims to have supplied Anthony Pasquin with materials for his biography of Edwin, speaks repeatedly of Edwin, calling him the 'greatest genius' he 'ever encountered' (Retrospections, i. 180) and 'the most original actor... in the old world or the new' (ib. ii. 249). He says also that he wanted variety. Boaden, 'Life of Mrs. Siddons,' i. 117, also compares Edwin to Liston, and says that neither was fully enjoyed except in a small theatre. In his private life Edwin was a boon companion and a wag and the hero of many questionable adventures. In his 'Life of Bannister,' i. 247, Boaden says that he drank, and was 'the absolute victim of sottish intemperance.' Edwin used to reach the theatre drunk at the bottom of a chaise. The clothes were thrust upon him and he was pushed on to the stage when he was able to collect himself, and 'his acting seemed only the richer for the bestial indulgence that had overwhelmed him.' His merits, which were high, fail to justify the system of gagging to which he resorted. Under his name were published: 1. 'The Last Legacy of John Edwin,' 1780, with portrait. 2. 'Edwin's Jests,' 12mo (no date). 3. 'Edwin's Pills to Purge Melancholy,' 2nd edition, with additions, 1788, 8vo. 4. 'Eccentricities arranged and digested by John Williams, alias Anthony Pasquin,' 1798, 2 vols. 8vo. This work has at least three different title-pages. In these volumes nothing seems to be his. The 'Eccentricities' contains the particulars of his life, told with insolent amplitude and comment by Williams. From this book subsequent biographers have taken all that is preserved. The Mathews collection of portraits in the Garrick Club contains pictures of Edwin as Peeping Tom and as Justice Woodcock, by Beach, one by Gainsborough (?), an early work, and one by Edridge.

[Genest's Account of the English Stage. In addition to the Eccentricities of Edwin by Williams, of which the first volume is partly occupied by his life and the second by the adventures, jests, and sayings fastened upon him, the theatrical biographers of Boaden, of Kemble, Mrs. Inchbald, Mrs. Jordan, and Bannister supply most particulars. The Oracle, a periodical issued by Boaden about 1790, has been seen by Genest. Not being in the British Museum it is now in-accessible.].]  EDWIN, JOHN, the younger (1768–1805), actor, son of [q. v.] is first heard of in 1777, when his father, applying to George Colman for an advance of salary, offers to throw in Mrs. Edwin and Jack. The following year, 30 July 1778, young Edwin appeared at the Haymarket as Hengo in a revival of 'Bonduca' by Beaumont and Fletcher. From this period, at the Haymarket or at Bath, he frequently played with his father, his first recorded appearance in a manly part being at Covent Garden, 20 March 1788, as Dick in 'The Apprentice' of Murphy for his father's benefit. Taken up by Lord Barrymore, who made an inseparable companion of him, he directed during some years the amateur theatricals at Wargrave, Berkshire, the seat of that nobleman. After his marriage to Miss Richards in 1791 he took [q. v.] to Wargrave, where she overstayed the limits allowed her by her manager, Tate Wilkinson, of the York circuit, with whom in consequence she quarrelled. With his wife Edwin went to the Haymarket, appearing 20 June 1792 in 'The Virgin Unmasked,' previously known as 'An Old Man taught Wisdom,' a ballad farce of Fielding, in which he played Blister to the Lucy of Mrs. Edwin. He accompanied his wife to Dublin and to Doncaster in 1794, and on most of her country tours, and died in Dublin, 22 Feb. 1805, a victim to degrading dissipation. Edwin