Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 60.djvu/236

 violence against the person of the king. For several years he held the vicarage of St. Olave Jewry, London, from which he was ejected for nonconformity in 1662. He died in June 1676.

His works are: 1. ‘A Prospect of Eternity; or Mans everlasting condition opened and applyed,’ London, 1655, 8vo (really published on 10 Oct. 1654). 2. ‘The Practical Sabbatarian: or Sabbath-Holiness crowned with Superlative Happiness,’ London, 1668, 4to. 3. ‘How we may make Melody in our Hearts to God in Singing of Psalms,’ printed in Dr. Samuel Annesley's ‘Supplement to the Morning-Exercise at Cripplegate,’ 2nd edit. 1676, p. 174. This and another ‘morning exercise’ by him on the ‘Fall of Man’ have been several times reprinted.

[Brit. Mus. Addit. MS. 24490, f. 104 b; Burrows's Register of the Visitors of the Univ. of Oxford, p. 550; Calamy's Account of Ejected Ministers, p. 39, and Contin. p. 58; Dunn's Memoirs of Seventy-five Eminent Divines, p. 93; Foster's Alumni Oxon. 1500–1714; Kennett's Register, p. 780; Palmer's Nonconf. Memorial, i. 171; Robinson's Register of Merchant Taylors' School, i. 137.]  WELLS, MARY, afterwards  (fl. 1781–1812), actress, daughter of Thomas Davies, a carver and gilder in Birmingham, was born at Birmingham about 1759. Her father died in a madhouse while she was a small child. Her mother kept a tavern frequented by actors, and among others by Richard Yates [q. v.], under whose management Mary appeared at the Birmingham Theatre as the Duke of York in ‘Richard III,’ playing subsequently Cupid in Whitehead's ‘Trip to Scotland,’ and Arthur in ‘King John.’ After visiting Bath and York she went to Gloucester, where she played Juliet to the Romeo of an actor named Wells, to whom she was married in St. Chad's Church, Shrewsbury. Wells shortly afterwards deserted her. On 1 June 1781, as Madge in Bickerstaffe's ‘Love in a Village’ and Mrs. Cadwallader in Foote's ‘Author,’ she made her first appearance at the Haymarket. Genest says that she was excellent in both characters. Jenny in ‘Lionel and Clarissa’ followed, and on 3 Sept. in O'Keeffe's ‘Agreeable Surprise’ she was the first Cowslip, a name that thenceforward stuck to her (though she is occasionally spoken of as ‘Becky’ Wells). Genest says that nothing could be superior to her acting as Cowslip and that of Edwin as Linge.

On 25 Sept., as Nancy in the ‘Camp,’ she made her first appearance at Drury Lane, where also she played on 29 Oct. Jenny in the ‘Gentle Shepherd,’ adapted from Allan Ramsay by Tickell. Harriet in the ‘Jealous Wife,’ Widow O'Grady in the ‘Irish Widow,’ Flora in ‘She would and She would not,’ and Jacintha in the ‘Suspicious Husband’ followed. At the Haymarket in 1782 her name appears to Molly in the ‘English Merchant,’ and Bridget in the ‘Chapter of Accidents.’ She also, as she says, replaced Mrs. Cargill, after that lady's elopement, as Macheath in the ‘Beggar's Opera,’ with the male characters played by women and vice versa. She made from the first a distinguished success, and was received with great enthusiasm. Her characters have never been collected. She played, however, at Drury Lane Kitty Pry in the ‘Lying Valet,’ and Jane Shore on 30 April 1783, her first appearance in tragedy. At the Haymarket she was on 6 July 1784 the original Fanny in Mrs. Inchbald's ‘Mogul's Tale,’ on 6 Sept. the first Maud in O'Keeffe's ‘Peeping Tom,’ and was Isabella in the piece so named, and Lady Randolph in ‘Douglas.’

Nancy Buttercup, an original part in O'Keeffe's ‘Beggar on Horseback,’ was seen at the Haymarket on 16 June 1785. On 14 Dec. she made her first appearance at Covent Garden as Jane Shore (which was, in her own opinion, her best performance), playing also Laura in Edward Topham's farce ‘The Fool,’ which her acting commended to the public. After repeating Lady Randolph and Isabella, she was on 5 Jan. 1786 Imogen in ‘Cymbeline.’ Woodfall in the ‘Chronicle’ awarded her much praise for the performance. Andromache in the ‘Distressed Mother’ followed, and was succeeded by Rosalind, Portia, and Fidelia in the ‘Plain Dealer,’ and she was on 24 April the first Eugenia in ‘The Bird in a Cage, or Money works Wonders,’ altered from Shirley. At the Haymarket in 1786 she played some unimportant original parts. When John Palmer (1742?–1798) [q. v.] made in 1787 his ill-starred experiment at the Royalty Theatre, Wellclose Square, she gave her imitations of Mrs. Siddons and other actresses, which, though poor, were highly popular, being paid the almost incredible sum of fifty pounds a night. She came back to Covent Garden, where she was on 17 Sept. 1787 Mrs. Page in the ‘Merry Wives of Windsor,’ and played Lady Percy, Lady in ‘Comus,’ Rosina, Anne Lovely, and Fatima in ‘Cymon.’ Here she remained some time, acting in the summer at Cheltenham, Brighton, Weymouth, where she was favoured by royalty, and visiting Dublin without, as it appears, acting there.

Meanwhile her domestic affairs had be-