Quin

Quin, JAMES, a celebrated actor, was born in London, of Irish descent, 24th February 1693, and made his first appearance on the stage in 1714 at Dublin. Shortly after he proceeded to London, where he was engaged at Drury Lane, but for quite inferior parts. In 1716, however, the sudden illness of a leading actor led to Quin's being called on to sustain the character of Bajazet in the once famous play of Tamerlane. His success was marked. Next year he exchanged Drury Lane for Rich's theatre at Lincoln's Inn Fields, where he remained as a principal actor for seventeen years. Not long after leaving the former place he had the misfortune to kill a brother-actor in a duel—a circumstance which clouded his reputation for a while. The only really fine parts which he seems to have played were Captain Macheath in the Beggars' Opera and Falstaff in the Merry Wives of Windsor. In 1734-35 he returned to Drury Lane Theatre, 'on such terms,' says Cibber, 'as no hired actor had before received;' and from this date until the appearance of Garrick in 1741 he was by universal consent the first actor in England. In 1746 Quin and Garrick acted together in the Fair Penitent, as a contest for pre-eminence. The novelty of seeing the two rival actors in the same tragedy, and the admirable acting of Mrs Cibber as the Fair Penitent, contributed greatly to the extraordinary success of this play. The superiority of Garrick was acknowledged by the best judges; and Quin, by no means pleased at his rising fame, sarcastically declared that 'Garrick was a new religion, and that Whitefield was followed for a time, but they would all come to church again.' In 1751 he withdrew from the stage, and fixed his residence at Bath, where he died, January 21, 1766. In society Quin was also popular, his conversation being full of wit and his stories amusing though coarse. He had a most benevolent heart, and among his many kind actions he was able on one occasion to do a great service to Thomson by delivering him from arrest, and afterwards lived 'in fond intimacy' with the poet, as Johnson tells us in his Lives of the Poets. An anonymous Life of Quin, dedicated to Garrick in 1766, was reprinted in 1887, with a supplement of corrections and additional information.