Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 47.djvu/417

 new drama, called ‘The Wandering Tribe,’ he was conspicuously imperfect. Returning from the theatre after the second representation, he broke a blood-vessel. A fatal illness ensued, and although his reappearance at the Adelphi was promised in October, he died at his house, 46 Brompton Row, on 24 Jan. 1838, and was buried in Brompton churchyard. Reeves was twice married. By his first wife, a Miss Aylett, daughter of an upholsterer in Finsbury, and a dancer in Macready's company, whom he married at Bristol in 1820, he left a son John, a burlesque actor; she died at his birth in 1822 at Swansea. By his second wife he had two daughters.

Concerning the merits of Reeve very different opinions are recorded. Hazlitt says that he was disappointed with Reeve's imitations, which were not so good as those of Mathews. His biographer, Douglas Bannister, who is at no pains to disguise his ill opinion of Reeve in most respects, says he was a farceur, and that only. He founded his style on that of Oxberry, and, though more accomplished and endowed with greater natural advantages, was far inferior. ‘Oxberry was an able expositor of Massinger and Ben Jonson. Reeve's greatest efforts were Marmaduke Magog and Abrahamides in “The Tailors.” He was a first-rate droll, but very far from a first-rate actor.’ Oxberry speaks of his mutable physiognomy, dashing exterior, and determination to excite good-humour. No actor since George Frederick Cooke [q. v.] called so often on the indulgence of the audience. He pretended to play parts which he had not even read, yet, when he broke down, a nod or a wink of the eye would secure acquittal. He took his audience into his confidence, assuming with a chuckle, ‘You know I am fond of my glass and will excuse it.’ Peake and Buckstone knew his weakness, and supplied him with short sentences, bywords, and opportunities for by-play, instead of speeches, which he could not learn. He was a great favourite with the public, and, in spite of their knowledge of his infirmities, managers were compelled to engage him. Reeve was five feet ten inches in height, dark in complexion, and had great flexibility of feature and limb. Though a bulky man, he walked and danced with the appearance of great lightness. His singing voice was a baritone with a sweet falsetto.

A portrait of Reeve, by Wageman, accompanies his biography; a second, as Sylvester Daggerwood, is in Oxberry's ‘Dramatic Biography’ (vol. vii.); a third, as Jerry Hawthorn, is in the second series of Oxberry (vol. i.); a fourth, as Bill Mattack, in Sterling Coyne's farce, ‘The Queer Subject,’ accompanies the published version of that piece, which was dedicated to Reeve; Reeve played Bill Mattack at the Adelphi in November 1836.

[The chief source of information concerning Reeve is Douglas Bannister's Life, no date (1838), which is extremely rare. Memoirs appear in Oxberry's Dramatic Biography (vii. 159), and second series (i. 181), in the Idler, and Breakfast Table Companion (vol. i.), 1838, and in Webster's Acting National Drama (vol. i.). No list of his characters has been published. That given is made up from Genest's Account of the English Stage, the works mentioned, and various volumes of Cumberland's Plays. Hazlitt's Dramatic Essays, the Theatrical Inquisitor (various years), Wheatley and Cunningham's London Past and Present, Baker's London Stage, and Stirling's Old Drury Lane have also been consulted.] 

REEVE, JOSEPH (1733–1820), biblical scholar and Latin poet, son of Richard Reeve of Island Hill in the parish of Studley, Warwickshire, was born on 11 May 1733. In his fourteenth year he was sent to the college of the English jesuits at St. Omer; on 7 Sept. 1752 he entered the novitiate of the society at Watten; and he was professed of the four vows on 2 Feb. 1770. He taught humanities at St. Omer and at Bruges for eight years. Being ordained priest, he defended the whole course of theology at Liège in Lent 1767, and then he assisted the Benedictine nuns at Ypres for some months. In August 1767 he was sent to Ugbrooke Park as chaplain to Lord Clifford, and he remained there until his death on 2 May 1820. The funeral sermon by Dr. George Oliver (1781–1861) [q. v.] has been printed (Catholic Spectator, July 1825, pp. 279–82;, Cornwall, p. 396).

He was author of: 1. ‘Narrative concerning the Expulsion of the English Jesuits from their College at St. Omer,’ manuscript at Stonyhurst; some extracts are printed in Foley's ‘Records,’ vol. v. 2. ‘Ugbrooke Park: a Poem,’ London, 1776, 4to; 2nd edit. Exeter, 1794 (, Bibl. Devoniensis, p. 128). 3. ‘History of the Bible,’ Exeter, 1780, 8vo—mainly a free translation of the ‘Abrégé’ of Royaumont; in later editions Reeve completely recast the work. A new edition, revised by W. J. Walsh, appeared at Dublin in 1882, 8vo. 4. ‘Practical Discourses on the Perfections and wonderful Works of God,’ Exeter, 1788, 12mo; reprinted at Exeter in 1793, with a second volume, entitled ‘Practical Discourses upon the Divinity and wonderful Works of Jesus Christ.’ 5. ‘A View of the Oath tendered by the Legislature to the Roman Catholics of England,’ London, 1790; answered in ‘An Argu-