Henry Erskine Johnston

[1] John Kay alternatively states his father Robert Johnston (d.1826) thereafter ran the oyster tavern next to the Theatre Royal at Shakespeare Square in Edinburgh.

In 1797 while reciting "Collins Ode on the Passions" he came to the attention of Stephen Kemble who acted as his mentor; the Thespian Dictionary claimed that he also played Harlequin.

[3] As Sir Archy Macsarcasm in Love à la Mode (by Charles Macklin), Johnston was seen again at Covent Garden 10 December 1816, recorded as his first appearance there for twelve years.

Sir Pertinax Macsycophant in Macklin's The Man of the World followed, 27 December, and on 10 June 1817 he was the original Baltimore at the English Opera House (the Lyceum) in an operatic version of The Election of Joanna Baillie.

[6] On 24 November 1821 he was at the Olympic the Solitary in Le Solitaire, or the Recluse of the Alps, by James Robinson Planché, apparently his last appearance in London.

His major parts were Douglas, Count Romaldi in the Tale of Mystery (melodrama by Thomas Holcroft), George Barnwell in The London Merchant, Anhalt (Lovers' Vows), Alonzo in Pizarro, Merton in Marriage Promise by John Till Allingham, and Count Belfior in The Wife of Two Husbands (musical drama by James Cobb).

[9] She first saw Johnston acting in "The Storming of Seringapatan" at the Theatre Royal, Edinburgh and instantly fell in love with him, aged only 14.

She appeared as Ophelia to her husband's Hamlet at the Haymarket, 3 September 1798, and on the 17th repeated the character at Covent Garden, where she played parts in comedy and in tragedy, including Lady Macbeth.