Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 49.djvu/37

 dancing-master there, was ballet-master at Covent Garden Theatre. Through him she was introduced to Thomas Hull [q. v.], and afterwards to Arthur Murphy [q. v.] and David Garrick.

Struck by her appearance, Garrick offered to bring her out as Cordelia to his own Lear. He paid her much attention, told her her voice recalled that of Mrs. Cibber, and encouraged her to attend the theatre and familiarise herself with stage life and proceedings. But her appearance on the boards was long deferred owing to her marriage, on 12 April 1774 at St. Martin's Church, with Thomas Robinson, an articled clerk, who was regarded by her mother as a man of means and expectations. At his request her nuptials were kept secret, and she lived for a while with her mother in a house in Great Queen Street, on the site now occupied by the Freemasons' Tavern. After a visit to Wales to see the father of her husband, whose birth was illegitimate, she returned to London and lived with Robinson at No. 13 Hatton Garden. During two years she led a fashionable life, neglected by her husband, receiving compromising attentions from Lord Lyttelton and other rakes, and at the end of this period she shared the imprisonment of her husband, who was arrested for debt.

During a confinement in the king's bench prison, extending over almost ten months, she occupied in writing verses the hours that were not spent in menial occupation or attending to her child. Her poems, while in manuscript, obtained for her the patronage of the Duchess of Devonshire; a first collection was published in 1775 (2 vols.). After her release from prison, she took refuge in Newman Street. There she was seen by Sheridan, to whom she recited. At the instance of William Brereton she now applied once more to Garrick, who, though he had retired from the stage, still took an active interest in the affairs of Drury Lane. In the green-room of the theatre she recited the principal scenes of Juliet, supported by Brereton as Romeo. Juliet was chosen for her début by Garrick, who superintended the rehearsals, and on some occasions went through the various scenes with her. A remunerative engagement was promised her, and on 10 Dec. 1776 she appeared with marked success as Juliet. Garrick occupied a seat in the orchestra. On 17 Feb. 1777 she was Statira in ‘Alexander the Great,’ and on 24 Feb. was the original Amanda in the ‘Trip to Scarborough,’ altered by Sheridan from Vanbrugh's ‘Relapse.’ In this she had to face some hostility directed against the piece by a public to which it had been announced as a novelty. She also played for her benefit Fanny Sterling in the ‘Clandestine Marriage.’ On 30 Sept. 1777 she appeared as Ophelia, on 7 Oct. as Lady Anne in ‘Richard the Third,’ on 22 Dec. as the Lady in ‘Comus,’ on 10 Jan. 1778 as Emily in the ‘Runaway,’ on 9 April as Araminta in the ‘Confederacy,’ on 23 April as Octavia in ‘All for Love.’ For her benefit she played somewhat rashly on 30 April Lady Macbeth in place of Cordelia, for which she was previously advertised. On this occasion her musical farce of the ‘Lucky Escape,’ of which the songs only are printed, was produced. Her name does not appear in the list of characters. In the following season she was the first Lady Plume in the ‘Camp’ on 15 Oct. 1778, and on 8 Feb. 1779 Alinda in Jephson's ‘Law of Lombardy.’ She also played Palmira in ‘Mahomet,’ Miss Richly in the ‘Discovery,’ Jacintha in the ‘Suspicious Husband,’ Fidelia in the ‘Plain Dealer,’ and, for her benefit, Cordelia. In her fourth and last season (1779–1780) she was Viola in the ‘Twelfth Night,’ Perdita in the ‘Winter's Tale,’ Rosalind, Oriana in the ‘Inconstant Imogen,’ Mrs. Brady in the ‘Irish Widow,’ and on 24 May 1780 was the original Eliza Campley, a girl who masquerades as Sir Harry Revel in the ‘Miniature Picture’ of Lady Craven (afterwards the margravine of Anspach). At the close of the season she quitted the stage; her last appearance at Drury Lane seems to have been on 31 May 1780.

Her beauty, which at this time was remarkable, and her figure, seen to great advantage in the masculine dress she was accustomed to wear on the stage, had brought her many proposals from men of rank and wealth. On 3 Dec. 1778, when Garrick's adaptation of the ‘Winter's Tale,’ first produced on 20 Nov., was acted by royal command, ‘Gentleman Smith’ [see, (d. 1819)], the Leontes, prophesied that Mrs. Robinson, who was looking handsomer than ever as ‘Perdita,’ would captivate the Prince of Wales (subsequently George IV). The prediction was fulfilled. She received, through Lord Malden (afterwards Earl of Essex), a letter signed ‘Florizel,’ which was the beginning of a correspondence. After a due display of coyness on the part of the heroine, who invariably signed herself ‘Perdita,’ a meeting was arranged at Kew, the prince being accompanied by the Duke of York, then bishop of Osnaburgh. This proved to be the first of many Romeo and Juliet-like encounters. Princes do not sigh long, and after a bond for 20,000l., to be paid when the prince came of age, had been sealed with the royal arms, signed, and given her, Mrs. Robinson's position as the royal