He always
looked forward to impressing his audience deeply by his skill in
combat. Charles Mathews, the elder, has recorded in his too brief
chapters of autobiography, "his passion for fencing which nothing
could overcome." As an amateur actor he paid the manager of the
Richmond Theatre seven guineas and a half for permission to undertake
"the inferior insipid part of Richmond," who does not appear until the
fifth act of the play. The Richard of the night was a brother-amateur,
equally enthusiastic, one Litchfield by name. "I cared for nothing,"
wrote Mathews, "except the last scene of Richmond, but in that I was
determined, to have my full swing of carte and tierce. I had no notion
of paying my seven guineas and a half without indulging my passion. In
vain did the tyrant try to die after a decent time; in vain did he
give indications of exhaustion; I would not allow him to give in. I
drove him by main force from any position convenient for his last
dying speech. The audience laughed; I heeded them not. They shouted; I
was deaf. Had they hooted I should have lunged on in my
unconsciousness of their interruption.
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