Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 61.djvu/283

 Othello for the first time in London, and as Lady Pentweazel greatly to Garrick's delight he took off Foote, with whom Wilkinson had had a difficulty.

After another summer season in Portsmouth Wilkinson, whom Garrick had taken into favour, reappeared at Drury Lane as Mrs. Amlet in the ‘Confederacy,’ and on 5 Nov. 1759 played Bajazet in ‘Tamerlane.’ On Garrick's advice he then revisited Dublin, arriving on 26 Dec. 1759, and was engaged at Smock Alley Theatre, where he acted in opposition to Foote, who was at Crow Street. He played with much success in many minor parts, gave his imitations, and received for his benefit a larger sum than had at that time been taken in the theatre. Returning to England he was engaged at Winchester, where many militia regiments were quartered. On 24 Nov. 1760, in Foote's comedy, ‘The Minor,’ he made his first appearance at Covent Garden. He played the same parts in the piece as Foote was exhibiting at Drury Lane—Shift, Smirk, and Mrs. Cole—and delivered the epilogue, imitating Foote himself to the life. He also imitated Garrick, who was so incensed that he never again spoke to the offender. Foote tried very hard to frighten Rich, the manager, out of making the experiment, but failed. Among others Wilkinson imitated was Whitefield. Subsequently he made his first appearance in Bath, where, as everywhere, he was very popular.

Refusing a three years' engagement at Covent Garden, he joined Foote (to whom he had become reconciled) at the Haymarket, appearing in June as Shift and Dr. Squintum, and in July was the first Peter Primer in the ‘Mayor of Garratt,’ a part in which he imitated Sheridan. Next year he was the first Golcondus in Foote's ‘Tragedy à la Mode,’ in which he was assisted by mute actors dressed ridiculously in high tragedy style. He had in the meantime played for the first time in Norwich and York, reaching Edinburgh, where he opened on 15 Feb. 1764 in the ‘Minor,’ playing subsequently Bayes in the ‘Rehearsal,’ Major Sturgeon, and many other comic and serious parts. Other places were also visited. Wilkinson had made in York the acquaintance of Joseph Baker, the proprietor and manager of a newly built and unlicensed theatre, who conceived a strong liking for him, confided to him the management of his house, and spoke of him always as his adopted son. Baker had himself been an actor, and was a painter of church interiors and of theatrical scenery. A suggestion was made to him that he should associate Wilkinson with him in management. Wilkinson put, in course of time, fourteen hundred pounds into the speculation, and became partner with Baker in the management of several Yorkshire theatres and of the theatre at Newcastle. His début in this capacity was made in York in January 1766 as Coriolanus. In October 1768 he married, in York, Miss Jane Doughty, and the following year he obtained at the price of 500l. patents of twenty-one years each for the theatres in York and Hull. Baker died in 1770 in debt to the extent of 3,000l., leaving Wilkinson sole manager of the theatres in York, Hull, and Newcastle. The last-named Wilkinson abandoned a year or two later, and opened in its stead a new theatre in Leeds. He gave performances in the race week at Doncaster, and at other times at Beverley, Halifax, Pontefract, Sheffield, and Wakefield. In the summer of 1772 he revisited Dublin and acted at Crow Street Theatre. Visits to Dublin, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Norwich, &c., were more or less frequently made, and on 15 Jan. 1778 he reappeared at Covent Garden, playing Captain Ironsides in the ‘Brothers’ and Don Manuel in ‘She would and she would not,’ besides his customary parts in the pieces of Foote. From this visit he took the name he bore of ‘the Wandering Patentee.’ In 1780 and again for a short time in 1781 he added to his other responsibilities the management of the Edinburgh Theatre. He broke his leg for the second time in 1788, and was thenceforward prevented from playing juvenile characters. Wilkinson died on 16 Nov. 1803, leaving five surviving children, one of whom (John Wilkinson, like himself an actor, and during some years a member of the company) succeeded him in management.

Concerning Wilkinson's powers as an actor little is known, so completely overshadowed are they by his reputation as a mimic. He played a large range of characters, from Hamlet, Lear, and Romeo, to Bayes and Mrs. Cole, and won acceptance everywhere until his later years. On his last appearance at Covent Garden, the date of which is unmentioned, he was hissed by the public, the wrath of which he disarmed by a tactful apology. His success in tragic characters Genest attributes to his catching the manner of Garrick and Mossop. His reputation as an actor was chiefly derived from his performances in the plays of Foote. As a mimic he can have had no superior. Campbell calls him one of the most extraordinary mimics that ever lived. Churchill in the ‘Rosciad’ speaks of Wilkinson and William