Macready appeared at Covent Garden Theatre, 18 September 1786, as Flutter in the Belle's Stratagem, and remained there ten years, playing parts such as Gratiano, Paris, Young Marlow, Figaro, Fag, and Tattle in Love for Love, and producing two plays by himself [REF].
At Covent Garden Macready took only supporting roles, to 1797: he was one of the proverbial "second-rate walking gentlemen" [REF].