How this company were collected, or where they originally came from, it is probably now no longer possible to ascertain. As they were announced, upon their first appearance in New York, as a company of comedians who had come from Philadelphia, it is highly probable that they had played before in the Southern cities, and that they came originally from the West Indies, where, especially in Jamaica, theatrical companies from England had been in the habit of performing for some years previously. During the two seasons of the company in New York the following plays were given: “Richard III.”; Otway’s “Orphan”; Dryden’s “Spanish Friar”; Farquhar’s “Sir Harry Wildair,” being the sequel to the “Trip to the Jubilee”; “Recruiting Officer” and “Beaux’ Stratagem”; “George Barnwell”; “The Beggar’s Opera”; “The Distressed Mother”; Congreve’s “Love for Love” and the “Bold Stroke for a Wife”; with the following farces: “The Beau in the Suds,” “The Mock Doctor,” “The Devil to Pay,” “The Walking Statue,” “The Old Man Taught Wisdom,” “Damon and Phillida,” “Hob in the Well,” and “Miss in Her Teens.” The names of the dramatis personæ were not printed in the play-bills, for the reason, probably, that the same actor had to play different parts in the same piece, but from references made to individual performers, the following persons are known to have been members of the company: Kean and Murray, the joint managers; Messrs. Taylor, Woodham, Tremaine, Jago, Scott, Moore, Marks, and Master Dickey Murray, the manager’s son; Miss Nancy George, Miss Osborne, Mrs. Taylor, Mrs. Davis, and Mrs. Osborne. Kean, Tremaine, and Jago played in tragic parts. Murray and Taylor were comedians. Miss Nancy George and Miss Osborne were the chief ladies in comedy and tragedy. Woodham and Mrs. Taylor were comedians and vocalists, and Kean, like his more distinguished namesake, Edmund Kean, appears to have possessed some musical talent, for on the occasion of his first benefit he announces that he will sing “an oratorio.” Master Dickey Murray would seem to have been a favorite of the public. The other actors performed in subordinate parts.
