This is Lord Rochefter's account. We find her afterwards acting the parts of Queen Almahide in the Conqueft of Grannada, Florimel in the Maiden Queen, Donna Jacintha, in the Mock-aftrologer, Valeria in the Royal Martyr; in which Tragedy Mrs. Boutel played the part of Saint Catharine. Mifs Guyn, befides her own part of Valeria, was likewise appointed to fpeak the Epilogue; in performing which, fhe lo captivated the King, who was present the firft Night of the Play, by the humorous Turns fhe gave it, that his Majefty, when he had done, went behind the Scenes, and carried her off to an Entertainment that Night.

In the Tragedy of Tyrannick Love; Or, The Royal Martyr, Valeria is Daughter to the Roman Emperor Maximin; fhe being forced by her Father to marry Placidius, ftabs herself for Love of Porphyrius, who thus condoles her Lofs,

Our Arms no more let Aquileia fear,
But to her Gates our peaceful Enfigns bear.
While I mix Cyprefs with my Myrtle Wreath;
Joy for my Life, and mourn Valeria's Death.

As Valeria is carrying off the Stage dead, fhe thus accosts the Bearer,

Hold, are you mad? You damn'd confounded Dog,

I am to rife, and fpeak the Epilogue.

(Then the addreffes herfelf to the Audience.)

come, kind Gentlemen, ftrange News to tell ye,I am the Ghoft of poor departed Nelly. Sweet Ladies be not frighted, I'll be civil, I'm what I was, a little harmless Devil.

For,

For, after death, we Sprites have just fuch natures We had, for all the World, when human Crea

tures:

And therefore I, that was an Actress here,
Play all my Tricks in Hell, a Goblin there.
Gallants, look to't, you fay there are no Sprites,
But I'll come dance about your Beds at Nights.
And faith you'll be, in a fweet kind of taking,
When I furprize you between fleep and waking.
To tell you true, I walk, because I die
Out of my Calling, in a Tragedy.

O Poet, damn'd dull Poet, who could drove
So fenfelefs! to make Nelly die for Love;
Nay, what's yet worse, to kill me in the prime
Of Easter-Term, in Tart and Cheese-cake time!
I'll fit the Fop; for I'll not one word say,
T' excufe his godly out-of-Fashion Play,
But farewell, Gentlemen, make hafte to me,
I'm fure ere long to have your Company.
As for my Epitaph when I am gone,
I'll truft no Poet, but will write my own.
Here Nelly lies, who, tho' the liv'd a Slattern,
Yet died a Princess, acting in Saint Cattern.

Befides the parts fhe acted in the foregoing Plays of Mr. Dryden, fhe performed a little Song, in his Comedy called the Affignation; Or, Love in a Nunnery, with great Archnefs. The Song in this Comedy is introduced by a young Lady's being asked this QueftionAre you fit, at Fifteen, to be trufted with a Maidenhead? 'Tis as much, Child, as your Betters can ma nage at full Twenty;

I.

For 'tis of a Nature fo fubtile,.

That if 'tis not luted with Care,

G2

The

The Spirit will work thro' the Bottle,
And vanish away into Air.

II.

To keep it, there nothing fo hard is,
"Twill go between waking and fleeping,
The Simple, too weak for its Guard is,
And no Wit, wou'd be plagu'd with the
keeping.

Nelly was eafed of her Virginity by Mr. Hart, at the fame Time that Lord Buckhurft fighed for it, tho' his Majefty carried off the Prize.

Mr. WILLIAM MONTFORT'S Character:

MR. R. Montfort, was of perfon tall, well made, fair, and of an agreeable afpect: His Voice clear, full, and melodious: In Tragedy he was the moft affecting Lover within my memory. His addreffes had a refiftlefs Recommendation from the very tone of his Voice, which gave his Words fuch foftnefs, that, as Dry

den fays,

----Like Flakes of feather'd Snow,
They melted as they fell!

All this he particularly verify'd in that fcene of Alexander, where the Heroe throws himfelf at the Feet of Statira for pardon of his past Infidelities. There we faw the Great, the Tender, the Penitent, the Defpairing, the Tranfported, and the Amiable, in the highest Perfection. In Comedy, he gave the trueft Life to what we call the Fine

Gentle-

He

Gentleman; his fpirit fhone the brighter for being polifh'd with Decency: In fcenes of Gaiety, he never broke into the Regard, that was due to the prefence of equal; or fiperior Characters, tho inferior Actors play'd them; he fill'd the Stage, not by elbowing, and croffing it before others, or difconcerting their action, but the furpaffing them, in true and mafterly Touches of Nature. He never laugh'd at his own Jeft, unless the point of his Raillery upon another requir'd it. had a particular Talent, in giving Life to Bons Mots and Repartees: The Wit of the Poet feem'd always to come from him extempore, and fharpen'd into moreWit from his brilliant manner of delivering it; he had himself a good thare of it, or what is equal to it, fo lively a pleasantness of Humour, that when either of thefe fell into his Hands upon the Stage, he wantoned with them, to the higheft Delight of his Auditors. The Agreeable was fo natural to him, that even in that diffolute Character of the Rover, he feem'd to wash off the Guilt from Vice, and give it Charmes and Merit. For tho' it may be a Reproach to the Poet, to draw fuch Characters, not only unpunish'd, but rewarded: the Actor fhould still be allow'd his due praife in his excellent performance. And this is a Diftinction which, when this Comedy was acted at Whitehall, King William's Queen Mary was pleas'd to make in favour of Monford, notwithstanding her Difapprobation of the Play.

He had befides all this, a variety in his Genius, which few capital actors have fhewn, or perhaps have thought it any addition to their Merit to arrive at; he could entirely change himself; could at once throw off the Man of fenfe, for the brisk, vain, rude, and lively Coxcomb, the falfe,

flashy,

flashy pretender to Wit, and the Dupe of his own fufficiency: Of this he gave a delightful Inftance in the Character of Sparkish in Wycherly's Country Wife. In that of Sir Courtly Nice his Excellence was ftill greater: There his whole Man, Voice, Mien, and Gesture, was no longer Monfort, but another Perfon, There, the infipid foft Civility, the elegant, and formal Mien; the drawling Delicacy of Voice, the ftately Flatness of his Addrefs, and the empty Eminence of his Attitudes were fo nicely obferv'd and guarded by him, that had he not been an entire Mafter af Nature, had he not kept his Judgment, as it were, a Centinel upon himself, not to admit the leaft Likeness of what he us'd to be, to enter into any part of his Performance, he could not pof fible have fo compleatly, finifh'd it. He fung a clear Counter-tenour, and had a melodious, warbling Throat, which could not but fet off the laft Scene of Sir Courtly with an uncommon Happiness.

This excellent Actor was cut off by a tragical Death, in the 33d Year of his Age, generally lamented by his Friends, and all Lovers of the Theatre. The particular Accidents that attended his Fall, are to be found at large in the Trial of the Lord Mohun, printed among thofe of the State, in Folio.

Mr. JAMES NOK ES'S Character,

MR. Nokes was an Actor of a quite different

Genius from any I have ever read, heard of, or feen, fince or before his time; and yet his general Excellence may be comprehended in one

Article,