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    -Obituary.—Mr. Bowles* 277

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    Untitled Article

    just and faithful portraiture of the character he had to represent . I used to think him most happy in the personation of the heroes of ancient Rome , and of these particularly Brutus , Coriolanus , and Cato . To this line of characters he had to add the very opposite one of

    genteel comedy , and those who knew him only of late years would scarcely believe that ever he could have attempted Ranger , or Charles Surface , and still less that his attempt was a successful one . If his representation of these characters wanted some of the exuberant

    flow of animal spirits which their perfect delineation would demand , it never degenerated into the noisy , vulgar exhibition which has sometimes been made of them . It was in 1800 , immediately after Mr . Bowles ' s joining the Norwich company , that my acquaintance with him commenced . We had then only one kindred feeling—the love of music . This brought us regularly into contact every week , and thus was laid the foundation of a

    friendship which death alone has ended . Though he came to Norwich a perfect stranger , Mr . Bowles ' s gentlemanly manners , correct conduct , and mental cultivation , soon procured for him an introduction into some of the best society that the city afforded , and the friendship

    of some of its most accomplished and respectable inhabitants . I believe it was by accident that he first attended the Octagon Chapel . The subject of religion had , previously to this , never beeu discussed by us , as 1 knew him to be a regular and I believed a conscientious

    and satisfied worshiper at the Kstablished Church . I now found that he had long he en among the number of those who liad been troubled with doubts and misgivings as to the agreementof her creeds and articles with the teachings of Christ and liis apostles . My friend was not a man to take up or lay down any opinion hastily . He applied himself closely to the investigation of the subject , and the issue was his firm conviction of the

    identity of Unitarianism with scriptural Christianity . Having come to this conclusion , be hesitated not to make an open avowal of his convictions by regularly attending twice in the day upon Unitarian worship in whatever town his

    professional duties placed him . Nor , to the best of my knowledge , did this honourable conduct cause him the loss of any of his former friends . L continued , after that time , to meet him at the houses of several clergymen and inemitei'H of the Church of Kn gland with

    Untitled Article

    whom he had been previously accustomed to visit . During the last two or three years of Ms belonging to the Norwich company lie was appointed by Mr . Wilkins ( the patentee ) to the troublesome office of stage-manager , the additional emolument of which scarcely compensated for the irksome and unthankful task of

    reconciling the jarring claims of the various candidates for public favour . To the profession of an actor he had , for some time , shewed a growing dislike ; at length he determined to quit it altogether , and , by the advice of his friends , to undertake one for which he was

    eminently fitted , that of a school-master . He took his leave of the stage before the largest and probably the most respectable audience that ever filled the Norwich Theatre . There was no previous instance of such a receipt as on that night . Persons of the highest rank and consideration in the city seemed

    anxious to testify their regard for a man who had no claim to their notice save what his own high character and uniform good conduct had earned . To the art of benefit-making he was a total stranger , and never mixed with the various convivial companies in which provincial and even metropolitan actors find it their interest to associate . They were

    no company for each other . Hence there was no party got up on this occasion , no cauvasingor scheming to get a house . It was the spontaneous and honourable testimony of a numerous community to the private worth of an individual . It happened that at this time the small congregation of Filby , a village in the neighbourhood of Yarmouth , was without a minister , and Mr . liowles , having determined to fix his residence at that town , consented to supply the vacancy .

    His connexion with this society continued till his death . At Yarmouth , being one of the towns in the Norwich theatrical circuit , he was almost as well known as

    at Norwich , and his school opened with very flattering prospects . His modest , unobtrusive habits , and his utter contempt of all quackery and puffing , prevented his enjoying that measure of public support to which he was so well entitled ; and among his Unitarian brethren he was almost unknown . He never visited London but once in his life , and for the last thirty years he scarcely ever wandered beyond Norfolk and Suffolk . His whole mind was £ iren to the performance of his duties , and to thrust himself into public notice he was

    -Obituary.—Mr. Bowles* 277

    -Obituary . —Mr . Bowles * 277

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1830, page 277, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2583/page/61/