n 1820, Quick
and Bannister excepted. What a fine president would Munden have been of
the _Garrick Club_, the members of which probably know as much about
Garrick as they care about Thespis. Acquaintance with an actor fed Munden's
_penchant_ for the stage, but did not fill his pocket. Both started for
Liverpool, the actor upon an engagement, but Munden in _hope_ of one; the
latter engaged in the office of the Town Clerk, but only realized his hope
in copying for the theatre, walking in processions, and bearing banners,
at one shilling per night! At length he _acted_ the _first Carrier_ in
_Henry IV_. He next joined a company at Rochdale, which he soon left, and
returning to Liverpool, smothered his dramatic passion for two years, when
he started for Chester, with a light heart, a bundle wardrobe, and a
guinea. He entered Chester with his "last shilling," which he paid for
admission to the theatre, little thinking of provision for the night. Yet
Munden, in later life, was a prudent, parsimonious man. At the close of
the performance he fell in with a person who had been a butcher's
apprentice in Brooks's Market, and who remembering young Joseph's antic
tricks, gave him good cheer, and money for his return to London. On the
road, necessity overtook him, when meeting a Warwickshire militia-man, who
was marching to the town at which he was billeted, Munden prevailed on the
soldier to represent him as a comrade. The trick told: he was ordered to
the general mess-room and received as one among the warriors; and his
lively humour made him king of the company for the night. Next morning the
regiment mustered, and Munden was told to follow and be enlisted; but, as
he had obtained all he wished, a supper and a bed, he left his military
friends to their glory,[1] and proceeded to London. Here he again returned
to the law, but once more emerged from it, and joined a company at
Leatherhead, as a representative of old men. But the theatre was burnt.
Munden next played at Windsor with tolerable success, at half a guinea per
week; and subsequently at Colnbrook and Andover. He returned to London,
and thence went to Canterbury, in 1780, to play low comedy characters,
where he first became what theatrical biographers term "a favourite."
After other provincial engagements and a short trial of management at
Sheffield, Munden appeared December 2, 1790, (a few nights after the first
appearance of Incledon,) at Covent Garden Theatre as _Sir Franc