t of great powers and of exquisite
taste; he had long striven to enhance the character of our music; he was
the master of English song, but he felt, from his close cultivation of
music and his knowledge of the genius of his countrymen, that much was
wanting, and that more could be accomplished, and he sought out, while
in Europe, an Italian _troupe_, which his persuasive eloquence and the
liberal spirit of Price led to embark for our shores where they arrived
in November, 1825." Stephen Price here referred to by Dr. Francis was
the manager of the old Park Theater. Dominick Lynch's grandson, Nicholas
Luquer, who with his charming wife, formerly Miss Helen K. Shelton of
New York, resides in Washington, and his son, Lynch Luquer, inherit the
musical ability of their ancestor.

The great actors of the day performed in the Park Theater. I also
vividly remember the Bowery Theater, as well as in subsequent years
Burton's Theater in Chambers Street and the Astor Place Theater. When
William C. Macready, the great English actor, was performing in the
latter in 1849 a riot occurred caused by the jealousy existing between
him and his American rival, Edwin Forrest. Forrest had not been well
received in England owing, as he believed, to the unfriendly influence
of Macready. While the latter was considered by many the better actor,
Forrest was exceptionally popular with a certain class of people in New
York whose sympathies were easily enlisted and whose passions were
readily aroused. During the evening referred to, while Macready was
acting in the _role_ of Macbeth, a determined mob attacked the theater,
and the riot was not quelled until after a bitter struggle, in which the
police and the military were engaged, and during which twenty-one were
killed and thirty-three wounded.

In consequence of this unfortunate rivalry and its bloody results,
Forrest became morbid, and his domestic infelicities that followed
served to still further embitter his life. In 1850 his wife instituted
proceedings for divorce in the Superior Court of the City of New York,
and the trial was protracted for two years. She was represented by the
eminent jurist, Charles O'Conor, while Forrest employed "Prince" John
Van Buren, son of the ex-President. The legal struggle was one of the
most celebrated in the annals of the New York bar. There was abundant
evidence of moral delinquency on the part of both parties to the suit,
but the verdict was in favor of Mrs. F