Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 39.djvu/193

 :: Truths, consenting with the Faith professed by the Church of England,’ London, 1651, 4to; again, 1653 and 1711, dedicated to Henry, marquis of Dorchester.
 * 1)   ‘The Preachers Tripartite, in Three Books,’ London, 1657, fol.; said to have been reprinted in 1685, fol., and a privately printed edition issued in 1845, 8vo, from the Rev. Henry A. Simcoe's Penheale press, Cornwall ( and, Bibl. Cornub. p. 651).
 * 2) ‘Variæ Colloquendi Formulæ in usum Condiscipulorum in Palæstra Literaria sub paterno moderamine vires Minervales exercentium, partim collectæ, partim compositæ, a Roberto Mossom,’ London, 1659.
 * 3) ‘An Apology in the behalf of the Sequestred Clergy, Presented to the High Court of Parliament,’ London, 1660, 4to. Reprinted in Lord Somers's ‘Tracts,’ ii. 158, third collection. An anonymous answer appeared under the title of ‘A Plea for Ministers in Sequestrations: wherein Mr. Mossom's Apology for the Sequestered Clergy is duly considered and discussed,’ London, 1660, 4to.
 * 4) ‘The Copy of a Speech delivered by Dr. Mossom, Dean of Christ Church, and Prolocutor of the Lower House of Convocation, before the Lord Lieutenant, the 29th of July 1662’ (cf., Register and Chron. p. 733).



MOSSOP, HENRY (1729?–1774?), actor, was son of John Mossop, M.A., of Trinity College, Dublin, who was collated to the prebend of Kilmeen, Tuam, on 10 Aug. 1737, and died in 1759 (, Fasti Eccles. Hib. iv. 43). As a boy Mossop stayed in Dublin with his uncle, a bookseller, went to a grammar school in Digges Street, and, with a view to entering the church, proceeded to Trinity College. Refused, on a visit to London, engagements on the stage by Garrick, and by Rich of Covent Garden, who both discouraged him from attempting to become an actor, he went, on the introduction of [q. v.], to Sheridan, by whom he was engaged for Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin, where he appeared, 28 Nov. 1749, as Zanga in the 'Revenge.' Though awkward in manner and unpicturesque in appearance, he displayed an 'astonishing degree of beautiful wildness,' which a pit crowded with his friends and fellow-students warmly recognised. During the season he played Cassius, Polydore in the 'Orphan,' Glo'ster in 'Jane Shore,' and Ribemont in the 'Black Prince,' and in the following season he appeared as Richard III, dressed in white satin, 'puckered.' Hearing that his manager had condemned the dress as coxcombical, he sought him in his dressing-room, and, with the curiously pedantic and staccato delivery he retained until the last, said, 'Mr. She-ri-dan, I hear you said that I dressed Richard like a cox-comb that is an affront. You wear a sword, pull it out of the scabbard I'll draw mine and thrust it into your body.' Sheridan smiled, and the explosion had no result; but Mossop, turbulent, vain, and unmanageable, soon left the theatre for London, where, under Garrick's management, he appeared at Drury Lane as Richard III 26 Sept. 1751. His success in this part, in which he was held only inferior to Garrick, was great. Garrick, not altogether pleased with the reception, applauded the lines of Taswell, an actor, on Mossop and Ross, another débutant :

Garrick, after his wont, gave him every chance, and Mossop during this and the three following seasons played Bajazet, Horatio in the 'Fair Penitent,' Theseus in 'Phædra and Hippolitus,' Orestes, Macbeth, Othello, Wolsey, Pierre, Comus, Dumont, King John, Coriolanus, Duke in 'Measure for Measure,' and other leading parts. He was the original Lewson in the ' Gambler,' 7 Feb. 1753; Perseus in Young's 'Brothers,' 3 March 1753; Ænobarbus in Glover's 'Boadicea,' 1 Dec. 1753; Appius in Crisp's ' Virginius,' 25 Feb. 1754; Phorbas in Whitehead's 'Creusa,' 20 April 1754; and Barbarossa in Brown's ' Barbarossa,' 17 Dec. 1754. Coriolanus and Barbarossa were held his great parts. On revisiting Smock Alley Theatre in 1755-6, on very advantageous terms, he chose Achmet in 'Barbarossa,' for which he was unsuited. On 21 Sept. 1756 he reappeared at Drury Lane as Richard, and played also Maskwell in the 'Double Dealer,' Osmyn in the 'Mourning Bride,' and Cato. In the two following seasons he was seen, among many other parts, as Prospero, Hamlet, Hastings, and sop, and was the original Agis in Home's 'Agis,' 21 Feb. 1758, and Etan in Murphy's 'Orphan of China,' 21 April 1759. Mossop then, having accepted an engagement from Barry and Woodward for Crow Street Theatre, Dublin, quitted London permanently. His own vanity and ill-temper had been played 