Harcourt Courtly in 'London Assurance,' Monsieur Jacques in the musical piece so named, Duke Anatole in the 'Island of Bachelors,' Charles in Byron's 'Oil and Vinegar,' Sir Peter Teazle, Tony Lumpkin, and Tourbillon in 'To Parents and Guardians.' At the Globe on 15 April 1876 he was the first Dr. Downward in Wilkie Collins's 'Miss Gwilt,' having previously at the Haymarket on 5 Feb. played Chappuis in Taylor's 'Anne Boleyn.' On 30 Sept. at the Prince of Wales's he was in 'Peril' the first Sir Woodbine Grafton. The Rev. Noel Haygarth in the 'Vicarage' followed on 31 March 1877, and Baron Stein in 'Diplomacy' on 12 Jan. 1878. There also he played Sam Gerridge in 'Caste' and Tom Dibbles in 'Good for Nothing.' On 27 Sept. 1879 he was the first John Hamond, M.P., in 'Duty.' At the opening by the Bancrofts of the Haymarket on 31 Jan. 1880 he played Graves in 'Money.' He was Lord Ptarmigan in 'Society,' and Demarets in 'Plot and Passion.' At the Court theatre, in the management of which he was subsequently associated with John Clayton [q. v. Suppl.], he was on 24 Sept. 1881 the first Baron Verduret in 'Honour.' At this house he was the first Connor Hennessy in the 'Rector' on 24 March 1883, and subsequently played Mr. Guyon in the 'Millionaire,' Richard Blackburn in 'Margery's Lovers,' Buxton Scott in 'Young Mrs. Winthrop,' Lord Henry Tober in the 'Opal Ring,' Mr. Posket in the 'Magistrate,' Vere Queckett in the ' School-mistress,' and Blore in ' Dandy Dick.' The theatre then closed. When, under Mrs. John Wood and Mr. A. Chudleigh, the new house opened (24 Sept. 1888), he was the first Miles Henniker in 'Mamma.' On 7 Feb. 1889 he played at the Comedy Pickwick in a cantata so named. At the Court he was S. Berkeley Brue in 'Aunt Jack' on 13 July, Sir Julian Twembley in the 'Cabinet Minister' on 23 April 1890, the Duke of Donoway in the 'Volcano' on 14 March 1891, and Stuart Crosse in the 'Late Lamented' on 6 May. At the Comedy he was on 21 April 1892 the first Charles Deakin in the 'Widow,' and at the Court Sir James Bramston in the 'Guardsman' on 20 Oct. On 18 Feb. 1893 he repeated at the Garrick Baron Stein. He suffered much from gout, died at the Orleans Club, Brighton, on 16 April 1896, and was buried at Mortlake. In addition to his performances, the list of which is not quite complete, he gave entertainments in society and wrote songs which had some vogue. He was a thorough artist and a clever actor, more remarkable for neatness than robustness or strength.
[Personal knowledge; Pascoe's Dramatic List; Cook's Nights at the Play; Scott and Howard's Blanchard; Dramatic Peerage; The Theatre, various years; Era Almanack, various years; Sunday Times, various years; Hollingshead's Gaiety Chronicles.]
CECIL, alias SNOWDEN, JOHN (1558–1626), priest and political adventurer, was born in 1558 of parents who lived at Worcester. He was educated at Trinity College, Oxford (Douay Diaries, p. 303), became a Roman catholic, joined the seminary at Rheims in August 1583, and in April of the following year, when he was twenty-six years of age, passed to the English college at Rome (Foley, Records, Diary of the College, p. 164), where he received holy orders. For eighteen months (1587-8) he acted as Latin secretary to Cardinal Allen, and afterwards spent two years in Spain, and was with Father Parsons at his newly erected seminary at Valladolid. Early in 1591 Parsons sent Cecil, with another priest, Fixer, alias Wilson, into England, via Amsterdam; but the vessel in which they sailed was captured by her Majesty's ship Hope in the Channel, and the two priests were carried to London. Here they at once came to terms with Lord Burghley. Cecil had already in 1588 corresponded, under the name of Juan de Campo, with Sir Francis Walsingham. He now declared that although he and his companion had been entrusted with treasonable commissions by Parsons, in preparation for a fresh attack upon England by the Spanish forces, they nevertheless detested all such practices, and had resolved to reveal them to the government at the first opportunity. Cecil hoped to obtain liberty of conscience for catholic priests who eschewed politics, and, with the view of helping to distinguish loyal from disloyal clergy, he willingly undertook to serve the queen as secret informer, provided that he was not compelled to betray catholic as catholic, or priest as priest. On this understanding he was sent, at his own request, into Scotland. For the next ten years this clever adventurer contrived, without serious difficulty, to combine the characters of a zealous missionary priest, a political agent of the Scottish catholic earls in rebellion against their king, and a spy in the employment of Burghley and Sir Robert Cecil. In Scotland he resided generally with Lord Seton, and acted as confessor or spiritual director of Barclay of Ladyland. When George Kerr was captured, on his starting for Spain with the 'Spanish Blanks,' 31 Dec. 1592, there were found among his papers letters from John Cecil to Cardinal Allen and to Parsons, assuring
