Hodgkinson

sons made their American debut at Philadelphia,
Sept. 26, 1792, and created a highly favorable
impression. At New York, where the company
opened in January 1793, Hodgkinson was ac-
cepted in a short time as the most gifted and ver-
satile actor the American stage had ever known.
Tall and strong, with a face of manly comeliness
and a melodious voice of great range, he was
well equipped physically for his profession. He
possessed also an astonishingly rapid and accu-
rate memory and an extraordinary combination
of sympathetic and imitative faculties. Low
comedy was his peculiar province, but he was
almost equally capable in high comedy and trag-
edy, while his remarkable singing powers made
him a prime favorite in opera. Moreover, his
industry was indefatigable; it is said that he
could perform a greater number of characters
well than any other actor in the memory of man.
Though he could rant in tragedy and his com-
edy was sometimes too broad, his age regarded
him as a marvel. Bernard wrote: "When I asso-
ciate this actor with Garrick and Henderson
(the first of whom I had often seen, and the lat-
ter played with) I afford some ground for think-
ing he possessed no common claims. I do not
hesitate to say, that had he enjoyed their good-
fortune ... he would have risen to the rank of
their undoubted successor. ... I doubt if such
a number and such greatness of requisites were
ever before united in one mortal man" (post, pp.
256-57). His wife too was a performer of dis-
tinction. The youthful charm of her delicate face
and figure was particularly appealing in the roles
of young girls, and also in some tragic parts,
especially Ophelia. But because of her sweet
and powerful singing voice, her forte was opera.
Hodgkinson soon proved to be a man of inor-
dinate vanity and self-seeking. He quickly be-
came the dictator of the company and ruthless-
ly seized all the best characters for himself and
his wife. John Henry, joint director with Lewis
Hallam, and Mrs. Henry were the special vic-
tims of his plundering, which finally became so
unbearable that in 1794 Henry sold out to Hodg-
kinson, precisely as the latter intended he
should. Hodgkinson now began to practise his
arts against Hallam and his wife, and the result
was deep enmity that sometimes led to violent
eruptions. In 1796 William Dunlap was per-
suaded to buy half of Hodgkinson's property,
but he was unable to restrain his greedy asso-
ciate, whose demands for more parts and more
salary went on unabated. A year later Hallam
withdrew from the management, and Hodgkin-
son assumed a greater dominance than before.
By his efforts to maintain a summer company at

Hodgkinson

Hartford and Boston and another at New York,
contrary to Dunlap's advice, he contrived to lose
large sums of borrowed money. He had already
given his partner cause for complaint when,
shortly before this, he appropriated a one-act
play of Dunlap's and expanded it into a three-act
drama, The Man of Fortitude; or, the Knight's
Adventure (printed 1807), without acknowledg-
ing his indebtedness.

In the spring of 1798 Hodgkinson retired from
the New York theatre in order to accept the
managership at Boston—taking with him con-
siderable property that he had already sold to
Dunlap. A year at Boston brought upon him
such heavy debts that he offered to return to the
Park Theatre, and Dunlap accordingly engaged
him and his wife. Presuming on his popularity
with the public, he again began demanding and
obtaining more parts and more pay, but when he
insisted on an equal voice in the direction of the
theatre, his employer called a halt. As Dunlap
and other writers have demonstrated, it is easy to
represent Hodgkinson as a grossly and wilfully
dishonest man, but it must be remembered that
his early training was not favorable to the de-
velopment of a rigid moral sense. He was prob-
ably seldom if ever conscious of wrong-doing.

In September 1803, Mrs. Hodgkinson died of
tuberculosis. She was, according to Dunlap, "an
amiable woman and a good wife" (post, p. 100).
This summer Hodgkinson again broke his con-
nection with New York and went to Charleston
for two successful seasons. In the spring of
1805, Dunlap having become bankrupt, Hodg-
kinson obtained the lease of the Park Theatre.
In preparation for the coming season he started
south to secure actors and also to fulfil an en-
gagement at Washington. On the way he was
seized with yellow fever and died at a tavern
near Bladensburg, Md. He was survived by two
young daughters, Fanny and Rosina, who oc-
casionally enacted juvenile characters. After
Hodgkinson's death benefits for them were given
in several cities.

[The details of Hodgkinson's life in England are
known chiefly from his own statements, not always re-
liable, recorded in an unsigned biography by S. C. Car-
penter in the Mirror of Taste, Mar .-Nov. 1810. The
main authorities for his American career are Hodgkin-
son's Narrative of his Connection with the Old Am.
Company (1797) ; Wm. Dunlap, A Hist, of the Am.
Theatre (1832) ; W. B. Wood, Personal Recollections
of the Stage (1855) ; W. W. Clapp, A Record of the
Boston Stage (1853) ; John Bernard, Retrospections of
America (1887); and Charles Durang, "The Philadel-
phia Stage," published serially in the PJviladelphia Dis-
patch from 1854 to 1860. See also G. 0. Seilhamer,
Hist, of the Am. Theatre, vol. Ill (1891) ; and G, C. D.
Odell, Annals of the N. Y. Stage, vols. I and II (1927)-]

o.s.c.

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