s of mimicry at his father's dinner-table. At
that time he did not expect to earn his living by them, for he came of
well-to-do people, and his mother, who was of aristocratic birth,
inherited a comfortable fortune.

Throughout his school days at Worcester and his college days at
Worcester College, Oxford, where he did not remain long enough to take
a degree, and the idle days when he was supposed to be studying law at
the Temple and was in reality frequenting coffee-houses and
drawing-rooms as a young man of fashion, he was establishing a
reputation for repartee, _bons mots_, and satiric imitation. So, when
the wasteful youth had squandered all his money, he naturally turned
to the stage as offering him the best opportunity. Like many another
amateur addicted to a mistaken ambition, Foote first tried tragedy,
and made his debut as Othello. But in this and in other tragedies he
was a failure; so he soon took to writing comic plays with parts
especially adapted to himself. 'The Diversions of the Morning' was the
first of a long series, of which 'The Mayor of Garratt,' 'The Lame
Lover,' 'The Nabob,' and 'The Minor,' are among the best known. As
these were written from the actor's rather than from the dramatist's
point of view, they often seem faulty in construction and crude in
literary quality. They are farces rather than true comedies. But they
abound in witty dialogue, and in a satire which illuminates
contemporary vices and follies.

Foote seems to have been curiously lacking in conscience. He lived his
life with a gayety which no poverty, misfortune, or physical suffering
could long dampen. When he had money he spent it lavishly, and when
the supply ran short he racked his clever brains to make a new hit. To
accomplish this he was utterly unscrupulous, and never spared his
friends or those to whom he was indebted, if he saw good material in
their foibles. His victims smarted, but his ready tongue and personal
geniality usually extricated him from consequent unpleasantness.
Garrick, who aided him repeatedly, and who dreaded ridicule above all
things, was his favorite butt, yet remained his friend. The irate
members of the East India Company, who called upon him armed with
stout cudgels to administer a castigation for an offensive libel in
'The Nabob,' were so speedily mollified that they laid their cudgels
aside with their hats, and accepted his invitation to dinner.

To us, much of his charm has evaporated, for it