Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 46.djvu/135

 parts, but was little seen; and the following season transferred his services to Drury Lane, appearing on 25 Jan. 1802 as Othello. He was, 2 March, the first Major Manford in Cumberland's ‘Lovers' Resolutions.’ In Dimond's ‘Hero of the North,’ 19 Feb. 1803, he was the original Gustavus Vasa, and in Allingham's ‘Marriage Promise’ George Howard. He also played the Stranger for the first time. In Allingham's ‘Hearts of Oak,’ 19 Nov. 1803, he was the first Dorland; in Cherry's ‘Soldier's Daughter,’ 7 Feb. 1804, Malfort, jun.; in Cumberland's ‘Sailor's Daughter,’ 7 April, Captain Sentamour. On 18 June 1803 the second Mrs. Pope had died; in 1804 his son, a midshipman, also died. At the close of the season Pope was dismissed by the Drury Lane management, which had secured Master Betty [see ]. He had played very little of late, and expressed his intention of retiring and devoting himself to painting. On 3 Feb. 1806, however, he reappeared at Covent Garden as Othello; in Cumberland's ‘Hint to Husbands,’ 8 March 1806, he was the original Heartright; and in Manners's ‘Edgar, or Caledonian Feuds,’ 9 May, the Barno of Glendore. In Cherry's ‘Peter the Great,’ 8 May 1807, he was Count Menzikoff.

Pope married, on 25 June 1807, his third wife, the widow of Francis Wheatley, R.A. [q. v.] [see ]. After visiting Ireland, being robbed in Cork, and narrowly escaping shipwreck, he was, at Covent Garden, the original Count Valdestein in C. Kemble's ‘Wanderer,’ 12 Jan. 1808. After the burning of Covent Garden he played, at the Haymarket Opera House, the original Count Ulric in Reynolds's ‘Exile,’ 10 Nov. 1808. At the smaller house in the Haymarket, to which the company migrated, he played Pierre in ‘Venice Preserved.’ Dismissed from Covent Garden, he was for three years unheard of in London, but played at times in Edinburgh. He returned to the new house at Drury Lane, 28 Nov. 1812, as Lord Townly; and was, 23 Jan. 1813, the original Marquis Valdez in Coleridge's ‘Remorse.’ On 11 April 1811 he had had, at the Opera House, a benefit, which produced him over 700l., Mrs. Siddons playing for the first time Margaret of Anjou in the ‘Earl of Warwick.’ On 6 Jan. 1814 he was Colonel Samoyloii in Brown's ‘Narensky.’ In Henry Siddons's ‘Policy’ he was, 15 Oct., Sir Harry Dorville; in Mrs. Wilmot's ‘Ina,’ 22 April 1815, he was Cenulph, Kean being Egbert; and in T. Dibdin's ‘Charles the Bold,’ 15 June, he was the Governor of Nantz; on 12 Sept. he was Evrard (an old man) in T. Dibdin's ‘Magpie,’ and on 9 May 1816 St. Aldobrand in Maturin's ‘Bertram.’ In ‘Richard, Duke of York,’ compiled from the three parts of ‘King Henry VI,’ he was, 22 Dec. 1817, Cardinal Beaufort. In the ‘Bride of Abydos,’ taken by Dimond from Byron, he played, 5 Feb. 1818, Mirza; and in an alteration of Marlowe's ‘Jew of Malta,’ 24 April, was Farneze. The following season his name does not appear. On 11 Oct. 1819, as Strictland in the ‘Suspicious Husband,’ he made what was called his ‘first appearance for two years.’ He was Prior Aymer, 2 March 1820, in Soanes's ‘Hebrew,’ a version of ‘Ivanhoe.’ During the season he played Minutius to Kean's Virginius in an unprinted drama entitled ‘Virginius.’ His popularity and his powers had diminished; and he was now assigned subordinate parts, such as Zapazaw, an Indian, in ‘Pocahontas,’ 15 Dec.1820. On 18 Nov. 1823 he was Drusus to Macready's Caius Gracchus in Sheridan Knowles's ‘Caius Gracchus,’ and on 5 Jan. 1824 Lord Burleigh in ‘Kenilworth.’ At the Haymarket, 16 July, he was the first Bickerton in Poole's adaptation, ‘Married or Single,’ on 24 Aug. 1825 Ralph Appleton in Lunn's ‘Roses and Thorns,’ and 13 Sept. Witherton in ‘Paul Pry.’ At Drury Lane, 28 Jan. 1826, he was the first Toscar in Macfarren's ‘Malvina.’ On 21 May 1827 he was the original Clotaire in Grattan's ‘Ben Nazir the Saracen.’ This is the last time his name is traced. He was not engaged after the season. In 1828 he applied for a pension from the Covent Garden Fund, to which he had contributed forty-four years. He obtained a grant of 80l. a year, afterwards raised to 100l. On Thursday, 22 March 1835, he died at his house in Store Street, Bedford Square. He was during very many years a mainstay of one or other of the patent theatres, and was in his best day credited with more pathos than any English actor of his time. His Othello and Henry VIII were held in his day unrivalled. His person was strong and well formed, and he had much harmony of feature, but was, in spite of his pathos, deficient in expression. Leigh Hunt says that he had not one requisite of an actor except a good voice. He possessed a mellow voice and a graceful and easy deportment. Towards the close of his career he had sensibly declined in power.

Throughout his life Pope practised miniature painting, and between 1787 and 1821 he exhibited at the Royal Academy fifty-nine miniatures. A portrait by him of Michael Bryan [q. v.], the author of the ‘Dictionary