same company at Bristol on the 25th. On the 28th he acted at Bath Arviragus in 'Cymbeline.' Raymond fixes his first appearance at 21 April 1792 (Life of Elliston, i. 39). An engagement was then accepted from Tate Wilkinson of the York circuit, and Elliston appeared at Leeds in 1792 as Dorilas in 'Merope.' Dissatisfied with the parts assigned him, he apologised for his escapade to Dr. Elliston, and was taken back into favour. In May 1793 he returned to London and made the acquaintance of Dr. Farmer and George Steevens, by the latter of whom he was introduced to John Kemble, who, July 1793, with the idea of giving him an engagement at Drury Lane, recommended him to study Romeo. As the new theatre was not ready, Elliston reappeared at Bath 26 Sept. 1793 in Romeo. He now sprang into favour, playing at Bath or Bristol a large number of characters in tragedy and comedy. In Bath Elliston eloped with and married, about June 1796, a Miss Rundall, a teacher of dancing, by whom he had a large family, and who, in the height of his success, continued her occupation. On 25 June 1796, by permission of Dimond, to whom he was engaged for three years, Elliston made what was probably his first appearance in London, playing at the Haymarket, under Colman, Octavian in 'The Mountaineers,' and Vapour in Prince Hoare's musical farce 'My Grandmother.' 'The Iron Chest,' the failure of which at Drury Lane, 12 March 1796, had elicited Colman's famous preface attacking Kemble, was revived at the Haymarket 29 Aug., when Elliston obtained warm recognition in Kemble's character of Sir Edward Mortimer. He also played Romeo. On 21 Sept. 1796 (Raymond, 1797) at Covent Garden, still by permission of Dimond, he appeared for one night only as Sheva in 'The Jew.' At the same house he played Young Norval and Philaster. The curious arrangement by which Dimond of Bath allowed him to appear in London once a fortnight subjected the actor to some ridicule. Bath remained his headquarters, all the leading business being gradually assigned him. He played by command before George III at Windsor, and also appeared at Weymouth, where by playing on the violin he awoke the king, who in the afternoon had retired into the royal box and fallen asleep. He also delivered at Wells and elsewhere an entertainment with songs, &c., written for him by Thomas Dibdin. During his frequent visits to London he had become a member of several clubs and acquired habits of gambling and dissipation. During the recess at Bath he managed the small theatres at Wells and Shepton Mallet. Having vainly taken some steps towards obtaining a patent for a new London theatre, and made a fruitless application to the vice-chancellor of Oxford for permission to open a theatre in that city, he accepted an engagement from Colman at the Haymarket, at which house he appeared 16 May 1803 in ' No Prelude,' which Genest assigns to Elliston and Waldron, and in 'The Jew' as Sheva, his old associate Mathews making as Jabal his first appearance in London. At the Haymarket he played during the summer seasons of 1803, 1804, 1805, and 1811. His début at Drury Lane took place 20 Sept. 1804 as Rolls in 'Pizarro.' He remained a member of the Drury Lane company until 1809, returned to it 1812–15 and again 1819–26. During the period last named he was lessee and manager of the theatre, from which in 1826 he retired ruined. His characters included most leading parts in the ancient and modern repertories of the two theatres. Among the many original parts in works by Dimond, Dibdin, Kenney, and other dramatists he played at Drury Lane, the most important are Fitzharding in Tobin's 'The Curfew,' 19 Feb. 1807, and Lothair in 'Adelgitha,' by 'Monk' Lewis, 30 April 1807. So great was the popularity of Elliston that he was compelled for his benefit, 10 Sept. 1804, to take the King's Theatre, and the public breaking through all obstacles rushed in without paying, and crowded the house in all parts, including the stage (Oulton, History of the Theatres of London, iii. 55–7). At the close of the season of 1808–9 at Drury Lane Elliston entered upon the management of the Royal Circus, which he subsequently called the Surrey Theatre. At the time when the theatre opened, Easter 1809, Elliston was engaged with the Drury Lane company, then, in consequence of the destruction of their theatre by fire, playing at the Lyceum. He did not appear accordingly at the Surrey until 16 June 1809, when he played Macheath in a burletta founded on the 'Beggar's Opera,' itself a burlesque. The next performance was as Macbeth, in a burletta on that tragedy. The following season, the theatre having been converted into the Surrey, Miss Sally Booth [q. v.] appeared in a burletta founded on the 'Beaux' Stratagem,' in which Elliston was Archer. While the house was closed Elliston meanwhile had undertaken the management of the theatres at Manchester and Birmingham, and had opened in 1811, in John Street, Bristol, a 'Literary Association' connected with a shop for the sale of secondhand books. A bloodless duel with De Camp the actor belongs to September 1812. On 19 April 1813, while still retaining the Surrey, he opened, under the
