Star.
London, England, 1827-09-29 00:00:00

ARTHUR MURPHY.

Late in life, Murphy grew indolent, and much retired
from society, refusing many invitations. One day he
received the following, but the fact is not recorded in
his Memoirs :

1, Tortoises slid not always carry
Their shells about. Into kis starry
Hail Jove cited every beast
There to partake a splendid feast—
The Tortoise only stajd away.
Jove ask'd why he should disobey?
The Tortoise answered,' I have heard
That home is beat, and I preferred
To stay at home, and that's the reason;
I hope ray crime is not high treason.'
• Remain at home (said Jove) for ever ;
You shan't get out if you endeavour.
Carry your house upon your back,
Since you in coming were so slack,
Preferring your own selfish pleasure—
You will repent of it at leisure.'"
ACTRESSES.

It is generally supposed that female performers were
unknown in England previous to the Restoration. This
is a mistake—and Thomas Coryate and other authori-
ties, might be quoted to prove, that at least before
1611, women had acted in London, though not on the
public stage. The Court Ladies also constantly figured
in the masques at Whitehall, &c. in the reign of Charles
I. which, of course, gave great offence to the puritans.
Oa the Continent it is well ascertained, that acuesses
were known long before they were permitted openly to
appear in England 4 and their introduction to our
theatres was a foreign innovation under the patronage
of Charles the Second. if that Monarch bad not also
patronised an imitation of the foreign drama, and the
introduction of rhyme into our tragedies, we should
have had nothing on this score to complain of. Malone
contends (Hist. Eng. Stage, 111. 126. Edit. 1821), that
a woman had played the part of Desdemona as early as
1660, at the Red Bull Theatre, but he cites no suffi-
cient authority ; if the fact were so, this woman was
undoubtedly Mrs Hughes, who did fill the character in
1663. Jordan, a minor poet, and author of " A Rosary
of Rarities," prints in it a prologue to introduce the
first woman actor on the stage, in the tragedy of
Othello; and this might be considered decisive, but
that JORDAN'S book was printed without a date. It is
not clear that Sir WILLIAM DAVCNANTS .Siege of
Rhodes had not precedence of Othello. The received
tradition that Mrs. SAUNDERSON, who was the Juliet,
Ophelia, and Desdemona of her day, was the first actress,
is unquestionably an error.—Women did not for some
years supersede the men as performers of female parts,
aud, probably, in the first instance, it was no my mat-
ter to prevail upon Ladies to exhibit themselves before
the public. There is one very remarkable circumstance
connected with this subject,that the most indecent play in
English, or perhaps in any other language, The Parson's
Wedding, by T. KILLIOREW, was entirely performed by
women, who undertook the male as well as the female
parts in it. This most violent contrast to the system of
the stage, prior to the Restoration, was exhibited very
shortly after CUARLES 11. returned to this country.

Mrs. MARSIIIALL, whose character is well known from
GRAMMONT'S Memoirs, spoke the Prologue and Epi.
logue, and undertook the character of Ms. Careless.
COMIC INCIDENT.

The following is extracted from the M.S. Common-
place-book of a deceased Dramatist, the author of one
of our most popular Comed,es, and of the first Melo-
drama ever brought el the English Stage:
Incident for a foolish ignorant servant. He sees his master in
a passion, burning or tearing a letter he has just received, and inter-
rupts him to express his sorrow that it was destroyed, as he had
long promised to send a letter to his sweetheart in the country, and
had been unable to fulfil his undertaking, as he could not procure
one for love or money. Now, that just burnt or torn, would have
exactly answered the purpose...
This joke is not new, we believe, even to the stage.