It was resolved at last by the frknds of the anther, in December 1756, to have on the Edinburgh stage, and the result fir exceeded their most sanguine expectations. Des performed Young Norval ; and Lady Randolph was personated by Mrs Ward. The theatre was crowded night after night, and the applause of the audience was mmulta mu. Not only all the literati attended, but most of the judges and other grave characters, whose presence, in the theatre, excited great surprise and not a little scandaL Before this time the inhabitants of Edin burgh bad not been much accustomed to dramatic entertainments, as the leaders of the church bad Ge nerally had sufficient influence to induce the civil power to suppress them. In the year 1727, the Presbytery of Edinburgh issued an Admonition against the Stage; and, in 1783, in consequence of a sermon on the Use and Abase ef Diversions, by Mr George Andersen, a misiemer of Edinburgh, various pamphlets were published ; particularly one by Mr Anderson himself, in which be denounced the stage as an unchristian diversion, and repeated all the ar guments against a adduced by Prynne, Rimer, Bax ter, and Collier. Following the example of their predecessors, this body issued a similar admonition and exhortation to all within their bounds on the 3th of January 1757 ; and not only suspended Mr White, minister of Libberton, for having been pre sent at the performance of Douglas, but wrote let ters to the presbyteries of Haddington, Dalkeith, Ayr, Chirnside, and Dunse, informing against those of their members who had been guilty of the same indecorum. Some of the clergymen accused were allowed to escape with a gentle rebuke ; but Dr Car lyle was libelled, as it is called, by his presbytery, at the instigation, as he believed, of an eminent lawyer, then Lord Advocate, whose conduct, on that occa sion, was afterwards sufficiently avenged by the ri dicule heaped upon him in a humorous political satire (by Dr Adam Fergusson), entitled The His tory of Sister Peg. Several abusive pamphlets against the play and its supporters were known to proceed from the minions of this gentleman, who was then rising to a degree of consequence which soon supplanted the declining influence of Lord Milton. • After the play had been so amazingly successful in Edinburgh, it was eagerly admitted on the stage of Covent-Garden early in 1757, but Garrick still excluded it from Drury-Lane. The triumph of the author was, however, in no small degree abated by the prosecution of his friends in the church courts, and by his own threatened deposition. The subject was brought before the General Assembly by Dr Carlyle in the form of an appeal from a sentence of the Synod of Lothian and Tweeddale ; and a de cision favourable to the appellant was carried by a great majority of 117 to 87. The result of this vote checked the introduction of a very severe Overture, which was intended to have been enacted into a law ; and next day another motion was substituted, so le nient as to be seconded by Mr Dempster of Dunni. then, the friend of Home and Carlyle,—in conse quence of which the Assembly passed a declaratory law, prohibiting the clergy to attend the theatre, but not discharging them from writing plays. Im mediately afterwards, Mr Home thought it expe dient to resign his charge ; and having preached a most pathetic sermon, which deeply affected his congregation, he took leave of them in the be ginning of June 1757, without having incurred any 'ecclesiastical censure. He then retired for three months to private lodgings at Braid, near Edinburgh, where he gave the finishing hand to the paly of Agis. t From the moment when Mr Home resigned his living, the prospects of his worldly prosperity began to brighten. The people of England, ever alive to sentiments of compassion, regarded him as a victim to the rigour of Presbyterian bigotry ; and though their critics decried the merits of Douglas, as being a faulty and languid composition, not sufficiently re• lieved by either pathos or elegance of expression, they admitted that it exhibited unquestionable indi cations of true poetic genius, and a power of awak ening the most elevated as well as the most tender emotions. Men of the highest rank and influence expected to gain popularity by patronising the au thor, who, after being known to possess the good graces of the Dukes of Cumberland and Argyle, was warmly recommended by his friend, Sir Gilbert El liot, to the Earl of Bute, who then superintended the education of the Prince of Wales, afterwards George III. The Princess Dowager of Wales gave him a pension of L. 100 a•year, an allowance equal to the value of the living which be had resigned ; and assurances were given him of a more ample pro vision at no distant period.
In one respect, the partiality of his literary friends, and the favour of the great, had an injt.-rious effect on his future fame, not only by producing an im pression that he gained by flattering assiduities what merit alone was seldom known to procure, but by exciting expectations in the minds of numbers that his more mature exertions would far surpass the ear liest specimen of his powers as a dramatic writer.
The warm encomiums of David Hume were natu rally ascribed to the partiality of but the opinion expressed by Gray the poet, that the tra gedy of Douglas had " retrieved the true language of the stage, lost for three hundred years," seemed to imply a preference of the muse of Home even to that of Shakspeare himself. The objections of Garrick to the tragedy of Agis were no longer urged ; and though this was in fact the earliest effort of an un practised writer, it appeared under the disadvantage of being considered as a work of higher pretensions than that which had already been so well received by the public. It is also to be presumed, that, though in its finished state it retained many lofty sentiments of freedom and patriotism, yet, as the author began to breathe the atmosphere of a court, he was tempted to soften some of his boldest images ; so that the piece may have lost in spirit more than it gained in polish. It was brought out at Drury Lane in 1758, and, partly owing to the admirable acting of Garrick in the character of Lysander, had a successful run of nine nights. The author clear ed several hundred pounds, but the anticipations of the public were not fulfilled. " I cry," said Gray, " to think it should have been by the author of Douglas. Why, it is all modern Greek. The story is an antique statue, painted white and red, frizzed and dressed in a negligee made by a York shire mantua-maker." In 1759, the Siege of Aquileia was first performed at Drury-Lane, but was by no means so successful as Garrick had expected. Garrick and Home were now on the most intimate footing; and as Home lis tened with much deference to the criticisms of this great actor, and generally followed his advice,—he, on the other hand, courted the good graces of Home, by consulting him in his difficulties, and soliciting him to act as his friend, or second, in certain quar rels, which threatened to terminate in duels. Early in 1760, Mr Home's three first plays were published in one volume, which was dedicated to the Prince of Wales. After the accession of the Prince to the throne, the Earl of Bute became Prime Minister ; and from this period Mr Home for many years lived constant ly with his Lordship, at least from October to May, and was well known to possess the first place in his confidence and favour. Mr Home was always most active in promoting the interest of those who called themselves his friends, and conferred the most va luable obligations on many individuals, who were more forward to solicit his services than to testify their gratitude. But it is well known, that he never teased his patron with applications in his own be half; and it is believed, that he might have been overlooked altogether, if Lord Bute had not been prompted by another friend to bestow upon him some honourable and lucrative appointment. A pen sion of L.300 a-year was granted to him in July 1762, and another of equal amount was at the same time conferred on Dr Johnson. In the course of the following year, the place of Conservator of Scots Privileges at Campvere was bestowed upon him, the value of which appointment was also L. 300 a-year ; and from this period his name appears annually in the list of members of the General Assembly, as el der for the church of Campvere, under the title of Lord Conservator. He regularly attended the meet ings of the Assembly, and took a lively interest in the proceedings. He had little turn for busi ness, but he occasionally spoke with much ener gy and effect. He was ambitious to have a seat in the House of Commons, and repeatedly sig nified his wishes, which at one period might have been easily fulfilled, if he had not been dissuaded by Sir Gilbert Elliot and Sir William Pulteney, not on ly because they knew that he would be considered as disqualified, by having been in orders, but be cause they were convinced that, even if that objec tion were not started, he would make no great fi gure as a debater. When in London, lie lived on terms of great cordiality with Armstrong, Smol let, Dr Pitcairn, Dr William Hunter, Mr Wedder burn, afterwards Chancellor, and the Honourable Charles Townshend. He had a particular sure in fostering rising merit. In the year 1759, he stimulated James Macpherson to collect what were called the Poems of Ossian ; and he after wards accompanied him on one of his tours, part ly with the hope of sharing in the pleasure of dis covering the poetical remains of distant ages, but chiefly with the purpose of searching for materials which might throw light on the history of the rebel lion in 1745.