His wife, after a cohabitation of forty
years in the strictest amity, has long pined away with a sense of his
decay, as well in his person as in his little fortune; and in
proportion to that she has herself decayed both in health and reason.
Her husband's death, added to her age and infirmities, would certainly
have terminated her life, but that the greatness of her distress has
been her relief by her present deprivation of her senses. This absence
of her reason is her best defence against age, sorrow, poverty, and
sickness."[4] Indeed, Steele constantly testifies his fondness for the
theatre and kindly feeling towards the players, by calling attention
to the benefit performances, and bespeaking the public favour for
them, adding much curious mention and humorous criticism of the
comedians who were especially the objects of his admiration--Pinkethman,
Bullock, Underbill, Dogget, and others.
[4] The "Tatler," No. 167, May 4, 1710.
Other benefits, however, less urgently laid claim to the goodwill of
the public. At the theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the year 1726,
a performance was announced "for the benefit of an author whose play
is deferred till next season.
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