Life
1729-1774; actor-manager, b. Dunmore, Co. Galway, son of the rector of Tuam; ed. at Digges St. Grammar School, Dublin, and TCD; appeared Smock Alley, 28 Nov. 1749; engaged by Garrick for Drury lane, 1751, and acted with him in London until 1759 when he returned to play at Crow St., 1759; took over Smock Alley management in rivalry to Crow St., 1760; gained the patronage of Countess of Brandon, Miss Caulfield sister of Charlemont and Lady Rachel MacDonald; exploited the vogue for English opera; then tried to manage both theatres; lost heavily through gambling, and retired ruined from Smock Alley, to be succeeded as manager by Thomas Ryder; imprisoned in London for debt while seeking recruits, 1771; toured on the continent for a year; died in poverty, Chelsea, 18 Nov. 1773 [27 Dec. acc. obit. in Gentleman’s Magazine]. RR ODNB DIB OCIL
There is a short life in Richard Ryan, Biographia Hibernica: [...] Irish Worthies Vol. II (1821), p.443-44:
Henry Mossop [B]orn in Ireland in 1729. His father was rector of Tuam, in the province of Connaught. Henry, as well as his lather, Was bred in Trinity College, Dublin, where he obtained his degree. His first appearance on the stage was at Smock Alley, November 28th, 1749, in the character of Zanga (Revenge), which he played three successive nights with uncommon applause. His next character was Richard; after which he quarrelled with the manager, went to London, and appeared at Drury Lane in the last character with considerable success. He continued acting in London, and occasionally in Dublin, till the year when he became manager of Smock Alley, in opposition to Barry and Woodward. This contention, which led to the ruin of his rivals, completed his own, and after various turns of fortune, excluded from Drury Lane and Covent Garden Theatres, he died at Chelsea, November 1773, aged forty-three, in extreme poverty, having only one halfpenny in his possession at his decease. Mr. Garrick proposed to bury him at his own expense; but he uncle prevented that offer from taking place. This actor excelled most in characters of ire, ambition, and regal tyranny. He had a strong and harmonious voice, which could rise from the lowest note to the highest pitch of sound, and was indeed one of the most comprehensive ever heard. Notwithstanding, in his accents there were frequent improprieties, as Churchill has remarked, and in tender passages, he was exceedingly aukward [sic]. He was censured by the critics for too much mechanism in his action and delivery: the frequent resting of his left hand on his hip, with his right hand extended, was ludicrously compared to the handle and spout of a teapot, whilst others called him, ‘The distiller of syllables.’ He was exceedingly vain of his abilities, and that vanity (as is generally the case) was accompanied with jealousy. He was offended that Garrick should play Richard after his [443] performance of it at Drury Lane. In acting (we are informed) he frequently worked himself up to a belief that he was the very person he represented, and one night when he returned home to his lodgings after performing King Richard, he flew into a violent passion with his servant, who appeared before him with a small candle, and asked him if that was a taper fit to light his majesty to bed? Notwithstanding all his defects, he was in London, after Garrick and Barry, the most applauded and valuable actor.’
[See full-text copy in RICORSO > Library > Criticism [...] > Legacy - via index as attached]
Notes
Sir John Gilbert quotes Churchill on the actor: ‘Mossop, attach’d to military plan, / Still kept his eye fix’d on his right hand man. / Whilst the mouth measures words with seeming skill, / The right hand labours, and the left lies still / For he resolv’d on Scripture grounds to go / What the right doth, the left hand shall not know. / With studied impropriety of speech / He soars beyond the hackney critic’s reach [... &c.].’ (History of the City of Dublin II, rep. edn. 1972, p. 97),
[ top ]