Biography

"Master Burke, known as the 'Irish Roscius', was a contemporary with Clara Fisher and made his debut in Dublin in the role of Tom Thumb. Although Master Burke was an accomplished musician who became more famous as a violinist than as an actor, Moncreiff states that he refrained from including elements such as 'Hornpipes and Musical Displays, Pantomimic change of dress, and unnatural and impossible a assumptions of adult character,' which may have brought him a 'noisier popularity' and all of which are features of The Spoiled Child, in order 'to shew the Histrionic talents of Master Burke, in a rational and genuine point of view.'