‘School for Scheming.’ On 12 July, at the Adelphi, his ‘Out on the Sly’ was played, and on 20 Dec. his spectacle, ‘The Pearl of the Ocean.’ On 10 May 1849 ‘Taken in and done for’ appeared at the Strand, and ‘Hotel Charges’ followed at the Adelphi on 13 Nov. In Taylor and Reade's ‘Two Loves and a Life’ (Adelphi, 20 March 1854) he was the first Duke of Cumberland, and on 31 May was the original M. Veaudoré in the ‘Marble Heart,’ his own adaptation of ‘Les Filles de Marbre.’ At the same house on 1 Oct. ‘My Friend the Major’ was given for the first time. On 5 March 1855 he was the original French Watchmaker in Boucicault's ‘Janet Pride.’ He was also seen at this time as Chanteloupe in ‘Victorine’ and Peppercoal in the ‘Flying Dutchman,’ and was Black Brandon in Haines's ‘My Poll and my Partner Joe.’ On 16 Nov. 1857 he was the original Dr. Neiden in the ‘Headless Man.’ His ‘Paris and Pleasure’ (‘Les Enfers de Paris’), was given at the Lyceum on 20 Nov. 1859. Selby was, on 1 March 1860, the original Flimsey in Watts Phillips's ‘Paper Wings.’ With Falconer at Drury Lane he was McIan, his last part in the manager's ‘Bonnie Dundee,’ on 23 Feb. 1863.
Selby also played Connor O'Kennedy in the ‘Green Bushes,’ Chenille in Jerrold's ‘Prisoner of War,’ on 8 Feb. 1842; Audley in his ‘Catspaw’ on 19 May 1850, and Jubilee in his ‘Retired from Business’ on 3 May 1851. Among other pieces, Selby wrote ‘Robert Macaire’ (a drama in three acts) and ‘Barnaby Rudge.’ A few of his plays are in two acts, and one or two are in three. The majority are one-act pieces of the lightest description, many of which are included in Duncombe's, Webster's, or Lacy's collection of plays. Selby had over seventy plays on the list of the Dramatic Authors' Society, and supplied with successful characters Yates, Wright, Compton, the Keeleys, Mrs. Nisbett, Mrs. Waylett, and others. He died at his residence, 27 Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, of a combination of ague and dropsy, on 21 March 1863, and was buried at Kensal Green.
His wife, also a competent actress in middle-aged or elderly characters, who in 1832 was playing five parts in the same piece at the Queen's Theatre, the ‘Adventures of a Day,’ took, after her husband's death, to instructing stage pupils. In pursuit of this scheme she opened, on 31 Aug. 1863, the Royalty with ‘Court Gallants,’ a piece of her husband's, and other entertainments. She died on 8 Feb. 1873, aged 76.
Above middle height and with a good stage presence, Selby was a useful and responsible actor. His face had naturally a quaint comic twist, such as comedians are used to cultivate. Besides his plays and his ‘Maximums and Speciments of William Muggins,’ Selby issued in 1851 a small schoolbook entitled ‘Events to be remembered in the History of England,’ which passed through many editions, and a skit called ‘The Dinner Question, by Tabitha Tickletooth,’ 1860, 12mo.
[Notes and Queries, 8th ser. ix. 211; Dramatic and Musical Review, various years; Scott and Howard's Blanchard; Era newspaper, 22 March 1863; Era Almanack, various years; Lady's Magazine; Brit. Mus. Cat.]
SELBY, PRIDEAUX JOHN (1788–1867), naturalist, was born in Bondgate Street, Alnwick, on 23 July 1788. He was the eldest son of George Selby of Beal and Twizell, Northumberland, his mother being Margaret, second daughter of John Cook, a captain in the mercantile marine, and granddaughter of Edward Cook, recorder of Berwick from 1711 to 1731. The father was head of one branch of an old and influential family long prominent in the history of Northumberland and the borders. Five members of the family received the honour of knighthood at James I's hands. One of them, Sir George Selby, mayor of Newcastle, obtained the sobriquet of King's Host from the sumptuous manner in which he entertained the king on his progresses to and from Scotland. From a very early age Prideaux Selby showed a strong bent to ornithology, and by the time that he was twelve or thirteen years of age had composed manuscript notes of the habits of our commoner birds, illustrated with coloured drawings remarkable for the delicacy of their execution and their truthfulness to nature. He received his early education at Durham school. A period of private tuition intervened before he entered as a gentleman commoner at University College, Oxford, on 2 May 1806. After spending some time at the university he left without taking a degree, and went into residence at Twizell (his father having died in 1804). He took an active part in the social and political life of his county. He was a magistrate and deputy lieutenant, and unsuccessfully contested Berwick at the general election as a reformer in 1812. In 1823 he served the office of high sheriff for Northumberland.
But he mainly devoted himself to natural history, more especially to ornithology, and after ornithology to forestry and entomology. The publication of his ‘Illustrations of British Ornithology’ (19 parts), dedicated to the Wernerian Natural History Society of Edinburgh, of which society Selby had become a
