these troublesome
miscreants will not let honest hawks sleep in security." We shall return
to the subject of these Government spies and the troubles of 1817 in the
graphic satires of George Cruikshank.

EDMUND KEAN AND BOOTH.

In 1817, the rivalry between the two national theatres ran so high, that
the Covent Garden management employed agents to scour the provinces in
search of a rival to Edmund Kean at Drury Lane. After a time one was
found in the person of Lucius Junius Booth, who in stature, _role_ of
characters, and (as it was imagined) style of acting, closely resembled,
if he did not equal, the great original. He made his _debut_ at Covent
Garden, in the character of Richard the Third. Whether it was a success
or not seems doubtful; for the manager being out of town, those deputed
to act as deputies did not care to undertake the responsibility of
engaging the new star. In this dilemma, overtures were made to him by
the rival house, which he accepted, and made his appearance as "Iago" to
Kean's "Othello" to a densely-packed audience at Drury Lane. So great
was the likeness between the two actors, that strangers were puzzled to
know which was Kean and which was Booth, until the tragedy reached the
third act, when the genius of Kean made itself felt, and no doubt
remained in the minds of the audience which was master of his art.

Booth, in fact, discovered that he had made a mistake, and the day after
his trial at old Drury, signed articles to return to Covent Garden for
three years. Here he proved a great attraction; he must have been in
truth an actor of no ordinary merit; his rendering of the character of
Lear, in particular, met with universal approbation, and in this tragedy
he was supported by actors of the ability of Charles Kemble and William
Macready, both of whom he threw into the shade. At the end, however, of
his engagement, feeling that he was incapable of meeting Kean on
anything like equal terms, he set sail for America.

The appearance of Edmund Kean and Lucius Junius Booth at Drury Lane is
referred to in a satire entitled, _The Rival Richards_, published by S.
W. Fores in 1817. The sketch (evidently the work of an amateur) shows us
Folly seated on an ass, holding in one hand a pair of scales, in one of
which stands Booth, and in the other Edmund Kean. To the mind of the
satirist there appears to be no difference in the abilities of the two
performers, as the scales exactly balance. On the righ