Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 41.djvu/78

 Theory and Practice in Venereal Diseases,’ 8vo, Edinburgh, 1787, being the substance of a course of lectures delivered at Edinburgh in the winter of 1786; a German translation was published at Leipzig in 1789. 2. ‘The Clinical Guide; or, a concise view of the leading facts on the history, nature, and cure of diseases; to which is subjoined a practical pharmacopœia,’ 12mo, Edinburgh, 1793 (2nd edit. 2 pts. 1796–9; another edit., 1800). 3. ‘An Inquiry into the History, Nature, Causes, and Different Modes of Treatment hitherto pursued in the Cure of Scrophula and Cancer,’ 8vo, Edinburgh, 1795. 4. ‘A practical Treatise on Diet,’ 12mo, London, 1801. 5. ‘The Edinburgh School of Medicine; containing the preliminary … branches of professional education, viz. anatomy, medical chemistry, and botany,’ 4 vols. 8vo, London, 1802, intended as an introduction to the ‘Clinical Guide.’ 6. ‘A Medical Guide for the Invalid to the principal Watering Places of Great Britain,’ 8vo, London, 1804. 7. ‘A General Dictionary of Chemistry,’ 12mo, London, 1805; a useful little book, revised and completed by another writer. 8. ‘Two Letters to the Duke of York on the Medical Department of the Army,’ 8vo, London, 1808. 

NISBETT, LOUISA CRANSTOUN (1812?–1858), actress, the daughter of Frederick Hayes Macnamara and his wife, a Miss Williams, is said to have been born at Hackney, London, 1 April 1812. Her father, a man of good family, quitted on his marriage the 52nd foot, and joined his father-in-law as a merchant, an occupation of which he soon wearied. Under the name of Mordaunt he joined as an actor the Leicester circuit. On 2 March 1820 he appeared under that name at Drury Lane during Elliston's management as Maurice de Bracy in the ‘Hebrew,’ Soane's rendering of ‘Ivanhoe.’ After playing domestically and at private theatres in Wilmington Square and Berwick Street, Miss Mordaunt appeared at the Lyceum, then the English Opera House, for her father's benefit, as Angela in the ‘Castle Spectre’ of ‘Monk’ Lewis, and afterwards, a deplorable character for a child, Jane Shore. Two of her sisters were also on the stage. In 1826 she began at Greenwich her public career as Lady Teazle. After playing a round of parts in ‘elegant’ comedy, together with juvenile rôles in melodrama, she joined the elder Macready's company at Bristol, appearing in ‘Desdemona.’ In Cardiff she was first seen as Juliet, and she subsequently opened, under Raymond, the Shakespearean Theatre, Stratford-on-Avon, as Rosalind. Here she played with other characters, Queen Katherine, Portia, Lady Macbeth, Young Norval, and Edmund in the ‘Blind Boy.’ Engagements followed at Northampton, Southampton, and Portsmouth. She had thus obtained some experience when, 26 Oct. 1829, she appeared at Drury Lane, selecting for her first appearance Widow Cheerly in Andrew Cherry's ‘Soldier's Daughter,’ a part which she had played previously. On 21 Oct. she was Miss Hardcastle in ‘She Stoops to Conquer,’ and on 3 Nov. the original Widow Bloomly in Buckstone's ‘Snakes in the Grass.’ Olivia in ‘A Bold Stroke for a Husband’ and Lady Amaranth in ‘Wild Oats’ followed, and on 28 Nov. she was the original Lady Splashton in ‘Follies of Fashion,’ by the Earl of Glengall. During the season were given Charlotte in the ‘Hypocrite;’ Miss Sally Scraggs in Diamond's ‘Englishmen in India;’ Annette in ‘Blue Devils;’ Julia, an original part, in the ‘Spanish Husband, or First and Last Love,’ an unprinted play; Lady Elizabeth Freelove in the ‘Day after the Wedding;’ Zamine, in the ‘Cataract of the Ganges,’ to Webster's Jack Robinson, and possibly one or two other parts, including Lady Teazle. As Lady Teazle she made, 18 June 1830, her first appearance at the Haymarket, where also she played Beatrice in ‘Much Ado about Nothing’; Lady Contest in the ‘Wedding Day;’ Angelique, an original part, in ‘Separation and Reparation;’ Lady Racket in ‘Three Weeks after Marriage;’ Matilda, an original part, in ‘Force of Nature;’ Violante in the ‘Wonder;’ Letitia Hardy in the ‘Belle's Stratagem;’ Miss Tittup in ‘Bon Ton;’ Flora in ‘She would and she would not;’ Augusta Polinsky (a girl dressed as a boy), an original part, in Buckstone's ‘Husband at Sight;’ Miss Dorillon in ‘Wives as they were;’ Dinah in the ‘Quaker,’ and Theodore in ‘Two Pages of Frederick the Great.’ In January 1831, with a reputation already established, she quitted the stage and married John Alexander Nisbett of Brettenham Hall, Suffolk, a captain in the 1st life guards. Seven months later her husband died by a fall from his horse. His affairs were thrown into chancery, and some years elapsed before she obtained any provision under his will.

In October 1832, accordingly, Mrs. Nisbett reappeared as Widow Cheerly at Drury Lane, where she played a round of characters in comedy. After acting in various country towns, she became in December 1834, at a salary of 20l. a week, the nominal manager, under two brothers named Bond (one of them