,,transcriber',s ,,note ,italic text is denoted by underscores4 ,the oe ligature has been replaced by 'oe' or ',,oe'4 ,obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within the text and consultation of external sources4 ,more detail can be found at the end of the book4 ,,note4--,three ,hundred copies of this ,edition printed on fine deckle-edge ,royal #hvo paper4 ,the fifty ,portraits are given in duplicate1 one on ,japanese and the other on plate paper1 as ,india proofs4 ,each of these copies is numbered4 ,no4 4444444444 ,their ,majesties' ,servants ,,dr4 ,,doran1 ,f4,s4,a4 ,,volume ,,the ,,first ,ballantyne ,press ,,ballantyne1 ,,hanson ,,and ,,co4 ,,edinburgh ,,and ,,london ,illustration3 7,frontispiece1 ,dr4 ,doran7 ,,their ,,majesties' ,,servants ,,annals ,,of ,,the ,,english ,,stage ,,from ,,thomas ,,betterton ,,to ,,edmund ,,kean ,,by ,,dr4 ,,doran1 ,f4,s4,a4 ,,edited ,,and ,,revised ,,by ,,robert ,w4 ,,lowe ,with ,fifty ,copperplate ,portraits and ,eighty ,wood ,engravings ,,in ,,three ,,volumes ,,volume ,,the ,,first ,,london ,,john ,c4 ,,nimmo #ad1 ,,king ,,william ,,street1 ,,strand ,,mdccclxxxviii ,,preface4 ,it is unnecessary to apologise for a new edition of ,dr4 ,doran's ,annals of the ,stage4 ,the two editions already published have been for many years out of print1 and the first is so rare that copies of it bring a high price whenever they occur for sale4 ,and this demand is not a mere bibliographical accident1 for the book has held for many years a recognised position as the standard popular history of the ,english stage4 ,the admirable work of ,genest1 indispensable as it is to every writer on theatrical history1 and to every serious student of the stage1 is in no sense a popular work1 and is1 indeed1 rather a collection of facts towards a history than a history itself4 ,in preparing this new edition every effort has been made to add to its interest by the introduction of portraits and other illustrations1 and to its authority as a book of reference1 by correcting those errors which are scarcely to be avoided by a writer working among the confused1 inaccurate1 and contradictory documents of theatrical history4 ,no one who has not ventured into this maze can conceive the difficulty of keeping the true path1 and ,i can imagine nothing better calculated to sap one's self-confidence than the task of noting the false turnings made by such a writer as ,dr4 ,doran4 ,i can hardly hope that my own work1 light as it is in comparison with his1 will be found free from sins of omission1 and even of commission4 ,my principle has been to pass no error1 however trifling2 but1 at the same time1 ,i have not thought myself entitled to discuss matters of opinion1 or to criticise1 either directly or indirectly1 ,dr4 ,doran's treatment of his subject4 ,thus it would be easy to supplement the information regarding the ancient theatres and the theatre of ,shakspeare's time contained in the first and second chapters2 but1 as ,dr4 ,doran obviously intended that his real work should begin with the ,restoration ,theatres1 ,i have not interfered with his scheme4 ,i trust that1 in this1 as in other respects1 my work has been done in a spirit free from captiousness4 ,the illustrations to this edition have been chosen1 not from the book illustrator's point of view1 but with a serious desire to increase its value as a history4 ,in the case of the portraits1 those which ,dr4 ,doran specially mentions1 have1 wherever it was possible1 been selected1 and in every instance ,i believe the portrait given is an accurate and trustworthy likeness4 ,the headpieces1 intended to form a supplement to the full-page illustrations1 include portraits of persons whose importance scarcely justified their place among the larger pictures1 drawings of theatres1 and of actors in character4 ,the tailpieces are reproductions of ,sayer's beautiful little drawings of ,garrick and his contemporaries in their best characters2 and in their case no chronological arrangement is possible4 ,for many valuable notes ,i am indebted to the kindness of ,mr4 ,alban ,doran1 who intrusted to me his father's annotated copy of this work4 ,these notes have in every case been acknowledged and marked ,doran ,,ms4 ,,robert ,w4 ,,lowe4 ,,london1 ,september #ahhg4 ,,contents4 ,,chapter ,i4 ,,page ,,prologue #a ,,chapter ,,ii4 ,,the ,,decline ,,and ,,fall ,,of ,,the ,,players #cg ,,chapter ,,iii4 ,,the ,,boy ,,actresses1 ,,and ,,the ,,young ,,ladies #fj ,,chapter ,,iv4 ,,the ,,gentlemen ,,of ,,the ,,king',s ,,company #if ,,chapter ,v4 ,,thomas ,,betterton #aji ,,chapter ,,vi4 ,,exeunt ,,and ,,enter #acf ,,chapter ,,vii4 ,,elizabeth ,,barry #adi ,,chapter ,,viii4 ,,their ,,first ,,appearance ,,on ,,the ,,stage #afb ,,chapter ,,ix4 ,,the ,,dramatic ,,poets #ahc ,,chapter ,x4 ,,professional ,,authors #bac ,,chapter ,,xi4 ,,the ,,dramatic ,,authoresses #bcg ,,chapter ,,xii4 ,,the ,,audiences ,,of ,,the ,,seventeenth ,,century #bdf ,,chapter ,,xiii4 ,a ,,seven ,,years' ,,rivalry #bgd ,,chapter ,,xiv4 ,,the ,,united ,,and ,,the ,,disunited ,,companies #caj ,,chapter ,,xv4 ,,union1 ,,strength1 ,,prosperity #cag ,,chapter ,,xvi4 ,,competition1 ,,and ,,what ,,came ,,of ,,it #ccg ,,chapter ,,xvii4 ,,the ,,progress ,,of ,,james ,,quin1 ,,and ,,decline ,,of ,,barton ,,booth #cef ,,chapter ,,xviii4 ,,barton ,,booth #cia ,,list ,,of ,,copperplate ,,portraits4 ,,volume ,i4 ,,engraved ,,by ,,messrs4 ,,annan ,,swan1 ,,london4 ,,page ,i4 ,,dr4 ,,doran ,frontispiece ,,ii4 ,,richard ,,burbage #af ,,iii4 ,,nathaniel ,,field ,from an original picture in ,dulwich #bf ,college ,,iv4 ,,edward ,,alleyn ,do4 do4 #dc ,v4 ,,john ,,lowen ,from an original picture in the #di ,ashmolean ,museum1 ,oxford ,,vi4 ,,nell ,,gwyn ,from the picture by ,gascar #hc ,,vii4 ,,michael ,,mohun ,from the original in the ,dorset #ajj ,collection ,,viii4 ,,joseph ,,harris ,as ,cardinal ,wolsey #acf ,,ix4 ,,anthony ,,leigh ,as ,dominique in the ,spanish #add ,friar ,x4 ,,elizabeth ,,barry ,from the original of ,sir ,godfrey #afj ,kneller ,,xi4 ,,thomas ,,betterton ,do4 do4 #ahe ,,xii4 ,,colley ,,cibber ,from the picture by ,grisoni #bff ,,xiii4 ,,mrs4 ,,bracegirdle #cjb ,,xiv4 ,,james ,,quin ,from the original by ,hudson #ccd ,,xv4 ,,lavinia ,,fenton #chd ,,xvi4 ,,barton ,,booth #djj ,,list ,,of ,,illustrations ,,on ,,wood4 ,,volume ,i4 ,,engraved ,,by ,,del ,,orme ,,butler1 ,,london1 ,,and ,,printed ,,on ,,japanese ,,paper ,,by ,,ed4 ,,badoureau1 ,,london4 ,,page #a4 ,,the ,,bear ,,garden--,sixteenth ,century #a #b4 ,,the ,,swan ,,theatre--,as it appeared in #afad #cg #c4 ,,the ,,globe ,,theatre--,sixteenth ,century #fj #d4 ,,the ,,fortune ,,theatre--,sixteenth ,century #if #e4 ,,theatre ,,royal1 ,,lincoln',s ,,inn ,,fields--#agad #aji #f4 ,,the ,,duke',s ,,theatre1 ,,dorset ,,garden--#affb #acf #g4 ,do4 do4 do4 --,river ,view #adi #h4 ,,contest ,,for ,,dogget',s ,,coat ,,and ,,badge #afb #i4 ,,colley ,,cibber--,from a painting by ,j4 ,b4 ,van ,loo #ahc #aj4 ,,sir ,,william ,,davenant--,from a painting by ,greenhuth #bac #aa4 ,,mrs4 ,,centlivre #bcg #ab4 ,,prynne #bdf #ac4 ,,sir ,,richard ,,steele #bgd #ad4 ,,thomas ,,dogget--,from a rare contemporary print #caj #ae4 ,,pope ,,and ,,dr4 ,,garth--,by ,hogarth #cag #af4 ,,spiller',s ,,benefit ,,ticket--,by ,hogarth #ccg #ag4 ,,the ,,new ,,and ,,old ,,theatres ,,royal1 ,,haymarket--#agbj-ahba #cef #ah4 ,,barton ,,booth #cia ,,list ,,of ,,tailpieces ,,on ,,wood4 ,,volume ,i4 ,,page #a4 ,,mr4 ,,garrick ,,as ,,sir ,,john ,,brute ,,in ,,the ,,provoked ,,wife #cf #b4 ,,mr4 ,,garrick ,,as ,,king ,,lear--,act iii4 ,scene #a #ace #c4 ,,mrs4 ,,barry ,,and ,,mr4 ,,garrick ,,as ,,donna ,,violante ,,and ,,don ,,felix ,,in ,,the ,,wonder #bcf #d4 ,,mr4 ,,garrick ,,as ,,hamlet--,act i4 ,scene #d #cee #e4 ,,mr4 ,,foote ,,as ,,the ,,doctor ,,in ,,the ,,devil ,,upon ,,two ,,sticks #cij #f4 ,,mr4 ,,garrick ,,as ,,abel ,,drugger ,,in ,,the ,,alchymist #dbf ,illustration3 ,,the ,,bear ,,garden ,,chapter ,i4 ,,prologue4 ,the period of the origin of the drama is an unsettled question1 but it has been fixed at an early date1 if we may accept the theory of a recent writer1 who suggests that ,moses described the ,creation from a visionary pictorial representation1 which occupied seven days from the commencement to the close of the spectacle6 ,among the most remote of the ,chinese traditions1 the theatre holds a conspicuous place4 ,in ,cochin-,china there is at this day a most primitive character about actors1 authors1 and audience4 ,the governor of the district enjoys the least rude seat in the sylvan theatre2 he directs the applause by tapping with his fingers on a little drum1 and as at this signal his secretaries fling strings full of cash on to the stage1 the performance suffers from continual interruption4 ,for the largesse distributed by the patron of the drama1 and such of the spectators as choose to follow his example1 the actors and actresses furiously scramble1 while the poor poet stands by1 sees his best situations sacrificed1 and is none the richer--by way of compensation4 ,in ,greece the profession of actor was accounted honourable4 ,in ,rome it was sometimes a well-requited1 but also a despised vocation4 ,during the decade of years when that aristocratic democrat ,pisistratus held power1 the drama first appeared 7it is said7 at ,athens4 ,it formed a portion of the religion of the ,state4 ,the theatre was a temple in which1 rudely enough at first1 the audience were taught how the will1 not only of men but of gods1 must necessarily submit to the irresistible force of ,destiny4 ,this last power1 represented by a combination of the lyric and epic elements1 formed the drama which had its origin in ,greece alone4 ,in such a sense the ,semitic races had no drama at all1 while in ,greece it was almost exclusively of ,attic growth1 its religious character being especially supported on behalf of the audience by the ever-sagacious1 morally1 and fervently-pious chorus4 ,lyric tragedy existed before the age of ,thespis and ,pisistratus2 but a spoken tragedy dates from that period alone1 above five centuries earlier than the ,christian era2 and the new theatre found at once its ,prynne and its ,collier in that hearty hater of actors and acting1 the legislative ,solon4 ,at the great festivals1 when the theatres were opened1 the expenses of the representations were borne partly by the ,state and partly by certain wealthy officials4 ,the admission was free1 until over-crowding produced fatal accidents4 ,to diminish the latter an entrance-fee of two oboli1 #c-a_/d;d41 was established1 but the receipts were made over to the poor4#a ,from morning till dewy eve these roofless buildings1 capable of containing on an average twenty thousand persons1 were filled from the ground to the topmost seat1 in the sweet spring-tide1 sole theatrical season of the ,greeks4 ,disgrace and disfranchisement were the penalties laid upon the professional ,roman actor4 ,he was accounted infamous1 and was excluded from the tribes4 ,nevertheless1 the calling in ,italy had something of a religious quality4 ,livy tells us of a company of ,etruscan actors1 ballet-pantomimists1 however1 rather than comedians1 who were employed to avert the anger of the gods1 which was manifested by a raging pestilence4 ,these ,etruscans were in their way the originators of the drama in ,italy4 ,that drama was at first a dance1 then a dance and song2 with them was subsequently interwoven a story4 ,from the period of ,livius ,andronicus 7,b4,c4 #bdj7 is dated the origin of an actual ,latin theatre1 a theatre the glory of which was at its highest in the days of ,attius and ,terence1 but for which a dramatic literature became extinct when the mimes took the place of the old comedy and tragedy4 ,even in ,rome the skill of the artist sometimes freed him from the degradation attached to the exercise of his art4 ,roscius1 the popular comedian1 contemporary with ,cicero1 was elevated by ,sulla to the equestrian dignity1 and with sopus1 the great tragedian1 enjoyed the friendship of ,tully and of ,tully's friends1 the wisest and the noblest in ,rome4 ,roscius and sopus were what would now be called scholars and gentlemen1 as well as unequalled artists1 whom no amount of application could appal when they had to achieve a triumph in their art4 ,an ,austrian emperor once encored an entire opera 7the ,matrimonio ,segreto72 but1 according to ,cicero1 his friend sopus so delighted his enthusiastic audience1 that in one piece they encored him millies1 a thousand1 or perhaps an indefinite number of times4 ,the ,roman tragedian lived well1 and bequeathed a vast fortune to his son4 ,roscius earned #cb daily1 and he too amassed great wealth4 ,the mimes were satirical burlesques1 parts of which were often improvised1 and had some affinity to the pasquinades and harlequinades of modern ,italy4 ,the writers were the intimate friends of emperors2 the actors were infamous4 ,csar induced ,decius ,laberius1 an author of knightly rank1 to appear on the stage in one of these pieces2 and ,laberius obeyed1 not for the sake of the honorarium1 #djjj1 but from dread of disobeying an order from so powerful a master4 ,the unwilling actor profited by his degradation to satirise the policy of ,csar1 who did not resent the liberty1 but restored ,laberius to the rank and equestrian privileges which he had forfeited by appearing on the stage4 ,laberius1 however1 never recovered the respect of his countrymen1 not even of those who had applauded him the most loudly4 ,the licentious pantomimists were so gross in their performances that they even disgusted ,tiberius1 who forbade them from holding any intercourse1 as the professional histriones or actors of the drama had done1 with ,romans of equestrian or senatorial dignity4 ,it was against the stage1 exclusively given up to their scandalous exhibitions1 that the ,christian fathers levelled their denunciations4 ,they would have approved a well-trod stage1 as ,milton did1 and the object attributed to it by ,aristotle1--but they had only anathemas for that horrible theatre where danced and postured ,bathyllus and ,hylas1 and ,pylades1 ,latinus and ,nero1 and even that graceful ,paris1 whom ,domitian slew in his jealousy1 and of whom ,martial wrote that he was the great glory and grief of the ,roman theatre1 and that all ,venuses and ,cupids were buried for ever in the sepulchre of ,paris1 the darling of old ,rome4 ,in this our ,england1 minds and hearts had ever been open to dramatic impressions4 ,the ,druidical rites contained the elements of dramatic spectacle4 ,the ,pagan ,saxon era had its dialogue-actors1 or buffoons2 and when the period of ,christianity succeeded1 its professors and teachers took of the evil epoch what best suited their purposes4 ,in narrative dialogue1 or song1 they dramatised the incidents of the lives of the saints1 and of ,one greater than saints2 and they thus rendered intelligible to listeners what would have been incomprehensible if it had been presented to them as readers4 ,in ,castle-,hall1 before farm-house fires1 on the bridges1 and in the market-places1 the men who best performed the united offices of missionary and actor1 were1 at once1 the most popular preachers and players of the day4 ,the greatest of them all1 ,st4 ,adhelm1 when he found his audience growing weary of too much serious exposition1 would take his small harp from under his robes1 and would strike up a narrative song1 that would render his hearers hilarious4 ,the mixture of the sacred and profane in the early dialogues and drama prevailed for a lengthened period4 ,the profane sometimes superabounded1 and the higher ,church authorities had to look to it4 ,the monotony of monastic life had caused the wandering glee-men to be too warmly welcomed within the monastery circles1 where there were men who cheerfully employed their energies in furnishing new songs and lively patter to the strollers4 ,it was1 doubtless1 all well meant2 but more serious men thought it wise to prohibit the indulgence of this peculiar literary pursuit4 ,accordingly1 the ,council of ,clovershoe1 and decrees bearing the king's mark1 severally ordained that actors1 and other vagabonds therein named1 should no longer have access to monasteries1 and that no priest should either play the glee-man himself1 or encourage the members of that disreputable profession1 by turning ale poets1 and writing songs for them4 ,it is a singular fact1 that one of our earliest theatres had ,geoffrey1 a monk1 for its manager1 and ,dunstable--immortalised by ,silvester ,daggerwood--for a locality4 ,this early manager1 who flourished about #aaai1b rented a house in the town just named1 when a drama was represented1 which had ,st4 ,katherine for a heroine1 and her whole life for a subject4 ,this proto-theatre was1 of course1 burnt down2 and the managing monk withdrew from the profession1 more happy than most ruined managers1 in this1 that he had his cell at ,st4 ,albans1 to which he could retire1 and therein find a home for the remainder of his days4 ,through a course of ,mysteries1 ,miracle-plays--illustrating ,scripture1 history1 legend1 and the sufferings of the martyrs1--,moralities1 in which the vices were in antagonism against the virtues1 and ,chronicle-plays1 which were history in dialogue1 we finally arrive at legitimate ,tragedy and ,comedy4 ,till this last and welcome consummation1 the ,church as regularly employed the stage for religious ends1 as the old heathen magistrates did when they made village festivals the means of maintaining a religious feeling among the villagers4 ,professor ,browne1 in his ,history of ,greek ,classical ,literature1 remarks3--,the believers in a pure faith can scarcely understand a religious element in dramatic exhibitions4 ,they who knew that ,god is a spirit1 and that they who worship ,him must worship him in spirit and in truth1 feel that ,his attributes are too awful to permit any ideas connected with ,deity to be brought into contact with the exhibition of human passions4 ,religious poetry of any kind1 except that which has been inspired1 has seldom been the work of minds sufficiently heavenly and spiritual1 to be perfectly successful in attaining the end of poetry1 namely the elevation of the thoughts to a level with the subject4 ,it brings ,god down to man1 instead of raising man to ,him4 ,it causes that which is most offensive to religious feeling1 and even good taste1 irreverent familiarity with subjects which cannot be contemplated without awe4 ,but a religious drama would be1 to those who realise to their own minds the spirituality of ,god1 nothing less than anthropomorphism and idolatry4 ,christians of a less advanced age1 and believers in a more sensuous creed1 were able to view with pleasure the mystery-plays in which the gravest truths of the ,gospel were dramatically represented2 nay1 more1 just as the ancient ,athenians could look even upon their gross and licentious comedy as forming part of a religious ceremony1 so could ,christians imagine a religious element in profane dramas which represented in a ludicrous light subjects of the most holy character4 ,mysteries kept the stage from the ,norman to the ,tudor era4 ,the ,moralities began to displace them during the reign of ,henry ,,vi41 who was a less beneficial patron of the stage than that ,richard ,,iii4 who has himself retained a so unpleasant possession of the scene4 ,actors and dramatists have been ungrateful to this individual1 who was their first practically useful patron4 ,never1 previous to ,richard's time1 had an ,english prince been known to have a company of players of his own4 ,when ,duke of ,gloucester1 a troop of such servants was attached to his household4 ,richard was unselfish towards these new retainers2 whenever he was too busy1 or not i' the vein to receive instruction or amusement at their hands1 he gave them licence to travel abroad1 and forth went the mirthful company1 from county to county1 mansion to mansion1 from one corporation-hall and from one inn-yard to another1 playing securely under the sanction of his name1 winning favour for themselves1 and a great measure of public regard1 probably1 for their then generous and princely master4 ,the fashion thus set by a prince was followed by the nobility1 and it led to a legal recognition of the actor and his craft1 in the royal licence of #aegb1 whereby the players connected with noble houses were empowered to play wherever it seemed good to them1 if their master sanctioned their absence1 without any let or hindrance from the law4 ,the patronage of actors by the ,duke of ,gloucester led to a love of acting by gentlemen amateurs4 ,richard had ennobled the profession1 the gentlemen of the ,inns of ,court took it up1 and they soon had kings and queens leading the applause of approving audiences4 ,to the same example may be traced the custom of having dramatic performances in public schools1 the pupils being the performers4 ,these boys1 or1 in their place1 the children of the ,chapel ,royal1 were frequently summoned to play in presence of the ,king and ,court4 ,boatsful of them went down the river to ,greenwich1 or up to ,hampton ,court1 to enliven the dulness or stimulate the religious enthusiasm of their royal auditors there4 ,at the former place1 and when there was not yet any suspicion of the orthodoxy of ,henry ,,viii41 the boys of ,st4 ,paul's acted a ,latin play before the sovereign and the representatives of other sovereigns4 ,the object of the play was to exalt the ,pope1 and consequently ,luther and his wife were the foolish villains of the piece1 exposed to the contempt and derision of the delighted and right-thinking hearers4 ,in most cases the playwrights1 even when members of the clergy1 were actors as well as authors4 ,this is the more singular1 as the players were generally of a roystering character1 and were but ill-regarded by the ,church4 ,nevertheless1 by their united efforts1 though they were not always colleagues1 they helped the rude production of the first regularly constructed ,english comedy1 ,ralph ,roister ,doister1 about #aedj4 ,the author was a clerk1 named ,nicholas ,udall1 whom ,eton boys1 whose master he was1 hated because of his harshness4 ,the rough and reverend gentleman brought forth the above piece1 just one year previous to his losing the mastership1 on suspicion of being concerned in a robbery of the college plate4 ,subsequently to this1 the ,cambridge youths had the courage to play a tragedy called ,pammachus1 which must have been offensive to the government of ,henry ,,viii4 ,gardiner1 ,bishop of ,winchester1 ,chancellor of the ,university1 immediately wrote a characteristic letter to the ,vice-,chancellor1 ,dr4 ,matthew ,parker4 ,it is dated #bgth ,march #aede4 ,i have been informed1 he says1 that the youth in ,christ's ,college1 contrary to the mind of the ,master and ,president1 hath of late played a tragedy called ',pammachus1' a part of which tragedy is so pestiferous as were intolerable4 ,if it be so1 ,i intend to travail1 as my duty is1 for the reformation of it4 ,i know mine office there1 and mind to do in it as much as ,i may4 ,parker answers on the #c;d of ,april1 that the play had been performed with the concurrence of the ,college authorities1 after means had been taken to strike out slanderous cavillations and suspicious sentences1 and all such matter whereby offence might greatly have risen4 ,hitherto1 adds ,parker1 have ,i not seen any man that was present at it to show himself grieved2 albeit it was thought their time and labour might be spent in a better-handled matter4 ,gardiner is not satisfied with this1 and he will have the subject investigated4 ,accordingly1 some of the audience are ordered to be examined to discover if what they applauded was what the ,king's government had reproved4 ,i have heard specialities1 he writes1 that they 7the actors7 reproved ,lent fastings1 all ceremonies1 and albeit the words of sacrament and mass were not named1 yet the rest of the matter written in that tragedy1 in the reproof of them was expressed4 ,gardiner intimates that if the authorities concurred1 after exercising a certain censorship1 in licensing the representation1 they were responsible for all that was uttered1 as it must have had the approval of their judgments4 ,a strict examination followed4 ,nearly the entire audience passed under it1 but not a man could or would remember that he had heard anything to which he could make objection4 ,therewith ,parker transmitted to ,gardiner the stage-copy of the tragedy1 which the irate prelate thus reviews3--,perusing the book of the tragedy which ye sent me1 ,i find much matter not stricken out1 all which1 by the parties' own confession1 was uttered very naught1 and on the other part something not well omitted4 ,flagrant lies are said to be mixed up with incontrovertible truths2 and it is suggested1 that if any of the audience had declared that they had heard nothing at which they could take offence1 it must have been because they had forgotten much of what they had heard4 ,ultimately1 ,parker was left to deal with the parties as he thought best2 and he wisely seems to have thought it best to do nothing4 ,plays were the favourite recreation of the university men2 albeit1 as ,parker writes1 ,two or three in ,trinity ,college think it very unseeming that ,christians should play or be present at any profane comedies or tragedies4 ,actors and clergy came into direct collision1 when1 at the accession of ,edward ,,vi4 7#aedg71 the ,bishop of ,winchester announced a solemn dirge and mass1 in honour of the lately deceased king1 ,henry ,,viii4 ,the indiscreet ,southwark actors thereupon gave notice that at the time announced for the religious service they would act a solempne play to try1 as the bishop remarks in a letter to ,paget1 who shall have most resort1 they in game or ,i in earnest4 ,the prelate urgently requests the interference of the ,lord ,protector1 but with what effect1 the records in the ,state ,paper ,office afford no information4 ,some of these ,southwark actors were the servants of ,henry ,grey1 ,marquis of ,dorset1 whose mansion was on the opposite side of the river4 ,in #aeea he was promoted to the dukedom of ,suffolk1 but his poor players were then prohibited from playing anywhere1 save in their master's presence4#c ,severity led to fraud4 ,in the autumn of the following year ,richard ,ogle forwarded to the ,council a forged licence1 taken from the players--a matter which was pronounced to be worthy of correction4 ,the young king's patronage of his own servants was not marked by a princely liberality2 the salary of one of his players of interludes1 ,john ,brown1 was five marks yearly as wages1 and one pound three shillings and fourpence for his livery4 ,of the party dramatists of this reign1 that reverend prelate1 ,bilious ,bale1 was the most active and the least pleasant-tempered4 ,bale had been a ,romanist priest1 he was now a ,protestant bishop 7of ,ossory71 with a wife to control the episcopal hospitality4 ,bale had seen the world4 ,he had gone through marvellous adventures1 of which his adversaries did not believe a word2 and he had converted the most abstruse doctrinal subjects into edifying semi-lively comedies4 ,the bishop did not value his enemies at the worth of a rush in an old king's chamber4 ,he was altogether a ,boanerges2 and when his ,john1 ,king of ,england1 was produced1 the audience1 comprising two factions in the ,church and ,state1 found the policy of ,rome towards this country illustrated with such effect1 that while one party hotly denounced1 the other applauded the coarse and vigorous audacity of the author4 ,so powerful were the influences of the stage1 when thus applied1 that the government of ,queen ,mary made similar application of them in support of their own views4 ,a play1 styled ,respublica1 exhibited to the people the alleged iniquity of the ,reformation1 pointed out the dread excellence of the sovereign herself 7personified as ,queen ,nemesis71 and exemplified her inestimable qualities1 by making all the ,virtues follow in her train as ,maids of honour4 ,such1 now1 were the orthodox actors2 but the heretical players were to be provided against by stringent measures4 ,a decree of the sovereign and council1 in #aeef1 prohibited all players and pipers from strolling through the kingdom2 such strollers--the pipers singularly included--being1 as it was said1 disseminators of seditions and heresies4 ,the eye of the observant government also watched the resident actors in town4 ,king ,edward had ordered the removal of the king's revels and masques from ,warwick ,inn1 ,holborn1 to the late dissolved house of ,blackfriars1 ,london1 where considerable outlay was made for scenery and machinery--adjuncts to stage effect--which are erroneously supposed to have been first introduced a century later by ,davenant4 ,there still remained acting a company at the ,boar's ,head1 without ,aldgate1 on whom the police of ,mary were ordered to make levy4 ,the actors had been playing in that inn-yard a comedy1 entitled a ,sack full of ,news4 ,the order of the privy council to the mayor informs his worship1 that it is a lewd play2 bids him send his officers to the theatre without delay1 and not only to apprehend the comedians1 but to take their play-book from them and send it before the privy council4 ,the actors were under arrest for four-and-twenty hours1 and were then set free1 but under certain stipulations to be observed by them and all other players throughout the city1--namely3 they were to exercise their vocation of acting between ,all ,saints and ,shrovetide only2 and they were bound to act no other plays but such as were approved of by the ,ordinary4 ,this was the most stringent censorship to which the stage has ever been subjected4 ,although ,edward had commanded the transfer of the company of actors from ,warwick ,inn to ,blackfriars1 that dissolved monastery was not legally converted into a theatre till the year #aegf1 when ,elizabeth was on the throne4 ,in that year#d the ,earl of ,leicester's servants were licensed to open their series of seasons in a house1 the site of which is occupied by ,apothecaries' ,hall and some adjacent buildings4 ,at the head of the company was ,james1 father of ,richard ,burbage1 the original representative of ,richard ,,iii4 and of ,hamlet1 the author of which tragedies1 so named1 was1 at the time of the opening of the ,blackfriars' theatre1 a lad of twelve years of age1 surmounting the elementary difficulties of ,latin and ,greek in the ,free ,school of ,stratford-on-,avon4 ,in ,elizabeth the drama possessed a generous patroness and a vindictive censor4 ,her afternoons at ,windsor ,castle and ,richmond were made pleasant to her by the exertions of her players4 ,the cost to her of occasional performances at the above residences during two years amounted to a fraction over #ddd4 ,there were incidental expenses also1 proving that the actors were well cared for4 ,in the year #aege1 among the estimates for plays at ,hampton ,court1 the liberal sum of #h1 #ads4 is set down for the boyling of the brawns against ,xtmas4 ,illustration3 7,richard ,burbage47 ,as at ,court1 so also did the drama flourish at the ,universities1 especially at ,cambridge4 ,there1 in #aeff1 the coarse dialect comedy1 ,gammer ,gurton's ,needle--a marvellous production1 when considered as the work of a bishop1 ,still1 of ,bath and ,wells--was represented amid a world of laughter4 ,there1 too1 was exercised a sharp censorship over both actors and audience4 ,in a letter from ,vice-,chancellor ,hatcher to ,burleigh1 the conduct of ,punter1 a student of ,st4 ,john's1 at stage-plays at ,caius and ,trinity1 is complained of as unsteady4 ,in #aeha the heads of houses again make application to ,burleigh1 objecting to the players of the ,great ,chamberlain1 the ,earl of ,oxford1 poet and courtier1 exhibiting certain plays already practised by them before the ,king4 ,the authorities1 when scholastic audiences were noisy1 or when players brought no novelty with them to ,cambridge1 applied to the great statesman in town1 and vexed him with dramatic troubles1 as if he had been general stage-manager of all the companies strolling over the kingdom4 ,on one occasion the stage was employed as a vantage ground whereon to raise a battery against the power of the stage's great patroness1 the ,queen4 ,in #aeii1 the indiscreet followers of ,essex filled the pit of the theatre1 where ,rutland and ,southampton are daily seen1 and where ,shakspeare's company1 in the great play of ',richard ,,ii41' have1 for more than a year1 been feeding the public eye with pictures of the deposition of kings4 ,in ,june of the following year1 those scenes of ,shakspeare's play disturb ,elizabeth's dreams4 ,the play had had a long and splendid run1 not less from its glorious agony of dramatic passion than from the open countenance lent to it by the ,earl1 who1 before his voyage1 was a constant auditor at the ,globe1 and by his constant companions1 ,rutland and ,southampton4 ,the great parliamentary scene1 the deposition of ,richard1 not in the printed book1 was possibly not in the early play2 yet the representation of a royal murder and a successful usurpation on the public stage is an event to be applied by the groundlings1 in a pernicious and disloyal sense4 ,tongues whisper to the ,queen that this play is part of a great plot to teach her subjects how to murder kings4 ,they tell her she is ,richard2 ,essex1 ,bolingbroke4 ,these warnings sink into her mind4 ,when ,lambard1 ,keeper of the ,records1 waits upon her at the palace1 she exclaims to him1 ',i am ,richard6 ,know you not that8' ,the performance of this play was1 nevertheless1 not prohibited4 ,when the final attempt of ,essex was about to be made1 in ,february #afja--,to fan the courage of their crew1 says ,mr4 ,hepworth ,dixon1 from whose ,personal ,history of ,lord ,bacon ,i borrow these details1 and prepare the citizens for news of a royal deposition1 the chiefs of the insurrection think good to revive1 for a night1 their favourite play4 ,they send for ,augustine ,phillips1 manager of the ,blackfriars ,theatre1 to ,essex ,house2 ,monteagle1 ,percy1 and two or three more--among them ,cuffe and ,meyrick--gentlemen whose names and faces he does not recognise1 receive him2 and ,lord ,monteagle1 speaking for the rest1 tells him that they want to have played the next day ,shakspeare's deposition of ,richard ,,ii4 ,phillips objects that the play is stale1 that a new one is running1 and that the company will lose money by a change4 ,monteagle meets his objections4 ,the theatre shall not lose2 a host of gentlemen from ,essex ,house will fill the galleries2 if there is fear of loss1 here are #djs4 to make it up4 ,phillips takes the money1 and ,king ,richard is duly deposed for them1 and put to death4 ,meanwhile1 the profession of player had been assailed by fierce opponents4 ,in #aehg1e when twenty-three summers lightly sat on ,shakspeare's brow1 ,gosson1 the parson of ,st4 ,botolph's1 discharged the first shot against stage plays which had yet been fired by any one not in absolute authority4 ,gosson's book was entitled1 ,a ,school of ,abuse1 and it professed to contain a pleasant invective against poets1 players1 jesters1 and such like caterpillars of a ,commonwealth4 ,gosson's pleasantry consists in his illogical employment of invective4 ,domitian favoured plays1 argal1 ,domitian's domestic felicity was troubled by a player--,paris4 ,of ,caligula1 ,gosson remarks1 that he made so much of players and dancers1 that he suffered them openly to kiss his lips1 when the senators might scarcely have a lick at his feet2 and the good man of ,st4 ,botolph's adds1 that the murder of ,domitian1 by ,charea1 was a fit catastrophe1 for it was done as the ,emperor was returning from a play6 ,as a painter of manners1 ,gosson thus gaily limns the audiences of his time4 ,in our ,assemblies at plays in ,london1 you shall see such heaving and shouting1 such pitching and shouldering to sit by women1 such care for their garments that they be not trodden on1 such eyes to their laps that no chips light on them1 such pillows to their backs that they take no hurt1 such masking in their ears1 ,i know not what2 such giving them pippins to pass the time2 such playing at foot-saunt without cards2 such ticking1 such toying1 such smiling1 such winking1 and such manning them home when the sports are ended1 that it is a right comedy to mark their behaviour4 ,in this picture ,gosson paints a good-humoured and a gallant people4 ,when he turns from failings to vices1 the old rector of ,st4 ,botolph's dwells upon them as ,tartuffe does upon the undraped shoulders of ,dorinne4 ,he likes the subject1 and makes attractive what he denounces as pernicious4 ,the playwrights he assails with the virulence of an author1 who1 having been unsuccessful himself1 has no gladness in the success1 nor any generosity for the shortcomings of others4 ,yet he cannot deny that some plays are moral1 such as ,cataline's ,conspiracy1--because1 as he elegantly observes1 it is said to be a pig of mine own sow4 ,this1 and one or two other plays written by him1 he complaisantly designates as good plays1 and sweet plays1 and of all plays the best plays1 and most to be liked4 ,let us now return to the year of ,shakspeare's birth4 ,the great poet came into the world when the ,english portion of it was deafened with the thunder of ,archbishop ,grindal1 who flung his bolts against the profession which the child in his cradle at ,stratford was about to ennoble for ever4 ,england had been devastated by the plague of #aefc4 ,grindal illogically traced the rise of the pestilence to the theatres2 and to check the evil he counselled ,cecil to suppress the vocation of the idle1 infamous1 youth-infecting players1 as the prelate called them1 for one whole year1 and--if it were for ever1 adds the primate1 it were not amiss4 ,elizabeth's face shone upon the actors1 and rehearsals went actively on before the ,master of the ,revels4 ,the numbers of the players1 however1 so increased and spread over the kingdom1 that the government1 when ,shakspeare was eight years of age1 enacted that startling statute which is supposed to have branded dramatic art and artists with infamy4 ,but the celebrated statute of #aegb does not declare players to be rogues and vagabonds4 ,it simply threatens to treat as such all acting companies who presume to set up their stage without the license of two justices of the peace at least4 ,this was rather to protect the art than to insult the artist2 and a few years subsequent to the publication of this statute1 ,elizabeth granted the first royal patent conceded in ,england to actors--that of #aegf4f ,by this authority ,lord ,leicester's servants were empowered to produce such plays as seemed good to them1 as well1 says the ,queen1 for the recreation of our loving subjects as for our solace and pleasure1 when we shall think good to see them4 ,sovereign could scarcely pay a more graceful compliment to poet or to actor4 ,this royal patent sanctioned the acting of plays within the liberties of the city2 but against this the city magistrates commenced an active agitation4 ,their brethren of ,middlesex followed a like course throughout the county4 ,the players were treated as the devil's missionaries2 and such unsavoury terms were flung at them and at playwrights1 by the city aldermen and the county justices1 that thereon was founded that animosity which led dramatic authors to represent citizens and justices as the most egregious of fools1 the most arrant of knaves1 and the most deluded of husbands4 ,driven from the city1 ,burbage and his gay brotherhood were safe in the shelter of ,blackfriars1 adjacent to the city walls4 ,safe1 but neither welcome nor unmolested4 ,the devout and noble ladies who had long resided near the once sacred building1 clamoured at the audacity of the actors4 ,divine worship and sermon1 so they averred1 would be grievously disturbed by the music and rant of the comedians1 and by the debauched companions resorting to witness those abominable plays and interludes4 ,this cry was shrill and incessant1 but it was unsuccessful4 ,the ,blackfriars' was patronised by a public whose favours were also solicited by those sumptuous houses the ,theatre and the ,curtain in ,shoreditch4 ,pulpit logicians reasoned1 more heedless of connection between premises and conclusion than ,grindal or ,gosson4 ,the cause of plagues is sin1 argues one1 and the cause of sin are plays2 therefore1 the cause of plagues are plays4 ,again3 ,if these be not suppressed1 exclaims a ,paul's ,cross preacher1 it will make such a tragedy that all ,london may well mourn while it is ,london4#g ,but for the sympathy of the ,earl of ,leicester it would have gone ill with these players4 ,he has been as ill-requited by authors and actors as their earlier friend1 ,richard of ,gloucester4 ,to this day the stage exhibits the great earl1 according to the legend contrived by his foes1 as the murderer of his wife4 ,sanctioned by the court1 befriended by the noble1 and followed by the general public1 the players stood their ground1 but they lacked the discretion which should have distinguished them4 ,they bearded authority1 played in despite of legal prohibitions1 and introduced forbidden subjects of state and religion upon their stage4 ,thence ensued suspensions for indefinite periods1 severe supervision when the suspension was rescinded1 and renewed transgression on the part of the reckless companies1 even to the playing on a ,sunday1 in any locality where they conjectured there was small likelihood of their being followed by a warrant4 ,but the most costly of the theatrical revels of ,king ,james took place at ,whitehall1 at ,greenwich1 or at ,hampton ,court1 on ,sunday evenings--an unseemly practice1 which embittered the hatred of the ,puritans against the stage1 all belonging to it1 and all who patronised it4 ,james was wiser when he licensed ,kirkham1 ,hawkins1 ,kendall1 and ,payne to train the ,queen's children of the revels1 and to exercise them in playing within the ,blackfriars' or elsewhere all plays which had the sanction of old ,samuel ,danyell4 ,his queen1 ,anne1 was both actress and manager in the masques performed at court1 the expenses of which often exceeded1 indeed were ordered not to be limited to1 #ajjj4 ,excellent comedies were played before ,prince ,charles and the ,prince ,palsgrave#h at ,cambridge2 and the members of ,st4 ,john's1 ,clare1 and ,trinity1 acted before the ,king and court in #afae1 when the illustrious guests were scattered among the colleges1 and twenty-six tuns of wine consumed within five days6 ,the lawyers alone were offended at the visits of the court to the amateurs at ,cambridge1 especially when ,james went thither to see the comedy of ,ignoramus1 in which law and lawyers are treated with small measure of respect4 ,when ,james was prevented from going to ,cambridge1 he was accustomed to send for the whole scholastic company to appear before him1 in one of the choicest of their pieces1 at ,royston4 ,roving troops were licensed by this play-loving king to follow their vocation in stated places in the country1 under certain restrictions for their tarrying and wending--a fortnight's residence in one town being the time limited1 with injunction not to play during church hours4 ,then there were unlicensed satirical plays in unlicensed houses4 ,sir ,john ,yorke1 his wife and brothers1 were fined and imprisoned1 because of a scandalous play acted in ,sir ,john's house1 in favour of ,popery4 ,on another occasion1 in #afag1 we hear of a play1 in some country mansion1 in which the ,king1 represented as a huntsman1 observed that he had rather hear a dog bark than a cannon roar4 ,two kinsmen1 named ,napleton1 discussed this matter1 whereupon one of them remarked that it was a pity the ,king1 so well represented1 ever came to the crown of ,england at all1 for he loved his dogs better than his subjects4 ,whereupon the listener to this remark went and laid information before the council against the kinsman who had uttered it6 ,the players could1 in ,james's reign1 boast that their profession was at least kindly looked upon by the foremost man in the ,english ,church4 ,no man1 says ,hacket1 was more wise or more serious than ,archbishop ,bancroft1 the ,atlas of our clergy1 in his time2 and he that writes this hath seen an interlude well presented before him1 at ,lambeth1 by his own gentlemen1 when ,i was one of the youngest spectators4 ,the actors thus had the sanction of the ,archbishop of ,canterbury in ,james's reign1 as they had that of ,williams1 ,archbishop of ,york1 in the next4 ,hacket often alludes to theatrical matters4 ,the theatres1 he says1 in one of his discourses made during the reign of ,charles ,,ii41 when the preacher was ,bishop of ,lichfield and ,coventry1 are not large enough nowadays to receive our loose gallants1 male and female1 but whole fields and parks are thronged with their concourse1 where they make a muster of their gay clothes4 ,meanwhile1 in #afaf1 the pulpit once more issued anathemas against the stage4 ,the denouncer1 on this occasion1 was the preacher of ,st4 ,mary ,overy's1 named ,sutton1 whose undiscriminating censure was boldly1 if not logically1 answered by the actor1 ,field4 ,there is a letter from the latter in the ,state ,paper ,office1 in which he remonstrates against the sweeping condemnation of all players4 ,the comedian admits that what he calls his trade has its corruptions1 like other trades2 but he adds1 that since it is patronised by the ,king1 there is disloyalty in preaching against it1 and he hints that the theology of the preacher must be a little out of gear1 seeing that he openly denounces a vocation which is not condemned in ,scripture6 ,illustration3 7,nathaniel ,field47 ,field1 the champion of his craft in the early part of the seventeenth century1 was one of the dozen actors to whom ,king ,james1 in #afai1 granted a licence to act comedy1 tragedy1 history1 c41 for the solace and pleasure of his ,majesty and his subjects1 at the ,globe1 and at their private house in the precincts of ,blackfriars4 ,this licence was made out to ,hemings1 ,burbage1 ,condell1 ,lowen1 ,tooley1 ,underwood1 ,field1 ,benfield1 ,gough1 ,eccleston1 ,robinson1 ,shancks1 and their associates4 ,their success rendered them audacious1 and1 in #afbd1 they got into trouble1 on a complaint of the ,spanish ambassador4 ,the actors at the ,globe had produced ,middleton's ,game at ,chess1 in which the action is carried on by black and white pieces1 representing the ,reformed and ,romanist parties4 ,the latter1 being the rogues of the piece1 are foiled1 and are put in the bag4 ,the ,spanish envoy's complaint was founded on the fact that living persons were represented by the actors1 such persons being the ,king of ,spain1 ,gondomar1 and the famous ,antonio de ,dominis1 who1 after being a ,romish bishop 7of ,spalato71 professed ,protestantism1 became ,dean of ,windsor1 and after all died in his earlier faith1 at ,rome4 ,on the ambassador's complaint1 the actors and the author were summoned before the council1 but no immediate result followed1 for1 two days later1 ,nethercole writes to ,carleton1 informing him that the comedy in which the whole ,spanish business is taken up1 is drawing #ajj nightly4 ,at that time1 a house with #bj in it was accounted a good house1 at either the ,globe or ,blackfriars4 ,receipts amounting to five times that sum1 for nine afternoons successively1 may be accepted as a proof of the popularity of this play4 ,the ,spaniard1 however1 would not let the matter rest2 the play was suppressed1 the actors forbidden to represent living personages on the stage1 and the author was sent to prison4 ,middleton was not long detained in durance vile4 ,james set him free1 instigated by a quip in a poor epigram1-- ,use but your royal hand1 'twill set me free6 ',tis but removing of a man--that's me4 ,a worse joke never secured for its author a greater boon--that of liberty4 ,with all this1 an incident of the following year proves that the players disregarded peril1 and found profit in excitement4 ,for ,shrovetide1 #afbe1 they announced a play founded on the ,dutch horrors at ,amboyna1 but the performance was stopped1 on the application of the ,east ,india ,company1 for fear of disturbances this ,shrovetide4 ,a watch of #hjj men was set to keep all quiet on ,shrove ,tuesday2 and the subject was not again selected for a piece till #afgc1 when ,dryden's ,amboyna was produced in ,drury ,lane1 and the cruelties of the ,dutch condemned in a serio-comic fashion1 as those of a people--so the epilogue intimated to the public--who have no more religion faith--than you4 ,in ,james's days1 the greater or less prevalence of the plague regulated the licences for playing4 ,thus1 permission was given to the ,queen's ,servants to act in their several houses1 the ,curtain1 and the ,boar's ,head1 ,middlesex1 as soon as the plague decreases to #cj a week1 in ,london4 ,so1 in the very first year of ,charles ,i41 #afbe1 the common players have leave not only to act where they will1 but to come to court1 now the plague is reduced to six4 ,accordingly1 there was a merry ,christmas season at ,hampton ,court1 the actors being there2 and1 writes ,rudyard to ,nethercole1 the demoiselles 7maids of honour1 doubtless71 mean to present a ,french pastoral1 wherein the ,queen is a principal actress4 ,thus1 the example set by the late ,queen ,anne and now adopted by ,henrietta ,maria1 led to the introduction of actresses on the public stage1 and it was the manifestation of a taste for acting exhibited by the ,french princess1 that led to the appearance in ,london of actresses of that nation4 ,with the reign of ,charles ,i4 new hopes came to the poor player1 but therewith came new adversaries4 ,charles ,i4 was a hearty promoter of all sports and pleasures1 provided his people would be merry and wise according to his prescription only4 ,wakes and maypoles were authorised by him1 to the infinite disgust of the ,puritans1 who liked the authorisation no more than they did the suppression of lectures4 ,when ,charles repaired to church1 where the ,book of ,sports was read1 he was exposed to the chance of hearing the minister1 after reading the decree as he was ordered1 calmly go through the ,ten ,commandments1 and then tell his hearers1 that having listened to the commands of ,god and those of man1 they might now follow which they liked best4 ,when ,bishop ,williams1 of ,lincoln1 and subsequently ,archbishop of ,york1 held a living1 he pleaded in behalf of the right of his ,northamptonshire parishioners to dance round the maypole4 ,when ordered to deliver up the ,great ,seal by the ,king1 he retired to his episcopal palace at ,buckden1 where1 says ,hacket1 he was the worse thought of by some strict censurers1 because he admitted in his public hall a comedy once or twice to be presented before him1 exhibited by his own servants1 for an evening recreation4 ,being then in disgrace1 this simple matter was exaggerated by his enemies into a report1 that on an ,ordination ,sunday1 this arrogant ,welshman had entertained his newly-ordained clergy with a representation of ,shakspeare's ,midsummer's ,night's ,dream1 the actors in which had been expressly brought down from ,london for the purpose6 ,in the troubled days in which ,king ,charles and ,bishop ,williams lived1 the stage suffered with the throne and church4 ,after this time the names of the old houses cease to be familiar4 ,let us take a parting glance of these primitive temples of our drama4 ,the royal theatre1 ,blackfriars1 was the most nobly patronised of all the houses opened previous to the ,restoration4 ,the grown-up actors were the most skilled of their craft2 and the boys1 or apprentices1 were the most fair and effeminate that could be procured1 and could profit by instruction4 ,on this stage ,shakspeare enacted the ,ghost in ,hamlet1 ,old ,adam1 and a similar line of characters1 usually intrusted to the ablest of the performers of the second class4 ,blackfriars was a winter house4 ,some idea of its capability and pretension may be formed from the fact1 that in #afcc its proprietors1 the brothers ,burbage1#i let it to the actors for a yearly rent of #ej4 ,in #afee it was pulled down1#aj after a successful career of about three-quarters of a century4 ,upon the strip of shore1 between ,fleet ,street and the ,thames1 there have been erected three theatres4 ,in the year #aehj1 the old monastery of ,whitefriars was given up to a company of players2 but the ,whitefriars' ,theatre did not enjoy a very lengthened career4 ,in the year #afaf1 that in which ,shakspeare died1 it had already fallen into disrepute and decay1 and was never afterwards used for the representation of dramatic pieces4 ,the other theatres1 in ,dorset ,gardens1 were built subsequently to the ,restoration4 ,in the parish of ,st4 ,giles's1 ,cripplegate1 and in the street now called ,playhouse ,yard1 connecting ,whitecross ,street with ,golding ,lane1 stood the old ,fortune1 erected in #afjj1 for ,henslowe 7the pawnbroker and money-lender to actors7 and ,alleyn1 the most unselfish of comedians4 ,it was a wooden tenement1 which was burned down in #afba1 and replaced by a circular brick edifice4 ,in #afdi1 two years after the suppression of plays by the ,puritan ,act1 when the house was closed1 a party of soldiers1 the sectaries of those yeasty times1 broke into the edifice1 destroyed its interior fittings1 and pulled down the building4#aa ,the site and adjacent ground were soon covered by dwelling-houses4 ,meanwhile1 the inn yards1 or great rooms at the inns1 were not yet quite superseded4 ,the ,cross ,keys in ,gracechurch ,street1 the ,bull in ,bishopsgate ,street1 near which lived ,anthony ,bacon1 to the extreme dislike of his grandmother2 and the ,red ,bull1 in ,st4 ,john ,street1 ,clerkenwell1 which last existed as late as the period of the ,great ,fire1 were open1 if not for the acting of plays1 at least for exhibitions of fencing and wrestling4 ,the ,surrey side of the ,thames was a favourite locality for plays1 long before the most famous of the regular and royally-sanctioned theatres4 ,the ,globe was on that old joyous ,bankside2 and the ,little ,rose1 in #aehd1 there succeeded to an elder structure of the same name1 whose memory is still preserved in ,rose ,alley4 ,the ,globe1 the summer-house of ,shakspeare and his fellows1 flourished from #aeid to #afac1 when it fell a prey to the flames caused by the wadding of a gun1 which lodged in and set fire to the thatched roof4 ,the new house1 erected by a royal and noble subscription1 was of wood1 but it was tiled4 ,its career1 however1 was not very extended1 for in #afed1 the owner of the freehold1 ,sir ,matthew ,brand1 pulled the house down2 and the name of ,globe ,alley is all that is left to point out the whereabouts of the popular summer-house in ,southwark4 ,on the same bank of the great river stood the ,hope1 a play-house four times a week1 and a garden for bear-baiting on the alternate days4 ,in the former was first played ,jonson's ,bartholomew ,fair4 ,when plays were suppressed1 the zealous and orthodox soldiery broke into the ,hope1 horsewhipped the actors1 and shot the bears4 ,this place1 however1 in its character of ,bear ,garden1 rallied after the ,restoration1 and continued prosperous till nearly the close of the seventeenth century4 ,there remains to be noticed1 ,paris ,garden1 famous for its cruel but well-patronised sports4 ,its popular circus was converted by ,henslowe and ,alleyn into a theatre4 ,here1 the richest receipts were made on the ,sunday1 till the law interfered1 and put down these performances1 the dear delight of the ,southwarkians and their visitors from the opposite shore1 of the olden time4 ,the supposed assertion of ,taylor1 the ,water poet1 has often been quoted1 namely1 that between ,windsor ,bridge and ,gravesend there were not less than #dj1jjj watermen1 and that more than half of these found employment in transporting the holiday folks from the ,middlesex to the ,southwark shore of the river1 where the players were strutting their little hour at the ,globe1 the ,rose1 and the ,swan1 and ,bruin was being baited in the adjacent gardens4 ,a misprint has decupled what was about the true number1 and even of these1 many were so unskilful that an ,act was passed in the very first year of ,king ,james1 for the protection of persons afloat1 whether on pleasure or serious business4 ,in ,holywell ,lane1 near ,high ,street1 ,shoreditch1 is the site of an old wooden structure which bore the distinctive name of ,the ,theatre1 and was accounted a sumptuous house1 probably because of the partial introduction of scenery there4 ,in the early part of ,shakspeare's career1 as author and actor1 it was closed1 in consequence of proprietary disputes2 and with the materials the ,globe1 at ,bankside1 was rebuilt or considerably enlarged4 ,there was a second theatre in this district called ,the ,curtain1 a name still retained in ,curtain ,road4 ,this house remained open and successful1 till the accession of ,charles ,i41 subsequent to which time stage plays gave way to exhibitions of athletic exercises4 ,this district was especially dramatic2 the popular taste was not only there directed towards the stage1 but it was a district wherein many actors dwelt1 and consequently died4 ,the baptismal register of ,st4 ,leonard's contains ,christian names which appear to have been chosen with reference to the heroines of ,shakspeare2 and the record of burials bears the name of many an old actor of mark whose remains now lie within the churchyard4 ,not a vestige1 of course1 exists of any of these theatres2 and yet of a much older house traces may be seen by those who will seek them in remote ,cornwall4 ,this relic of antiquity is called ,piran ,round4 ,it consists of a circular embankment1 about ten feet high1 sloping backwards1 and cut into steps for seats or standing-places4 ,this embankment encloses a level area of grassy ground1 and stands in the middle of a flat1 wild heath4 ,a couple of thousand spectators could look down from the seats upon the grassy circus which formed a stage of more than a hundred feet in diameter4 ,here1 in very early times1 sports were played and combats fought out1 and rustic councils assembled4 ,the ancient ,cornish ,mysteries here drew tears and laughter from the mixed audiences of the day4 ,they were popular as late as the period of ,shakspeare4 ,of one of them1 a five act piece1 entitled ,the ,creation of the ,world1 with ,noah's ,flood1 the learned ,davies ,gilbert has given a translation4 ,in this historical piece1 played for edification in ,scripture history1 the stage directions speak of varied costumes1 variety of scenery1 and complicated machinery1 all on an open-air stage1 whereon the deluge was to roll its billows and the mimic world be lost4 ,this cataclysm achieved1 the depressed spectators were rendered merry4 ,the minstrels piped1 the audience rose and footed it1 and then1 having had their full of amusement1 they who had converged1 from so many starting points1 upon ,piran ,round1 scattered again on their several ways homeward from the ancient theatre1 and as the sun went down1 thinned away over the heath1 the fishermen going seaward1 the miners inland1 and the agricultural labourers to the cottages and farm-houses which dotted1 here and there1 the otherwise dreary moor4 ,such is ,piran ,round described to have been1 and the old house is worthy of tender preservation1 for it once saved ,england from invasion6 ,about the year #afjj1 some strollers1 as they are called in ,somer's ,tracts1 were playing late at night at ,piran4 ,at the same time a party of ,spaniards had landed with the intention of surprising1 plundering1 and burning the village4 ,as the enemy were silently on their way to this consummation1 the players1 who were representing a battle1 struck up a loud alarum with drum and trumpet on the stage1 which the enemy hearing1 thought they were discovered1 made some few idle shots1 and so in a hurly-burly fled to their boats4 ,and thus the townsmen were apprised of their danger1 and delivered from it at the same time4 ,thus the players rescued the kingdom6 ,their sons and successors were not so happy in rescuing their ,king2 but the powerful enemies of each suppressed both real and mimic kings4 ,how they dealt with the monarchs of the stage1 our prologue at an end1 remains to be told4 ,illustration3 ,mr4 ,garrick as ,sir ,john ,brute4 ,,footnotes3 #a ,professor ,ward says3 ,the entrance-money was from the time of ,pericles provided out of the public treasury4 #b ,geoffrey was made ,abbot of ,st4 ,albans in #aaai4 ,the play1 of course1 was many years earlier4 #c ,it would appear that noblemen's players were prohibited from acting1 even before their masters1 without leave from the ,privy ,council4 #d ,the patent was dated #aegd1 and does not specify any particular building or locality4 #e #aegi 7#b;d edition74 #f ,should be #aegd4 ,it is dated #gth ,may #aegd4 #g ,these quotations are both from the same sermon4 #h ,or1 ,prince ,palatine4 #i ,the owners seem to have been ,cuthbert and ,william ,burbage1 uncle and nephew4 #aj ,the year of its destruction seems uncertain4 #aa ,it was standing in #affa2 in which year it was advertised for sale1 with the ground belonging to it4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,swan ,,theatre4 ,,chapter ,,ii4 ,,the ,,decline ,,and ,,fall ,,of ,,the ,,players4 ,it was in the eventful year #aehg1ab while ,roman ,catholics were deploring the death of ,mary ,stuart2 while ,englishmen were exulting at the destruction dealt by ,drake to a hundred ,spanish ships in the port of ,cadiz2 while the ,puritan party was at angry issue with ,elizabeth2 while ,john ,fox was lying dead2 and while ,walsingham was actively impeding the ways and means of ,armada ,philip1 by getting his bills protested at ,genoa1--that the little man1 ,gosson1 in the parish of ,st4 ,botolph1 of which he was the incumbent1 first nibbed his pen1#ac and made it fly furiously over paper1 in wordy war against the stage and stage-players4 ,when the ,britons ate acorns and drank water1 he says1 they were giants and heroes2 but since plays came in they had dwindled into a puny race1 incapable of noble and patriotic achievements6 ,and yet next year1 some pretty fellows of that race were sweeping the ,invincible ,armada from the surface of our seas6 ,when ,london was talking admiringly of the coronation of ,charles ,i41 and ,parliament was barely according him one pound in twelve of the money-aids of which he was in need1 there was another pamphleteer sending up his testimony from ,cheapside to ,westminster1 against the alleged abomination of plays and players4 ,this writer entitles his work ,a short ,treatise against ,stage ,plays1 and he makes it as sharp as it is short4 ,plays were invented by heathens2 they must necessarily be prejudicial to ,christians6--that is the style of his assertion and argument4 ,they were invented in order to appease false gods2 consequently1 the playing of them must excite to wrath a true ,deity6 ,they are no recreation1 because people come away from them wearied4 ,the argument1 in tragedy1 he informs us1 is murder2 in comedy1 it is social vice4 ,this he designates as bad instruction2 and remembering ,field's query to ,sutton1 he would very much like to know in what page of ,holy ,writ authority is given for the vocation of an actor4 ,he might as well have asked for the suppression of tailors1 on the ground of their never being once named in either the ,old ,testament or the ,new6 ,but this author finds condemnation there of stage effects1 rehearsed or unrehearsed4 ,you deal with the judgments of ,god in tragedy1 and laugh over the sins of men in comedy2 and thereupon he reminds you1 not very appositely1 that ,ham was accursed for deriding his father6 ,players change their apparel and put on women's attire1--as if they had never read a chapter in ,deuteronomy in their lives6 ,if coming on the stage under false representation of their natural names and persons be not an offence against the ,epistle to ,timothy1 he would thank you to inform him what it is6 ,as to looking on these pleasant evils and not falling into sin1--you have heard of ,job and ,king ,david1 and you are worse than a heathen if you do not remember what they looked upon with innocent intent1 or if you have forgotten what came of the looking4 ,he reminds parents1 that while they are at the play1 there are wooers who are carrying off the hearts of their daughters at home2 perhaps1 the very daughters themselves from home4 ,this seems to me to be less an argument against resorting to the theatre than in favour of your taking places for your young ladies1 as well as for yourselves4 ,the writer looks too wide abroad to see what lies at his feet4 ,he is in ,asia1 citing the ,council of ,laodicea against the theatre4 ,he is in ,africa1 vociferating1 as the ,council of ,carthage did1 against audiences4 ,he is in ,europe1 at ,arles1 where the ,fathers decided that no actor should be admitted to the sacrament4 ,finally1 he unites all these ,councils together at ,constantinople1 and in a three-piled judgment sends stage1 actors1 and audiences to ,gehenna4 ,if you would only remember that many royal and noble men have been slain when in the theatre1 on their way thither1 or returning thence1 you will have a decent horror of risking a similar fate in like localities4 ,he has known actors who have died after the play was over2 he would fain have you believe that there is something in that4 ,and when he has intimated that theatres have been burnt and audiences suffocated2 that stages have been swept down by storms and spectators trodden to death2 that less than forty years previous to the time of his writing1 eight persons had been killed and many more wounded1 by the fall of a ,london playhouse2 and that a similar calamity had lately occurred in the city of ,lyons--the writer conceives he has advanced sufficient argument1 and administered more than enough of admonition1 to deter any person from entering a theatre henceforth and for ever4 ,this paper pellet had not long been printed1 when the vexed author might have seen four actors sailing joyously along the ,strand4 ,there they are1 ,master ,moore 7there were no managers then2 they were masters till the ,georgian era71 ,master ,moore1 heavy ,foster1 mirthful ,guilman1 and airy ,townsend4 ,the master carries in his pocket a royal licence to form a company1 whose members1 in honour of the ,king's sister1 shall be known as the ,lady ,elizabeth's servants2 with permission to act when and where they please1 in and about the city of ,london1 unless when the plague shall be more than ordinarily prevalent4 ,there was no present opportunity to touch these licensed companies2 and1 accordingly1 a sect of men who professed to unite loyalty with orthodoxy1 looking eagerly about them for offenders1 detected an unlicensed fraternity playing a comedy in the old house1 before noticed1 of ,sir ,john ,yorke4 ,the result of this was the assembling of a nervously-agitated troop of offenders in the ,star ,chamber4 ,one ,christopher ,mallory was made the scapegoat1 for the satisfactory reason that in the comedy alluded to he had represented the devil1 and in the last scene descended through the stage1 with a figure of ,king ,james on his back1 remarking the while1 that such was the road by which all ,protestants must necessarily travel6 ,poor ,mallory1 condemned to fine and imprisonment1 vainly observed that there were two points1 he thought1 in his favour--that he had not played in the piece1 and had not been even present in the house6 ,meanwhile the public flocked to their favourite houses1 and fortune seemed to be most blandly smiling on masters1 when there suddenly appeared the monster mortar manufactured by ,prynne1 and discharged by him over ,london1 with an attendant amount of thunder1 which shook every building in the metropolis4 ,prynne had just previously seen the painters busily at work in beautifying the old ,fortune1 and the decorators gilding the horns of the ,red ,bull4 ,he had been down to ,whitefriars1 and had there beheld a new theatre rising near the old time-honoured site4 ,he was unable to be longer silent1 and in #afcc out came his ,histrio-,mastix1 consisting1 from title-page to finis1 of a thousand and several hundred pages4 ,prynne1 in some sense1 did not lead opinion against the stage1 but followed that of individuals who suffered certain discomfort from their vicinity to the chief house in ,blackfriars4 ,in #afca1 the churchwardens and constables petitioned ,laud1 on behalf of the whole parish1 for the removal of the players1 whose presence was a grievance1 it was asserted1 to ,blackfriars generally4 ,the shopkeepers affirm that their goods1 exposed for sale1 are swept off their stalls by the coaches and people sweeping onward to the playhouse2 that the concourse is so great1 the inhabitants are unable to take beer or coal into their houses while it continues2 that to get through ,ludgate to the water is just impossible2 and if a fire break out ,heaven help them1 how can succour be brought to the sufferers through such mobs of men and vehicles8 ,christenings are disturbed in their joy by them1 and the sorrow of burials intruded on4 ,persons of honour dare not go abroad1 or if abroad1 dare not venture home while the theatre is open4 ,and then there is that other house1 ,edward ,alleyn's1 rebuilding in ,golden ,lane1 and will not the ,council look to it8 ,illustration3 7,edward ,alleyn47 ,the ,council answer that ,queen ,henrietta ,maria is well affected towards plays1 and that therefore good regulation is more to be provided than suppression decreed4 ,there must not be more than two houses1 they say2 one on ,bankside1 where the ,lord ,chamberlain's servants may act2 the other in ,middlesex1 for which license may be given to ,alleyn1 servant of the ,lord ,admiral1 in ,golden ,lane4 ,each company is to play but twice a week1 forbearing to play on the ,sabbath ,day1 in ,lent1 and in times of infection4 ,here is a prospect for old ,blackfriars2 but it is doomed to fall4 ,the house had been condemned in #afai1 and cannot longer be tolerated4 ,but compensation must be awarded4 ,the players1 bold fellows1 claim #ba1jjj6 ,the referees award #cjjj1 and the delighted inhabitants offer #ajj towards it1 to get rid of the people who resort to the players1 rather than of the players themselves4 ,then spake out ,prynne4 ,he does not tell us how many prayer-books had been recently published1 but he notes1 with a cry of anguish1 the printing of forty thousand plays within the last two years4 ,there are five devil's chapels1 he says1 in ,london2 and yet in more extensive ,rome1 in ,nero's days1 there were but three1 and those1 he adds1 were three too many6 ,when the writer gets beyond statistics he grows rude2 but he was sincere1 and accepted all the responsibility of the course taken by him1 advisedly4 ,while the anger excited by this attack on pastimes favoured by the ,king was yet hot1 the assault itself was met by a defiance4 ,the gentlemen of the ,inns of ,court closed their law-books1 got up a masque1 and played it at ,whitehall1 in the presence of a delighted audience1 consisting of royal and noble personages4 ,the most play-loving of the lords followed the example afforded by the lawyers1 and the ,king himself assumed the buskin1 and turned actor1 for the nonce4 ,tom ,carew was busy with superintending the rehearsals of his ,coelum ,britannicum1 and in urging honest and melodious ,will ,lawes to progress more rapidly with the music4 ,cavalier ,will was not to be hurried1 but did his work steadily2 and ,prynne might have heard him and his brother ,harry humming the airs over as they walked together across the park to ,whitehall4 ,when the day of representation arrived1 great was the excitement and intense the delight of some1 and the scorn of others4 ,among the noble actors who rode down to the palace was ,rich1 ,earl of ,holland4 ,all passed off so pleasantly that no one dreamed it was the inauguration of a struggle in which ,prynne was to lose his estate1 his freedom1 and his ears2 the ,king and the earl their heads2 while gallant ,will ,lawes1 as honest a man as any of them1 was1 a dozen years after1 to be found among the valiant dead who fell at the siege of ,chester4 ,ere this dnouement to a tragedy so mirthfully commenced had been reached1 there were other defiances cast in the teeth of audacious1 but too harshly-treated ,prynne4 ,there was a reverend playwright about town1 whom ,eton loved and ,oxford highly prized2 ,ben ,jonson called him his son1 and ,bishop ,fell1 who presumed to give an opinion on subjects of which he was ignorant1 pronounced the ,rev4 ,william ,cartwright to be the utmost that man could come to6 ,for the ,christ ,church students at ,oxford1 ,cartwright wrote the ,royal ,slave1 one of three out of his four plays which sleep under a righteous oblivion4 ,the ,king and ,queen went down to witness the performance of the scholastic amateurs2 and1 considering that a main incident of the piece comprises a revolt in order to achieve some reasonable liberty for an oppressed people1 the subject may be considered more suggestive than felicitous4 ,the fortunes of many of the audience were about to undergo mutation1 but there was an actor there whose prosperity commenced from that day4 ,all the actors played with spirit1 but this especial one manifested such self-possession1 displayed such judgment1 and exhibited such powers of conception and execution1 that ,king1 ,queen1 and all the illustrious audience showered down upon him applauses--hearty1 loud1 and long4 ,his name was ,busby4 ,he had been so poor that he received #e to enable him to take his degree of ,b4,a4 ,westminster was soon to possess him1 for nearly three-score years the most famous of her masters4 ,a very great man6 said ,sir ,roger de ,coverley2 he whipped my grandfather6 ,when ,prynne1 and ,bastwick1 and ,burton--released from prison by the ,long ,parliament--entered ,london in triumph1 with wreaths of ivy and rosemary round their hats1 the players who stood on the causeway1 or at tavern windows1 to witness the passing of the victims1 must have felt uneasy at their arch-enemy being loose again4 ,between politics1 perverse parties1 the plague1 and the parliament1 the condition of the actors fell from bad to worse4 ,in a dialogue which professedly passed at this time between ,cane of the ,fortune and ,reed of the ,friers1 one of the speakers deplores the going-out of all good old things1 and the other1 sighingly1 remarks that true ,latin is as little in fashion at ,inns of ,court as good clothes are at ,cambridge4 ,at length arrived the fatal year #afdg1 when1 after some previous attempts to abolish the vocation of the actors1 the parliament disbanded the army and suppressed the players4 ,the latter struggled manfully1 but not so successfully1 as the soldiery4 ,they were treated with less consideration2 the decree of ,february #afdgad informed them that they were no better than heathens2 that they were intolerable to ,christians2 that they were incorrigible and vicious offenders1 who would now be compelled by whip1 and stocks1 and gyves1 and prison fare1 to obey ordinances which they had hitherto treated with contempt4 ,had not the glorious ,elizabeth stigmatised them as rogues1 and the sagacious ,james as vagabonds8 ,mayors and sheriffs1 and high and low constables were let loose upon them1 and encouraged to be merciless2 menace was piled upon menace2 money penalties were hinted at in addition to corporeal punishments--and1 after all1 plays were enacted in spite of this counter-enactment4 ,but these last enactors were not to be trifled with2 and the autumn saw accomplished what had not been effected in the spring4 ,the ,perfect ,weekly ,account for ,wednesday1 ,oct4 #bj1 to ,tuesday1 ,oct4 #bf1 informs its readers that on ,friday an ordinance passed both ,houses for suppressing of stage-plays1 which of late began to come in use again4 ,the ordinance itself is as uncivil a document as ever proceeded from ruffled authority2 and the framers clearly considered that if they had not crushed the stage for ever1 they had unquestionably frozen out the actors as long as the existing government should endure4 ,at this juncture1 historians inform us that many of the ousted actors took military service--generally1 as was to be expected1 on the royalist side4 ,but1 in #afdg1 the struggle was virtually over4 ,the great fire was quenched1 and there was only a trampling out of sparks and embers4 ,charles ,hart1 the actor--grandson of ,shakspeare's sister--holds a prominent place among these players turned soldiers as one who rose to be a major in ,rupert's ,horse4 ,charles ,hart1 however1 was at this period only seventeen years of age1 and more than a year and a half had elapsed since ,rupert had been ordered beyond sea1 for his weak defence of ,bristol4 ,rupert's major was1 probably1 that very jolly good fellow with whom ,pepys used to take wine and anchovies to such excess as to make it necessary for his girl to rise early1 and fetch her sick master fresh water1 wherewith to slake his thirst1 in the morning4 ,the enrolment of actors in either army occurred at an earlier period1 and one ,hart was certainly among them4 ,thus ,alleyn1 erst of the ,cockpit1 filled the part of quartermaster-general to the ,king's army at ,oxford4 ,burt became a cornet1 ,shatterel was something less dignified in the same branch of the service--the cavalry4 ,these survived to see the old curtain once more drawn2 but record is made of the death of one gallant player1 said to be ,will ,robinson1 whom doughty ,harrison encountered in fight1 and through whom he passed his terrible sword1 shouting at the same time3 ,cursed is he that doeth the work of the ,lord negligently6 ,this serious bit of stage business would have been more dramatically arranged had ,robinson been encountered by ,swanston1 a player of ,presbyterian tendencies1 who served in the ,parliamentary army4 ,a terrific broadsword combat between the two might have been an encounter which both armies might have looked at with interest1 and supported by applause4 ,of the military fortunes of the actors none was so favourable as brave little ,mohun's1 who crossed to ,flanders1 returned a major1 and was subsequently set down in the cast under his military title4 ,old ,taylor retired1 with that original portrait of ,shakspeare to solace him1 which was to pass by the hands of ,davenant1 to that glory of our stage1 ,incomparable ,betterton4 ,pollard1 too1 withdrew1 and lusty ,lowen1 after a time1 kicked both sock and buskin out of sight1 clapped on an apron1 and appeared1 with well-merited success1 as landlord of the ,three ,pigeons1 at ,brentford4 ,illustration3 7,john ,lowen47 ,the actors could not comprehend why their office was suppressed1 while the bear-baiters were putting money in both pockets1 and non-edifying puppet-shows were enriching their proprietors4 ,if ,shakspeare was driven from ,blackfriars and the ,cockpit1 was it fair to allow ,bel and the ,dragon to be enacted by dolls1 at the foot of ,holborn ,bridge8 ,the players were told that the public would profit by the abolition of their vocation4 ,loose young gentlemen1 fast merchant-factors1 and wild young apprentices were no longer to be seen1 it was said1 hanging about the theatres1 spending all their spare money1 much that they could not spare1 and not a little which was not theirs to spend4 ,it was uncivilly suggested that the actors were a merry sort of thieves1 who used to attach themselves to the puny gallants who sought their society1 and strip them of the gold pieces in their pouches1 the bodkin on their thighs1 the girdles buckled to give them shape1 and the very beavers jauntily plumed to lend them grace and stature4 ,in some of the streets by the river-side a tragedy-king or two found refuge with kinsfolk4 ,the old theatres stood erect and desolate1 and the owners1 with hands in empty pockets1 asked how they were to be expected to pay ground-rent1 now that they earned nothing8 whereas their afternoon-share used to be twenty--ay1 thirty shillings1 sir6 ,and see1 the flag is still flying above the old house over the water1 and a lad who erst played under it1 looks up at the banner with a proud sorrow4 ,an elder actor puts his hands on the lad's shoulder1 and cries3 ,before the old scene is on again1 boy1 thy face will be as battered as the flag there on the roof-top6 ,and as this elder actor passes on1 he has a word with a poor fellow-mime who has been less provident than he1 and whose present necessities he relieves according to his means4 ,near them stand a couple of deplorable-looking door-keepers1 or1 as we should call them now1 money-takers1 and the well-to-do ex-actor has his allusive joke at their old rascality1 and affects to condole with them that the time is gone by when they used to scratch their neck where it itched not1 and then dropped shilling and half-crown pieces behind their collars6 ,but they were not the only poor rogues who suffered by revolution4 ,that slipshod tapster1 whom a guest is cudgelling at a tavern-door1 was once the proudest and most extravagantly-dressed of the tobacco-men whose notice the smokers in the pit gingerly entreated1 and who used to vend1 at a penny the pipeful1 tobacco that was not worth a shilling a cart-load4 ,and behold other evidences of the hardness of the times6 ,those shuffling fiddlers who so humbly peer through the low windows into the tavern room1 and meekly inquire3 ,will you have any music1 gentlemen8 they are tuneful relics of the band who were wont to shed harmony from the balcony above the stage1 and play in fashionable houses1 at the rate of ten shillings for each hour4 ,now1 they shamble about in pairs1 and resignedly accept the smallest dole1 and think mournfully of the time when they heralded the coming of kings1 and softly tuned the dirge at the burying of ,ophelia6 ,even these have pity to spare for a lower class than themselves1--the journeymen playwrights1 whom the managers once retained at an annual stipend and beneficial second nights4 ,the old playwrights were fain to turn pamphleteers1 but their works sold only for a penny1 and that is the reason why those two shabby-genteel people1 who have just nodded sorrowfully to the fiddlers1 are not joyously tippling sack and ,gascony wine1 but are imbibing unorthodox ale and heretical small beer4 ,cunctis graviora cothurnis6 murmurs the old actor1 whose father was a schoolmaster2 it's more pitiful than any of your tragedies6 ,the distress was severe1 but the profession had to abide it4 ,much amendment was promised1 if only something of the old life might be pursued without peril of the stocks or the whipping-post4 ,the authorities would not heed these promises1 but grimly smiled--at the actors1 who undertook to promote virtue2 the poets1 who engaged to be proper of speech2 the managers1 who bound themselves to prohibit the entrance of all temptations into the sixpenny rooms2 and the tobacco-men1 who swore with earnest irreverence to vend nothing but the pure ,spanish leaf1 even in the threepenny galleries4 ,but the tragedy which ended with the killing of the ,king gave sad hearts to the comedians1 who were in worse plight than before1 being now deprived of hope itself4 ,one or two contrived to print and sell old plays for their own benefit2 a few authors continued to add a new piece1 now and then1 to the stock1 and that there were readers for them we may conjecture from the fact of the advertisements which began to appear in the papers--sometimes of the publication of a solitary play1 at another of the entire dramatic works of that most noble lady the ,marchioness of ,newcastle4 ,the actors themselves united boldness with circumspection4 ,richard ,cox1 dropping the words play and player1 constructed a mixed entertainment1 in which he spoke and sang2 and on one occasion so aptly mimicked the character of an artisan1 that a master in the craft kindly and earnestly offered to engage him4 ,during the suppression1 ,cowley's ,guardian was privately played at ,cambridge4 ,the authorities would seem to have winked at these private representations1 or to have declined noticing them until after the expiration of the period within which the actors were exposed to punishment4 ,too great audacity1 however1 was promptly and severely visited from the earliest days after the issuing of the prohibitory decree4 ,a first-rate troop obtained possession of the ,cockpit for a few days1 in #afdh4 ,they had played unmolested for three days1 and were in the very midst of ,the ,bloody ,brother on the fourth1 when the house was invaded by the ,puritan soldiery1 the actors captured1 the audience dispersed1 and the seats and the stage righteously smashed into fragments4 ,the players 7some of them among the most accomplished of their day7 were paraded through the streets in all their stage finery1 and clapped into the ,gate ,house and other prisons1 whence they were too happy to escape1 after much unseemly treatment1 at the cost of all the theatrical property which they had carried on their backs into durance vile4 ,this severity1 visited in other houses as well as the ,cockpit1 caused some actors to despair1 while it rendered others only a little more discreet4 ,rhodes1 the old prompter at ,blackfriars1 turned bookseller1 and opened a shop at ,charing ,cross4 ,there he and one ,betterton1 an ex-under-cook in the kitchen of ,charles ,i41 who lived in ,tothill ,street1 talked mournfully over the past1 and1 according to their respective humours1 of the future4 ,the cook's sons listened the while1 and one of them especially took delight in hearing old stories of players1 and in cultivating an acquaintance with the old theatrical bookseller4 ,in the neighbourhood of the ex-prompter's shop1 knots of very slenderly-built players used to congregate at certain seasons4 ,a delegate from their number might be seen whispering to the citizen captain in command at ,whitehall1 who1 as wicked people reported1 consented1 for a consideration1 not to bring his red-coats down to the ,bull or other localities where private stages were erected--especially during the time of ,bartholomew ,fair1 ,christmas1 and other joyous tides4 ,to his shame1 be it recorded1 the captain occasionally broke his promise1 or the poor actors had fallen short in their purchase-money of his pledge1 and in the very middle of the piece1 the little theatre would be invaded1 and the audience be rendered subject to as much virtuous indignation as the actors4 ,the cause of the latter1 however1 found supporters in many of the members of the aristocracy4 ,close at hand1 near ,rhodes's shop1 lived ,lord ,hatton1 first of the four peers so styled4 ,his house was in ,scotland ,yard4 ,his lands had gone by forfeiture1 but the proud old ,cheshire landowner cared more for the preservation of the deed by which he and his ancestors had held them1 than he did for the loss of the acres themselves4 ,hatton was the employer1 so to speak1 of ,dugdale1 and the patron of literary men and of actors1 and1 it must be added1 of very frivolous company besides4 ,he devoted much time to the preparation of a ,book of ,psalms and the ill-treatment of his wife2 and was altogether an eccentric personage1 for he recommended ,lambert's daughter as a personally and politically suitable wife for ,charles ,,ii41 and afterwards discarded his own eldest son for marrying that incomparable lady4 ,in ,hatton1 the players had a supreme patron in town2 and they found friends as serviceable to them in the noblemen and gentlemen residing a few miles from the capital4 ,these patrons opened their houses to the actors for stage representations2 but even this private patronage had to be distributed discreetly4 ,goffe1 the light-limbed lad who used to play women's parts at the ,blackfriars1 was generally employed as messenger to announce individually to the audience when they were to assemble1 and to the actors the time and place for the play4 ,one of the mansions1 wherein these dramatic entertainments were most frequently given1 was ,holland ,house1 ,kensington4 ,it was then held and inhabited by the widowed countess of that unstable ,earl of ,holland1 whose head had fallen on the scaffold in ,march #afdi2 but this granddaughter of old ,sir ,walter ,cope1 who lost ,camden ,house at cards to a ,cheapside mercer1 ,sir ,baptist ,hicks1 was a strong-minded woman1 and perhaps found some consolation in patronising the pleasures which the enemies of her defunct lord so stringently prohibited4 ,when the play was over1 a collection was made among the noble spectators1 whose contributions were divided between the players according to the measure of their merits4 ,this done they wended their way down the avenue to the high road1 where probably1 on some bright summer afternoon1 if a part of them prudently returned afoot to town1 a joyous but less prudent few padded it to ,brentford1 and made a short but glad night of it with their brother of the ,three ,pigeons4 ,at the most this was but a poor life2 but such as it was1 the players were obliged to make the best of it4 ,if they were impatient1 it was not without some reason1 for though ,oliver despised the stage1 he could condescend to laugh at1 and with1 men of less dignity in their vocation than actors4 ,buffoonery was not entirely expelled from his otherwise grave court4 ,at the marriage festival of his daughter ,frances and his son-in-law ,mr4 ,rich1 the ,protector would not tolerate the utterance of a line from ,shakspeare1 expressed from the lips of a player2 but there were hired buffoons at that entertainment1 which they well-nigh brought to a tragical conclusion4 ,a couple of these saucy fellows seeing ,sir ,thomas ,hillingsley1 the old gentleman-usher to the ,queen of ,bohemia1 gravely dancing1 sought to excite a laugh by trying to blacken his face with a burnt cork4 ,the high-bred1 solemn old gentleman was so aroused to anger by this unseemly audacity1 that he drew his dagger1 and1 but for swift interference1 would have run it beneath the fifth rib of the most active of his rude assailants4 ,on this occasion1 ,cromwell himself was almost as lively as the hired jesters2 snatching off the wig of his son ,richard1 he feigned to fling it in the fire1 but suddenly passing the wig under him1 and seating himself upon it1 he pretended that it had been destroyed1 amid the servile applause of the edified spectators4 ,the actors might reasonably have argued that ,hamlet in ,scotland ,yard or at ,holland ,house was a more worthy entertainment than such grown-up follies in the gallery at ,whitehall4 ,those follies ceased to be2 ,oliver had passed away1 and ,richard had laid down the greatness which had never sat well upon him4 ,important changes were at hand1 and the merry rattle of ,monk's drums coming up ,gray's ,inn ,road1 welcomed by thousands of dusty spectators1 announced no more cheering prospect to any class than to the actors4 ,the ,oxford vintner's son1 ,will ,davenant1 might be seen bustling about in happy hurry1 eagerly showing young ,betterton how ,taylor used to play ,hamlet1 under the instruction of ,burbage1 and announcing bright days to open-mouthed ,kynaston1 ready at a moment's warning to leap over his master's counter1 and take his standing at the balcony as the smooth-cheeked ,juliet4 ,meanwhile1 beaming old ,rhodes1 with a head full of memories of the joyous ,blackfriars' days1 and the merry afternoons over the water1 at the ,globe1 leaving his once apprentice1 ,betterton1 listening to ,davenant's stage histories1 and ,kynaston1 not yet out of his time1 longing to flaunt it before an audience1 took his own way to ,hyde ,park1 where ,monk was encamped1 and there obtained1 in due time1 from that far-seeing individual1 licence to once more raise the theatrical flag1 enrol the actors1 light up the stage1 and1 in a word1 revive the ,english theatre4 ,in a few days the drama commenced its new career in the ,cockpit1 in ,drury ,lane2 and this fact seemed so significant1 as to the character of ,general ,monk's tastes that1 subsequently1 when he and the ,council of ,state dined in the city halls1 the companies treated their guests1 after dinner1 with satirical farces1 such as ,citizen and ,soldier1 ,country ,tom1 and ,city ,dick1 with1 as the newspapers inform us1 dancing and singing1 many shapes and ghosts1 and the like2 and all to please his ,excellency the ,lord ,general4 ,the ,english stage owes a debt of gratitude to both ,monk and ,rhodes4 ,the former made glorious summer of the actors' winter of discontent2 and the latter inaugurated the ,restoration by introducing young ,betterton4 ,the son of ,charles ,i4's cook was1 for fifty-one years1 the pride of the ,english theatre4 ,his acting was witnessed by more than one old contemporary of ,shakspeare1--the poet's younger brother being among them1--he surviving till shortly after the accession of ,charles ,,ii4 ,the destitute actors warmed into life and laughter again beneath the sunshine of his presence4 ,his dignity1 his marvellous talent1 his versatility1 his imperishable fame1 are all well known and acknowledged4 ,his industry is indicated by the fact that he created one hundred and thirty new characters6 ,among them were ,jaffier and ,valentine1 three ,virginiuses1 and ,sir ,john ,brute4 ,he was as mirthful in ,falstaff as he was majestic in ,alexander2 and the craft of his ,ulysses1 the grace and passion of his ,hamlet1 the terrible force of his ,othello1 were not more remarkable than the low comedy of his ,old ,bachelor1 the airyness of his ,woodville1 or the cowardly bluster of his ,thersites4 ,the old actors who had been frozen out1 and the new who had much to learn1 could not have rallied round a more noble or a worthier chief2 for ,betterton was not a greater actor than he was a true and honourable gentleman4 ,only for him1 the old frozen-outs would have fared but badly4 ,he enriched himself and them1 and1 as long as he lived1 gave dignity to his profession4 ,the humble lad1 born in ,tothill ,street1 before monarchy and the stage went down1 had a royal funeral in ,westminster ,abbey1 after dying in harness almost in sight of the lamps4 ,he deserved no less1 for he was the king of an art which had well-nigh perished in the ,commonwealth times1 and he was a monarch who probably has never since had1 altogether1 his equal4 ,off as on the stage1 he was exemplary in his bearing2 true to every duty2 as good a country gentleman on his farm in ,berkshire as he was perfect actor in town2 pursuing with his excellent wife the even tenor of his way2 not tempted by the vices of his time1 nor disturbed by its politics2 not tippling like ,underhill2 not plotting and betraying the plotters against ,william1 like ,goodman1 nor carrying letters for a costly fee between ,london and ,st4 ,germains1 like ,scudamore4 ,if there had been a leading player on the stage in #afdg1 with the qualities1 public and private1 which distinguished ,betterton1 there perhaps would have been a less severe ordinance than that which inflicted so much misery on the actors1 and which1 after a long decline1 brought about a fall2 from which they were1 however1 as we shall see1 destined to rise and flourish4 ,,footnotes3 #ab ,should be #aegi4 ,stephen ,gosson's ,schoole of ,abuse was entered at ,stationers' ,hall1 ,july #bb1 #aegi4 ,dr4 ,doran corrects this in the second edition4 #ac ,gosson was not made rector of ,st4 ,botolph till #afjj4 #ad ,february #afdg-dh3 that is1 ,february #afdh4 ,this act succeeded the one mentioned in the next paragraph4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,globe ,,theatre4 ,,chapter ,,iii4 ,,the ,,boy ,,actresses1 ,,and ,,the ,,young ,,ladies4 ,the ,theatre ,royal1 ,drury ,lane1 is the sacred ground of the ,english drama since the restoration of monarchy4 ,at the ,cockpit 7,pit ,street remains a memory of the place71 otherwise called the ,phoenix1 in the lane above-named1 the old ,english actors had uttered their last words before they were silenced4 ,in a reconstruction of the edifice near1 rather than on1 the old site1 the young ,english actors1 under ,rhodes1 built their new stage1 and wooed the willing town4 ,there was some irregularity in the first steps made to re-establish the stage1 which1 after an uneasy course of about four years1 was terminated by ,charles ,,ii41 who1 in #affc1ae granted patents for two theatres1 and no more1 in ,london4 ,under one patent1 ,killigrew1 at the head of the ,king's ,company 7the ,cockpit being closed71 opened at the new theatre in ,drury ,lane1 in ,august#af #affc1 with a play of the olden time--the ,humourous ,lieutenant of ,beaumont and ,fletcher4 ,under the second patent1 ,davenant and the ,duke of ,york's ,company found a home--first at the old ,cockpit1 then in ,salisbury ,court1 ,fleet ,street1 the building of which was commenced in #affj1 on the site of the old granary of ,salisbury house1 which had served for a theatre in the early years of the reign of ,charles ,i4 ,this little stage was lapped up by the great tongue of fire1 by which many a nobler edifice was destroyed1 in #afff4 ,but previous to the fire1 thence went ,davenant and the ,duke's troop to the old ,tennis ,court1 the first of the three theatres in ,portugal ,row1 on the south side of ,lincoln's ,inn ,fields1 from which the houses took their name4 ,in #afga1 ,davenant being dead1 the company1 under the nominal management of his widow1 migrated to a house designed by ,wren1 and decorated by ,grinling ,gibbons4 ,this was the ,duke's ,theatre1 in ,dorset ,gardens4 ,it was in close vicinity to the old ,salisbury ,court ,theatre1 and it presented a double face--one towards ,fleet ,street1 the other overlooking the terrace which gave access to visitors who came by the river4 ,later1 this company was housed in ,lincoln's ,inn ,fields again2 but it migrated1 in #agcb1 to ,covent ,garden1 under ,rich4 ,rich's house was burnt down in #ahjh1 and its successor1 built by ,smirke1 was destroyed in #ahef4 ,on the site of the latter now stands the ,royal ,italian ,opera1 the representative1 in its way1 of the line of houses wherein the ,duke's ,company struggled against their competitors of the ,king's4 ,the first house of those competitors in ,drury ,lane was burnt in #afgb1 but the ,king's ,company took refuge in the ,fields till ,wren built the new house1 opened in #afgd4 ,the two troops remained divided1 yet not opposed1 each keeping to its recognised stock pieces1 till #afhb1 when ,killigrew1 having shuffled off this mortal coil1#ag the two companies1 after due weeding1 formed into one1 and abandoning ,lincoln's ,inn to the tennis-players1 ,dorset ,gardens to the wrestlers1 and both to decay1 they opened at the ,new ,drury1 built by ,sir ,christopher1 on the #afth of ,november #afhb4 ,wren's theatre was taken down in #agia2 its successor1 built by ,holland1 was opened in #agid1 and was destroyed in #ahji4 ,the present edifice is the fourth which has occupied a site in ,drury ,lane4 ,it is the work of ,wyatt1 and was opened in #ahab4 ,thus much for the edifice of the theatres of the last half of the seventeenth century4 ,before we come to the ladies and gentlemen who met upon the respective stages1 and strove for the approval of the town1 let me notice that1 after the death of ,oliver1#ah ,davenant publicly exhibited a mixed entertainment1 chiefly musical1 but which was not held to be an infringement of the law against the acting of plays4 ,early in ,may #afei1 ,evelyn writes3--,i went to see a new opera1 after the ,italian way1 in recitative music and scenes1 much inferior to the ,italian composure and magnificence2 but it was prodigious1 that in a time of such public consternation1 such a vanity should be kept up or permitted4 ,that these musical entertainments were something quite apart from plays1 is manifest by another entry in ,evelyn's diary1 in ,january #affa3--;,after divers years since ,i had seen any play1 ,i went to see acted ',the ,scornful ,lady1' at a new theatre in ,lincoln's ,inn ,fields4 ,of ,shakspeare's brother ,charles1 who lived to this period1 ,oldys says3--,this opportunity made the actors greedily inquisitive into every little circumstance1 more especially in ,shakspeare's dramatic character1 which his brother could relate of him4 ,but he1 it seems1 was so stricken in years1 and possibly his memory so weakened by infirmities 7which might make him the easier pass for a man of weak intellects71 that he could give them but little light into their inquiries2 and all that could be recollected from him of his brother ,will in that station1 was the faint1 general1 and almost lost ideas he had of having once seen him act a part in one of his own comedies1 wherein being to personate a decrepit old man1 he wore a long beard1 and appeared so weak and drooping1 and unable to walk1 that he was forced to be supported and carried by another person to a table1 at which he was seated among some company who were eating1 and one of them sung a song4 ,this description applies to old ,adam1 in ,as ,you ,like ,it2 and he who feebly shadowed it forth1 formed a link which connected the old theatre with the new4 ,the principal actors in ,killigrew's ,company1 from which that of ,drury ,lane is descended1 were ,bateman1 ,baxter1 ,bird 7,theophilus71 ,blagden1 ,burt1 ,cartwright1 ,clun1 ,duke1 ,hancock1 ,hart1 ,kynaston1 ,lacy1 ,mohun1 the ,shatterels 7,william and ,robert71 and ,wintersel4 ,later additions gave to this company ,beeston1 ,bell1 ,charleton1 ,scum ,goodman1 ,griffin1 ,hains1 ,joe ,harris1 ,hughes1 ,lyddoll1 ,reeves1 and ,shirley4 ,the ladies were ,mrs4 ,corey1 ,eastland1 ,hughes1 ,knep1 the ,marshalls 7,anne and ,rebecca71 ,rutter1 ,uphill1 whom ,sir ,robert ,howard too tardily married1 and ,weaver4 ,later engagements included those of ,mrs4 ,boutel1 ,gwyn 7,nell71 ,james1 ,reeves1 and ,verjuice4 ,these were sworn at the ,lord ,chamberlain's ,office to serve the ,king4 ,of the gentlemen1 ten were enrolled on the ,royal ,household ,establishment1 and provided with liveries of scarlet cloth and silver lace4 ,in the warrants of the ,lord ,chamberlain they were styled ,gentlemen of the ,great ,chamber2 and they might have pointed to this fact as proof of the dignity of their profession4 ,the company first got together by ,rhodes1 subsequently enlarged by ,davenant1 and sworn to serve the ,duke of ,york1 at ,lincoln's ,inn ,fields1 was in some respects superior to that of ,drury ,lane4 ,rhodes's troop included the great ,betterton1 ,dixon1 ,lilliston1 ,lovel1 ,nokes 7,robert71 and six lads employed to represent female characters--,angel1 ,william ,betterton1 a brother of the great actor 7drowned early in life1 at ,wallingford71 ,floid1 ,kynaston 7for a time71 ,mosely1 and ,nokes 7,james74 ,later1 ,davenant added ,blagden1 ,harris1 ,price1 and ,richards2 ,medbourn1 ,norris1 ,sandford1 ,smith1 and ,young4 ,the actresses were ,mrs4 ,davenport1 ,davies1 ,gibbs1 ,holden1 ,jennings1 ,long1 and ,saunderson1 whom ,betterton shortly after married4 ,this new fashion of actresses was a ,french fashion1 and the mode being imported from ,france1 a ,french ,company1 with women among them1 came over to ,london4 ,hoping for the sanction of their countrywoman1 ,queen ,henrietta ,maria1 they established themselves in ,blackfriars4 ,this essay excited all the fury of ,prynne1 who called these actresses by very unsavoury names2 but who1 in styling them unwomanish and graceless1 did not mean to imply that they were awkward and unfeminine1 but that acting was unworthy of their sex1 and unbecoming women born in an era of grace4 ,glad am ,i to say1 remarks as stout a ,puritan as ,prynne1 namely1 ,thomas ,brand1 in a comment addressed to ,laud1 glad am ,i to say they were hissed1 hooted1 and pippin-pelted from the stage1 so that ,i do not think they will soon be ready to try the same again4 ,although ,brand asserts that all virtuous and well-disposed persons in this town were justly offended at these women or monsters rather1 as ,prynne calls them1 expelled from their own country1 adds ,brand1 yet more sober-thinking people did not fail to see the propriety of ,juliet being represented by a girl rather than by a boy4 ,accordingly1 we hear of ,english actresses even before the ,restoration1 mingled1 however1 with boys1 who shared with them that line of business4 ,the boy's a pretty actor1 says ,lady ,strangelove1 in the ,court ,beggar1 played at the ,cockpit1 in #afcb1 and his mother can play her part4 ,the women now are in great request4 ,prynne groaned at the request becoming general4 ,they have now1 he writes1 in #afcc1 their female players in ,italy and other foreign parts4 ,davenant's ,siege of ,rhodes was privately acted#ai by amateurs1 including ,matthew ,locke and ,henry ,purcell2 the parts of ,ianthe and ,roxalana were played by ,mrs4 ,edward ,coleman and another lady4 ,the piece is so stuffed with heroic deeds1 heroic love1 and heroic generosity1 that none more suitable could be found for ladies to appear in4 ,nevertheless1 when ,rhodes was permitted to reopen the stage1 he could only assemble boys about him for his ,evadnes1 ,aspasias1 and the other heroines of ancient tragedy4 ,now1 the resumption of the old practice of women's parts being represented by men in the habits of women1 gave offence1 and this is assigned as a reason in the first patents accorded to ,killigrew and ,davenant why those managers were authorised to employ actresses to represent all female characters4 ,killigrew was the first to avail himself of the privilege4 ,it was time4 ,some of ,rhodes's boys were men past forty1 who frisked it as wenches of fifteen2 even real kings were kept waiting because theatrical queens had not yet shaved2 when they did appear1 they looked like the guard disguised1 and when the prompter called ,desdemona--enter ,,giant6 ,who the lady was who first trod the stage as a professional actress is not known2 but that she belonged to ,killigrew's ,company is certain4 ,the character she assumed was ,desdemona1 and she was introduced by a prologue written for the occasion by ,thomas ,jordan4 ,it can hardly be supposed that she was too modest to reveal her name1 and that of ,anne ,marshal has been suggested1 as also that of ,margaret ,hughes4 ,on the #c;d of ,january #affa1 ,beaumont and ,fletcher's ,beggar's ,bush was performed at ,killigrew's ,theatre1 it being very well done1 says ,pepys1 and here the first time that ever ,i saw women come upon the stage4 ,davenant did not bring forward his actresses before the end of ,june #affa1 when he produced the second part of the ,siege of ,rhodes1 with ,mrs4 ,davenport as ,roxalana1 and ,mrs4 ,saunderson as ,ianthe2 both these ladies1 with ,mrs4 ,davies and ,mrs4 ,long1 boarded in ,davenant's house4 ,killigrew abused his privilege to employ ladies4 ,in #affd1 his comedy1 the ,parson's ,wedding1 wherein the plague is made a comic incident of1 connected with unexampled profligacy1 was acted1 ,i am told1 are ,pepys's own words1 by nothing but women1 at the ,king's house4 ,by this time the vocation of the boy-actresses had altogether passed away2 and there only remains for me to briefly trace the career of those old world representatives of the gentle or truculent heroines depicted by our early dramatists4 ,there were three members of ,killigrew's1 or the ,king's ,company1 who were admirable representatives of female characters before the ,civil ,wars4 ,these were ,hart1 ,burt1 and ,clun--all pupils of luckless ,robinson1 slain in fight1 who was himself an accomplished actress4 ,of the three1 ,hart rose to the greatest eminence4 ,his ,duchess1 in ,shirley's ,cardinal1 was the most successful of his youthful parts4 ,after the ,restoration1 he laid down ,cassio to take ,othello1 from ,burt1 by the ,king's command1 and was as great in the ,moor as ,betterton1 at the other house1 was in ,hamlet4 ,his ,alexander1 which he created1 always filled the theatre2 and his dignity therein was said to convey a lesson even to kings4 ,his ,brutus was scarcely inferior1 while his ,catiline was so unapproachable1 that when he died1 ,jonson's tragedy died with him4#bj ,rymer styles him and ,mohun the sopus and ,roscius of their time4 ,when they acted together 7,amintor and ,melantius7 in the ,maid's ,tragedy1 the town asked no greater treat4 ,hart was one of ,pepys's prime favourites4 ,he was a man whose presence delighted the eye1 before his accents enchanted the ear4 ,the humblest character intrusted to him was distinguished by his careful study4 ,on the stage he acknowledged no audience2 their warmest applause could never draw him into a moment's forgetfulness of his assumed character4 ,in ,manly1 ,the ,plain ,dealer1 as in ,catiline1 he never found a successor who could equal him4 ,his salary was1 at the most1 three pounds a week1 but he is said to have realised #ajjj yearly after he became a shareholder in the theatre4 ,he finally retired in #afhb1 on a pension amounting to half his salary1 which he enjoyed1 however1 scarcely a year4 ,he died of a painful inward complaint in #afhc1 and was buried at ,stanmore ,magna4 ,there is a tradition that ,hart1 ,mohun1 and ,betterton fought on the ,king's side at ,edgehill1 in #afdb4 ,the last-named was then a child1 and some things are attributed to ,charles ,hart which belonged to his father4 ,if ,charles was but eighteen when his namesake1 the ,king1 returned in #affj1 it must have been his father who was at ,edgehill with ,mohun1 and who1 perhaps1 played female characters in his early days4 ,burt1 after he left off the women's gear1 acted ,cicero1 with rare ability1 in ,catiline1 for the getting up of which piece ,charles ,,ii4 contributed #ejj for robes4 ,of ,clun1 in or out of petticoats1 the record is brief4 ,his ,iago was superior to ,mohun's1 but ,lacy excelled him in the ,humourous ,lieutenant2 but as ,subtle1 in the ,alchymist1 he was the admiration of all playgoers4 ,after acting this comic part1 ,clun made a tragic end on the night of the #c;d of ,august #affd4 ,with a lady hanging on his arm1 and some liquor lying under his belt1 he was gaily passing on his way to his country lodgings in ,kentish ,town1 when he was assailed1 murdered1 and flung into a ditch1 by rogues1 one of whom was captured1 an ,irish fellow1 most cruelly butchered and bound4 ,the house will have a great miss of him1 is the epitaph of ,pepys upon versatile ,clun4 ,of the boys belonging to ,davenant's ,company1 who at first appeared in woman's boddice1 but soon found their occupation gone1 some were of greater fame than others4 ,one of these1 ,angel1 turned from waiting-maids to low comedy1 caricatured ,frenchmen and foolish lords4 ,we hear nothing of him after #afgc4 ,the younger ,betterton1 as ,i have said1 was drowned at ,wallingford4 ,mosely and ,floid represented a vulgar class of women1 and both died before the year #afgd2 but ,kynaston and ,james ,nokes long survived to occupy prominent positions on the stage4 ,kynaston made the loveliest lady1 for a boy1 ever beheld by ,pepys4 ,this was in #affj1 when ,kynaston played ,olympia1 the ,duke's sister1 in the ,loyal ,subject2 and went with a young fellow-actor to carouse1 after the play1 with ,pepys and ,captain ,ferrers4 ,kynaston was a handsome fellow under every guise4 ,on the #gth of ,january #affa1 says ,pepys1 ,tom and ,i1 and my wife1 to the theatre1 and there saw ',the ,silent ,woman4' ,among other things here1 ,kynaston1 the boy1 had the good turn to appear in three shapes4 ,first1 as a poor woman1 in ordinary clothes1 to please ,morose2 then1 in fine clothes1 as a gallant--and in them was clearly the prettiest woman in the whole house2 and lastly1 as a man--and then likewise did appear the handsomest man in the house4 ,when the play was concluded1 and it was not the lad's humour to carouse with the men1 the ladies would seize on him1 in his theatrical dress1 and1 carrying him to ,hyde ,park in their coaches1 be foolishly proud of the precious freight which they bore with them4 ,kynaston was not invariably in such good luck4 ,there was another handsome man1 ,sir ,charles ,sedley1 whose style of dress the young actor aped2 and his presumption was punished by a ruffian1 hired by the baronet1 who accosted ,kynaston in ,st4 ,james's ,park1 as ,sir ,charles1 and thrashed him in that character4 ,the actor then mimicked ,sir ,charles on the stage4 ,a consequence was1 that on the #cjth of ,january #affi1ba ,kynaston was waylaid by three or four assailants1 and so clubbed by them1 that there was no play on the following evening2 and the victim1 mightily bruised1 was forced to keep his bed4 ,he did not recover in less than a week4 ,on the #ith of ,february he reappeared1 as the ,king of ,tidore1 in the ,island ,princess1 which he do act very well1 says ,pepys1 after his beating by ,sir ,charles ,sedley's appointment4 ,the boy who used to play ,evadne1 and now enacted the tyrants of the drama1 retained a certain beauty to the last4 ,even at past sixty1 ,cibber tells us1 his teeth were all sound1 white1 and even as one would wish to see in a reigning toast of twenty4 ,colley attributes the formal gravity of ,kynaston's mien to the stately step he had been so early confined to in a female decency4 ,the same writer praises ,kynaston's ,leon1 in ,rule a ,wife and have a ,wife1 for its determined manliness and honest authority4 ,in the heroic tyrants1 his piercing eye1 his quick1 impetuous tone1 and the fierce1 lion-like majesty of his bearing and utterance1 gave the spectator a kind of trembling admiration4 ,when ,cibber played ,syphax1 in ,cato1 he did it as he thought ,kynaston would have done1 had he been alive to impersonate the character4 ,kynaston roared through the bombast of some of the dramatists with a laughable earnestness2 but in ,shakspeare's monarchs he was every inch a king--dignified and natural4 ,the true majesty of his ,henry ,,iv4 was so manifest1 that when he whispered to ,hotspur1 ,send us your prisoners1 or you'll hear of it1 he conveyed1 says ,cibber1 a more terrible menace in it than the loudest intemperance of voice could swell to4 ,again1 in the interview between the dying ,king and his son--the dignity1 majestic grief1 the paternal affection1 the injured1 kingly feeling1 the pathos and the justness of the rebuke--were alike remarkable4 ,the actor was equal to the task assigned him by the author--putting forth that peculiar and becoming grace which the best writer cannot inspire into any actor that is not born with it4 ,kynaston remained on the stage from #afei to #afii4 ,by this time his memory began to fail and his spirit to leave him4 ,these imperfections1 says the generous ,colley1 were visibly not his own1 but the effects of decaying nature4 ,but ,betterton's nature was not thus decaying2 and his labour had been far greater than that of ,kynaston1 who created only a score of original characters1 the best known of which are1 ,harcourt1 in the ,country ,wife2 ,freeman1 in the ,plain ,dealer2 and ,count ,baldwin1 in ,isabella1 or the ,fatal ,marriage4 ,his early practice in representing female characters affected his voice in some disagreeable way4 ,what makes you feel sick8 said ,kynaston to ,powell--suffering from a too riotous last night4 ,how can ,i feel otherwise1 asked ,powell1 when ,i hear your voice8 ,edward ,kynaston died in #agab1 and lies buried in the churchyard of ,st4 ,paul's1 ,covent ,garden4 ,if not the greatest actor of his day1 ,kynaston was the greatest of the boy-actresses4 ,so exalted was his reputation1 that1 says ,downes1 it has since been disputable among the judicious1 whether any woman that succeeded him so sensibly touched the audience as he4 ,in one respect he was more successful than ,betterton1 for he not only made a fortune1 but kept what he had made1 and left it to his only son4 ,this son improved the bequest by his industry as a mercer in ,covent ,garden2 and1 probably remembering that he was well-descended from the ,kynastons of ,oteley1 ,salop1 he sent his own son to college1 and lived to see him ordained4 ,this ,reverend ,mr4 ,kynaston purchased the impropriation of ,aldgate2 and1 despite the vocations of his father and grandfather1 but in consequence of the prudence and liberality of both1 was willingly acknowledged by his ,shropshire kinsmen4 ,kynaston's contemporary1 ,james ,nokes1 was as prudent and as fortunate as he2 but ,james was not so well-descended4 ,his father 7and he himself for a time7 was a city toyman--not so well to do1 but he allowed his sons to go on the stage1 where ,robert was a respectable actor1 and ,james1 after a brief exercise of female characters1 was admirable in his peculiar line4 ,the toyman's son became a landholder1 and made of his nephew a lord of the soil4 ,thus1 even in those days of small salaries1 players could build up fortunes2 because the more prudent among them nursed the little they could spare with care1 and of that little made the very utmost4 ,nokes was1 to the last night of his career1 famous for his impersonation of the ,nurse in two plays2 first1 in that strange adaptation by ,otway of ,romeo and ,juliet to a ,roman tragedy1 ,caius ,marius2 and secondly1 in ,nevil ,payne's fierce1 yet not bombastic drama1 ,fatal ,jealousy4 ,of the portraits to be found in ,cibber's gallery1 one of the most perfect1 drawn by ,colley's hand1 is that of ,james ,nokes4 ,cibber attributes his general excellence to a plain and palpable simplicity of nature1 which was so utterly his own1 that he was often as accountably diverting in his common speech as on the stage4 ,his very conversation was an unctuous acting2 and1 in the truest sense of the word1 he was inimitable4 ,cibber himself1 accomplished mimic as he was1 confessedly failed in every attempt to reproduce the voice and manner of ,james ,nokes1 who identified himself with every part so easily1 as to reap a vast amount of fame at the cost of hardly an hour's study4 ,his range was through the entire realm of broad comedy1 and ,cibber thus photographs him for the entertainment of posterity4 ,he scarce ever made his first entrance in a play but he was received with an involuntary applause1 not of hands only1 for those may be1 and have often been1 partially prostituted and bespoken1 but by a general laughter1 which the very sight of him provoked1 and nature could not resist2 yet the louder the laugh the graver was his look upon it2 and sure the ridiculous solemnity of his features were enough to have set a whole bench of bishops into a titter1 could he have been honoured 7may it be no offence to suppose it7 with such grave and right reverend auditors4 ,in the ludicrous distresses which by the laws of comedy folly is often involved in1 he sunk into such a mixture of piteous pusillanimity1 and a consternation so ruefully ridiculous and inconsolable1 that when he had shook you to a fatigue of laughter1 it became a moot point whether you ought not to have pitied him4 ,when he debated any matter by himself1 he would shut up his mouth with a dumb1 studious pout1 and roll his full eye into such a vacant amazement1 such a palpable ignorance of what to think of it1 that his silent perplexity 7which would sometimes hold him several minutes7 gave your imagination as full content as the most absurd thing he could say upon it4 ,this great comic actor was naturally of a grave and sober countenance2 but the moment he spoke1 the settled seriousness of his features was utterly discharged1 and a dry1 drolling1 or laughing levity took such full possession of him1 that ,i can only refer the idea of him to your imagination4 ,his clear and audible voice better fitted him for burlesque heroes1 like ,jupiter ,ammon1 than his middle stature2 but the pompous inanity of his travestied pagan divinity1 was as wonderful as the rich stolidity of his contentedly ignorant fools4 ,there was no actor whom the ,city so rejoiced in as ,nokes2 there was none whom the ,court more delighted to honour4 ,in ,may #afgj1 ,charles ,,ii41 and troops of courtiers1 went down to ,dover to meet the ,queen-mother1 and took with them the ,lincoln's-,inn-,fields comedians4 ,when ,henrietta ,maria arrived1 with her suite of ,french ladies and gentlemen1 the latter attired1 according to the prevailing fashion1 in very short blue or scarlet laced coats1 with broad sword belts1 the ,english comedians played before the royal host and his guests the play founded on ,molire's ,ecole des ,femmes1 and called ,sir ,solomon4 ,nokes acted ,sir ,arthur ,addel1 in dressing for which part he was assisted by the ,duke of ,monmouth4 ,in order that he might the better ape the ,french mode1 the duke took off his own sword and belt1 and buckled them to the actor's side4 ,at his first entrance on the stage1 ,king and ,court broke into unextinguishable laughter1 so admirably were the foreign guests caricatured2 at which outrage on courtesy and hospitality1 the guests1 naturally enough1 were much chagrined1 says ,downes4 ,nokes retained the duke's sword and belt to his dying day1 which fell in the course of the year #afib4 ,he was the original representative of about forty characters1 in plays which have long since disappeared from the stage4 ,charles ,,ii4 was the first who recognised1 on the occasion of his playing the part of ,norfolk1 in ,henry ,,viii41 the merit of ,nokes as an actor4#bb ,james ,nokes left to his nephew something better than the sword and belt of the ,duke of ,monmouth1 namely1 a landed estate at ,totteridge1 near ,barnet1 of the value of #djj a year4 ,pepys may have kissed that nephew's mother1 on the ,august day of #affe1 when he fell into company near ,rochester with a lady and gentleman riding singly1 and differing as to the merits of a copy of verses1 which ,pepys1 by his style of reading aloud1 got the husband to confess that they were as excellent as the wife had pronounced them to be4 ,his name is ,nokes1 writes the diarist1 over against ,bow ,church4444 ,we promised to meet1 if ever we come both to ,london again1 and at parting1 ,i had a fair salute on horseback1 in ,rochester streets1 of the lady4 ,having thus seen the curtain fall upon the once boy-actresses1 ,i proceed to briefly notice the principal ladies in the respective companies of ,killigrew and ,davenant1 commencing with those of the ,king's ,house1 or ,theatre ,royal1 under ,killigrew's management1 chiefly in ,drury ,lane4 ,the first name of importance in this list is that of ,mrs4 ,hughes1 who1 on the stage from #affc to #afgf1 was more remarkable for her beauty than for her great ability4 ,when the former1 in #affh1 subdued ,prince ,rupert1 there was more jubilee at the ,court of ,charles ,,ii41 at ,tunbridge ,wells1 than if the philosophic ,prince had fallen upon an invention that should benefit mankind4 ,rupert1 whom the plumed gallants of ,whitehall considered as a rude mechanic1 left his laboratory1 put aside his reserve1 and wooed in due form the proudest1 perhaps1 of the actresses of her day4 ,only in the ,may of that year ,pepys had saluted her with a kiss1 in the green-room of the ,kings ,house4 ,she was then reputed to be the intimate friend and favourite of ,sir ,charles ,sedley4 ,a mighty pretty woman1 says ,pepys1 and seems1 but is not1 modest4 ,the ,prince enshrined the frail beauty in that home of ,sir ,nicholas ,crispe1 at ,hammersmith1 which was subsequently occupied by ,bubb ,doddington1 the ,margravine of ,anspach1 and ,queen ,caroline of ,brunswick4 ,she well-nigh ruined her lover1 at whose death there was little left beside a collection of jewels1 worth #bj1jjj1 which were disposed of by lottery1 in order to pay his debts4 ,mrs4 ,hughes was not unlike her own ,mrs4 ,moneylove in ,tom ,essence1 a very good sort of person till temptation beset her4 ,after his death she squandered much of the estate which ,rupert had left to her1 chiefly by gambling4 ,her contemporary1 ,nell ,gwyn1 purchased a celebrated pearl necklace belonging to the deceased ,prince for #debj1 a purchase which must have taken the appearance of an insult1 in the eyes of ,mrs4 ,hughes4 ,the daughter of this union1 ,ruperta1 who shared with her mother the modest estate bequeathed by the ,prince1 married ,general ,emanuel ,scrope ,howe4 ,one of the daughters of this marriage was the beautiful and reckless maid of honour to ,caroline1 ,princess of ,wales1 whom the treachery of ,nanty ,lowther sent broken-hearted to the grave1 in #agbf4 ,through ,ruperta1 however1 the blood of her parents is still continued in the family of ,sir ,edward ,bromley4 ,mrs4 ,knipp 7or ,knep7 was a different being from ,margaret ,hughes4 ,she was a pretty creature1 with a sweet voice1 a mad humour1 and an ill-looking1 moody1 jealous husband1 who vexed the soul and bruised the body of his sprightly1 sweet-toned1 and wayward wife4 ,excellent company she was found by ,pepys and his friends1 whatever her horse-jockey of a husband may have thought of her1 or ,mrs4 ,pepys of the philandering of her own husband with the minx1 whom she did not hesitate to pronounce a wench1 and whom ,pepys himself speaks of affectionately as a jade he was always glad to see4 ,abroad he walks with her in the ,new ,exchange to look for pretty faces2 and of the home of an actress1 in #afff1 we have a sketch in the record of a visit in ,november1 ,to ,knipp's lodgings1 whom ,i find not ready to go home with me2 and there staid reading of ,waller's verses1 while she finished dressing1 her husband being by4 ,her lodging very mean1 and the condition she lives in2 yet makes a show without doors1 ,god bless us6 ,mrs4 ,knipp's characters embraced the rakish fine ladies1 the rattling ladies'-maids1 one or two tragic parts2 and where singing was required1 priestesses1 nuns1 and milkmaids4 ,as one of the latter1 ,pepys was enchanted at her appearance1 with her hair simply turned up in a knot1 behind4 ,her intelligence was very great1 her simple style of dressing much commended2 and she could deliver a prologue as deftly as she could either sing or dance1 and with as much grace as she was wont to throw into manifestations of touching grief or tenderness4 ,she disappears from the bills in #afgh1 after a fourteen years' service2 and there is no further record of the life of ,mistress ,knipp4 ,anne and ,rebecca ,marshall are names which one can only reluctantly associate with that of ,stephen ,marshall the divine1 who is said to have been their father4 ,the ,long ,parliament frequently commanded the eloquent incumbent of ,finchingfield1 ,essex1 to preach before them4 ,cambridge ,university was as proud of him as a distinguished alumnus1 as ,huntingdonshire was of having him for a son4 ,in affairs of religion he was the oracle of ,parliament1 and his advice was sought even in political difficulties4 ,he was a mild and conscientious man1 of whom ,baxter remarked1 that if all the bishops had been of the spirit and temper of ,usher1 the ,presbyterians of the temper of ,mr4 ,marshall1 and the ,independents like ,mr4 ,burroughs1 the divisions of the ,church would have been easily compromised4 ,stephen ,marshall was a man who1 in his practice1 preached his sermons o'er again2 and ,firmin describes him as an example to the believers in word1 in conversation1 in charity1 in faith1 and in purity4 ,he died full of honours and understanding2 and ,westminster ,abbey afforded him a grave1 from which he was ruthlessly ejected at the ,restoration4 ,it is hardly possible to believe that such a saint was the father of the two beautiful actresses whom ,nell ,gwyn taunted with being the erring daughters of a praying ,presbyterian4 ,on the other hand1 we learn from ,sir ,peter ,leicester's ,history of ,cheshire1 that the royalist1 ,lord ,gerard of ,bromley1 retained this staunch ,presbyterian in his house as his chaplain4 ,further1 we are told1 that this chaplain married a certain illegitimate ,elizabeth1 whose father was a ,dutton of ,dutton1 and that of this marriage came ,anne and ,rebecca4 ,as ,sir ,peter was himself connected with both the ,gerards and ,duttons by marriage1 he must be held as speaking with some authority in this matter4 ,pepys says of ,anne ,marshall1 that her voice was not so sweet as ,ianthe's1 meaning ,mrs4 ,betterton's4 ,rebecca had a beautiful hand1 was very imposing on the stage1 and even off of it was mighty fine1 pretty1 and noble4 ,she had the reputation of facilitating the intrigue which ,lady ,castlemaine kept up with ,hart1 the actor1 to avenge herself on the ,king because of his admiration for ,mrs4 ,davies4 ,one of her finest parts was ,dorothea1 in the ,virgin ,martyr2 and her ,queen of ,sicily 7an up-hill part7 to ,nell ,gwyn's ,florimel1 in ,dryden's ,secret ,love1 was highly appreciated by the playgoing public4 ,illustration3 7,nell ,gwyn47 ,with the exception of ,mrs4 ,corey1 the mimic1 and pleasing little ,mrs4 ,boutel1 who realised a fortune1 with her girlish voice and manner1 and her supremely innocent and fascinating ways1 justifying the intensity of love with which she inspired youthful heroes1 the only other actress of the ,king's company worth mentioning is ,nell ,gwyn2 but ,nell was the crown of them all1 winning hearts throughout her jubilant career1 beginning in her early girlhood with that of a link-boy1 and ending in her womanhood with that of the king4 ,nell ,gwyn is claimed by the ,herefordshire people4 ,in ,hereford city1 a mean house in the rear of the ,oak ,inn is pointed out as the place of her birth4 ,the gossips there little thought that a child so humbly born would be the mother of a line of dukes1 or that her great grandson#bc should be the bishop of her native town1 and occupy for forty years the episcopal palace in close proximity to the poor cottage in which the archest of hussies first saw the light4 ,but the claims of ,pipe ,lane1 ,hereford1 are disputed by ,coal ,yard1 ,drury ,lane1 and also by ,oxford1 where ,nell's father1 ,james ,gwyn1 a captain1 according to some1 a fruiterer according to others1 died in prison4 ,the captain with his wife ,helena1#bd somewhile a resident in ,st4 ,martin's ,lane1 had two daughters1 ,nell and ,rose4 ,the latter married a ,captain ,capels1 and1 secondly1 a ,mr4 ,foster2 little else is known of her1 save that her less reputable sister left her a small legacy1 and that she survived till the year #afig4 ,nelly was born early in #afej2 and tradition states that she very early ran away from her country home to town1 and studied for the stage by going every night to the play4 ,i suspect ,coal ,yard was her first bower1 that thence she issued to cry fresh herrings6 and captivate the hearts of susceptible link-boys2 and passed1 from being hander of strong waters to the gentlemen who patronised ,madame ,ross's house1 to taking her place in the pit1 with her back to the orchestra1 and selling oranges and pippins1 with pertinent wit1 gratis1 to liberal fops who would buy the first and return the second with interest4 ,as ,rochester assures us1 there was a wondering pit in presence of this smartest and most audacious of orange-girls4 ,it was natural enough that she should attract the notice of the actors1 that ,lacy should give her instruction1 and that from ,charles ,hart she should take that and all the love he could pay her4 ,the latter two were spoken of in prologues1 long after both were dead1 as those darlings of the stage4 ,under the auspices of ,charles ,hart1 ,nelly made her first appearance at the 7,king's7 theatre1 in a serious part1 ,cydaria1 in the ,indian ,emperor4 ,she was then not more than fifteen1 though some say seventeen years of age4 ,for tragedy she was unfitted3 her stature was low1 though her figure was graceful2 and it was not till she assumed comic characters1 stamped the smallest foot in ,england on the boards1 and laughed with that peculiar laugh that1 in the excess of it1 her eyes almost disappeared1 she fairly carried away the town1 and enslaved the hearts of city and of court4 ,she spoke prologues and epilogues with wonderful effect1 danced to perfection1 and in her peculiar but not extensive line was1 perhaps1 unequalled for the natural feeling which she put into the parts most suited to her4 ,she was so fierce of repartee that no one ventured a second time to allude sneeringly to her antecedents4 ,she was coarse1 too1 when the humour took her2 could curse pretty strongly if the house was not full1 and was given1 in common with the other ladies of the company1 to loll about and talk loudly in the public boxes1 when she was not engaged on the stage4 ,she left both stage and boxes for a time1 in #affg1 to keep mad house at ,epsom with the clever ,lord ,buckhurst--a man who for one youthful vice exhibited a thousand manly virtues4 ,the story1 that ,lord ,buckhurst separated from ,mistress ,gwyn for a money consideration and a title1 can be disproved by the testimony of a character which all ,peru could not have influenced1 and of chronology1 which sets the story at nought4 ,they who would read ,buckhurst's true character1 will find it in the eloquent and graceful dedication which ,prior made of his poems to ,buckhurst's son1 ,lionel4 ,like the first ,sackville1 of the line of the ,earls of ,dorset1 he was himself a poet2 and1 ,to all you ladies now on land1 although not quite the impromptu it is said to have been1 is an evidence how gracefully he could strike the lyre on the eve of a great battle4 ,in short1 ,buckhurst1 who took ,nelly from the stage1 and who found ,prior in a coffee-shop and added him to literature1 was a man1 brave1 truthful1 gay1 honest1 and universally beloved4 ,he was the people's favourite2 and ,pope assures us1 when ,buckhurst had become ,earl of ,dorset1 that he was the grace of courts1 the muses' pride4 ,after a year's absence1#be ,mistress ,gwyn returned to the stage4 ,in all nature1 there was nothing better than she1 in certain parts4 ,pepys never hoped to see anything like her in ,florimel1 with her changes of sex and costume4 ,she was little1 pretty1 and witty2 danced perfectly1 and with such applause1 that authors would fain have appropriated the approbation bestowed on her jig1 to the play in which it was introduced4 ,a play1 without ,nell1 was no play at all to ,mr4 ,pepys4 ,when1 in #affg1 she followed ,buckhurst to ,epsom1 and flung up her parts and an honestly-earned salary for a poor #ajj a-year1 ,pepys exclaims1 ,poor girl6 ,i pity her2 but more the loss of her at the ,king's house4 ,the ,admiralty-clerk's admiration was confined to her merry characters2 he speaks of her ,emperor's ,daughter1 in the ,indian ,emperor1 as a great and serious part1 which she does most basely4 ,her own party hailed her return2 but she did not light upon a bed of roses4 ,lady ,castlemaine was no longer her patroness--rather that and more of ,nelly's old lover1 ,charles ,hart1 who flouted the ex-favourite of ,buckhurst4 ,that ex-favourite1 however1 bore with equal indifference the scorn of ,charles ,hart and the contempt of ,charles ,sackville2--she saw compensation for both1 in the royal homage of ,charles ,stuart4 ,meanwhile1 she continued to enchant the town in comedy1 to spoil serious parts in ,sir ,robert ,howard's mixed pieces1 and yet to act with great success characters1 in which natural emotion1 bordering on insanity1 was to be represented4 ,early in #affh1 we find her among the loose companions of ,king ,charles2 and ,i am sorry for it1 says ,pepys1 and can hope for no good to the state1 from having a ,prince so devoted to his pleasure4 ,the writers for the stage were of a like opinion4 ,howard wrote his ,duke of ,lerma1 as a vehicle of reproof to the ,king1 who sat1 a careless auditor1 less troubled than ,pepys himself1 who expected that the play would be interrupted by royal authority4 ,the last of her original characters was that of ,almahide1 in ,dryden's ,conquest of ,granada1 the prologue to which she spoke in a straw hat as broad as a cart wheel1 and thereby almost killed the ,king with laughter4 ,in this piece1 her old lover1 ,hart1 played ,almanzor2 and his position with respect to ,king ,boabdelin 7,kynaston7 and ,almahide 7,nelly7 corresponds with that in which he stood towards ,king ,charles and the actress4 ,the passages reminding the audience of this complex circumstance threw the house into convulsions4 ,from this time1 ,ellen ,gwyn disappears from the stage4 ,a similar surname appears in the play-bills from #afgj to #afhb2 but there is no ground for believing that the ,madam ,gwyn of the later period was the ,mrs4 ,ellen of the earlier1 poorer1 and merrier times4 ,nelly's first son1 ,charles ,beauclerc1 was born in her house1 in ,lincoln's ,inn ,fields1 in ,may #afgj2 her second1 in the following year1 at her house in ,pall ,mall1 the garden terrace of which overlooked the then green walk in the park1 from which ,evelyn saw1 with shame1 the ,king talking with the impudent comedian4 ,this younger son1 ,james1 died at ,paris1 #afhj4 ,the elder had ,otway for a tutor4 ,in his sixth year he was created ,earl of ,burford1 and in his fourteenth was created a duke4 ,his mother had addressed him1 in the ,king's hearing1 by an epithet referring to his illegitimacy1 on the plea that she did not know by what title to call him4 ,charles made him an earl4 ,accident of death raised him to a dukedom4 ,harry ,jermyn1 ,earl of ,st4 ,albans1 of whom report made the second husband of ,henrietta ,maria1 had just died4 ,blind as he had been1 he had played cards to the last--some one sitting near him to tell him the points4 ,at an age approaching to ninety years1 he had passed away4 ,charles gave the name of ,st4 ,albans1 with the title of duke1 to ,nell ,gwyn's eldest son1 adding thereto the registrarship of the ,high ,court of ,chancery1 and the office 7rendered hereditary7 of ,master ,falconer of ,england4 ,the present and tenth ,duke of ,st4 ,albans is the lineal descendant of ,charles ,stuart and ,ellen ,gwyn4 ,the ,king had demurred to a request to settle #ejj a year on this lady1 and yet within four years she is known to have exacted from him above #fj1jjj4 ,subsequently1 #fjjj1 annually1 were tossed to her from the ,excise1--that hardest taxation of the poor1--and #cjjj more were added for the expenses of each son4 ,she blazed publicly at ,whitehall1 with diamonds out-flashing those usually worn1 as ,evelyn has it1 by the like cattle4 ,at ,burford ,house1 ,windsor1 her gorgeous country residence1 she could gaily lose #adjjbf in one night at basset1 and purchase diamond necklaces the next day1 at fabulous prices4 ,negligent dresser as she was1 she always looked fascinating2 and fascinating as she was1 she had a ready fierceness and a bitter sarcasm at hand1 when other royal favourites1 or sons of favourites1 assailed or sneered at her4 ,with the ,king and his brother she bandied jokes as freely as ,de ,pompadour or ,du ,barry with ,louis ,,xv4 ,by impulse1 she could be charitable2 but by neglecting the claims of her own creditors she could be cruel4 ,charles alluded to her extravagance when1 on his deathbed1 he recommended those shameless women1 ,cleveland and ,portsmouth1 to his brother's kindness1 and hoped he would not let ,nelly starve4 ,an apocryphal story attributes the founding of ,chelsea ,hospital to ,nelly's tenderness for a poor old wounded soldier who had been cheated of his pay4 ,the dedications to her of books by such people as ,aphra ,behn and ,duffet are blasphemous in their expressions1 making of her1 as they do1 a sort of divine essence1 and becoming satirical by their exaggerated and disgusting eulogy4 ,for such a person1 the pure and pious ,bishop ,ken was once called upon to yield up an apartment in which he lodged1 and the peerage had a narrow escape of having her foisted upon it as ,countess of ,greenwich4 ,this clever actress died in ,november #afhg of a fit of apoplexy1 by which she had been stricken in the previous ,march4 ,she was then in her thirty-eighth year4 ,she had been endowed like a princess1 but she left debts1 and died just in time to allow ,james to discharge them out of the public purse4 ,finally1 she was carried to old ,st4 ,martin's-in-the-,fields to be buried1 and ,tennison preached her funeral sermon4 ,when this was subsequently made the ground of exposing him to the reproof of ,queen ,mary1 she remarked1 that the good doctor1 no doubt1 had said nothing but what the facts authorised4 ,in the time of ,nelly's most brilliant fortunes1 the people who laughed at her wit and impudence publicly contemned her4 ,in ,february #afhj she visited the ,duke's ,theatre1 in ,lincoln's ,inn ,fields1 on which occasion a person in the pit called her loudly by a name which1 to do her justice1 she never repudiated4 ,the affront1 which she herself could laugh at1 was taken up by ,william ,herbert1 brother of ,philip1 ,earl of ,pembroke1 who had married the younger sister of another of the ,king's favourites1 ,henrietta de ,querouaille4 ,the audience took part1 some with the assailant1 others with the champion of ,nelly4 ,many swords were drawn1 the sorrows of the ,orphan were suspended1 there was a hubbub in the house1 and more scratches given than blood spilt4 ,that ,nelly found a knight in ,thomas ,herbert only proves that a hot-headed young gentleman may become a very sage as years grow upon him4 ,this ,thomas1 when ,earl of ,pembroke1 was first plenipotentiary at the making of the treaty of ,ryswick1 and ,chief ,commissioner in establishing the ,union of ,england and ,scotland4 ,his excellent taste and liberality laid the foundations of the collection of antiques which yet attracts visitors to ,wilton4 ,but love for leading play-house factions did not die out in his family4 ,four and forty years after he had drawn sword for the reputation of ,nell ,gwyn1 his third ,countess1 ,mary1 sister of ,viscount ,howe1 headed the ,cuzzoni party at the ,opera-house against the ,faustina faction1 led by the ,countess of ,burlington and ,lady ,delawar4 ,whenever ,faustina opened her mouth to sing1 ,lady ,pembroke and her friends hissed the singer heartily2 and as soon as ,cuzzoni made a similar attempt1 ,lady ,burlington and her followers shrieked her into silence4 ,lord ,pembroke sat by1 thinking1 perhaps1 of the young days when he was the champion of ,nell ,gwyn1 or of ,margaret ,symcott1 if an old tradition be true that such was ,nelly's real name4 ,of the ladies who played at the ,duke's ,house1 under ,davenant1 the principal were ,mrs4 ,davenport1 ,mrs4 ,davies1 ,mrs4 ,gibbs1 ,mrs4 ,holden1 ,mrs4 ,jennings1 ,mrs4 ,long1 and ,mrs4 ,norris4 ,chief among these were ,mistresses ,davenport1 ,davies1 ,saunderson1 and ,long4 ,mrs4 ,davenport is remembered as the ,roxalana of ,davenant's ,siege of ,rhodes1 which she played so well that ,pepys could not forget her in either of her successors1 ,mrs4 ,betterton or ,mrs4 ,norton4 ,she is still better remembered in connection with a story of which she is the heroine1 although that character in it has been ascribed to others4 ,aubrey de ,vere1 the twentieth ,earl of ,oxford1 was the last of his house who held that title1 but the one who held it the longest1 namely1 seventy years1 from #afcb to #agjb4 ,aubrey de ,vere despised the old maxim1 ,noblesse oblige4 ,he lived a roystering life1 kept a roystering house1 and was addicted to hard drinking1 rough words1 and unseemly brawling and sword-slashing in his cups4 ,the young earl made love1 after the fashion of the day and the man1 to ,mrs4 ,davenport1 but he might as well have made love to ,diana2 and it was not till he proposed marriage that the actress condescended to listen to his suit4 ,the lovers were privately married1 and the lady was1 in the words of old ,downes1 erept the stage4 ,the honeymoon1 however1 was speedily obscured2 ,lord ,oxford grew indifferent and brutal4 ,when the lady talked of her rights1 he informed her that she was not ,countess of ,oxford at all4 ,the apparent reverend gentleman who had performed the ceremony of marriage was a trumpeter1 who served under this very noble ,lord in the ,king's own regiment of cavalry4 ,the forlorn fair one1 after threatening suicide1 sought out the ,king1 fell at his feet1 and demanded justice4 ,the award was made in the shape of an annuity of #cjj a year1 with which ,lord ,oxford's ,miss1 as ,evelyn calls her1 seems to have been satisfied and consoled2 for ,pepys1 soon after1 being at the play1 saw the old ,roxalana in the chief box1 in a velvet gown1 as the fashion is1 and very handsome1 at which ,i was glad4 ,as for ,miss ,mary ,davies1 it is uncertain whether she was the daughter of a ,wiltshire blacksmith1 or the less legitimate offspring of ,thomas ,howard1 the first ,earl of ,berkshire1 or of the earl's son--not the poet1 but the colonel4 ,however this may be1 ,mary ,davies was early on the stage1 where she danced well1 played moderately ill1 announced the next afternoon's performance with grace1 and won an infamous distinction at the ,king's hands1 by her inimitable singing of the old song1 ,my lodging is on the cold ground4 ,then there was the publicly furnishing of a house for her1 and the presentation of a ring worth #fjj1 and much scandal to good men and honest women4 ,thereupon ,miss ,davies grew an impertinent slut1 and my ,lady ,castlemaine waxed melancholy1 and meditated mischief against her royal and fickle lover4 ,the patient ,queen herself was moved to anger by the new position of ,miss ,davies1 and when the latter appeared in a play at ,whitehall1 in which she was about to dance1 her ,majesty rose and left the house4 ,but neither the offended dignity of the ,queen1 nor ,lady ,castlemaine looking fire1 nor the bad practical jokes of ,nell ,gwyn1 could loose the ,king from the temporary enchantment to which he surrendered himself4 ,their daughter was that ,mary ,tudor1 who married the second ,earl of ,derwentwater1 whose son1 the third earl1 was the gallant young fellow who lost his head for aid afforded to his cousin1 the first ,pretender1 in #agae4 ,before his death1 a request was made to the ,duke of ,richmond1 son of ,charles ,,ii41 by ,madlle4 de ,querouaille1 to present a memorial to the ,lords in order to save the young earl's life4 ,the ,duke presented the memorial1 but he added his earnest hope that their lordships would reject the prayer of it6 ,in such wise did the illegitimate ,stuarts play brother to each other6 ,through the marriage of the daughter of ,lord ,derwentwater with the eighth ,lord ,petre1 the blood of the ,stuart and of ,moll ,davies still runs in their lineal descendant1 the present and twelfth lord4 ,happy are the women who have no histories6 ,such is the case with ,miss ,saunderson1 better known to us as ,mrs4 ,betterton4 ,for about thirty years she played the chief female characters1 especially in ,shakspeare's plays1 with great success4 ,she created as many new parts as she played years2 but they were in old-world pieces1 which have been long forgotten4 ,in the home which she kept with her husband1 charity1 hospitality1 and dignity abided4 ,so unexceptionable was ,mrs4 ,betterton's character1 that when ,crowne's ,calisto was to be played at court in #afgd1 she was chosen to be instructress to the ,lady ,mary and the ,lady ,anne4 ,these princesses derived from ,mrs4 ,betterton's lessons the accomplishment for which both were distinguished when queens1 of pronouncing speeches from the throne in a distinct and clear voice1 with sweetness of intonation1 and grace of enunciation4 ,mrs4 ,betterton subsequently instructed the ,princess ,anne in the part of ,semandra1 and her husband did the like office for the young noblemen who also played in ,lee's rattling tragedy of ,mithridates4 ,two individuals1 better qualified by their professional skill and their moral character1 to instruct the young princesses and courtiers1 and to exercise over them a wholesome authority1 could not then have been found on or off the stage4 ,after ,betterton's death1 ,queen ,anne settled on her old teacher of elocution a pension of #ejj a year4 ,of the remainder of the actresses who first joined ,davenant1 there is nothing recorded1 except their greater or less efficiency4 ,of ,mrs4 ,holden1 ,betterton's kinswoman1 the only incident that ,i can recall to mind is1 that once1 by the accidental mispronunciation of a word1 when playing in ,romeo and ,juliet1 and giving it a vehement action1 it put the house into such a laughter1 that ,london ,bridge at low water was silence to it6 ,under its echoes let us pass to the gentlemen of the ,king's ,company4 ,,footnotes3 #ae ,the second and final patents were dated--,killigrew's1 #beth ,april #affb2 ,davenant's1 #aeth ,january #affc4 #af ,april 7#b;d edition74 ,the exact date is #hth ,april1 as given by ,downes4 #ag ,killigrew died after1 not before1 the union of the two companies4 ,chalmers expressly says that he lived to see them united1 and gives ,march #afhc as the time of his death4 #ah ,davenant performed ,the ,siege of ,rhodes two years before ,cromwell's death1 namely1 in #afef4 ,see ,mr4 ,joseph ,knight's ,preface to his recent edition of the ,roscius ,anglicanus4 ,cromwell also permitted the entertainment named ,the ,cruelty of the ,spaniards in ,peru to be represented1 from political motives4 #ai ,mr4 ,knight1 in the ,preface before mentioned1 quotes some lines from the ,prologue to this performance1 showing that it was a public performance for money4 ,this being so settles the question in the next paragraph as to the identity of the first professional actress4 #bj ,very questionable4 ,langbaine 7#afia7 says1 ,this play is still in vogue on the stage1 and always presented with success4 #ba ,dr4 ,doran misreads ,pepys1 who gives the date as #cast ,january #affi4 #bb ,i doubt whether ,james ,nokes ever played the part4 ,genest evidently approves of ,davies's suggestion that ,robert ,nokes was the actor of it4 #bc ,this should be grandson4 #bd ,or ,eleanor4 #be ,she was absent only about six weeks2 ,pepys chronicles her departure under ,july #ac1 #affg1 and her return under ,august #bb1 #affg4 #bf ,peter ,cunningham says1 #adjj guineas1 or #ejjj at least of our present money4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,fortune ,,theatre4 ,,chapter ,,iv4 ,,the ,,gentlemen ,,of ,,the ,,king',s ,,company4 ,of the ,king's ,company1 under ,killigrew--,hart1 ,burt1 and ,clun have already been noticed as players who commenced their career by acting female parts4 ,of the other early members of this troop1 the first names of importance are those of ,lacy1 and little ,major ,mohun1 the low comedian1 and the high tragedian4 ,of those who precede them alphabetically1 but little remains on record4 ,we only know of ,theophilus ,bird1 that he broke his leg when dancing in ,suckling's ,aglaura1 probably when the poet changed his tragedy1 in which the characters killed each other1 into a sort of comedy1 in which they all survived4 ,cartwright1 on the other hand1 has left a lasting memorial4 ,if you would see how the kind old fellow looked1 go down to ,dulwich ,college--that grand institution1 for which actors have done so much and which has done so little for actors--and gaze on his portrait there4 ,it is the picture of a man who bequeathed his books1 pictures1 and furniture to the ,college which ,alleyn1 another actor1 had founded4 ,in early life1 ,cartwright had been a bookseller1 at the corner of ,turnstile1 ,holborn2 and in his second vocation his great character was ,falstaff4 ,lacy was a great ,falstaff1 too2 and his portrait1 a triple one1 painted by ,wright and etched by ,hopkins1 one of the ,princess ,elizabeth's pages1 is familiarly known to ,hampton ,court visitors4 ,lacy had been first a dancing-master1 then a lieutenant in the army1 before he tried the stage4 ,in his day he had no equal2 and his admirers denied that the day to come would ever see his equal4 ,lacy was handsome1 both in shape and feature1 and is to be remembered as the original performer of ,teague1 in the ,committee2 a play of ,howard's1 subsequently cut down to the farce of ,the ,honest ,thieves4 ,and eight years later 7#afga71 taught by ,buckingham1 and mimicking ,dryden1 he startled the town with that immortal ,bayes1 in the ,rehearsal2 a part so full of happy opportunities that it was coveted or essayed for many years1 not only by every great actor1 whatever his line1 but by many an actress1 too2 and last of all by ,william ,farren1 in #ahai4 ,there was nothing within the bounds of comedy that ,lacy could not act well4 ,evelyn styles him ,roscius4 ,frenchman1 or ,scot1 or ,irishman1 fine gentleman or fool1 rogue or honest simpleton1 ,tartuffe or ,drench1 old man or loquacious woman1--in all1 ,lacy was the delight of the town for about a score of years4 ,the ,king ejected the best players from parts1 considered almost as their property1 and assigned them to ,lacy4 ,his wardrobe was a spectacle of itself1 and gentlemen of leisure and curiosity went to see it4 ,he took a positive enjoyment in parts which enabled him to rail at the rascalities of courtiers4 ,sometimes this ,aristophanic licence went too far4 ,in ,howard's ,silent ,woman1 the sarcasms reached the ,king1 and moved his majesty to wrath1 and to locking up ,lacy himself in the ,porter's ,lodge4 ,after a few days' detention1 he was released2 whereupon ,howard1 meeting him behind the scenes1 congratulated him4 ,lacy1 still ill in temper1 abused the poet for the nonsense he had put into the part of ,captain ,otter1 which was the cause of all the mischief4 ,lacy further told ,howard he was more a fool than a poet4 ,thereat the honourable ,edward1 raising his glove1 smote ,lacy smartly with it over the face4 ,jack ,lacy retaliated by lifting his cane and letting it descend quite as smartly on the pate of a man who was cousin to an earl4 ,ordinary men marvelled that the honourable ,edward did not run ,jack through the body4 ,on the contrary1 without laying hand to hilt1 ,howard hastened to the ,king1 lodged his complaint1 and the house was thereupon ordered to be closed4 ,thus1 many starved for the indiscretion of one2 but the gentry rejoiced at the silencing of the company1 as those clever fellows and their fair mates were growing1 as that gentry thought1 too insolent4 ,lacy1 soon after1 was said to be dying1 and altogether so ill-disposed1 as to have refused ghostly advice at the hands of a bishop1 an old acquaintance of his1 says ,pepys1 who went to see him4 ,who could this bishop have been who was the old acquaintance of the ex-dancing-master and lieutenant8 ,herbert ,croft1 or ,seth ,ward8--or1 ,isaac ,barrow1 of ,sodor-and-,man1 whose father1 the mercer1 had lived near the father of ,betterton8 ,but1 whoever he may have been1 the ,king's favour restored the actor to health2 and he remained ,charles's favourite comedian till his death1 in #afha4 ,when ,lacy's posthumous comedy1 ,sir ,hercules ,buffoon1 was produced in #afhd1 the man with the longest and crookedest nose1 and the most wayward wit in ,england--,tom ,durfey--furnished the prologue4 ,in that piece he designated ,lacy as the standard of true comedy4 ,if the play does not take1 said lively ,tom-- all that we can say on't ,is1 we've his fiddle1 but not his hands to play on't6 ,genest1 a critic not very hard to please1 says that ,lacy's friends should have buried his fiddle with him4 ,michael ,mohun is the pleasantest and1 perhaps1 the greatest name on the roll of the ,king's ,company4 ,when the players offended the ,king1 ,mohun was the peacemaker4 ,one cannot look on ,mohun's portrait1 at ,knowle1 without a certain mingling of pleasure and respect4 ,that long-haired young fellow wears so frank an aspect1 and the hand rests on the sword so delicately yet so firmly6 ,he is the very man who might rage like ,cethegus1 or like ,cassius die4 ,lee could never willingly write a play without a part for ,mohun1 who1 with ,hart1 was accounted among the good actors that procured profitable third days for authors4 ,no ,maximin could defy the gods as he did2 and there has been no franker ,clytus since the day he originally represented the character in ,alexander the ,great4 ,in some parts he contested the palm with ,betterton1 whose versatility he rivalled1 creating one year ,abdelmelich1 in another ,dapperwit1 in a third ,pinchwife1 and then a succession of classical heroes and modern rakes or simpletons4 ,such an actor had many imitators1 but1 in his peculiar line1 few could rival a man who was said to speak as ,shakspeare wrote1 and whom nature had formed for a nation's delight4 ,the author of the ,epilogue to ,love in the ,dark 7that bustling piece of ,sir ,francis ,fane's1 from the ,scrutinio1#bg in which1 played by ,lacy1 ,mrs4 ,centlivre derived her ,marplot71 illustrates the success of ,mohun's imitators by an allusion to the gout from which he suffered3 ,those ,blades indeed1 but cripples in their art1-- ,mimic his foot1 but not his speaking part4 ,of his modesty1 ,i know no better trait than what passed when ,nat4 ,lee had read to him a part which ,mohun was to fill in one of ,lee's tragedies4 ,the ,major put aside the manuscript1 in a sort of despair--,unless ,i could play the character as beautifully as you read it1 said he1 it were vain to try it at all6 ,illustration3 7,michael ,mohun47 ,such is the brief record of a great actor1 one who before our civil jars was a young player1 during the civil wars was a good soldier1 and in the last years of ,charles ,,ii4 was an old and a great actor still4 ,of the other original members of the ,theatre ,royal1 there is not much to be said4 ,wintershell1 who died in #afgi1 merits1 however1 a word4 ,he was distinguished1 whether wearing the sock or the buskin1 majestic in loftily-toned kings1 and absurd in sillily-amorous knights4 ,downes has praised him as superior to ,nokes1 in at least one part1 and his ,slender has won eulogy from so stern a critic as ,dennis4 ,among the men who subsequently joined the ,theatre ,royal1 there were some good actors1 and a few great rogues4 ,of these1 the best actor and the greatest rogue was ,cardell ,goodman1 or ,scum ,goodman1 as he was designated by his enemies4 ,his career on the stage lasted from #afgg1 as ,polyperchon1 in ,lee's ,rival ,queens1 to #afhh4 ,his most popular parts were ,julius ,csar and ,alexander4 ,he came to the theatre hot from a fray at ,cambridge ,university1 whence he had been expelled for cutting and slashing the portrait of that exemplary ,chancellor1 the ,duke of ,monmouth4 ,this rogue's salary must have been small1 for he and ,griffin shared the same bed in their modest lodging1 and having but one shirt between them1 wore it each in his turn4 ,the only dissension which ever occurred between them was caused by ,goodman1 who1 having to pay a visit to a lady1 clapped on the shirt when it was clean1 and ,griffin's day for wearing it6 ,for restricted means1 however1 every gentleman of spirit1 in those days1 had a resource1 if he chose to avail himself of it4 ,the resource was the road1 and ,cardell ,goodman took to it with alacrity4 ,but he came to grief1 and found himself with gyves on in ,newgate2 yet he escaped the cart1 the rope1 and ,tyburn4 ,king ,james gave his ,majesty's servant his life1 and ,cardell returned to the stage--a hero4 ,a middle-aged duchess1 fond of heroes1 adopted him as a lover1 and ,cardell ,goodman had fine quarters1 rich feeding1 and a dainty wardrobe1 all at the cost of his mistress1 the ex-favourite of a king1 ,barbara1 the ,duchess of ,cleveland4 ,scum ,goodman was proud of his splendid degradation1 and paid such homage to my duchess1 as the impudent fellow called her1 that when he expected her presence in the theatre1 he would not go on the stage1 though king and queen were kept waiting1 till he heard that his duchess was in the house4 ,for her he played the mad scene in ,alexander with double vigour1 and cared for no other applause so long as her ,grace's fan signalled approbation4 ,scum might have had a rare1 if a rascally1 life1 had he been discreet2 but he was fool as well as knave4 ,a couple of the ,duchess's children in the ,duchess's house annoyed him1 and ,scum suborned a villainous ,italian quack to dispose of them by poison4 ,a discovery1 before the attempt was actually made1 brought ,scum to trial for a misdemeanour4 ,he had the luck of his own father1 the devil1 that he was not tried for murder4 ,as it was1 a heavy fine crippled him for life4 ,he seems1 however1 to have hung about the stage after he withdrew from it as an actor4 ,he looked in at rehearsals1 and seeing a likely lad1 named ,cibber1 going through the little part of the ,chaplain1 in the ,orphan1 one spring morning of #afij1 ,scum loudly wished he might be--what he very much deserved to be1 if the young fellow did not turn out a good actor4 ,colley was so delighted with the earnest criticism1 that the tears flowed to his eyes4 ,at least1 he says so4 ,king ,james having saved ,cardell's neck1 ,goodman1 out of pure gratitude1 perhaps1 became a ,tory1 and something more1 when ,william sat in the seat of his father-in-law4 ,after ,queen ,mary's death1 ,scum was in the ,fenwick and ,charnock plot to kill the ,king4 ,when the plot was discovered1 ,scum was ready to peach4 ,as ,fenwick's life was thought by his friends to be safe if ,goodman could be bought off and got out of the way1 the rogue was looked for1 at the ,fleece1 in ,covent ,garden1 famous for homicides1 and at the robbers' and the revellers' den1 the ,dog1 in ,drury ,lane4 ,fenwick's agent1 ,o',bryan1 erst soldier and highwayman1 now a ,jacobite agent1 found ,scum at the ,dog1 and would then and there have cut his throat1 had not ,scum consented to the pleasant alternative of accepting #ejj a year1 and a residence abroad4 ,this to a man who was the first forger of bank-notes6 ,scum suddenly disappeared1 and ,lord ,manchester1 our ,ambassador in ,paris1 inquired after him in vain4 ,it is impossible to say whether the rogue died by an avenging hand1 or starvation4 ,we are better acquainted with the fate of the last of ,scum's fair favourites1 the pretty ,mrs4 ,price of ,drury ,lane4 ,this ,ariadne was not disconsolate for her ,theseus4 ,she married ,charles1 ,lord ,banbury1 who was not ,lord ,banbury1 for the ,house of ,peers denied his claim to the title2 and he was not ,mrs4 ,price's husband1 as he was already married to a living lady1 ,mrs4 ,lester4 ,of this confusion in social arrangements the world made small account1 although the law did pronounce in favour of ,mrs4 ,lester1 without troubling itself to punish my lord4 ,the ,judges pronounced for the latter lady1 solely on the ground that she had had children1 and the actress none4 ,joseph ,haines6 ,joe with his familiars1 ,count ,haines with those who affected great respect1 was a rogue in his way1--a merry rogue1 a ready wit1 and an admirable low comedian1 from #afgb to #agja4 ,we first hear of him as a quickwitted lad at a school in ,st4 ,martin's-in-the-,fields1 whence he was sent1 through the liberality of some gentlemen who had remarked his talents1 to ,queen's ,college1 ,oxford4 ,there ,haines met with ,williamson1 the ,sir ,joseph of after days1 distinguished alike for his scholarship1 his abilities as a statesman1 the important offices he held1 and the liberality with which he dispensed the fortune which he honourably acquired4 ,williamson chose ,haines for a friend1 and made him his ,latin secretary when ,williamson was appointed ,secretary of ,state4 ,if ,haines could have kept official and state secrets1 his own fortune would now have been founded2 but ,joe gossiped in joyous companies1 and in taverns revealed the mysteries of diplomacy4 ,williamson parted with his indiscreet servant1 but sent him to recommence fortune-making at ,cambridge4 ,here1 again1 his waywardness ruined him for a professor4 ,a strolling company at ,stourbridge ,fair seduced him from the groves of ,academus1#bh and in a short time this foolish and clever fellow1 light of head1 of heart1 and of principle1 was the delight of the ,drury ,lane audiences1 and the favoured guest in the noblest society where mirth1 humour1 and dashing impudence were welcome4 ,in #afgc1 his ,sparkish1 in the ,country ,wife--his original character--was accepted as the type of the airy gentleman of the day4 ,his acting on1 and his jokes off1 the stage were the themes in all coteries and coffee-houses4 ,he was a great practical jester1 and once engaged a simple-minded clergyman as ,chaplain to the ,theatre ,royal1 and sent him behind the scenes1 ringing a bell1 and calling the players to prayers6 ,when ,romanism was looking up1 under ,james ,,ii41 ,haines had the impudence to announce to the convert ,sunderland1--unworthy son of ,waller's ,sacharissa1--his adoption of the ,king's religion1 being moved thereto by the ,virgin1 who had appeared to him in a dream1 saying1 ,joe1 arise6 ,this was too much even for ,sunderland1 who drily observed that she would have said ',joseph1' if only out of respect for her husband6 ,the rogue showed the value of a profession1 which gave rise to as many pamphlets as ,dryden's1 by subsequently recanting1--not in the church1 but on the stage2 he the while covered with a sheet1 holding a taper1 and delivering some stupid rhymes1--to the very dullest of which he had the art of giving wonderful expression by his accent1 emphasis1 modulation1 and felicity of application4 ,the audience that could bear this recantation-prologue could easily pardon the speaker1 who would have caused even greater errors to have been pardoned1 were it only for his wonderful impersonation of ,captain ,bluff 7#afic7 in ,congreve's ,old ,bachelor4 ,the self-complaisant way in which he used to utter ,hannibal was a very pretty fellow in his day1 was universally imitated1 and has made the phrase itself proverbial4 ,his ,roger1 in sop1 was another of his successes1 the bright roll of which was crowned by his lively1 impudent1 irresistible ,tom ,errand1 in ,farquhar's ,constant ,couple1--that most triumphant comedy of a whole century4 ,the great fault of ,haines lay in the liberties which he took with the business of the stage4 ,he cared less to identify himself with the characters he represented than1 through them1 to keep up a communication with the spectators4 ,when ,hart1 then manager1 cast ,joe for the simple part of a ,senator1 in ,catiline1 in which ,hart played the hero1 ,joe1 in disgust at his rle1 spoiled ,hart's best point1 by sitting behind him1 absurdly attired1 with pot and pipe in hand1 and making grimaces at the grave actor of ,catiline2 which kept the house in a roar of laughter4 ,hart could not be provoked to forget his position1 and depart from his character2 but as soon as he made his exit1 he sent ,joe his dismissal4 ,joe ,haines then alternated between the stage and the houses of his patrons4 ,vivitur ingenio--the stage-motto1 was also his own1 and he seems to have added to his means by acting the jester's part in noble circles4 ,he was1 however1 no mere fool4 ,scholars might respect a classic1 like ,haines1 and travelling lords gladly hire as a companion1 a witty fellow1 who knew two or three living languages as familiarly as he did his own4 ,with an ,english peer he once visited ,paris1 where ,joe is said to have got imprisoned for debt1 incurred in the character1 assumed by him1 of an ,english lord4 ,after his release1 he returned to ,england1 self-invested with the dignity of ,count1 a title not respected by a couple of bailiffs1 who arrested ,joseph1 on ,holborn ,hill1 for a little matter of #bj4 ,here comes the carriage of my cousin1 the ,bishop of ,ely1 said the unblushing knave2 let me speak to him2 ,i am sure he will satisfy you in this matter4 ,consent was given1 and ,haines1 putting his head in at the carriage-door1 hastily informed the good ,simon ,patrick that here were two ,romanists inclined to become ,protestants1 but with yet some scruples of conscience4 ,my friends1 said the eager prelate to them1 if you will presently come to my house1 ,i will satisfy you in this matter6 ,the scrupulous gentlemen were well content2 but when an explanation ensued1 the vexed bishop paid the money out of very shame1 and ,joe and the bailiffs spread the story4 ,they who remembered how ,haines played ,lord ,plausible1 in the ,plain ,dealer1 were not at all surprised at his deceiving a bishop and a brace of bailiffs4 ,sometimes his wit was of a nicer quality4 ,when ,jeremy ,collier's book against the stage was occupying the public mind1 a critic expressed his surprise1 seeing that the stage was a mender of morals4 ,true1 answered ,joe1 but ,collier is a mender of morals1 too2 and two of a trade1 you know1 never agree6 ,haines was the best comic actor1 in his peculiar line of comedy1 during nearly thirty years that he was one of their majesties' servants4 ,he died at his house in ,hart ,street1 ,covent ,garden1 then a fashionable locality1 on the #dth of ,april #agja1 and was buried in the gloomy churchyard of the parish1 which has nothing to render it bright but the memory of the poets1 artists1 and actors whose bodies are there buried in peace4 ,let us now consider the men in ,davenant's1 or the ,duke's ,company1 who acted occasionally in ,dorset ,gardens1 but mostly in ,portugal ,row1 ,lincoln's ,inn ,fields4 ,of these1 the greatest actor was good ,thomas ,betterton1--and his merits claim a chapter to himself4 ,,footnotes3 #bg ,should be ,intrigo1 which ,lacy really played4 #bh ,other accounts say that he commenced his theatrical life early1 at the ,nursery4 ,illustration3 ,,theatre ,,royal1 ,,portugal ,,street1 ,,lincoln',s ,,inn ,,fields ,,chapter ,v4 ,,thomas ,,betterton4 ,the diaries1 biographies1 journals1 and traditions of the time will enable us1 with some little aid from the imagination1 not only to see the actor1 but the social aspects amid which he moved4 ,by aid of these1 ,i find that1 on a ,december night1 #affa1 there is a crowded house at the theatre in ,lincoln's ,inn ,fields4 ,the play is ,hamlet1 with young ,mr4 ,betterton1 who has been two years on the stage1 in the part of the ,dane4 ,the ,ophelia is the real object of the young fellow's love1 charming ,mistress ,saunderson4 ,old ladies and gentlemen1 repairing in capacious coaches to this representation1 remind one another of the lumbering and crushing of carriages about the old playhouse in the ,blackfriars1 causing noisy tumults which drew indignant appeals from the ,puritan housekeepers1 whose privacy was sadly disturbed4 ,but what was the tumult there to the scene on the south side of the ,fields1 when ,hamlet1 with ,betterton1 as now1 was offered to the public6 ,the ,jehus contend for place with the eagerness of ancient ,britons in a battle of chariots4 ,and see1 the mob about the pit-doors have just caught a bailiff attempting to arrest an honest playgoer4 ,they fasten the official up in a tub1 and roll the trembling wretch all round the square4 ,they finish by hurling him against a carriage1 which sweeps from a neighbouring street at full gallop4 ,down come the horses over the barrelled bailiff1 with sounds of hideous ruin2 and the young lady lying back in the coach is screaming like mad4 ,this lady is the dishonest daughter of brave1 honest1 and luckless ,viscount ,grandison4 ,as yet she is only ,mrs4 ,palmer2 next year she will be ,countess of ,castlemaine4 ,at length the audience are all safely housed and eager4 ,indifferent enough1 however1 they are during the opening scenes4 ,the fine gentlemen laugh loudly and comb their periwigs in the best rooms4 ,the fops stand erect in the boxes to show how folly looks in clean linen2 and the orange nymphs1 with their costly entertainment of fruit from ,seville1 giggle and chatter1 as they stand on the benches below with old and young admirers1 proud of being recognised in the boxes4 ,the whole court of ,denmark is before them2 but not till the words1 ',tis not alone my inky cloak1 good mother1 fall from the lips of ,betterton1 is the general ear charmed1 or the general tongue arrested4 ,then1 indeed1 the vainest fops and pertest orange girls look round and listen too4 ,the voice is so low1 and sad1 and sweet2 the modulation so tender1 the dignity so natural1 the grace so consummate1 that all yield themselves silently to the delicious enchantment4 ,it's beyond imagination1 whispers ,mr4 ,pepys to his neighbour1 who only answers with a long and low drawn ,hush6 ,i can never look on ,kneller's masterly portrait of this great player1 without envying those who had the good fortune to see the original1 especially in ,hamlet4 ,how grand the head1 how lofty the brow1 what eloquence and fire in the eyes1 how firm the mouth1 how manly the sum of all6 ,how is the whole audience subdued almost to tears1 at the mingled love and awe which he displays in presence of the spirit of his father6 ,some idea of ,betterton's acting in this scene may be derived from ,cibber's description of it1 and from that ,i come to the conclusion1 that ,betterton fulfilled all that ,overbury laid down with regard to what best graced an actor4 ,whatsoever is commendable to the grave orator1 is most exquisitely perfect in him2 for by a full and significant action of body he charms our attention4 ,sit in a full theatre1 and you will think you see so many lines drawn from the circumference of so many ears1 while the actor is the centre4 ,this was especially the case with ,betterton2 and now1 as ,hamlet's first soliloquy closes1 and the charmed but silent audience feel music's pulse in all their arteries1 ,mr4 ,pepys almost too loudly exclaims in his ecstasy1 ,it's the best acted part ever done by man4 ,and the audience think so1 too2 there is a hurricane of applause2 after which the fine gentlemen renew their prattle with the fine ladies1 and the orange girls beset the ,sir ,foplings1 and this universal trifling is felt as a relief after the general emotion4 ,meanwhile1 a critic objects that young ,mr4 ,betterton is not original1 and intimates that his ,hamlet is played by tradition come down through ,davenant1 who had seen the character acted by ,taylor1 and had taught the boy to enact the ,prince after the fashion set by the man who was said to have been instructed by ,shakspeare himself2 amid which ,mr4 ,pepys remarks1 ,i only know that ,mr4 ,betterton is the best actor in the world4 ,as ,sir ,thomas ,overbury remarked of a great player1 his voice was never lower than the prompter's nor higher than the foil and target4 ,but let us be silent1 here comes the gentle ,ophelia4 ,the audience generally took an interest in this lady1 and the royal ,dane1 for there was not one in the house who was ignorant of the love-passages there had been between them1 or of the coming marriage by which they were to receive additional warrant4 ,mistress ,saunderson was a lady worthy of all the homage here implied4 ,there was mind in her acting2 and she not only possessed personal beauty1 but also the richer beauty of a virtuous life4 ,they were a well-matched couple on and off the stage2 and their mutual affection was based on a mutual respect and esteem4 ,people thought of them together1 as inseparable1 and young ladies wondered how ,mr4 ,betterton could play ,mercutio1 and leave ,mistress ,saunderson as ,juliet1 to be adored by the not ineffective ,mr4 ,harris as ,romeo6 ,the whole house1 as long as the incomparable pair were on the stage1 were in a dream of delight4 ,their grace1 perfection1 good looks1 the love they had so cunningly simulated1 and that which they were known to mutually entertain1 formed the theme of all tongues4 ,in its discussion1 the retiring audience forgot the disinterring of the regicides1 and the number of men killed the other day on ,tower ,hill1 servants of the ,french and ,spanish ambassadors1 in a bloody struggle for precedency1 which was ultimately won by the ,don6 ,fifty years after these early triumphs1 an aged couple resided in one of the best houses in ,russell ,street1 ,covent ,garden1--the walls of which were covered with pictures1 prints1 and drawings1 selected with taste and judgment4 ,they were still a handsome pair4 ,the venerable lady1 indeed1 looks pale and somewhat saddened4 ,the gleam of ,april sunshine which penetrates the apartment cannot win her from the fire4 ,she is ,mrs4 ,betterton1 and ever and anon she looks with a sort of proud sorrow on her aged husband4 ,his fortune1 nobly earned1 has been diminished by speculation1 but the means whereby he achieved it are his still1 and ,thomas ,betterton1 in the latter years of ,queen ,anne1 is the chief glory of the stage1 even as he was in the first year of ,king ,charles4 ,the lofty column1 however1 is a little shaken4 ,it is not a ruin1 but is beautiful in its decay4 ,yet that it should decay at all is a source of so much tender anxiety to the actor's wife1 that her senses suffer disturbance1 and there may be seen in her features something of the distraught ,ophelia of half a century ago4 ,it is the #acth of ,april1 #agaj--;his benefit night2 and the tears are in the lady's eyes1 and a painful sort of smile on her trembling lips1 for ,betterton kisses her as he goes forth that afternoon to take leave1 as it proved1 of the stage for ever4 ,he is in such pain from gout that he can scarcely walk to his carriage1 and how is he to enact the noble and fiery ,melantius in that ill-named drama of horror1 ,the ,maid's ,tragedy8 ,hoping for the best1 the old player is conveyed to the theatre1 built by ,sir ,john ,vanbrugh1 in the ,haymarket1 the site of which is now occupied by the ,opera-house4 ,through the stage-door he is carried in loving arms to his dressing-room4 ,at the end of an hour ,wilks is there1 and ,pinkethman1 and ,mrs4 ,barry1 all dressed for their parts1 and agreeably disappointed to find the ,melantius of the night robed1 armoured1 and be-sworded1 with one foot in a buskin and the other in a slipper4 ,to enable him even to wear the latter1 he had first thrust his inflamed foot into water2 but stout as he seemed1 trying his strength to and fro in the room1 the hand of ,death was at that moment descending on the grandest of ,english actors4 ,the house rose to receive him who had delighted themselves1 their sires1 and their grandsires4 ,the audience were packed like ,norfolk biffins4 ,the edifice itself was only five years old1 and when it was a-building1 people laughed at the folly which reared a new theatre in the country1 instead of in ,london2--for in #agje all beyond the rural ,haymarket was open field1 straight away westward and northward4 ,that such a house could ever be filled was set down as an impossibility2 but the achievement was accomplished on this eventful benefit night2 when the popular favourite was about to utter his last words1 and to belong thenceforward only to the history of the stage he had adorned4 ,there was a shout which shook him1 as ,lysippus uttered the words ,noble ,melantius1 which heralded his coming4 ,every word which could be applied to himself was marked by a storm of applause1 and when ,melantius said of ,amintor-- ,his youth did promise much1 and his ripe years ,will see it all performed1 a murmuring comment ran round the house1 that this had been effected by ,betterton himself4 ,again1 when he bids ,amintor hear thy friend1 who has more years than thou1 there were probably few who did not wish that ,betterton were as young as ,wilks3 but when he subsequently thundered forth the famous passage1 ,my heart will never fail me1 there was a very tempest of excitement1 which was carried to its utmost height1 in thundering peal on peal of unbridled approbation1 as the great ,rhodian gazed full on the house1 exclaiming-- ,my heart ,and limbs are still the same3 my will as great ,to do you service6 ,no one doubted more than a fractional part of this assertion1 and ,betterton1 acting to the end under a continued fire of bravoes6 may have thrown more than the original meaning into the phrase-- ,that little word was worth all the sounds ,that ever ,i shall hear again6 ,few were the words he was destined ever to hear again2 and the subsequent prophecy of his own certain and proximate death1 on which the curtain slowly descended1 was fulfilled eight and forty hours after they were uttered4 ,such was the close of a career which had commenced fifty-one years before6 ,few other actors of eminence have kept the stage1 with the public favour1 for so extended a period1 with the exception of ,cave ,underhill1 ,quin1 ,macklin1 ,king1 and in later times1 ,bartley and ,cooper1 most of whom at least accomplished their half century4 ,the record of that career affords many a lesson and valuable suggestion to young actors1 but ,i have to say a word previously of the ,bettertons1 before the brothers of that name1 ,thomas and the less known ,william1 assumed the sock and buskin4 ,tothill ,street1 ,westminster1 is not at present a fine or a fragrant locality4 ,it has a crapulous look and a villainous smell1 and petty traders now huddle together where nobles once were largely housed4 ,thomas ,betterton was born here1 about the year #afcd-e4bi ,the street was then in its early decline1 or one of ,king ,charles's cooks could hardly have had home in it4 ,nevertheless1 there still clung to it a considerable share of dignity4 ,even at that time there was a ,tothill ,fields ,house of ,correction1 whither vagabonds were sent1 who used to earn scraps by scraping trenchers in the tents pitched in ,petty ,france4 ,all else in the immediate neighbourhood retained an air of pristine and very ancient nobility4 ,i therefore take the father of ,betterton1 cook to ,king ,charles1 to have been a very good gentleman1 in his way4 ,he was certainly the sire of one1 and the circumstance of the apprenticeship of young ,thomas to a bookseller was no evidence to the contrary4 ,in those days1 it was the custom for greater men than the chefs in the ,king's kitchen1 namely1 the bishops in the ,king's church1 to apprentice their younger sons1 at least1 to trade1 or to bequeath sums for that especial purpose4 ,the last instance ,i can remember of this traditionary custom presents itself in the person1 not indeed of a son of a bishop1 but of the grandson of an archbishop1 namely1 of ,john ,sharp1 ,archbishop of ,york from #afia to #agad4 ,he had influence enough with ,queen ,anne to prevent ,swift from obtaining a bishopric4 ,his son was ,archdeacon of ,northumberland1 and of this archdeacon's sons one was ,prebendary of ,durham1 while the other1 the celebrated ,granville ,sharp1 the friend of the ,negro1 was apprenticed to a linen-draper1 on ,tower ,hill4 ,the early connection of ,betterton1 therefore1 with ,rhodes1 the ,charing ,cross bookseller1 is not to be accepted as a proof that his sire was not in a respectable position in society4 ,that sire had had for his neighbour1 only half-a-dozen years before ,thomas was born1 the well-known ,sir ,henry ,spelman1 who had since removed to more cheerful quarters in ,barbican4 ,a very few years previously1 ,sir ,george ,carew resided here1 in ,caron ,house1 and his manuscripts are not very far from the spot even now4 ,they refer to his experiences as ,lord ,deputy in ,ireland1 and are deposited in the library at ,lambeth ,palace4 ,these great men were neighbours of the elder ,betterton1 and they had succeeded to men not less remarkable4 ,one of the latter was ,arthur1 ,lord ,grey of ,wilton1 the friend of ,spenser1 and the ,talus of that poet's ,iron ,flail4 ,the ,greys1 indeed1 had long kept house in ,tothill ,street1 as had also the ,lords ,dacre of the ,south4 ,when ,betterton was born here1 the locality was still full of the story of ,thomas ,lord ,dacre1 who went thence to be hanged at ,tyburn1 in #aeda4 ,he had headed a sort of ,chevy-chase expedition into the private park of ,sir ,nicholas ,pelham1 in ,sussex4 ,in the fray which ensued1 a keeper was killed1 of which deed my lord took all the responsibility1 and1 very much to his surprise1 was hanged in consequence4 ,the mansion built by his son1 the last lord1 had not lost its first freshness when the ,bettertons resided here1 and its name1 ,stourton ,house1 yet survives in the corrupted form of ,strutton ,ground4 ,thus1 the ,bettertons undoubtedly resided in a fashionable locality1 and we may fairly conclude that their title to respectability has been so far established4 ,that the street long continued to enjoy a certain dignity is apparent from the fact that1 in #affd1 when ,betterton was rousing the town by his acting1 as ,bosola1 in ,webster's ,duchess of ,malfy1 ,sir ,henry ,herbert established his office of ,master of the ,revels1 in ,tothill ,street4 ,it was not till the next century that the decline of this street set in4 ,southern1 the dramatist1 resided and died there1 but it was in rooms over an oilman's shop2 and ,edmund ,burke lived modestly at the east end1 before those mysterious thousands were amassed by which he was enabled to establish himself as a country gentleman4 ,galt1 and the other biographers of ,betterton1 complain of the paucity of materials for the life of so great an actor4 ,therein is his life told2 or rather ,pepys tells it more correctly in an entry in his diary for ,october #affb1 in which he says--,betterton is a very sober1 serious man1 and studious1 and humble1 following of his studies2 and is rich already with what he gets and saves4 ,there is the great and modest artist's whole life--earnestness1 labour1 lack of presumption1 and the recompense4 ,at the two ends of his career1 two competent judges pronounced him to be the best actor they had ever seen4 ,the two men were ,pepys1 who was born in the reign of ,charles ,i41 and ,pope1 who died in the reign of ,george ,,ii4 ,this testimony refers to above a century1 during which time the stage knew no such player as he4 ,pope1 indeed1 notices that old critics used to place ,hart on an equality with him2 this is1 probably1 an error for ,harris1 who had a party at court among the gay people there who were oppressed by the majesty of ,betterton4#cj ,pepys alludes to this partisanship in #affc4 ,this fellow 7,harris71 he remarks1 grew very proud of late1 the ,king and everybody else crying him up so high1 and that above ,betterton1 he being a more aery man1 as he is1 indeed4 ,from the day of ,betterton's bright youth to that of his old age1 the sober seriousness of the artist1 for which ,pepys vouches1 never left him4 ,with the dress he assumed1 for the night1 the nature of the man--be it ,hamlet or ,thersites1 ,valentine or ,sir ,john ,brute1 of whom he was to be the representative4 ,in the green-room1 as on the stage1 he was1 for the time being1 subdued or raised to the quality of him whose likeness he had put on4 ,in presence of the audience1 he was never tempted by applause to forget his part1 or himself4 ,once only1 ,pepys registers1 with surprise1 an incident which took place at the representation of ,mustapha1 in #affg4 ,it was bravely acted1 he says1 only both ,betterton and ,harris could not contain from laughing1 in the midst of a most serious part1 from the ridiculous mistake of one of the men upon the stage2 which ,i did not like4 ,then for his humility1 ,i find the testimony of ,pepys sufficiently corroborated4 ,it may have been politic in him1 as a young man1 to repair to ,mr4 ,cowley's lodgings in town1 and ask from that author his particular views with regard to the ,colonel ,jolly in the ,cutter of ,coleman ,street1 which had been intrusted to the young actor2 but the politic humility of #affa was1 in fact1 the practised modesty of his life4 ,in the very meridian of his fame1 he1 and ,mrs4 ,barry also1 were as ready to take instruction respecting the characters of ,jaffier and ,belvidera1 from poor battered ,otway1 as they subsequently were from that very fine gentleman1 ,mr4 ,congreve1 when they were cast for the hero and heroine of his comedies4 ,even to bombastic ,rowe1 who hardly knew his own reasons for language put on the lips of his characters1 they listened with deference2 and1 at another period1 ,sir ,john and ,lady ,brute were not undertaken by them till they had conferred with the author1 solid ,vanbrugh4 ,the mention of these last personages reminds me of a domestic circumstance of interest respecting ,betterton4 ,he and ,mrs4 ,barry acted the principal characters in ,the ,provoked ,wife2 the part of ,lady ,fancyfull was played by ,mrs4 ,bowman4 ,this young lady was the adopted child of the ,bettertons1 and the daughter of a friend 7,sir ,frederick ,watson1 ,bart47 whose indiscretion or ill-luck had scattered that fortune the laying of the foundation of which is recorded by ,pepys4 ,to the sire ,betterton had intrusted the bulk of his little wealth as a commercial venture to the ,east ,indies4 ,a ruinous failure ensued1 and ,i know of nothing which puts the private life of the actor in so pleasing a light1 as the fact of his adopting the child of the wholly ruined man who had nearly ruined him4 ,he gave her all he had to bestow1 careful instruction in his art2 and the lady became an actress of merit4 ,this merit1 added to considerable personal charms1 won for her the homage of ,bowman1 a player who became1 in course of time1 the father of the stage1 though he never grew1 confessedly1 old4 ,in after years1 he would converse freely enough of his wife and her second father1 ,betterton2 but if you asked the carefully-dressed ,mr4 ,bowman anything with respect to his age1 no other reply was to be had from him than--,sir1 it is very well6 ,from what has been previously stated1 it will be readily believed that the earnestness of ,betterton continued to the last4 ,severely disciplined1 as he had been by ,davenant1 he subjected himself to the same discipline to the very close2 and he was not pleased to see it disregarded or relaxed by younger actors whom late and gay last nights brought ill and incompetent to rehearsal4 ,those actors might have reaped valuable instruction out of the harvest of old ,thomas's experience and wisdom1 had they been so minded4 ,young actors of the present time--time when pieces run for months and years2 when authors prescribe the extent of the run of their own dramas1 and when nothing is damned by a patient public--our young actors have little idea of the labours undergone by the great predecessors who gave glory to the stage and dignity to the profession4 ,not only was ,betterton's range of characters unlimited1 but the number he created was never equalled by any subsequent actor of eminence--namely1 about one hundred and thirty6 ,in some single seasons he studied and represented no less than eight original parts--an amount of labour which would shake the nerves of the stoutest among us now4 ,his brief relaxation was spent on his little ,berkshire farm1 whence he once took a rustic to ,bartholomew ,fair for a holiday4 ,the master of the puppet-show declined to take money for admission--,mr4 ,betterton1 he said1 is a brother actor6 ,roger1 the rustic1 was slow to believe that the puppets were not alive2 and so similar in vitality appeared to him1 on the same night1 at ,drury ,lane1 the ,jupiter and ,alcmena in ,amphitryon1 played by ,betterton and ,mrs4 ,barry1 that on being asked what he thought of them1 ,roger1 taking them for puppets1 answered1 ,they did wonderfully well for rags and sticks4 ,provincial engagements were then unknown4 ,travelling companies1 like that of ,watkins1 visited ,bath1 a regular company from town going thither only on royal command2 but magistrates ejected strollers from ,newbury2 and ,reading would not tolerate them1 even out of respect for ,mr4 ,betterton4 ,at ,windsor1 however1 there was a troop fairly patronised1 where1 in #agjf1 a ,mistress ,carroll1 daughter of an old ,parliamentarian1 was awakening shrill echoes by enacting ,alexander the ,great4 ,the lady was a friend of ,betterton's1 who had in the previous year created the part of ,lovewell in her comedy of the ,gamester4 ,the powers of ,mrs4 ,carroll had such an effect on ,mr4 ,centlivre1 one of the cooks to ,queen ,anne1 that he straightway married her2 and when1 a few months later1 ,betterton played ,sir ,thomas ,beaumont1 in the lady's comedy1 ,love at a ,venture1#ca his friend1 a royal cook's wife1 furnished but an indifferent part for a royal cook's son4 ,in other friendships cultivated by the great actor1 and in the influences which he exerted over the most intellectual men who were his friends1 we may discover proofs of ,betterton's moral worth and mental power4 ,glorious ,thomas not only associated with ,glorious ,john1 but became his critic1--one to whom ,dryden listened with respect1 and to whose suggestions he lent a ready acquiescence4 ,in the poet's ,spanish ,friar1 there was a passage which spoke of kings' bad titles growing good by time2 a supposed fact which was illustrated by the lines-- ,so1 when clay's burned for a hundred years1 ,it starts forth china6 ,the player fearlessly pronounced this passage mean1 and it was forthwith cancelled by the poet4 ,intimate as this incident shows ,betterton to have been with ,dryden1 there are others which indicate a closer intimacy of the player with ,tillotson4 ,the divine was a man who placed charity above rubrics1 and discarded bigotry as he did perukes4 ,he could extend a friendly hand to the benevolent ,arian1 ,firmin1 and welcome1 even after he entered the archiepiscopal palace at ,lambeth1 such a visitor as the great actor ,betterton4 ,did objection come from the rigid and ultra-orthodox8--the prelate might have reminded them that it was not so long since a bishop was hanged1 and that the player was a far more agreeable and1 in every respect1 a worthier man than the unlucky diocesan of ,waterford4 ,however this may be questioned or conceded1 it is indisputable that when ,tillotson and ,betterton met1 the greatest preacher and the greatest player of the day were together4 ,i think1 too1 that the divine was1 in the above respect1 somewhat indebted to the actor4 ,we all remember the story how ,tillotson was puzzled to account for the circumstance that his friend the actor exercised a vaster power over human sympathies and antipathies than he had hitherto done as a preacher4 ,the reason was plain enough to ,thomas ,betterton4 ,you1 in the pulpit1 said he1 only tell a story3 ,i1 on the stage1 show facts4 ,observe1 too1 what a prettier way this was of putting it than that adopted by ,garrick when one of his clerical friends was similarly perplexed4 ,i account for it in this way1 said the latter ,roscius3 ,you deal with facts as if they were fictions2 ,i deal with fictions as if ,i had faith in them as facts4 ,again1 what ,betterton thus remarked to ,tillotson was a modest comment1 which ,colley ,cibber has rendered perfect in its application1 in the words which tell us that the most a ,vandyke can arrive at is to make his ,portraits of ,great ,persons seem to think4 ,a ,shakspeare goes farther yet1 and tells you what his ,pictures thought4 ,a ,betterton steps beyond 'em both1 and calls them from the grave1 to breathe and be themselves again in ,feature1 ,speech1 and ,motion4 ,that ,tillotson profited by the comment of ,betterton--more gracefully than ,bossuet did by the actors1 whom he consigned1 as such1 to the nethermost ,gehenna--is the more easily to be believed1 from the fact that he introduced into the pulpit the custom of preaching from notes4 ,thenceforth1 he left off telling his story1 as from a book1 and1 having action at command1 could the nearer approach to the acting of facts4 ,virgilium tantum vidi6 ,pope said this of ,dryden1 whom he once saw when a boy4 ,he was wont to say of ,betterton1 that he had known him from his own boyhood upwards1 till the actor died1 in #agaj1 when the poet was twenty-two years of age4 ,the latter listened eagerly to the old traditions which the player narrated of the earlier times4 ,betterton was warrant to him1 on the authority of ,davenant1 from whom the actor had it1 that there was no foundation for the old legend which told of an ungenerous rivalry between ,shakspeare and ,old ,ben4 ,the player who had been as fearless with ,dryden as ,socrates was with his friend ,euripides--judiciously lopping redundant nonsense or false and mean maxims1 as ,dryden himself confesses--was counsellor1 rather than critic or censor1 with young ,pope4 ,the latter1 at the age of twelve years1 had written the greater portion of an imitative epic poem1 entitled ,alcander1 ,prince of ,rhodes4 ,i commend to artists in search of a subject the incident of ,pope1 at fifteen or sixteen1 showing this early effort of his ,muse to ,betterton4 ,it was a poem which abounded in dashing exaggerations1 and fair imitations of the styles of the then greater ,english poets4 ,there was a dramatic vein about it1 however1 or the player would not have advised the bard to convert his poem into a play4 ,the lad excused himself4 ,he feared encountering either the law of the drama or the taste of the town2 and ,betterton left him to his own unfettered way4 ,the actor lived to see that the boy was the better judge of his own powers1 for young ,pope produced his ,essay on ,criticism the year before ,betterton died4 ,a few years later the poet rendered any possible fulfilment of the player's counsel impossible1 by dropping the manuscript of ,alcander into the flames4 ,atterbury had less esteem for this work than ,betterton4 ,i am not sorry your ,alcander is burnt1 he says2 but had ,i known your intentions ,i would have interceded for the first page1 and put it1 with your leave1 among my curiosities4 ,pope remembered the player with affection4 ,for some time after ,betterton's decease the print-shops abounded with mezzotinto engravings of his portrait by ,kneller4 ,of this portrait the poet himself executed a copy1 which still exists4 ,his friendly intercourse with the half-mad ,irish artist1 ,jervas1 is well known4 ,when alone1 ,pope was the poet2 with ,jervas1 and under his instructions1 he became an artist--in his way1 but yet an artist--if a copier of portraits deserves so lofty a name4 ,in #agac1 he writes to ,gay3--,you may guess in how uneasy state ,i am1 when every day the performances of others appear more beautiful and excellent1 and my own more despicable4 ,i have thrown away three ,dr4 ,swifts1 each of which was once my vanity1 two ,lady ,bridgewaters1 a ,duchess of ,montague1 half-a-dozen ,earls1 and one ,knight of the ,garter4 ,he perfected1 however1 and kept his portrait of ,betterton1 from ,kneller1 which passed into the collection of his friend ,murray1 and which is now in that of ,murray's descendant1 the ,earl of ,mansfield4 ,kneller's portrait of ,betterton is enshrined among goodly company at princely ,knole--the patrimony of the ,sackvilles4 ,it is there1 with that of his fellow-actor1 ,mohun1 his friend ,dryden1 and his great successor ,garrick--the latter being the work of ,reynolds4 ,the grand old ,kentish ,hall is a fitting place for such a brotherhood4 ,this master of his art had the greatest esteem for a silent and attentive audience4 ,it was easy1 he used to say1 for any player to rouse the house1 but to subdue it1 render it rapt and hushed to1 at the most1 a murmur1 was work for an artist2 and in such effects no one approached him4 ,and yet the rage of ,othello was more in his line than the tenderness of ,castalio2 but he touched the audience in his rage4 ,harris competed with him for a brief period1 but if he ever excelled him it was only in very light comedy4 ,the dignity and earnestness of ,betterton were so notorious and so attractive1 that people flocked only to hear him speak a prologue1 while brother actors looked on1 admired1 and despaired4 ,age1 trials1 infirmity1 never damped his ardour4 ,even angry and unsuccessful authors1 who railed against the players who had brought their dramas to grief1 made exception of ,betterton4 ,he was always ready1 always perfect1 always anxious to effect the utmost within his power4 ,among the foremost of his merits may be noticed his freedom from all jealousy1 and his willingness to assist others up the height which he had himself surmounted4 ,that he played ,bassanio to ,dogget's ,shylock is1 perhaps1 not saying much by way of illustration2 but that he acted ,horatio to ,powell's ,lothario2 that he gave up ,jupiter 7,amphitryon7 and ,valentine1 two of his original parts1 to ,wilks1 and even yielded ,othello1 one of the most elaborate and exquisite of his presentments1 to ,thurmond1 are fair instances in point4 ,when ,bowman introduced young ,barton ,booth to old ,thomas1 the latter welcomed him heartily1 and after seeing his ,maximus1 in ,valentinian1 recognised in him his successor4 ,at that moment the town1 speculating on the demise of their favourite1 had less discernment4 ,they did not know whether ,verbruggen1 with his voice like a cracked drum1 or idle ,powell1 with his lazy stage-swing1 might aspire to the sovereignty2 but they were slow to believe in ,booth1 who was not the only young actor who was shaded in the setting glories of the sun of the ,english theatre4 ,when ,colley ,cibber first appeared before a ,london audience he was a volunteer who went in for practice2 and he had the misfortune1 on one occasion1 to put the great master out by some error on his own part4 ,betterton subsequently inquired the young man's name and the amount of his salary2 and hearing that the former was ,cibber1 and that1 as yet1 he received nothing1 ,put him down ten shillings a week1 said ,betterton1 and forfeit him five4 ,colley was delighted4 ,it was placing his foot on the first round of the ladder2 and his respect for ,mr4 ,betterton was unbounded4 ,indeed there were few who did not pay him some homage4 ,the ,king himself delighted to honour him4 ,charles1 ,james1 ,queen ,mary1 and ,queen ,anne1 sent him assurances of their admiration2 but ,king ,william admitted him to a private audience1 and when the patentees of ,drury ,lane were1 through lack of general patronage1 suggesting the expediency of a reduction of salaries1 great ,nassau placed in the hands of ,betterton the licence which freed him from the thraldom of the ,drury tyrants1 and authorised him to open the second theatre erected in ,lincoln's ,inn ,fields4 ,next to his most sacred ,majesty1 perhaps the most formidable personage in the kingdom1 in the eyes of the actors1 was the ,lord ,chamberlain1 who was master of the very lives of the performers1 having the absolute control of the stage whereby they lived4 ,this potentate1 however1 seemed ever to favour ,betterton4 ,when unstable1 yet useful1 ,powell suddenly abandoned ,drury ,lane1 to join the company in ,lincoln's ,inn ,fields1 the ,chamberlain did not deign to notice the offence2 but when1 all as suddenly1 the capricious and unreliable ,powell abandoned the house in the ,fields1 and betook himself again to that in the ,lane--the angry ,lord ,chamberlain sent a messenger after him to his lodgings1 and clapped the unoffending ,thespian1 for a couple of days1 in the ,gate ,house4 ,while ,powell was with ,betterton1 the latter produced the ,fair ,penitent1 by ,rowe1 ,mrs4 ,barry being the ,calista4 ,when the dead body of ,lothario was lying decently covered on the stage1 ,powell's dresser1 ,warren1 lay there for his master1 who1 requiring the services of the man in his dressing-room1 and not remembering where he was1 called aloud for him so repeatedly1 and at length so angrily1 that ,warren leapt up in a fright1 and ran from the stage4 ,his cloak1 however1 had got hooked to the bier1 and this he dragged after him1 sweeping down1 as he dashed off in his confusion1 table1 lamps1 books1 bones1 and upsetting the astounded ,calista herself4 ,irrepressible laughter convulsed the audience1 but ,betterton's reverence for the dignity of tragedy was shocked1 and he stopped the piece in its full career of success1 until the town had ceased to think of ,warren's escapade4 ,i know of but one man who has spoken of ,betterton at all disparagingly--old ,anthony ,aston4 ,but even that selfish cynic is constrained so to modify his censure as to convert it into praise4 ,when ,betterton was approaching threescore years and ten1 ,anthony could have wished that he would have resigned the part of ,hamlet to some young actor who might have personated1 though1 mark the distinction1 not have acted it better4 ,aston's grounds for his wish are so many justifications of ,betterton2 for1 says ,anthony1 when he threw himself at ,ophelia's feet1 he appeared a little too grave for a young student just from the ,university of ,wittenberg4 ,his repartees1 ,anthony thinks1 were more those of a philosopher than the sporting flashes of young ,hamlet2 as if ,hamlet were not the gravest of students1 and the most philosophical of young ,danes6 ,aston caricatures the aged actor only again to commend him4 ,he depreciates the figure which time had touched1 magnifies the defects1 registers the lack of power1 and the slow sameness of action2 hints at a little remains of paralysis1 and at gout in the now thick legs1 profanely utters the words fat and clumsy1 and suggests that the face is slightly pock-marked4 ,but we are therewith told that his air was serious1 venerable1 and majestic2 and that though his voice was low and grumbling1 he could turn it by an artful climax which enforced an universal attention even from the fops and orange-girls4 ,cibber declares that there was such enchantment in his voice alone1 the multitude no more cared for sense in the words he spoke1 than our musical connoisseurs think it essential in the celebrated airs of an ,italian ,opera4 ,again1 he says1 ,could how ,betterton spoke be as easily known as what he spoke1 then might you see the ,muse of ,shakspeare in her triumph4 ,i never1 says honest ,colley1 heard a line in tragedy come from ,betterton1 wherein my judgment1 my ear1 and my imagination were not fully satisfied1 which1 since his time1 ,i cannot equally say of any one actor whatsoever4 ,this was written in #agdj1 the year before little ,david took up the rich inheritance of old ,thomas--whose ,hamlet1 however1 the latter actor could hardly have equalled4 ,the next great pleasure to seeing ,betterton's ,hamlet is to read ,cibber's masterly analysis of it4 ,a couple of lines reveal to us the leading principle of his ,brutus4 ,when the ,betterton-,brutus1 says ,colley1 was provoked in his dispute with ,cassius1 his spirit flew only to his eye2 his steady look alone supplied that terror which he disdained an intemperance in his voice should rise to4 ,in his least effective characters1 he1 with an exception already noted1 excelled all other actors2 but in characters such as ,hamlet and ,othello he excelled himself4 ,cibber never beheld his equal for at least two-and-thirty years after ,betterton's death1 when1 in #agda1 court and city1 with doctors of divinity and enthusiastic bishops1 were hurrying to ,goodman's ,fields1 to witness the ,richard of the gentleman from ,ipswich1 named ,garrick4 ,during the long career of ,betterton he played at ,drury ,lane1 ,dorset ,gardens1 ,lincoln's ,inn ,fields 7in both theatres71 and at the ,opera-house in the ,haymarket4 ,the highest salary awarded to this great master of his art was #e per week1 which included #a by way of pension to his wife1 after her retirement in #afid4 ,in consideration of his merits1 he was allowed to take a benefit in the season of #agjh-i1 when the actor had an ovation4 ,in money for admission1 he received1 indeed1 only #gf2 but in complimentary guineas1 he took home with him to ,russell ,street #dej more4 ,the terms in which the ,tatler spoke of him living1--the tender and affectionate1 manly and heart-stirring passages in which the same writer bewailed him when dead1--are eloquent and enduring testimonies of the greatness of an actor1 who was the glory of our stage1 and of the worth of a man whose loss cost his sorrowing widow her reason4#cb ,decus et ,dolor4 ,the grace and the grief of the theatre4 ,it is well applied to him who laboured incessantly1 lived irreproachably1 and died in harness1 universally esteemed and regretted4 ,he was the jewel of the ,english stage2 and ,i never think of him1 and of some to whom his example was given in vain1 without saying1 with ,overbury1 ,i value a worthy actor by the corruption of some few of the quality1 as ,i would do gold in the ore2 ,i should not mind the dross1 but the purity of the metal4 ,the feeling of the ,english public towards ,betterton is in strong contrast with that of the ,french towards their great actor1 ,baron4 ,both men grew old in the public service1 but both were not treated with equal respect in the autumn of that service4 ,betterton1 at seventy1 was upheld by general esteem and crowned by general applause4 ,when ,baron1 at seventy1 was playing ,nero1 the ,paris pit audience1 longing for novelty1 hissed him as he came down the stage4 ,the fine old player calmly crossed his arms1 and looking his rude assailants in the face1 exclaimed1 ,ungrateful pit6 'twas ,i who taught you6 ,that was the form of ,baron's exit2 and ,clairon was as cruelly driven from the scene when her dimming eyes failed to stir the audience with the old1 strange1 and delicious terror4 ,in other guise did the ,english public part with their old friend and servant1 the noble actor1 fittingly described in the licence granted to him by ,king ,william1 as ,thomas ,betterton1 ,gentleman4 ,illustration3 ,mr4 ,garrick as ,king ,lear4 ,,footnotes3 #bi ,malone gives the date of his baptism as #aath ,august #afce4 #cj ,i see no reason to doubt that ,hart rather than ,harris was the rival in question4 ,hart was an older actor than ,betterton1 and he and ,mohun were the supports of the old school1 which its admirers pronounced infinitely superior to that of ,betterton4 ,see1 for instance1 the ,historia ,histrionica4 #ca ,should be ,sir ,thomas ,beaumont in ,the ,platonic ,lady4 #cb ,it is generally implied1 if not stated outright1 that ,mrs4 ,betterton never recovered her reason after her husband's death2 but this seems an error1 because she made a ,will1 which is dated #ajth ,march #agaa-ab1 when she was presumably sane4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,duke',s ,,theatre1 ,,dorset ,,garden4 ,,chapter ,,vi4 ,,exeunt ,,and ,,enter4 ,after ,betterton1 there was not1 in the ,duke's ,company1 a more accomplished actor than ,harris4 ,he lived in gayer society than ,betterton1 and cared more for the associates he found there4 ,he had some knowledge of art1 danced gracefully1 and had that dangerous gift for a young man--a charming voice1 with a love for displaying it4 ,his portrait was taken by ,mr4 ,hailes2--in his habit of ,henry ,v41 mighty like a player2 and as ,cardinal ,wolsey2 which latter portrait may now be seen in the ,pepysian ,library at ,cambridge4 ,illustration3 7,joseph ,harris47 ,pepys assigns good grounds for his esteem for ,harris4 ,i do find him1 says the diarist1 a very excellent person1 such as in my whole acquaintance ,i do not know another better qualified for converse1 whether in things of his own trade1 or of other kind2 a man of great understanding and observation1 and very agreeable in the manner of his discourse1 and civil1 as far as is possible4 ,i was mighty pleased with his company1 a company with which were united1 now ,killigrew and the rakes1 and anon1 ,cooper the artist1 and ,cooper's cosen ,jacke1 and ,mr4 ,butler1 that wrote ,hudibras1 being1 says ,mr4 ,pepys1 all eminent men in their way4 ,indeed1 ,harris was to be found in company even more eminent than the above1 and at the great coffee-house in ,covent ,garden he listened to or talked with ,dryden1 and held his own against the best wits of the town4 ,the playwrights were there too2 but these were to be found in the coffee-houses1 generally1 often wrapped up in their cloaks1 and eagerly heeding all that the critics had to say to each other respecting the last new play4 ,harris was aware that in one or two light characters he was ,betterton's equal4 ,he was a restless actor1 threatening1 when discontented1 to secede from the ,duke's to the ,king's ,company1 and causing equal trouble to his manager ,davenant1 and to his monarch ,charles--the two officials most vexed in the settling of the little kingdom of the stage4 ,there was a graceful1 general actor of the troop to which ,harris belonged1 who drew upon himself the special observation of the ,government at home and an ,english ambassador abroad4 ,scudamore was the original ,garcia of ,congreve's ,mourning ,bride2 he also played amorous young knights1 sparkling young gentlemen1 scampish ,french and ,english beaux1 gay and good-looking kings1 and roystering kings' sons2 such as ,harry1 ,prince of ,wales4 ,off the stage1 he enacted another part4 ,when ,king ,james was in exile1 ,scudamore was engaged as a ,jacobite agent1 and he carried many a despatch or message between ,london and ,st4 ,germains4 ,but our ambassador1 the ,earl of ,manchester1 had his eye upon him4 ,one of the ,earl's despatches to the ,english ,government1 written in #agjj1 concludes with the words3--,one ,scudamore1 a player in ,lincoln's ,inn ,fields1 has been here1 and was with the late ,king1 and often at ,st4 ,germains4 ,he is now1 ,i believe1 at ,london4 ,several such sort of fellows go and come very often2 but ,i cannot see how it is to be prevented1 for without a positive oath nothing can be done to them4 ,the date of this despatch is ,august #agjj1 at which time the player ought to have been engaged in a less perilous character1 for an entry in ,luttrell's ,diary1 #bhth ,may #agjj1 records that ,mr4 ,scudamore of the play-house is married to a young lady of #djjj fortune1 who fell in love with him4 ,cave ,underhill was another member of ,davenant's ,company4 ,he was not a man for a lady to fall in love with2 but in #affh ,davenant pronounced him the truest comedian of his troop4 ,he was on the stage from #affa to #agaj1 and during that time the town saw no such ,gravedigger in ,hamlet as this tall1 fat1 broad-faced1 flat-nosed1 wide-mouthed1 thick-lipped1 rough-voiced1 awkwardly-active low comedian4 ,so modest was he also that he never understood his own popularity1 and the house was convulsed with his solemn ,don ,quixote and his stupid ,lolpoop in ,the ,squire of ,alsatia without ,cave's being able to account for it4#cc ,in the stolid1 the booby1 the dully malicious1 the bluntly vivacious1 the perverse humour1 combining wit with ill-nature1 ,underhill was the chief of the actors of the half century during which he kept the stage4 ,cibber avers thus much1 and adds that he had not seen ,cave's equal in ,sir ,sampson ,legend in ,congreve's ,love for ,love4 ,a year before the old actor ceased to linger on the stage he had once made light with laughter1 a benefit was awarded him1 viz41 on the #c;d of ,june #agji4cd ,the patronage of the public was previously bespoken by ,mr4 ,bickerstaffe1 in the ,tatler1 whose father had known honest ,cave ,underhill when he was a boy4 ,the ,tatler praises the old comedian for the natural style of his acting1 in which he avoided all exaggeration1 and never added a word to his author's text1 a vice with the younger actors of the time4 ,on this occasion ,underhill played his old part of the ,gravedigger1 professedly because he was fit for no other4 ,his judgment was not ill founded1 if ,cibber's testimony be true that he was really worn and disabled1 and excited pity rather than laughter4 ,the old man died a pensioner of the theatre whose proprietors he had helped to enrich1 with the reputation of having1 under the pseudonym of ,elephant ,smith1 composed a mock funeral sermon on ,titus ,oates2 and with the further repute of being an ultra-,tory1 addicted in coffee-houses to drink the ,duke of ,york's health more heartily than that of his brother1 the ,king4 ,with rare exchange of actors1 and exclusive right of representing particular pieces1 the two theatres continued in opposition to each other until the two companies were formed into one in the year #afhb4 ,meanwhile1 fire destroyed the old edifice of the ,king's ,company1 in ,drury ,lane1 in ,january #afgb1 and till ,wren's new theatre was ready for them in #afgd1 the unhoused troop played occasionally at ,dorset ,gardens1#ce or at ,lincoln's ,inn ,fields1 as opportunity offered4 ,on the occasion of opening the new house1 contemporary accounts state that the prices of admission were raised3 to the boxes1 from #bs4 #f;d4 to #ds42 pit1 from #as4 #f;d4 to #bs4 #f;d42 the first gallery1 from #as4 to #as4 #f;d42 and the upper gallery1 from #f;d4 to #as4 ,pepys1 however1 on the #aith ,october #affg1 paid #ds4 for admittance to the upper boxes1 if his record be true4#cf ,down to the year #afhb1 the ,king's ,company lost several old and able actors1 and acquired only ,powell1 ,griffin1 and ,beeston4 ,george ,powell was the son of an obscure actor4 ,his own brilliancy was marred by his devotion to jollity1 and this devotion became the more profound as ,george saw himself surpassed by steadier actors1 one of whom1 ,wilks1 in his disappointment1 he challenged to single combat1 and1 in the cool air of next morning1 was sorry for his folly4 ,idleness made him defer learning his parts till the last moment2 his memory often failed him at the most important crisis of the play2 and the public displeasure fell heavily and constantly on this clever but reckless actor4 ,the ,tatler calls him the haughty ,george ,powell1 when referring to his appearance in ,falstaff for his benefit1 in ,april #agab4 ,the haughty ,george ,powell hopes all the good-natured part of the town will favour him whom they applauded in ,alexander1 ,timon1 ,lear1 and ,orestes1 with their company this night1 when he hazards all his heroic glory in the humbler condition of honest ,jack ,falstaff4 ,valuable aid1 like the above1 he obtained from the ,spectator also1 with useful admonition to boot1 from which he did not care to profit2 and he fell into such degradation that his example was a wholesome terror to young actors willing to follow it1 but fearful of the consequences4 ,during his career1 from #afhg to #agad1 in which year he died1 he originated about forty new parts1 and in some of them1 such as ,brisk1 in the ,double ,dealer2 ,aboan1 in ,oroonoko2 the gallant1 gay ,lothario2 ,lord ,morelove1 in the ,careless ,husband2 and ,portius1 in ,cato1 he has rarely been equalled4 ,on the first night of the ,relapse1 in which he played ,worthy1 he was so fired by his libations1 that ,mrs4 ,rogers1 as ,amanda1 was frightened out of her wits by his tempestuous love-making4 ,powell's literary contributions to the drama were such as a man of his quality was likely to make1--chiefly plagiarisms awkwardly appropriated4 ,griffin was an inferior actor to ,powell2 but he was a wiser and a better man4 ,he belonged to that class of actors whom society welcomed with alacrity4 ,he was1 moreover1 of the class which had served in the field as well as on the stage1 and when ,captain ,griffin died in ,queen ,anne's reign1 the stage lost a respectable actor1 and society a clever and a worthy member4 ,the accessions to the ,duke's ,company were of more importance than those to the company of the ,theatre ,royal4 ,in #afgb1 the two poets1 ,lee and ,otway1 tempted fortune on the stage3 ,lee1 in one or two parts1 such as the ,captain of the ,watch1 in ,payne's ,fatal ,jealousy1 and ,duncan1 in ,macbeth2 ,otway as the ,king1 in ,mrs4 ,behn's ,forced ,marriage4 ,they both failed4 ,lee1 one of the most beautiful of readers1 lost his voice through nervousness2 ,otway1 audacious enough at the coffee-houses1 lost his confidence4 ,there were eight other actors of the period whose success was unquestionable and well deserved4 ,little ,bowman1 who between this period and #agci1 the year of his death1 never failed to appear when his name was in the bills4 ,he was a noted bell-ringer1 had sung songs to ,charles ,,ii41 and1 when father of the stage1 he exacted applause from the second ,george4 ,cademan was another of the company4 ,like ,betterton and ,cartwright1 he had learnt the mystery of the book-trade before he appeared as a player4 ,he was driven from the latter vocation through an accident4 ,engaged in a fencing-scene with ,harris1 in ,the ,man's the ,master1 he was severely wounded by his adversary's foil1 in the hand and eye1 and he lost power not only of action but of speech4 ,for nearly forty years the company assigned him a modest pension2 and between the benevolence of his brethren and the small profits of his publishing1 his life was rendered tolerable1 if not altogether happy4 ,his comrade1 ,jevon1 an ex-dancing master1 was one of the hilarious actors4 ,he was the original ,jobson in his own little comedy1 ,a ,devil of a ,wife1 which has been altered into the farce of ,the ,devil to ,pay4 ,he took great liberties with authors and audience4 ,he made ,settle half mad and the house ecstatic1 when having1 as ,lycurgus1 ,prince of ,china1 to fall on his sword1 he placed it flat on the stage1 and falling over it1 died1 according to the direction of the acting copy4#cg ,he took as great liberties at the coffee-house4 ,you are wiping your dirty boots with my clean napkin1 said an offended waiter to him4 ,never mind1 boy1 was the reply2 ,i'm not proud--it will do for me6 ,the dust of this jester lies in ,hampstead churchyard4 ,longer known was ,anthony ,lee or ,leigh1 that industrious and mirthful player1 who1 in the score of years he was before the public--from #afgb to #afib--originated above thrice that number of characters4 ,his masterpiece was ,dryden's ,spanish ,friar1 ,dominique4 ,how he looked in that once famous part1 may be seen by any one who can gain access to ,knowle1 where his portrait1 painted for the ,earl of ,dorset1 still hangs--and all but speaks4 ,but we may see how ,leigh looked by another portrait1 painted in words1 by ,cibber4 ,in the canting1 grave hypocrisy1 of the ,spanish ,friar1 ,leigh stretched the veil of piety so thinly over him1 that in every look1 word1 and motion1 you saw a palpable1 wicked slyness shine throughout it4 ,here he kept his vivacity demurely confined1 till the pretended duty of his function demanded it3 and then he exerted it with a choleric1 sacerdotal insolence4 ,i have never yet seen any one that has filled them 7the scenes of broad jests7 with half the truth and spirit of ,leigh4 ,i do not doubt but the poet's knowledge of ,leigh's genius helped him to many a pleasant stroke of nature1 which1 without that knowledge1 never might have entered into his conception4 ,leigh had the art of making pieces--dull to the reader1 side-splitting mirth to an audience4 ,in such pieces he and ,nokes kept up the ball between them2 but with the players perished also the plays4 ,illustration3 7,anthony ,leigh47 ,less happy than ,leigh was poor ,matthew ,medbourne1 an actor of merit1 and a young man of some learning1 whose brief career was cut short by a too fervent zeal for his religion1 which led him into a participation in the ,popish ,plot4 ,the testimony of ,titus ,oates caused his arrest1 on the #bfth of ,november #afgh1 and his death2--for poor ,medbourne died of the ,newgate rigour in the following ,march4 ,he is memorable1 as being the first who introduced ,molire's ,tartuffe on the ,english stage1 in a close translation1 which was acted in #afgj1 with remarkable success4 ,cibber's ,nonjuror 7#agag71 and ,bickerstaffe's ,hypocrite 7#agfh71 were only adaptations--the first of ,tartuffe1 and the second of the ,nonjuror4 ,mr4 ,oxenford1 however1 reproduced the original in a more perfect form than ,medbourne1 in a translation in verse1 which was brought out at the ,haymarket1 in #ahea1 with a success most honestly earned by all1 and especially deserving on the part of ,mr4 ,webster1 who played the principal character4 ,sandford and ,smith were two actors whose names constantly recur together1 but whose merits were not all of the same degree4 ,the tall1 handsome1 manly ,smith1 frequently played ,banquo2 when his ghost1 in the same tragedy1 was represented by the short1 spare1 drolly ill-featured1 and undignified ,sandford6 ,the latter was famous for his villains--from those of tragedy to ordinary stage ruffians in broad belt and black wig--permanent type of those wicked people in melodramas to this day4 ,this idiosyncrasy amusingly puzzled ,charles ,,ii41 who1 in supposed allusion to ,shaftesbury1 declared that the greatest villain of his time was fair-haired4 ,the public of his period were so accustomed to see ,sandford represent the malignant heroes1 that when they once saw him as an honest man1 who did not prove to be a crafty knave before the end of the fifth act1 they hissed the piece out of sheer vexation4 ,sandford rendered villainy odious by his forcible representation of it4 ,by a look1 he could win the attention of an audience to whatever he judged worth more than their ordinary notice2 and by attending to the punctuation of a passage1 he divested it of the jingle of rhyme1 or the measured monotony of blank verse4 ,so misshapen1 harsh1 fierce1 yet craftily gentle and knavishly persuasive could ,sandford render himself1 ,cibber believes that ,shakspeare1 conscious of other qualities in him1 would have chosen him to represent ,richard1 had poet and player been contemporaneous4 ,the generous ,colley adds1 that if there was anything good in his own ,richard1 it was because he had modelled it after the fashion in which he thought ,sandford would have represented that monarch4 ,sandford withdrew from the stage1 after thirty-seven years' service1 commencing in #affa and terminating in #afih4 ,the career of his more celebrated colleague1 ,smith1 extended only from #affc to #afif1 and that with the interruption of several years when his strong ,toryism made him unacceptable to the prejudiced ,whig audiences of the early part of the reign of ,william4#ch ,he originally represented ,sir ,fopling ,flutter 7#afgf71 and ,pierre 7#afhb72 ,chamont 7#afhj71 in ,the ,orphan1 and ,scandal 7#afie71 in ,love for ,love4 ,in the following year he died in harness4 ,the long part of ,cyaxares1 in ,cyrus the ,great1 overtaxed his strength1 and on the fourth representation of that wearisome tragedy1 ,smith was taken ill1 and died4 ,king ,james1 in the person of ,smith1 vindicated the nobility of his profession4 ,mr4 ,smith1 says ,cibber1 with fine satire1 whose character as a gentleman could have been no way impeached1 had he not degraded it by being a celebrated actor1 had the misfortune1 in a dispute with a gentleman behind the scenes1 to receive a blow from him4 ,the same night an account of this action was carried to the ,king1 to whom the gentleman was represented so grossly in the wrong1 that the next day his ,majesty sent to forbid him the court upon it4 ,this indignity cast upon a gentleman only for maltreating a player1 was looked upon as the concern of every gentleman6 and a party was soon formed to assert and vindicate their honour1 by humbling this favoured actor1 whose slight injury had been judged equal to so severe a notice4 ,accordingly1 the next time ,smith acted1 he was received with a chorus of catcalls1 that soon convinced him he should not be suffered to proceed in his part2 upon which1 without the least discomposure1 he ordered the curtain to be dropped1 and having a competent fortune of his own1 thought the conditions of adding to it1 by remaining on the stage1 were too dear1 and from that day entirely quitted it4 ,not entirely1 for he returned to it in #afie1 after a secession of eleven years1 under the persuasion1 it is believed1 of noble friends and ancient comrades4 ,dr4 ,burney states that the audience made a political matter of it4 ,if so1 ,whigs and ,tories had not long to contend1 for the death of this refined player soon supervened4 ,of the two most eminent ladies who joined the ,duke's ,company previous to the union of the two houses1 ,lady ,slingsby 7formerly ,mrs4 ,aldridge1 next ,mrs4 ,lee17 is of note for the social rank she achieved2 ,mrs4 ,barry for a theatrical reputation which placed her on a level with ,betterton himself4 ,lady ,slingsby withdrew from the stage in #afhe1 after a brief course of ten or a dozen years4 ,she died in the spring of #afid1 and was interred in old ,st4 ,pancras churchyard1 as ,dame ,mary ,slingsby1 ,widow4 ,that is the sum of what is known of a lady whom report connects with the ,yorkshire baronets of ,scriven4 ,of her colleague1 there is more to be said2 but the famous ,mrs4 ,barry may claim a chapter to herself4 ,,footnotes3 #cc ,anthony ,aston1 from whom this description is quoted1 says that it was not modesty that prevented his understanding why he was admired1 but sheer stupidity4 #cd ,he practically retired from the active work of his profession about #agjg4 #ce ,i can find no authority for this4 ,the ,king's ,company appear to have played regularly at ,lincoln's ,inn ,fields4 ,dorset ,garden was the new theatre of the ,duke's ,company4 #cf ,pepys is no doubt accurate4 ,the higher prices were charged apparently from the opening of the old theatre in #affc4 #cg ,genest conjectures1 ,i think justly1 that this must have happened at a rehearsal4 ,downes says nothing about the house being ecstatic4 #ch ,very doubtful4 ,the cause of his retirement was no doubt the quarrel afterwards mentioned4 ,if he was off the stage for eleven years1 as ,dr4 ,doran says1 he must have retired in #afhd1 long before ,william was king4 ,illustration3 ,,river ,,view ,,of ,,duke',s ,,theatre4 ,,chapter ,,vii4 ,,elizabeth ,,barry4 ,the great ,mrs4 ,barry1 the ,handbook of ,london tells us1 lies buried in ,westminster ,cloisters4 ,i did not there look for her tomb4 ,to come at the grave of the great actress1 ,i passed through ,acton ,vale and into the ugliest of village churches1 and1 after service1 asked to be shown the tablet which recorded the death and burial of ,elizabeth ,barry4 ,the pew-opener directed me to a mural monument which1 ,i found1 bore the name of one of the family of ,smith6 ,i remonstrated4 ,the good woman could not account for it4 ,she had always taken that for ,elizabeth ,barry's monument4 ,it was in the church somewhere4 ,there is no stone to any such person in this church1 said the clerk1 and ,i know 'em all6 ,we walked down the aisle discussing the matter1 and paused at the staircase at the west end2 and as ,i looked at the wall1 while still conversing1 ,i saw in the shade the tablet which ,curll says is outside1 in ,god's ,acre1 and thereon ,i read aloud these words3--,near this place lies the body of ,elizabeth ,barry1 of the parish of ,st4 ,mary-le-,savoy1 who departed this life the #gth of ,november1 #agac1 aged #ee years4 ,that is she6 said ,i4 ,the two officials looked puzzled and inquiring4 ,at length the pew-opener ventured to ask3 ,and who was she1 sir8 ,the original ,monimia1 ,belvidera1 ,isabella1 ,calista---- ,lor6 said the good woman1 only a player6 ,only a player6 ,this of the daughter of an old ,cavalier6 ,the seventeenth century gave many ladies to the stage1 and ,elizabeth ,barry was certainly the most famous of them4 ,she was the daughter of a barrister1 who raised a regiment for the ,king1 and thereby was himself raised to the rank of colonel4 ,the effort did not help his ,majesty1 and it ruined the ,colonel1 whose daughter was born in the year #afeh4 ,davenant#ci took the fatherless girl into his house1 and trained her for the stage1 while the flash of her light eyes beneath her dark hair and brows was as yet mere girlish spirit2 it was not intelligence4 ,that was given her by ,rochester4 ,davenant was in despair at her dulness2 but he acknowledged the dignity of her manners4 ,at three separate periods managers rejected her4 ,she will never be an actress6 they exclaimed4 ,rochester protested that he would make her one in six months4 ,the wicked young ,earl1 who lived in ,lincoln's ,inn ,fields1 near the theatre1 became her master1 and1 of course1 fell in love with his pupil4 ,the pains he bestowed upon his young mistress were infinite4 ,sentence by sentence he made her understand her author2 and the intelligence of the girl leaped into life and splendour under such instruction4 ,to familiarise her with the stage1 he superintended thirty rehearsals thereon1 of each character in which she was to appear4 ,of these rehearsals twelve were in full costume2 and when she was about to enact ,isabella1 the ,hungarian ,queen1 in ,mustapha1 the page who bore her train was tutored so to move as to aid in the display of grace and majesty which was to charm the town4 ,for some time1 however1 the town refused to recognise any magic in the charmer2 and managers despaired of the success of a young actress who could not decently thread the mazes of a country dance4 ,hamilton owned her beauty1 but denied her talent4 ,nevertheless1 she one night burst forth in all her grandeur1 and ,mustapha and ,zanger were not more ardently in love with the brilliant queen than the audience were4 ,at the head of the latter were ,charles ,,ii4 and the ,duke and ,duchess of ,york4 ,rochester had asked for their presence1 and they came to add to the triumph of ,colonel ,barry's daughter4 ,crabbed old ,anthony ,aston1 the actor and prompter1 spoke disparagingly of the young lady4 ,according to him1 she was no colonel's daughter1 but woman to ,lady ,shelton1 my godmother4 ,the two conditions were not incompatible4 ,it was no unusual thing to find a lady in straitened circumstances fulfilling the office of woman1 or maid1 to the wives of peers and baronets4 ,we have an instance in the ,memoirs of ,mrs4 ,delaney1 and another in the person of ,mrs4 ,siddons4 ,successful as ,elizabeth ,barry was in parts which she had studied under her preceptor1 ,lord ,rochester1 she cannot be said to have established herself as the greatest actress of her time till the year #afhj4 ,up to this period she appeared in few characters suited to her abilities4 ,in tragedies1 she enacted the confidants to the great theatrical queens1 ,mrs4 ,lee and ,mrs4 ,betterton2 in comedies1 the rattling1 reckless1 and audacious women1 at whose sallies the pit roared approbation1 and the box ladies were not much startled4 ,but1 in the year just named1 ,otway produced his tragedy of ,the ,orphan1 or the ,unhappy ,marriage1 in which ,mrs4 ,barry was the ,monimia to the ,castalio of ,betterton4 ,on the same night the part of the ,page was charmingly played by a future great actress1 ,mrs4 ,bracegirdle1 then not six years old4 ,in ,monimia1 ,mrs4 ,barry exercised some of those attributes which she possessed above all actresses ,cibber had ever seen1 and which those who had not seen her were unable to conceive4 ,in characters of greatness1 says ,cibber1 in his ,apology1 she had a presence of elevated dignity2 her mien and motion superb1 and gracefully majestic2 her voice full1 clear1 and strong1 so that no violence of passion could be too much for her2 and when distress or tenderness possessed her1 she subsided into the most affecting melody and softness4 ,from the position which she took by acting ,monimia1 ,mrs4 ,barry was never shaken by any rival1 however eminent4 ,her industry was as indefatigable as that of ,betterton4 ,during the thirty-seven years she was on the stage1 beginning at ,dorset ,gardens1 in #afgc1 and ending at the ,haymarket1 in #agaj1 she originated one hundred and twelve characters6 ,monimia was the nineteenth of the characters of which she was the original representative2 the first of those which mark the stations of her glory4 ,in #afhb1 she added another leaf to the chaplet of her own and ,otway's renown1 by her performance of ,belvidera4 ,in the softer passions of this part she manifested herself the mistress of tears1 and night after night the town flocked to weep at her bidding1 and to enjoy the luxury of woe4 ,the triumph endured for years4 ,her ,monimia and ,belvidera were not even put aside by her ,cassandra1 in the ,cleomenes of ,dryden1 first acted at the ,theatre ,royal1 in #afib4 ,mrs4 ,barry1 says the author1 always excellent1 has1 in this tragedy1 excelled herself1 and gained a reputation1 beyond any woman whom ,i have ever seen on the theatre4 ,the praise is not unduly applied2 for ,mrs4 ,barry could give expression to the rant of ,dryden1 and even to that of ,lee1 without ever verging towards bombast4 ,in scenes of anger1 defiance1 or resentment1 writes ,cibber1 while she was impetuous and terrible1 she poured out the sentiment with an enchanting harmony4 ,anthony ,aston describes her in tragedy as solemn and august2 and she1 perhaps1 was never more so than in ,isabella1 the heroine of the tragic drama rather than tragedy1 by ,southerne1 ,the ,fatal ,marriage4 ,aston remarks1 that her face ever expressed the passions2 it somewhat preceded her action1 as her action did her words4 ,her versatility was marvellous1 and it is not ill illustrated by the fact that in the same season she created two such opposite characters as ,lady ,brute1 in ,vanbrugh's ,provoked ,wife1 and ,zara1 in ,congreve's ,mourning ,bride4 ,the last of her great tragic triumphs1 in a part of which she was the original representative1 occurred in #agjc1 when1 in her forty-fifth year1 she played ,calista1 in ,the ,fair ,penitent1 that wholesale felony of ,rowe from ,massinger6 ,though the piece did not answer the expectations of the public1 ,mrs4 ,barry did not fall short of them in the heroine2 and she perhaps surpassed expectation1 when1 in #agje1 she elicited the admiration of the town by her creation of the sparkling character of ,clarissa1 in ,the ,confederacy4 ,by this time she was growing rich in wealth as well as in glory4 ,in former days1 when the play was over1 the attendant boy used to call for ,mrs4 ,barry's clogs6 or ,mrs4 ,bracegirdle's pattens6 but now1 ,mrs4 ,barry's chair was as familiar a sound as ,mrs4 ,oldfield's4 ,if she was not invariably wise in the stewardship of her money1 some portions were expended in a judicious manner creditable to her taste4 ,at the sale of ,betterton's effects1 she purchased the picture of ,shakspeare which ,betterton bought from ,davenant1 who had purchased it from some of the players after the theatres had been closed by authority4 ,subsequently1 ,mrs4 ,barry sold this relic1 for forty guineas1 to a ,mr4 ,keck1 whose daughter carried it with her as part of her dowry1 when she married ,mr4 ,nicoll1 of ,colney ,hatch4 ,their daughter and heiress1 in her turn1 took the portrait and a large fortune with her to her husband1 the third ,duke of ,chandos2 and1 finally1 ,mrs4 ,barry's effigy of ,shakspeare passed with another bride into another house1 ,lady ,anne ,brydges1 the daughter of the ,duke and ,duchess1 carrying it with her to ,stowe on her marriage with the ,marquis of ,buckingham1 subsequently ,duke of ,buckingham and ,chandos4 ,the ,chandos portrait of the great dramatist is thus descended4 ,mrs4 ,barry1 like many other eminent members of her profession1 was famous for the way in which she uttered some single expression in the play4 ,the ,look there6 of ,spranger ,barry1 as he passed the body of ,rutland1 always moved the house to tears4 ,so1 the ,remember twelve6 of ,mrs4 ,siddon's ,belvidera2 the ,well1 as you guess6 of ,edmund ,kean's ,richard2 the ,qu'en dis-tu8 of ,talma's ,auguste2 the ,je crois6 of ,rachel's ,pauline2 the ,je vois6 of ,mademoiselle ,mars's ,valerie1 were points which never failed to excite an audience to enthusiasm4 ,but there were two phrases with which ,mrs4 ,barry could still more deeply move an audience4 ,when1 in ,the ,orphan1 she pronounced the words1 ,ah1 poor ,castalio6 not only did the audience weep1 but the actress herself shed tears abundantly4 ,the other phrase was in a scene of ,banks's puling tragedy1 ,the ,unhappy ,favourite1 or the ,earl of ,essex4 ,in that play1 ,mrs4 ,barry represented ,queen ,elizabeth1 and that with such effect that it was currently said1 the people of her day knew more of ,queen ,elizabeth from her impersonation of the character than they did from history4 ,the apparently commonplace remark1 ,what mean my grieving subjects8 was invested by her with such emphatic grace and dignity1 as to call up murmurs of approbation which swelled into thunders of applause4 ,mary of ,modena testified her admiration by bestowing on the mimic queen the wedding-dress ,mary herself had worn when she was united to ,james ,,ii41 and the mantle borne by her at her coronation4 ,thus attired1 the queen of the hour represented the ,elizabeth1 with which enthusiastic crowds became so much more familiar than they were with the ,elizabeth of history4 ,but this solemn and august tragedian could also command laughter1 and make a whole house joyous by the exercise of another branch of her vocation4 ,in free comedy1 says ,aston1 she was alert1 easy1 and genteel1 pleasant in her face and action1 filling the stage with variety of gesture4 ,so entirely did she surrender herself to the influences of the characters she represented1 that in stage dialogues she often turned pale or flushed red1 as varying passions prompted4 ,with the audience she was never for a moment out of favour after she had made her merit apparent4 ,they acknowledged no greater actress1--with the single exception of ,mrs4 ,betterton in the character of ,lady ,macbeth4 ,nevertheless1 on and behind the stage ,mrs4 ,barry's supremacy was sometimes questioned and her commands disobeyed4 ,when she was about to play ,roxana to the ,statira of ,mrs4 ,boutell1 in ,nat4 ,lee's ,rival ,queens1 or the ,death of ,alexander the ,great1 she selected from the wardrobe a certain veil which was claimed by ,mrs4 ,boutell as of right belonging to her4 ,the property-man thought so too1 and handed the veil to the last-named lady4 ,his award was reasonable1 for she was the original ,statira1 having played the part to the matchless ,alexander of ,hart1 and to the glowing ,roxana of the fascinating ,marshall4 ,i fear1 however1 that the lady was not moderate in her victory1 and that by flaunting the trophy too frequently before the eyes of the rival queen1 the daughter of ,darius exasperated too fiercely her ,persian rival in the heart of ,alexander4 ,the rage and dissension set down for them in the play were1 at all events1 not simulated4 ,the quarrel went on increasing in intensity from the first1 and culminated in the gardens of ,semiramis4 ,when ,roxana seized on her detested enemy there1 and the supreme struggle took place1 ,mrs4 ,barry1 with the exclamation of ,die1 sorceress1 die6 and all my wrongs die with thee6 sent her polished dagger right through the stiff armour of ,mrs4 ,boutell's stays4 ,the consequences were a scratch and a shriek1 but there was no great harm done4 ,an investigation followed1 and some mention was made of a real jealousy existing in ,mrs4 ,barry's breast in reference to an admirer of lower rank than ,alexander1 lured from her feet by the little1 flute-voiced ,boutell4 ,the deed itself was1 however1 mildly construed1 and ,mrs4 ,barry was believed when she declared that she had been carried away by the illusion and excitement of the scene4 ,we shall see the same scene repeated1 with similar stage effects1 by ,mrs4 ,woffington and ,mrs4 ,bellamy4 ,if there were a lover to add bitterness to the quarrel engendered by the veil1 ,mrs4 ,barry might have well spared one of whom she possessed so many4 ,without being positively a transcendent beauty1 her attractions were confessed by many an ,antony from the country1 who thought their world of acres well lost for the sake of a little sunshine from the eyes of this vanquishing1 imperious1 banquetting1 heart and purse destroying ,cleopatra4 ,there were two classes of men who made epigrams1 or caused others to make them against her1 namely1 the adorers on whom she ceased to smile1 and those on whom she refused to smile at all4 ,the coffee-house poetry which these perpetrated against her is the reverse of pleasant to read2 but1 under the protection of such a wit as ,etherege1 or such a fine gentleman as ,rochester1 ,mrs4 ,barry cared little for her puny assailants4 ,tom ,brown taxed her with mercenary feelings2 but against that and the humour of writers who affected intimate acquaintance with her affairs of the heart and purse1 and as intimate a knowledge of the amount which ,sir ,george ,etherege and ,lord ,rochester bequeathed to their respective daughters1 of whom ,mrs4 ,barry was the mother1 she was armed4 ,neither of these children survived the famous actress4 ,she herself hardly survived ,betterton--at least on the stage4 ,the day after the great tragedian's final appearance1 ,mrs4 ,barry trod the stage for the last time4 ,the place was the old ,haymarket1 the play the ,spanish ,friar1 in which she enacted the ,queen4 ,and ,i can picture to myself the effect of the famous passage1 when the ,queen impetuously betrays her overwhelming love4 ,haste1 my ,teresa1 haste2 and call him back6 ,prince ,bertram8 asks the confidant2 and then came the full burst1 breaking through all restraint1 and revealing a woman who seemed bathed in love4 ,torrismond6 ,there is no other ,,he6 ,mrs4 ,barry took no formal leave of the stage1 but quietly withdrew from ,st4 ,mary-le-,savoy1 in the ,strand1 to the pleasant village of ,acton4 ,mrs4 ,porter1 ,mrs4 ,rogers1 ,mrs4 ,knight1 and ,mrs4 ,bradshaw1 succeeded to her theatrical dominion1 by partition of her characters4 ,if tragedy lost its queen1 ,acton gained a wealthy lady4 ,her professional salary had not been large1 but her benefits were very productive2 they who admired the actress or who loved the woman1 alike pouring out gold and jewels in her lap4 ,it was especially for her that performers' benefits were first devised4 ,authors alone had hitherto profited by such occasions1 but1 in recognition of her merit1 ,king ,james commanded one to be given on her behalf1 and what was commenced as a compliment soon passed into a custom4 ,in a little more than three years from the date when the curtain fell before her for the last time1 ,elizabeth ,barry died4 ,brief resting season after such years of toil2 but1 perhaps1 sufficient for better ends after a career1 too1 of unbridled pleasure6 ,this great actress1 says ,cibber1 dy'd of a fever1 towards the latter years of ,queen ,anne2 the year ,i have forgot1 but perhaps you will recollect it1 by an expression that fell from her in blank verse1 in her last hours1 when she was delirious1 viz4-- ,ha6 ha6 and so they make us lords1 by dozens6 ,this1 however1 does not settle the year so easily as ,colley thought4 ,in ,december #agaa1 ,queen ,anne1 by an unprecedented act1 created twelve new peers1 to enable the measures of her ,tory ministers to be carried in the ,upper ,house4 ,mrs4 ,barry died two years later1 on the #gth of ,november #agac1 and the utterance of the words quoted above only indicates that her wandering memory was then dealing with incidents full two years old4 ,illustration3 7,elizabeth ,barry47 ,they who would see how ,mrs4 ,barry looked living1 have only to consult ,kneller's grand picture1 in which she is represented with her fine hair drawn back from her forehead1 the face full1 fair1 and rippling with intellect4 ,the eyes are inexpressibly beautiful4 ,of all her living beauty1 living frailty1 and living intelligence1 there remains but this presentment4 ,it was customary to compare ,mrs4 ,barry with ,french actresses2 but it seems to me that the only ,french actress with whom ,mrs4 ,barry may be safely compared is ,mademoiselle1 or1 as she was called with glorious distinction1 the ,champmesl4 ,this ,french lady was the original ,hermione1 ,berenice1 ,monimia1 and ,phdra4 ,these were written expressly for her by ,racine1 who trained her exactly as ,rochester did ,elizabeth ,barry1--to some glory on the stage1 and to some infamy off it4 ,la ,champmesl1 however1 was more tenderly treated by society at large than the less fortunate daughter of an old royalist colonel4 ,the latter actress was satirised2 the former was eulogised by the wits1 and she was not even anathematised by ,french mothers4 ,when ,la ,champmesl was ruining the young ,marquis de ,sevign1 his mother wrote proudly of the actress as her daughter-in-law6 as if to have a son hurried to perdition by so resplendent and destructive a genius1 was a matter of exultation6 99 99 99 99 99 ,having sketched the outline of ,mrs4 ,barry's career1 ,i proceed to notice some of her able1 though less illustrious1 colleagues4 ,,footnote3 #ci ,curll1 in his ,history of the ,stage 7#agda71 says it was ,lady ,davenant1 a particular friend of ,sir ,william ,davenant4 ,illustration3 ,,contest ,,for ,,dogget',s ,,coat ,,and ,,badge4 ,,chapter ,,viii4 ,,their ,,first ,,appearance ,,on ,,this ,,stage4 ,on the #afth ,november #afhb1 the ,united ,company1 the flower of both houses1 opened their season at the ,theatre ,royal1 in ,drury ,lane4 ,the theatre in ,dorset ,gardens was only occasionally used2 and from #afhb to #afie there was but one theatre in ,london4 ,betterton and ,mrs4 ,barry were1 of course1 at the head of this company1 to which there came some accessions of note2 among others ,mrs4 ,percival1 better known as ,mrs4 ,mountfort1 and finally as ,mrs4 ,verbruggen4 ,a greater accession was that of the charming ,mrs4 ,bracegirdle4 ,the third lady was ,mrs4 ,jordan1 a name to be made celebrated by a later and a greater actress1 who had no legal claim to it4 ,of the new actors1 some only modestly laid the foundations of their glory in this company4 ,chief of these was ,colley ,cibber1 who1 in #afia1 played ,sir ,gentle's ,servant in ,southerne's ,sir ,anthony ,love1 had a part of nine lines in ,chapman's ,bussy d',amboise1 and of seventeen1 as ,sigismond in ,powell's ,alphonso4 ,bowen1 too1 began with coachmen1 and similar small parts1 while that prince of the droll fellows of his time1 ,pinkethman1 commenced his career with a tailor's part1 of six lines in length1 in ,shadwell's ,volunteers4 ,among the other new actors were ,mountfort1#dj ,norris1#da and ,doggett1 with ,verbruggen 7or ,alexander1 as he sometimes called himself1 from the character which he loved to play72 ,gillow1 ,carlisle1 ,hodgson1 and ,peer4 ,amid these names1 that of ,mrs4 ,mountfort stands out the most brilliantly4 ,her portrait has been so exquisitely limned by ,colley ,cibber1 that we see her as she lived1 and moved1 and spoke4 ,mrs4 ,mountfort was mistress of more variety of humour than ,i ever knew in any one actress4 ,this variety1 too1 was attended with an equal vivacity1 which made her excellent in characters extremely different4 ,as she was naturally a pleasant mimic1 she had the skill to make that talent useful on the stage4 ,where the elocution is round1 distinct1 voluble1 and various1 as ,mrs4 ,mountfort's was1 the mimic there is a great assistance to the actor4 ,nothing1 though ever so barren1 if within the bounds of nature1 could be flat in her hands4 ,she gave many heightening touches to characters but coldly written1 and often made an author vain of his work1 that1 in itself1 had but little merit4 ,she was so fond of humour1 in what low part soever to be found1 that she would make no scruple of defacing her fair form to come heartily into it1 for when she was eminent in several desirable characters of wit and humour1 in higher life1 she would be in as much fancy1 when descending into the antiquated ,abigail of ,fletcher1 as when triumphing in all the airs and vain graces of a fine lady2 a merit that few actresses care for4 ,in a play of ,durfey's1 now forgotten1 called ',the ,western ,lass1' which part she acted1 she transformed her whole being--body1 shape1 voice1 language1 look and features--into almost another animal1 with a strong ,devonshire dialect1 a broad laughing voice1 a poking head1 round shoulders1 an unconceiving eye1 and the most bedizening1 dowdy dress that ever covered the untrained limbs of a ,joan ,trot4 ,to have seen her here1 you would have thought it impossible that the same could ever have been recovered to1 what was as easy to her1 the gay1 the lively1 and the desirable4 ,nor was her humour limited to her sex1 for while her shape permitted1 she was a more adroit1 pretty fellow than is usually seen upon the stage4 ,her easy air1 action1 mien1 and gesture1 quite changed from the coif to the cocked-hat and cavalier in fashion4 ,people were so fond of seeing her a man that when the part of ,bayes1 in ',the ,rehearsal1' had for some time lain dormant1 she was desired to take it up1 which ,i have seen her act with all the true coxcombly spirit and humour that the sufficiency of the character required4 ,but what found most employment for her whole various excellence at once was the part of ,melantha1 in ',mariage la ,mode4' ,melantha is as finished an impertinent as ever fluttered in a drawing-room1 and seems to contain the most complete system of female foppery that could possibly be crowded into the tortured form of a fine lady4 ,her language1 dress1 motion1 manners1 soul1 and body1 are in a continual hurry to be something more than is necessary or commendable4 ,the first ridiculous airs that break from her are upon a gallant1 never seen before1 who delivers her a letter from her father1 recommending him to her good graces as an honourable lover4 ,here1 now1 one would think that she might naturally show a little of the sex's decent reserve1 though never so slightly covered4 ,no1 sir6 not a tittle of it6 ,modesty is the virtue of a poor-souled country gentlewoman4 ,she is too much a court-lady to be under so vulgar a confusion4 ,she reads the letter1 therefore1 with a careless1 dropping lip1 and an erected brow1 humming it hastily over1 as if she were impatient to outgo her father's commands1 by making a complete conquest of him at once2 and that the letter might not embarrass her attack1 crack6 she crumbles it at once into her palm1 and pours upon him her whole artillery of airs1 eyes1 and motion4 ,down goes her dainty1 diving body to the ground1 as if she were sinking under the conscious load of her own attractions2 then launches into a flood of fine language and compliment1 still playing her chest forward in fifty falls and risings1 like a swan upon waving water2 and1 to complete her impertinence1 she is so rapidly fond of her own wit that she will not give her lover leave to praise it4 ,silent assenting bows1 and vain endeavours to speak1 are all the share of the conversation he is admitted to1 which at last he is relieved from1 by her engagement to half a score visits1 which she swims from him to make1 with a promise to return in a twinkling4 ,happy ,mrs4 ,mountfort1 whom1 as actress and woman1 ,cibber has thus made live for ever6 ,as ,mrs4 ,percival1 she was the original representative of ,nell in the piece now known as ,the ,devil to ,pay2 as ,mrs4 ,mountfort1--,belinda1 in the ,old ,batchelor2 and as ,mrs4 ,verbruggen1--,charlotte ,welldon1 in ,oroonoko2#db ,lady ,lurewell1 in the ,constant ,couple2 and ,bizarre1 in the ,inconstant4 ,she died in #agjc4 ,in some respects1 ,mrs4 ,bracegirdle1 who was on the stage from #afhj to #agjg1 and subsequently lived in easy retirement till #agdh1 was even superior to ,mrs4 ,mountfort4 ,mrs4 ,barry saw her early promise1 and encouraged her in her first essays4 ,in her peculiar line she was supreme1 till the younger and irresistible talent of ,mrs4 ,oldfield brought about her resignation4 ,unlike either of these brilliant actresses1 she was exposed to sarcasm only on account of her excellent private character4 ,platonic friendships she did cultivate2 with those1 slander dealt severely enough2 and writers like ,gildon were found to declare1 that they believed no more in the innocency of such friendships than they believed in ,john ,mandeville2 while others1 like ,tom ,brown1 only gave her credit for a discreet decorum4 ,cibber1 more generous1 declares that her virtuous discretion rendered her the delight of the town2 that whole audiences were in love with her1 because of her youth1 her cheerful gaiety1 her musical voice1 and her happy graces of manner4 ,her form was perfect4 ,cibber says1 she had no greater claims to beauty than what the most desirable brunette might pretend to4 ,other contemporaries notice her dark brown hair and eyebrows1 her dark1 sparkling eyes1 the face from which the blush of emotion spread in a flood of rosy beauty over her neck1 and the intelligence and expression which are superior to mere beauty4 ,she so enthralled her audience that1 it is quaintly said1 she never made an exit without the audience feeling as if they had moulded their faces into an imitation of hers4 ,then she was as good1 practically1 as she was beautiful2 and the poor of the neighbourhood in which she resided looked upon her as a beneficent divinity4 ,her performance of ,statira was considered a justification of the frantic love of such an ,alexander as ,lee's2 and when she acted ,millamant1 all the faults1 follies1 and affectation of that agreeable tyrant were venially melted down into so many charms and attractions of a conscious beauty4 ,young gentlemen of the town pronounced themselves in tender but unrequited love with her4 ,jack1 ,lord ,lovelace1 sought a return for his ardent homage1 and obtained not what he sought4 ,authors wrote characters for her1 and poured out their own passion through the medium of her adorers in the comedy4 ,for her1 ,congreve composed his ,araminta and his ,cynthia1 his ,angelica1 his ,almeria1 and the ,millamant1 in the ,way of the ,world1 which ,cibber praises so efficiently4 ,that this dramatist was the only one whose homage was well-received and presence ever welcome to her1 there is no dispute4 ,when a report was abroad that they were about to marry1 the minor poets hailed the promised union of wit and beauty2 and even ,congreve1 not in the best taste1 illustrated her superiority to himself1 when he wrote of her-- ,pious ,belinda goes to prayers ,whene'er ,i ask the favour1 ,yet the tender fool's in tears ,when she thinks ,i'd leave her4 ,would ,i were free from this restraint1 ,or else had power to win her2 ,would she could make of me a saint1 ,or ,i of her a sinner4 ,the most singular testimony ever rendered to this virtue occurred on the occasion when ,dorset1 ,devonshire1 ,halifax1 and other peers1 were making of that virtue a subject of eulogy over a bottle4 ,halifax remarked1 they might do something better than praise her2 and thereon he put down two hundred guineas1 which the contributions of the company raised to eight hundred1--and this sum was presented to the lady1 as a homage to the rectitude of her private character4 ,whether she accepted this tribute1 ,i do not know2 but ,i know that she declined another from ,lord ,burlington1 who had long loved her in vain4 ,one day1 says ,walpole1 he sent her a present of some fine old china4 ,she told the servant he had made a mistake2 that it was true the letter was for her1 but the china for his lady1 to whom he must carry it4 ,lord6 the countess was so full of gratitude1 when her husband came home to dinner4 ,mrs4 ,bracegirdle lived to pass the limit of fourscore1 and to the last was visited by much of the wit1 the worth1 and some of the folly of the town4 ,on one occasion1 a group of her visitors were discussing the merits of ,garrick1 whom she had not seen1 and ,cibber spoke disparagingly of his ,bayes1 preferring in that part his own pert and vivacious son1 ,theophilus4 ,the old actress tapped ,colley with her fan2 ,come1 come1 ,cibber1 she remarked2 tell me if there is not something like envy in your character of this young gentleman4 ,the actor who pleases everybody must be a man of merit4 ,colley smiled1 tapped his box1 took a pinch1 and1 catching the generosity of the lady1 replied3 ,faith1 ,bracey1 ,i believe you are right2 the young fellow is clever6 ,between #afhb and #afie1 few actors were of greater note than luckless ,will ,mountfort1 of whose violent death the beauty of ,mrs4 ,bracegirdle was the unintentional cause4 ,handsome ,will was the efficient representative of fops who did not forget that they were gentlemen4 ,so graceful1 so ardent1 so winning as a lover1 actresses enjoyed the sight of him pleading at their feet4 ,in the younger tragic characters he was equally effective4 ,his powers of mimicry won for him the not too valuable patronage of ,judge ,jeffries1 to gratify whom1 and the lord mayor and minor city magnates1 in #afhe1 ,mountfort pleaded before them in a feigned cause1 in which1 says ,jacobs1 he aped all the great lawyers of the age in their tone of voice1 and in their action and gesture of body1 to the delight of his hearers4 ,on the stage1 he was one of the most natural of actors2 and even ,queen ,mary was constrained to allow1 that disgusted as she was with ,mrs4 ,behn's ,rover1 she could not but admire the grace1 ease1 intelligence1 and genius of ,mountfort1 who played the dissolute hero1 sang as well as he spoke1 and danced with stately dignity4 ,but poor ,will was only the hero of a brief hour2 and the inimitable original of ,sir ,courtly ,nice was murdered by two of the most consummate villains of the order of gentlemen then in town4 ,charles1 ,lord ,mohun1 had1 a few years previous to this occurrence1 been tried with the ,earl of ,warwick for a murder1 arising out of a coffee-house brawl2#dc on being acquitted by the ,house of ,lords1 he solemnly promised never to get into such a difficulty again4 ,but one ,captain ,richard ,hill1 being in love with ,mrs4 ,bracegirdle1 who heartily despised him1 wanted a villain's assistance in carrying off the beautiful actress1 and found the man and the aid he needed in ,lord ,mohun4 ,in ,buckingham ,court1 off the ,strand1 where the captain lodged1 the conspirators laid their plans2 and learning that ,mrs4 ,bracegirdle1 with her mother and brother1 was to sup one evening at the house of a friend1 ,mr4 ,page1 in ,princes ,street1 ,drury ,lane1 they hired six soldiers--emissaries always then to be had for such work--to assist in seizing her and carrying her off in a carriage1 stationed near ,mr4 ,page's house4 ,about ten at night1 of the #ith ,december #afib1 the attempt was made2 but what with the lady's screams1 the resistance of the friend and brother1 and the gathering of an excited mob1 it failed2 and a strange compromise was made1 whereby ,lord ,mohun and ,hill were allowed to unite in escorting her home to her house1 in ,howard ,street1 ,strand4 ,in that street lived also ,will ,mountfort1 against whom the captain uttered such threats1 in ,mrs4 ,bracegirdle's hearing1 that she1 finding that my lord and the captain remained in the street--the latter with a drawn sword in his hand1 and both of them occasionally drinking canary--sent to ,mrs4 ,mountfort1 to warn her husband1 who was from home1 to look to his safety4 ,warned1 but not alarmed1 honest ,will1 who loved his wife and respected ,mrs4 ,bracegirdle1 came round from ,norfolk ,street1 saluted ,lord ,mohun 7who embraced him1 according to the then fashion with men71 and said a word or two to his lordship1 not complimentary to the character of ,hill4 ,thence1 from the latter--words1 a blow1 and a pass of his sword through ,mountfort's body--which the poor actor1 as he lay dying on the floor of his own dining-room1 declared1 was given by ,hill before ,mountfort could draw his sword4 ,the captain fled from ,england1 but my lord1 surrendering to the watchmen of the ,duchy of ,lancaster1 was tried by his peers1 fourteen of whom pronounced him guilty of murder2 but as above threescore gave a different verdict1 ,mohun lived on till he and the ,duke of ,hamilton hacked one another to death in that savage butchery--the famous duel in ,hyde ,park4#dd ,mountfort1 at the age of thirty-three1 and with some reputation as the author of half-a-dozen dramas1 was carried to the burying-ground of ,st4 ,clement's ,danes1 where his remains rest with those of ,lowen1 one of the original actors of ,shakspeare's plays1 ,tom ,otway1 and ,nat4 ,lee4 ,his fair and clever widow became soon the wife of ,verbruggen--a rough diamond--a wild1 untaught1 yet not an unnatural actor4 ,so natural1 indeed1 was he1 that ,lord ,halifax took ,oroonoko from ,powell1 who was originally cast for it1 and gave it to ,verbruggen4 ,such was the power of ,lord ,chamberlains6 ,he could touch tenderly the finer feelings1 as well as excite the wilder emotions of the heart4 ,powell1 on the other hand1 was a less impassioned player1 who would appear to have felt more than he made his audience feel1 for in the original ,spectator1 ,no4 #bij1 ,february #agab1 ,powell begs the public to believe1 that if he pauses long in ,orestes1 he has not forgotten his part1 but is only overcome at the sentiment4 ,verbruggen died in #agjh4 ,among his many original characters were ,oroonoko1 ,bajazet1 ,altamont1 and ,sullen4 ,he survived his wife about five years4 ,i think if she loved ,will ,mountfort1 she stood in some awe of fiery ,jack ,verbruggen2 who1 in his turn1 seems to have had more of a rough courtesy than a warm affection for her4 ,for he would often say1 remarks ,anthony ,aston1 ,d---- me6 though ,i don't much value my wife1 yet nobody shall affront her6 and his sword was drawn on the least occasion1 which was much in fashion in the latter end of ,king ,william's reign4 ,and let me add here1 that an actor's sword was sometimes drawn for the king4 ,james ,carlisle1 a respectable player1 whose comedy1 ,the ,fortune ,hunters1 was well received in #afhi1 was not so tempted by success as to prefer authorship to soldiership in behalf of a great cause4 ,when the threatened destruction of the ,irish ,protestants was commenced with the siege of ,londonderry1 ,carlisle entered ,king ,william's army1 serving in ,ireland4 ,in #afia1 he was in the terrible fray in the morass at ,aghrim1 under ,ginkell1 but immediately led by ,talmash4 ,in the twilight of that ,july day1 the ,jacobite general1 ,st4 ,ruth1 and the poor player from ,drury ,lane1 were lying among the dead2 and there ,james ,carlisle was buried1 with the remainder of the six hundred slain on the victor's side1 before their surviving companions in arms marched westward4 ,carlisle's fellow-actor1 ,bowen1 was a low comedian of some talent1 and more conceit4 ,a curious paragraph in the ,post-,boy1 for ,november #afth1 #agjj1 shows that he left the stage for a time1 and under singular circumstances4 ,the paragraph runs thus3-- ,we hear that this day ,mr4 ,bowen1 the late famous comedian at the new ,play-house1 being convinced by ,mr4 ,collier's book against the stage1 and satisfied that a shopkeeper's life was the readiest way to heaven of the two1 opens a cane shop1 next door to the ,king's ,head ,tavern1 in ,middle ,row1 ,holborn1 where it is not questioned but all manner of canes1 toys1 and other curiosities1 will be obtained at reasonable rates4 ,this sudden change is admired at1 as well as the reasons which induced him to leave such a profitable employ2 but the most judicious conclude it is the effect of a certain person's good nature1 who has more compassion for his soul than for his own4 ,bowen was not absent from the stage more than a year4 ,he was so jealous of his reputation1 that when he had been driven to fury by the assertion that ,johnson played ,jacomo1 in the ,libertine1 better than he did1 and by the emphatic confirmation of the assertion by ,quin1 he fastened a quarrel on the latter1 got him in a room in a tavern1 alone1 set his back to the door1 drew his sword1 and assailed ,quin with such blind fury1 that he killed himself by falling on ,quin's weapon4 ,the dying ,irishman1 however1 generously acquitted his adversary of all blame1 and the greater actor1 after trial1 returned to his duty1 having innocently killed1 but not convinced poor ,bowen1 who naturally preferred his ,jacomo to that of ,johnson4#de ,peer1 later in life1 came to grief also1 but in a different way4 ,the spare man was famous for two parts2 the ,apothecary1 in ,romeo and ,juliet1 and the actor who humbly speaks the prologue to the play in ,hamlet4 ,these parts he played excellently well4 ,nature had made him for them2 but she was not constant to her meek and lean favourite2 for ,peer grew fat1 and being unable to act any other character with equal effect1 he lost his vocation1 and he died lingeringly of grief1 in #agac1 when he had passed threescore years and ten4 ,he had been property-man also1 and in this capacity the theatre owed him1 at the time of his decease1 among other trifling sums1 threepence1 for blood1 in ',macbeth4'#df ,norris1 or ,jubilee ,dicky1 was a player of an odd1 formal1 little figure1 and a squeaking voice4 ,he was a capital comic actor1 and owed his by-name to his success in playing ,dicky1 in the ,constant ,couple4 ,so great was this success1 that his sons seemed to derive value from it1 and were announced as the sons of ,jubilee ,dicky4 ,he is said to have acted ,cato1 and other tragic characters1 in a serio-burlesque manner4 ,he was the original ,scrub1 and ,don ,lopez in the ,wonder1 and died about the year #agcc4 ,dogget1 who was before the public from #afia to #agac1 and who died in #agba1 was a ,dublin man--a failure in his native city1 but in ,london a deserved favourite1 for his original and natural comic powers4 ,he always acted ,shylock as a ferociously comic character4 ,congreve discerned his talent1 and wrote for him ,fondlewife in the ,old ,batchelor1 ,sir ,paul ,pliant in the ,double ,dealer1 and the very different part of ,ben in ,love for ,love4 ,this little1 lively1 cheerful fellow1 was a conscientious actor4 ,somewhat illiterate--he spelt whole phonetically1 without the w--he was a gentleman in his acts and bearing4 ,he was prudent too1 and when he retired from partnership in ,drury ,lane ,theatre1 with ,cibber and ,wilks 7from #agji to #agab71 on the admission of ,booth1 which displeased him1 he was considered worth #ajjj a year4 ,the consciousness of his value1 and his own independence of character1 gave some trouble to managers and ,lord ,chamberlains4 ,on one occasion1 having left ,drury ,lane1 at some offence given1 he went to ,norwich1 whence he was brought up to ,london1 under my ,lord's warrant4 ,dogget lived luxuriously on the road1 at the ,chamberlain's expense1 and when he came to town1 ,chief ,justice ,holt liberated him1 on some informality in the procedure4 ,little errors of temper1 and extreme carefulness in guarding his own interests1 are now forgotten4 ,of his strong political feeling we still possess a trace4 ,dogget was a staunch ,whig4 ,the accession of the house of ,brunswick1 dated from a first of ,august4 ,on that day1 in #agaf1 and under ,george ,i41 ,dogget gave an orange-coloured livery1 with a badge1 representing ,liberty1 to be rowed for by six watermen1 whose apprenticeship had expired during the preceding year4 ,he left funds for the same race to be rowed for annually1 from ,london ,bridge to ,chelsea1 on the same day for ever4 ,the match still takes place1 with modifications caused by changes on and about the river2 but the winners of the money-prizes1 now delivered at ,fishmongers' ,hall1 have yet to be thankful for that prudence in ,dogget1 which was sneered at by his imprudent contemporaries4 ,dogget never took liberties with an audience2 ,pinkethman was much addicted to that bad habit4 ,he would insert nonsense of his own1 appeal to the gallery1 and delight in their support1 and the confusion into which the other actors on the stage were thrown2 but the joke grew stale at last1 and the offender was brought to his senses by loud disapprobation4 ,he did not lose his self-possession2 but assuming a penitent air1 with a submissive glance at the audience1 he said in a stage aside1 ,odso1 ,i believe ,i have been in the wrong here6 ,this cleverly-made confession brought down a round of applause1 and ,pinkey made his exit1 corrected1 but not disgraced4 ,another trait of his stage life is worthy of notice4 ,he had been remarkable for his reputation as a speaking ,harlequin1 in the ,emperor of the ,moon4 ,his wit1 audacity1 emphasis1 and point1 delighted the critics1 who thought that expression would be more perfect if the actor laid aside the inevitable mask of ,harlequin4 ,pinkethman did so2 but all expression was thereby lost4 ,it was no longer the saucy ,harlequin that seemed speaking4 ,pinkey1 so impudent on all other occasions1 was uneasy and feeble on this1 and his audacity and vivacity only returned on his again assuming the sable vizard4 ,pinkethman was entirely the architect of his own fortune4 ,he made his way by talent and industry4 ,he established the ,richmond ,theatre1 and there was no booth at ,greenwich1 ,richmond1 or ,may-,fair1 so well patronised as his4 ,he's the darling of ,fortunatus1 says ,downes1 and has gained more in theatres and fairs in twelve years than those who have tugged at the oar of acting these fifty4 ,after the division of the company into two1 in #afie1 the following new actors appeared between that period and the close of the century4 ,at ,drury ,lane1 ,hildebrand ,horden1 ,mrs4 ,cibber1#dg ,johnson1 ,bullock1 ,mills1 ,wilks2 and1 as if the century should expire1 reckoning a new glory1--,mrs4 ,oldfield4 ,at ,lincoln's ,inn ,fields1--,thurmond1 ,scudamore1 ,verbruggen1 who joined from ,drury ,lane1 leaving his clever wife there1 ,pack2 and1 that this house might boast a glory something like that enjoyed by its rival1 in ,mrs4 ,oldfield1--in #agjj ,booth made his first appearance1 with a success1 the significance of which was recognised and welcomed by the discerning and generous ,betterton4 ,mrs4 ,oldfield1 ,wilks1 and ,booth1 like ,colley ,cibber1 though they appeared towards the close of the seventeenth1 really belong to the eighteenth century1 and ,i shall defer noticing them till my readers and ,i arrive at that latter period4 ,the rest will require but a few words4 ,young ,horden was a handsome and promising actor1 who died of a brawl at the ,rose ,tavern1 ,covent ,garden4 ,he and two or three comrades were quaffing their wine1 and laughing1 at the bar1 when some fine gentlemen1 in an adjacent room1 affecting to be disturbed by the gaiety of the players1 rudely ordered them to be quiet4 ,the actors returned an answer which brought blood to the cheek1 fierce words to the lips1 hand to the sword1 and a resulting fight1 in which the handsome ,hildebrand was slain by a ,captain ,burgess4 ,the captain was carried to the ,gate-house1 from which1 says the ,protestant ,mercury1 he was rescued at night1 by a dozen or more of fellows with short clubs and pistols4 ,so ended1 in #afif1 ,hildebrand ,horden1 not without the sympathy of loving women1 who went in masks1 and some without the vizard1 to look upon and weep over his handsome1 shrouded corpse4 ,a couple of paragraphs in ,luttrell's ,diary conclude ,horden's luckless story3 ,saturday1 #agth ,october1 ,mr4 ,john ,pitts was tried at the session for killing ,mr4 ,horden1 the player1 and acquitted1 he being no ways accessary thereto1 more than being in company when 'twas done4 ,on ,tuesday1 #cjth ,november #afig1 the diarist writes3 ,captain ,burgess1 who killed ,mr4 ,horden1 the player1 has obtained his ,majesty's pardon4 ,of ,mrs4 ,cibber1 it can only be said that she was the wife of a great1 and of ,bullock1 that he was the father of a good1 actor4 ,to ,johnson no more praise can be awarded than to ,bullock4#dh ,william#di ,mills deserves a word or two more of notice than these last4 ,he was on the stage from #afif to #agcg1ej and though only a solid actor1 he excelled ,cibber1 in ,corvino1 in ,jonson's ,volpone2 surpassed ,smith in the part of ,pierre1 and was only second to ,quin1 in ,volpone himself4 ,his ,ventidius1 in ,dryden's tragedy1 ,all for ,love1 to ,booth's ,anthony1 is praised for its natural display of the true spirit of a rough and generous soldier4 ,of his original parts1 the chief were ,jack ,stanmore1 in ,oroonoko2 ,aimwell1 in the ,beaux ,stratagem2 ,charles1 in the ,busy ,body2 ,pylades1 in the ,distressed ,mother2 ,colonel ,briton1 in the ,wonder2 ,zanga1 in the ,revenge2 and ,manly1 in the ,provoked ,husband4 ,that some of these were beyond his powers is certain2 but he owed his being cast for them to the friendship of ,wilks1 when the latter was manager4 ,to a like cause may be ascribed the circumstance of his having the same salary as ,betterton1 #d per week1 and #a for his wife2 but this was not till after ,betterton's death4 ,at ,lincoln's ,inn ,fields1 ,thurmond1 though a respectable actor1 failed to shake any of the public confidence in ,betterton4 ,of ,scudamore1 ,i have already spoken4 ,pack was a vivacious comic actor1 whose line is well indicated in the characters of ,brass1 ,marplot1 and ,lissardo1 of which he was the original representative4 ,he withdrew from the stage in #agba1 a bachelor2 and1 in the meridian of life1 opened a tavern in ,charing ,cross4 ,i have now named the principal actors and actresses who first appeared between the ,restoration and the year #agja1 ,betterton and ,mrs4 ,barry being the noblest of the players of that half century2 ,cibber1 ,booth1 and ,mrs4 ,oldfield1 the bright promises of the century to come4 ,it is disappointing1 however1 to find that in the very last year of the seventeenth century the grand jury of ,middlesex presented the two play-houses1 and also the bear-garden1 as nuisances and riotous and disorderly assemblies4 ,so ,luttrell writes1 in ,december #agjj1 at which time1 as contemporary accounts inform us1 the theatres were pestered with tumblers1 rope-dancers1 and dancing men and dogs from ,france4 ,betterton was then in declining health1 and appeared only occasionally2 the houses1 lacking other attraction1 were ill attended1 and public taste was stimulated by offering the fun of a fair1 where ,mrs4 ,barry had drowned a whole house in tears4 ,the grand jury of ,middlesex did not see that with rude amusements the spectators grew rude too4 ,the jury succeeded in preventing play-bills from being posted in the city1 and denounced the stage as a pastime which led the way to murder4 ,the last denunciation was grounded on the fact1 that ,sir ,andrew ,slanning had been killed just before1 on his way from the play-house4 ,when men wore swords and hot tempers these catastrophes were not infrequent4 ,in #afhb1 a coffee-house was sometimes turned into a shambles by gentlemen calling the actors at the ,duke's ,house ,papists4 ,what was the cause of the fray in which ,sir ,andrew fell ,i do not know4 ,whatever it was1 he was run through the body by ,mr4 ,cowlan2 and that the latter took some unfair advantage is to be supposed1 since he was found guilty of murder1 and in ,december #agjj was executed at ,tyburn1 with six other malefactors1 who1 on the same day1 in the ,newgate slang of the period1 went ,westward ,hoe6 ,on the poor players fell all the disgrace2 but ,i think ,i shall be able to show1 in the next chapter1 that the fault lay rather with the poets4 ,these1 in their turn1 laid blame upon the public2 but it is the poet's business to elevate1 and not to pander to a low taste4 ,the foremost men of the tuneful brotherhood1 of the period from the ,restoration to the end of the century1 have much to answer for in this last respect4 ,,footnotes3 #dj ,mountfort seems to have acted as early as #afgh4 #da ,norris does not appear in the bills till #afii4 #db ,dr4 ,doran spells ,oroonoko wrong throughout4 ,in this he follows ,genest2 but the latter corrects his blunder in his errata4 #dc ,the trial of ,mohun and ,warwick took place seven years after ,mountfort's death--that is1 in #afii4 #dd ,it is only fair to ,hill to say that ,dr4 ,doran adopts a theory regarding the death of ,mountfort which is1 at least1 doubtful4 ,it is quite as possible that he was killed in a fair fight with ,hill4 #de ,dr4 ,doran in his ,,ms4 gives the following curious and valuable note regarding ,quin's trial and punishment1 which states a fact absolutely unknown to any of ,quin's biographers3--#agah4 ,the papers of the day say that ,quin and ,bowen fought on the question which was the honester man4 ,the coroner's inquest found it ',se ,defendendo2' but an ,old ,bailey jury returned a verdict of ,manslaughter1 and at the end of the ,session ,i find1 among the names of malefactors sent to ,tyburn1 or otherwise punished1 ',mr4 ,quin1 the comedian1 burnt in the hand4' #df ,this is taken from the ,guardian1 ,no4 #hb4 ,genest calls it a humorous account of him4 #dg ,the elder ,mrs4 ,cibber 7second edition74 #dh ,this is a most inaccurate statement4 ,benjamin ,jonson1 or ,johnson1 was a comedian of the highest order4 ,davies calls him ,that chaste copier of nature1 and praises him heartily3 ,victor is enthusiastic in his appreciation of him3 and ,lloyd1 in his ,actor1 specially commends him4 ,he was very great in his more famous namesake's comedies4 #di ,should be ,john ,mills4 ,william was a much less important actor4 #ej #agcf4 ,he died ,november or ,december #agcf4 ,illustration3 ,,colley ,,cibber4 ,,chapter ,,ix4 ,,the ,,dramatic ,,poets4 ,noble1 gentle1 and humble ,authors4 ,it is a curious fact1 that the number of dramatic writers between the years #afei-agjj1 inclusive1 exceeds that of the actors4 ,a glance at the following list will show this4 ,sir ,w4 ,davenant1 ,dryden1 ,porter1 ,mrs4 ,behn1 ,lee1 ,cowley1 ,hon4 ,james ,howard1 ,shadwell1 ,sir ,s4 ,tuke1 ,sir ,r4 ,stapylton1 ,lord ,broghill 7,earl of ,orrery71 ,flecknoe1 ,sir ,george ,etherege1 ,sir ,r4 ,howard1 ,lacy 7actor71 ,betterton 7actor71 ,earl of ,bristol1 ,duke of ,buckingham1 ,dr4 ,rhodes1 ,sir ,edward ,howard1 ,settle1 ,caryll 7,earl of ,caryll1 of ,james ,,ii4's creation71 ,henry ,lucius ,carey 7,viscount ,falkland71 ,duke of ,newcastle1 ,shirley1 ,sir ,charles ,sedley1 ,mrs4 ,boothby1 ,medbourne 7actor71 ,corye1 ,revet1 ,crowne1 ,ravenscroft1 ,wycherley1 ,arrowsmith1 ,neville ,payne1 ,sir ,w4 ,killigrew1 ,duffet1 ,sir ,f4 ,fane1 ,otway1 ,durfey1 ,rawlins1 ,leanard1 ,bankes1 ,pordage1 ,rymer1 ,shipman1 ,tate1 ,bancroft1 ,whitaker1 ,maidwell1 ,saunders 7a boy-poet71 and ,southerne4 ,here are already nearly threescore authors 7some few of whom had commenced their career prior to the ,restoration7 who supplied the two theatres1 between #afei and #afhb1 in which latter year began that ,union1 under which ,london had but one theatre till the year #afie4 ,within the thirteen years of the ,union1 appeared as dramatic writers1 ,the ,earl of ,rochester2--,jevon1 ,mountfort1 ,harris1 ,powell1 and ,carlisle 7actors72 ,wilson1 ,brady1 ,congreve1 ,wright1 and ,higden4 ,from the period of the dissolution of the ,union to the end of the century occur the names of1 ,colley ,cibber 7actor71 ,mrs4 ,trotter 7,cockburn71 ,gould1 ,mrs4 ,pix1 ,mrs4 ,manley1 ,norton1 ,scott1 ,dogget 7actor71 ,dryden1 jun41 ,lord ,lansdowne 7,granville71 ,dilke1 ,sir ,john ,vanbrugh1 ,gildon1 ,drake1 ,filmer1 ,motteux1 ,hopkins1 ,walker1 ,w4 ,phillips1 ,farquhar1 ,boyer1 ,dennis1 ,burnaby1 ,oldmixon1 ,mrs4 ,centlivre 7,carroll71 ,crauford1 and ,rowe4 ,illustration3 7,thomas ,betterton47 ,in the above list there are above a hundred names of authors1 none of whose productions can now be called stock-pieces2 though of some four or five of these writers a play is occasionally performed1 to try an actor's skill or tempt an indifferent audience4 ,of the actors who became authors1 ,cibber alone was eminently successful1 and of him ,i shall speak apart4 ,the remainder were mere adapters4 ,of ,betterton's eight plays1 ,i find one tragedy borrowed from ,webster2 and of his comedies1 one was taken from ,marston2 a second raised on ,molire's ,george ,dandin2 a third was never printed2 his ,henry the ,fourth was one of those unhallowed outrages on ,shakspeare1 of which the century in which it appeared was prolific2 his ,bondman was a poor reconstruction of ,massinger's play1 in which ,betterton himself was marvellously great2 and his ,prophetess was a conversion of ,beaumont and ,fletcher's tragedy into an opera1 by the efficient aid of ,henry ,purcell1 who published the music in score1 in #afia4 ,there was noble music wedded to noble words1 and for the recreation of those who could appreciate neither2 there was a dance of quaint figures from whom1 when about to sit down1 the chairs slipped under them1 took up the measure1 and concluded by dancing it out4 ,medbourne produced only his translation of the ,tartuffe1 ,jevon only one comedy4 ,mountfort1 like ,betterton1 was an indifferent author4 ,his ,injured ,lovers ends almost as tragically as the apocryphal play in which all the characters being killed at the end of the fourth act1 the concluding act is brought to a close by their executors4 ,in ,mountfort's loyal tragedy all the principal personages receive their quietus1 and the denouement is left in the hands of a solitary and wicked colonel1 with a contented mind4 ,edward the ,third is so much more natural than the above1 that it is by some assigned to ,bancroft1 while ,zelmane is only hypothetically attributed to ,mountfort1 on the ground1 apparently1 of its absurdities4 ,in the preface to his ,successful ,strangers1 ,mountfort modestly remarks1 ,i have a natural inclination to poetry1 which was born and not bred in me4 ,he showed small inventive power in his bustling comedy1 ,greenwich ,park1 and less respect for a master in minstrelsy1 when he turned poor ,kit ,marlowe's ,doctor ,faustus into an impassioned sort of burlesque1 with the addition of ,harlequin and ,scaramouch to give zest to the buffoonery6 ,carlisle1 the actor who fell at ,aghrim1 was the author of the ,fortune ,hunters2 and ,joseph ,harris1 who was a poor comedian1 and the marrer of four adapted and unsuccessful plays1 resumed under ,queen ,anne his original vocation of engraver to the ,mint4 ,the age was one of adapters1 whose cry was that ,shakspeare would not attract1 and accordingly ,george ,powell combined authorship with acting1 and borrowed from ,shirley1 from ,brome1 and from ,middleton4 ,mrs4 ,pix1 and the romancers1 produced a few plays1 from one of which a recent dramatist has stolen as boldly as ,george himself was wont to steal4 ,i allude to the ,imposture ,defeated1 in which ,artan 7a demon7 enables ,hernando1 a physician1 to foretell the fate of each patient1 according as ,artan takes his stand at the foot or at the head of the bed4 ,one word will suffice for ,dogget's contribution to stage literature4 ,he was the author of one lively1 but not edifying1 piece1 entitled the ,country ,wake1 in which he provided himself with a taking part called ,hob1 and one for ,mrs4 ,bracegirdle--,flora4 ,in a modified form1 this piece was known to our grandfathers as ,flora2 or1 ,hob in the ,well4 ,the actors themselves1 then1 were not efficient as authors4 ,let us now see what the noble gentlemen1 the amateur rather than professional poets1 contributed towards the public entertainment1 and their own reputation1 during the last half of the seventeenth century4 ,they may be reckoned at a dozen and a half1 from dukes to knights4 ,of the two dukes1 ,buckingham and ,newcastle1 the former is the more distinguished dramatic writer4 ,he was a man of great wit and no virtue2 a member of two universities1 but no honour to either4 ,he was one who respected neither his own wife nor his neighbour's1 and was faithful to the ,king only as long as the ,king would condescend to obey his caprices4 ,from #afbg1 when he was born1 to ,april #afhh1 the year of his death1 history has placed no generous action of his upon record1 but has registered many a crime and meanness4 ,he lived a profligate peer1 in a magnificence almost oriental2 he died a beggar2 bankrupt in everything but impudence4 ,dryden and ,pope have given him everlasting infamy2 the latter not without a touch of pity1 felt not at all by the former4 ,historians have justified the severity of the poets2 ,gilbert ,burnet has dismissed him with a sneer1 and ,baxter has thrown in a word on behalf of his humanity4 ,his play of the ,chances was a mere adaptation of the piece so named1 by ,beaumont and ,fletcher4 ,plays which were attributed to him1 but of which he was not the author1 need not be mentioned4 ,the ,duke's dramatic reputation rests on his great burlesque tragedy1 the ,rehearsal2 but even in this he is said to have had the assistance of ,butler1 ,martin ,clifford1 and ,dr4 ,sprat4 ,written to deride the bombastic tragedies then in vogue1 ,davenant1 ,dryden1 and ,sir ,robert ,howard are1 by turns1 struck at1 under the person of the poet ,bayes2 and the irritability of the second1 under the allusions1 are perhaps warrant that the satire was good4 ,the humour is good1 too2 the very first exhibition of it excited the mirth which afterwards broke into peal upon peal of laughter4 ,the rehearsed play commences with a scene between the royal usher and the royal physician1 in a series of whispers2 for1 as ,mr4 ,bayes remarks1 the two officials were plotting against the ,king2 but this fact it was necessary1 as yet1 to keep from the audience6 ,mr4 ,cavendish1 whose services in the royal cause deservedly earned for him that progress through the peerage which terminated in his creation as ,duke of ,newcastle1 was the opposite of ,buckingham in most things save his taste for magnificence1 in which he surpassed ,villiers4 ,two thousand pounds were as cheerfully spent on feasting ,charles ,i41 as the ,duke's blood was vainly shed for the same monarch in the field4 ,he lived like a man who had the purse of ,fortunatus2 but in exile at ,antwerp1 he pawned his best clothes and jewels1 that he and his celebrated wife might have the means of existence4 ,he was the author of a few plays1 two of which were represented after the ,restoration4 ,the ,country ,captain1 and ,variety1 were composed in the reign of ,charles ,i4 ,the ,humourous ,lovers1 and the ,triumphant ,widow1 subsequently4 ,these are bustling but immoral comedies1 suiting1 but not correcting the vices of the times2 and singular1 in their slip-shod style1 as coming from the author of the pompous treatise on horses and horsemanship4 ,pepys ascribes the ,humourous ,lovers to the ,duchess4 ,he calls it a silly play2 the most silly thing that ever came upon a stage4 ,i was sick to see it1 but yet would not but have seen it1 that ,i might the better understand her4 ,pepys is equally severe against the ,country ,captain4 ,the ,duke seems to have aimed at the delineation of character1 particularly in ,variety1 and the ,triumphant ,widow1 or1 the ,medley of ,humours4 ,johnson grieves over the oblivion which1 in his time1 had fallen on these works1 and later authors have declared that the ,duke's comedies ought not to have been forgotten4 ,they have at least been remembered by some of our modern novelists in want of incident4 ,of the three earls1 all of whose pieces were produced previous to #afhj1 there is not much to be said in praise4 ,the eccentric1 clever1 brave1 inconsistent1 contradictory ,george ,digby1 ,earl of ,bristol1 he who turned ,romanist at the instigation of ,don ,john of ,austria1 and aiming at office himself1 conspired against ,clarendon1 was the author of one acted piece1 ,elvira1 one of the two out of which ,mrs4 ,centlivre built up her own clever bit of mosaic1 the ,wonder4 ,wilmot1 ,earl of ,rochester1 in whom all the vices of ,buckingham were exaggerated2 to whom virtue and honour seemed disgusting1 and even the affectation of them1 or of ordinary decency1 an egregious folly1 found leisure in the least feverish hour of some five years' drunkenness1 to give to the stage an adaptation of ,valentinian1 by ,beaumont and ,fletcher1 in which he assigned a part to ,mrs4 ,barry--the very last that any other lover would have thought of for his mistress4 ,the noble poet1 little more than thirty years old1 lay in a dishonoured grave when his piece was represented1 in #afhj2ea but the young actress just named1 gaily alluded1 in a prologue1 to the demure nymphs in the house who had succumbed1 nothing loath1 to the irresistible blandishments of this very prince of blackguards4 ,the ,earl of ,caryll was a man of another spirit4 ,he was the head of the family to which ,pope's ,carylls belonged1 and being a faithful servant of ,james ,,ii41 in adversity as well as in prosperity1 the ,king made him an earl1 at that former period1 when the law of ,england did not recognise the creation4 ,caryll was of the party who talked of the unpopularity of ,shakspeare1 and who for the poet's gold offered poor tinsel of their own4 ,his rhymed drama of the ,english ,princess1 or the death of ,richard the ,third1 owed its brief favour to the acting of ,betterton1 who could render even nonsense imposing4 ,his comedy of ,sir ,solomon1 or the ,cautious ,coxcomb1 was taken from the ,french4 ,the chief scenes were mere translations of ,molire's ,ecole des ,femmes2 but life1 and fun1 and wit were given to them again by ,betterton1 who in the comic old ,sir ,solomon shook the sides of the house1 as easily as he could1 in other characters1 move them to wonder1 or melt them to tears4 ,in #affd1 another lance was broken with ,shakspeare by ,lord ,orrery1 the ,lord ,broghill of earlier days4 ,there was something dramatic in this lord's life4 ,he was a marvellous boy1 younger son of a marvellous father1 the great ,earl of ,cork4 ,before he was fifteen1 ,dublin ,university was proud of him4 ,at that age he went on the grand tour1 at twenty married the ,earl of ,suffolk's daughter1 and landed in ,ireland1 to keep his wedding1 on the very day of the outbreak of the ,rebellion of #afda4 ,the young bridegroom fought bravely for homestead and king1 and went into exile when that king was slain2 but he heeded the lure of ,cromwell1 won for him the victory of ,macroom1 rescued him from defeat at ,clonmel1 and crushed ,muskerry and his numerous ,papal host4 ,from ,richard ,cromwell1 ,broghill kept aloof1 and helped forward the ,restoration1 for which service ,charles made him a peer--,earl of ,orrery4 ,the earl showed his gratitude by deifying kings1 and inculcating submissiveness1 teaching the impeccability of monarchs1 and the extreme naughtiness of their people4 ,pepys comically bewails the fact1 that on going to see a new piece by ,orrery1 he sees only an old one under a new name1 such wearying sameness is there in the rhymed phrases of them all4 ,orrery's tilt against ,shakspeare is comprised in his attempt to suppress that poet's ,henry ,v41 by giving one of his own1 in which ,henry and ,owen ,tudor are simultaneously in love with ,katherine of ,france4 ,the love is carried on in a style of stilted burlesque2 and yet the dignity and wit of this piece enraptured ,pepys--but then he saw it at ,court in ,december #afff1 ,lord ,bellasis having taken him to ,whitehall1 after seeing ,macbeth at the ,duke's ,house1--and there1 he says1 after all staying above an hour for the players1 the ,king and all waiting1 which was absurd1 saw ',henry ,v4' well done by the ,duke's people1 and in most excellent habits1 all new vests1 being put on but this night4 ,but ,i sat so high1 and so far off1 that ,i missed most of the words1 and sat with a wind coming into my back and neck1 which did much trouble me4 ,the play continued till twelve at night1 and then up1 and a most horrid cold night it was1 and frosty1 and moonshine2 and it might have been worse4 ,in ,orrery's ,mustapha and ,tryphon1 the theme is all love and honour1 without variation4 ,orrery's ,mr4 ,anthony is a five-act farce1 in ridicule of the manners and morals of the ,puritans4 ,therein the noble author rolls in the mire for the gratification of the pure-minded cavaliers4 ,over ,orrery's ,black ,prince1 even vigilant ,mr4 ,pepys himself fell asleep1 in spite of the stately dances4 ,perhaps he was confused by the author's illustration of genealogical history2 for in this play1 ,joan1 the wife of the ,black ,prince1 is described as the widow of ,edmund1 ,earl of ,kent--her father6 ,but what mattered it to the writer whose only teaching to the audience was1 that if they did not fear ,god1 they must take care to honour the ,king8 ,orrery's ,altemira was not produced till long after his death4 ,it is a roar of passion1 love 7or what passed for it71 jealousy1 despair1 and murder4 ,in the concluding scene the slaughter is terrific4 ,it all takes place in presence of an unobtrusive individual1 who carries the doctrine of non-intervention to its extreme limit4 ,when the persons of the drama have made an end of one another1 the quietly delighted gentleman steps forward1 and blandly remarks1 that there was so much virtue1 love1 and honour in it all1 that he could not find it in his heart to interfere1 though his own son was one of the victims6 ,a contemporary of ,orrery1 young ,henry ,carey1 ,viscount ,falkland1 son of the immortal soldier who fell at ,newbury1 wrote one piece1 the ,marriage ,night1 of which ,i know nothing1 save that it was played in the ,lent of #affd2 but ,i do know that the author had wit1 for when some one remarked1 as ,carey took his seat in the ,house of ,commons for the first time1 that he looked as if he had not sown his wild oats1 he replied1 that he had come to the place where there were geese enough to pick them up6 ,the last of the dramatic lords of this century was that ,lord ,lansdowne whom ,pope called ,granville the polite1 and absurdly compared with ,surrey1 by awkwardly calling the latter the ,granville of a former age4 ,granville was a statesman1 a ,tory1 a stiff-backed gentleman in a stiff-backed period1 and a sufferer for his opinions4 ,driven into leisure1 he addressed himself to literature1 in connection with which he committed a crime against the majesty of ,shakspeare1 which was unpardonable4 ,he reconstructed the ,merchant of ,venice1 called it the ,jew of ,venice1 and assigned ,shylock to ,dogget4 ,lord ,lansdowne's ,she ,gallants is a vile comedy for its morals1 but a vivacious one for its manner4 ,old ,downes1 the prompter1 sneers at the offence taken at it by some ladies1 who1 he thinks1 affected rather than possessed virtue themselves4 ,but ladies1 in #afif1 were offended at such outrages on decency as this play contains4 ,they were not the first who had made similar protest4 ,even in this lord's tragedy of ,heroic ,love1 ,achilles and ,briseis are only a little more decent than ,ravenscroft's loose rakes and facile nymphs4 ,the only consolation one has in reading the ,jew of ,venice 7produced in #agja7 is1 that there are some passages the marrer could not spoil4 ,as for ,shylock1 ,rowe expressed the opinion of the public when1 in spite of the success of the comic edition of the character1 he said1 modestly enough1 ,i cannot but think the character was tragically designed by the author4 ,dryden1 ,pope1 and ,johnson have in their turn eulogised ,granville2 but1 as a dramatic poet1 he reflects no honour either on the century in which he was born1 or on that in which he died4 ,indeed1 of the dramatist peers of the seventeenth century1 there is not a play that has survived to our times4 ,and now1 coming to a dozen of baronets1 knights1 and honourables1 let us point to two1--,sir ,samuel ,tuke and ,sir ,william ,killigrew1 who may claim precedence for their comparative purity1 if not for decided dramatic talent4 ,to the former1 an old colonel of the cavalier times1 ,charles ,,ii4 recommended a comedy of ,calderon's1 which ,sir ,samuel produced at the ,lincoln's ,inn ,fields theatre1 in #affc1 under the title of the ,adventures of ,five ,hours4 ,the public generally1 and ,pepys especially1 were unusually delighted with this well-constructed comedy4 ,when it was played at ,whitehall1 ,mrs4 ,pepys saw it from ,lady ,fox's pew2 and1 making an odd comparison1 the diarist thought ,othello a mean thing1 when weighed against the ,adventures2 but his chief praise is1 that it is without one word of ribaldry2 and ,echard has added thereto his special commendation as a critic4 ,sir ,robert ,stapylton says of ,william ,killigrew what could not be said of his brother ,tom 7whose plays were written before the ,restoration71 that in him were found-- ---- plots well laid1 ,the language pure and ev'ry sentence weighed4 ,sir ,william1 a soldier of the first ,charles's fighting time1 a courtier1 and vice-chamberlain to the ,queen1 in ,rowley's days1 was the author of four or five plays1 one only of which deserves any notice here1--namely1 his comedy of ,pandora4 ,the heroine of this drama1 resolving to cloister herself up from marriage1 allows love to be made to her in jest1 and1 of course1 ends by becoming a wife in happy earnest4 ,the author had1 at first1 made a tragedy of ,pandora4 ,the masters of the stage objected to it in that form2 and1 it being all the same to the complaisant ,sir ,william1 he converted his tragedy into a comedy6 ,sir ,robert ,stapylton1 himself a ,douay student converted to ,protestantism2 a cavalier1 who turned to a hanger-on at court--but who was always a scholar and a gentleman1--has received more censure than praise at the hands of a greater critic and poet than himself4 ,pepys took no interest in ,stapylton's ,slighted ,maid1 even though his own wife's maid1 ,gosnell1 had a part in it2 and ,dryden has remarked of it1 with too much severity1 that there is nothing in the first act that might not be said or done in the second2 nor anything in the middle which might not as well have been at the beginning or the end4 ,stapylton1 like the wits of his time1 generally wrote more weakly than he spoke4 ,this was the case1 too1 with ,tom ,killigrew1 of whom ,scott remarks truly1 in a very awkward simile 7,life of ,dryden71 that the merit of his good things evaporated as soon as he attempted to interweave them with comedy4 ,but who is this jaunty personage1 so noisy at a rehearsal of one of his own indifferent plays8 ,it is ,ned ,howard1 one of the three sons of the dirty ,earl of ,berkshire1 the first ,howard who bore that title1 and whom ,pepys saw one ,july day of #afff1 serving the ,king with liquor1 in that dirty pickle ,i never saw man in1 in my life4 ,the daughter of this ,earl was the wife of ,dryden4 ,and what does ,ned ,howard say at rehearsal8 ,the actors are making some objection to his piece2 but he exclaims1 ,in fine1--it shall read1 and write1 and act1 and print1 and pit1 box1 and gallery it1 egad1 with any play in ,europe6 ,the play fails2 and then you may hear ,ned in any coffee house1 or wherever there is a company1 proclaiming1 by way of excuse1 that ,mr4 ,so-and-so the actor didn't top his part1 sir6 ,it was ,ned ,howard's favourite phrase4 ,the old ,earl of ,berkshire gave three sons to literature1 besides a daughter to ,dryden2 namely1 ,sir ,robert1 ,james1 and this ,edward4 ,the last-named was the least effective4 ,his characters talk1 but they are engaged in no plot2 and they exhibit a dull lack of incident4 ,the most of his six or seven dramas were failures2 but from one of them1 which was the most original1 indecent1 and the most decidedly damned1 ,mrs4 ,inchbald condescended to extract matter which she turned to very good purpose in her ,every one has his ,fault4 ,edward ,howard gratified the court-party in his tragedy of ,the ,usurper1 by describing1 under the character of ,damocles the ,syracusan1 the once redoubted ,oliver ,cromwell3 while ,hugo de ,petra but thinly veiled ,hugh ,peters2 and ,cleomenes is said to have been the shadow of ,general ,monk4 ,lacy said that ,ned was more of a fool than a poet2 and ,buckingham was of the same opinion4 ,james ,howard came under ,buckingham's censure too2 and an incident in the ,english ,monsieur1 which1 if ,pepys's criticism may be accepted1 was a mighty1 pretty1 witty1 pleasant1 mirthful comedy1 furnished the satirical touch in the ,rehearsal1 where ,prince ,volscius falls in love with ,parthenope1 as he is pulling on his boots to go out of town4 ,james ,howard belonged to the faction which affected to believe that there was no popular love for ,shakspeare1 to render whom palatable1 he arranged ,romeo and ,juliet for the stage1 with a double denouement--one serious1 the other hilarious4 ,if your heart were too sensitive to bear the deaths of the loving pair1 you had only to go on the succeeding afternoon to see them wedded1 and set upon the way of a well-assured domestic felicity6 ,this species of humour was not wanting in ,sir ,robert ,howard1--who won his knighthood by valour displayed in saving ,lord ,wilmot's life in that hot affair at ,cropredy ,bridge4 ,sir ,robert has been as much pommelled as patted by ,dryden4 ,buckingham dragged him in effigy across the stage1 and ,shadwell ridiculed the universality of his pretensions by a clever caricature of him1 in the ,impertinents1 as ,sir ,positive ,atall4 ,for the ,king's purpose1 ,howard cajoled the ,parliament out of money2 for his own purpose1 he cajoled the ,king out of both money and place2 and netted several thousands a year by affixing his very legible signature to warrants1 issued by him as ,auditor of the ,exchequer4 ,the humour which he had in common with his brother ,james1 he exhibited1 by giving two opposite catastrophes to his ,vestal ,virgin1 between which the public were free to choose4 ,sir ,robert has generally been looked upon as a servile courtier2 but people were astounded at the courage displayed by him in his ,great ,favourite1 or the ,duke of ,lerma2 in which the naughtiness of the ,king's ways1 and still more that of the women about him1 was shown in a light which left no doubt as to the application of the satire4 ,his bombastic periods have died away in the echoes of them which ,fielding caught in his ,tom ,thumb2 but his comic power is strongly and admirably manifested in his ,committee1 a transcript of ,puritan life1 which--applied to ,quakers1 for want of better subjects for caricature--may still be witnessed in country theatres1 in the farce of ,honest ,thieves4 ,like many other satirists1 ,sir ,robert could not detect his own weak points4 ,in his ,blind ,lady1 he ridicules an old widow in desperate want of a seventh husband2 and at threescore and ten1 he himself married buxom ,mistress ,dives1 one of the ,maids of ,honour to ,queen ,mary4 ,of comedies portraying national or individual follies1 perhaps the most successful1 and the most laughable1 was ,james ,howard's ,english ,monsieur1 in which the hero-,englishman execrates everything that is connected with his country4 ,to him an ,english meal is poison1 and an ,english coat degradation4 ,the ,english ,monsieur once challenged a rash person who had praised an ,english dinner1 and1 says he1 ,i ran him through his mistaken palate1 which made me think the hand of justice guided my sword4 ,is there a damp walk1 along which the ,gallo-,englishman passes--he can distinguish between the impressions previously left there by ,english or ,french ladies1--the footsteps of the latter being of course altogether the more fairy-like4 ,i have seen such bonne mine in their footsteps1 that the ,king of ,france's matre de danse could not have found fault with any one tread amongst them all4 ,in these walks1 he adds1 ,i find the toes of ,english ladies ready to tread upon one another4 ,later in the play1 the hero quarrels with a friend who had found fault with a pair of ,french tops1 worn by the former4 ,these boots made so much noise when the wearer moved in them1 that the friend's mistress could not hear a word of the love made to her4 ,the wearer1 however1 justifies the noise as a fashionable ,french noise3 for1 look you1 sir1 a ,french noise is agreeable to the ear1 and therefore not unagreeable1 not prejudicial to the hearing2 that is to say1 to a person who has seen the world4 ,the ,english ,monsieur1 as a matter of course1 loves a ,french lady1 who rejects his suit2 but to be repulsed by a ,french dame had something pleasant in it2 'twas a denial with a ,french tone of voice1 so that 'twas agreeable4 ,ultimately1 the nymph bids him a final adieu1 and the not too dejected lover exclaims to a friend3 ,do you see1 sir1 how she leaves us2 she walks away with a ,french step6 ,one word may be said here for ,sir ,ludovick ,carlell1 the old gentleman of the bows to ,charles ,i4 ,like ,shirley1 ,killigrew1 and ,davenant1 he had written plays before the time of the ,commonwealth2 and he survived to write more after the ,restoration4 ,the only one1 however1 which he offered to the players was a translation of ,heraclius1 by ,corneille2 and that was returned on his hands4 ,there is another knight1 ,sir ,francis ,fane1 from whose comedy of ,love in the ,dark1 ,mrs4 ,centlivre1 more clever at appropriation than ,mrs4 ,inchbald1 has taken ,intrigo1 the man of business1 and turned him into ,marplot1 with considerable improvements2 but as ,fane himself borrowed every incident1 and did not trouble himself about his language1 his merit is only of the smallest order4 ,he wrote a fair masque1 and in his unrepresented ,sacrifice was little courtier enough to make his ,tamerlane declare that princes1 for the most part1 keep the worst company4 ,he and ,sir ,robert ,howard1 both ,tories1 could1 when it pleased them1 tell the truth1 like the plainest spoken ,whig4 ,more successful than ,sir ,francis was rollicking ,tom ,porter1 or ,major ,porter1 according to his military rank4 ,both were luckless gentlemen2 but ,tom wrote one play1 the ,villain1 which put the town in a flame1 and raised ,sandford's fame1 as an actor1 to its very highest4 ,tom was also the author of a rattling comedy1 called the ,carnival1 but rioting1 and bad company and hot temper marred him4 ,he and ,sir ,henry ,bellasys1 dining at ,sir ,robert ,carr's1 fell into fierce dispute1 out of mutual error2 fierce words1 then a thoughtless blow from ,sir ,henry1 then swords crossing1 and tipsy people parting the combatants4 ,they were really warm friends2 but ,tom had been struck1 and honour forbade that he should be reconciled till blood had flown4 ,so ,dryden's boy was employed to track ,bellasys1 and the ,major came upon him in ,covent ,garden1 where they fought1 surrounded by a crowd of admirers4 ,tom's honour was satisfied by passing his sword through the body of his dearest friend4 ,the knight felt the wound was mortal1 but he beckoned the less grievously wounded major to him1 kissed him1 and remained standing1 that ,tom might not be obstructed in his flight4 ,the friend and poet safe1 the knight fell back1 and soon after died4 ,there was really noble stuff in some of these dissolute fine gentlemen6 ,but there are no two of them who have so faithfully illustrated themselves1 and the times in which they lived1 as ,sir ,george ,etherege and ,sir ,charles ,sedley2 the former1 a knight by purchase1 in order to please a silly woman1 who vowed she would many none but a man of title2 the latter1 a baronet by inheritance4 ,sir ,george1 born in #afcf1 was the descendant of a good--,sir ,charles1 born three years later1 a member of a better--family1 reckoning among its sons scholars and patrons of scholars4 ,sir ,george left ,cambridge undistinguished1 but took his degree in foreign travel1 came home to find the study of the law too base a drudgery for so free a spirit1 and so took to living like a gentleman1 and to illustrating the devilishness of that career by reproducing it in dramas on the stage4 ,sedley left ,oxford as ,etherege left ,cambridge1 ingloriously1 bearing no honours with him4 ,unlike ,sir ,george1 however1 he was a home-keeping youth1 whereby his wit seems not to have suffered4 ,he nursed the latter in the groves1 or at the paternal hearth at ,aylesford1 in ,kent1 till the sun of the restored monarchy enticed him to ,london4 ,there his wit recommended him to the ,king1 won for him the hatred of small minds1 and elicited the praise of noble spirits1 who were witty themselves1 and loved the manifestation of wit in others4 ,i have heard1 says honest1 brilliant1 and much-abused ,shadwell1 ,i have heard ,sedley speak more wit at a supper than all my adversaries1 putting their heads together1 could write in a year4 ,this testimony was rendered by a man whose own reputation as a wit has the stamp and the warrant of ,rochester4 ,two more atrocious libertines than these two men were not to be found in the apartments at ,whitehall1 or in the streets1 taverns1 and dens of ,london4 ,yet both were famed for like external qualities4 ,etherege was easy and graceful1 ,sedley so refinedly seductive of manner that ,buckingham called it witchcraft1 and ,wilmot his prevailing1 gentle art4 ,i1 humbler witness1 can only say1 after studying their works and their lives1 that ,etherege was a more accomplished comedy-writer than ,sedley1 but that ,sedley was a greater beast than ,etherege4 ,these two handsome fellows1 made in ,god's image1 marred their manly beauty by their licentiousness1 and soon looked more like two battered1 wine-soaked demons1 than the sons of ,christian mothers4 ,etherege1 however1 fierce and vindictive as he could be under passion1 was never so utterly brutalised in mind as ,sedley1 nor so cruel in his humours at any time4 ,if ,sedley got up that groundless quarrel with ,sheldon1 ,archbishop of ,canterbury1 the alleged cause of which was some painted hussey1 it was doubtless out of the very ferocity of his fun1 which he thought well spent on exhibiting the prelate as sharing in the vices common at court4 ,etherege1 perhaps1 had the stronger head of the two2 he1 at all events1 kept it sufficiently free to be able to represent his ,king on more than one small diplomatic mission abroad4 ,sedley1 who was nevertheless the longer liver of the two1 indulged in excesses which1 from their inexpressible infamy1 betray a sort of insanity4 ,when he1 with other blackguards of good blood1 was brought to trial for public outrages1 which disgusted even the hideous wretches that lurked about ,covent ,garden1 ,chief ,justice ,foster addressed him from the bench with a ,sirrah6 and told him1 while the reminiscence of the plague and the smoke of the ,great ,fire still hung over the court1 that it was such wretches as he that brought ,god's wrath so heavily upon the kingdom4 ,but neither the heavy fine of #bjjj marks1 nor his imprisonment1 nor his being bound over to keep the peace for three years1 nor his own conscience1 nor the rebuke of wise men1 could restrain this miscreant4 ,he was not yet free from his bond#eb when he1 and ,buckhurst and others were carried off to the watch-house by the night-constables for fighting in the streets1 drunk1 as was their custom1 and as naked as their drawn swords4 ,on this occasion1 in #affh1 the ,king interfered in their favour1 and ,chief ,justice ,keeling1 senile betrayer of his trust1 let them go scatheless2 but he punished the constables by whom they had been arrested6 ,etherege contributed three comedies to the stage3--,the ,comical ,revenge1 or ,love in a ,tub1 ,she ,would if ,she ,could1 and the ,man of ,mode1 or ,sir ,fopling ,flutter4 ,sedley wrote the ,mulberry ,garden2 a tragedy1 called ,antony and ,cleopatra1 wherein a single incident in ,shakspeare's play is spun out into five acts2 ,bellamira1 in which comedy1 partly founded on the ,eunuchus of ,terence1 he exhibited the frailty of ,lady ,castlemaine1 and the audacity of ,churchill--a translated drama from the ,french1 called the ,grumbler1 and a tragedy1 entitled the ,tyrant ,king of ,crete4 ,of all ,sedley's pieces1 the best is the ,mulberry ,garden1#ec for portions of which the author is indebted to ,molire's ,ecole des ,maris1 and on which ,pepys's criticism is not to be gainsayed3--,here and there a pretty saying1 and that not very many either4 ,bellamira is remembered only as the play1 during the first representation of which the roof of the ,theatre ,royal fell in1 with such just discrimination as to injure no one but the author4 ,sir ,fleetwood ,shepherd said that the wit of the latter had blown the roof from the building4 ,not so1 rejoined ,sedley1 the heaviness of the play has broke down the house1 and buried the author in the ruins6 ,etherege's comedies were1 in their day1 the dear delight of the majority of playgoers4 ,i say the majority2 for though ,love in a ,tub brought #ajjj profit to ,lincoln's ,inn ,fields ,theatre1 in a single month of #affd1 and was acted before enraptured gallants and appreciating nymphs1 at ,whitehall1 some found it a silly play4 ,it gave ,etherege a name and a position2 and when his next comedy appeared1 ,she ,would if ,she ,could1 a thousand anxious people1 with leisure enough of an afternoon to see plays 7it was only at ,court that they were acted at night71 were turned away from the doors4 ,to me1 this piece is very distasteful1 and it is not without satisfaction ,i read that it was on the first night barbarously treated1 according to ,dennis1 and that ,pepys found nothing in the world good in it1 and few people pleased with it4 ,the plot and denouement he pronounces as mighty insipid2 yet he says of the piece as a whole1 that it was dull1 roguish1 and witty4 ,the actors1 however1 were not perfect on the first night4 ,dennis praised the truth of character1 the purity1 freedom1 and grace of the dialogue2 and ,shadwell declared that it was the best comedy since the ,restoration1 to his own time4 ,all this eulogy is not to be accepted4 ,etherege's third comedy1 the ,man of ,mode1 has been described as perhaps the most elegant comedy1 and containing more of the real manners of high life than any one the ,english stage was ever adorned with4 ,in the latter respect alone is this description true2 but1 though the piece is dedicated to a lady1 the ,duchess of ,york1 it could have afforded pleasure1 as the ,spectator remarks1 only to the impure4 ,people1 no doubt1 were delighted to recognise ,rochester in ,dorimant1 ,etherege himself in ,bellair1 and the stupendous ass1 ,beau ,hewitt1 in ,sir ,fopling2 but it must have been a weary delight2 so debased is the nature of these people1 however truly they represent1 as they unquestionably did1 the manners1 bearing1 and language of the higher classes4 ,how they dressed1 talked1 and thought2 what they did1 and how they did it2 what they hoped for1 and how they pursued it2 all this1 and many other exemplifications of life as it was then understood1 may be found especially in the plays of ,etherege1 in which there is a bustle and a succession of incidents1 from the rise to the fall of the curtain4 ,but the fine gentlemen are such unmitigated rascals1 and the women--girls and matrons--are such unlovely hussies1 in rascality and unseemliness quite a match for the men1 that one escapes from their wretched society1 and a knowledge of their one object1 and the confidences of the abominable creatures engaged therein1 with a feeling of a strong want of purification1 and of that ounce of civet which sweetens the imagination4 ,of the remaining amateur writers there is not much to be said4 ,rhodes was a gentleman's son without an estate1 a doctor without practice1 and a dramatist without perseverance4 ,his one comedy1 ,flora's ,vagaries 7#affg71 gave a capital part to ,nelly1 and a reputation to the doctor1 which he failed to sustain4 ,corye was another idle gentleman1 who1 in the same year1#ed produced his ,generous ,enemies1 and that piece was a plagiarism4 ,ned ,revet also exhausted himself in one comedy1 ,the ,town ,shifts1 which the town found insipid4 ,arrowsmith was in like plight1 and his sole comedy1 ,the ,reformation1 was obliged to give way to ,shakspeare's ,macbeth1 converted into an opera4 ,nevil ,payne was the author of three pieces--,fatal ,jealousy1 in which ,nokes earned his name of ,nurse ,nokes2 the ,morning ,ramble1 which was less attractive in #afgc1 than the ,tempest1 even in an operatic form1 or ,hamlet1 with ,betterton for the hero2 and the ,siege of ,constantinople1 a tragedy1 in which ,shaftesbury and his vices were mercilessly satirised4 ,tom ,rawlins wrote three poor plays1 the last in #afgh1 and he had as great a contempt for the character of author as ,congreve himself4 ,he was1 like ,joe ,harris1 engraver of the ,mint1 kept fellowship with wits and poets1 wrote for amusement1 and had no desire to be known by a threadbare coat1 having a calling that will maintain it woolly6 ,then there was ,leanard1 who stole not more audaciously than he was stolen from1 when he chose to be original--,colley ,cibber having taken many a point from the ,counterfeits1 to enrich ,she ,would and ,she ,would ,not4 ,pordage was about as dull a writer as might be expected of a man who was land-steward to the memorable simpleton1 ,philip1 ,earl of ,pembroke4 ,shipman enjoys the fame of having been highly esteemed by ,cowley--he certainly was not by the public2 and ,bancroft1 the surgeon1 had the reputation of having been induced to write1 as he did1 unsuccessfully1 for the stage1 because he prescribed for1 or rather against1 the most fashionable malady of the day1 when it attacked theatre-haunting fops and actors who stooped to imitate the gentlemen4 ,from these he caught the stage fever1 and suffered considerably4 ,whitaker's one play1 ,the ,conspiracy1 is remarkable for the sensation incident of a ghost appearing1 leading ,death by the hand6 ,maidwell's comedy of ,the ,loving ,enemies 7the author was an old schoolmaster71 was noticeable for being designedly dull1 lest by satirising folly the author might bring upon his skull the bludgeon of fools4#ee ,saunders1 and his ,tamerlane the ,great1 are now forgotten2 but ,dryden spoke of the author1 in an indecent epilogue1 as the first boy-poet of our age2 who1 however1 though he blossomed as early as ,cowley1 did not flourish as long4 ,wilson was another professional writer1 but less successful on the stage than in his recordership of ,londonderry4 ,another lawyer1 ,higden1 was one of the jolliest of fellows2 and wishing the actors to be so too1 he introduced so many drinking scenes into his sole play1 ,the ,wary ,widow1 that the players1 who tippled their real punch freely1 were all drunk by the end of the third act2 and the piece was then1 there1 and thereby1 brought to an end6 ,in the last years of the seventeenth century1 a humble votary of the muses appeared in ,duffet1 the ,exchange milliner2 and in ,robert ,gould1 a servant in the household of ,dorset1 where he caught from the wits and gay fellows assembled at ,knowle or at ,buckhurst1 a desire to write a drama4 ,he was1 however1 a schoolmaster1 when his play of the ,rival ,sisters--in which1 other means of slaughter being exhausted1 a thunderbolt is employed for the killing a lady--was but coldly received4 ,gould was not a plagiarist1 like ,scott1 the ,duke of ,roxburgh's secretary1 nor so licentious4 ,the public was scandalised by incidents in ,scott's ,unhappy ,kindness1 in #afig4 ,dr4 ,drake was another plagiarist1 who revenged himself in the last-named year1 for the condemnation of his ,sham ,lawyer1 by stating on the title-page that it had been damnably acted4 ,that year was fatal1 too1 to ,dr4 ,filmer1 the champion of the stage against ,collier4 ,even ,betterton and ,mrs4 ,barry failed to give life to the old gentleman's ,unnatural ,brother2 and the doctor ascribed his want of success to the fact1 that never at any one time had he placed more than three characters on the stage6 ,the most prolific of what may be termed the amateur writers1 was ,peter ,motteux1 a ,french ,huguenot1 whom the revocation of the ,edict of ,nantes brought1 in #affj1ef to ,england1 where he carried on the vocations of a trader in ,leadenhall ,street1 clerk in the foreign department of the ,post ,office1 translator1 original writer1 dramatist1 and fast man1 till the too zealous pursuit of the latter calling found ,peter dead1 in very bad company1 in ,st4 ,clements ,danes1 in the year #agah4 ,of his seventeen comedies1 farces1 and musical interludes1 there is nothing to be said1 save that one called ,novelty presents a distinct play in each act1--or five different pieces in all4 ,by different men1 ,peter has been diversely rated4 ,dryden said of him1 in reference to his one tragedy1 ,beauty in ,distress3 ,thy incidents1 perhaps1 too thick are sown2 ,but too much plenty is thy fault alone3 ,at least but two in that good crime commit2-- ,thou in design1 and ,wycherly in wit4 ,but an anonymous poet writes1 in reference to one of his various poor adaptations1 ,the ,island ,princess3 ,motteux and ,durfey are for nothing fit1 ,but to supply with songs their want of wit4 ,how ,motteux found time for all his pursuits is not to be explained2 but1 much as he accomplished in all1 he designed still more--one of his projects being an opera1 to be called ,the ,loves of ,europe1 in which were to be represented the methods employed in various nations1 whereby ladies' hearts are triumphantly won4 ,it was an odd idea2 but ,peter ,motteux was odd in everything4 ,and it is even oddly said of him1 that he met with his fate in trying a very odd experiment1 highly disgraceful to his memory6#eg ,hard-drinking1 and what was euphoniously called gallantry1 killed good-tempered ,charles ,hopkins1 son of the ,bishop of ,londonderry4 ,had he had more discretion and less wit1 he might have prospered4 ,his tragedies1 ,pyrrhus1 ,boadicea1 and ,friendship improved1 bear traces of what he might have done4 ,he has the merit1 however1 of not being indecent1--a fact which the epilogue to ,boadicea1 furnished by a friend and spoken by a lady1 rather deplores1 and in indecent language1 regrets that uncleanness of jest is no longer acceptable to the town6 ,walker merits notice1 less for his two pieces1 ,victorious ,love1 and ,marry or do worse1 than for the fact that this young ,barbadian was the first actor whom ,eton school gave to the stage4 ,he appeared1 when only eighteen1 in the first-named piece1 but quickly passed away to the study of the law and the exercise of the latter as a profession1 in his native island4 ,i know nothing worthy of record of the few other gentlemen who wrote plays1 rather as a relaxation than a vocation1 save that ,boyer1 a refugee ,huguenot1 like ,motteux1 and a learned man1 adapted ,racine's ,iphigenia in ,aulis1 for representation2 that ,oldmixon was an old1 unscrupulous1 party-writer2 and that ,crauford was historiographer for ,scotland to ,queen ,anne1 and has left no name of note among dramatic writers4 ,,footnotes3 #ea ,valentinian was probably produced in #afhd4 #eb ,the ,bond was entered into in #affc4 #ec ,genest says that ,bellamira is by far the best of ,sedley's plays4 #ed ,should be #afga4 #ee ,this is1 of course1 satirically said by the author4 #ef ,the ,edict of ,nantes was not revoked till #afhe4 ,motteux was born in #affj4 #eg ,biographia ,dramatica4 ,illustration3 ,,sir ,,william ,,davenant4 ,,chapter ,x4 ,,professional ,,authors4 ,the men who took up dramatic authorship seriously as a vocation1 during the last half of the seventeenth century1 amount to something more than two dozen4 ,they begin with ,davenant and ,dryden2 include ,tate and ,brady1#eh ,lee and ,otway1 ,wycherley1 ,congreve1 ,cibber1 and ,vanbrugh2 and conclude with ,farquhar1 and with ,rowe4 ,i include ,sir ,john ,vanbrugh because he preferred fame as an author to fame as an architect1 and ,i insert ,congreve1 despite the reflection that the ghost of that writer would daintily protest against it if he could4 ,when ,voltaire called upon him1 in ,london1 the ,frenchman intimated that his visit was to the author4 ,i am a gentleman1 said ,congreve4 ,nay1 rejoined the former1 had you been only a gentleman1 you would never have received a visit from me at all4 ,let me here repeat the names3--,davenant1 ,dryden1 ,shirley1 ,lee1 ,cowley1 ,shadwell1 ,flecknoe1 ,settle1 ,crowne1 ,ravenscroft1 ,wycherley1 ,otway1 ,durfey1 ,banks1 ,rymer1 ,tate1 ,brady1 ,southerne1 ,congreve1 ,cibber1 ,dilke1#ei ,vanbrugh1 ,gildon1 ,farquhar1 ,dennis1 and ,rowe4 ,the half dozen in italics were poets-laureate4 ,all of them were sons of gentlemen1 save three1 ,davenant1 ,cowley1 and ,dennis1 whose sires were1 respectively1 a vintner1 a hatter1#fj and a saddler4 ,the sons1 however1 received a collegiate education4 ,cowley distinguished himself at ,cambridge1 but ,davenant left ,oxford without a degree1 and from the former ,university ,dennis was expelled1 in ,march #afhj1 for assaulting and wounding ,sir ,glenham with a sword4 ,besides ,cowley and ,dennis1 we are indebted to ,cambridge for ,dryden1 ,lee1 and ,rymer4 ,from ,oxford ,university came ,davenant1 and ,settle1 degreeless as ,davenant1 with ,shirley1 whose mole on his cheek had rendered him ineligible in ,laud's eyes1 for ordination2 ,wycherley1 ,otway1 ,southerne1 and ,dilke4 ,dublin ,university yielded ,tate and ,brady2 and better fruit still1 ,southerne1#fa ,congreve1 who went to ,ireland at an early age1 and ,farquhar4 ,douay gave us ,gildon1 and we are not proud of the gift4 ,lee1 ,otway1 and ,tate were sons of clergymen4 ,little ,crowne's father was an ,independent minister in ,nova ,scotia1 and ,crowne himself laid claim1 fruitlessly1 to a vast portion of the territory there--unjustly made over by the ,english ,government to the ,french4 ,cibber was an artist1 on the side of his father the statuary1 and a gentleman by his mother4 ,it may be said of a good number of these gentlemen that idleness and love of pleasure made them dramatic poets4 ,shadwell1 ,ravenscroft1 ,wycherley1 ,durfey1 ,bankes1 ,southerne1 ,congreve1 and ,rowe1 were all apprenticed to the law2 but the study was one too dull for men of their vivacious temperament1 and they all turned from it in disgust4 ,according to their success1 so were they praised or blamed4 ,the least successful dramatists on the above list were the most presumptuous of critics4 ,rymer1 who was wise enough to stick to the law while he endeavoured to turn at least ,melpomene to good account1 tried to persuade the public that ,shakspeare was even of less merit than it was the fashion to assign to him4 ,in #afgh1fb ,rymer boldly asserted that in the neighing of a horse as the growling of a mastiff1 there is a meaning2 there is as lively expression and1 may ,i say1 more humanity than many times in the tragical flights of ,shakspeare4 ,he says1 that no woman bred out of a pigstye could talk so meanly as ,desdemona1 in that tragedy which ,rymer calls a bloody farce without salt or savour4 ,of ,brutus and ,csar1 he says ,shakspeare has depicted them as ,jack ,puddins4 ,to show how much better he understood the art1 ,rymer published1 in #afgh1 the tragedy he could not get represented1 ,edgar1 or the ,english ,monarch4 ,he professes to imitate the ancients1 and his tragedy is in rhyme2 he accuses ,shakspeare of anachronisms1 and his ,saxon princess is directed to pull off her patches6 ,the author was ambitious enough to attempt to supersede ,shakspeare1 and he pooh-poohed ,john ,milton by speaking of ,paradise ,lost as a thing which some people were pleased to call a poem4 ,dennis was not quite so audacious as this4 ,he was a better critic than the author of the ,foedera1 and a more voluminous writer1 or rather adapter1 of dramatic pieces4 ,he spoke1 however1 of ,tasso as compassionately as the village-painter did of ,titian2 but his usefulness was acknowledged by the commentator1 who remarked that men might construct good plays by following his precepts and avoiding his examples4 ,boyer has said something similar of ,gildon1 who was a critic as well as dramatist--namely1 he wrote an ,english ,art of ,poetry1 which he had practised himself very unsuccessfully in his dramatic performances4 ,cowley1 although he is now little remembered as a dramatic writer1 was among the first who seized the earliest opportunity after the ,restoration to set up as playwrights2 but ,cowley failed1 and was certainly mortified at his failure4 ,he re-trimmed a play of his early days1 the ,guardian1 and called it the ,cutter of ,coleman ,street4 ,all there is broad farce1 in which the ,puritan congregation of the spotless is coarsely ridiculed1 and cavalierism held up to admiration4 ,the audience condemned the former as profane1 and ,cowley's cavaliers were found to be such scamps that he was suspected of disloyalty4 ,gentle as he was by nature1 ,cowley was irritable under criticism4 ,i think there was something of faction against it1 he says1 by the early appearance of some men's disapprobation before they had seen enough of it to build their dislike upon their judgment4 ,profane6 exclaims ,abraham1 with a shudder1 and declares it is enough to knock a man down4 ,is it profane1 he asks1 to deride the hypocrisy of those men whose skulls are not yet bare upon the gates since the public and just punishment of it1 namely1 profanity4 ,thus were the skulls of the ,commonwealth leaders tossed up in comedy4 ,he adds1 in a half saucy1 half deprecatory sort of way1 that there is no writer but may fail sometimes in point of wit1 and it is no less frequent for the auditors to fail in point of judgment4 ,nevertheless1 he had humbly asked favour at the hands of the critics when his piece was first played1 in these words3-- ,gentlemen critics of ,argier1 ,for your own int'rest1 ,i'd advise ye here ,to let this little forlorn hope go by ,safe and untouch'd4 ',that must not be6' you'll cry4 ,if ye be wise1 it must3 ,i'll tell ye why4 ,there are #g1 #h1 #i1--stay1 there are behind ,ten plays at least1 which wait but for a wind ,and the glad news that we the enemy miss2 ,and those are all your own1 if you spare this4 ,some are but new-trimm'd up1 others quite new1 ,some by known shipwrights built1 and others too ,by that great author made1 whoe'er he be1 ,that styles himself ',person of ,quality4' ,the ,cutter rallied a little1 and then was laid aside2 but some of its spars were carried off by later gentlemen1 who have piqued themselves on their originality4 ,colonel ,jolly's advice to the bully1 ,cutter1 if he would not be known1 to take one more disguise at last1 and put thyself in the habit of a gentleman1 has been quoted as the wit of ,sheridan1 who took his ,sir ,anthony ,absolute from ,truman1 senior4 ,and when ,cowley made ,aurelia answer to the inquiry1 if she had looked in ,lucia's eye1 that she had1 and that there were pretty babies in it1 he little thought that there would rise a ,tom ,moore to give a turn to the pretty idea1 and spoil it1 as he has done1 in the ,impromptu1 in ,little's ,poems4 ,one of the most remarkable circumstances in ,cowley's character1 considering how he distinguished himself at college1 is1 that he never thoroughly understood the rules of grammar6 and that in seriously setting up for a dramatic author1 he took1 like ,dryden1 the course in which he acquired the least honour4 ,when ,charles ,,ii41 on hearing of ,cowley's death1 declared that he had not left a better man behind him in ,england1 the ,king was1 assuredly1 not thinking of the poet as a dramatist4 ,several of ,cowley's contemporaries who were considered better men by some judges1 were guilty of offence from which he was entirely free4 ,that offence consisted in their various attempts to improve ,shakspeare1 by lowering him to what they conceived to be the taste of the times4 ,davenant took ,measure for ,measure1 and ,much ,ado about ,nothing1 and manipulated them into one absurd comedy1 the ,law against ,lovers4 ,he subsequently improved ,macbeth and ,julius ,csar2#fc and ,dryden1 who with at least some show of reason1 re-arranged ,troilus and ,cressida1 united with ,davenant in a sacrilegious destruction of all that was beautiful in the ,tempest4 ,nat ,lee1 who was accounted mad1 had at least sense enough to refrain from marring ,shakspeare4 ,shadwell corrected the great poet's view of ,timon of ,athens1 which1 as he not too modestly observed1 he made into a play2 but1 with more modesty in the epilogue1 he asked for forgiveness for his own part1 for the sake of the portion that was ,shakspeare's4 ,crowne1 more impudently1 remodelled two parts of ,henry ,,vi41 with some affectation of reverence for the original author1 and a bold assertion of his own original merits with regard to some portions of the play4 ,crowne's originality is shown1 in making ,clifford swear like a drunken tapster1 and in affirming that a king is a king--sacred1 and not to be even thought ill of1 let him be never so hateful a miscreant4 ,ravenscroft1 in his ,titus ,andronicus1 only piled the agony a little more solidly and comically1 and can be hardly said to have thereby molested ,shakspeare4 ,there was less excuse for ,otway1 who1 not caring to do as he pleased with a doubtful play1 ruthlessly seized ,romeo and ,juliet1 stripped the lovers of their romance1 clapped them into a classical costume1 and converted the noble but obstinate houses of ,capulet and ,montagu into riotous followers of ,marius and ,sylla--,caius ,marius the younger wishing he were a glove upon the hand of ,lavinia ,metella1 and a sententious ,sulpitius striving in vain to be as light and sparkling as ,mercutio4 ,tate's double rebuke to ,shakspeare1 in altering his ,king ,lear and ,coriolanus1 was a small offence compared with ,otway's assault4 ,he undertook1 as he says1 to rectify what was wanting2 and accordingly1 he abolishes the faithful fool1 makes a pair of silly lovers of ,edgar and ,cordelia1 and converts the solemn climax into comedy1 by presenting the old king and his matchless daughter1 hand in hand1 alive and merry1 as the curtain descends4 ,tate smirkingly maintained1 that he wrought into perfection the rough and costly material left by ,shakspeare4 ,in my humble opinion1 said ,addison1 it has lost half its beauty2 and yet ,tate's version kept its place for many years6--though not so long as ,cibber's version of ,richard ,,iii41 which was constructed out of ,shakspeare1 with more regard for the actor than respect for the author4 ,in the last year of the century1 the last attempt to improve that inefficient poet was made by ,gildon1 who produced at ,lincoln's ,inn ,fields his idea of what ,measure for ,measure should be1 by omitting all the comic characters1 introducing music and dancing1 transposing incidents1 adding much nonsense of his own to that of ,davenant1 and sprinkling all with an assortment of blunders1 amusing enough to make some compensation for the absence of the comic characters in the original play4 ,it seemed to be the idea of these men1 that it were wise to reduce ,shakspeare to the capacities of those who could appreciate him4 ,there were unhappy persons thus afflicted4 ,even ,mr4 ,pepys speaks of ,henry ,,viii4 as a simple thing1 made up of a great many patches4 ,the ,tempest1 he thinks1 has no great wit--but yet good1 above ordinary plays4 ,othello was to him a mean thing1 compared with the last new comedy by another author4 ,twelfth ,night1 one of the weakest plays ,i ever saw on the stage4 ,macbeth1 he liked or disliked1 according to the humour of the hour2 but there was a divertissement in it1 which struck him as being a droll thing in tragedy1 but in this case proper and natural6 ,finally1 he records1 in #affb1 of the ,midsummer's ,night's ,dream1 which he had never seen before1 nor ever shall again1 that it is the most insipid1 ridiculous play1 that ever ,i saw in my life4 ,of the characteristics of the chief of these dramatists1 it may be said1 first of ,davenant1 that1 if he was quick of fancy and careful in composition1 the result is not answerable to the labour expended on it4 ,one of the pleasantest features about ,dryden was1 that as he grew old he increased in power2 but his heart was untouched by his own magic1 and he was but a cold reader of the best of his own works4 ,lee1 as tender and impassioned as he is often absurd and bombastic1 was an exquisite reader of what he wrote1 his heart acknowledging the charm4 ,shadwell's characters have the merit of being well conceived1 and strongly marked2 and ,shirley 7a poet belonging to an earlier period71 has only a little above the measure of honour due to him1 when he is placed on a level with ,fletcher4 ,crowne is more justly placed in the third rank of dramatists2 but he had originality1 lacking the power to give it effect4 ,ravenscroft had neither invention nor expression2 yet he was a most prolific writer1 a caricaturist1 but without truth or refinement2 altogether unclean4 ,wycherley1 on the other hand1 was admirable for the epigrammatic turn of his stage conversations1 the aptness of his illustrations1 the acuteness of his observation1 the richness of his character-painting1 and the smartness of his satire2 in the indulgence or practice of all which1 however1 the action of the drama is often impeded1 that the audience may enjoy a shower of sky rockets4 ,pope said that ,wycherley was inspired by the ,muses1 with the wit of ,plautus4 ,he had1 indeed1 ,plautus' wit1 and an obscenity rivalling that of the ,curculio2 but he had none of the pathos which is to be found in the ,rudens4 ,but ,wycherley was also described as having the art of ,terence and ,menander's fire4 ,if by the first1 ,pope meant skill in invention of plot1 ,wycherley surpassed the ,carthaginian2 and as to ,menander's fire1 in ,wycherley it was no purifying fire2 and ,wesley was not likely to illustrate a sermon by a quotation from ,wycherley1 as ,st4 ,paul did by citing a line from ,menander4 ,we are charmed by the humour of ,wycherley2 but after that1 posterity disagrees with ,pope's verdict4 ,we are not instructed by the sense of ,wycherley1 nor swayed by his judgment1 nor warmed honestly by his spirit2 his unblushing profligacy ruins all4 ,but if his men and women are as coarse as ,etherege's or ,sedley's1 they are infinitely more clever people2 so clever1 indeed1 that ,sheridan has not been too proud to borrow good things from some of them4 ,wycherley is perhaps more natural and consistent than ,congreve1 whose ,jeremy speaks like an oracle1 and is as learned1 though not so nasty as his master4 ,it may be1 that for a man to enjoy ,congreve's wit1 he should be as witty as ,congreve4 ,to me1 it seems to shine at best but as a brilliant on a dirty finger4 ,as for his boasted originality1 ,valentine and ,trapbois are ,don ,juan and ,m4 ,dimanche2 and as for ,valentine1 as the type of a gentleman1 his similes smack more of the stable-yard than the drawing-room2 and there is more of impertinent prattle generally among his characters than among those of ,wycherley4 ,his ladies are a shade more elegant than those of the latter poet2 but they are mere courtezans1 brilliant1 through being decked with diamonds2 but not a jot the more virtuous or attractive on that account4 ,among the comedy-writers of this half century1 however1 ,congreve and ,wycherley stand supreme2 they were artists2 too many of their rivals or successors were but coarse daubers4 ,in coarseness of sentiment the latter could not go beyond their prototypes2 and in the expression of it1 they had neither the wit of their greatest1 nor the smartness of their less famous masters4 ,this coarseness dates1 however1 from earlier days than those of the ,restoration2 and ,dryden1 who remembered the immorality of ,webster's comedies1 seems to have thought that the ,restoration was to give the old grossness to the stage1 as well as a new king to the country4 ,it is1 nevertheless1 certain1 that a large portion of the public protested against this return to an evil practice1 and hissed his first piece1 ,the ,wild ,gallant1 played in the little theatre in ,vere ,street1 ,drury ,lane1 in #affb4 ,it was not indecent enough for them1 said the poet1 who promised not to offend in the way of modesty again4 ,his ,kind ,keeper1 or ,mr4 ,limberham1 under which name the ,duke of ,lauderdale is said to have been satirised1 and which ,dryden held to be his best comedy1 was utterly condemned4 ,ah6 said he1 it was damned by a cabal of keepers6 ,it never occurred to him that the public might prefer wit to immorality4 ,long before1 he had written an unseemly piece1 called ,the ,rival ,ladies2 he seasoned it in what he maintained was the taste of the town1 and in a prologue--prologues then were often savagely defiant of the opinions of the audience1 asserted his own judgment by saying3-- ,he's bound to please1 not to write well1 and knows ,there is a mode in plays as well as clothes4 ,i do not know how true it may be that ,dryden1 the coarsest of dramatic writers1 was the modestest of men in conversation2 but ,i have small trust in the alleged purity of a writer who stooped to gratify the baser feelings of an audience1 according to their various degrees2 who could compose for one class the filthy dish served up in his ,wild ,gallant1 and for another the more dangerous1 if more refined1 fare for youthful palates1 so carefully manipulated in the ,alexis and ,clia song1 in his ,mariage la ,mode4 ,we must not forget1 indeed1 that the standard of morals was different at that time from what it is now4 ,later in the half century1 ,jeremy ,collier especially attacked ,congreve and ,wycherley1 as men who applied their natural gifts to corrupt instead of purify the stage4 ,the public too were scandalised at passages in ,congreve's ,double ,dealer1 a comedy of which the author said the mechanical part was perfect4#fd ,the play was not a success1 and the fault was laid to its gross inuendoes1 and its plainer indecency4 ,i declare1 says the author1 in the preface1 that ,i took a particular care to avoid it1 and if they find any1 it is of their own making1 for ,i did not design it to be so understood4 ,this point1 on which the author and the public were at issue1 proves that on the part of the latter the standard was improving--for ,congreve is deep in the mire before the first scene is over4 ,he had looked for censure for other offence1 and says in his usual lofty manner with the critics3--,i would not have anybody imagine that ,i think this play without its faults1 for ,i am conscious of several1 and ready to own 'em2 but it shall be to those who are able to find 'em out4 ,this is not ill said4 ,for the critics there was at least as much contempt as fear4 ,in ,the ,country ,wife1 ,wycherley speaks of the most impudent of creatures1 an ill poet1 or what is yet more impudent1 a second-hand critic6 ,the less distinguished writers were1 of course1 severer still against the critics4 ,in later years1 ,sheridan expressed the greatest contempt for such part of the public as found that the grossness of ,congreve was not compensated for by his wit4 ,sheridan avowed that ,congreve must be played unmutilated or be shelved4 ,he compared his great predecessor to a horse whose vice is cured at the expense of his vigour4 ,sheridan must1 nevertheless1 have felt that he was in error with regard to these old authors4 ,in his ,trip to ,scarborough1 which is an entire recasting of ,vanbrugh's ,relapse1 he makes ,loveless 7,smith7 say1 ,it would surely be a pity to exclude the productions of some of our best writers for want of a little wholesome pruning1 which might be effected by any one who possessed modesty enough to believe that we should preserve all we can of our deceased authors1 at least1 till they are outdone by the living ones4 ,dryden said of ,congreve's ,double ,dealer1 that though it was censured by the greater part of the town1 it was approved of by those best qualified to judge4 ,the people who had a sense of decency were derided by ,dryden2 they were angry1 he insinuated1 only because the satire touched them nearly4 ,applying the grossest terms to women1 in a letter to ,walsh1 he protests that they are incensed because ,congreve exposes their vices1 and that the gallants are equally enraged because their vices1 too1 are exposed2 but even if it were true that ,congreve copied from nature1 it is also true that he laughs with his vicious and brilliant bad men and women1 makes a joke of vice1 and never attempts to correct it4 ,dryden1 as an erst ,westminster boy and ,cambridge man1 may have felt some annoyance on the exposure of his false quantity in the penultimate of ,cleomenes1 but to a pert coffee-house fop1 who presumed to review his tragedy of that name1 he could deliver a crushing reply4 ,in that play ,cleomenes virtuously resists the blandishments of ,cassandra4 ,had ,i been left alone with a young beauty1 said a stripling critic to glorious ,john1 ,i would not have spent my time like your ,spartan4 ,that1 sir1 said ,dryden1 perhaps is true2 but give me leave to tell you1 you are no hero6 ,good as this is1 ,lee said even a better thing to the coxcomb who visited him in ,bedlam1 during ,lee's four years sojourn there4 ,it is an easy thing1 observed this fellow1 to write like a madman4 ,no1 answered ,lee1 it is not an easy thing to write like a madman2 but it is very easy to write like a fool4 ,dryden1 however1 could criticise himself with justness4 ,he confessed that he was not qualified to write comedies4 ,he saw1 too1 the defects in his tragedies4 ,he was ashamed of his ,tyrannic ,love1 and laughed at the rant and fustian of his ,maximin4 ,he allowed that in his ,conquest of ,granada the sublimity burst into burlesque1 and he could censure the extravagance of ,almanzor as freely as he did the bombast of ,maximin4 ,still he was uneasy under censure2 he was disappointed at the reception given to his ,assignation1 and complained bitterly of the critics1 especially of ,settle4 ,his best defender was ,charles ,,ii4 ,some courtiers ventured to wonder at the ,king going so often to see ,the ,spanish ,friar1 as the piece was a wholesale robbery4 ,odds fish6 exclaimed ,charles1 select me another such a comedy1#fe and ,i'll go and see it as often as ,i do ',the ,spanish ,friar4' ,all for ,love is ,dryden's most carefully written play1 and the author repeatedly declared that the scene in ,act ,i41 between ,anthony and ,ventidius1 was superior to anything he had ever composed4 ,dryden attributed whatever merit he had as a writer of prose to having studied the works of ,tillotson1 and the prelate1 it will be remembered1 owed some of his graces of delivery to ,betterton4 ,in his comedies1 ,dryden was the encourager1 not the scourger of vice2 and yet he could warmly approve the purity of ,southerne1 when ,southerne chose to be pure1 and acknowledge that it were as politic to silence vicious poets as seditious preachers4 ,if there were few good poets in his day1 ,dryden sees the cause in the turbulence of the times2 and if people loved the stilted nonsense of heroic tragedies1 it was simply1 he says1 because the fashion was set them by the court4 ,to court-protection1 he himself owed much1 and he states what one may smile at now1 that the ,king's kindness1 in calling the ,maiden ,queen his play1--that singular piece1 in which there are eight women and three men1 saved the drama from the malice of the poet's enemies4 ,there is no such privilege for poets in our days6 ,had ,shadwell1 who left the law to find a livelihood by literature1 not been a ,whig1 we should have heard less of him in parallels or contrasts with ,dryden4 ,of his dramatic pieces1 amounting to about a dozen and a half1 there is scarcely one that does not please more in perusal than any by the poet of the greater name1--always excepting ,dryden's ,love for ,love4 ,shadwell's ,squire of ,alsatia1 ,bury ,fair1 ,epsom ,wells1 and some others1 were necessarily favourites with his public1 as they are good character comedies1 brisk with movement and incident4 ,for attacking ,dryden's ,duke of ,guise1 ,dryden pilloried the assailant for ever1 as ,mac ,flecnoe2 but when he says that ,shadwell never deviates into sense1 he has as little foundation for his assertion as he has for his contempt of ,wilmot1 when he says in the ,essay upon ,satire1 ,rochester ,i despise for want of wit4 ,rochester may have praised ,shadwell because he hated ,dryden2 but ,dryden's aspersions on the other two spring decidedly more from his passion than his judgment4 ,to ,shadwell was given the laureateship of which ,dryden was deprived4 ,the latter would have borne the deprivation better if the laurel-crown had fallen on another head1 as he sings to ,congreve3 ,oh that your brows my laurel had sustained2 ,well had ,i been depos'd1 if you had reigned6 ,in one respect1 ,dryden was no match at all for ,shadwell2 and1 indeed1 he has1 inadvertently1 confessed as much4 ,when speaking of his incapacity for writing comedy1 he says1 ,i want that gaiety of humour which is required in it2 my conversation slow and dull2 my humour saturnine and reserved4 ,in short1 ,i am none of those who endeavour to break jests in company1 and endeavour to make repartees2 so that those who decry my comedies do me no injury1 except it be in point of profit2 reputation in them is the last thing to which ,i shall pretend4 ,this is the picture of a dull man1 of which ,shadwell1 whose comedies1 to say the least of them1 have as much merit as ,dryden's1 was the exact opposite4 ,he was a most brilliant talker2 and ,rochester remarked of him that even had ,shadwell burnt all he wrote1 and only printed all he spoke1 his wit and humour would be found to exceed that of any other poet4 ,we come1 however1 to a greater than ,shadwell1 in ,sir ,john ,vanbrugh1 who belongs to two centuries1 and who was a man of many occupations1 but a dramatist by predilection4 ,he was architect1 poet1 wit1 herald2 he stole some of his plots2 and he sold his office of ,clarencieux1 to which he had been appointed1 because he was a successful playwright4 ,he had humour1 and was exceedingly coarse2 but1 says ,schlegel1 under ,queen ,anne1 manners became again more decorous2 and this may be easily traced in the comedies4 ,in the series of ,english comic poets1 ,wycherley1 ,congreve1 ,farquhar1 ,vanbrugh1 ,steele1 ,cibber1 c41 we may perceive something like a gradation from the most unblushing indecency to a tolerable degree of modesty4 ,this1 however1 is only partly true2 and ,schlegel himself remarks in the same page1 that after all we know of the licentiousness of manners under ,charles ,,ii41 we are still lost in astonishment at the audacious ribaldry of ,wycherley and ,congreve4 ,of ,vanbrugh's ten or eleven plays1 that which has longest kept the stage is the ,relapse1 still acted1 in its altered form1 by ,sheridan1 as the ,trip to ,scarborough4 ,this piece was produced at the ,theatre de l',odeon1 in ,paris1 in the spring of #ahfb1 as a posthumous comedy of ,voltaire's6 ,it was called the ,comte de ,boursoufle1 and had a run4 ,the story ran with it that ,voltaire had composed it in his younger days for private representation1 that it had been more than once played in the houses of his noble friends1 under various titles1 that he had then locked it up1 and that the manuscript had only recently been discovered by the lucky individual who persuaded the manager of the ,odeon to produce it on his stage6 ,the bait took4 ,all the ,french theatrical world in the capital flocked to the ,faubourg ,st4 ,germain to witness a new play by ,voltaire4 ,critics examined the plot1 philosophised on its humour1 applauded its absurdities1 enjoyed its wit1 and congratulated themselves on the circumstance that the ,voltairean wit especially was as enjoyable then as in the preceding century6 ,of the authorship they had no doubt whatever2 for1 said they1 if ,voltaire did not write this piece1 who could have written it8 ,the reply was given at once from this country2 but when the mystification was exposed1 the ,french critics gave no sign of awarding honour where honour was due1 and probably this translation of the ,relapse may figure in future ,french editions as an undoubted work by ,voltaire6 ,on looking back upon the names of these authors by profession1 the brightest still is ,otway's1 of whom his critical biographers have said that1 in tragedy1 few ,english poets ever equalled him4 ,his comedies are certainly detestable2 but of his tragedies1 ,venice ,preserved alone is ever now played4 ,the ,orphan is read2 ,alcibiades1 ,don ,carlos1 ,titus and ,berenice are all forgotten4 ,successful as he is in touching the passions1 and eminently so in dealing with ardent love1 ,otway1 ,i think1 is inferior to ,lee1 occasionally1 in the latter respect4 ,of ,lee1 ,mrs4 ,siddons entertained the greatest admiration1 notwithstanding his bombast1 and she read his ,theodosius1 or the ,force of ,love1 with such feeling1 as to at once wring sighs from the heart and tears from the eyes4 ,she saw in ,lee's poetry a very rare quality1 or1 as ,campbell remarks1 a much more frequent capability for stage effect than a mere reader would be apt to infer from the superabundance of the poet's extravagance4 ,let it not be forgotten that ,addison accuses ,lee and ,shakspeare of a spurious sublimity2 and1 he adds1 that in these authors1 the affectation of greatness often hurts the perspicuity of style6 ,the professional authors were not equally successful4 ,davenant achieved a good estate1 and was buried in ,westminster ,abbey1 like a gentleman4 ,dryden1 with less to bequeath1 was interred in the same place1 without organ or ceremony1 two choristers walking before the body1 candle in hand1 and singing an ode of ,horace--like a poet4 ,his victim1 ,tom ,shadwell1 acquired wealth fairly2 he lies in ,chelsea ,church1 but his son raised a monument to his memory in the ,abbey that he might be in thus much as great a man as his satirist4 ,congreve1 too1 is there1 after enjoying a greater fortune than the others together had ever built up1 and leaving #aj1jjj of it to ,henrietta1 ,duchess of ,marlborough1 who so valued the honour and pleasure of his company when living1 that1 as the next best thing1 she sat of an evening with his wax figure after he was dead4 ,among the dead there1 also1 rest ,cibber1 ,vanbrugh1 and ,rowe1 of whom the first1 too careless of his money affairs1 died the poorest man4 ,better men than either of the last sleep in humbler graves4 ,poor ,nat ,lee1 tottering homeward from the ,bull and ,harrow1 on a winter's night1 and with more punch under his belt than his brain could bear1 falls down in the snow1 near ,duke ,street1 ,lincoln's ,inn ,fields1 and is dead when he is picked up4 ,he is shuffled away to ,st4 ,clement's ,danes4 ,if ,lee died tipsy1 outside a public-house1 ,otway died half-starved1 within one1 at the ,bull1 on ,tower ,hill4 ,the merits of ,lee and ,otway might have carried them to ,westminster1 but their misfortunes barred the way thither4 ,almost as unfortunate1 ,settle died1 after hissing in a dragon at ,bartholomew ,fair1 a recipient of the charity of the ,charter-house4 ,crowne died in distress1 just as he hoped his ,sir ,courtly ,nice would have placed him at his ease4 ,wycherley1 with less excuse1 died more embarrassed than ,crowne1 or would have done so had he not robbed his young wife of her portion1 made it over to his creditors1 and left her little wherewith to bury him in the churchyard in ,covent ,garden4 ,two other poets1 who passed away unencumbered by a single splendid shilling1 rest in ,st4 ,james's1 ,westminster--,tom ,durfey and ,bankes4 ,careless1 easy1 free1 and fuddling ,tate1 died in the sanctuary of the ,mint2 and ,st4 ,george's1 ,southwark1 gave him a few feet of earth2 while ,brady pushed his way at court to preferment1 and died a comfortable pluralist and chaplain to ,caroline1 ,princess of ,wales4 ,farquhar1 with all his wit1 died a broken-hearted beggar1 at the age of thirty-seven2 and ,dennis1 who struggled forty years longer with fortune1 came to the same end1 utterly destitute of all but the contemptuous pity of his foes1 and the insulting charity of ,pope4 ,i think that1 of the whole brotherhood1 ,southerne1 after he left the army and had sown his wild oats1 was the most prudent1 and not the least successful4 ,he was a perfect gentleman2 he did not lounge away his days or nights in coffee-houses or taverns1 but after labour1 cultivated friendship in home circles1 where virtue and moderate mirth sat at the hearth4 ,in his bag-wig1 his black velvet dress1 his sword1 powder1 brilliant buckles1 and self-possession1 ,southerne charmed his company1 wherever he visited1 even at fourscore4 ,he kept the even tenor of his way1 owing no man anything2 never allowing his nights to be the marrer of his mornings2 and at six and eighty carrying a bright eye1 a steady hand1 a clear head1 and a warm heart--wherewith to calmly meet and make surrender of all to the ,inevitable ,angel4 ,as ,southerne originally wrote ,oroonoko1 that tragedy could not now be represented4 ,the mixture of comic scenes with tragic is not its worst fault4 ,his comedies are of no worth whatever1 except as they illustrate the manners and habits of his times4 ,they more closely resemble those of ,ravenscroft than of ,congreve or ,wycherley4 ,his ,sir ,anthony ,love was successful2 it is impossible to conjecture wherefore4 ,it has not a wise sentiment or a happy saying in it2 and all to be learned from it is1 that ,englishmen1 when abroad1 in those days1 used to herd together in self-defence1 against being cheated2 that they were too wise to learn anything by travel2 and were fond of passing themselves off as having made a campaign4 ,as ,cowley anticipated ,moore1 in the ,cutter1 so1 in ,sir ,anthony1 has ,southerne anticipated ,burns4 ,of the ,king's creation1 says the supposed ,sir ,anthony to ,count ,verola1 you may be2 but he who makes a count1 never made a man4 ,there is the same sentiment improved in the well-known lines3 ,a king may mak' a belted knight1 ,a marquis1 duke1 an' a' that2 ,but an honest man's aboon his might1 ,gude faith he canna fa' that4 ,southerne was not more famous for the nicety of his costume than little starched ,johnny ,crowne was for his stiff1 long cravat2 or ,dryden for his ,norwich drugget suit1 or his gayer dress in later days1 when1 with sword and ,chadrieux wig1 he paraded the ,mulberry ,garden with his ,mistress ,reeve--one of that marvellous company of #afgb1 which writers with long memories used to subsequently say could never be got together again4 ,otway's thoughtful eye redeemed his slovenly dress and his fatness1 and seemed to warrant the story of his repenting after his carousing4 ,lee dressed as ill as ,otway1 but lacked his contemplative eye1 yet excelled him in fair looks1 and in a peculiar luxuriance of hair4 ,shaftesbury1 in his ,characteristics1 shows us how the play-house authors throned it in coffee-houses1 and were worshipped by small wits4 ,there were1 however1 dramatic authors who never went thither2 and of these1 the ladies1 ,i have now to speak4 ,illustration3 ,mrs4 ,barry and ,mr ,garrick in ,the ,wonder4 ,,footnotes3 #eh ,brady was in no sense a professional dramatic author4 #ei ,i doubt if ,dilke is correctly included in this category4 #fj ,a grocer4 7,johnson's ,lives of the ,poets47 #fa ,southerne is said to have been at ,oxford and ,dublin ,universities4 #fb ,this is a quotation from ,rymer's second work1 ,a ,short ,view of ,tragedy1 published in #afic4 #fc ,whether ,davenant altered ,julius ,csar is somewhat doubtful4 #fd ,congreve 7ed4 #aggd7 merely says that it was regular4 #fe ,steal me another such4 ,illustration3 ,,mrs4 ,,centlivre4 ,,chapter ,,xi4 ,,the ,,dramatic ,,authoresses4 ,during this half century1 there were seven ladies who were more or less distinguished as writers for the stage4 ,these were the virtuous ,mrs4 ,philips1 the audacious ,aphra ,behn1 the not less notorious ,mrs4 ,manley1 the gentle and learned ,mrs4 ,cockburn1 the rather aristocratic ,mrs4 ,boothby 7of whom nothing is known but that she wrote one play1 called ,marcatia1#ff in #affi71 fat ,mrs4 ,pix1 and that thorough ,whig1 ,mrs4 ,centlivre4 ,the last four also belong to the beginning of the eighteenth century2 and three at least apologised that they1 women as they were1 should have ventured to become dramatists4 ,the virtuous ,mrs4 ,philips1 of ,evelyn1 the matchless ,orinda1 of ,cowley and other poets1 translated the ,pompey and ,horace of ,corneille4 ,in those grave pieces1 represented at court in the early years of the ,restoration1 the poetess endeavoured to direct the popular taste1 and to correct it also4 ,had she not died 7of small-pox1 and in the thirty-third year of her age71 she might have set such example to the playwrights as the ,bettertons did to the actors2 but her good intentions were frustrated1 and her place was unhappily occupied by the most shameless woman who ever took pen in hand1 designedly to corrupt the public4 ,aphra ,behn was a ,kentish woman1 whose early years were passed at ,surinam1 where her father1 ,johnson1 had resided1 as lieutenant-general4#fg ,after a wild training in that fervid school1 she repaired to ,london1 married a ,dutchman1 named ,behn1 who seems to have straightway disappeared1--penetrated1 by means of her beauty1 to the court of ,charles ,,ii41--and obtained1 by means of her wit1 an irregular employment at ,antwerp1--that of a spy4 ,the letters of her ,dutch lovers belong to romance2 but there is warrant for the easy freedom of this woman's life4 ,in other respects she was unfortunate4 ,on her return to ,england1 her political reports and prophecies were no more credited than the monitions of old1 by ,cassandra2 so she abandoned ,england to its fate1 and herself to pleasure and the muses4 ,her opportunities for good were great1 but she abused them all4 ,she might have been an honour to womanhood2--she was its disgrace4 ,she might have gained glory by her labours2--but she chose to reap infamy4 ,her pleasures were not those which became an honest woman2 and as for her ,muses1 she sat not with them on the slopes of ,helicon1 but dragged them down to her level1 where the ,nine and their unclean votary wallowed together in the mire4 ,there is no one that equals this woman in downright nastiness1 save ,ravenscroft and ,wycherley2 but the latter of these had more originality of invention and grace of expression4 ,to these writers1 and to those of their detestable school1 she set a revolting example4 ,dryden preceded her1 by a little1 on the stage2 but ,mrs4 ,behn's trolloping muse appeared there before the other two writers ,i have mentioned1 and was still making unseemly exhibition there after the coming of ,congreve4 ,with ,dryden she vied in indecency1 and was not overcome4 ,to all other male writers of her day she served as a provocation and an apology4 ,intellectually1 she was qualified to have led them through pure and bright ways2 but she was a mere harlot1 who danced through uncleanness1 and dared or lured them to follow4 ,remonstrance was useless with this wanton hussey4 ,as for her private life1 it has found a champion in a female friend1 whose precious balsam breaks the head it would anoint4 ,according to this friend1 ,mrs4 ,behn had numerous good qualities2 but she was a woman of sense1 and consequently loved pleasure2 and she was more gay and free than the modesty of the precise will allow4 ,of ,aphra ,behn's eighteen plays1 produced between #afga and #afif1--;before which last year1 however1 she had died1--but few are original4 ,they are adaptations from ,marlowe1 from ,wilkins1 from ,killigrew1 from ,brome1 from ,tatham1 from ,shirley1 from the ,italian comedy1 from ,molire1 and more legitimately from the old romances4 ,she adapted skilfully2 and she was never dull4 ,but then1 all her vivacity is wasted on filth4 ,when the public sent forth a cry of horror at some of the scenes in her play of ,the ,lucky ,chance1 she vindicated herself by asking1 was she not loyal8--,tory to the back bone2--had she not made the ,king's enemies ridiculous1 in her five-act farces2--and had she not done homage to the ,king1 by dedicating her ,feigned ,courtezans to ,nell ,gwyn1 and styling that worthy sister of hers in vice and good nature so perfect a creature as to be something akin to divinity8 ,for ,mrs4 ,manley there was more excuse4 ,that poor daughter of an old royalist had some reason to depict human nature as bad in man and in woman4 ,the young orphan trusted herself to the guardianship of a seductive kinsman1 who married her when he had a wife still living4 ,this first wrong destroyed her1 but not her villainous cousin2 and unfortunately1 the woman upon whom the world looked cool1 incurred the capricious compassion of the ,duchess of ,cleveland4 ,when the caprice was over1 and ,mrs4 ,manley had only her own resources to rely upon1 she scorned the aid offered her by ,general ,tidcombe1 and made her first venture for the stage in the tragedy of ,royal ,mischief1 produced at the ,lincoln's ,inn ,fields ,theatre1 in #afif4 ,it is all desperate love1 of a very bad quality1 and indiscriminate murder1 relieved by variety in the mode of killing2 one unfortunate gentleman1 named ,osman1 being thrust into a cannon and fired from it1 after which his wife1 ,selima1 is said to be ,gathering the smoking relics of her lord6 ,the authoress in her next venture1 in the same year1 a comedy1 written in a week1 and which perished in a night1 ,the ,lost ,lover1 introduced what the public had been taught to appreciate--a virtuous wife4 ,her other pieces1 written at intervals of ten years1 were1 ,almyna1 founded on the story of the ,caliph who was addicted to marrying one day1 and beheading his wife the next2 and ,lucius1 a semi-sacred play1 on the supposed first ,christian king of ,britain--both unsuccessful4 ,mrs4 ,manley survived till #agbd4 ,when not under the protection of a friend1 or in decent mourning for the lovers who died mad for her1 she was engaged in composing the ,memoirs of the ,new ,atalantis1--a satire against the ,whig ministry1 the authorship of which she courageously avowed1 rather than that the printer and publisher should suffer for her4 ,the ,tory ministry which succeeded1 employed her pen2 and with ,swift's ,alderman ,barber1--he being ,tory printer1 she resided till her death1 mistress of the house1 and of the alderman4 ,contemporary with ,mrs4 ,manley was ,miss ,trotter1 the daughter of a ,scottish officer1 but better known as ,mrs4 ,cockburn1 wife and widow of an ,english clergyman4 ,she was at first a very learned young lady1 whose speculations took her to the ,church of ,rome1 from which in later years she seceded4 ,she was but seventeen1 when1 in #afif1 her sentimental tragedy1 ,agnes de ,castro1 was played at ,drury ,lane4 ,her career1 as writer for the stage1 lasted ten years1 during which she produced five pieces1 all of a sentimental but refined class1--illustrating love1 friendship1 repentance1 and conjugal faith4 ,there is some amount of word-spinning in these plays2 and this is well marked by ,genest's comment on ,mrs4 ,cockburn's ,revolution of ,sweden1--namely1 that if ,constantia1 in the third act1 had been influenced by common sense1 she would have spoiled the remainder of the play4 ,nevertheless1 ,mrs4 ,cockburn was a clever woman1 and kept no dull household1 though she there wrote a defence of ,locke1 while her reverend husband was pursuing an account of the ,mosaic deluge4 ,as a metaphysical and controversial writer1 she gathered laurels and abuse in her day1 for the latter of which she found compensation in the friendship and admiration of ,warburton4 ,she was a valiant woman too2 one whom asthma and the ills of life could not deter from labour4 ,but death relieved her from all these in #agdi2 and she is remembered in the history of literature as a good and well-accomplished woman--the very opposite of ,mrs4 ,behn and all her heroines4 ,fat ,mrs4 ,pix enjoyed a certain sort of vogue from #afif to #agji4fh ,she came from ,oxfordshire1 was the daughter of a clergyman1 was married to a ,mr4 ,pix1 and was a woman of genius1 and much flesh4 ,she wrote eleven plays1 but not one of them has survived to our time4 ,her comedies are1 however1 full of life2 her tragedies more than brimful of loyalty2 later dramatists have not disdained to pick up some of ,mrs4 ,pix's forgotten incidents2 and indeed1 contemporary playwrights stole her playful lightning1 if not her thunder2 her plots were not ill conceived1 but they were carried out by inexpressive language1 some of her tragedies being in level prose1 and some mixtures of rhyme and blank verse4 ,she herself occasionally remodelled an old play1 but did not improve it2 while1 when she trusted to herself1 at least in a farcical sort of comedy1 she was bustling and humorous4 ,mrs4 ,manley1 ,mrs4 ,cockburn1 and ,mrs4 ,pix were ridiculed in a farce called the ,female ,wits1 their best endowments satirised1 and their peculiarities mimicked4 ,the first and last of those ladies represented some of their dramas as written by men1 a subterfuge to which a greater than either of them was also obliged to resort1 namely1 ,susanna ,centlivre4 ,susanna ,freeman was her maiden name4 ,she was the orphan daughter of a stout but hardly-dealt with parliamentarian1 and of a mother who died too early for the daughter's remembrance4 ,anthony ,hammond is said to have been in love with her1 a nephew of ,sir ,stephen ,fox to have married her1 and a ,captain ,carrol to have left her a widow--all before she was well out of her teens4 ,thus she had passed through a school of experience1 and to turn it to account1 ,susanna ,carrol began writing for the stage4 ,writing for--and acting on it1 for we find her in #agjf playing ,alexander the ,great at ,windsor1 where she also married ,mr4 ,centlivre1 ,queen ,anne's chief cook4 ,of ,mrs4 ,centlivre's nineteen plays1 three at least are still well known1 the ,busy ,body1 the ,wonder1 and ,a ,bold ,stroke for a ,wife4 ,when she offered the first to the players--it was her ninth play--the actors unanimously denounced it4 ,wilks1 who had hitherto been unaccustomed to the want of straining after wit1 the common sense1 the unforced sprightliness1 the homely nature1 for which this piece is distinguished--declared that not only would it be damned1 but that the author of it could hardly expect to avoid a similar destiny2#fi and yet its triumph was undoubted1 though cumulative4 ,hitherto the authoress had written a tragi-comedy or two1 the comic scenes in which alone gave evidence of strength1 but not always of delicacy4 ,she had1 in others1 stolen wholesale from ,molire1 and the old ,english dramatists4 ,she produced a continuation to the ,busy ,body in ,marplot1 but we do not care for it2 and it is not till her fourteenth piece1 the ,wonder1 appeared in #agad1 that she again challenges admiration4 ,this1 too1 is an adaptation2 but it is superior to the ,wrangling ,lovers1 from which it is partly taken1 and which had no such hero as the ,don ,felix of ,wilks4 ,the ,bold ,stroke for a ,wife was first played in #agah1 when the ,tory public had forgiven the author for her satires against them1 and the theatrical public her fresh adaptations of old scenes and stories4 ,the ,bold ,stroke for a ,wife is entirely her own1 and has had a wonderful succession of ,colonel ,feignwells1 from ,c4 ,bullock down to ,mr4 ,braham6 ,this piece1 however1 was but moderately successful2 but it has such vivacity1 fun1 and quiet humour in it1 that it has outlived many a one that began with greater triumph1 and in the real ,simon ,pure1 first acted by ,griffin1 it has given a proverb to the ,english language4 ,one other piece1 the ,artifice1 a five-act farce1 played in #agbb1 concludes the list of plays from the pen of this industrious and gifted woman4 ,mrs4 ,centlivre had unobtrusive humour1 sayings full of significance rather than wit1 wholesome fun in her comic1 and earnestness in her serious1 characters4 ,mrs4 ,centlivre1 in her pictures of life1 attracts the spectator4 ,there may be1 now and then1 something1 as in ,dutch pictures1 which had been as well away2 but this apart1 all the rest is true1 and pleasant1 and hearty2 the grouping perfect1 the colour faithful1 and enduring too--despite the cruel sneer of ,pope1 who1 in the ,life of ,curll1 sarcastically alludes to her as the cook's wife in ,buckingham ,court1 in which vicinity to ,spring ,gardens1 ,mrs4 ,centlivre died in #agbc4 ,such were the characteristics of the principal authors who led1 followed1 trained1 or flattered the public taste of the last half of the seventeenth century1 and a few of them of the first part of the century which succeeded4 ,before we pass onward to the stage of the eighteenth century1 let us cast a glance back1 and look at the quality of the audiences for whom these poets catered4 ,,footnotes3 #ff ,marcelia4 #fg ,her father never resided at ,surinam4 ,he died on the voyage out4 #fh ,the ,biographia ,dramatica gives #agji as the year of ,mrs4 ,pix's last play2 but this is certainly an error1 as ,mrs4 ,bracegirdle1 who retired in #agjg1 is in the cast4 #fi ,genest states in strong terms his utter disbelief in this story4 ,it is stated in the ,biog4 ,dram4 that ,wilks used this strong expression regarding ,a ,bold ,stroke for a ,wife4 ,illustration3 ,,prynne4 ,,chapter ,,xii4 ,,the ,,audiences ,,of ,,the ,,seventeenth ,,century4 ,speedily after the ,restoration1 there was no more constant visitor at the theatre than ,charles ,,ii41 with a gay1 and what is called a gallant1 gathering4 ,thus we are arrested by a crowd at the ,temple ,gate4 ,on the #aeth of ,august #affa1 ,charles and the ,duke and ,duchess of ,york are leaving the apartments of the ,reader1 ,sir ,henry ,finch1 with whom they have been dining1 and an eager audience is awaiting them in the ,lincoln's ,inn ,fields ,theatre1 where ,the ,wits is to be represented1--a piece never yet acted1 says ,pepys1 with scenes4 ,two nights later1 the same piece is playing1 and the ,queen of ,bohemia is there1 brought by my ,lord ,craven1 whom some do not scruple to speak of as the ex-,queen's husband4 ,a week later1 ,charles and ,madame ,palmer were at the theatre in ,drury ,lane1 with the ,duke of ,york and his wife4 ,my wife1 says ,pepys1 to her great content had a full sight of them all the while4 ,the ,king's ,madame ,palmer became1 in fact1 an attraction2 seated between ,charles and his brother1 ,pepys beheld her a few weeks later1 when he and his wife escorted ,lord ,sandwich's young daughters to the theatre1 and obtained places close to ,madame and her double escort4 ,the play was ,johnson's ,bartholomew ,fair1 with the puppets1 and all its virulent satire against the ,puritans4 ,as ,pepys listened and remembered that no one had dared to bring forward this slashing play for the last forty years1 he wondered at the audacity of managers now1 and grieved that the ,king should countenance it4 ,but what recked the laughing ,king1 when ,puritanism was in the dust1 and troops of cavaliers were singing1 ,up go we8 ,occasionally1 if ,pepys witnesses a play ill-acted1 he finds compensation in sitting near some pretty and ingenious lady4 ,at that time oranges were more costly than pines are now1 and to offer one of the former1 even to an unknown fair neighbour1 was an intimation of a readiness on the part of the presenter to open a conversation4 ,to behold his most sacred ,majesty seated in his box was for ever1 with ,pepys1 even a stronger attraction than the eyes or the wit of the fairest and sprightliest of ladies4 ,again and again1 he registers a vow to refrain from resorting to the theatre during a certain period1 but he no sooner hears of the presence there of his religious and gracious ,king1 than he breaks his vow1 rushes to the play1 perjures himself out of loyal courtesy1 and next morning writes himself down an ass4 ,at the ,cockpit in ,drury ,lane1 ,charles's consort1 ,catherine1 was exhibited to the ,english people for the first time on an autumn afternoon of #affb1 when ,shirley's ,cardinal was represented4 ,pepys1 of course1 was there too1 and reproduces the scene3 ,by very good fortune1 ,i did follow four or five gentlemen who were carried to a little private door in a wall1 and so crept through a narrow place1 and came into one of the boxes next the ,king's1 but so as ,i could not see the ,king or ,queen1 but many of the fine ladies1 who are not really so handsome generally1 as ,i used to take them to be1 but that they are finely dressed4 ,the company that come in with me into the box were all ,frenchmen that could speak no ,english2 but1 ,lord1 what sport they made to ask a pretty lady that they got among them1 that understood both ,french and ,english1 to make her tell them what the actors said6 ,soon after this1 in dreary ,november1 there is again a crowded audience to greet the ,king and ,queen1 with whom now appears the ,castlemaine1 once more1 and near her ,lucy ,walter's boy1 the ,duke of ,monmouth1 all beauty and pretty assurance2 and ,pepys sees no harm in a company who have come together to witness a comedy whose name might well describe the look and bearing of the outraged ,queen1 namely1 the ,scornful ,lady4 ,no wonder that1 in ,december1 at the tragedy of ,the ,valiant ,cid1 she did not smile once during the whole play4#gj ,but nobody present on that occasion seemed to take any pleasure but what was in the greatness and gallantry of the company4 ,that greatness and that gallantry were the idols of the diarist4 ,with what scorn he talks of the audience at the ,duke's ,theatre a few days later1 when the ,siege of ,rhodes was represented4 ,he was ill-pleased4 ,the house was full of citizens6 ,there was hardly1 says the fastidious son of an honest tailor1 a gallant man or woman in the house6 ,so1 in ,january #affc1 at the same theatre1 he records that it was full of citizens1 and so the less pleasant4 ,the ,duke's ,house was less genteel than the ,cockpit2 but the royal visitors at the latter were not much more refined in their manners than the audience in ,lincoln's ,inn ,fields1 or ,salisbury ,court4 ,early in ,january #affc1 the ,duke of ,york and his wife honoured a play of ,killigrew's by their presence1 and did not much edify the spectators by their conduct4 ,they did show1 writes the immortal journalist1 some impertinent and methought unnatural dalliances there1 before the whole world1 such as kissing of hands1 and leaning upon one another4 ,but there were worse scenes than these conjugal displays at the ,king's ,house4 ,when ,pepys was dying to obtain the only prize in all the world he desired1 ,lady ,castlemaine's picture1 that bold person was beginning to lose1 at once1 both her beauty and her place of favour with the ,king4 ,pepys was immensely grieved1 for she was always more to him than the play and players to boot4 ,he had reason1 however1 to be satisfied that she had not lost her boldness4 ,in ,january1 #affd1 the ,indian ,queen was played at the ,king's ,house1 in ,drury ,lane4 ,lady ,castlemaine was present before the ,king arrived4 ,when he entered his box1 the ,countess leaned over some ladies who sat between her and the royal box1 and whispered to ,charles4 ,having been thus bold in face of the audience1 she arose1 left her own box and appeared in the ,king's1 where she deliberately took a place between ,charles and his brother4 ,it was not the ,king alone but the whole audience with him who were put out of countenance by this cool audacity1 exhibited to prove that she was not so much out of favour as the world believed4 ,what a contrast is presented by the appearance of ,cromwell's daughter1 ,lady ,mary1 in her box at this same theatre1 with her husband1 ,viscount ,falconbridge6 ,pepys praises her looks and her dress1 and suggests a modest embarrassment on her part1 as the house began to fill1 and the admiring spectators began to gaze too curiously on ,oliver's loved child2 she put on her vizard1 and so kept it on all the play1 which of late has become a great fashion among the ladies1 which hides their whole face4 ,mary ,cromwell1 modestly masked1 was a prettier sight than what ,pepys on other occasion describes as all the pleasure of the play2 meaning thereby1 the presence of ,lady ,castlemaine1 or of ,miss ,stewart1 her rival in royal favour1 but not her equal in peerless beauty4 ,with these1 but in less exalted company than they1 we now meet with ,nell ,gwyn1 in front of the house4 ,she is seen gossiping with ,pepys1 who is ecstatic at the condescension2 or she is blazing in the boxes1 prattling with the young and scented fops1 and impudently lying across any three of them1 that she may converse as she pleases with a fourth4 ,and there is ,sir ,charles ,sedley looking on1 smiling with or at the actors of these scenes1 among the audience1 or sharply and wittily criticising the players on the stage1 and the words put into their mouths by the author1 or flirting with vizard masks in the pit4 ,altogether1 there is much confusion and interruption2 but there is also1 occasionally1 disturbance of another sort1 as when1 in ,june #affd1 a storm of hail and rain broke through the roof of the ,kings ,house1 and drove the half-drowned people from the pit in a disorder not at all admired4 ,like ,evelyn1 ,pepys was often at the ,court plays1 but1 except with the spectacle of the ,queen's ladies1 and the ,king's too1 for that matter1 he found small delight there1--the house1 although fine1 being bad for hearing4 ,this ,court patronage1 public and private1 increased the popularity of the drama1 as the vices of the ,king increased the fashion of being dissolute2 and when ,charles was sadly in need of a collecting of members of parliament to throw out a bill which very much annoyed him1 and was carried against him1 he bade the ,lord ,chamberlain to scour the play and other houses1 where he knew his parliamentary friends were to be found1 and to send them down to vote in favour of their graceless master4 ,ladies of quality1 and of good character1 too1 could in those days appear in masks in the boxes1 and unattended4 ,the vizard had not yet fallen to the disreputable4 ,such ladies as are above designated entered into struggles of wit with the fine gentlemen1 bantering them unmercifully1 calling them by their names1 and refusing to tell their own4 ,all this was to the disturbance of the stage1 but this battle of the wits was so frequently more amusing than what might be passing for the moment on the stage1 that the audience near listened to the disputants rather than to the actors4 ,sir ,charles ,sedley was remarkable as a disputant with the ladies1 and as a critic of the players4 ,that the overhearing of what was said by the most famous of the box visitors was a pleasant pastime of many hearers1 is made manifest by ,pepys1 who once took his place on the upper bench next the boxes1 and described it as having the advantage of seeing and hearing the great people1 which may be pleasant when there is good store4 ,to no man then living in ,england did fellowship with people of quality convey such intense delight as to ,pepys4 ,lord6 he exclaims1 in ,may #affg1 how it went against my heart to go away from the very door of the ,duke's playhouse1 and my ,lady ,castlemaine's coach1 and many great coaches there1 to see ',the ,siege of ,rhodes4' ,i was very near making a forfeit1 he adds1 but ,i did command myself4 ,he was happiest with a baronet like ,sir ,philip ,frowd at his side1 and behind him a couple of impertinently pretty actresses1 like ,pierce and ,knipp1 pulling his hair1 drawing him into gossiping flirtations1 and inducing him to treat them with fruit4 ,the constant presence of lively actresses in the front of the house was one of the features of the times1 and a dear delight to ,pepys1 who was never weary of admiring their respective beauties4 ,proud as he was of sitting1 for the first time in his life1 in a box1 at four shillings1 he still saw the pit occupied by greater men than any around him1 particularly on the first night of a new piece4 ,when ,etherege's comedy1 ,she ,would if ,she ,could1 was first played1 in ,february #affh1 to one of the most crowded1 critical1 and discontented audiences that had ever assembled in the ,duke's ,house1 the pit was brilliant with peers1 gallants1 and wits4 ,there1 openly1 sat ,buckingham1 and ,buckhurst1 and ,sedley1 and the author1 with many more2 and there went on1 as the audience waited till the pelting rain outside had ceased to fall1 comment and counter-comment on the merits of the piece and of the actors4 ,etherege found fault with the players1 but the public as loudly censured the piece1 condemning it as silly and insipid1 but allowing it to possess a certain share of wit and roguishness4 ,from an entry in the ,diary for the #bast of ,december #affh1 we learn that ,lady ,castlemaine had a double1 who used to appear at the theatre to the annoyance of my lady and the amusement of her royal friend4 ,indeed1 here is a group of illustrations of the front of the stage2 the house is the ,duke's1 the play ,macbeth4 ,the ,king and ,court there1 and we sat just under them and my ,lady ,castlemaine1 and close to a woman that comes into the pit1 a kind of a loose gossip that pretends to be like her1 and is so1 something4 ,the ,king and ,duke of ,york minded me1 and smiled upon me1 at the handsome woman near me1 but it vexed me to see ,moll ,davies1 in a box over the ,king's and my ,lady ,castlemaine's1 look down upon the ,king1 and he up to her2 and so did my ,lady ,castlemaine once1 to see who it was2 but when she saw ,moll ,davies1 she looked like fire1 which troubled me4 ,to these audiences were presented dramatic pieces of a very reprehensible quality4 ,charles ,,ii4 has been more blamed than any other individual because of this licentiousness of the stage4 ,i have before ventured to intimate1 that the long-accepted idea that the court of ,charles ,,ii4 corrupted ,english society1 and that it did so especially through patronising the licentiousness of poets and the stage1 seems to me to be untenable4 ,from of old there had been a corrupt society1 and a society protesting against the corruption4 ,before ,charles made his first visit to the theatre1 there was lying in ,newgate the ex-,royalist1 but subsequently ,puritan poet1 ,george ,wither4 ,in the dedication of his ,,hallelujah1 in #afda1 he thus describes the contemporary condition of society3--,so innumerable are the foolish and profane songs now delighted in1 to the dishonour of our language and religion1 that hallelujahs and pious meditations are almost out of use and fashion2 yea1 not at private only1 but at our public feasts1 and civil meetings also1 scurrilous and obscene songs are impudently sung1 without respecting the reverend presence of matrons1 virgins1 magistrates or divines4 ,nay1 sometimes in their despite they are called for1 sung1 and acted1 with such abominable gesticulations1 as are very offensive to all modest hearers and beholders1 and fitting only to be exhibited at the diabolical assemblies of ,bacchus1 ,venus1 or ,priapus4 ,in the collection of hymns1 under this title of ,,hallelujah1 there is a hymn for every condition in and circumstance of life1 from the ,king to the ,tailor2 from a hymn for the use of two ardent lovers1 to a spiritual song of grateful resignation for a ,widower or a ,widow deprived of a troublesome ,yokefellow6 ,there is none for the player2 but there is this hit at the poets1 who supplied him with unseemly phrases1 and the flattering friends who crowned such bards3-- ,blasphemous fancies are infused1 ,all holy new things are expell'd1 ,he that hath most profanely mused1 ,is famed as having most excelled3 ,such are those poets in these days1 ,who vent the fumes of lust and wine1 ,then crown each others' heads with bays1 ,as if their poems were divine4 ,against the revived fashion of licentious plays1 some of the wisest men among theatrical audiences protested loudly4 ,no man raised his voice with greater urgency than ,evelyn4 ,within six years of the ,restoration1 he1 who was in frequency of playgoing only second to ,pepys1 but as sharp an observer and a graver censor than the ,admiralty clerk1 addressed a letter to ,lord ,cornbury on this important subject4 ,the letter was written a few weeks previous to the ,lent season of #affe1 and the writer mourns over a scandal less allowed in any city of ,christendom1 than in the metropolis of ,england1 namely--the frequency of our theatrical pastimes during the indiction of ,lent4 ,here in ,london1 he says1 there were more wicked and obscene plays permitted than in all the world besides4 ,at ,paris three days1 at ,rome two weekly1 and at the other cities1 ,florence1 ,venice1 c41 only at certain jolly periods of the year1 and that not without some considerable emolument to the public1 while our interludes here are every day alike2 so as the ladies and the gallants come reeking from the play late on ,saturday night 7was ,saturday then a fashionable day for late performances87 to their ,sunday devotions2 and the ideas of the farce possess their fancies to the infinite prejudice of devotion1 besides the advantages it gives to our reproachful blasphemers4 ,evelyn1 however1 does not pursue his statement to a logical conclusion4 ,he proposes to close the houses on ,friday and ,saturday1 or to represent plays on these nights only for the benefit of paupers in or out of the workhouses4 ,remembering rather the actresses who disgraced womanhood1 than such an exemplary and reproachless pair as ,betterton and his wife1 he recommends robbery of the debauched comedians1 as he calls them1 without scruple4 ,what if they be despoiled of a hundred or so a year8 ,they will still enjoy more than they were ever born to2 and the sacrifice1 he quaintly says1 will consecrate their scarce allowable impertinences4 ,he adds1 with a seriousness which implies his censure of the royal approval of the bad taste which had brought degradation on the stage--,plays are now with us become a licentious excess1 and a vice1 and need severe censors1 that should look as well to their morality as to their lines and numbers4 ,this grave and earnest censor1 however1 allowed himself to be present at stage representations which he condemns4 ,he objects but does not refrain4 ,he witnesses masques at ,court1 and says little2 enjoys his play1 and denounces the enjoyment1 in his diary1 when he reaches home4 ,he has as acute an eye on the behaviour of the ladies1 especially among the audience1 as for what is being uttered on the stage4 ,i saw the tragedy of ',horace1' he tells us1 in ,february #affh1 written by the virtuous ,mrs4 ,phillips1 acted before their ,majesties4 ,betwixt each act a masque and antique dance4 ,then speaking of the audience1 where the ,king's lady was wont to outblaze the ,king's wife1 he adds3--,the excessive gallantry of the ladies was infinite3 those especially on that 444 ,castlemaine1 esteemed at #dj1jjj and more1 far outshining the ,queen4 ,later in the year he is at a new play of ,dryden's1 with several of my relations4 ,he describes the plot as foolish1 and very profane4 ,it afflicted me1 he continues1 to see how the stage was degenerated and polluted by the licentious times4 ,when forming part of the audience1 by invitation of the ,lord ,chamberlain1 at the ,court plays1 at ,whitehall1 in ,september #afff1 ,evelyn uses as freely his right of judgment4 ,he sat ill at ease in the public theatres1 because they were abused1 he says1 to an atheistical liberty4 ,the invitation to see ,lord ,broghill's ,mustapha played before the ,king and ,queen1 in presence of a splendid court1 was a command4 ,evelyn attended2 but as he looked around1 he bethought him of the ,london that was lying in charred ruins1 and he sorrowingly records his disapproval of any such pastime in a time of such judgments and calamities4 ,with better times come weaker censures on these amusements2 and the representation of the ,conquest of ,granada1 at ,whitehall in #afga1 wins his admiration for the very glorious scenes and perspectives1 the work of ,mr4 ,streeter1 who well understands it4 ,in the following year1 although not frequenting court plays1 he takes a whole bevy of maids of honour from court to the play4 ,among them was one of whom he makes especial mention1 on account of her many and extraordinary virtues1 which had gained his especial esteem4 ,this grave maid1 among the two vivacious ladies whom ,evelyn 'squired to an afternoon's play1 was ,mistress ,blagg1 better known to us from ,evelyn's graceful sketch of her life1 as ,mrs4 ,godolphin4 ,mrs4 ,blagg was herself not the less a lovely actress for being a discreet and virtuous young lady4 ,in #afgega ,evelyn saw her act in ,crowne's masque-comedy1 ,calisto1 or the ,chaste ,nymph4 ,his friend acted in a noble but mixed company--all ladies--namely1 the ,ladies ,mary and ,anne1 afterwards ,queens of ,england1 the ,lady ,henrietta ,wentworth1 afterwards the evilly-impelled favourite of the ,duke of ,monmouth1 and ,miss ,jennings1 subsequently the sharp-witted wife of the great ,duke of ,marlborough4 ,there were others of less note1 with professional actresses to aid them1 while a corps-de-ballet of peers and nymphs of greater or less repute1 danced between the acts4 ,for the piece1 or for the interludes1 ,evelyn had less admiration than he had for ,mrs4 ,blagg's splendour4 ,she had about her1 he informs us1 #bj1jjj worth of jewels1 of which she had lost one worth about #hj1 borrowed of the ,countess of ,suffolk4 ,the press was so great1 he adds1 that it is a wonder she lost no more2 and the intimation that the ,duke 7of ,york7 made it good1 shows that ,mrs4 ,blagg was fortunate in possessing the esteem of that not too liberal prince4 ,the entire stage arrangements at ,whitehall were not invariably of a liberal character1 and the audiences must have had1 on some occasions1 an uncourtly aspect2 people giving money to come in1 he writes in this same year #afge1 which was very scandalous1 and never so before at ,court-diversions4 ,of the turbulence of audiences in those days1 there are many evidences on record4 ,it was sometimes provoked1 at others altogether unjustifiable1 and always more savage than humorous4 ,in #affi1 ,mrs4 ,corey gratified ,lady ,castlemaine1 by giving an imitation of ,lady ,harvey1 throughout the whole of the part of ,sempronia1 in ,catiline's ,conspiracy4 ,lady ,harvey1 much excited1 had influence enough with her brother1 ,edward ,montagu1 ,lord ,chamberlain1 to induce him to lock ,mrs4 ,corey up1 for her impertinence4 ,on the other hand1 ,lady ,castlemaine had still greater influence with the ,king2 and not only was ,mrs4 ,corey released1 but she was ordered to act it again1 worse than ever4 ,doll ,common1 as the actress was called1 for her ability in playing that part in the ,alchymist1 repeated the imitation1 with the required extravagance1 but not without opposition2 for ,lady ,harvey had hired a number of persons1 some of whom hissed ,doll1 while others pelted her with fruit1 and the ,king looked on the while1 amazed at the contending factions1 whose quarrels subsequently brought him much weariness in the settling4 ,then1 again1 much disturbance often arose from noisy1 financial squabbles4 ,it was a custom to return the price of admission to all persons who left the theatre before the close of the first act4 ,consequently1 many shabby persons were wont to force their way in without paying1 on the plea that they did not intend to remain beyond the time limited4 ,thence much noisy remonstrance on the part of the door-keepers1 who followed them into the house2 and therewith such derangement of the royal comfort1 that a special decree was issued1 commanding payment to be made on entering2 but still allowing the patron of the drama to recover his money1 if he withdrew on or before the close of the first act4 ,but there were greater scandals than these4 ,on the #b;d of ,february #afgi1 there is a really awful commotion1 and imminent peril to house and audience1 at the ,duke's ,theatre4 ,the ,king's ,french favourite1 the ,duchess of ,portsmouth1 is blazing with rouge1 diamonds1 and shamelessness1 in the most conspicuous seat in the house4 ,some tipsy gentlemen in the street hard by1 hear of her wit and handsome presence1 and the morality of these drunkards is straightway incensed4 ,the house is panic-stricken at seeing these virtuous ,goths rushing into the pit1 with drawn swords in one hand--flaming1 smoking1 ill-smelling torches1 in the other2 and with vituperative cries against the ,duchess of ,portsmouth1 and other persons of honour4 ,the rioters1 not satisfied with thrusting their rapiers at the arms1 sides1 and legs of the affrighted people in the pit1 hurl their blazing torches among the astounded actors on the stage6 ,a panic and a general flight ensue4 ,the house is saved from destruction2 but as it is necessary to punish somebody1 the ,king satisfies his sense of justice by pressing hard upon the innocent actors1 and shutting up the house during the royal pleasure6 ,much liquor1 sharp swords1 and angry tempers1 combined to interrupt the enjoyment of many a peaceful audience4 ,an angry word1 passed1 one ,april evening of #afhb1 between ,charles ,dering1 the son of ,sir ,edward1 and the hot-blooded young ,welshman1 ,mr4 ,vaughan1 led to recrimination and sword-drawing4 ,the two young fellows1 not having elbow-room in the pit1 clambered on to the stage1 and fought there1 to the greater comfort of the audience1 and with a more excited fury on the part of the combatants4 ,the stage was that of the ,duke's ,company1 then playing in ,dorset ,gardens4 ,the adversaries fought on1 till ,dering got a thrust from the ,welshman which stretched him on the boards2 whereupon the authorities intervened1 as there was no more mischief to be done1 and put ,master ,vaughan under restraint1 till ,dering's wound was declared not to be mortal4 ,the 'tiring rooms of the actresses were then open to the fine gentlemen who frequented the house4 ,they stood by at the mysteries of dressing1 and commented on what they beheld and did not behold1 with such breadth and coarseness of wit1 that the more modest or least impudent ladies sent away their little handmaidens4 ,the dressing over1 the amateurs lounged into the house1 talked loudly with the pretty orange girls1 listened when it suited them1 and at the termination of the piece crowded again into the 'tiring room of the most favourite and least scrupulous of the actresses4 ,among these gallants who thus oscillated between the pit and the dressing bowers of the ladies1 was a ,sir ,hugh ,middleton1 who is not to be confounded with his namesake of the ,new ,river4 ,on the second ,saturday of ,february #affg1 ,sir ,hugh was among the joyous damsels dressing for the play1 behind the stage of old ,drury4 ,the knight was so unpleasantly critical on the nymphs before him1 that one of them1 sharp-tongued ,beck ,marshall1 bade him keep among the ladies of the ,duke's ,house1 since he did not approve of those who served the ,king4 ,sir ,hugh burst out with a threat1 that he would kick1 or what was worse1 hire his footman to kick1 her4 ,the pretty but angry ,rebecca nursed her wrath all ,sunday2 but on ,monday she notified the ungallant outrage to the great champion of insulted dames1 the ,king4 ,nothing immediately came of it2 and on ,tuesday1 there was ,sir ,hugh1 glowering at her from the front of the house1 and waylaying her1 as she was leaving it with a friend4 ,sir ,hugh whispers a ruffianly-looking fellow1 who follows the actress1 and presses upon her so closely1 that she is moved by a double fear--that he is about to rob1 and perhaps stab her4 ,a little scream scares the bravo for a minute or so4 ,he skulks away1 but anon slinks back2 and1 armed with the first offensive missile he could pick up in a ,drury ,lane gutter1 he therewith anoints the face and hair of the much-shocked actress1 and then1 like the valiant fellows of his trade1 takes to his heels4 ,the next day1 sweet as ,anadyomene rising from the sea1 the actress appeared before the ,king1 and charged ,sir ,hugh with being the abettor of this gross outrage4 ,how the knight was punished1 the record in the ,state ,paper ,office does not say2 but about a fortnight later a royal decree was issued1 which prohibited gentlemen from entering the 'tiring rooms of the ladies of the ,king's ,theatre4 ,for some nights the gallants sat ill at ease among the audience2 but the journals of the period show that the nymphs must have been as little pleased with this arrangement as the fine gentlemen themselves1 who soon found their way back to pay the homage of flattery to the most insatiable of goddesses4 ,not that all the homage was paid to the latter4 ,the wits loved to assemble1 after the play was done1 in the dressing-rooms of the leading actors with whom they most cared to cultivate an intimacy4 ,much company often congregated here1 generally with the purpose of assigning meetings1 where further enjoyment might be pursued4 ,then1 when it was holiday with the legislature1 the house was filled with parliament-men4 ,on one of these occasions1 ,pepys records1 how a gentleman of good habit1 sitting just before us1 eating of some fruit in the midst of the play1 did drop down as dead2 but with much ado1 ,orange ,moll did thrust her finger down his throat1 and brought him to life again4 ,this was an incident of the year #affg4 ,returning to the front of the stage1 we find the ladies in the boxes subjected to the audible criticisms of the little cockerells of the pit1 as ,ravenscroft calls them1 with whom the more daring damsels entered into a smart contest of repartees4 ,as the play-house was then the refuge of all idle young people1 these wit-combats were listened to with interest1 from the town fops to the rustic young squires1 who came to the theatre in cordivant gloves1 and were quite unconscious of poisoning the affected fine ladies with the smell of them4 ,the poets used to assert that all the wit of the pittites was stolen from the plays which they read or saw acted4 ,it seemed the privilege of the box-loungers to have none1 or to perform other services2 namely1 to sit all the evening by a mistress1 or to blaze from ,fop's corner1 or to mark the modest women1 by noting those who did not use their fans through a whole play1 nor turn aside their heads1 nor1 by blushing1 discover more guilt than modesty4 ,thrice happy was she who found the greatest number of slaves at the door of her box1 waiting obsequiously to hand or escort her to her chair4 ,these beaux were hard to fix1 so erratic were they in their habits4 ,they ran1 as ,gatty pertinently has it1 from one play-house to the other play-house2 and if they like neither the play nor the women1 they seldom stay any longer than the combing of their perriwigs1 or a whisper or two with a friend1 and then they cock their caps1 and out they strut again4 ,with fair and witty strangers these gay fellows1 their eyebrows and perriwigs redolent of the essence of orange and jasmine1 entered into conversation1 till a gentleman's name1 called by a door-keeper in the passage1 summoned him to impatient companions1 waiting for him outside2 when he left the censure of his appearance to critical observers1 like those who ridiculed the man of mode for his gloves drawn up to his elbows and his perriwig more exactly curled than a lady's head newly dressed for a ball4 ,of the vizard-masks1 ,cibber tells the whole history in a few words3 ,i remember the ladies were then observed to be decently afraid of venturing bare-faced to a new comedy1 till they had been assured they might do it without insult to their modesty2 or if their curiosity were too strong for their patience1 they took care at least to save appearances1 and rarely came in the first days of acting but in masks1 which custom1 however1 had so many ill consequences attending it1 that it has been abolished these many years4 ,the poets sometimes accused the ladies of blushing1 not because of offence1 but from constraint on laughter4 ,farquhar's ,pindress says to ,lucinda1 ,didn't you chide me for not putting a stronger lace in your stays1 when you had broke one as strong as a hempen-cord with containing a violent ti-hee at a ---- jest in the last play8 ,cibber describes the beaux of the seventeenth century as being of quite a different stamp from the more modern sort4 ,the former had more of the stateliness of the peacock in their mien1 whereas the latter seemed to place their highest emulation in imitating the pert air of a lapwing4 ,the greatest possible compliment was paid to ,cibber by the handsome1 witty1 blooming young fop1 ,brett1 who was so enchanted with the wig the former wore as ,sir ,novelty ,fashion1 in ,love's ,last ,shift1 that fancying the wearing it might ensure him success among the ladies1 he went round to ,cibber's dressing-room1 and entered into negotiations for the purchase of that wonderful cataract perriwig4 ,the fine gentlemen among the audience had1 indeed1 the credit of being less able to judge of a play than of a peruke2 and ,dryden speaks of an individual as being as invincibly ignorant as a town-sop judging of a new play4 ,illustration3 ,colley ,cibber47 ,lord ,foppington1 in #afig1 did not pretend to be a beau2 but he remarks1 a man must endeavour to look wholesome1 lest he make so nauseous a figure in the side-box1 the ladies should be compelled to turn their eyes upon the play4 ,it was the thing to look upon the company1 unless some irresistible attraction drew attention to the stage2 and the curtain down1 the beau became active in the service of the ladies generally4 ,till nine o'clock1 says ,lord ,foppington1 ,i amuse myself by looking on the company1 and usually dispose of one hour more in leading them out4 ,some fine gentlemen were unequal to such gallantry4 ,at these1 ,southerne glances in his ,sir ,anthony ,love1 where he describes the hard drinkers who go to a tavern to swallow a drunkenness1 and then to a play1 to talk over their liquor4 ,and these had their counterparts in the youngsters of a noisy pit1 ,whose tongues and mistresses1 outran their wit4 ,it was1 however1 much the same in the boxes1 where the beaux' oath was zauns1 it being token of a rustic blasphemer to say zounds2 and where1 though a country squire might say1 bless us6 it was the mark of a man of fashion to cry1 dem me6 ,with such personages in pit and boxes1 we may rest satisfied that there was a public to match in the gallery--a peculiar as well as a general public4 ,a line in a prologue of the year #afgb1 ,the stinking footman's sent to keep your places1 alludes to a custom by which the livery profited4 ,towards the close of the century1 the upper gallery of ,drury ,lane was opened to footmen1 gratis4 ,they were supposed to be in attendance on their masters1 but these rather patronised the other house1 and as ,drury could not attract the nobility1 it courted the favour of their not very humble servants4 ,previously1 the lacqueys were admitted after the close of the fourth act of the play4 ,they became the most clamorous critics in the house4 ,it was the custom1 when these fellows passed the money-taker1 to name their master1 who was supposed to be in the boxes2 but many frauds were practised4 ,a stalwart1 gold-laced1 thick-calved1 irreverent lacquey swaggered past money and check-taker one afternoon1 and named the ,lord ----1 adding the name which the ,jews of old would never utter1 out of fear and reverence4 ,the ,lord ----6 said the money-taker to his colleague1 after the saucy footman had flung by1 who is he8 ,can't say1 was the reply2 some poor ,scotch lord1 ,i suppose6 ,such is an alleged sample of the ignorance and the blasphemy of the period4 ,returning to the pit1 ,i find1 with the critics and other good men there1 a sprinkling of clerical gentlemen1 especially of chaplains2 their patrons1 perhaps1 being in the boxes4 ,in the papers of the day1 in the year #afig1 ,i read of a little incident which illustrates social matters1 and which1 probably1 did not much trouble the theatrical cleric who went to the pit so strangely provided4 ,there was found1 says the paragraph1 in the pit of the playhouse1 ,drury ,lane1 ,covent ,garden1 on ,whitsun ,eve1 a qualification1 signed by the ,right ,honourable the ,lord ,dartmouth to the ,reverend ,mr4 ,nicholson1 to be his ,chaplain ,extraordinary2 the said qualification being wrapped up in a black taffety cap1 together with a bottle-screw1 a knotting needle1 and a ball of sky-colour and white knotting4 ,if the said ,mr4 ,nicholson will repair to the pit-keeper's house1 in ,vinegar ,yard1 at the ,crooked ,billet1 he shall have the moveables restored1 giving a reasonable gratitude4 ,probably ,mr4 ,nicholson did not claim his qualification4 ,his patron was son of the ,lord ,dartmouth who corresponded with ,james ,,ii4 while expressing allegiance to ,william ,,iii41 and was subsequently ,queen ,anne's ,secretary of ,state1 and the annotator of ,burnet's ,history of his ,own ,times4 ,the audiences of ,king ,william's time were quick at noticing and applying political allusions2 and ,government looked as sharply after the dramatic poets as it did after the ,jacobite plotters4 ,when much intercourse was going on between the exiled king at ,st4 ,germains and his adherents in this country1 a ,colonel ,mottley 7of whose son1 as a dramatist1 ,i shall have occasion to speak in a future page7 was sent over by ,james with despatches4 ,the ,earl of ,nottingham laid watch for him at the ,blue ,posts1 in the ,haymarket1 but the ,secretary's officers missed the ,colonel1 seizing in his place a ,cornish gentleman1 named ,tredenham1 who was seated in a room1 surrounded by papers1 and waiting for the ,colonel4 ,tredenham and the documents were conveyed in custody before the ,earl1 to whom the former explained that he was a poet1 sketching out a play1 that the papers seized formed portion of the piece1 and that he had nothing to do with plots against his ,majesty de facto4 ,daniel ,finch1 however1 was as careful to read the roughly-sketched play1 as if it had been the details of a conspiracy2 and then the author was summoned before him4 ,well1 ,mr4 ,tredenham1 said he1 ,i have perused your play1 and heard your statement1 and as ,i can find no trace of a plot in either1 ,i think you may go free4 ,the sincerity of the audiences of those days is something doubtful1 if that be true which ,dryden affirms1 that he observed1 namely1 that in all our tragedies the audience cannot forbear laughing when the actors are to die3 'tis the most comic part of the whole play4 ,he says1 all our tragedies2 but we know that such was not the case when the heroes of ,shakspeare1 represented by ,betterton1 ,hart1 or ,harris1 suffered mimic dissolution1 and it is but a fair suggestion that it was only in the bombast and fustian tragedies1 in which death was the climax of a comic situation1 and treated bombastically1 that the audiences were moved to laughter4 ,sincere or not1 the resident ,londoners were great playgoers1 and gadders generally4 ,i have already quoted ,bishop ,hackett on this matter4 ,sermons thus testify to a matter of fashion4 ,it appears from a play1 ,dryden's ,sir ,martin ,marall1 that if ,londoners were the permanent patrons1 the country quality looked for an annual visit4 ,at the present time it is the visitors and not the residents in ,london who most frequent the theatre4 ,i came up1 as we country gentlewomen use1 at an ,easter ,term1 to the destruction of tarts and cheesecakes1 to see a new play1 buy a new gown1 take a turn in the park1 and so down again to sleep with my forefathers4 ,this resort to the theatres displeased better men than non-juring ,collier4 ,mirthful-minded ,south1 he who preached to the ,merchant ,tailors of the remnant that should be saved1 calls theatres those spiritual pest-houses1 where scarce anything is to be heard or seen but what tends to the corruption of good manners1 and from whence not one of a thousand returns1 but1 infected with the love of vice1 or at least with the hatred of it very much abated from what it was before4 ,and that1 ,i assure you1 is no inconsiderable point gained by the tempter1 as those who have any experience of their own hearts sufficiently know4 ,he who has no mind to trade with the devil1 should be so wise as to keep away from his shop4 ,south objects to a corrupt1 not to a well-trod stage4 ,yet ,south1 like ,collier later1 laid to the scene much of the sin of the age4 ,if we were to judge of the character of women by the comedies of the last half of the seventeenth century1 we might conclude that they were all1 without exception1 either constantly at the play1 or constantly wishing to be there4 ,but the ,marquis of ,halifax1 in his ,advice to a ,daughter1 shows that they were only a class4 ,some ladies1 he says1 are bespoke for merry meetings1 as ,bessus was for duels4 ,they are engaged in a circle of idleness1 where they turn round1 for the whole year1 without the interruption of a serious hour4 ,they know all the players' names1 and are intimately acquainted with all the booths at ,bartholomew ,fair4 ,the spring1 that bringeth out ,flies and ,fools1 maketh them inhabitants in ,hyde ,park4 ,in the winter1 they are an encumbrance to the play-house1 and the ballast of the drawing-room4 ,we may learn how the playhouse1 encumbered by the fast ladies of bygone years1 stood1 and what were the prospects of the stage at this time1 by looking into a private epistle4 ,a few lines in a letter from ,mr4 ,vanbrook 7afterwards ,sir ,john ,vanbrugh7 to the ,earl of ,manchester1 and written on ,christmas ,day1 #afii1 will show the position and hopes of the stage as that century was closing4 ,miss ,evans1 he writes1 the dancer at the new play-house1 is dead2 a fever slew her in eight and forty hours4 ,she's much lamented by the town1 as well as by the house1 who can't well bear her loss2 matters running very low with 'em this winter4 ,if ,congreve's play don't help 'em they are undone4 ',tis a comedy1 and will be played about six weeks hence4 ,nobody has seen it yet4 ,the same letter informs us that ,dick ,leveridge1 the bass singer of ,lincoln's ,inn ,fields ,theatre1 was tarrying in ,ireland1 rather than face his creditors in ,england1 and that ,dogget 7of whom there is no account1 during the years #afih1 #afii1 #agjj71 had been playing for a week at the above theatre1 for the sum of #cj6 ,this is the first instance ,i know of1 of the starring system2 and it is remarkable that the above sum should have been given for six nights' performances1 when ,betterton's salary did not exceed #e per week4 ,the century closed ill for the stage4 ,congreve's play1 ,the ,way of the ,world1 failed to give it any lustre4 ,dancers1 tumblers1 strong men1 and quadrupeds1 were called in to attract the town2 and the ,elephant at the ,great ,mogul1 in ,fleet ,street1 drew to such an extent that he would have been brought upon the stage1 but for the opinion of a master-carpenter1 that he would pull the house down4 ,there was an empty treasury at both the theatres4 ,there was ill-management at one1 and ill-health 7the declining health of ,betterton7 to mar the other4 ,and so closes the half century4 ,,note4--,in the second edition1 after the words1 ,this is the first instance of the 'starring' system1 ,dr4 ,doran adds3--,if ,dogget was the first star1 he was also an early stroller1 and head of a strolling company4 ,each member wore a brocaded waistcoat1 rode his own horse1 and was everywhere respected1 as a gentleman4 ,so says ,aston1 reminding one of ,hamlet's ,then came each actor on his ass4 ,steele1 in the ,tatler 7,no4 #ab71 speaks of the manager1 ,mac,swiney1 as little ,king ,oberon1 who mortgaged his whole empire 7the theatre7 to ,divito 7,christopher ,rich71 whom ,steele thus describes3 ,he has a perfect skill in being unintelligible in discourse1 and uncomeatable in business4 ,but he1 having no understanding in this polite way1 brought in upon us1 to get in his money1 ladder-dancers1 rope-dancers1 jugglers1 and mountebanks1 to strut in the place of ,shakspeare's heroes and ,jonson's humorists4 ,,footnotes3 #gj ,pepys certainly means on account of the dulness of the play4 #ga ,should be #aeth and #bb;d ,december #afgd4 ,illustration3 ,,sir ,,richard ,,steele4 ,,chapter ,,xiii4 ,a ,,seven ,,years' ,,rivalry4 ,the great players1 by giving action to the poet's words1 illustrated the quaintly expressed idea of the sweet singer who says3 ,what ,thought can think another ,thought can mend4 ,nevertheless1 the theatres had not proved profitable4 ,the public greeted acrobats with louder acclaim than any poet4 ,king ,william cared more to see the feats of ,kentish ,patagonians than to listen to ,shakspeare2 and1 for a time1 ,dogget1 by creating laughter1 reaped more glittering reward than ,betterton1 by drawing tears4 ,the first season1 however1 of the eighteenth century was commenced with great spirit4 ,drury ,lane opened with ,cibber's ,love ,makes a ,man1 an adaptation from ,beaumont and ,fletcher4 ,cibber was the ,clodio2 ,wilks1 ,carlos2 and ,mrs4 ,verbruggen1 ,louisa4 ,five other new pieces were produced in this brief season4 ,this was followed by the ,humour of the ,age1 a dull comedy1 by ,baker1 who generally gave his audience something to laugh at1 and showed some originality in more than one of his five pieces4 ,he was an attorney's son1 and an ,oxford ,university man2 but he took to writing for the stage1 had an ephemeral success1 and died early1 in worse plight than any author1 even in the days when authors occasionally died in evil condition4 ,the third novelty was ,settle's mad operatic tragedy1 the ,siege of ,troy1#gb with a procession in which figured six white elephants6 ,griffin returned to the stage from the army1 with ,captain attached to his name1 and played ,ulysses4 ,the dulness and grandeur of ,settle's piece were hardly relieved by ,farquhar's sequel to his ,constant ,couple1 ,sir ,harry ,wildair4 ,the reputation of the former piece secured for the latter a run of nine nights1 so were successes calculated in those early days4 ,wilks laid down ,sir ,harry to enact the distresses of ,lorraine1 in ,mrs4 ,trotter's new play1 ,the ,unhappy ,penitent1 which gave way in turn for ,durfey's intriguing comedy1 ,the ,bath1 or the ,western ,lass1 in which ,mrs4 ,verbruggen's ,gillian ,homebred1 made her the darling of the town4 ,in the same season1 the company at ,lincoln's ,inn ,fields produced a like number of new pieces4 ,in the first1 the ,double ,distress1 ,booth1 ,verbruggen1 ,mrs4 ,barry1 and ,mrs4 ,bracegirdle wasted their talents4 ,mrs4 ,pix1 the author1 having failed in this mixture of rhyme and blank verse1 failed in a greater degree in her next play in prose1 the ,czar of ,muscovy4 ,booth and ,mrs4 ,barry could do nothing with such materials4 ,the masters forthwith enacted the ,lady's ,visiting ,day1 by ,burnaby4 ,in this comedy1 ,betterton played the gallant lover1 ,courtine1 to the ,lady ,lovetoy of ,mrs4 ,barry4 ,the lady here would only marry a prince4 ,courtine wins her as ,prince ,alexander of ,muscovy2 and the audience laughed as they recognised therein the incident of the merry ,lord ,montagu wooing the mad ,duchess-,dowager of ,albemarle1 as the ,empress of ,china1 and marrying her under that very magnificent dignity1 to any inferior to which the ,duchess had declared she would not stoop4 ,the hilarity of the public was next challenged by the production of ,granville 7,lord ,lansdowne's7 ,jew of ,venice1--improved from ,shakspeare1 who was described as having furnished the rude sketches which had been amended and adorned by ,granville's new master-strokes6#gc ,gildon's dull piece of ,druidism1 ,love's ,victim1 or the ,queen of ,wales1 appeared and failed1#gd notwithstanding its wonderful cast2 but ,corye's ,cure for ,jealousy brought the list of novelties merrily to a close2 for though the audience saw no fun in it1 they did in the anger of the author--a little man1 with a whistle of a voice1 who abandoned the law for the stage1 and was as weak an actor as he was an author4 ,he attributed his failure to the absurd admiration of the public for ,farquhar4 ,he was absurd enough to say so in print1 and to speak contemptuously of poor ,george's ,jubilee ,farce4 ,in those wicked days1 literary men loved not each other6 ,in #agjb1 the ,drury ,lane ,company brought out eight new pieces1 and worked indefatigably4 ,they commenced with ,dennis's ,comical ,gallant1--an improved edition of ,shakspeare's ,merry ,wives1 in which ,powell made but a sorry ,falstaff4 ,this piece gave way to one entirely original1 and very much duller1 the ,generous ,conqueror1 of the ex-fugitive ,jacobite1 ,bevil ,higgons4 ,in this poor play1 ,bevil illustrated the right divine and impeccability of his late liege sovereign1 ,king ,james2 denounced the ,revolution1 by implication2 did in his only play what ,dr4 ,sacheverell did in the pulpit1 and made even his fellow ,jacobites laugh by his bouncing line1 ,the gods and god-like kings can do no wrong4 ,laughter more genuine might have been expected from the next novelty1 ,farquhar's ,inconstant2 but that clever adaptation of ,fletcher's ,wild-,goose ,chase1 with ,wilks for ,young ,mirabel1 did not affect the town so hilariously as ,i have seen it do when ,charles ,kemble1 gracefully1 but somewhat too demonstratively1 enacted the part of that gay1 silly1 but lucky gentleman4 ,still less pleased were the public with the next play1 tossed up for them in a month1 and condemned in a night1 ,burnaby's ,modish ,husband4 ,of course1 this husband1 ,lord ,promise1 is a man who loves his neighbour's wife1 and cares not who loves his own4 ,an honest man in this comedy1 ,sir ,lively ,cringe1 does not think ill of married women1 and he is made a buffoon and more1 accordingly4 ,when ,lady ,cringe1 in the dark1 holds her lover ,lionel with one hand1 her husband with the other1 and declares that her fingers are locked with those of the man she loves best in the world1 ,sir ,lively believes her4 ,in this wise did the stage hold the mirror up to nature at the beginning of the last century4 ,not more edifying nor much more successful was ,vanbrugh's ,false ,friend1 a comedy in which there is a murder enacted before the audience6 ,what the house lost by it was fully made up by the unequivocal success of the next new piece1 the ,funeral1 or ,grief la ,mode4 ,the author was then six and twenty years of age2 this was his first piece1 and his name was ,steele4 ,all that was known of him then was1 that he was a native of ,dublin1 had been fellow-pupil at the ,charter ,house with ,addison1 had left the ,university without a degree1 and was said to have lost the succession to an estate in ,wexford by enlisting as a private gentleman in the ,horse ,guards2 a phrase significant enough1 as the proper designation of that body1 at this day1 is ,gentlemen of her ,majesty's ,royal ,horse ,guards4 ,he was the wildest and wittiest young dog about town1 when in #agja1 he published1 with a dedication to ,lord ,cutts1 to whom he had been private secretary1 and through whom he had been appointed to a company in ,lord ,lucas's ,fusiliers1 his ,christian ,hero1 a treatise in which he showed what he was not1 by showing what a man ought to be4 ,it brought the poor fellow into incessant perplexity1 and even peril4 ,some thought him a hypocrite1 others provoked him as a coward1 all measured his sayings and doings by his maxims in his ,christian ,hero1 and ,dick ,steele was suffering in the regard of the town1 when he resolved to redeem the character which he could not keep up to the level of his religious hero1 by composing a comedy6 ,he thoroughly succeeded1 and there were troopers enough in the house to have beat the rest of the audience into shouting approbation1 had they not been well inclined to do so spontaneously4 ,the ,funeral is the merriest and the most perfect of ,steele's comedies4 ,the characters are strongly marked1 the wit genial1 and not indecent4 ,steele was among the first who set about reforming the licentiousness of the old comedy4 ,his satire in the ,funeral is not against virtue1 but vice and silliness4 ,when the two lively ladies in widow's weeds meet1 ,steele's classical memory served him with a good illustration4 ,i protest1 ,i wonder1 says ,lady ,brumpton 7,mrs4 ,verbruggen71 how two of us thus clad can meet with a grave face4 ,the most genuine humour in the piece was that applied against lawyers2 but more especially in the satire against undertakers1 and all their mockery of woe4 ,take the scene in which ,sable 7,johnson7 is giving instructions to his men1 and reviewing them the while3--,ha1 you're a little more upon the dismal4 ,this fellow has a good mortal look--place him near the corpse4 ,that wainscot-face must be a-top o' the stairs4 ,that fellow's almost in a fright1 that looks as if he were full of some strange misery1 at the end o' the hall6 ,so6--,but ,i'll fix you all myself4 ,let's have no laughing now1 on any provocation4 ,look yonder at that hale1 well-looking puppy6 ,you ungrateful scoundrel1 didn't ,i pity you1 take you out of a great man's service1 and show you the pleasure of receiving wages8 ,didn't ,i give you ten1 then fifteen1 then twenty shillings a-week1 to be sorrowful8 ,and the more ,i give you the gladder you are6 ,this sort of humour was new1 no wonder it made a sensation4 ,steele became the spoiled child of the town4 ,nothing1 said he1 ever makes the town so fond of a man as a successful play4 ,old ,sunderland and younger ,halifax patronised ,steele for his own and for ,addison's sake2 and the author of the new comedy received the appointment of ,writer of the ,gazette4 ,after a closing of the houses during ,bartholomew ,fair1 the ,drury ,lane ,company met again1 and again won the town by ,cibber's ,she ,would and ,she ,would ,not4 ,this excellent comedy contrasts well with the same author's also admirable comedy1 the ,careless ,husband4 ,in the latter there is much talk of action2 in the former there is much action during very good talk4 ,there is much fun1 little vulgarity1 sharp epigrams on the manners and morals of the times1 good-humoured satire against popery1 and a succession of incidents which never flags from the rise to the fall of the curtain4 ,the plot may be not altogether original1 and there is an occasional incorrectness in the local colour2 but taken as a whole1 it is a very amusing comedy1 and it kept the stage even longer than ,steele's ,funeral4 ,far less successful was ,drury with the last and eighth new play of this season1 ,farquhar's ,twin ,rivals1 for the copyright of which the author received #ae1 #fs4 from ,tonson4 ,farquhar1 perhaps1 took more pains with this than with any of his plays1 and has received praise in return2 but after ,steele and ,cibber's comedies1 the ,twin ,rivals had only what the ,french call a succs d'estime4 ,to the eight pieces of ,drury1 ,lincoln's ,inn opposed half a dozen1 only one of which has come down to our times1 namely1 ,rowe's ,tamerlane1 with which the company opened the season3--,tamerlane1 ,betterton2 ,bajazet1 ,verbruggen2 ,axalla1 ,booth2 ,arpasia1 ,mrs4 ,barry4 ,in this piece1 ,rowe left sacred for profane history1 and made his tragedy so politically allusive to ,louis ,,xiv4 in the character of ,bajazet1 and to ,william ,,iii4 in ,tamerlane1 that it was for many years represented at each theatre on every recurring #dth and #eth of ,november1 the anniversary of the birth and of the landing of ,king ,william4 ,in ,dublin1 the anniversary of the great delivery from ,popery and wooden shoes1 was marked by a piece of gallantry on the part of the ,lord ,lieutenant1 or1 in his absence1 the ,lords ,justices--namely1 by arrangement with the manager1 admission to the boxes was free to every lady disposed to honour the theatre with her presence6 ,rowe has made a virtuous hero of ,tamerlane1 without at all causing him to resemble ,william of ,orange2 but1 irrespective of this1 there is life in this tragedy1 which1 with some of the bluster of the old1 had some of the sentiment of a new school4 ,in #agdf1 when the ,scottish ,rebellion had been entirely suppressed1 it was acted on the above anniversaries with much attendant enthusiasm1 ,mrs4 ,pritchard speaking an epilogue written for the occasion by ,horace ,walpole1 and licensed by the ,chamberlain1 the ,duke of ,grafton1 notwithstanding a compliment to his ,grace1 which ,walpole thought might induce the ,duke1 out of sheer modesty1 to withhold his official sanction4 ,tamerlane has been a favourite part with many actors4 ,lady ,morgan's father1 ,mr4 ,owenson1 made his first appearance in it1 under ,garrick's rule2 but a ,tamerlane with a strong ,irish brogue and comic redundant action created different sensations from those intended by the author1 and though the audience did not hiss1 they laughed abundantly4 ,to ,tamerlane succeeded ,antiochus the ,great1 a tragedy1 full of the old love1 bombast1 and murder4 ,the author was a ,mrs4 ,jane ,wiseman1 who was a servant in the family of ,mr4 ,wright1 of ,oxford1 where1 having filled her mind with plays and romances1 she wrote this hyper-romantic play1 and having married a well-to-do ,westminster vintner1 named ,holt1 she succeeded in seeing it fail1 as it well deserved to do4#ge ,it seemed as if the king-killing in the plebeian lady's tragedy required some counter-action1 and accordingly1 ,lord ,orrery's posthumous play of ,altemira was next brought forward4 ,there is a true king and also an usurper in this roaring yet sentimental tragedy1 in whom ,whigs and ,tories might recognise the sovereigns whom they respectively adored4 ,one monarch himself complacently remarks3-- ,whatever crimes are acted for a crown1 ,the gods forgive1 when once that crown's put on4 ,to touch the ,lord's anointed is an unpardonable sin2 but if the ,whigs were rendered uneasy by this sentiment1 they probably found comfort in the speech wherein ,clerimont#gf 7,betterton71 while owning respect for the deprived monarch1 confesses the fitness of being loyal to the one who displaced him4 ,to these three tragedies succeeded three now-forgotten comedies1 ,the ,gentleman ,cully1 in which ,booth fooled it to the top of his bent1 in the only ,english comedy which ends without a marriage4 ,the ,beaux' ,duel1 and the ,stolen ,heiress1 two of ,mrs4 ,carroll's 7she had not yet become ,mrs4 ,centlivre7 bolder plagiarisms from old dramatists1 brought the ,lincoln's ,inn season to a close4 ,in the season of #agjc1 ,drury ,lane produced seven1 and ,lincoln's ,inn ,fields six1 pieces4 ,the first1 at ,drury1 was ,baker's ,tunbridge ,walks1 the manners of which smack of the old loose times4 ,then came ,durfey's ,old ,mode and the ,new1 a long1 dull1 satirical comedy1 on the fashions of ,elizabeth's days and those of ,anne4 ,durfey was then at his twenty-eighth comedy1 and in the decline of his powers4 ,little flourished about him save that terrific beak which served for a nose1 and also for an excuse for his dislike to have his likeness taken4 ,in other respects1 the wit1 on whose shoulder ,charles had leaned1 to whose songs ,william had listened1 and at them ,anne even then laughed1 was in vogue1 but not with the theatrical public4 ,a new author tempted that public1 in ,april1 with a comedy1 entitled ,fair ,example1 or the ,modish ,citizens1 by ,estcourt1 a strolling player1 but soon afterwards a clever actor in this company1 a man whom ,addison praised1 and a good fellow1 whom ,steele admired4 ,his career had1 hitherto1 been a strange one4 ,he ran away from a respectable home at ,tewkesbury1 when fifteen1 to play ,roxalana with some itinerants1 and fled from the company1 on being pursued thither by his friends1 in the dress lent him by a kind-hearted girl of the troop4 ,in this dress1 ,estcourt made his way on foot to ,chipping ,norton1 at the inn of which place the weary supposed damsel was invited to share the room of the landlord's daughter4 ,then ensued a scene as comic as any ever invented by dramatist1 but from which the parties came off with some perplexity1 and no loss of honour4 ,the young runaway was caught and sent home1 and thence he was despatched to ,hatton ,garden1 and bound by articles to learn there the apothecary's mystery4 ,it is not known when he broke from these bonds2 but it is certain that he again--some say after he had himself failed in the practice of the mystery he had painfully learned1 took to the joys and sorrows1 trials1 triumphs1 and temptations of a wandering player's life till #afih1 or about that period1 when he appeared in ,dublin1 with success4 ,he was between thirty and forty years of age1 when he came to ,london with the ,fair ,example1 an adaptation1 like the ,confederacy1 of ,dancour's ,modish ,citizens1 but not destined to an equal success1 despite the acting of ,cibber and ,norris1 and that brilliant triad of ladies1 ,verbruggen1 ,oldfield1 and ,powell4 ,in ,june1 ,mrs4 ,carroll served up ,molire's ,mdecin malgr lui1 in the cold dish called ,love's ,contrivance2 and1 in the same month1 ,wilkinson and his sole comedy1 ,vice ,reclaimed1 appeared2 and are now forgotten4 ,next1 ,manning tried the judgment of the town with his ,all for the ,better1 a comedy1 of triple plots--stolen from old writers4 ,manning resembled ,steele only in leaving the ,university without a degree4 ,if ,steele obtained a ,government appointment after his dramatic success1 ,manning acquired a better after his failure4 ,he was1 first1 ,secretary to our ,legation in ,switzerland2 and1 secondly1 ,envoy to the ,cantons2 and was about as respectable in diplomacy as in the drama4 ,gildon's play of the ,patriot1 or the ,italian ,conspiracy1 the last produced this year1#gg with ,mills as ,cosmo de ,medici1 and ,wilks as his son1 ,julio1 merits notice only as an instance of the mania for reconstructing accepted stories4 ,gildon1 towards the close of his wayward and silly career1 transmuted ,lee's ancient ,roman ,lucius ,junius ,brutus1 into the modern ,italian ,patriot4 ,the public consigned it to oblivion4 ,during this season1 when ,macbeth was the only one of ,shakspeare's plays performed1#gh the theatre in ,dorset ,gardens was prepared for opera2 and in the summer the company followed ,queen ,anne to ,bath1 by command2 but there went not with them the most brilliant actress of light comedy that the two centuries had hitherto seen1 ,mrs4 ,verbruggen1 that sparkling ,mrs4 ,mountfort whose father1 ,mr4 ,perceval1 was condemned to death for treason against ,king ,william1 on the day her husband was murdered by ,lord ,mohun6 ,the ,jacobite father was1 however1 pardoned4 ,mrs4 ,mountfort1 or ,verbruggen1 left a successor equal1 perhaps superior1 to herself1 in ,mrs4 ,oldfield4 ,the season of #agjc1 at ,lincoln's ,inn ,fields1 was distinguished by the success of ,rowe's ,fair ,penitent1--the one great triumph of the year4#gi ,the other novelties require only to be recorded4 ,that most virulent and unscrupulous of ,whig partizan-writers1 ,oldmixon1 opened the season with his third and last dramatic essay1 ,the ,governor of ,cyprus1 supported by ,betterton1 ,booth1 ,powell1 and ,mrs4 ,barry4 ,oldmixon was a poor dramatist1 but he made a tolerable excise officer1--a post which he acquired by his party-writings4 ,he would not1 however1 be remembered now1 but for the pre-eminence for dirt and dulness which ,pope has awarded him in the ,dunciad4 ,the entire strength of the company1 ,betterton excepted1 was wasted on the comedies1--,different ,widows1 by a judicious1 anonymous author2 ,love ,betrayed1 ,burnaby's last of a poor four1 and that a marring of ,shakspeare's ,twelfth ,night2 and ,as you find ,it 7for ,mrs4 ,porter's benefit1 in ,april74 ,this was the only play written by ,charles ,boyle1 grandson of the dramatist ,earl of ,orrery1 to which title he succeeded1 four months after his comedy 7the dullest in the ,english language7 had failed4 ,boyle may have been a worthy antagonist of ,bentley1 touching the genuineness of the ,epistles of ,phalaris2 but he could not vie with such writers of comedy as ,cibber1 ,farquhar1 and ,steele4 ,the production of the ,fickle ,shepherdess1--a ruthless handling of ,randolph's fine pastoral1 ,amyntas1--pleased but for a few nights1 though every woman of note in the company1 and all beautiful1 played in it1--making love to1 or prettily sighing at1 or as prettily sulking with1 each other4 ,the great event of the season was1 undoubtedly1 the ,fair ,penitent3 ,lothario1 ,powell2 ,horatio1 ,betterton2 ,altamont1 ,verbruggen2 ,calista1 ,mrs4 ,barry2 ,lavinia1 ,mrs4 ,bracegirdle4 ,rowe had1 in his ,tamerlane1 thundered1 after the manner of ,dryden3 had tried to be as pathetic as ,otway1 and had employed some of the bombast of ,lee4 ,but he lacked strength to make either of the heroes of that resonant tragedy vigorous4 ,in devoting himself1 henceforth1 to illustrate the woes and weaknesses of heroines1 he discovered where his real powers lay2 and ,calista is one of the most successful of his portraitures4 ,there is gross and unavowed plagiarism from ,massinger's ,fatal ,dowry1 but there is a greater purity of sentiment in ,rowe1 who leaves1 however1 much room for improvement in that respect1 by his successors4 ,richardson saw this1 when he made of his ,lovelace a somewhat purified ,lothario4 ,rowe1 however1 notwithstanding the weak point in his ,fair ,penitent1 who is more angry at being found out1 than sorry for what has happened1 has been eminently successful2 for all the sympathy of the audience is freely rendered to ,calista4 ,the tragedy may still be called an acting play1 though it has lost something of the popularity it retained during the last century1 when even ,edward1 ,duke of ,york1 and ,lady ,stanhope1 enacted ,lothario and ,calista1 in the once famous private theatre in ,downing ,street4 ,johnson's criticism is all praise1 as regards both fable and treatment4 ,the style is purely ,english1 as might be expected of a writer who said of ,dryden1 that-- ,backed by his friends1 th' invader brought along ,a crew of foreign words into our tongue1 ,to ruin and enslave our free-born ,english song4 ,still1 the prevailing faction propped his throne1 ,and to four volumes let his plays run on4 ,shakspeare1 in name1 at least1 re-appears more frequently on the stage during the ,drury ,lane season of #agjc-d1 when ,hamlet1 ,king ,lear1 ,macbeth1 ,timon of ,athens1 ,richard ,,iii41 the ,tempest1 and ,titus ,andronicus1 were performed4#hj ,these1 however1 were the improved editions of the poets4 ,the novelties were1 the ,lying ,lover1 by ,steele2 ,love1 the ,leveller2 and the ,albion ,queens4 ,it was the season in which great ,anne fruitlessly forbade the presence of vizard-masks in the pit1 and of gallants on the stage2 recommended cleanliness of speech1 and denounced the shabby people who occasionally tried to evade the money-takers4#ha ,steele1 in his play1 attempted to support one of the good objects which the ,queen had in view2 but in striving to be pure1 after his idea of purity1 and to be moral1 after a loose idea of morality1 he failed altogether in wit1 humour1 and invention4 ,he thought to prove himself a good churchman1 he said1 even in so small a matter as a comedy2 and in his character of comic poet1 ,i have been1 he says1 a martyr and confessor for the church1 for this play was damned for its piety4 ,this is as broad an untruth as anything uttered by the ,lying ,lover himself1 who1 when he does express a mawkish sentiment after he has killed a man in his liquor1 can only be held to be a liar1 as before4 ,steele was condemned for stupidity in a piece1 the only ray of humour in which pierces through the dirty1 noisy1 drunken throng of gallows birds in ,newgate4 ,that ,steele seriously intended his play to be the beginning of an era of new comedy1 is1 however1 certain4 ,in the prologue1 it was said of the author-- ,he aims to make the coming action move ,on the tried laws of ,friendship and of ,love4 ,he offers no gross vices to your sight1-- ,those too much horror raise1 for just delight4 ,steele's comedy was a step in a right direction2 and his great fault was pretending to be half-ashamed of having made it4 ,that it had a clear stage and no favour1 is literally true4 ,it was one of the first pieces played without a mingling of the public with the players2--an evil fashion1 which was not entirely suppressed for threescore years after ,queen ,anne's decree1 when ,garrick proved more absolute than her majesty4 ,it was a practice which so annoyed ,baron1 that proudest of ,french actors1 that to suggest to the audience in the house the absurdity of it1 he would turn his back on them for a whole act1 and play to the audience on the stage4 ,sometimes the noise was so loud1 that an actor's voice could be scarcely heard4 ,you speak too low6 cried a pit-critic to ,defresne4 ,and you too high6 retorted the actor4 ,the offended pit screamed its indignation1 and demanded an abject apology4 ,gentlemen1 said ,defresne1 ,i never felt the degradation of my position till now2 444 and the pit interrupted the bold exordium by rounds of applause1 under which he resumed his part4 ,of the other pieces produced this season at ,drury ,lane1 it will suffice to say1 that ,love the ,leveller was by ,g4 ,b41 gent41 who ascribes its failure to his having adopted the counsel of friends1 and who consoles himself by the thought1 that it found so favourable a reception that the best plays hardly ever met with a fuller audience4 ,happy man6 his piece was at least damned by a full house4 ,the ,albion ,queens was an old play1 by ,banks1 which1 dealing with the affairs of ,england and ,scotland1 was held to be politically dangerous2 but good ,queen ,anne now licensed it1 on the report of its inoffensiveness made by a nobleman2 and its dulness1 relieved by good acting1 delighted our easy forefathers for half a century4 ,lincoln's ,inn failed to distinguish itself this season4 ,eton had no reason to be proud of the comedy of its alumnus1 ,walker1 ,marry1 or ,do ,worse2 and in the tragedy of ,abra ,mul1 with its similes1 which continually run away with their rider1 the young ,master of ,arts1 ,trapp1 shows that he was as poor a poet1#hb in his early days1 as that translation of ,virgil1 which so broke the rest of ,mrs4 ,trapp1 proved him to be in his later years1 when he was ,d4,d41 and ,professor of ,poetry4 ,dennis's ,liberty ,asserted only demonstrated how heartily he hated the ,french2 and as there was no dramatist who did so1 in the same degree1 when the ,french and the ,pretender were very obnoxious1 some years later1 this thunder of ,dennis was revived to stimulate antipathies4 ,queen ,anne's ,scottish historiographer did nothing for the ,english stage1 by his comedy of ,love at ,first ,sight1 and farces like the ,stage ,coach1 the ,wits of ,woman1 and ,squire ,trelooby1 are only remarkable because ,betterton and the leading actors played in them as readily as in first pieces4 ,during ,may ,fair1 the theatre was closed1 some of the actors playing there1 at ,pinkethman's booth4 ,in the same season they played before the ,queen at ,st4 ,james's1 in the ,merry ,wives of ,windsor1 with ,betterton as ,falstaff1 which he subsequently acted for his own benefit4 ,this piece1 and also ,julius ,csar1 ,othello1 and ,timon of ,athens1 were the plays by or from ,shakspeare1 which were played this season4 ,the season of #agjd-e1 at ,drury ,lane1 now prospering1 to the considerable vexation of ,kit ,rich1 chief proprietor1 who felt himself unable to avoid paying his company their salaries1 is notable for the production of ,cibber's ,careless ,husband4 ,he who now reads it for the first time may be surprised to hear that in this comedy a really serious and eminently successful attempt to reform the licentiousness of the drama was made by one who had been himself a great offender4#hc ,nevertheless the fact remains4 ,in ,lord ,morelove we have the first lover in ,english comedy1 since licentiousness possessed it1 who is at once a gentleman and an honest man4 ,in ,lady ,easy1 we have1 what was hitherto unknown1 or laughed at1--a virtuous1 married woman4 ,it is a conversational piece1 not one of much action4 ,the dialogue is admirably sustained1 not only in repartee1 but in descriptive parts4 ,there is some refinement manifested in treating and talking of things unrefined1 and incidents are pictured with a master's art4 ,cibber's greatest claim to respect seems to me to rest on this elegant and elaborate1 though far from faultless comedy4 ,so carefully did he construct the character of the beautiful and brilliant coquette1 ,lady ,betty ,modish1 whose waywardness and selfishness are finally subdued by a worthy lover1 that he despaired finding an actress with power enough to realise his conception4 ,it was written for ,mrs4 ,verbruggen 7,mountfort71 but she was now dead2 ,mrs4 ,bracegirdle might have played it2 but ,bracy was not a member of the ,drury ,lane company4 ,there was1 indeed1 ,mrs4 ,oldfield1 but ,colley could scarcely see more in her than an actress of promise4 ,reluctantly1 however1 he entrusted the part to her1 forboding discomfort2#hd but there ensued a triumph for the actress and the play1 for which ,colley was admiringly grateful to the end of his life4 ,to her1 he confessed1 was chiefly owing the success1 though every character was adequately cast4 ,he eulogised her excellence of action1 and her personal manner of conversing4 ,he adds1 ,there are many sentiments in the character of ,lady ,betty ,modish that ,i may almost say1 were originally her own1 or only dressed with a little more care than when they negligently fell from her lively humour2 had her birth placed her in a higher rank of life1 she had certainly appeared in reality what in this play she only excellently acted1 an agreeably gay woman of quality1 a little too conscious of her natural attractions4 ,neither ,cibber's friends nor foes seem to have at all enjoyed his success4 ,they would not compromise their own reputation by questioning the merit of this rare piece of dramatic excellence1 but they insinuated or asserted that he was not the author4 ,it was written by ,defoe1 by the ,duke of ,argyll1 by ,mrs4 ,oldfield's particular friend1 ,maynwaring6 ,congreve1 who had revelled in impurity1 and stoutly asserted his cleanliness1 ungenerously declared1 ,cibber has produced a play consisting of fine gentlemen and fine conversation1 all together1 which the ridiculous town1 for the most part1 likes4 ,congreve had not then forgiven the ridiculous world for receiving so coldly his own last comedy1 ,the ,way of the ,world4 ,dr4 ,armstrong has more honestly analysed the play1 and pointed out its defects1 without noticing its merits2 but ,walpole1 no bad judge of a comedy of such character1 has enthusiastically declared that it deserves to be immortal4 ,it has failed in that respect1 because its theme1 manners1 follies1 and allusions are obsolete1 to say nothing of a company to follow even decently the original cast1 which included ,sir ,charles ,easy1 ,wilks2 ,lord ,foppington1 ,cibber2 and ,lady ,betty ,modish1 ,mrs4 ,oldfield4 ,steele's ,tender ,husband1 or the ,accomplished ,fools1 in which he had ,addison for a coadjutor1 was produced in ,april #agjd4he ,addison's share therein was not avowed till long subsequently2 but it was handsomely acknowledged1 at last1 by ,steele1 in the ,spectator4 ,in the concluding paper of the seventh volume1 ,steele alluded to certain scenes which had been most applauded4 ,these1 he said1 were by ,addison2 and honest ,dick added1 that he had ever since thought meanly of himself in not having publicly avowed the fact4 ,this comedy was chiefly a satire on the evils of romance reading2 and was of a strictly moral1 yet decidedly heavy tendency2 but with a ,biddy ,tipkin 7,mrs4 ,oldfield71 to which there has been1 as to ,lady ,betty ,modish1 no efficient successor4 ,there was a good end in both these plays4 ,the other novelties1 ,arsinoe1 ,queen of ,cyprus1 an opera2 ,gibraltar1 or the ,spanish ,adventurer1 a failure of ,dennis's2 ,farewell ,folly1 by ,motteux2 and the ,quacks1 by ,swiney--oblivion wraps them all4 ,in this season ,dick ,estcourt made his first appearance in ,london as ,dominic1 in the ,spanish ,friar4 ,of ,shakspeare's plays1 ,hamlet1 ,henry ,,iv41 and ,macbeth1 were frequently repeated during the season4 ,arsinoe1 which ,i have mentioned above1 merits a special word in passing1 as being the first attempt to establish opera in ,england1 after the fashion of that of ,italy4 ,if this attempt1 says ,clayton1 the composer1 who understood ,english no better than he did music1 shall be a means of bringing this manner of music to be used in my native country1 ,i shall think my study and pains very well employed4 ,the principal singer was ,mrs4 ,tofts1 who for two years had been singing1 after the play1 at ,lincoln's ,inn ,fields1 against ,marguerite de l',epine1 the pupil of ,greber1 and subsequently the ill-favoured but happy wife of ,dr4 ,pepusch1 who fondly called her ,hecate--she answering good-humouredly to the name4 ,the ,earl of ,nottingham 7son of ,lord ,chancellor ,finch71 and the ,duke of ,bedford1 who lost by dice more than his father made by the ,bedford ,level1 patronised and went into ecstasy at the song and shake of the ,italian lady1 as ,marguerite was called4 ,the proud ,duke of ,somerset1 who was as mean as he was proud1 and1 according to ,lord ,cowper1 as cowardly as he was arrogant1 supported native talent1 in ,mrs4 ,tofts2 as did also that ,duke of ,devonshire1 whom ,evelyn wonderingly saw lose1 with calmness1 at ,newmarket1 #afjj1 and who was afterwards the munificent lover1 and heart-stricken mourner1 of another beautiful vocalist1 ,miss ,campion4 ,mrs4 ,tofts had another supporter in her too zealous servant1 ,anne ,barwick1 who one night went to ,drury ,lane1 and assailed ,marguerite with hisses and oranges1 to the great disgust of her honest mistress4 ,in such discord did opera commence among us4 ,arsinoe1 however1 had a certain success1 towards which the composer1 ,clayton1 contributed little2 and he was destined to do less subsequently4 ,the season of the rival company was passed in two houses3--at ,lincoln's ,inn ,fields1 from ,october till the ,april of #agje1 when the company with the four capital ,b4's1 ,betterton1 ,booth1 ,mrs4 ,barry1 and ,mrs4 ,bracegirdle1 removed to the house in the ,haymarket1 built for them by ,vanbrugh1 under a subscription filled by thirty persons of quality1 at #ajj each1 for which they received free admissions for life4 ,under his licence at ,lincoln's ,inn ,fields1 ,betterton produced nothing of note this season but ,rowe's ,biters1 a satirical comedy1 which failed4 ,at the end of the season he consigned his licence to ,vanbrugh1 under whom he engaged as leading tragedian4 ,vanbrugh opened on the #ith of ,april1 with an opera1 the ,triumph of ,love4 ,it failed1 as did old plays inadequately filled1 and new pieces1 by ,mrs4 ,pix1 ,swiney1 and one or two other obscure writers1 including ,chaves1 author of a condemned comedy1 the ,cares of ,love4 ,baker describes ,chaves as a person of no consideration1 on the ground that he dedicated his play to ,sir ,william ,read1 the ,mountebank1 who1 ,i think1 could very well afford to pay the usual fee4 ,with these poor aids1 and many mischances1 the first season at the ,queen's ,theatre1 on the site of our present ,opera ,house1 came to an unsatisfactory conclusion4 ,the season of #agje-f1 at ,drury ,lane1 with a few nights at ,dorset ,gardens1 would have been equally unsatisfactory1 but for one great success to balance the failures of repatching of old pieces1 worthless new comedies1 and the fruitless struggle of fashionable patrons to sustain ,cibber's tragedy1 ,perolla and ,izadora4 ,the great success was ,farquhar's ,recruiting ,officer1 played on the #hth ,april #agjf1 with this cast4 ,plume1 ,wilks2 ,brazen1 ,cibber2 ,kite1 ,estcourt2 ,bullock1 ,bullock2 ,balance1 ,keene2 ,worthy1 ,williams2 ,costar ,pearmain1 ,norris2 ,appletree1 ,fairbank2 ,sylvia1 ,mrs4 ,oldfield2 ,melinda1 ,mrs4 ,rogers2 ,rose1 ,mrs4 ,susan ,mountfort2 ,lucy1 ,mrs4 ,sapsford4 ,this lively comedy was so successful that ,tonson1 in a fit of liberality1 gave the author fifteen pounds1 and a supplementary half crown for the copyright4 ,the money was welcome2 for1 between having married1 or rather being married by1 a woman who pretended she had a large fortune1 when she really had only a large amount of love for ,farquhar1 who was more attracted by the pretence than the reality2 between this1 his commission sold1 his patrons indifferent1 his family cares increasing1 and his health declining1 poor ,george was in sorry need1 yet buoyant spirits4 ,critics foretold that this play would live for ever2 but unfortunately it has been found impossible to separate the wit and the lively action from the more objectionable parts1 and we may not expect to see its revival4 ,farquhar has drawn on his own experiences in the construction1 and all the amiable people in the piece were transcripts of good ,shrewsbury folk1 whose names have been preserved4 ,farquhar immortalised the virtues of his hosts1 and did not1 like ,foote1 watch them at the tables at which he was a guest1 to subsequently expose them to public ridicule4 ,santlow1 famed for dance1 first bounded on to the stage during this season1 and the heart of ,mr4 ,secretary ,craggs bounded in unison4 ,miss ,younger1 too1 first trod the boards1 ,march #agjf1 when about seven years old1 as the ,princess ,elizabeth1 in ,virtue ,betrayed2 but1 perhaps1 the most notable circumstance of the year was1 that the chapel in ,russell ,court was then building2#hf but it was under difficulties1 to extricate it from which the ,drury ,lane company played ,hamlet1 and handed over the handsome proceeds to the building committee6 ,vanbrugh's two comedies1 the ,confederacy and the ,mistake 7the latter still acted under the title of ,lovers' ,quarrels71 ,rowe's ,ulysses1 the ,faithful ,general1 by an anonymous young lady1 a forgotten tragedy1 the ,revolution of ,sweden1 by ,mrs4 ,trotter1 an equally forgotten comedy1 ,adventures in ,madrid1 by fat ,mrs4 ,pix1 tragic1 comic1 and extravaganza operas1 by ,lansdown1 ,durfey1 and others1--all this novelty1 a fair company of actors1 troops of dancers1 and a company of vocalists with ,dick ,leveridge and ,mrs4 ,tofts at the head of them1 failed to render the often broken but prolonged season of #agje-f1 which begun in ,lincoln's ,inn ,fields1 and terminated at the house in the ,haymarket1 profitable4 ,in many respects it did not deserve to be1 for ,vanbrugh1 with more wit and humour1 and more judgment in adaptation than ,ravenscroft1 sought to bring back comedy to the uncleanliness in which the latter writer had left it4 ,there came a cry1 however1 from the outer world against this condition of things4 ,lord ,gardenstone1 a lord of seat1 ,i believe1 and not a lord of state1 as it is said in the ,north1 indignantly remarked of the ,confederacy3--,this is one of those plays which throw infamy on the ,english stage and general taste1 though it is not destitute of wit and humour4 ,a people must be in the last degree depraved among whom such public entertainments are produced and encouraged4 ,in this symptom of degenerate manners we are1 ,i believe1 unmatched by any nation that is1 or ever was1 in the world4 ,in the ,confederacy1 ,dogget's fame as an actor culminated4 ,he dressed ,moneytrap with the care of a true artist4 ,on an old1 threadbare1 black coat1 he tacked new cuffs and collar to make its rustiness more apparent4 ,genest1 quoting ,wilks1 adds that the neck of the coat was stuffed so as to make the wearer appear round-shouldered1 and give greater prominency to the head4 ,wearing large square-toed shoes with huge buckles over his own ordinary pair1 made his legs appear smaller than they really were4 ,dogget1 we are told1 could paint and mould his face to any age4 ,kneller recognised in him a superior artist4 ,sir ,godfrey remarks that he could only copy nature from the originals before him1 but that ,dogget could vary them at pleasure and yet keep a close likeness4 ,it must be confessed the public were more pleased with this piece than with ,rowe's ,ulysses1 in which ,penelope gave so bright an example of conjugal duty and maternal love1 in the person of ,mrs4 ,barry1 to the ,ulysses of ,betterton1 and the ,telemachus of ,booth4 ,that public would1 perhaps1 have cared more for the grace and nature of ,addison's ,rosamond1 produced at ,drury ,lane1 in ,march #agjg1 with its exquisite flattery cunningly administered to the warrior who then dwelt near ,woodstock1 had it been set by a less incompetent musician than ,william's old band-master1 ,clayton1 the conceited person1 who undertook to improve on ,italian example1 and who violated the accents and prosody of our language1 as well as all rules of musical composition4 ,it is singular1 however1 that neither ,arne nor ,arnold have been much more successful1 in resetting ,addison's opera1 than ,clayton himself4 ,the piece was played but three times1 and the author's witty articles against the absurdities of ,italian opera are supposed1 by some writers1 to have owed their satire to the failure of ,rosamond4 ,one great and happy success ,addison achieved through this piece1 which compensated for any disappointment springing from it4 ,poetical warrant of its excellence was sent to him from many a quarter2 but the brightest wreath1 the most elegant1 refined1 graceful1 and the most welcome of all1 emanated from his own ,university4 ,addison1 charmed with the lines1 inquired after the writer1 and discovered him in an undergraduate of ,queen's ,college1 the son of a poor ,cumberland clergyman1 and named ,thomas ,tickell4 ,it was a happy day when both met1 for then was laid the foundation of a long and tender friendship4 ,to ,rosamond and his own musical lines upon it1 ,tickell owed the felicity of his life1 as ,addison's friend at home1 his secretary in his study1 his associate abroad1 his assistant and substitute in his office of ,secretary of ,state1 and1 finally1 less happy but not less honourable1 the executor of his patron's will1 and the editor of his patron's works4 ,rosamond was produced during one of the most unlucky seasons at ,drury ,lane1 #agjf-g2 during which ,swiney parted from ,rich1 took the ,haymarket1 from ,vanbrugh1 at a rent of #eahg per night1 and carried with him some of the best actors from ,drury4 ,the deserted company1 as they called themselves1 advertised the ,recruiting ,officer1 for their benefit1 in which they pray there may be singing by ,mrs4 ,tofts1 in ,english and ,italian2 and some dancing4 ,the main stay of the season was the ,recruiting ,officer4 ,estcourt was advertised as the true ,serjeant ,kite1 against ,pack1 who played it at the ,haymarket4 ,at ,drury1 where ,rich depended chiefly on opera1 it was said that sound had got the better of sense2 and the old motto1 vivitur ingenio1 was no longer applicable4 ,it is at the ,haymarket1 says the dedication of ,wit without ,money1 to ,newman1 the prompter1 that wit is encouraged1 and the player reaps the fruit of his labours1 without toiling for those who have always been the oppressors of the stage4 ,illustration3 7,mrs4 ,bracegirdle47 ,in the season of #agjf-g1 at the ,haymarket1 ,mrs4 ,oldfield and ,mrs4 ,bracegirdle first played together1--the younger actress ultimately winning or vanquishing the town4 ,cibber1 too1 joined the company1 at the head of whom remained ,betterton and ,mrs4 ,barry4 ,every effort was made to beat opera1 by a production of pieces of a romantic or classical cast2 and ,addison's pen1 in prologue on the stage1 or in praise in the ,spectator1 was wielded in the cause of the players1 his neighbours4 ,mrs4 ,centlivre1 and ,mrs4 ,manley1 contributed now-forgotten plays4 ,the former1--the ,platonic ,lady1 in which there is the unpleasant incident of a couple of lovers1 who ultimately prove to be brother and sister4 ,mrs4 ,manley1 in ,almyna1 recommended what she had little practised1--unlimited exercise of heroic virtue4 ,some vamped-up old pieces1 with new names1 were added1 and subscription lists were opened1 to enable the company1 whose interests were espoused by ,lord ,halifax1 to make head against opera4 ,the greatest attempt to overcome the latter was made1 by producing a truly and drily-classical tragedy1 by ,edmund ,smith1 called ,phdra and ,hippolytus1 which the public would not endure above three nights1#hh to the disgust and astonishment of ,addison1 as recorded in the ,spectator4 ,smith1 or ,neale rather--the former being a name he adopted from a benevolent uncle--was not the man to give new lustre to the stage4 ,scarcely a year had elapsed since he had been expelled from ,oxford ,university2 the brilliancy of his career there could not save him from that disgrace4 ,his success on the stage1 when he made this his sole attempt1 was perhaps impeded by the exactions of actors and actresses at rehearsal1 to suit whose caprices he had to write fresh verses1 and furnish them with tags1 whereby to secure applause1 as they made their exit4 ,the play fell1 and the author with it4 ,the once brilliant scholar descended to become a sot4 ,the once best-dressed fop of his day1 became known by the nickname of ,captain ,rag2 and as neither his wild life nor his careless style of costume seriously affected his great personal beauty1 the women1 tempering justice with clemency1 called him the ,handsome ,sloven6 ,this scholar1 poet1 critic1 and drunkard1 attempted to recover his reputation by writing a tragedy on the subject of ,lady ,jane ,grey2 but he died in the attempt4 ,a greater dramatist than he died this season in a blaze of triumph from the stage1 under the dull cloud of poverty at home--,george ,farquhar4 ,his joyous ,beaux' ,stratagem1 first played on the #hth of ,march #agjg1 was written in six painful weeks4 ,tonson gave him #cj for the right of printing1 and this1 with what he received from the managers1 solaced the last weeks of the life of the ex-captain1 who had sold his commission1 and had been deluded by a patron who had promised to obtain preferment for him4 ,farquhar had lost everything1 but sense of pain and flow of spirits4 ,he died in ,april #agjg1 while the public were being enchanted by his comedy1 so rich in delineation of character and in variety of incident4 ,it was thus cast3 ,aimwell1 ,mills2 ,archer1 ,wilks2 ,scrub1 ,norris2 ,foigard1 ,bowen 7then newly come from ,ireland72#hi ,boniface1 ,bullock2 ,sullen1 ,verbruggen 7his last original character2 the stage was thoughtful of his orphan children as it was of those of ,farquhar72 ,gibbet1 ,cibber2 ,count ,bellair1 ,bowman2 ,sir ,charles ,freeman1 ,keen2 ,lady ,bountiful1 ,mrs4 ,powell2 ,mrs4 ,sullen1 ,mrs4 ,oldfield2 ,cherry1 ,mrs4 ,bicknell2 ,dorinda1 ,mrs4 ,bradshaw4 ,this piece was the great glory of the ,haymarket season1 #agjf-g4 ,the season of #agjg-h was the last for a time of the two opposing houses1 and it requires but a brief notice4 ,powell at ,drury ,lane was weak as leading tragedian against ,betterton at the ,haymarket1 and ,rich1 the manager1 produced no new piece4 ,at the rival house the only novelties were ,cibber's adaptations of two or three forgotten plays1 the bricks with which he built up his1 at first hounded1 but ultimately successful1 ,double ,gallant1 in which he played ,atall2 the same author's ,lady's ,last ,stake1 a heavy comedy2 and ,rowe's ,royal ,convert1 a heavier tragedy of the times of ,hengist and ,horsa4 ,in this play1 the courtly author bade for the bays 7which were not to encircle his brows till the accession of ,george ,i471 by introducing a complimentary prophecy alluding to ,queen ,anne and the then much-canvassed ,union of ,england and ,scotland4 ,this was1 perhaps1 not worse than the references made by the savage ,saxon ,rodogune to ,venus1 and to the ,eagle that bore ,jove's thunder6 ,there are1 nevertheless1 some stately scenes in this play4 ,of its failure1 ,rowe did not complain1 he simply1 on printing it1 quoted the words1 ,laudatur et alget1 on the title-page4 ,critics have thought that the story was of too religious a texture to please4 ,it was too obscure to excite interest4 ,at the end of this season the two companies were ordered1 by the ,lord ,chamberlain1 to unite2 and they were not indisposed to obey4 ,the patent for ,drury ,lane was then held by ,rich1 and ,sir ,thomas ,skipwith1 who had formerly held a larger share4 ,the ,monthly ,mirror1 for ,march #agih1 says that ,rich's father was an attorney1 to one of whose clients ,sir ,thomas owed a large sum of money4 ,being unable to pay it1 he put up a part of his theatrical patent to auction1 and ,rich bought the share for #hj6 ,in ,christopher ,rich's time a quarter share was sold to ,colman for #bj1jjj4 ,sir ,thomas now consigned what share he held to ,colonel ,brett--a man more famous1 as the husband of the divorced wife of ,charles ,gerard1 second ,earl of ,macclesfield1 of whom fiction still makes the mother of ,savage1 the poet1--and as the father of ,anne ,brett1 ,george ,i4's ,english mistress1 than for aught else1 except it be that he was the friend of ,colley ,cibber4 ,it was by ,colonel ,brett's influence that the union of the companies was effected1 under the patent held by him and ,rich2 and henceforward the great house in the ,haymarket was given up to ,swiney and ,italian opera1 at the following prices for admission1 which will be found to form a strong contrast with those at present extracted from the ,british pocket3--,stage-boxes1 #ajs4 #f;d42 ,boxes1 #hs42#ij ,pit1 #es42 ,lower ,gallery1 #bs4 #f;d42 ,upper ,gallery1 #as4 #f;d4 ,i have stated above that the union of the companies was the result of an order from the ,lord ,chamberlain4 ,how absolute was the authority of this official may be gathered from various incidents on record4 ,cibber cites one to this effect4 ,powell1 the actor1 holding controversy on theatrical matters1 at ,will's ,coffee ,house1 was so excited as to strike one of the speakers on the opposite side4 ,unluckily1 this speaker was a kinsman of the master or manager of the house where ,powell played1 and he rushed to the ,chamberlain's office to obtain redress1 that is vengeance4 ,in the absence of the supreme officer1 the ,vice-,chamberlain took up the quarrel4 ,he probably ordered the actor to offer an apology2 and he certainly shut up ,drury ,lane ,theatre1 because the manager1 who had received no communication from him1 had permitted ,powell to appear before such reparation was made4 ,the embarrassed company of comedians were not allowed to resume their calling for two or three days1 and thus serious injury was inflicted on such actors as were paid only on the days of performance4 ,this was in ,king ,william's reign1 but the power was not less1 nor less absolutely exercised in the reign of ,queen ,anne2 and on this very occasion which led to the ,chamberlain's order for the union of the companies4 ,great dissension had arisen at ,drury ,lane by a new arrangement with respect to benefits1 whereby the patentees took a third of the receipts4 ,the more discontented went over to the ,haymarket2 others remained1 protested1 and sought for redress at the legal tribunal4 ,cibber will best tell what followed3-- ,several little disgraces were put upon them1 particularly in the disposal of parts in plays to be revived2 and as visible a partiality was shown in the promotion of those in their interest1 though their endeavours to serve them could be of no extraordinary use4 ,all this while the other party were passively silent1 till one day1 the actor who particularly solicited their cause at the ,lord ,chamberlain's office1 being shown there the order signed for absolutely silencing the patentees1 and ready to be served1 flew back with the news to his companions1 then at a rehearsal1 at which he had been wanted2 when being called to his part1 and something hastily questioned by the patentee for his neglect of business1 this actor1 ,i say1 with an erected look and a theatrical spirit1 at once threw off the mask1 and roundly told him3 ',sir1 ,i have now no more business here than you have4 ,in half an hour you will neither have actors to command1 nor authority to employ them4' ,the patentee who1 though he could not readily comprehend his mysterious manner of speaking1 had just glimpse of terror enough from the words to soften his reproof into a cold formal declaration1 that 'if he would not do his work he should not be paid4' ,but now1 to complete the catastrophe of these theatrical commotions1 enters the messenger1 with the order of silence in his hands1 whom the same actor officiously introduced1 telling the patentee that the gentleman wanted to speak with him1 from the ,lord ,chamberlain4 ,when the messenger had delivered the order1 the actor1 throwing his head over his shoulder1 towards the patentee1 in the manner of ,shakspeare's ,harry ,,viii4 to ,cardinal ,wolsey1 cried3 ',read o'er that6 and then to breakfast1 with what appetite you may6' ,though these words might be spoken in too vindictive and insulting a manner to be commended1 yet1 from the fulness of a heart injuriously treated1 and now relieved on that instant occasion1 why might they not be pardoned8 ,the authority of the patent1 now no longer subsisting1 all the confederated actors immediately walked out of the house1 to which they never returned1 till they became themselves the tenants and masters of it4 ,let me note here that in ,may #agjh1 ,vanbrugh wrote to ,lord ,manchester3--,i have parted with my whole concern 7the ,queen's ,theatre1 ,haymarket7 to ,mr4 ,swiney1 only reserving my rent1 so he is entire possessor of the ,opera1 and most people think will manage it better than anybody4 ,he has a good deal of money in his pocket1 that he got before by the acting company1 and is willing to venture it upon the singers4 ,this proves that the lack of prosperity1 which marked the end of the last century1 did not distinguish the beginning of the new4 ,,footnotes3 #gb ,the ,virgin ,prophetess1 or the ,fate of ,troy4 #gc ,second edition4 ,in this piece ,bassanio 7,betterton7 is the most prominent character2 and though the whole piece was converted into a comedy1 ,dogget is said to have acted ,shylock with much effect1 and without buffoonery4 ,granville gave the profits of the play to one who needed them1 ,dryden's son4 #gd ,this seems inaccurate4 ,the author says it was well received4 #ge ,the ,biographia ,dramatica expressly says that it was with the profits of this play that she and her husband set up a tavern in ,westminster4 ,whincop also seems to imply that the piece was a success4 #gf ,clorimon4 #gg ,this is an assumption not justified by the facts4 ,all of this chapter is a mere copying from ,genest2 and though ,genest puts ,all for the ,better1 and ,the ,patriot last in his list1 it is only because there is no record when they were produced4 #gh ,timon of ,athens was performed at ,drury ,lane1 #eth ,july #agjc4 #gi ,scarcely accurate4 ,downes says that it was a very good play for three acts2 but failing in the two last1 answer'd not their expectation1 p4 #df4 #hj ,the ,taming of the ,shrew also--#eth ,july #agjd4 #ha ,see ,genest ii4 #bif1 for copy of this edict4 #hb ,abra ,mul is pronounced by ,genest to be a fairly good tragedy4 ,it was certainly very successful1 for it was played fourteen times4 #hc ,this is most unfair to ,cibber1 whose comedies are particularly inoffensive4 #hd ,incorrect4 ,cibber's doubts were dispelled by ,mrs4 ,oldfield's playing of ,leonora in ,sir ,courtly ,nice at ,bath two seasons previously4 ,he wrote ,lady ,betty ,modish expressly for her4 #he #bc;d ,april #agje4 #hf ,the bill says1 ,repairing and fitting up4 #hg ,should be #e for every acting day1 and not to exceed #gjj a year4 #hh ,it was played four times4 ,genest1 ii4 #cgj4 #hi ,bowen came from ,ireland about #afhi1 nearly twenty years before4 #ij ,in this season the prices for ,boxes seem to have been #aes41 #ajs4 #f;d41 and #hs4 ,illustration3 ,,thomas ,,dogget4 ,,chapter ,,xiv4 ,,the ,,united ,,and ,,the ,,disunited ,,companies4 ,the names of ,betterton1 ,booth1 ,wilks1 ,cibber1 ,mills1 ,powell1 ,estcourt1 ,pinkethman1 jun41 ,keen1 ,norris1 ,bullock1 ,pack1 ,johnson1 ,bowen1 ,thurmond1 ,bickerstaff--of ,mistresses ,barry1 ,bradshaw1 ,oldfield1 ,powell1 ,rogers1 ,saunders1 ,bicknell1 ,knight1 ,porter1 ,susan ,mountfort1 and ,cross1--indicate the quality of a company1 which commenced acting at ,drury ,lane1 and which1 in some respects1 was perhaps never equalled2 though it did not at first realise a corresponding success4 ,betterton only played occasionally1 though he invariably acted well4 ,the new pieces produced failed to please4 ,the young ,kentish attorney1 and future editor of ,shakspeare1--,theobald1 gave the first of about a score of forgotten dramas to the stage2 but his ,persian ,princess swept it but once or twice with her train4 ,taverner1 the proctor1 who could paint landscapes almost as ably as ,gaspar ,poussin1 proved but a poor dramatist2 and his ,maid the ,mistress1 was barely listened to4 ,matters did not improve in #agjh-i1 in which season ,brett's share of the patent was made over to ,wilks1 ,cibber1 and ,estcourt1--the other shares amounting to nearly a dozen4 ,the only success of this season was achieved by ,mrs4 ,centlivre's ,busy ,body 7,marplot1 by ,pack71 and that was a success of slow growth4 ,baker1 who had ridiculed his own effeminate ways in ,maiden 7,tunbridge ,walks71 now satirised the women2 but the public hissed his ,fine ,lady's ,airs1 almost as much as they did ,tom ,durfey's ,prophets4 ,in the latter piece1 rakish1 careless1 penniless ,tom1 laughed at the religious impostors of the day who dealt with the past dead and with future events2 but the public did not see the fun of it1 and damned the play1 whose author survived to write worse4 ,then there was the ,appius and ,virginia1 of ,dennis1--of which nothing survives but the theatrical thunder1 invented by the author for this tragedy1--and the use of which1 after the public had condemned the drama of a man who equally feared ,france abroad and bailiffs at home1 was always resented by him as a plagiarism4 ,in this piece1 ,betterton acted the last of his long list of the dramatic characters created by him1--,virginius4 ,shortly after this took place that famous complimentary benefit for the old player1 when the pit tickets were paid for at a guinea each4 ,the actors could scarcely get through ,love for ,love1 in which he played ,valentine1 for the cloud of noble patrons clustered on the stage1 when guineas by the score were delicately pressed upon him for acceptance1--and ,mistresses ,barry and ,bracegirdle supported him at the close2 while the former spoke the epilogue1 which was the dramatic apotheosis of ,betterton himself4 ,on the following ,june1 actors and patentees were at issue2 and their dissensions were not quelled by the ,lord ,chamberlain closing the house2 from which ,rich1 of whose oppressions the actors complained1 was driven by ,collier1 the ,m4,p4 for ,truro1 to whom1 for political as well as other reasons1 a licence was granted to open ,drury ,lane4 ,when ,collier took forcible possession of the house1 he found that ,rich had carried off most of the scenery and costumes2 but he made the best of adverse circumstances and a company lacking ,betterton and other able actors2 and he opened ,drury on ,november #bcrd1 #agji1 under the direction of ,aaron ,hill1 with ,aurungzebe1 and ,booth for his leading tragedian4 ,booth wished to appear in a new tragedy1 and ,hill wrote in a week that ,elfrid which the public damned in a night4#ia ,hill was always ready to write4 ,at ,westminster1 he had filled his pockets by writing the exercises of young gentlemen who had not wit for the work2 and by and by he will be writing the ,bastard1 for ,savage4 ,meanwhile1 here was ,elfrid1 written and condemned4 ,the author allowed that it was an unpruned wilderness of fancy1 with here and there a flower among the leaves1 but without any fruit of judgment4 ,at this time1 ,hill was a young fellow of four and twenty1 with great experience and some reputation4 ,a friendless young ,westminster1 he had at fifteen found his way alone to ,constantinople1 where he obtained a patron in the ambassador1 the sixth ,lord ,paget1--a distant relation of the youthful ,aaron4 ,under the peer's auspices1 ,hill travelled extensively in the ,east2 and subsequently1 ere he was yet twenty1 accompanied ,sir ,william ,wentworth1 as travelling tutor1 over most of ,europe4 ,later1 his poem of ,camillus1 in defence of ,lord ,peterborough1 procured for him the post of secretary to that brave and eccentric peer1 with whom he remained till his marriage4 ,then ,aaron lived with a divided allegiance to his wife and the stage1 for the improvement of which he had many an impracticable theory4 ,he would willingly have written a tragedy for ,booth once a week4 ,tragedies not being in request1 ,hill tried farce1 and produced his ,walking ,statue1 a screamer1 as improbable as his ,elfrid was unpruned4 ,the audience would not tolerate it2 and ,hill came before them in a few days with a comedy1--,trick upon ,trick1 at which the house howled rather than laughed4#ib ,whereupon ,hill new-nibbed his pen1 and addressed himself to composition again4 ,the treasury gained more by the appearance of ,elrington1 in ,oroonoko1 than by ,hill's novelties4 ,then1 the trial of putting the fairy dancer1 ,santlow1 into boy's clothes1 and giving her the small part of the ,eunuch in ,valentinian to play1 and an epilogue to be spoken in male attire1 succeeded so well1 that she was cast for ,dorcas ,zeal in ,charles ,shadwell's ,fair ,quaker of ,deal1 wherein she took the town1 and won the heart of ,booth4 ,in this character-piece ,flip1 the sea-brute1 is contrasted with ,beau ,mizen1 the sea-fop2 but the latter is1 in some degree1 a copy of ,baker's ,maiden1 the progenitor of the family of ,dundreary4 ,from ,collier1 there went over to the ,haymarket1 under ,swiney1 ,betterton1 ,wilks1 ,cibber1 ,dogget1 ,mills1 ,mrs4 ,barry1 ,oldfield1 and other actors of mark4 ,drury had opened with ,dryden4 ,the ,queen's ,theatre1 ,haymarket1 commenced its season on the #aeth of ,september #agji1 with ,shakspeare4 ,the play was ,othello1 with ,betterton in the ,moor2 but oh6 shade of the bard of ,avon1 there was between the acts a performance by a ,mr4 ,higgins1 a posture-master from ,holland1 and the critics1 silently admiring old ,thomas1 loudly pronounced the feats of the pseudo-,hollander to be marvellous4 ,the only great event of the season was the death of ,betterton1 soon after his benefit1 on the #acth of ,april #agaj1 of which ,i have already spoken at length4 ,about this period1 the word encore was introduced at the operatic performances in the ,haymarket1 and very much objected to by plain-going ,englishmen4 ,it was also the custom of some who desired the repetition of a song to cry altra volta6 altra volta6 ,the ,italian phrase was denounced as vigorously as the ,french exclamation2 and a writer in the ,spectator asks when it may be proper for him to say it in ,english1 and would it be vulgar to shout again6 again6 ,the season of #agaj-aa was a languishing one4 ,players and playgoers seemed to feel that the great glory of the stage was extinguished in the death of ,betterton and the departure of ,mrs4 ,barry4 ,collier1 restless and capricious1 gave up ,drury ,lane for opera at the ,haymarket1 ,swiney exchanging with him4 ,the united company of actors assembling at the former1 contributed #bjj a year as a sort of compensation to ,collier1 as well as refraining from playing on a ,wednesday1 when an opera was given on that night4 ,the ,thursday audiences were all the larger for this2 but the inferior actors1 who were paid by the day1 felt the hardship of this arrangement1 and noblemen1 who espoused the part of the ,english players against the foreign singers1 expressed an opinion1 as they walked about behind the scenes1 that it was shameful to take part of the actors' bread from them to support the silly diversions of people of quality4 ,booth and ,powell shared the inheritance of ,betterton1 and ,mrs4 ,bradshaw succeeded to that of ,mrs4 ,barry2 but ,mrs4 ,porter was soon to dispute it with her4 ,the old stock pieces were well cast1 but no new play obtained toleration for above a night or two4 ,mrs4 ,centlivre's ,marplot1#ic a poor sequel to the ,busy ,body1 brought her nothing more substantial than a dedication fee of #dj from the ,earl of ,portland1 the son of ,william ,,iii4's ,bentinck4 ,this was more than ,johnson obtained for dedicating his condemned comedy1 the ,generous ,husband1 to the last of the three ,lords ,ashburnham1 who were alive in #agaj4 ,poor ,elkanah ,settle1 too1 pensioned poet of the city1 and a brother of the ,charterhouse1 was employed by ,booth to adapt ,beaumont and ,fletcher's ,knight of the ,burning ,pestle1 which ,elkanah transformed to the ,city ,ramble1 ,booth playing ,rinaldo4 ,settle was so unpopular at this time1 that he brought out his play in the summer season when the town was scantily peopled4 ,the only result was that it was damned by a thin house instead of a crowded one4 ,at the close of the season ,swiney returned to the ,opera2 ,collier to ,drury ,lane1 under a new licence to himself1 ,wilks1 ,cibber1 and ,dogget4 ,collier withdrew1 however1 from the management1 and the three actors named paid him #gjj a year for doing nothing4 ,from this time may be dated the real prosperity of the sole and united company of actors1 for whom a halcyon score of years was now beginning4 ,on the other hand1 the opera only brought ruin1 and drove into exile its able but unlucky manager1 ,swiney4 ,,footnotes3 #ia ,this is a specimen of one of the greatest difficulties in the revision of ,dr4 ,doran4 ,he frequently writes of a play as being damned1 which really was played for a few nights with no great success4 ,in the present case1 ,elfrid was played five times4 #ib ,the comedy was entitled ,squire ,brainless1 or1 ,trick upon ,trick4 ,neither of these pieces was the ghastly failure ,dr4 ,doran implies4 #ic ,acted six times4 ,illustration3 ,,pope ,,and ,,dr4 ,,garth4 ,,chapter ,,xv4 ,,union1 ,,strength1 ,,prosperity4 ,naturally and justifiably jubilant is ,colley ,cibber when giving the history of the united companies4 ,that union led to a prosperity of twenty years1 though the union itself did not last so long4 ,we now find houses crowded beyond anything known to that generation2 and that not so much from surpassing excellence on the part of the actors1 as from their zeal1 industry1 and the willingness with which they worked together4 ,this success doubled the salaries of the comedians1 and in the twenty years1 while we were our own directors1 says ,colley1 with honest pride1 we never had a creditor that had occasion to come twice for his bill2 every ,monday morning discharged us of all demands1 before we took a shilling for our own use4 ,these halcyon days had1 no doubt1 their little passing clouds2 some prejudices and jealousies would arise among the leaders1 as excellence began to manifest itself from below2 but these1 as ,cibber remarks1 with a lofty philosophy1 were frailties1 which societies of a higher consideration1 while they are composed of men1 will never be entirely free from4 ,cibber and his fellows deserved to prosper4 ,although they enjoyed a monopoly they did not abuse it2 and #aejj profit to each of the three managers1 in one year1 the greatest sum ever yet so realised on the ,english stage1 showed what might be done1 without the aid of those barbarous entertainments1 of acrobats and similar personages1 for which the dignified ,cibber had the most profound and wholesome horror4 ,while the management was in the hands of ,cibber1 ,wilks1 and ,dogget1 the good temper of the first was imperturbable4 ,he yielded1 or seemed to yield1 to the hot hastiness of ,wilks1 and lent himself to the captious waywardness of ,dogget4 ,however impracticable the latter was1 ,cibber always left a way open to reconciliation4 ,in the very bitterest of their feuds1 ,i never failed to give him my hat and 'your servant1' whenever ,i met him1 neither of which he would ever return for above a year after2 but ,i still persisted in my usual salutation1 without observing whether it was civilly received or not4 ,dogget would sit sullen and silent1 at the same table with ,cibber1 at ,will's--the young gentlemen of the town loitering about the room1 to listen to the critics1 or look at the actors--and ,cibber would treat the old player with deference1 till the latter was graciously pleased to be softened1 and ask for a pinch from ,colley's box1 in token of reconciliation4 ,almost the only word approaching to complaint advanced by ,cibber refers to public criticism4 ,the newspapers1 and especially ,mist's ,journal1 he says1 took upon them very often to censure our management1 with the same freedom and severity as if we had been so many ministers of state4 ,this is thoroughly ,cibberian in humour and expression4 ,for these critics1 however1 ,colley had a supreme contempt4 ,wilks and ,booth1 who succeeded ,dogget1 were more sensitive1 and would fain have made reply2 but ,cibber remarked that the noise made by the critics was a sign of the ability and success of the management4 ,if we were insignificant1 said he1 and played only to empty houses1 these fellows would be silent4 ,when the fashion of patronising the folly of pantomimes came in1 ,cibber reluctantly produced one at ,drury ,lane1 but only as crutches to the plays4 ,in the regular drama itself1 it seemed immaterial to him what he acted1 so that the piece was well supported2 and accordingly when the ,orphan was revived1 and the town had just been falsely told that ,cibber was dead1 ,i quietly stole myself1 he says1 into the part of the ,chaplain1 which ,i had not been seen in for many years before2 and as the audience received him with delight1 ,colley was satisfied and triumphant4 ,in the first season the poets were less successful than the players2 ,johnson's ,wife's ,relief1#id and ,mrs4 ,centlivre's ,perplexed ,lovers1 were failures4 ,but the lady fell with some clat4 ,the epilogue produced more sensation than the play4 ,prince ,eugene was then in ,england1 and to ,mrs4 ,oldfield were entrusted lines complimentary to the military talents of the ,prince1 and his brother in arms1 the ,duke of ,marlborough4 ,political feuds were then so embittered1 that the managers were afraid to allow the epilogue to be spoken2 but on the second night1 they fortified themselves by the ,chamberlain's licence1 and brave ,mistress ,oldfield delivered it1 in spite of menacing letters addressed to her4 ,the piece fell2 but the authoress printed it1 with a tribute of rhymed homage to the prince1 who acknowledged the same by sending her a handsome and heavy gold snuff-box1 with this inscription3--,the present of his ,highness ,prince ,eugene of ,savoy to ,susanna ,centlivre4 ,those heavy boxes--some of them furnished with a tube and spring for shooting the snuff up the nose1 were then in fashion1 and prince could hardly give more fitting present to poetess than a snuff-box1 for which-- ,distant climes their various arts employ1 ,to adorn and to complete the modish toy4 ,hinges with close-wrought joints from ,paris come1 ,pictures dear bought from ,venice and from ,rome4 99 99 99 99 99 ,some think the part too small of modish sand1 ,which at a niggard pinch they can command4 ,nor can their fingers for that task suffice1 ,their nose too greedy1 not their hand too nice1 ,to such a height with these is fashion grown1 ,they feed their very nostrils with a spoon4 ,so sang the ,rev4 ,samuel ,wesley1 in his somewhat indelicate satire on snuff1 addressed to his sister1 ,keziah4 ,mrs4 ,centlivre's box probably figured at ,drury ,lane1 and in very good company1 with other boxes carried by ladies2 for1 says the poet-- ,they can enchant the fair to such degree1 ,scarce more admired could ,french romances be1 ,scarce scandal more beloved or darling flattery2 ,whether to th' ,india ,house they take their way1 ,loiter i' the ,park1 or at the toilet stay1 ,whether at church they shine1 or sparkle at the play4 ,the great night of this season was that in which ,philips' version of ,racine's ,andromaque was played1--the #agth of ,march1 #agab4 ,of the ,distressed ,mother1 the following was the original cast3--,orestes1 ,powell2 ,pyrrhus1 ,booth2 ,pylades1 ,mills2 ,andromache1 ,mrs4 ,oldfield2 ,hermione1 ,mrs4 ,porter4 ,the ,english piece is even duller than the ,french one2 but there is great scope in it for good declamatory actors1 and ,booth especially led the town on this night to see in him the undoubted successor of ,betterton4 ,all that could be done to render success assured1 was done on this occasion1 not only by the poet1 but by his friends4 ,before the tragedy was acted1 the ,spectator informed the public that a masterpiece was about to be represented4 ,on the first night1 there was a packed audience of hearty supporters4 ,during the run of the play1#ie the ,spectator related the effect the tender tale had had on ,sir ,roger de ,coverley4 ,we learn from ,addison1 in the puff preliminary1 that at the reading of the ,distressed ,mother1 by one of the actors1--the players1 who listened1 were moved to tears1 and that the reader1 in his turn1 was so overcome by his emotions1 that he was frequently obliged to lay down the book1 and pause1 to recover himself and give vent to the humanity which rose in him at some irresistible touches of the imagined sorrow4 ,on the first night of its being played1 the performance was said to be at the desire of several ladies of quality4 ,sir ,roger de ,coverley1 with ,will ,honeycombe and ,captain ,sentry1 backed by two or three old servants1--the ,captain wearing the sword he had wielded at ,steinkirk1 are described as being in the pit1 early--four o'clock--before the house was full and the candles were lighted4 ,there was access then for the public for a couple of hours before the curtain rose4 ,the ,knight thought the ,king of ,france could not strut it more imposingly than ,booth in ,pyrrhus4 ,he found the plot so ingeniously complicated1 that he could not guess how it would end1 or what would become of ,pyrrhus4 ,his sympathies oscillated between the ladies1 with a word of smart censure now and then for either2 calling ,andromache a perverse widow1 and anon1 ,hermione a notable young baggage4 ,turgid as this ,english adaptation now seems1--to ,addison1 its simplicity was one of its great merits4 ,why6 says ,sir ,roger1 there is not a single sentence in the play that ,i don't know the meaning of6 ,it was listened to with a very remarkable silence and stillness1 broken only by the applause2 and a compliment is paid to ,mills who played ,pylades1 in the remark1 though he speaks but little1 ,i like the old fellow in whiskers as well as any of them4 ,the epilogue1 spoken by ,mrs4 ,oldfield1 and undoing all the soft emotions wrought by the tragedy1 was repeated twice1 for several consecutive nights4 ,the audience could not have enough of it1 and long years after1 they called for it1 whenever the piece was revived4 ,budgell was the reputed author1 but ,tonson printed it1 with ,addison's name as the writer4 ,the latter1 however1 ordered that of ,budgell to be restored1 that it might add weight to the solicitation which he was then making for a place4 ,thus ,ambrose ,philips showed that he could write something more vigorous than the ,pastorals1 which had given him a name while at the ,university4 ,he took higher rank among the wits at ,button's ,coffee-house1 and had no reason to fear the censure or ridicule of men like ,henry ,carey1 who fastened upon him the name of ,namby ,pamby4 ,success made the author not less solemn1 but more pompous4 ,he wore the sword1 which he could boldly use1 although his foes called him ,quaker ,philips--with an air2 and the successful author of a new tragedy could become arrogant enough to hang a rod up at ,button's1 and threaten ,pope with a degrading application of it1 for having expressed contempt of the authors ,pastorals4#if ,whatever may be thought of this1 ,rowe and ,philips were the first authors of the last century who wrote tragedies which have been played in our own times4 ,but a greater than either was rising2 for ,addison was giving the last touches to ,cato2 and he1 with ,steele and others1 was imparting his views and ideas on the subject to favourite actors over tavern dinners4 ,at the close of this season1 was finished the brief career of an actor1 who was generally considered to possess rare talents1 but who was variously judged of by such competent judicial authority as ,steele and ,cibber4 ,i allude to ,richard ,estcourt4 ,his ,london career as a player lasted little more than half a dozen years1 during which he distinguished himself by creating ,serjeant ,kite and ,sir ,francis ,gripe4 ,downes asserts that he was a born actor4 ,steele mournfully says1 ,if ,i were to speak of merit neglected1 misapplied1 or misunderstood1 might ,i not say that ,estcourt has a great capacity8 but it is not the interest of those who bear a figure on the stage that his talents were understood4 ,it is their business to impose upon him what cannot become him1 or keep out of his hands anything in which he could shine4 ,chetwood alludes to his habit of interpolating jokes and catches of his own1 which raised a laugh among the general public1 but which made critics frown4 ,cibber has been accused of being unjust to him1 but ,colley's judgment seems to be rendered with his usual fairness1 lucidity1 and skill4 ,this man1 says ,cibber in his ,apology1 was so amazing and extraordinary a mimic1 that no man or woman1 from the coquette to the privy-counsellor1 ever moved or spoke before him1 but he could carry their voice1 look1 mien1 and motion1 instantly into another company4 ,i have heard him make long harangues and form various arguments1 even in the manner of thinking1 of an eminent pleader at the bar1 with every the least article and singularity of his utterance so perfectly imitated that he was the very alter ipse1 scarce to be distinguished from his original4 ,yet more1 ,i have seen upon the margin of the written part of ,falstaff1 which he acted1 his own notes and observations upon almost every speech of it1 describing the true spirit of the humour1 and with what tone of voice1 with what look or gesture1 each of them ought to be delivered4 ,yet in his execution upon the stage1 he seemed to have lost all those just ideas he had formed of it1 and almost through the character he laboured under a heavy load of flatness4 ,in a word1 with all his skill in mimicry1 and knowledge of what ought to be done1 he never upon the stage could bring it truly into practice1 but was1 upon the whole1 a languid1 unaffecting actor4 ,his ,kite1 however1 is said to have been full of lively1 dashing1 natural humour4 ,off the stage1 ,estcourt's society was eagerly sought for1 and he was to be met in the best company1 where1 on festive nights1 he recited1 gave his imitations1 and was not too proud to pocket his guerdon4 ,the old ,duke of ,marlborough gladly held fellowship with ,estcourt1 and as the latter occasionally got guerdon out of the ,duke1 he must have been a great and very affecting actor indeed4 ,it was probably his spirit of good fellowship which induced him to leave the stage 7in #agaa7 for another calling4 ,this change was sufficiently important for the ,spectator to notice1 with a fine bit of raillery1 too3--,estcourt has lain in1 at the ,bumper1 ,covent ,garden1 neat1 natural wines1 to be sold wholesale1 as well as retail1 by his old servant1 trusty ,anthony 7,aston74 ,as ,estcourt is a person altogether unknowing in the wine trade1 it cannot but be doubted that he will deliver the wine in the same natural purity that he receives it from the merchants1 c4 ,on the foundation of the ,beef ,steak ,club1 ,estcourt was appointed ,providore2 and in the exercise of this office to the chief wits and leading men of the nation1 he wore a small gold gridiron1 suspended round his neck by a green silk riband4 ,dr4 ,king alludes to the company1 their qualities1 and the dignity of the ex-actor1 in his ,art of ,cookery3 ,he that of honour1 wit1 and mirth partakes1 ,may be a fit companion o'er beef steaks4 ,his name may be to future times unrolled1 ,in ,estcourt's book1 whose gridiron's made of gold4 ,estcourt died in #agab1 and was buried in the yard of ,st4 ,paul's1 ,covent ,garden4 ,near him lie ,kynaston and ,wycherley1 ,susanna ,centlivre1 ,wilks1 ,macklin1 and other once vivacious stage celebrities of later times4 ,i have already had to notice1 and shall have to do so again1 the despotic power exercised by the ,lord ,chamberlain over theatrical affairs4 ,one of the most remarkable instances presents itself this year1 in connection with the ,opera ,house1 indeed1 but still illustrative of my subject4 ,john ,hughes1 who will subsequently appear as a dramatic author1 of purer pretensions1 had written the words for the composer of ,calypso and ,telemachus4 ,a crowd of the quality1 connoisseurs and amateurs1 had attended the rehearsal1 with which they were so satisfied that a subscription was formed to support the performance of the opera4 ,this aroused the jealousy of the ,italian company then in ,london1 who appealed for protection to the ,duke of ,shrewsbury1 the then ,chamberlain4 ,this ,duke was the ,charles ,talbot1 in whose house it had been decided that ,william of ,orange should be invited to ,england1 and who1 corresponding with ,james after ,william was on the throne1 had been discovered1 and forgiven4 ,he had been loved1 it is said1 by ,queen ,mary and the ,duchess of ,marlborough2 but this able1 gentle1 wayward1 and one-eyed statesman1 was at this present time the husband of an ,italian lady1 and on this fact1 albeit she was not a dulcis uxor1 the ,italian singers founded their hopes4 ,as the lady's brother was hanged at ,tyburn1 half a dozen years later1 for murdering his servant1 ,shrewsbury had no great cause1 ultimately1 to be proud of the connexion4 ,nevertheless1 it served the purpose of the foreign vocalists1 it would seem1 as the ,chamberlain protected their interests1 and issued an order for the suppression of the subscription1 adding1 that the doors must be opened at the lowest playhouse prices1 or not at all4 ,even under this discouragement the opera was played with success1 and was subsequently revived1 with good effect1 at ,lincoln's ,inn ,fields4 ,romantic drama1 light1 bustling comedy1 with less vice and not much less wit than of old1 and the severest classical tragedy1 challenged the favour of the town in the ,drury ,lane season of #agab-ac4 ,severe tragedy won the wreath from its competitors4 ,first on the list was fat ,charles ,johnson1 who was even a more frequent lounger at ,button's than ,ambrose ,philips1 and who had a play ready for representation every year and a half4 ,it is a curious fact1 that his ,successful ,pirate1 a sort of melodrama1 in five acts1 the scene in ,madagascar1 and the action made up of fighting and wooing1 aroused the ire of the virtuous ,dennis4 ,this censor wrote to the ,lord ,chamberlain1 complaining that in such a piece as the above the stage was prostituted1 villainy encouraged1 and the theatre disgraced2 that same theatre where1 a few nights previously1 had been acted the ,old ,batchelor1 and the ,committee1 which some people1 like ,sir ,roger1 considered a good ,church of ,england comedy4 ,the piece1 however1 made no impression2 nor was much greater effected by that learned proctor1 ,taverner's ,french ,advocates1#ig nor by the farcical ,humours of the ,army1 which the ex-soldier ,charles ,shadwell had partly constructed out of his own military reminiscences1 as he sat at his desk in the ,revenue ,office at ,dublin4 ,equally indifferent were the public to a comedy called the ,wife of ,bath1 written by a young man who had been a mercer's apprentice in the ,strand1 and who was now house-steward and man of business to the widowed ,duchess of ,monmouth at her residence1 no longer in the mansion on the south side of ,soho ,square1 about to be turned into auction rooms1 but in fresh1 pure1 rustic1 ,hedge ,lane1 which now1 as ,whitcombe ,street1 lacks all freshness1 purity1 and rusticity4 ,the young man's name was ,gay2 but it was not on this occasion that he was to make it famous4 ,in stern tragedy1 the ,heroic ,daughter1 founded on ,corneille's ,cid1 wrung no tears1#ih and ,cinna's ,conspiracy raised no emotions4 ,the sole success of the season in this line was ,addison's ,cato1 first played on the #adth of ,april1 #agac2 thus cast3 ,cato1 ,booth2 ,syphax1 ,cibber2 ,juba1 ,wilks2 ,portius1 ,powell2 ,sempronius1 ,mills2 ,marcus1 ,ryan2 ,decius1 ,boman2 ,lucius1 ,keen2 ,marcia1 ,mrs4 ,oldfield2 ,lucia1 ,mrs4 ,porter4 ,of the success of this tragedy1 a compound of transcendent beauties and absurdity1 ,i shall speak1 when treating of ,booth1 apart4 ,it established that actor as the great master of his art1 and it brought into notice young ,ryan1 the intelligent son of an ,irish tailor1 a good actor1 and a true gentleman4 ,cato had the good fortune to be represented by a band of superior actors1 who had been enlightened by the instruction of ,addison1 and stimulated1 at rehearsals1 by the sarcasm of ,swift4 ,factions united in applause2 purses--not bouquets--were presented to the chief actor1 and the ,cato night was long one of the traditions about which old players loved to entertain all listeners4 ,while thus new glories were rising1 old ones were fading away or dying out4 ,long-nosed ,tom ,durfey was poor enough to be grateful for a benefit given in his behalf1 the proceeds of which furnished him with a fresh supply of sack1 and strengthened him to new attempt at song4 ,about the same time died the last of the actors of the ,cromwellian times1 ,will ,peer1 one who was qualified by nature to play the ,apothecary in ,romeo and ,juliet1 and by intelligence to deliver with well-feigned humility the players' prologue to the play in ,hamlet1 but whom old age1 good living1 and success rendered too fat for the first and too jolly for the second4 ,in the season of #agac-ad1 ,booth was associated in the licence which ,wilks1 ,cibber1 and ,dogget held at the ,queen's pleasure4 ,dogget withdrew on a pecuniary arrangement1 agreed upon after some litigation1 and the theatre was in the hands of the other three eminent actors4 ,the old pieces of this season were admirably cast2 of the new pieces which were failures it is not necessary to speak1 but of two which have been played with success from that time down to the last year1 some notice is required4 ,i allude to ,rowe's ,jane ,shore1 and ,mrs4 ,centlivre's ,wonder4 ,the tragedy was written after the poet had ceased to be ,under-,secretary to the ,duke of ,queensberry1 and after he had studied ,spanish1 in hopes of a foreign appointment through ,halifax1 who1 according to the story1 only congratulated him on being able to read ,don ,quixote in the original6 ,jane ,shore was brought out1 ,february #b1 #agad4 ,hastings1 ,booth2 ,dumont1 ,wilks2 ,glo'ster1 ,cibber2 ,jane ,shore1 ,mrs4 ,oldfield2 ,alicia1 ,mrs4 ,porter4 ,a greater contrast to ,cato could not have been devised than this domestic tragedy1 wherein all the unities are violated1 the language is familiar1 and the chief incidents the starving of a repentant wife1 and the generosity of an exceedingly forgiving husband4 ,the audience1 which was stirred by the patriotism of ,cato1 was moved to delicious tears by the sufferings and sorrow of ,jane ,shore1 whose character ,rowe has elevated in order to secure for her the suffrages of his hearers4 ,the character was a triumph for ,mrs4 ,oldfield1 who had been trained to a beautiful reading of her part by ,rowe himself1 who was unequalled as a reader by any poet save ,lee2 and ,jane ,shore1 as a success1 ranked only next to ,cato4 ,the third1 sixth1 and tenth nights were for the author's benefit4 ,on the first two the boxes and pit were laid together1 admission half-a-guinea2 the third benefit was at common prices4 ,much expectation had been raised by this piece1 and it was realised to the utmost4 ,it was otherwise with the ,wonder1 from which little was expected1 but much success ensued4#ii ,the sinning wife and moaning husband of the tragedy were the lively lady and the quick-tempered lover of this comedy4 ,the ,violante of ,mrs4 ,oldfield and the ,don ,felix of ,wilks were talked of in every coffee-house4 ,the wits about the door1 and the young poets in the back room at the new house set up by ,button1 talked as vivaciously about it as their rivals at ,tom's1 on the opposite side of the way2 and every prophecy they made of the success of the comedy in times to come1 does credit to them as soothsayers4 ,the death of ,queen ,anne1 on the #ast of ,august #agad1 cannot be said to have prematurely closed the summer season of this year4 ,however1 the actors mourned for a month1 and then a portion of them played joyously enough1 for a while1 in ,pinkethman's booth1 at ,southwark ,fair4 ,at this period the stage lost a lady who was as dear to it as ,queen ,anne1 namely1 ,mrs4 ,bradshaw4 ,her departure1 however1 was caused by marriage1 not by death2 and the gentleman who carried her off1 instead of being a rollicking gallant1 or a worthless peer1 was a staid1 solemn1 worthy antiquary1 ,martin ,folkes1 who rather surprised the town by wedding young ,mistress ,bradshaw4 ,the lady had been on the stage about eighteen years2 she had trodden it from early childhood1 and always with unblemished reputation4 ,she had her reward in an excellent1 sensible1 and wealthy husband1 to whom her exemplary and prudent conduct endeared her2 and the happiness of this couple was well established4 ,probably1 when ,martin was away on ,friday evenings1 at the ,young ,devil ,tavern1 where the members of the ,society of ,antiquaries met1 upon pain of forfeiture of sixpence1 ,mrs4 ,folkes sat quietly at home1 thinking without sadness of the bygone times when she won applause as the originator of the characters of ,corinna1 in the ,conspirator1#ajj ,sylvia1 in the ,double ,gallant1 and ,arabella ,zeal1 in the ,fair ,quaker4 ,in other respects1 ,mistress ,bradshaw is one of the happy1 honest women who have no history4 ,if the age of ,queen ,anne was not quite so fully the golden age of authors as it has been supposed to be1 it was still remarkable for a patronage of literature hitherto unparalleled4 ,addison1 ,congreve1 ,gay1 ,ambrose ,philips1 ,rowe1 were among the dramatic authors who1 with men of much humbler pretensions1 held public offices1 were patronised by the great1 or lived at their ease4 ,with the death of this ,queen1 the patent or licence1 held by ,wilks1 ,cibber1 ,booth1 and ,dogget1 died also4 ,in the new licence1 ,steele1 who1 since we last met with him at the play had endured variety of fortune1 was made a partner4 ,he had married that second wife whom he treated so politely in his little failures of allegiance4 ,he had established the ,tatler1 co-operated in the ,spectator1 had begun and terminated the ,guardian1 and had started the ,englishman4 ,he had served the ,duke of ,marlborough in and out of office1 and had been elected ,m4,p4 for ,stockbridge1 after nobly resigning his ,commissionership of ,stamps1 and his pension as servant to the late ,prince ,george of ,denmark4 ,he had been expelled the ,house for writing what the ,house called seditious pamphlets1 and had then returned to literature1 and now to occupation as a manager4 ,from the new government1 under the new king1 by whom he was soon after knighted1 ,steele had influence enough to ultimately obtain a patent1 in the names of himself1 ,booth1 ,wilks1 and ,cibber1 which protected them from some small tyrannies with which they were occasionally visited by the officials in the ,lord ,chamberlain's office4 ,the season of #agad-ae was not especially remarkable1 save for this1 that the great actors who were patentees frequently played small parts1 in order to give young actors a chance4 ,it was not given1 however1 to every young actor2 for1 on the #bjth of ,april1 #agae1 when ,rowe's ,lady ,jane ,grey was produced 7,dudley1 ,booth2 ,lady ,jane1 ,mrs4 ,oldfield71 the very insignificant part of the ,lieutenant of the ,tower was played by a new actor from ,ireland1--one ,james ,quin1 who was destined to equal ,booth in some parts1 and to be surpassed in some1 by an actor yet at school1--,david ,garrick4 ,illustration3 7,james ,quin47 ,charles ,johnson was1 of course1 ready with a comedy1 stolen from various sources1--,country ,lasses4 ,gay1 who had returned from ,hanover with the third ,earl of ,clarendon1 whose secretary he had become1 after leaving the service of the ,duchess of ,monmouth1 produced his hilarious burlesque of old and modern tragedies1--the ,what d'ye call ,it8 ,the satire of this piece was so fine1 that deaf gentlemen who saw the tragic action and could not hear the words1 and the new sovereign and court who heard the words but could not understand their sense1 were put into great perplexity2 while the honest galleries1 reached by the solemn sounds1 and taking manner for matter1 were affected to such tears as they could shed1 at the most farcical and high-sounding similes4 ,it was only after awhile that the joke was comprehended1 and that the ,what d'ye call ,it8 was seen to be a capital burlesque of ,venice ,preserved4 ,the very ,templars1 who of course comprehended it all1 from the first1 and went to hiss the piece1 for the honour of ,otway1 could not do so1 for laughing2 and this only perplexed the more the matter-of-fact people1 not so apt to discover a joke4#aja ,rowe's ,lady ,jane did not prove so attractive as ,jane ,shore4 ,there were only innocence and calamity wherewith to move the audience2 no guilt2 no profound intrigue4 ,but there is much force in some of the scenes4 ,the very variety of the latter1 indeed1 was alleged against the author1 as a defect1 by the many slaves of the unity of time and place4 ,it was objected to ,rowe1 that in his violation of the unities he went beyond other offenders1--not only changing the scene with the acts1 but varying it within the acts4 ,for this1 however1 he had good authority in older and better dramatists4 ,to change the scene1 as is done by ,rowe1 in the middle of an act1 is to add more acts to the play2 since an act is so much of the business as is transacted without interruption4 ,rowe1 by this licence1 easily extricates himself from difficulties1 as in ',lady ,jane ,grey1' when we have been terrified by all the dreadful pomp of public execution1 and are wondering how the heroine or poet will proceed2 no sooner has ,jane pronounced some prophetic rhymes than--pass and be gone--the scene closes1 and ,pembroke and ,gardiner are turned out upon the stage4 ,the critic wished to stay and witness a public execution1 not satisfied with the pathos of the speech uttered by ,jane1 and which1 for tenderness1 sets the scene in fine contrast with that of the quarrelling and reconciliation between ,pembroke and ,guilford4 ,rowe's ,jane ,grey interests the heart more fully than ,jane ,shore or ,calista3 but the last two ladies have a touch of boldness about them1 in which the first1 from her very innocence1 is wanting2 and audiences are1 therefore1 more excited by the loudly-proclaimed wrongs of the women who have gone astray than by the tender protests of the victim who suffers for the crimes of others4 ,george ,powell ended his seven and twentieth season this year1 at the close of which he died4 ,for the old actor gone1 a young actress appeared1--,mrs4 ,horton1 one of the most beautiful women that ever trod the stage4 ,she had been a stroller1 ranting tragedy in barns and country towns1 and playing ,cupid1 in a booth at suburban fairs4 ,the attention of managers was directed towards her2 and ,booth1 after seeing her act in ,southwark1 engaged her for ,drury ,lane1 where her presence was more agreeable to the public than particularly pleasant to dear ,mrs4 ,oldfield4 ,,footnotes3 #id ,acted about seven times4 ,in second edition ,dr4 ,doran quotes a letter from ,cromwell to ,pope in which is stated that this play brought ,johnson #cjj4 #ie ,acted about nine times4 #if ,this story is not true4 7,second edition74 #ig ,should be ,female ,advocates4 #ih ,yet it was played about eight times4 #ii ,it was acted only six times4 #ajj ,should be ,confederacy4 #aja ,quoted from a humorous account of the piece's reception1 written by ,pope4 ,illustration3 ,,spiller',s ,,benefit ,,ticket4 ,,chapter ,,xvi4 ,,competition1 ,,and ,,what ,,came ,,of ,,it4 ,augustus1 as it was the fashion to call ,george ,i41 by performing a justifiable act1 inflicted some injury this year1 by restoring the ,letters ,patent of ,charles ,,ii4 to ,christopher ,rich1 of which the latter had been deprived1 and under which his son1 ,john1 opened the revived theatre in ,lincoln's ,inn ,fields1 on the #ahth ,december #agad1 with the ,recruiting ,officer4 ,the enlarged stage was superbly adorned with looking-glasses on both sides2 a circumstance which ,quin said was an excellent trap to such actresses who admired their own persons more than they attended to the duties of their profession4 ,some good actors left ,drury for the ,fields2--,keen1 the two ,bullocks1 ,pack1 ,spiller1 ,cory1 ,knap1 ,mrs4 ,rogers1 and ,mrs4 ,knight4 ,cibber rather contemptuously says of such of the above as he names1 that they none of them had more than a negative merit1--being able only to do us more harm by leaving us without notice1 than they could do us good by remaining with us2 for1 though the best of them could not support a play1 the worst of them1 by their absence1 could maim it1--as the loss of the least pin in a watch may obstruct its motion4 ,john ,rich's company in the ,fields either played old pieces1 or adaptations from them1 or from the ,french2 none of which deserved even a passing word1 except a roaring farce--pieces which now grew popular--called ,love in a ,sack1 by ,griffin1 whom ,i notice not as an indifferent author1 but as an excellent comedian1 who made his first appearance in a double capacity4 ,griffin may also be noticed under a double qualification4 ,he was a gentleman and a glazier4 ,his father was a ,norfolk rector1 and had been chaplain to the ,earl of ,yarmouth1--that gallant ,sir ,robert ,paston1 who was in ,france and ,flanders with ,james1 ,duke of ,york4 ,in the ,paston ,free ,school1 at ,north ,walsham1 ,griffin learnt his rudiments1 having done which his sire apprenticed him to the useful but not dignified calling of a glazier4 ,the 'prentice lad1 disgusted at the humiliation1 ran away1 took to strolling1 found his way1 after favourable report1 to ,rich's theatre1 and there proved so good an actor1 that the ,drury ,lane management ultimately lured him away to a stage where able competitors polished him into still greater brilliancy4 ,the season concluded on the last day of ,july#ajb #agae with a benefit for ,tim ,buck1 to release him out of prison4 ,in the following ,october1 ,drury commenced a season which1 save a few days of summer vacation1 extended to the close of ,august #agaf4 ,during this time1 ,shakspeare's best plays were frequently acted1 old comedies revived with success1 and obscure farces played and consigned to oblivion4 ,the great attempt1 if not success1 of the season1 was the comedy of the ,drummer1 or the ,haunted ,house1 first played in ,march #agaf1 and not known to be ,addison's till ,steele published the fact after the author's death4 ,tonson1 however1 knew or suspected the truth1 for he gave #ej for the copyright4 ,wilks1 ,cibber1 ,mills1 and ,mrs4 ,oldfield could not secure a triumph for the play--which ,steele thought was more disgraceful to the stage than to the comedy4 ,there is a novel mixture of sentiment1 caricature1 and farcical incident in this piece4 ,warton describes it as a just picture of life and real manners2 where the poet never speaks in his own person1 or totally drops or forgets a character1 for the sake of introducing a brilliant simile or acute remark2 where no train is laid for wit1 no ,jeremys or ,bens are suffered to appear4 ,more natural1 it was less brilliant than the artificial comedies of ,congreve2 but its failure probably vexed the author1 as it certainly annoyed the publisher4 ,tickell omitted it from his edition of ,addison's works1 but ,steele gave these reasons for ascribing it to the latter2 they are a little confused1 but they probably contain the truth3--,if ,i remember right1 the fifth act was written in a week's time4444 ,he would walk about his room1 and dictate in language with as much freedom and ease as any one could write it down4444 ,i have been often thus employed by him4444 ,i will put all my credit among men of wit1 for the truth of my averment1 when ,i presume to say1 that no one but ,mr4 ,addison was in any other way the writer of the ',drummer4' 444 ,at the same time1 ,i will allow that he has sent for me 444 and told me1 that 'a gentleman1 then in the room1 had written a play that he was sure ,i would like2 but it was to be a secret2 and he knew ,i would take as much pains1 since he recommended it1 as ,i would for him4' ,at ,lincoln's ,inn ,fields1 the season of #agae-af had this of remarkable in it1 that ,john ,rich revived the ,prophetess1 as it enabled him to display his ability in the introduction and management of machinery1 and his success in raising the prices of admission4 ,bullock's farce1 the ,cobbler of ,preston1 was begun on a ,friday1 finished the next day1 and played on the ,tuesday following--in order to anticipate ,charles ,johnson's farce1--like this1 derived from the introduction to the ,taming of the ,shrew1 at ,drury ,lane4 ,of the other plays--one1 the ,fatal ,vision1 was written by ,aaron ,hill1 who1 having lost property and temper in a project how to extract olive oil from beech-nuts1 endeavoured to inculcate in his piece the wrongfulness of giving way to rash designs and evil passions4 ,this play he dedicated to the two most merciless critics of the day1 ,dennis and ,gildon4 ,then of the ,perfidious ,brother1 it is only to be stated that it was a bad play stolen by young ,theobald from ,mestayer1 a watchmaker1 who had lent him the manuscript4 ,that an attorney should have the reprehensible taste to steal a worthless play seemed a slur upon the lawyer's judgment4 ,another new play1 the ,northern ,heiress1 by ,mrs4 ,davys1 a clergyman's widow1 but now the lively ,irish mistress of a ,cambridge coffee-house1 reminds me of the five-act farces of ,reynolds1 with its fops1 fools1 half-pay officers1 fast gentlemen1 and flippant ladies4 ,there are ten people married at the end1 a compliment to matrimony1 at the hands of the widow2 but there is a slip in poetical justice2 for1 a lover who deserts his mistress1 when he finds1 as ,lord ,peterborough did of ,miss ,moses1 that her fortune was not equal to his expectations1 marries her1 after discovering that he was mistaken4 ,herewith we come to the ,drury ,lane season of #agaf-ag4 ,booth1 ,wilks1 and ,cibber had a famous company1 in which ,quin quietly made his way to the head1#ajc and ,mrs4 ,horton's beauty acted with good effect on ,mrs4 ,oldfield4 ,in the way of novelty1 ,mrs4 ,centlivre produced a tragedy1 the ,cruel ,gift1 in which nobody dies1 and lovers are happily married4 ,the most notable affair1 however1 was the comedy1 ,three ,hours after ,marriage1 in which ,gay1 ,pope1 and ,arbuthnot1 three grave men1 who pretended to instruct and improve mankind1 insulted modesty1 virtue1 and common decency1 in the grossest way1 by speech or inuendo4 ,there is not so much filth in any other comedy of this century1 and the trio of authors stand stigmatised for their attempt to bring in the old corruption4 ,in strange contrast we have ,mrs4 ,manley1 a woman who began life with unmerited misfortune1 and carried it on with unmitigated profligacy1 producing a highly moral1 semi-religious drama1 ,lucius4 ,but while moral poets were polluting the stage1 and immoral women undertaking to purify it1 a reverend ,archdeacon of ,stowe1 the historian1 ,lawrence ,echard1 in conjunction with ,lestrange1 put on the stage of ,drury ,lane1 a translation of the ,eunuchus of ,terence4 ,it did not survive the third night2 but the audience might have remarked how much more refinedly the ,carthaginian of old could treat a delicate subject than the ,christian poets of a later era--or1 to speak correctly1 than the later poets of a ,christian era4 ,in this season ,i find the first trace of a fashionable night1 and a later hour for beginning the play than any of subsequent times4 ,i quote from ,genest3--#ah ,june1 #agag4 ,by particular desire of several ,ladies of ,quality4 ',fatal ,marriage4' ,biron1 ,booth2 ,villeroy1 ,mills2 ,isabella1 ,mrs4 ,porter2 ,victoria1 ,mrs4 ,younger4 ,an exact computation being made of the number which the ,pit and ,boxes will hold1 they are laid together2 and no person can be admitted without tickets4 ,by desire1 the play is not to begin till nine o'clock1 by reason of the heat of the weather--nor the house to be opened till eight4 ,what a change from the time when ,dryden's ,lovely exclaimed3-- ,as punctual as three o'clock at the playhouse6 ,the corresponding season 7#agaf-ag7 at ,lincoln's ,inn requires but brief notice4 ,rich1 who had failed in attempting ,essex1 played1 as ,mr4 ,lun1 ,harlequin1 in the ,cheats1 or the ,tavern ,bilkers1 a ballet-pantomime--the forerunner of the line of pantomime which1 notwithstanding our presumed advance in civilisation1 still has its admirers4 ,in novelty1 ,dick ,leveridge1 the singer1 produced the burlesque of ,pyramus and ,thisbe--those parts being played by himself and ,pack1 with irresistible comic effect1 especially when caricaturing the style of the ,italian opera1 where your hero died in very good time and tune4 ,english opera was not altogether neglected in the ,fields1 but little was accomplished in the way of upholding the drama4 ,bullock produced a comedy1 which he was accused of stealing from a manuscript by ,savage--,woman's a ,riddle4 ,it is a long1 coarse farce1 in which the most decent incident is the hanging of ,sir ,amorous ,vainwit1 from a balcony1 as he is trying to escape in woman's clothes1 which are caught by a hook1 and beneath which a footman stands with a flambeau4 ,we learn1 too1 from this comedy1 that young ladies carried snuff-boxes in those days4 ,taverner1 the proctor1 also produced a comedy quite as extravagant1 and not a whit less immoral than ,bullock's--the ,artful ,husband4 ,it had1 however1 great temporary success1 quite enough to turn the author's head1 and by his acts to show that there was nothing in it4 ,the ,artful ,husband1 however1 brought into notice a young actor who had but a small part to play1--,stockwell4 ,his name was ,spiller4 ,the ,duke of ,argyle thought1 and spoke well of him before this4 ,on the night in question1 ,spiller1 who dressed his characters like an artist1 went through his first scenes exquisitely1 and without being recognised by his patron1 who came behind the scenes1 and had recommended him warmly to the notice of ,rich4 ,genest says he hopes this story is true4 ,i am sure it is not improbable2 and for this reason4 ,i once saw ,lafont acting the ,son in ,pre et ,fils4 ,opposite to the side on which he made his exit an aged actor1 who represented the father1 passed me4 ,i was delighted with the truth and beauty of his acting1 and at the end of the scene asked who he was4 ,to my astonishment1 ,i heard that ,lafont1 whom ,i had well known as an actor for more than twenty years1 was playing both parts4 ,this identifying power was ,spiller's distinguishing merit4 ,riccoboni saw the young actor play an old man with a perfectness not to be expected but from players of the longest experience4 ,how great was my surprise1 says ,riccoboni1 when ,i learnt that he was a young man1 about the age of twenty-six4 ,i could not believe it2 but owned that it might be possible1 had he only used a broken and a trembling voice1 and had only an extreme weakness possessed his body1 because ,i conceived that a young actor might1 by the help of art1 imitate that debility of nature to such a pitch of excellence2 but the wrinkles of his face1 his sunk eyes1 and his loose yellow cheeks1 the most certain marks of age1 were incontestable proofs against what they said to me4 ,notwithstanding all this1 ,i was forced to submit to truth1 because ,i was credibly informed that the actor1 to fit himself for the part of this old man1 spent an hour in dressing himself1 and disguised his face so nicely1 and painted so artificially a part of his eyebrows and eyelids1 that at the distance of six paces it was impossible not to be deceived4 ,in the next season1 at ,drury 7#agag-ah71 the only remarkable piece produced was ,cibber's adaptation of ,tartuffe1 under the name of the ,nonjuror4 ,in the lustre of the ,nonjuror paled and died out the first play by ,savage1 ,love in a ,veil4 ,not twenty years had elapsed since this luckless and heartless young vagabond was born1 in ,fox ,court1 ,gray's ,inn ,lane1 his unknown mother1 but not that light lady1 the ,countess of ,macclesfield1 wearing a mask4 ,savage had passed from a shoemaker's shop to the streets1 had written a poem on the ,bangorian ,controversy1 had adapted a play translated from the ,spanish1 by the wife of ,mr4 ,baron ,price1 and which ,bullock re-adapted and produced at ,drury ,lane before ,savage could get his own accepted4 ,love in a ,veil seems to have been founded on an incident in the ,spanish comedy2 but however this may be1 it failed to obtain the public approval4 ,the author1 however1 did not altogether fail2 generous ,wilks patronised the boy1 and ,steele1 befriending a lad of parts1 designed to give him #ajjj1 which he had not got1 with the hand of a natural daughter1 whom the young and wayward poet did not get4 ,the ,nonjuror alone survives as a memorial of the ,drury season of #agag-ah4 ,we owe the piece to fear and hatred of the ,pope and the ,pretender4 ,it addressed itself to so wide a public that ,lintot gave the liberal sum of a hundred guineas for the copyright1 and it was so acceptable to the ,king that he gave a dedication fee of twice that number of guineas to the author1 who addressed him as dread ,sir1 and spoke of himself as the lowest of your subjects from the theatre4 ,cibber adds1 ,your comedians1 ,sir1 are an unhappy society1 whom some severe heads think wholly useless1 and others1 dangerous to the young and innocent4 ,this comedy is1 therefore1 an attempt to remove that prejudice1 and to show what honest and laudable uses may be made of the theatre1 when its performances keep close to the true purposes of its institution4 ,cibber goes on to remark1 that perhaps the idly and seditiously inclined may cease to disturb their brains about embarrassing the government1 if proper amusements be provided for them4 ,for such his play is rather a chastisement than an amusement1 and he thinks that would have been all the better taken had it not been administered by a comedian4 ,the ,nonjurors1 whose allegiance was paid to the ,pretender1 were perhaps not worthy of a more exalted scourger2 but he fears that truth and loyalty demanded a nobler champion4 ,he flatteringly alludes to the small number of malcontents4 ,his piece had either crushed them1 or their forces were not so great as supposed1 there being no assembly where people are so free1 and apt to speak their minds1 as in a crowded theatre1 of which1 says the courtly fellow1 your ,majesty may have lately seen an instance in the insuppressible acclamations that were given on your appearing to honour this play with your royal presence4 ,on the night of representation1 ,rowe1 in a prologue--he was now ,poet ,laureate and ,land ,surveyor of the ,customs in the ,port of ,london1 deprecated the piece being considered unjustifiably discourteous4 ,think not our colours may too strongly paint ,the stiff non-juring separation saint4 ,good breeding ne'er commands us to be civil ,to those who give the nation to the devil6 ,the play was admirably acted by ,booth1 ,colonel ,woodvil2 ,mills1 ,sir ,john2 ,wilks1 ,heartley2 ,cibber1 ,dr4 ,wolf 7the ,cantwell of the modern arrangement72 and ,walker 7soon to be famous as ,captain ,macheath71 ,charles4 ,mrs4 ,porter played ,lady ,woodvil1 and ,mrs4 ,oldfield turned the heads and touched the hearts of all lively and susceptible folks by her exquisite coquetry1 in ,maria4 ,the play was not a servile imitation of1 but an excellent adaptation to modern circumstances of1 the ,tartuffe4 ,thoroughly ,english1 it abounds with the humour and manner of ,cibber1 and despite some offences against taste1 it was at this time the purest comedy on the stage4 ,there was farce enough for the gallery1 maxim and repartee1 suggestions and didactic phrases for the rest of the house4 ,the success surpassed even expectation4 ,it raised against ,cibber a phalanx of implacable foes--foes who howled at everything of which he was1 afterwards1 the author2 but it gained for him his advancement to the poet-laureateship1 and an estimation which caused some people to place him1 for usefulness to the cause of true religion1 on an equality with the author of ,the ,whole ,duty of ,man6 ,cibber foresaw the tempest1 and1 probably1 also the prosperous gales which were to follow1 to which there is some allusion in the ,epilogue spoken by ,mrs4 ,oldfield1 which1 of course1 had a fling against marriage3-- ,was't not enough that critics might pursue him8 ,but must he rouse a party to undo him8 ,these blows1 ,i told him1 on his plays would fall3 ,but he1 unmov'd1 cried1 ----'s blood6 we'll stand it all6 ,in the theatre itself the opposition to the piece was confined1 ,cibber says1 to a few smiles of silent contempt4 ,as the satire was chiefly employed on the enemies of the ,government1 they were not so hardy as to own themselves such1 by any higher disapprobation or resentment4 ,they made up for this constrained silence1 as above noted1 and ,mist's ,journal1 for fifteen years1 lost no opportunity of mauling the detested offender4 ,with the editor of that paper1 says ,cibber1 though ,i could never persuade my wit to have an open account with him 7for1 as he had no effects of his own1 ,i did not think myself obliged to answer his bills71 notwithstanding1 ,i will be so charitable to his real manes1 and to the ashes of his paper1 as to mention one particular civility he paid to my memory after he thought he had ingeniously killed me4 ,soon after the ',nonjuror' had received the favour of the town1 ,i read in one of his journals the following short paragraph3--',yesterday died ,mr4 ,colley ,cibber1 late comedian of the ,theatre ,royal1 notorious for writing the ,nonjuror4' ,the compliment1 in the latter part1 ,i confess1 adds ,cibber1 ,i did not dislike1 because it came from so impartial a judge4 ,the stage lost this year an excellent actor1 ,irish ,bowen1 who1 at the age of fifty-two1 was slain in duel by young ,quin4#ajd ,hitherto the sword had dealt lightly with actors4 ,in #afib1 indeed1 ,sandford nearly killed ,powell1 on the stage4 ,on the #acth of ,october they were acting together1 in ,o,edipus1 ,king of ,thebes1 when the former1 to whom a real dagger had been delivered by the property-man1 instead of a weapon1 the blade of which run up1 when the point was pressed1 into the handle1 gave poor ,powell a stab three inches deep2 the wound was1 at first1 thought to be mortal1 but ,powell recovered4 ,five years later1 in ,july #afig1 ,i find brief mention in the papers of a duel between an actor and an officer4 ,the initials only of the principals are given3 ,mr4 ,h41 an actor1 of ,lincoln's ,inn ,fields ,theatre1 fought ,mr4 ,d41 an officer1 at ,barnes ,elms4 ,whether the former was young ,hodgson or young ,harris is not now to be determined1 nor the grounds of the quarrel4 ,the issue of it was that the player dangerously wounded the soldier2 and it is added1 that both parties exhibited brilliant courage4 ,bowen was the original representative of ,sir ,joshua#aje ,wittol 7,old ,batchelor71 ,jeremy 7,love for ,love71 and ,foigard 7,beaux' ,stratagem74 ,quin passed over to ,lincoln's ,inn ,fields in this season of #agag-ah1 where he played ,hotspur1 ,tamerlane1 ,morat 7,aurungzebe71 ,mark ,antony1 and created the part of ,scipio1 in the ,scipio ,africanus1 written by young ,beckingham1 the pride of ,merchant ,tailors' ,school4 ,beckingham must also have been the pride of ,fleet ,street1 and especially of the craft of linen-drapers1 of which his father was a worthy and well-to-do member4 ,the piece was played on the #ahth of ,february #agah4 ,the author was then but nineteen years of age1 and was full of bright promise4 ,a tragedy by one so young1 excited the public1 and most especially the juvenile public1 at ,merchant ,tailors'1 where ,dr4 ,smith was head-master4 ,the ,doctor and sub-masters held the stage in abhorrence till now1 when a brilliant alumnus was likely to shed lustre on the corporation of ,merchant ,tailors and ,linen ,armourers4 ,now they proclaimed high jubilee1 gave the lads a half-holiday on the author's night1 and joyfully saw the whole school swarming to the pit of ,lincoln's ,inn1 to uphold the tragedy by this honoured condiscipulus4 ,the masters1 in this1 acted against their own former precept and example2 but they made amends for it by religious zeal1 and by expelling all the ,jewish pupils from the school6 ,israel was the scapegoat1 and the ,christian sense of propriety was gratified4 ,but ,quin's ,scipio established a taste for theatricals at ,merchant ,tailors'1 where classical plays were acted1 for some years1 as at ,westminster4 ,beckingham's tragedy exhibits a romantic story1 or stories1 in a classical costume4 ,there is severity enough to gratify rigid tastes1 with a little of over-warmth of action on the part of one of three lovers1 which shows that the young poet was not unread in the older masters4 ,but there were worse and better plays than ,scipio brought out on the same stage this season4 ,taverner failed in a pendant to his ,artful ,husband1 the ,artful ,wife4 ,bullock did little for the credit of the stage by his farce of the ,perjuror1 and ,sir ,thomas ,moore justly criticised his own tragedy of ,mangora1 ,king of the ,timbusians1 when he called it a trifle4 ,it is a very noisy trifle1 concerned with love1 battle1 murder1 and worse1 between the ,spaniards and ,south ,american ,indians4 ,rich thought its bustle might carry its absurdities successfully through1 and ,sir ,thomas stimulated the actors1 when at rehearsal1 by inviting them to supper1 at which ,leigh1 the two ,bullocks1 ,williams1 ,ogden1 ,knapp1 and ,giffard1 ,mistresses ,knight1 ,bullock1 and ,kent1 made a joyous party1 as hilarious as the audience was1 whose laughter alone prevented them from hissing down the nonsense of an obscure man who was knighted for some forgotten service--certainly not for any rendered to the ,muses4 ,the piece of this season which had stuff in it to cause it to live to our own times1 was ,mrs4 ,centlivre's ,bold ,stroke for a ,wife4 ,sprightly ,mrs4 ,centlivre was as fervent a ,whig as ,cibber1 and had written verses enough in praise of ,brunswick to entitle her to be ,poetess-,laureate1 had the ,princess ,caroline had a voice in the matter1 when ,rowe died this very year1 and ,newcastle recommended tipsy ,eusden for the office of birthday fibber4 ,the ,bold ,stroke1 laughed at and denounced by ,wilks1 and taken reluctantly in hand by the actors1 is a fair specimen of that lighter comedy which borders upon farce1 but in which the fun is genuine1 and the incidents not so improbable but that they may be accepted1 or1 by the rapidity of their succession1 laughed at and forgotten4 ,this season1 withal1 was not successful4 ,it broke the heart of ,keen1 actor and sharer4 ,in the former capacity1 though ,savage thought his life worth narrating1 he won few laurels1--but his wreath was not entirely leafless4 ,he was loved1 too1 by his brethren of both houses1 whose subscriptions defrayed the expenses of a funeral1 at which upwards of two hundred persons walked in deep mourning4#ajf ,at this time1 ,drury1 with its old1 strong company1 was patronised by court and town4 ,plays1 acted at ,hampton ,court1 before the ,king1 were repeated in the public theatre4 ,of the former1 ,i shall speak in a future page4 ,two new comedies proved1 indeed1 inferior to ,mrs4 ,centlivre's ,bold ,stroke1 at the other house4 ,charles ,johnson's ,masquerade1 borrowed a little from ,shirley1 and more from ,molire1 furnished1 in ,ombre and ,lady ,frances ,ombre1 some ideas1 probably1 to ,cibber1 when he placed a similar pair on the stage1 in ,lord and ,lady ,townley4 ,a worse piece was more successful1--the rambling comedy1 ,chit ,chat1 by a ,mr4 ,thomas ,killigrew1 a gentleman who1 like his namesake1 had a place at court1 but not his namesake's wit4 ,the courtiers1 with the ,duke of ,argyle at their head1 carried the piece through eleven representations1 and enriched the treasury by #ajjj4 ,the great effort of the season was made in bringing out ,busiris1 a tragedy1 by the ,rev4 ,dr4 ,young1 author of ,night ,thoughts4 ,it was played on ,march #g1 #agai1 by ,booth1 ,elrington1 ,wilks1 ,mills1 ,walker and ,thurmond1 ,mrs4 ,oldfield and ,mrs4 ,thurmond4 ,busiris was ,young's earliest tragedy4 ,it is written in a stilted and inflated style1 and bears all the marks of a juvenile production4 ,the plot of the piece is void of all ingenuity2 but there is little that is borrowed in it1 save the haughty message sent by ,busiris to the ,persian ,ambassador1 which is the same as that returned by the ,ethiopian prince to ,cambyses1 in the third book of ,herodotus4 ,of the phrasing1 and indeed of the incidents of this tragedy1 ,fielding made excellent fun1 in his mock tragedy of ,tom ,thumb4 ,the sovereigns and courtiers of ,egypt gave little trouble to be converted into ,arthur and ,dollalolla1 ,noodle1 ,doodle1 the great little prince1 and ,huncamunca4 ,the travestie is rich and facile2 not least so in that passage mimicking the various addresses to the sun1 who is bid to rise no more1 but hide his face and put the world in mourning1 ,on these1 ,fielding remarks1 that the author of ',busiris' is extremely anxious to prevent the sun's blushing at any indecent object2 and1 therefore1 on all such occasions1 he addresses himself to the sun1 and desires him to keep out of the way4 ,it was dedicated to the ,duke of ,newcastle1 the patron of ,eusden1 the laureat1 because the late instances he had received of his grace's undeserved and uncommon favour1 in an affair of some consequence1 foreign to the theatre1 had taken from him the privilege of choosing a patron4 ,if this favour consisted in rewarding ,young for writing for the court1 the favour may have been undeserved1 but it was by no means uncommon4 ,the concluding incident of this play1--the double suicide of ,memnon 7,wilks7 and ,mandane 7,mrs4 ,oldfield71 found such favour in the author's own estimation1 that he repeated it in his next two tragedies1 in each of which a couple of lovers make away with themselves4 ,this tripled circumstance reminds a critic of the remark of ,dryden3--,the dagger and the bowl are always at hand to butcher a hero1 when a poet wants the brains to save him4 ,dr4 ,young was at this time thirty-eight years of age1 but was not yet famous4 ,born when ,charles ,,ii4 was king and ,dryden laureat1 the ,hampshire godson of the ,princess ,anne1 was as yet only known as having been the friend of the ,duke of ,wharton1 and of ,tickell2 as having first come before the public in #agac1ajg with a poem to ,granville1 in which there is good dramatic criticism2 and of having since written poems of promise rather than of merit1 the latest of which was a paraphrase on part of the book of ,job1 which1 curiously enough1 abounds with phrases which show the author's growing intercourse with the playhouse and theatrical people4 ,busiris was written in the year that ,cato was played1 but its performance was delayed till this year1 and its dramatic death occurred long before ,cato departed from the stage1--to be read1 at least1 as long as an admirer of ,addison survives4 ,illustration3 ,mr4 ,garrick as ,hamlet4 ,,footnotes3 #ajb ,should be ,august4 #ajc ,quin can hardly be said to have been even near the head of this company4 #ajd ,see page #age for some curious facts relating to this4 #aje ,sir ,joseph4 #ajf ,he was buried at ,st4 ,clement's4 ,six actors held the pall4--,doran ,,ms4 #ajg #agab4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,new ,,and ,,old ,,theatres ,,royal1 ,,haymarket4 ,,chapter ,,xvii4 ,,the ,,progress ,,of ,,james ,,quin1 ,,and ,,decline ,,of ,,barton ,,booth4 ,quin made great advances in the public favour in the season of #agah-ai1 at ,lincoln's ,inn1 where1 however1 as yet1 he only shared the leading business in tragedy and comedy with ,ryan1 and the less distinguished ,evans4 ,southwark ,fair1 a fashionable resort1 contributed to the company a new actor1 ,bohemia or ,boheme1 with great comic power2 and ,susan ,mountfort replaced for a few weeks ,mrs4 ,rogers1 who had held for a time the tragic parts once acted by ,mrs4 ,barry and ,bracegirdle1 and who died about this time4 ,of ,susan ,mountfort's touching end ,i will speak in a future page4 ,mrs4 ,rogers had been on the stage since #afib1 and numbered among her original parts3--,imoinda1 ,oriana1 ,melinda1 and ,isabinda1 in ,oroonoko1 ,inconstant1 ,recruiting ,officer1 and ,busy ,body4 ,during this season a ,french company acted for some time in the ,fields1 where the ,tartuffe was also played against the ,nonjuror4 ,the only novelty worthy of notice was the ,sir ,walter ,raleigh of poor ,dr4 ,sewell1 in which ,quin played the hero with indifferent success4 ,the author was more remarkable than his piece4 ,he was of good family1 and a pupil of ,boerhaave2 but1 unsuccessful as a practitioner in ,london1 he1 curiously enough1 gained fortune and reputation in the smaller sphere of ,hampstead1 until1 as a singular biographical notice informs us1 three other physicians settled at the same place1 after which his gains became very inconsiderable4 ,he became a poor poet instead of a rich physician2 kept no house1 but was a boarder2 was much esteemed1 and so frequently invited to the tables of gentlemen in the neighbourhood1 that he had seldom occasion to dine at home4 ,seven years after ,quin failed to lift him into dramatic notoriety1 this ,tory opponent of the ,whig ,bishop of ,salisbury1 and one of the minor contributors 7it is said7 to the ,spectator and ,tatler1 though he is not included in ,bissett's lives of the writers in the first-named periodical1 died1 and was supposed1 says the anonymous biographer already quoted1 at that time to be in very indigent circumstances1 as he was interred in the meanest manner1 his coffin being little better than those allotted by the parish to their poor who are buried from the workhouses1 neither did a single friend or relation attend him to the grave4 ,no memorial was placed over his remains2 but they lie just under a holly-tree1 which formed part of a hedge-row1 that was once the boundary of the churchyard4 ,such was the end of the poet1 through whom ,lincoln's ,inn ,fields hoped1 in #agai1 to recover its ancient prosperity4 ,eventful incidents marked the ,drury ,lane season of #agai-bj4 ,it commenced in the middle of ,september1 between which time1 and the last week of the following ,january1 things went on prosperously as between players and public1 but not so as between patentees and the government4 ,within the period mentioned ,miss ,santlow had made ,booth happy--an union which helped to make ,susan ,mountfort mad1#ajh and ,dennis's ,invader of ,his ,country1 and ,southerne's ,spartan ,dame1 were produced4 ,the former was the second of three adaptations#aji from ,shakspeare's ,coriolanus4 ,forty years before1 in #afhb1 ,nahum ,tate fancied there was something in the times like that depicted in the days of ,coriolanus4 ,to make the parallel more striking1 he pulled ,shakspeare's play to pieces1 and out of the fragments built up his own ,ingratitude of a ,commonwealth4 ,nahum altered all for the worse2 and he wrote a new fifth act1 which was still worse than the mere verbal or semi-alterations4 ,the impudence of the destroyer was illustrated by his cool assurance in the prologue1 that-- ,he only ventures to make gold from ore1 ,and turn to money what lay dead before4 ,tate was now followed by ,dennis1 who altered ,coriolanus for political reasons1 brought it out at ,drury ,lane1 in the cause of his country and sovereign1 and perhaps thought to frighten the ,pretender by it4 ,the failure was complete2 although ,booth played the principal male character1 and ,mrs4 ,porter ,volumnia4 ,southerne's ,spartan ,dame had been interdicted in the reign of ,william and ,mary1 as it was supposed that the part of ,celonis 7,mrs4 ,oldfield71 wavering between her duty to her father1 ,leonidas1 and that owing to her husband1 ,cleombrotus 7,booth71 would have painfully reminded some1 and joyfully reminded other1 of the spectators1 of the position of ,mary1 between her royal sire and her princely consort4 ,but it would have been as reasonable to prohibit ,othello or ,king ,lear1 because of the presence in them of individuals so related4 ,southerne's play has no local colour about it1 but abounds in anachronisms and incongruities1 and it survived but during a brief popularity4 ,the author was now sixty years of age1 ,dennis seven years his senior4#aaj ,the older and unluckier1 and less courteous poet1 gained nothing by his play to compensate for the annuity he had purchased1 but the term of which he had outlived4 ,southerne gained #ejj by his author's nights alone2 for patronage and presence on which occasions1 the plausible poet personally solicited his friends4 ,for the copyright he received an additional #abj4 ,about six weeks after ,southerne's play was produced--that is1 after the performance of the ,maid's ,tragedy1 ,january #bc1 #agbj1 an order from the ,duke of ,newcastle1 ,lord ,chamberlain1 suddenly closed the theatre6 ,the alleged cause was information of misbehaviour on the part of the players4 ,the real cause lay in ,sir ,richard ,steele1 the principal man who held the patent6 ,since we last parted with the knight1 he had been ungenerously trying1 in pamphlets1 to hunt to the scaffold the last ,tory ministers of ,queen ,anne2 he had lost his second wife2 he had been projecting an union of ,church and ,kirk2 he had invented a means of keeping fish alive while being transported across sea2 he had been living extravagantly2 but he had also offended his patron1 the ,duke of ,newcastle1 and therewith1 the ,king1 whose servant the ,duke was1 and the ,government1 of which the ,duke was a member4 ,steele1 in fact1 had vehemently and successfully opposed1 by speech and pamphlet1 ,lord ,sunderland's ,peerage ,bill1 which proposed to establish twenty-five hereditary peers of ,scotland to sit in the ,english ,house of ,lords1 in place of the usual election of sixteen2 and to create six new ,english peerages1 with the understanding that the ,crown would never1 in future1 make a new peer except on the extinction of an old family4 ,steele denounced1 in the ,plebeian1 the aristocratical tendency of the bill1 and to such purpose1 that the theatre he governed was closed1 and his name struck out of the licence6 ,steele appealed to the public1 in a pamphlet1 the ,theatre2 and showed1 by counsel's opinion1 how he had been wronged2 he estimated his loss at nearly #aj1jjj1 and finally sank into distress1 with mingled bitterness and wit4 ,his old ducal patron had loudly proclaimed he would ruin him4 ,this1 said ,steele1 from a man in his circumstances1 to one in mine1 is as great as the humour of ,malagene1 in the comedy1 who valued himself for his activity in 'tripping up cripples4' ,dennis entered the lists against ,sir ,richard2 but the worst the censor could say against the knight was1 that he had a dark complexion1 and wore a black peruke4 ,dennis also attacked actors generally1 as rogues and vagabonds in the eye of the law1 and liable to be whipped at the ,king's porter's lodge4 ,such was the testimony of this coarse ,cockney1 the son of a saddler1 and a fellow who1 for his ill-doings1 had been expelled from ,cambridge ,university4 ,booth1 ,cibber1 and ,wilks were permitted to reopen ,drury under a licence1 after an interval of a few days1 and the season thus recommencing on the #bhth of ,january1 with the ,careless ,husband1 ,cibber playing ,lord ,foppington1 ran on to ,august #bcrd1 when the house closed1 with ,bartholomew ,fair6 ,the only novelty was ,hughes's ,siege of ,damascus1 with false quantities in its classical names1 and much heaviness of treatment of an apt story4 ,it was ,hughes's first play1 and he died unconscious of its success4 ,he was then but forty-three years of age4 ,the old school-fellow of ,isaac ,watts had begun his career by complimenting ,king ,william and eulogising ,queen ,anne4 ,he had published clever translations1 composed very gentlemanlike music1 contributed to the ,spectator1 and obtained a place among the wits4 ,he wrote1 in #agab1 the words of the opera of ,calypso and ,telemachus1 to prove how gracefully the ,english language might be wedded to music4 ,two ,lord ,chancellors were among his patrons1 ,cowper and ,macclesfield1 and that he held the ,secretaryship to the ,commissioners of the ,peace was a pleasant consequence thereof4 ,his ,siege of ,damascus has for moral1 that it is wrong to extend religious faith by means of the sword4 ,the angry lover who left the city he had saved1 to assault it with the ,arabians from whom he had saved it1 and to meet the lady of his love full of abhorrence for the traitor1 might have produced some emotion2 but loving1 loved1 living1 and dying1 they all talk1 seldom act1 and never touch4 ,nevertheless1 ,booth1 ,wilks1 ,mills1 and ,mrs4 ,porter had attentive listeners1 if not ecstatic auditors1 during a run of ten nights4 ,the long tirades and the ponderous similes gratified the same audiences who took delight in ,norris's ,barnaby ,brittle1 ,shepherd's ,sir ,tunbelly ,clumsey1 and ,mrs4 ,booth's ,helena1 in the ,rover4 ,nevertheless1 ,hughes acquired no fame4 ,when ,swift received a copy of his works1 he wrote to ,pope3--,i never heard of the man in my life1 yet ,i find your name as a subscriber4 ,he is too grave a poet for me2 and1 ,i think1 among the mediocrists in prose as well as in verse4 ,pope sanctioned the judgment2 adding1 that what ,hughes wanted in genius1 he made up as an honest man4 ,hitherto1 the great tragedy of this century was ,cato4 ,at ,lincoln's ,inn1 ,quin played the ,king to ,ryan's ,hamlet1 and created ,henri ,quatre in young ,beckingham's second1 last1 and unsuccessful essay1 ,henry ,,iv4 of ,france4 ,what was the course of the ,merchant ,tailors' pupil1 and son of the ,fleet ,street linen-draper1 after this1 ,i am unable to say1 further than that he died in obscurity some ten years later4 ,a comedy1 by ,handsome ,leigh1 a moderately fair actor1 called ,kensington ,gardens1 or the ,pretenders1 showed some power of drawing character1 especially an effeminate footman1 ,bardach1 played by ,bullock1 but it did nothing for a theatre which was now partly relying on subscriptions in aid4 ,at the head of the subscribers was the last ,baron ,brooke1 whose more famous son1 the first ,earl of ,warwick1 of the ,fulke ,greville line1 used to subscribe his political vote so singularly--first for ministers1 then for the opposition1 and thirdly1 not at all1 in undeviating regularity4 ,this piece failing1 came ,theobald's adaptation of ,shakspeare's ,richard ,,ii41 very much for the worse1 but so far to the profit of the adapter that the ,earl of ,orrery conferred on him an unusually liberal gift for the dedication1 namely1 a hundred pound note1 enclosed in a box of ,egyptian pebble1 which was worth a score of pounds more4 ,the original author was less munificently remunerated1 except in abiding glory4 ,another attempt served the house as poorly namely1 the re-appearance of a ,mrs4 ,vandervelt1 not because she was a clever1 but that she was a very aged actress1 eighty-five years old1 who had not played since ,king ,charles's time1 but who had spirits enough to act the ,widow ,rich1 in the ,half-pay ,officers1 a vamped-up farce1 by ,molloy1 the political writer1 and strength enough to dance a sprightly jig after it4 ,as the hostess of a tavern in ,tottenham ,court ,road1 ,peg ,fryer1 as the old dame was called off the stage1 kept a merry and prosperous house4 ,another adaptation was ,griffin's comedy1 ,whig and ,tory1 which had nothing political in it but the name2 and by which that excellent low comedian1 who ought to have been in the ,church1 and who would not be a glazier1 did not add to his fame4 ,the ,imperial ,captives was a more ambitious venture1 by a new author1 ,mottley4 ,it was a tragedy1 in which ,quin played ,genseric1 ,king of the ,vandals1 and in which there is much love and a little murder1 in the old thundering style1 and all at cross-purposes4 ,distress made a poet of ,mottley4 ,his father was a ,jacobite colonel1 who followed ,james to ,france2 his mother1 a thorough-bred ,whig1 who stayed under ,william in ,england4 ,occasionally1 they settled their political differences1 and met4 ,mottley was one of those men who depend on patrons4 ,he had lost a post in the ,excise ,office1 and had not gained either of two which had been promised him1 one in the ,wine ,licence ,office1 by ,lord ,halifax1 and one in the ,exchequer to which he had been appointed1 but from which he was immediately ousted by ,sir ,robert ,walpole4 ,an estate1 in which he had a reversionary interest1 was sold by his widowed and extravagant mother to pay her debts1 and thus stripped of post and prospects1 ,mottley made an essay as dramatic author1 a career in which he was not destined to be distinguished1 although ,queen ,caroline patronised him during a part of it--but so she did ,stephen ,duck6 ,cato was not superseded2 but ,young was putting the finishing stroke to his ,revenge4 ,that tragedy1 which has been acted more frequently and more recently than ,cato1 was first played in the ,drury ,lane season of #agbj-ba4 ,on the #ahth of ,april1 of the latter year1 ,zanga was played by ,mills1 while ,booth took ,alonzo1 and ,wilks1 ,carlos4 ,the secondary parts were thus played by the better actors4 ,mrs4 ,porter played ,leonora1 ,mrs4 ,horton1 ,isabella4 ,this was a fine cast1 and the piece was fairly successful4 ,a story in the ,guardian1 and two plays1 by ,marlowe and ,aphra ,behn1 are said to have furnished ,young with his materials1 in handling which1 one of his biographers has described him as superior even to ,shakspeare6 ,the action does not flag1 the situations are dramatic1 the interest is well sustained1 and the language is expressive and abounding in poetical beauty4 ,the story of love1 jealousy1 and murder is1 however1 a little marred by the puling lines of the black ,iago1--,zanga1 at the close4 ,young obtained but #ej for the copyright of this piece4 ,young's ,revenge1 if built upon other plays1 has served the turn of later authors4 ,in ,lord ,john ,russell's ,don ,carlos1 the reason given for the grovelling ,cordoba's hatred of the ,spanish prince1 reminds the reader of that of ,zanga for ,alonzo2 not less in the fact itself1 the blow believed to be forgotten1 but in the expression4 ,any one1 moreover1 who remembers the avowal which ,artabanus makes of his guilt in the ,artaxerxes of ,metastasio1 will be inclined to think that the ,italian had in his mind the similar speech of the ,moor to his master4 ,cibber's comedy1 the ,refusal1 skilfully built up from the ,femmes ,savantes of ,molire and the ,south ,sea mania1 ran1 like the more famous tragedy1 but six nights1 a riot attending each representation1 and finally ending in driving a good play by the author of the ,nonjuror from the stage4 ,the other incidents of this season are confined to the appearance of ,cibber's son1 ,theophilus1 who made his first essay in the ,duke of ,clarence1 in the second part of ,henry ,,iv41 as arranged by ,betterton4 ,it was a modest attempt on the part of him whose ,pistol was to serve1 down to our day1 as a tradition to be followed4 ,as this vagabond ,theophilus appeared1 there1 on the other hand1 departed the very pearl of chambermaids1 ,mrs4 ,saunders1 who retired to become the friend and servant of ,mrs4 ,oldfield4 ,this last lady played but rarely this year2 but ,mrs4 ,horton profited by the opportunity1 and ,mrs4 ,porter1 as a tragic actress1 drew the town4 ,lincoln's ,inn was1 at least1 active in its corresponding season4 ,the progress of ,quin is curiously marked4 ,he played ,glo'ster to the ,lear of ,boheme2 ,hector1 in ,troilus and ,cressida1 ,ryan playing ,troilus2 the ,duke in ,measure for ,measure2 ,coriolanus2 ,aumerle1 in ,richard ,,ii42 ,aaron1 in ,titus ,andronicus2 ,leonato to ,ryan's ,benedick1 c4 c4 ,moreover1 while in the ,merry ,wives he played ,falstaff with great effect to the ,host of ,bullock1 in the first part of ,henry ,,iv4 ,bullock played the ,knight1 and ,quin the ,king4 ,the season1 remarkable for ,shakspearian revivals1 creditable to ,rich1 was also distinguished for the failure of the original pieces produced4 ,the ,chimra was a satire by ,odell1 a ,buckinghamshire squire1 pensioned by ,government4 ,it was aimed at the speculators in ,change ,alley1 but it smote them tenderly4 ,the ,fair ,captive was an adaptation by ,mrs4 ,haywood1 a lady who began by writing as loosely as ,aphra ,behn1 concluded by writing as decorously as ,mrs4 ,chapone1 and left charge to her executors1 in #agef1 to give no aid to any biography of her that might be attempted1 on the ground that the least said was the soonest mended4 ,this comedy#aaa was only exceeded in dulness by the tragedy which succeeded it1 ,antiochus1 by ,mottley1 who could not gain fortune either as poet or placeman4 ,in the play1 ,antiochus is in love with his father's wife1 ,stratonice1 who1 on being surrendered to his son1 by her husband1 ,seleucus1 is a little overjoyed1 for she loves the younger prince2 but she is also much shocked1 and escapes from her embarrassment by suicide4 ,the next novelty was a tragedy in one act and with four characters1 ,fatal ,extravagance1 attributed to ,miller1#aab the son of a ,scottish stone-cutter4 ,miller was a sort of exaggerated ,richard ,savage2 inferior to him as a poet1 and in every respect a more inexcusable vagabond4 ,he had no redeeming traits of character1 and he destroyed health and fortune 7both restored more than once71 as insanely as he did fame and the patience of his friends4 ,in ,fatal ,extravagance1 ,belmour1 played by ,quin1 kills a creditor who holds his bond1 of which he also robs the dead man1 mixes a cordial1 administers it to his wife and three children 7off the stage71 drinks and dies4 ,the butchery#aac is soon got through1 in one act4 ,miller subsequently declared that the piece was a gift to him from ,aaron ,hill4 ,that busy and benevolent person had no money to give to a beggar2 so he sat down and wrote a tragedy for him4 ,it was a piece of clever extravagance4 ,it was far more amusing than ,ambrose ,philip's tragedy the ,briton1 which was the sole novelty of the ,drury ,lane season #agba-bb4 ,the tragedy lacked neither skill1 poetical spirit1 nor incident2 indeed1 of love incidents there is something too much4 ,but the amours of ,yvor 7,wilks7 and ,gwendolin 7,mrs4 ,booth71 the infidelities of ,queen ,cartismand 7,mrs4 ,porter7 to ,vanoc 7,booth71 and the intervention of the ,romans in these ,british domestic matters1 interested but for a few nights1 if then1 an audience ill-read in their own primitive history4 ,lincoln's ,inn ,fields was scarcely more prolific in novelty2 this1 with the exception of a poor drama1 the ,hibernian ,friend1#aad being confined to ,sturmy's tragedy1 ,love and ,duty2 ,lynceus1 one of the half hundred sons of gyptus1 by ,quin4 ,the love is that of ,lynceus and his cousin1 ,hypermnestra2 the duty1 that of killing her husband1 on the bridal night1 by command of her father4 ,the ,distressed ,bride1 which is the second name of this piece1 wisely disobeys her sire1 who is ultimately slain2 after which1 the young people1 sole survivors of fifty couples married yesterday 7the bridegrooms1 all brothers2 and sisters1 all the brides71 are made happy by the hope of long life unembittered by feuds with their kinsfolk4 ,the last two tragedies may be looked upon as a backsliding1 after ,cato1 ,jane ,shore1 and the ,revenge2 and in tragedy there was little improvement for several years4 ,meanwhile1 ,lincoln's ,inn ,fields acquired ,walker1 from ,drury ,lane1 and ,tony ,aston1 an itinerant actor1 the first1 perhaps1 who travelled the country with an entertainment in which he was the sole performer4 ,on the other hand1 the house lost pretty ,miss ,stone1 humorous ,kit ,bullock 7,wilks's son-in-law71 and busy ,george ,pack2 the last1 the original ,marplot1 ,lissardo1 and many similar characters4 ,pack turned vintner in ,charing ,cross4 ,quin's ability was nightly more appreciated4 ,there was more study for the ,drury ,lane actors in #agbb-bc4 ,mrs4 ,centlivre's muse died calmly out with the comedy of the ,artifice4 ,in the good scenes there was an approach to sentimental comedy1 more fully reached1 in ,november1 by ,steele1 in his ,conscious ,lovers1 in which ,booth played ,young ,bevil1 and ,mrs4 ,oldfield1 ,indiana4 ,there was not an inferior performer in any of the other parts of this comedy1 which ,fielding sneers at1 by making ,parson ,adams declare that there were things in it that would do very well in a sermon4 ,modern critics have called this comedy dull1 but decent2 perhaps because ,steele affected to claim it as at least moral in its tendency4 ,the truth1 however1 is1 that it is excessively indecent4 ,there is nothing worse in ,aphra ,behn than the remarks made by ,cimberton1 the coxcomb with reflection1 on ,lucinda4 ,this fop1 played by ,griffin1 is for winning a beauty by the rules of metaphysics4 ,there is more pathos than humour in this comedy2 the author of which had now recovered his share in the patent1 by favour of ,sir ,robert ,walpole2 and it is by directing attention only to such scenes as those between ,bevil and ,indiana1 or between the former and his friend ,myrtle 7,wilks71 that critics have not correctly declared that the sentiments are those of the most refined morality6 ,for the very attempt to render them so1 even partially1 ,sir ,richard has been sneered at1 very recently1 by a writer who looks upon ,steele as a fool for preferring to make ,bevil the portrait of what a man ought to be rather than what man really was4 ,the story of the piece is admirably manipulated and reformed from the ,andria1 of ,terence1 though ,tom 7,cibber7 is but a sorry ,davus4 ,on one night of the performance of this play1 a general officer was observed in the boxes1 weeping at the distresses of ,indiana4 ,the circumstance was noted to ,wilks1 who1 with kindly feeling ever ready1 remarked1 ,i am certain the officer will fight none the worse for it6 ,steele must have had more than ordinary power1 if he could draw tears from martial eyes in those days4 ,it is not to be supposed that ,pope set the author1 as a writer1 below ,crowne2 and yet1 in the following lines1 where the two are mentioned1 there is no very complimentary allusion to ,sir ,richard3-- ,when simple ,macer1 now of high renown1 ,first sought a poet's fortune in the town1 ',twas all th' ambition his high soul could feel1 ,to wear red stockings and to dine with ,steele4 ,some ends of verse his betters might afford1 ,and gave the harmless fellow a good word4 ,set up with these1 he ventured on the town1 ,and with a borrow'd play outdid poor ,crowne4 ,there he stopt short1 nor since has writ a tittle1 ,but has the wit to make the most of little4 ,crowne1 at least1 found something of an imitator in ,ambrose ,philips1 whose tragedy1 ,humphrey1 ,duke of ,gloucester 7,duke1 ,booth2 ,beaufort1 ,cibber2 ,margaret1 ,mrs4 ,oldfield2 ,duchess of ,gloucester1 ,mrs4 ,porter71 was produced in this season4 ,it was the last and worst of ,philips' three dramatic essays4 ,the insipid additions in the scene of ,beaufort's death are justly described by ,genest as being in ,crowne's vapid and senseless fashion2 and the public would not accept this cold1 declamatory1 conversational play as a substitute for the varied incidents which go to the making up of the second part of ,shakspeare's ,henry ,,vi4 ,even in ,dr4 ,johnson's time1 it was only remembered by its title2 we may1 therefore1 here take leave of the old secretary of the ,hanover ,club1 who found more fortune in place and pension in ,ireland1 than he could derive from poetry and play writing in ,england4 ,to the latter country he returned in #agdh1 to enjoy himself1 in pursuit of which end he died the following year4 ,addison once thought him well enough provided for1 by being made a ,westminster justice4 ,nay1 said ,ambrose1 like a virtuous man in comedy1 though poetry be a trade ,i cannot live by1 yet ,i scorn to owe subsistence to another which ,i ought not to live by2 and he nobly gave up the justiceship--as soon as he was otherwise provided for6 ,philips was followed by an inferior author1 but a greater man1 ,sir ,hildebrand ,jacob1 with a classical tragedy1 ,fatal ,constancy1 in which all the unities are preserved2 but that did not bring it the nearer to ,cato4 ,then followed1 in the summer and less fashionable portion of the season1 ,savage's tragedy1 ,sir ,thomas ,overbury1 in which the author played1 very indifferently1 the hero4 ,at this time1 the hapless young man was not widely known1 except to those friends on whose charity he lived while he abused it4 ,favoured by ,wilks and patronised by ,theophilus ,cibber1 the ragged1 rakish fellow1 slunk at nights into the theatre1 and by day lounged where he could1 composing his tragedy on scraps of paper4 ,in producing it1 ever ready ,aaron ,hill assisted him2 and his profits1 amounting to about #bjj1 gave him a temporary appearance of respectability4 ,savage is said to have been deeply ashamed of having turned actor2 but it seems to me that he was only ashamed of having failed4 ,he had neither voice1 figure1 nor any other qualification for such a profession4 ,the tragedy lived but three days4 ,there is something adroit in the conduct of the plot1 and evidence of correctness of conjecture as to the truth of the relations between ,overbury and ,lady ,somerset1--but there was no vitality therewith2 and the poet gained no lasting fame by the effort4 ,mrs4 ,haywood followed ,savage's example1 in acting in her own comedy1 ,a ,wife to be ,let2#aae but as this and other original pieces or adaptations passed away unheeded or disgraced1 ,i may here conclude my notice of this season1 by recording the death of ,mrs4 ,bicknell1 a woman1 or rather an actress of merit1 and the original representative of ,cherry in the ,beaux' ,stratagem4 ,against ,drury1 the house in the ,fields long struggled in vain4 ,audiences1 of five or six pounds in value1 discouraged the actors4 ,egleton was not equal to ,cibber2 yet the ,baron1 as he was called1 from having assumed the title1 when squandering his little patrimony in ,france1 was next to ,colley in fops4 ,quin1 ,ryan1 and ,boheme could not attract like ,booth1 ,wilks1 and ,cibber2 and ,hippisley and others1 acting ,julius ,csar1 as a comic piece1 was not a happy idea4#aaf ,not more so1 was that of turning the story of ,cartouche1 who had recently been broken on the wheel1 into a farce4 ,the company lost their best actress1 too1 in ,mrs4 ,seymour1 whom ,boheme married and took off the stage1 to ,ryan's great regret1 as she acted admirably up to him4 ,a promising actor1 too1 was lost to the troop1 in young ,reakstraw4 ,in the summer vacation he was playing ,darius1 in a booth in ,moorfields1--no derogation in those days4 ,in the scene in which he is attacked by ,bessus and ,nabarzanes1 one of the latter two thrust his foil at the ,king so awkwardly1 that it entered the eye1 pierced his brain1 and laid the actor1 after a scream1 dead upon the boards6 ,with this season1 it is to be noted that the fortune of ,lincoln's ,inn mended--thanks to the impertinence of ,colley ,cibber4 ,to the latter1 a tragedy had been presented by a modest gentleman1 of a good old ,staffordshire family1 named ,fenton4 ,he was forty years of age at this time4 ,cibber knew his antecedents1 that his ,jacobite principles had been an obstacle to his ordination1 for which he was well qualified1 and that although he had been secretary and tutor in the family of ,lord ,orrery1 ,fenton had also earned his bread in the humble1 but honourable1 capacity of usher in a boarding-school4 ,colley read the tragedy1 ,mariamne1 and after keeping it unnecessarily long1 he returned it1 with the advice that ,fenton should stick to some honest calling1 and cease to woo the ,muses4 ,elijah ,fenton1 however1 had friends who enabled him now to live independently of labour1 and by their counsel he took ,mariamne to ,rich1 who immediately brought it out1 with ,quin as ,sohemus1 ,boheme as ,herod1 and ,mrs4 ,seymour as ,mariamne--her one great creation4 ,boheme1 in ,herod1 played well up to the ,mariamne of ,mrs4 ,seymour2 but he could not approach ,mondory in that character1 in the ,french play by ,tristan4 ,mondory used to have his audience1 on this occasion1 departing from him1 depressed1 silent1 wrapt in meditation4 ,he surrendered himself entirely to the part1 and died of the consequences of his efforts4 ,herod was as truly the name of the malady to which he succumbed1 as ,orestes was of that which killed ,montfleury1 as he was playing ,oreste1 in ,racine's tragedy of ,andromaque4 ,the old story of ,herod and ,mariamne is so simple and natural that it appeals to every heart1 in every age4 ,fenton perilled it by additions2 but the tragedy won a triumph1 and the poet to whom ,pope paid about #bej for translating four books of the ,odyssey for him1 netted four times that sum by this drama4 ,he became famous1 and critics did not note the false quantity which the ,cambridge man gave to the penultimate of ,salome4 ,fenton was rendered supremely happy1 but his dramatic fame rests on this piece alone4 ,he never wooed ,melpomene again1 but lived calmly the brief seven years of life which followed his success4 ,like ,prior dying at ,wimpole1 the honoured guest of ,harley1 ,fenton died at ,easthampstead1 the equally esteemed guest of ,sir ,william ,trumbull1 son of ,king ,william's secretary of state4 ,in ,pope's well-known epitaph1 ,fenton's character is beautifully described in a few simple lines4 ,aaron ,hill was the exact opposite of quiet ,fenton4 ,his beech-nut oil company having failed1 he joined ,sir ,robert ,montgomery in a project for colonising ,south ,carolina2 and this too proving unproductive1 he turned to the stage1 and brought out in the season of #agbc-bd1 at ,drury ,lane1 his tragedy of ,henry ,v4--an improvement of ,shakspeare's historical play of the same name4 ,hill's additions comprise a ,harriet 7,mrs4 ,thurmond71 for whom he invented a breeches part1 and some melodramatic situations--especially between her and ,henry 7,booth74 ,hill cut out all ,shakspeare's comic characters2 but he was so anxious for the success of the piece1 that he spent #bjj of his own on the scenery1 of which he made a present to the managers2 and1 after all1 his play failed1 despite the brilliant ,katherine of ,mrs4 ,oldfield1 and the ,dauphin of ,wilks4 ,more successful was the ,captives1 by ,gay4 ,the ex-mercer was now a poet1 whom the quality petted2 but he was not yet at the summit of his fame4 ,the ,captives did not help to raise him4 ,the story was found unnatural1 and the style stilted4 ,a ,persian captive 7,booth7 is a ,joseph1 against whom the ,median ,queen1 whom he has offended1 vows vengeance2 in pursuit of which1 love and murder are extensively employed4 ,mrs4 ,oldfield had one good scene in it as ,cydene1 captive wife of the ,persian ,joseph1 for whom she entertains a warm regard1 of which he is worthy2 yet these actors1 well seconded1 could only drag the tragedy through seven representations1 before it was consigned to oblivion4 ,but the company was strong enough to make their old repertory1 with ,shakspeare in the van1 attractive2 and they had nothing to regret1 when the season closed1 but the death of ,pinkethman1 who for two and thirty years1 and chiefly at ,drury ,lane1 had been the most irresistible laughter-compeller of that stage1 on which he had originated ,beau ,clincher1 ,old ,mirabel1 and a score of similar merry characters4 ,the company had not to complain2 yet the managers had found it necessary to support their stock-pieces by a novelty--a ballet-pantomime1 ,the ,necromancer1#aag by the younger ,thurmond1 a dancing-master4 ,rich1 at ,lincoln's ,inn1 where ,edwin could not have drawn a shilling2 where ,belisarius 7,boheme7 begged an obolus in vain2 and ,hurst's ,roman ,maid 7,paulina1 ,mrs4 ,moffat71 represented a hermit as dwelling in a lone cave1 near the ,mount ,aventine--a hermit would be as likely to be found in a wood on ,snow ,hill--,rich1 ,i say1 improved on ,thurmond's idea1 by producing on the #bjth of ,december #agbc1 ,the ,necromancer1 or the ,history of ,dr4 ,faustus1 and thereby founded pantomime1 as it has been established among us1 at least during the ,christmas-tide1 for now a hundred and forty years4 ,rich1 with his ,necromancer1 conjured all the town within the ring of his little theatre4 ,the splendour of the scenes1 the vastness of the machinery1 and the grace and ability of ,rich himself1 raised harlequinade above ,shakspeare1 and all other poets2 and ,quin and ,ryan were accounted little of in comparison with the motley hero4 ,the pantomime stood prominently in the bills2 during the nights of its attraction the prices of admission were raised by one-fourth1 and the weekly receipts advanced from six hundred 7if the house was full every night1 which had been a rare case in the ,fields71 to a thousand pounds4 ,the advanced price displeased the public1 with whom ultimately a compromise was made1 and a portion returned to those who chose to leave the house before the pantomime commenced4 ,while the drama was thus yielding to the attractions of pantomime1 a new theatre invited the public4 ,the little theatre in the ,haymarket opened its doors for the first time on the #abth of ,september#aah #agbc1 with the ,french ,fop1 of which the author1 ,sandford1 says1 that he wrote it in a few weeks1 when he was but fifteen years of age4 ,that may account for its having straightway died2 but it served to introduce to the stage the utility actor1 ,milward4 ,the theatre was only open for a few nights4 ,of the season #agbd-e1 at ,drury ,lane1 there is little to be said1 save that the inimitable company worked well and profitably in sterling old plays4 ,wilks returned to ,sir ,harry ,wildair1 and the public laughed at ,cibber's quivering tragedy tones1 when playing ,achoreus1 in his adaptation from ,beaumont and ,fletcher's ,false ,one4 ,in ,csar in ,egypt1 ,antony and ,cleopatra were played by ,wilks and ,mrs4 ,oldfield1 who were never more happy than when making love on the stage4 ,this was the sole novelty of the season4 ,in the ,fields there was more of it1 but that most relied on was ,rich's ,harlequin ,sorcerer1 produced on the #bast of ,january #agbe4 ,the ,bath ,unmasked was the only original comedy produced4 ,it described ,bath as made up of very unprincipled people1 with a good lord to about a score of knaves and hussies4 ,it was the first and not lucky essay of miserable ,gabriel ,odingsell1 who1 nine years later1 in a fit of madness1 hung himself in his house1 ,thatched ,court1 ,westminster4 ,booth was more brilliant than he had ever yet been1 in the ,drury ,lane season of #agbe-bf4 ,in ,shakspeare he shone conspicuously1 and his ,hotspur to the ,prince of ,wales of ,giffard1 from ,dublin1 charmed as much by its chivalry as ,cato did by its dignity4 ,mrs4 ,oldfield enjoyed1 and ,mrs4 ,cibber1 first wife of ,theophilus1 claimed the favour of the town2 and the elder ,cibber surrendered one or two old characters to a younger actor1 ,bridgewater4 ,amid a succession of old dramas1 one novelty only was offered1 a translation of the ,hecuba of ,euripides1 with slight variations4 ,the author was ,richard ,west1 son-in-law of ,bishop ,burnet1 and father of young ,west1 the early friend of ,walpole and ,gray4 ,his play was acted on the #c;d#aai of ,february #agbf1 at which time ,west was ,lord ,chancellor of ,ireland4 ,on the first night a full audience would not listen to the piece1 and on the next two nights there was scarcely an audience assembled to listen4 ,neither ,booth as ,polymnestor1 nor ,mrs4 ,porter as ,hecuba1 could win the general ear4 ,it did not succeed1 wrote the author1 because it was not heard4 ,a rout of ,vandals in the galleries intimidated the young actresses1 disturbed the audience1 and prevented all attention2 and1 ,i believe1 if the verses had been repeated in the original ,greek1 they would have been understood and received in the same manner4 ,the young actresses were ,mrs4 ,brett and ,mrs4 ,cibber2 the latter was not the famous lady of that name1 destined to the highest walks of tragedy4 ,lord ,chancellor ,west died in ,december of this year4 ,the above single play was1 however1 worth all the novelties produced by ,rich at ,lincoln's ,inn ,fields4 ,these were comedies of a farcical kind4 ,in one of them1 the ,capricious ,lovers1 by ,odingsell1 there was an original character1 ,mrs4 ,mincemode 7,mrs4 ,bullock71 who grows sick at the sight of a man1 and refines upon the significancy of phrases1 till she resolves common observations into indecency4 ,in the ,french ,fortune-teller1#abj the public failed to be regaled with a piece stolen from ,ravenscroft1 who had stolen his from the ,french4 ,the third play was ,money the ,mistress1 which the audience damned1 in spite of the reputation of ,southerne1 who1 with this failure1 closed a dramatic career which had commenced half a century earlier4 ,in its course he had written ten plays1 the author of which had this in common with ,shakspeare--that he was born at ,stratford-on-,avon4 ,with this year1 #agbf-bg1 came the first symptom of a break-up in the hitherto prosperous condition of ,drury ,lane4 ,it occurred in the first long and serious illness of ,booth1 which kept him from the theatre1 three long and weary months to the town4 ,the season at ,drury ,lane1 however1 and that at ,lincoln's ,inn ,fields1 had this alike1 that after ,booth's welcome return1 all ,london was excited by expectations raised by comedies whose authors were gentlemen1 in whose success the quality1 generally1 were especially interested4 ,at ,drury it was the ,rival ,modes1 by ,moore ,smythe2 at ,lincoln's ,inn ,fields1 the ,dissembled ,wanton1 or1 my ,son1 get ,money1 by ,leonard ,welsted4 ,in the former piece there is a gay lover1 ,bellamine 7,wilks71 wooing the grave ,melissa 7,mrs4 ,porter71 while the serious ,sagely 7,mills7 pays suit to the sprightly widow ,amoret 7,mrs4 ,oldfield74 ,an old beau of ,king ,william's time1 ,earl of ,late ,airs 7,cibber71 brings his son to town 7,lord ,toupet1 a modern beau1 by ,theophilus ,cibber71 in order that he may marry ,melissa1 with her father's consent4 ,amoret contrives to upset this arrangement1 and the other lovers are duly united4 ,the plot was good1 the players unsurpassable1 the two ,cibbers fooling it to the top of their bent1 and old and new fashions were pleasantly contrasted2 but the action was languid1 and the piece was hissed4 ,the incident lacking here1 abounded in ,welsted's intriguing comedy1 the ,dissembled ,wanton1 a character finely acted by ,mrs4 ,younger#aba--whose marriage with ,beaufort 7,walker7 being forbidden by her father1 ,lord ,severne 7,quin71 by whom she had been sent to ,france1 she reappears in her father's presence as ,sir ,harry ,truelove1 whose real character is known only to ,emilia 7,mrs4 ,bullock71 ,lord ,severne's ward4 ,emilia's intimacy with ,sir ,harry causes the rupture of her marriage with ,colonel ,severne1 and some coarse scenes have to be got through before all is explained2 the respective lovers are united1 and ,humphrey ,staple 7,hall7 finds it useless to urge his son ,toby 7,w4 ,bullock7 to get money by espousing the rich ward ,emilia4 ,although ,welsted's comedy was lively1 it was found to be ill-written4 ,he had had time enough to polish it1 for ten years previous to its production ,steele had commended the plot1 the moral1 and the style2 he had even praised its decency4 ,like ,moore ,smyth's1 it could not win the town4 ,the respective authors1 who made so much ineffectual noise in their own day1 would be unknown to us in this1 but for the censure of ,pope4 ,in the ,dunciad they enjoy notoriety with ,theobald1 or ,cibber1 ,gildon1 ,dennis1 ,centlivre1 and ,aaron ,hill4 ,moore was an ,oxford man1 who assumed his maternal grandfather's name--being his heir--and held one or two lucrative posts under ,government4 ,his father1 the famous ,arthur ,moore1 a wit1 a politician1 and a statesman1 who was long ,m4,p4 for ,grimsby1 had risen1 by force of his talents1 to an eminent position from a humble station4 ,pope stooped to call ,moore ,smyth the son of a footman1 and1 when the latter name was assumed on his taking his maternal grandfather's estate1 the ,whigs lampooned him as born at the paternal seat of his family--the taphouse of the prison-gate1 at ,monaghan4 ,moore was on intimate terms with the ,mapledurham ladies--the ,blounts1 and with others of ,pope's friends1 as well as with ,pope himself4 ,some tags of the poet's lines he had introduced into his unlucky comedy1 and on this ,pope supported a grossly-expressed and weakly-founded charge of plagiarism4 ,welsted1 who was of a good ,leicestershire family1 and of fair abilities1 had moved ,pope's wrath by writing satirical verses against him1 and the feeling was embittered when the two dramatists united in addressing ,one ,epistle to ,pope1 in which they touched him more painfully than he cared to confess4 ,neither ,moore nor ,welsted ever tempted fortune on the stage again4 ,coestus artemque repono1 said the former1 on the title-page of his comedy1 as if he was revenging himself on society4 ,welsted confined himself1 after some skirmishing with his critics1 to his duties in the ,ordnance ,office4 ,his wives were women of some mark4 ,the first was the daughter of ,purcell2 the second the sister of ,walker1 the great defender of ,londonderry4 ,a better gentleman than either1 ,philip ,frowde--scholar1 wit1 poet1 true man1 friend of ,addison1 and a friend to all1--was praised by the critics for his ,fall of ,saguntum2 but the public voice did not ratify the judgment1 though ,ryan1 as ,fabius1 and ,quin1 as ,eurydamas1 with ,mrs4 ,berriman1 as ,candace1--an ,amazonian queen1 with nothing very womanly about her1--exerted themselves to the utmost4 ,one other failure has to be recorded--,philip of ,macedon1 by ,david ,lewis1 the friend of ,pope4 ,with a dull tragedy1 ,pope's friend had no more chance of misleading the public1 than his foes1 with weak comedies4 ,the greater poet's commendation so little influenced that public1 that on the first night1 with ,pope himself in the house1 the audience was so numerically small1--though ,walker1 ,ryan1 ,quin1 ,mrs4 ,berriman1 ,mrs4 ,younger1 and others1 were1 in their habits as unlike ,macedonians as they could well be1--the managers deemed acting to such a house not profitable1 and dismissed it accordingly4 ,the author's final condemnation was only postponed for a night or two1 when he sank1 never to rise again4#abb ,illustration3 7,lavinia ,fenton47 ,with ,booth's failing health1 and the ill-success of novelties produced at either house1 there was a gloom over theatrical matters4 ,but at this very time a sun was rising from behind the cloud4 ,in one of the irregular series of performances1 held at the little theatre in the ,haymarket1 in #agbf1 there appeared a young lady1 in the part of ,monimia1 in the ,orphan1 and subsequently as ,cherry1 in the ,beaux' ,stratagem4 ,she was pretty1 clever1 and eighteen2 but she was not destined to become either the tragic or the comic queen4 ,soon after1 however1 thanks to the judgment of ,rich1 who gave her the opportunity1 she was hailed as the queen of ,english song4 ,she was known as ,lavinia ,fenton1 but she was the daughter of a naval lieutenant1 named ,beswick4 ,her widowed mother had married a coffee-house keeper in ,charing ,cross1 whose name of ,fenton was assumed by his step-daughter4 ,before we shall hear of her at ,lincoln's ,inn ,fields1 a lieutenant#abc will be offering her everything he possessed except his name2 but ,lavinia1 without being as discreet1 was even more successful than ,pamela1 and died a duchess4 ,throughout the reign of ,george ,i41 ,barton ,booth kept his position as the first ,english tragedian1--undisturbed even by the power of ,quin4 ,associated with him1 were comedians1--,wilks1 ,cibber1 ,mrs4 ,oldfield1 ,porter1 ,horton1 and others1 who shed splendour on the stage1 at this period4 ,the new dramatic poets of that reign were few1 and not more than one of those few can be called distinguished4 ,the name of ,young alone survives in the memory1 and that but for one tragedy1 the ,revenge4 ,of comedies1 there is not one of the reign of ,george ,i4 that is even read for its merits4 ,it is otherwise with the comedies of an actress and dramatist who died in this reign1--,susanna ,centlivre2 and yet a contemporary notice of her death simply states that1 as an actress1 having a greater inclination to wear the breeches than the petticoat1 she struck into the men's parts2 and that the dramatist had a small wen on her left eyelid1 which gave her a masculine air4 ,eventful to both houses was the season of #agbg-bh4 ,it was the last season of ,booth1 at ,drury ,lane2 and it was the first of the ,beggars' ,opera1 at ,lincoln's ,inn ,fields4 ,after thirty years' service1 in the reigns of ,william1 ,anne1 ,george ,i41 and now in that of ,george ,,ii41 in which ,garrick was to excel him1 that admirable actor was compelled1 by shattered health1 to withdraw4 ,for many nights he played ,henry ,,viii41 and walked in the coronation scene1 which was tacked to various other plays1 in honour of the accession of ,george ,,ii41 who1 with the royal family1 went1 on the #gth of ,november1 to witness ,booth enact the ,king4 ,on the #ith of ,january1 ,booth1 after a severe struggle1 played1 for the sixth and last time1 ,julio1 in the ,double ,falsehood2 a play which ,theobald ascribed to ,shakspeare2 ,dr4 ,farmer1 to ,shirley2 others1 to ,massinger2 but which was chiefly ,theobald's own1 founded on a manuscript copy which1 through ,downes1 the prompter1 had descended to him from ,betterton1 and which served ,colman1 who certainly derived his ,octavian from ,julio4 ,the loss in ,booth was1 in some degree1 supplied by the profit arising from a month's run of a new comedy by ,vanbrugh and ,cibber--the ,provoked ,husband2 in which the ,lord and ,lady ,townley were played by these incomparable lovers--,wilks and ,mrs4 ,oldfield4 ,cibber acted ,sir ,francis ,wronghead1 and young ,wetherell1 ,squire ,richard4 ,vanbrugh was at this time dead--in #agbf1 at his house in ,whitehall1 of quinsey4 ,the critics and enemies of ,cibber were sadly at fault on this occasion4 ,hating him for his ,nonjuror1 they hissed all the scenes of which they supposed him to be the author2 and applauded those which they were sure were by ,vanbrugh4 ,cibber published the imperfect play left by ,sir ,john1 and thereby showed that his adversaries condemned and approved exactly in the wrong places4 ,cibber enjoyed another triumph this season4 ,steele1 abandoning the responsibilities of management1 to follow his pleasure1 had submitted to a deduction of #a1 #acs4 #d;d4 nightly1 to each of his partners1 for performing his duties4 ,steele was at this time in ,wales1 dying1 though he survived till ,september #agbi4 ,his creditors1 meanwhile1 claimed the five marks as their own1 and the case went into the ,rolls ,court1 before ,sir ,joseph ,jekyll4 ,cibber pleaded in person the cause of himself and active partners1 and so convincingly1 that he obtained a decree in their favour4 ,in presence of this new audience1 the old actor confesses he felt fear4 ,he carried with him the heads of what he was about to urge2 but1 says ,colley1 when it came to the critical moment1 the dread and apprehension of what ,i had undertaken so disconcerted my courage1 that though ,i had been used to talk to above fifty thousand people every winter1 for upwards of thirty years together1 an involuntary and unexpected proof of confusion fell from my eyes2 and as ,i found myself quite out of my element1 ,i seemed rather gasping for life1 than in a condition to cope with the eminent orators against me4 ,cibber1 however1 recovered himself1 and vanquished his adversaries1 though two of them were of the stuff that won for them1 subsequently1 the dignity of ,lord ,chancellor4 ,the ,beggar's ,opera season at ,lincoln's ,inn ,fields was the most profitable ever known there4 ,swift's idea of a ,newgate pastoral was adopted by ,gay1 who1 smarting under disappointment of preferment at ,court1 and angry at the offer to make him gentleman-usher to the youngest of the royal children1 indulged his satirical humour against ministers and placement1 by writing a ,newgate comedy1 at which ,swift and ,pope shook their heads1 and old ,congreve1 for one of whose three sinecures ,gay would have given his ears1 was sorely perplexed as to whether it would bring triumph or calamity to its author4 ,the songs were added1 but ,cibber1 as doubtful as ,congreve1 declined what ,rich eagerly accepted1 and the success of which was first discerned by the ,duke of ,argyle1 from his box on the stage1 who looked at the house1 and saw it in the eyes of them4 ,walker1 who had been playing tragic parts1 and very recently ,macbeth1 was chosen for ,macheath1 on ,quin declining the highwayman4 ,lavinia ,fenton was the ,polly2 ,peachum1 by ,hippisley2 and ,spiller made a distinctive character of ,mat o' the ,mint4 ,walker knew no more of music than barely singing in tune2 but then his singing was supported by his inimitable action1 by his speaking to the eye and charming the ear4 ,it was at the close of a long run of the piece that ,walker once tripped in his words4 ,i wonder1 said ,rich1 that you should forget the words of a part you have played so often6 ,do you think1 asked ,walker1 with happy equivocation1 that a man's memory is to last for ever8 ,sixty-two nights in this season the ,beggar's ,opera drew crowded houses4#abd ,highwaymen grew fashionable1 and ladies not only carried fans adorned with subjects from the opera1 but sang the lighter1 and hummed the coarser1 songs4 ,sir ,robert ,walpole1 who was present on the first night1 finding the eyes of the audience turned on him as ,lockit was singing his song touching courtiers and bribes1 was the first to blunt the point of the satire1 by calling encore4 ,swift says1 two great ministers were in a box together1 and all the world staring at them4 ,at this time it was said that the quarrel of ,peachum and ,lockit was an imitation of that of ,brutus and ,cassius1 but the public discerned therein ,walpole and his great adversary ,townshend4 ,the ,beggar's ,opera hath knocked down ,gulliver1 wrote ,swift to ,gay4 ,i hope to see ,pope's ',dulness' 7the first name of the ,dunciad7 knock down the ',beggar's ,opera1' but not till it hath fully done its job4 ,but ,gay had no mission2 he only sought to gratify himself and the town2 to satirise1 not to teach or to warn2 the opera made ,gay rich1 and ,rich gay2 the former sufficiently so to make him forego earning a fee of twenty guineas by a dedication1 and the latter only so far sad1 that at the end of the season1 ,lavinia ,fenton1 after two benefits1 was taken off the stage by the ,duke of ,bolton4 ,the latter had from his wedding-day hated his wife1 daughter and sole heiress of the ,earl of ,carberry2 but his love for ,lavinia was so abounding1 that on his wife's death1 he made a ,duchess of ,polly2 but their three sons were not born at a time that rendered either of them heir to the ducal coronet1 which1 in #aged1 passed to the ,duke's brother4 ,gay's author's night realised a gain to him of #gjj1 and enabled him to dress in silver and blue4 ,while he is blazing abroad1 the once great master1 ,booth1 is slowly dying out4 ,let us tell his varied story as his life ebbs surely away4 ,illustration3 ,mr4 ,foote as the ,doctor4 ,,footnotes3 #ajh ,very imaginative4 ,mrs4 ,mountfort lived with another lover1 ,mr4 ,minshull1 for a year before ,booth's marriage4 #aji ,there are adaptations of ,coriolanus by ,tate1 ,dennis1 ,sheridan1 and ,kemble4 #aaj ,dennis born #afeg2 ,southerne #affj4 #aaa ,tragedy4 #aab ,should be ,mitchell4 #aac ,but the wife and children do not die2 the poisoned cup having been emptied1 and refilled with a harmless potion4 #aad ,should be ,hibernia ,freed4 #aae ,by reason of the indisposition of an actress4 #aaf ,this is a most strange mistake4 ,it is evidently caused by the entry in ,genest on #ajth ,january #agbc1 which is3--,julius ,csar4 ,comic characters--,hippisley1 c4 ,this of course means that the characters in the tragedy which were1 according to theatrical usage1 played by comedians 7the ,plebeians1 for instance71 were played by ,hippisley1 c41 not that all the characters were made comic4 #aag ,thurmond's piece appears to have been called ,harlequin ,doctor ,faustus4 #aah ,genest says #abth of ,december #agbc4 #aai ,should be #b;d4 #abj ,should be ,female ,fortune-teller4 #aba ,emilia is the ,dissembled ,wanton4 #abb ,acted four times4 #abc ,cooke 7,memoirs of ,macklin7 says a young libertine of very high rank4 #abd ,the ,notes to the ,dunciad say sixty-three days1 uninterrupted2 but this is probably an error4 ,illustration3 ,,barton ,,booth4 ,,chapter ,,xviii4 ,,barton ,,booth4 ,at this period it was evident that the stage was about to lose its greatest tragedian since the death of ,betterton4 ,booth was stricken past recovery1 and all the mirth caused by the ,beggar's ,opera could not make his own peculiar public forget him4 ,scarcely eight and thirty years had elapsed since the time when1 in #afij1 a handsome1 well-bred lad1 whose age did not then amount to two lustres1 sought admission into ,westminster ,school4 ,dr4 ,busby thought him too young2 but young ,barton ,booth was the son of a gentleman1 was of the family of ,booth1 ,earl of ,warrington1 and was a remarkably clever and attractive boy4 ,the ,doctor1 whose acting had been commended by ,charles ,i41 perhaps thought of the school-plays1 and recognised in little ,barton the promise of a lover in ,terence's comedies4 ,at all events1 he admitted the applicant4 ,barton ,booth1 a younger son of a ,lancashire sire1 was destined for ,holy ,orders4 ,he was a fine elocutionist1 and he took to ,latin as readily as ,erasmus2 but then he had ,nicholas ,rowe for a school-fellow2 and1 one day1 was cast for ,pamphilus in the ,andria4 ,luckily1 or unluckily1 he played this prototype of young ,bevil in ,steele's ,conscious ,lovers with such ease1 perfection1 and charming intelligence1 that the old dormitory shook with plaudits4 ,the shouts of approbation changed the whole purpose of his sire2 they deprived the church of a graceful clergyman1 and gave to the stage one of the most celebrated of our actors4 ,he was but seventeen1 when his brilliant folly led him to run away from home1 and tempt fortune1 by playing ,oroonoko1 in ,dublin4 ,the ,irish audiences confirmed the judgment of the ,westminster critics1 and the intelligent lad moved the hands of the men and the hearts of the women1 without a check1 during a glorious three years of probation4 ,and yet he narrowly escaped failure1 through a ridiculous accident1 when1 in #afih1 he made his dbut as ,oroonoko4 ,it was a sultry night in ,june4 ,while waiting to go on1 before his last scene1 he inadvertently wiped his darkened face1 and the lamp-black thereon came off in streaks4 ,on entering on the stage1 unconscious of the countenance he presented1 he was saluted with a roar of laughter1 and became much confused4 ,the generous laughers then sustained him by loud applause4 ,but ,booth was disturbed by this accident1 and to obviate its repetition1 he went on1 the next night1 in a crape mask1 made by an actress to fit close to his face4 ,unfortunately1 in the first scene the mask slipped1 and the new audience were as hilarious as the old4 ,i looked like a magpie1 said ,barton2 but they lamp-blacked me for the rest of the night1 and ,i was flayed before ,i could get it off again4 ,the mishap of the first night did not affect his triumph2 this was so complete that ,ashbury1 the master1 made him a present of five guineas2 bright forerunners of the fifty that were to be placed in his hands by delighted ,bolingbroke4 ,the hitherto penniless player was now fairly on the first step of the ascent it was his to accomplish4 ,when he subsequently passed through ,lancashire to ,london1 in #agja1 his fame had gone before him2 he reached the capital with his manly beauty to gain him additional favour1 with a heavy purse1 and a steady conviction of even better fortune to come4 ,with such a personage1 his hitherto angry kinsmen were1 of course1 reconciled forthwith4 ,one morning early in that year1 #agja1 he might have been seen leaving ,lord ,fitzharding's rooms at ,st4 ,james's1 with ,bowman1 the player1 and making his way to ,betterton's house in ,great ,russell ,street4 ,from the lord in waiting to ,prince ,george of ,denmark1 he carries a letter of recommendation to the father of the stage2 and generous old ,thomas1 jealous of no rival1 depreciator of no talent1 gave the stranger a hearty welcome2 heard his story1 asked for a taste of his quality1 imparted good counsel1 took him into training1 and ultimately brought him out at ,lincoln's ,inn ,fields1 #agja1 as ,maximus1 in ,rochester's ,valentinian4 ,betterton played tius1 and ,mrs4 ,barry1 ,lucina4 ,these two alone were enough to daunt so young an actor2 but ,booth was not vain enough to be too modest1 and the public at once hailed in him a new charmer4 ,his ease1 grace1 fire1 and the peculiar harmony of his voice1 altogether distinct from that of ,betterton's1 created a great impression4 ,booth with the silver tongue gained the epithet before ,barry was born4 ,westminster subsequently celebrated him in one of her school prologues3-- ,old ,roscius to our ,booth must bow1 ',twas then but art1 'tis nature now1 and the district was proud of both players2 of the young one of gentle blood1 educated in ,st4 ,peter's ,college1 and of the old one1 the royal cook's son1 who was christened in ,st4 ,margaret's1 ,august #ab1abe #afce4 ,at first1 ,booth was thought of as a promising undergraduate of the buskin1 and he had faults to amend4 ,he confessed to ,cibber that he had been for some time too frank a lover of the bottle2 but1 having the tipsyness of ,powell ever before him as a terrible warning1 he made a resolution of maintaining a sobriety of character1 from which he never departed4 ,cibber pronounces this to be an uncommon act of philosophy in a young man2 but he adds1 that in his fame and fortune he afterwards enjoyed the reward and benefit4 ,for a few years1 then1 ,booth had arduous work to go through1 and every sort of business to play4 ,the ,house in the ,fields1 too1 suffered from the tumblers1 dancers1 and sagacious animals1 added to the ordinary and well-acted plays at the ,house in the ,lane4 ,leisure he had also amid all his labour1 to pay successful suit to a young lady1 the daughter of a ,norfolk baronet1 ,sir ,william ,barkham1 whom he married in #agjd4 ,the lady died childless six years later4 ,till this last period--that1 too1 of the death of ,betterton--,booth may be said to have been in his minority as an actor1 or1 as ,cibber puts it1 only in the promise of that reputation1 which he soon after happily arrived at4 ,not that when that was gained he deemed himself perfect4 ,the longest life1 he used to say1 was not long enough to enable an actor to be perfect in his art4 ,previous to #agaj he had created many new characters2 among others1 ,dick1 in the ,confederacy2 and he had played the ,ghost in ,hamlet1 with such extraordinary power1 such a supernatural effect1 so solemn1 so majestic1 and so affecting1 that it was only second in attraction to the ,dane of ,betterton4 ,but ,pyrrhus and ,cato were yet to come4 ,meanwhile1 soon after his wife's death1 he played ,captain ,worthy1 in the ,fair ,quaker of ,deal1 to the ,dorcas ,zeal of ,miss ,santlow1 destined to be his second wife--but not just yet4 ,the two great characters created by him1 between the year when he played with ,miss ,santlow in ,charles ,shadwell's comedy1 and that in which he married her1 were ,pyrrhus1 in the ,distressed ,mother 7#agab71 and ,cato 7#agac74 ,within the limits stated1 ,booth kept household with poor ,susan ,mountfort1 the daughter of the abler actress of that name4 ,at such arrangements society took small objection1 and beyond the fact1 there was nothing to carp at in ,barton's home4 ,the latter was broken up1 however--the lady being in fault--in #agah1 when ,booth1 who had been the faithful steward of ,susan's savings1 consigned to her #cbjj1 which were speedily squandered by her next friend1 ,mr4 ,minshull4 ,the hapless young creature became insane2 in which condition it is credibly asserted that she one night went through the part of ,ophelia1 with a melancholy wildness which rendered many of her hearers almost as distraught as herself2 soon after which she died4 ,meanwhile1 her more faithful friend1 the acknowledged successor of ,betterton1 achieved his two greatest triumphs--in characters originally represented by him--,pyrrhus and ,cato4 ,those who have experienced the affliction of seeing or reading the ,distressed ,mother1 may remember that the heaviest part in that heavy play is that of ,pyrrhus4 ,but in acting it1 ,booth set the ,orestes of less careful ,powell in the shade4 ,his entrance1 says ,victor1 his walking and mounting to the throne1 his sitting down1 his manner of giving audience to the ambassador1#abf his rising from the throne1 his descending and leaving the stage--though circumstances of a very common character in theatrical performances1 yet were executed by him with a grandeur not to be described4 ,but it is with ,cato that ,booth is identified4 ,fortunate it was for him that the play ,addison had kept so long in his desk was not printed1 according to ,pope's advice1 for readers only4 ,fortunate1 too1 was the actor in the political coincidences of the time4 ,marlborough1 now a ,whig1 had asked to be appointed commander-in-chief for life4 ,harley1 ,bolingbroke1 and the other ,tories1 described this as an attempt to establish a perpetual dictatorship4 ,the action and the sentiment of ,cato are antagonistic to such an attempt1 and the play had a present political1 as well as a great dramatic interest4 ,common consent gave the part of the philosopher of ,utica to ,booth2 ,addison named young ,ryan1 son of a ,westminster tailor1 as ,marcus1 and the young fellow justified the nomination4 ,wilks1 ,cibber1 and ,mrs4 ,oldfield filled the other principal parts4 ,addison surrendered all claim to profit1 and on the evening of ,april #ad1 #agac1 there was excitement and expectation on both sides of the curtain4 ,booth really surpassed himself2 his dignity1 pathos1 energy1 were all worthy of ,betterton1 and yet were in nowise after the old actor's manner4 ,the latter was forgotten on this night1 and ,booth occupied exclusively the public eye1 ear1 and heart4 ,the public judgment answered to the public feeling4 ,the ,tories applauded every line in favour of popular liberty1 and the ,whigs sent forth responsive peals to show that they1 too1 were advocates of popular freedom4#abg ,the pit was in a whirlwind of delicious agitation1 and the ,tory occupants of the boxes were so affected by the acting of ,booth1 that ,bolingbroke1 when the play was over1 sent for the now greatest actor of the day1 and presented him with a purse containing fifty guineas1 the contributions of gentlemen who had experienced the greatest delight at the energy with which he had resisted a perpetual dictatorship1 and maintained the cause of public liberty6 ,the managers paid the actor a similar pecuniary compliment1 and for five-and-thirty#abh consecutive nights ,cato filled ,drury ,lane1 and swelled the triumph of ,barton ,booth4 ,there was no longer anything sad in the old exclamation of ,steele--,ye gods6 what a part would ,betterton make of ,cato6 ,the managers1 ,wilks1 ,cibber1 and ,dogget1 were as satisfied as the public1 for the share of profit to each at the end of this eventful season amounted to #acej6 ,when ,booth and his fellow-actors1 after the close of the ,london season1 went to ,oxford to play ,cato1 before a learned and critical audience1 our house was in a manner invested1 and entrance demanded by twelve o'clock at noon1 and1 before one1 it was not wide enough for many who came too late for places4 ,the same crowds continued for three days together 7an uncommon curiosity in that place71 and the death of ,cato triumphed over the injuries of ,csar everywhere4 ,at our taking leave1 we had the thanks of the ,vice-,chancellor1 'for the decency and order observed by our whole society2' an honour1 adds ,cibber1 proudly1 which had not always been paid on the same occasion4 ,four hundred and fifty pounds clear profit were shared by the managers1 who gave the actors double pay1 and sent a contribution of fifty pounds towards the repairs of ,st4 ,mary's ,church4 ,the church1 of which ,booth was intended to be a minister1 added its approbation1 through ,dr4 ,smalridge1 ,dean of ,carlisle1 who was present at the performance in ,oxford4 ,i heartily wish all discourses from the pulpit were as instructive and edifying1 as pathetic and affecting1 as that which the audience was then entertained with from the stage4 ,this is a reproach to church-preachers at the cost of a compliment to ,booth2 and old ,compton1 ex-dragoon1 and now dying ,bishop of ,london1 would not have relished it4 ,some of the metropolitan pulpits were1 no doubt1 less entertaining than the stage1 but many of them were held to good purpose2 and1 as for the ,nonconformist chapels1 of which ,smalridge knew nothing--there enthusiastic ,pomfret and ,matthew ,clarke were drawing as great crowds as ,booth2 ,bradbury1 that cheerful-minded patriarch of the ,dissenters1 was even more entertaining2 while ,neale was pathetic and earnest in ,aldersgate ,street2 and ,john ,gale1 affecting and zealous1 amid his eager hearers in ,barbican4 ,there is no greater mistake than in supposing that at this time the whole ,london world was engaged in resorting exclusively to the theatres1 and especially to behold ,booth in ,cato4 ,the grandeur of this piece has become somewhat dulled1 but it contains more true sayings constantly quoted than any other ,english work1 save ,gray's ,elegy4 ,it has been translated into ,french1 ,italian1 ,latin1 and ,russian1 and has been played in ,italy and in the ,jesuits' ,college at ,st4 ,omer4 ,pope adorned it with a prologue2 ,dr4 ,garth trimmed it with an epilogue2 dozens of poets wrote testimonial verses2 tippling ,eusden gave it his solemn sanction1 while ,dennis1 with some horseplay raillery1 but with irrefutable argument1 inexorably proved that1 despite beauties of diction1 it is one of the most absurd1 inconsistent1 and unnatural plays ever conceived by poet4 ,but1 ,johnson remarks truly1 as we love better to be pleased than to be taught1 ,cato is read1 and the critic is neglected4 ,illustration3 7,barton ,booth47 ,booth reaped no brighter triumph than in this character1 in which he has had worthy1 but never equally able successors4 ,boheme was respectable in it2 ,quin imposing1 and generally successful2 ,sheridan1 conventional1 but grandly eloquent2 ,mossop1 heavy2 ,walker1 a failure2 ,digges1 stagy2 ,kemble1 next to the original2 ,pope1 mouthy2 ,cooke1 altogether out of his line2 ,wright1 weak2 ,young1 traditional but effective2 and ,vandenhoff1 classically correct and statuesque4 ,in ,cato1 the name of ,booth stands supreme2 in that1 the kinsman of the ,earls of ,warrington was never equalled4 ,it was his good fortune1 too1 not to be admired less because of the affection for ,betterton in the hearts of surviving admirers4 ,this is manifest from the lines of ,pope3-- ,on ,avon's bank where flow'rs eternal blow1 ,if ,i but ask1--if any weed can grow8-- ,one tragic sentence if ,i dare deride1 ,which ,betterton's grave action dignified1 ,or well-mouth'd ,booth with emphasis proclaims 7,though but perhaps a muster-roll of names71 ,how will our fathers rise up in a rage1 ,and swear all shame is lost in ,george's age4 ,the performance of ,cato raised ,booth to fortune as well as to fame2 and through ,bolingbroke he was appointed to a share in the profits of the management of ,drury ,lane1 with ,cibber1 ,wilks1 and ,dogget4 ,the last-named1 thereupon1 retired in disgust1 with compensation2 and ,cibber hints that ,booth owed his promotion as much to his ,tory sentiments as to his merits in acting ,cato4 ,the new partner had to pay #fjj for his share of the stock property1 which was to be paid by such sums as should arise from half his profits of acting1 till the whole was discharged4 ,this incumbrance upon his share he discharged out of the income he received in the first year of his joint management4 ,his fame1 however1 by this time had culminated4 ,he sustained it well1 but he cannot be said to have increased it4 ,no other such a creation as ,cato fell to his lot4 ,young and ,thomson could not serve him as ,addison and opportunity had done1 and if he can be said to have won additional laurels after ,cato1 it was in the season of #agbb-bc1 when he played ,young ,bevil1 in ,steele's ,conscious ,lovers1 with a success which belied the assertion that he was inefficient in genteel comedy4 ,the season of #agbe-bf was also one of his most brilliant4 ,meanwhile1 a success off the stage secured him as much happiness as1 on it1 he had acquired wealth and reputation4 ,the home he had kept with ,susan ,mountfort was broken up4 ,in the course of this intimate alliance of strict friendship1 as the moral euphuists called it1 ,booth had acted with remarkable generosity towards the lady4 ,in the year #agad they bought several tickets in the ,state ,lottery1 and agreed to share equally whatever fortune might ensue4 ,booth gained nothing2 the lady won a prize of #ejjj1 and kept it4 ,his friends counselled him to claim half the sum1 but he laughingly remarked that there had never been any but a verbal agreement on the matter2 and since the result had been fortunate for his friend1 she should enjoy it all4 ,a truer friend he found in ,miss ,santlow1 the ,santlow famed for dance1 of ,gay4 ,from the ballet she had passed to the dignity of an actress1 and ,booth had been enamoured of her poetry of motion before he had played ,worthy to her ,dorcas ,zeal4 ,he described her1 with all due ardour1 in an ,ode on ,mira1 dancing1--as resembling ,venus in shape1 air1 mien1 and eyes1 and striking a whole theatre with love1 when alone she filled the spacious scene4 ,thus was ,miss ,santlow in the popular ,cato's eyes3-- ,whether her easy body bend1 ,or her fair bosom heave with sighs1 ,whether her graceful arms extend1 ,or gently fall1 or slowly rise1 ,or returning1 or advancing2 ,swimming round1 or side-long glancing2 ,gods1 how divine an air ,harmonious gesture gives the fair4 ,her grace of motion effected more than eloquence1 at least so ,booth thought1 who thus sang the nymph in her more accelerated steps to conquest3-- ,but now the flying fingers strike the lyre1 ,the sprightly notes the nymph inspire4 ,she whirls around6 she bounds6 she springs6 ,as if ,jove's messenger had lent her wings4 ,such ,daphne was4444 ,such were her lovely limbs1 so flushed her charming face6 ,so round her neck6 her eyes so fair6 ,so rose her swelling chest6 so flow'd her amber hair6 ,while her swift feet outstript the wind1 ,and left the enamour'd ,god of ,day behind4 ,now1 this goddess became to ,booth one of the truest1 most charming1 and most unselfish of mortal wives4#abi ,but see of what perilous stuff she was made who enraptured the generally unruffled poet ,thomson almost as much as she did ,barton ,booth4 ,for her smiles1 ,marlborough had given what he least cared to part with--gold4 ,craggs1 the ,secretary of ,state1 albeit a barber's son1 had made her spouse1 in all but name1 and their daughter was mother of the first ,lord ,st4 ,germans1 and1 by a second marriage1 of the first ,marquis of ,abercorn4 ,the ,santlow blood thus danced itself into very excellent company2 but the aristocracy gave good blood to the stage1 as well as took gay blood from it4 ,contemporary with ,booth and ,mrs4 ,santlow were the sisters1 frolic ,mrs4 ,bicknell and ,mrs4 ,younger4 ,they were nearly related to ,keith1 ,earl ,marshal of ,scotland4 ,their father had served in ,flanders under ,king ,william1 perhaps1 says ,mr4 ,carruthers1 in his ,life of ,pope1 rode by the side of ,steele1 whence ,steele's interest in ,mrs4 ,bicknell1 whom he praises in the ,tatler and ,spectator4 ,mrs4 ,younger1 in middle age1 married ,john1 brother of the seventh ,earl of ,winchelsea4 ,when ,miss ,santlow left the ballet for comedy1 it was accounted one of the lucky incidents in the fortune of ,drury4 ,dorcas ,zeal1 in the ,fair ,quaker of ,deal1 was the first original part in which ,miss ,santlow appeared4 ,cibber says1 somewhat equivocally1 that she was then in the full bloom of what beauty she might pretend to1 and he1 not very logically1 adds1 that her reception as an actress was1 perhaps1 owing to the admiration she had excited as a dancer4 ,the part was suited to her figure and capacity4 ,the gentle softness of her voice1 the composed innocence of her aspect1 the modesty of her dress1 the reserved decency of her gesture1 and the simplicity of the sentiments that naturally fell from her1 made her seem the amiable maid she represented4 ,many admirers1 however1 regretted that she had abandoned the ballet for the drama4 ,they mourned as if ,terpsichore herself had been on earth to charm mankind1 and had gone never to return4 ,they remembered1 longed for1 and now longed in vain for1 that sight which used to set a whole audience half distraught with delight1 when in the very ecstasy of her dance1 ,santlow contrived to loosen her clustering auburn hair1 and letting it fall about such a neck and shoulders as ,praxiteles could more readily imagine than imitate1 danced on1 the locks flying in the air1 and half a dozen hearts at the end of every one of them4 ,the union of ,booth and ,miss ,santlow was as productive of happiness as that of ,betterton and ,miss ,saunderson4 ,indeed1 with some few exceptions1 the marriages of ,english players have been generally so4 ,as much1 perhaps1 can hardly be said of the alliances of ,french actors4 ,molire had but a miserable time of it with ,mademoiselle ,bjart2 but he revenged himself by producing domestic incidents of a stormy and aggravating nature1 on the stage4 ,the status of the ,french players was even lower1 in one respect1 than that of their ,english brethren4 ,the ,french ecclesiastical law did not allow of marrying or giving in marriage amongst actors4 ,they were excommunicated1 by the mere fact that they were stage-players4 ,the ,church refused them the ,sacrament of ,marriage1 and a loving couple who desired to be honestly wed1 were driven into lying4 ,it was their habit to retire from their profession1 get married as individuals who had no vocation1 and the honeymoon over1 to return again to the stage and their impatient public4 ,the ,church was aware of the subterfuge1 and did its utmost to establish the concubinage of parties thus united2 but civil law and royal influence invariably declared that these marriages were valid1 seeing that the contracting parties were not excommunicated actors when the ceremony was performed1 whatever they may have been a month before1 or a month after4 ,no such difficulties as these had to be encountered by ,booth and ,miss ,santlow2 and the former lost no opportunity to render justice to the excellence of his wife4 ,this actor's leisure was a learned leisure4 ,once1 in his poetic vein1 when turning an ode of his favourite ,horace into ,english1 he went into an original digression on the becomingness of a married life1 and the peculiar felicity it had brought to himself4 ,thus sang the ,benedict when the union was a few brief years old3-- ,happy the hour when first our souls were joined6 ,the social virtues and the cheerful mind ,have ever crowned our days1 beguiled our pain2 ,strangers to discord and her clamorous train4 ,connubial friendship1 hail6 but haste away1 ,the lark and nightingale reproach thy stay2 ,from splendid theatres to rural scenes1 ,joyous retire6 so bounteous ,heav'n ordains4 ,there we may dwell in peace4 ,there bless the rising morn1 and flow'ry field1 ,charm'd with the guiltless sports the woods and waters yield4 ,but neither the married nor the professional life of ,booth was destined to be of long continuance4 ,his health began to give way before he was forty4 ,the managers hoped they had found a fair substitute for him in the actor ,elrington4 ,tom ,elrington subsequently became so great a favourite with the ,dublin audience that they remembered his ,bajazet as preferable to that of ,barry or ,mossop1 on the ground that in that character his voice could be heard beyond the ,blind ,quay1 whereas that of the other-named actors was not audible outside the house6 ,elrington had none of the scholar-like training of ,booth4 ,he was originally apprentice to an upholsterer in ,covent ,garden1 was wont to attend plays unknown to his master1 and to act in them privately1 and with equal lack of sanction4 ,his master was a vivacious ,frenchman1 who1 one day1 came upon him as1 under the instruction of ,chetwood1 he was studying a part in some stilted and ranting tragedy4 ,the stage-struck apprentice1 in his agitation1 sewed his book up inside the cushion1 on which he was at work1 while he and ,chetwood exchanged many a desponding look1 and every stitch went to both their hearts4 ,the offenders escaped detection2 but on another occasion the ,frenchman came upon his apprentice as he was enacting the ,ghost in ,hamlet1 when he laid the spirit1 with irresistible effect of his good right arm4 ,elrington was1 from the beginning1 a sort of copper ,booth4 ,his first appearance on the stage1 at ,drury ,lane1 in #agji1 was in ,oroonoko1 the character in which ,booth had made his coup d'essai in ,dublin4 ,he was ambitious1 too1 and had influential support4 ,when ,cibber refused to allow him to play ,torrismond1 while ,elrington was yet young1 a noble friend of the actor asked the manager to assign cause for the refusal4 ,colley was not at a loss4 ,it is not with us as with you1 my ,lord1 said he2 your ,lordship is sensible that there is no difficulty in filling places at court1 you cannot be at a loss for persons to act their part there2 but ,i assure you1 it is quite otherwise in our theatrical world4 ,if we should invest people with characters they should be unable to support1 we should be undone4 ,elrington1 after a few years of success in ,dublin1 boldly attempted to take rank in ,london with ,booth himself4 ,he began the attempt in his favourite part of ,bajazet1 ,booth playing ,tamerlane4 ,the latter1 we are told by ,victor1 being in full force1 and perhaps animated by a spirit of emulation towards the new ,bajazet1 exerted all his powers2 and ,elrington owned to his friends that1 never having felt the force of such an actor1 he was not aware that it was in the power of mortal to soar so much above him and shrink him into nothing4 ,booth was quite satisfied with his own success1 for he complimented ,elrington on his1 adding that his ,bajazet was ten times as good as that of ,mills1 who had pretensions to play the character4 ,the compliment was not ill-deserved1 for ,elrington possessed many of the natural and some of the acquired qualifications of ,booth1 whom perhaps he equalled in ,oroonoko4 ,he undoubtedly excelled ,mills in ,zanga1 of which the latter was the original representative4 ,after ,dr4 ,young had seen ,elrington play it1 he went round1 shook him cordially by the hand1 thanked him heartily1 and declared he had never seen the part done such justice to as by him2 acknowledging1 with some regret1 says ,dr4 ,lewis1 that ,mills did but growl and mouth the character4 ,such was the actor who became for a time ,booth's double1 and might have become his rival4 ,during the illness of the latter1 in #agbh-bi1 ,elrington1 we are told1 was the principal support of tragedy in ,drury ,lane4 ,at that time1 says ,davies1 the managers were so well convinced of his importance to them1 that they offered him his own conditions1 if he would engage with them for a term of years4 ,elrington replied1 ,i am truly sensible of the value of your offer1 but in ,ireland ,i am so well rewarded for my services that ,i cannot think of leaving it on any consideration4 ,there is not a gentleman's house to which ,i am not a welcome visitor4 ,booth has been called indolent1 but he was never so when in health1 and before a fitting audience4 ,on one thin night1 indeed1 he was enacting ,othello rather languidly1 but he suddenly began to exert himself to the utmost1 in the great scene of the third act4 ,on coming off the stage1 he was asked the cause of this sudden effort4 ,i saw an ,oxford man in the pit1 he answered1 for whose judgment ,i had more respect than for that of the rest of the audience2 and he played the ,moor to that one but efficient judge4 ,some causes of languor may1 perhaps1 be traced to the too warm patronage he received1 or rather friendship1 at the hands of the nobility4 ,it was no uncommon thing for a carriage and six to be in waiting for him--the equipage of some court friend--which conveyed him1 in what was then considered the brief period of three hours to ,windsor1 and back again the next day in time for play or rehearsal4 ,this agitated sort of life seriously affected his health2 and on one occasion his recovery was despaired of4 ,but the public favourite was restored to the town2 and learned ,mattaire celebrated the event in a ,latin ode1 in which he did honour to the memory of ,betterton1 and the living and invigorated genius of ,booth4 ,that genius was not so perfect as that of his great predecessor4 ,when able to go to the theatre1 though not yet able to perform1 he saw ,wilks play two of his parts1--,jaffier and ,hastings1--and heard the applause which was awarded to his efforts2 and the sound was ungrateful to the ears of the philosophical and unimpassioned ,cato4 ,but ,jaffier was one of his triumphs2 and he whose tenderness1 pity1 and terror had touched the hearts of a whole audience1 was painfully affected at the triumph of another1 though achieved by different means4 ,one of the secrets of his own success1 lay1 undoubtedly1 in his education1 feeling1 and judgment4 ,it may be readily seen from ,aaron ,hill's rather elaborate criticism1 that he was an actor who made points2 he could soften and slide over1 with an elegant negligence1 the improprieties of a part he acted2 while1 on the contrary1 he could dwell with energy upon the beauties1 as if he exerted a latent spirit1 which he kept back for such an occasion1 that he might alarm1 awaken1 and transport1 in those places only which were worthy of his best exertions4 ,this was really to depend on points2 and was1 perhaps1 a defect in a player of whom it has been said1 that he had learning to understand perfectly what it was his part to speak1 and judgment to know how it agreed or disagreed with his character4 ,the following1 by ,hill1 is as graphic as anything in ,cibber3--,booth had a talent at discovering the passions1 where they lay hid in some celebrated parts1 by the injudicious practice of other actors2 when he had discovered1 he soon grew able to express them2 and his secret of attaining this great lesson of the theatre1 was an adaptation of his look to his voice1 by which artful imitation of nature1 the variations in the sounds of his words gave propriety to every change in his countenance4 ,so that it was ,mr4 ,booth's peculiar felicity to be heard and seen the same2 whether as the pleased1 the grieved1 the pitying1 the reproachful1 or the angry4 ,one would be almost tempted to borrow the aid of a very bold figure1 and to express this excellency the more significantly1 by permission to affirm1 that the ,blind might have seen him in his voice1 and the ,deaf have heard him in his visage4 ,in his later years1 says a critic1 his merit as an actor was unrivalled1 and even so extraordinary1 as to be almost beyond the reach of envy4 ,his ,othello1 ,cato1 and his ,polydore1 in the ,orphan1 in which he was never equalled1 were long the theme of admiration to his survivors1 as were in a less degree his sorrowing and not roaring ,lear1 his manly yet not blustering ,hotspur4 ,dickey ,brass and ,dorimant1 ,wildair and ,sir ,charles ,easy1#acj ,pinchwife1 ,manley1 and ,young ,bevil1 were among the best of his essays in comedy1--where1 however1 he was surpassed by ,wilks4 ,but then1 ,i believe1 says a critic1 no one will say he did not appear the fine gentleman in the character of ,bevil1 in the ',conscious ,lovers4' ,it is said that he once played ,falstaff in the presence of ,queen ,anne1 'to the delight of the whole audience4' ,aaron ,hill1 curiously statistical1 states1 that by the peculiar delivery of certain sentiments in ,cato1 ,booth was always sure of obtaining from eighteen to twenty rounds of applause during the evening1--marks of approval1 both of matter and manner4 ,like ,betterton1 he abounded in feeling4 ,there was nothing of the stolidity of ,punch in either of them4 ,betterton is said to have sometimes turned as white as his neck-cloth1 on seeing his father's ghost2 while ,booth1 when playing the ghost to ,betterton's ,hamlet1 was once so horror-stricken at his distraught aspect1 as to be too disconcerted to proceed1 for a while1 in his part4 ,either actor1 however1 knew how far to safely yield themselves to feeling4 ,judgment was always within call2 the head ready to control the heart1 however wildly it might be impelled by the latter4 ,baron1 the ,french actor1 did not know better than they1 that while rules may teach the actor not to raise his arms above his head1 he will do well to break the rule1 if passion carry him that way4 ,passion1 as ,baron remarked1 knows more than art4 ,i have noticed the report that ,booth and ,wilks were jealous of each other2 ,i think there was more of emulation than of envy between them4 ,booth could make sacrifices in favour of young actors as unreservedly as ,betterton4 ,i find1 even when he was in possession1 as it was called1 of all the leading parts1 that he as often played ,laertes1 or even ,horatio1 as the ,ghost or ,hamlet4 ,his ,laertes was wonderfully fine1 and in a great actor's hands1 may be made1 in the fifth act1 at least1 equal with the princely ,dane himself4 ,again1 although his ,othello was one of his grandest impersonations1 he would take ,cassio1 in order to give an aspirant a chance of triumph in the ,moor4 ,in ,macbeth1 ,booth played1 one night1 the hero of the piece2 on another1 ,banquo2 and on a third1 the little part of ,lennox4 ,he was quite content that ,cibber should play ,wolsey1 while he captivated the audience by enacting the ,king4 ,his ,henry was a mixture of frank humour1 dignity1 and sternness4 ,theophilus ,cibber says enough to convince us that ,booth1 in the ,king1 could be familiar without being vulgar1 and that his anger was of the quality that excites terror4 ,he pronounced the four words1 ,go thy ways1 ,kate1 with such a happy emphasis as to win admiration and applause3 and when he said1 ',now1 to breakfast with what appetite you may1' his expression was rapid and vehement1 and his look tremendous4 ,the credit attached to the acting of inferior parts by leading players was shared with ,booth by ,wilks and ,cibber4 ,of the latter1 his son says1 that though justly esteemed the first comedian of his time1 and superior to all we have since beheld1 he has played several parts1 to keep up the spirit of some comedies1 which you will now scarcely find one player in twenty who will not reject as beneath his ,mock-,excellence4 ,booth could1 after all1 perhaps1 occasionally be languid without the excuse of illness4 ,he would play his best to a single man in the pit whom he recognised as a playgoer1 and a judge of acting2 but to an unappreciating audience he could exhibit an almost contemptuous disinclination to exert himself4 ,on one occasion of this sort he was made painfully sensible of his mistake1 and a note was addressed to him from the stage-box1 the purport of which was to know whether he was acting for his own diversion or in the service and for the entertainment of the public8 ,on another occasion1 with a thin house1 and a cold audience1 he was languidly going through one of his usually grandest impersonations1 namely1 ,pyrrhus4 ,at his very dullest scene he started into the utmost brilliancy and effectiveness4 ,his eye had just previously detected in the pit a gentleman1 named ,stanyan1 the friend of ,addison and ,steele1 and the correspondent of the ,earl of ,manchester4 ,stanyan was an accomplished man and a judicious critic4 ,booth played to him with the utmost care and corresponding success4 ,no1 no6 he exclaimed1 as he passed behind the scenes1 radiant with the effect he had produced1 ,i will not have it said at ,button's1 that ,barton ,booth is losing his powers6 ,some indolence was excusable1 however1 in actors who ordinarily laboured as ,booth did4 ,as an instance of the toil which they had to endure for the sake of applause1 ,i will notice that in the season of #agab-ac1 when ,booth studied1 played1 and triumphed in ,cato1 he within not many weeks studied and performed five original and very varied characters1 ,cato being the last of a roll1 which included ,arviragus1 in the ,successful ,pirate2 ,captain ,stanworth1 in the ,female ,advocates2 ,captain ,wildish1 in ,humours of the ,army2 ,cinna1 in an adaptation of ,corneille's play1 and finally1 ,cato4 ,no doubt ,booth was finest when put upon his mettle4 ,in ,may #agbf1 for instance1 ,giffard from ,dublin appeared at ,drury ,lane1 as the ,prince of ,wales1 in ,henry ,,iv4 ,the debutant was known to be an admirer of the ,hotspur of roaring ,elrington4 ,the ,percy was one of ,booth's most perfect exhibitions2 and1 ill as he was on the night he was to play it to ,giffard's ,harry1 he protested that he would surprise the new comer1 and the house too2 and he played with such grace1 fire1 and energy1 that the audience were beside themselves with ecstasy1 and the new actor was profuse at the side-scenes1 and even out of hearing of ,booth1 in acknowledgment of the great master and his superiority over every living competitor4 ,betterton cared little if his audience was select1 provided it also was judicious2 ,booth1 however1 loved a full house1 though he could play his best to a solitary1 but competent1 individual in the pit4 ,he confessed that he considered profit after fame1 and thought that large audiences tended to the increase of both4 ,the intercourse between audience and actor was1 in his time1 more intimate and familiar than it is now4 ,thus we see ,booth entering a coffee-house in ,bow ,street1 one morning after he had played ,varanes1 on the preceding night4 ,the gentlemen present1 all playgoers1 as naturally as they were coffee-house frequenters1 cluster round him1 and acknowledge the pleasure they had enjoyed in witnessing him act4 ,these pleasant morning critics only venture to blame him for allowing such unmeaning stuff as the pantomime of ,perseus and ,andromeda to follow the classical tragedy and mar its impression4 ,but the ballet-pantomime draws great houses1 and is therefore a less indignity in ,booth's eye1 than half empty benches4 ,it was not the business of managers1 he said1 to be wise to empty boxes4 ,there were many more spectators1 he said1 than men of taste and judgment2 and if by the artifice of a pantomime they could entice a greater number to partake of a good play than could be drawn without it1 he could not see any great harm in it2 and that1 as those pieces were performed after the play1 they were no interruption to it4 ,in short1 he held pantomimes to be rank nonsense1 which might be rendered useful1 after the fashion of his explanation4 ,his retirement from the stage may be laid to the importunity of ,mr4 ,theobald1 who urged him to act in a play1 for a moment attributed to ,shakspeare1 the ,double ,falsehood4 ,booth struggled through the part of ,julio1 for a week1 in the season of #agbg-bh1 and then withdrew1 utterly cast down1 and in his forty-sixth year4 ,broxham1 ,friend1 ,colebatch1 and ,mead came with their canes1 perukes1 pills1 and proposals1 and failing to restore him1 they sent him away from ,london4 ,the sick player and his wife wandered from town to ,bath1 from the unavailing springs there to ,ostend1 thence to ,antwerp1 and on to ,holland1 to consult ,boerhaave1 who could only tell the invalid that in ,england a man should never leave off his winter clothing till midsummer-day1 and that he should resume it the day after4 ,from ,holland the sad couple came home to ,hampstead1 and ultimately back to ,london1 where fever1 jaundice1 and other maladies attacked ,booth with intermitting severity4 ,here1 in ,may #agcc1 a quack doctor persuaded him that if he would take crude mercury it would not only prevent the return of his fever but effectually cure him of all his complaints4 ,as we are gravely informed that1 within five days the poor victim took within two ounces of two pounds weight of mercury1 we are not surprised to hear that at the end of that time ,booth was in extremis1 and that ,sir ,hans ,sloane was at his bedside to accelerate1 as it would seem1 the catastrophe4 ,to peruse what followed is like reading the details of an assassination4 ,as if the two pounds1 minus two ounces1 of mercury were not enough1 poor ,booth was bled profusely at the jugular1 his feet were plastered1 and his scalp was blistered2 he was assailed in various ways by cathartics1 and mocked1 ,i may so call it1 by emulsions2 the ,daily ,post announced that he lay a-dying at his house in ,hart ,street1 other notices pronounced him moribund in ,charles ,street2 but he was alive on the morning of the #ajth of ,may #agcc1 when a triad of prescriptions being applied against him1 ,cato at length happily succumbed4 ,but the surgeons would not let the dead actor rest2 they opened his body1 and dived into its recesses1 and called things by strong names1 and avoided technicalities2 and1 after declaring everything to be very much worse than the state of ,denmark1 as briefly described by ,hamlet1 ,alexander ,small1 the especial examiner1 signing the report1 added a postscript thereto1 implying that ,there was no fault in any part of his body1 but what is here mentioned4 ,poor fellow6 ,we are told that he recovered from his fever1 but that he died of the jaundice1 helped1 ,i think1 by the treatment4 ,a few days subsequently the body was privately interred in ,cowley ,church1 near ,uxbridge1 where he occasionally resided4 ,a few old friends1 and some dearer than friends1 accompanied him to the grave4 ,his will was as a kiss on either cheek of his beautiful widow1 and a slap on both cheeks of sundry of his relations4 ,to the former he left everything he had possessed1 and for the very best of reasons4 ,as ,i have been1 he says1 a man much known and talked of1 my not leaving legacies to my relations may give occasion to censorious people to reflect upon my conduct in this latter act of my life2 therefore1 ,i think it necessary to declare that ,i have considered my circumstances1 and finding1 upon a strict examination1 that all ,i am now possessed of does not amount to two-thirds of the fortune my wife brought me on the day of our marriage1 together with the yearly additions and advantages since arising from her laborious employment on the stage during twelve years past1 ,i thought myself bound by honesty1 honour1 and gratitude1 due to her constant affection1 not to give away any part of the remainder of her fortune at my death1 having already bestowed1 in free gifts1 upon my sister1 ,barbara ,rogers1 upwards of thirteen hundred pounds1 out of my wife's substance1 and full four hundred pounds of her money on my undeserving brother1 ,george ,booth 7besides the gifts they received before my marriage71 and all those benefits were conferred on my said brother and sister1 from time to time1 at the earnest solicitation of my wife1 who was perpetually entreating me to continue the allowance ,i gave my relations before my marriage4 ,the inhuman return that has been made my wife for these obligations1 by my sister1 ,i forbear to mention4 ,this was justice without vengeance1 and worthy of the sage1 of whom ,booth was the most finished representative4 ,the generosity of ,hester ,santlow1 too1 has been fittingly preserved in the will2 the whole of which1 moreover1 is a social illustration of the times4 ,in ,westminster1 ,barton ,street keeps up the actor's name2 and ,cowley ,street the remembrance of his proprietorship of a country estate near ,uxbridge4 ,to pass through the former street is like being transported to the times of ,queen ,anne4 ,it is a quaint old locality1 very little changed since the period in which ,barton built it4 ,no great stretch of imagination is required to fancy the original ,pyrrhus and ,cato gliding along the shady side1 with a smile on his lips and a certain fire in his eye4 ,he is thinking of ,miss ,santlow6 99 99 99 99 99 ,with ,booth slowly dying1 and ,mrs4 ,oldfield often too ill to act1 the prospects of ,drury began to wane in #agbh-bi4 ,elrington could not supply the place of the former2 nor ,mrs4 ,porter and ,mrs4 ,horton combined1 that of the latter4 ,cibber carefully instructed his son ,theophilus in the part of ,pistol1 which became his one great part1 and the appearance of ,miss ,raftor as ,dorinda1 in ,dryden's version of the ,tempest1 on the #bnd of ,january #agbi1 marks the first step in the bright and unchequered career of one who is better remembered as ,kitty ,clive1 of whom1 more hereafter4#aca ,she was not able to save ,cibber's pastoral comedy1 ,love in a ,riddle1 from condemnation by an audience who had the ill-manners1 as it was considered1 to hiss1 despite a royal presence in the house4 ,as the new names rose the old ones fell off1 and ,congreve and ,steele--the first rich and a gentleman1 the second needy1 but a gentleman1 too--died in #agbi1 leaving no one but ,cibber fit to compete with them in comedy4 ,musical pieces1 such as the ,village ,opera and the ,lover's ,opera1 born of ,gay's success1 brought no such golden results to their authors or the house1 which was still happy in retaining ,wilks4 ,on the other hand1 in the ,fields1 where ballad-opera had been a mine of wealth to astonished managers1 classical tragedy took the lead1 with ,quin leading in everything1 and growing in favour with a town whose applause could no longer be claimed by ,booth4 ,but classical tragedy reaped no golden harvests4 ,barford's ,virgin ,queen lives but in a line of ,pope to ,arbuthnot4 ,the ,themistocles 7,quin7 of young ,madden1 whom ,ireland ought to remember as one of her benefactors who was no mere politician1 lived but for a few nights4#acb ,mrs4 ,heywood succeeded as ill with her romantic tragedy1 ,frederick1 ,duke of ,brunswick1 which was five acts of flattery to the ,house of ,hanover1 some of whose members yawned over it ungratefully4 ,but the ,beggar's ,opera could always fill the house whether ,miss ,cantrell warbled ,polly1 with the old cast1 or children played all the parts--a foolish novelty1 not unattractive4 ,hawker1 an actor1 vainly tried to rival ,gay1 with a serio-comic opera1 the ,wedding1 and ,gay himself was doomed to suffer disappointment2 for the authorities suppressed his ,polly1 a vapid continuation of the fortunes of ,macheath and the lady1 and thereby drove almost to the disaffection of which he was accused1 not only ,gay1 but his patrons1 the ,duke and ,duchess of ,queensberry1 who punished the ,court by absenting themselves from its pleasures and duties4 ,the poet1 who desired nothing but the joys of a quiet life1 a good table1 and a suit of blue and silver1 all which he enjoyed beneath the ducal roof1 happiest of mercer's apprentices1 found compensation in publishing his work by subscription1 whereby he realised so large a sum as to satisfy his utmost wishes4 ,drury ,lane was not fortunate in any of its new pieces in the season of #agbi-cj4 ,it was1 perhaps1 unfortunate that ,mrs4 ,oldfield1 by her recommendation1 and by her acting1 obtained even partial success for a comedy1 by the ,rev4 ,james ,miller1 the ,humours of ,oxford4 ,this satirical piece brought the author into trouble with his ,university1 at some of whose members it was aimed1 and it did not tend to raise him in the estimation of his congregation in ,conduit ,street4 ,the tragedy of ,timoleon was ruined#acc by the zeal of the author's friends1 who crowded the house1 and as loudly applauded the candle-snuffers and furniture as they did ,mills or ,mrs4 ,porter4 ,martyn1 the author1 had been a linen-draper1 but his epitaph in ,lewisham ,churchyard describes him as one of the best bred men in ,england4 ,he was certainly well connected1 but he exhibited more efficiency in colonising ,georgia than in writing poetry4 ,his ,timoleon had neither beauty of style1 nor incident4 ,this season1 too1 saw the first dramatic attempt of ,thomson1 in ,sophonisba4 ,lee's tragedy of that name used to drown the female part of the house in tears2 but ,thomson's could not stir even his own friends to enthusiasm4 ,they rose from the full-dress rehearsals to which they were invited1 dulled in sense rather than touched or elevated4 ,thomson's play is far less tender than ,lee's2 his ,sophonisba 7the last character originally played by ,mrs4 ,oldfield71 more stern and patriotic1 and less loving4 ,the author himself described her as a female ,cato1 and in the ,epilogue not too delicately indicated that if the audience would only applaud a native poet1 ,then other ,shakspeares yet may rouse the stage1 ,and other ,otways melt another age4 ,sophonisba1 which ,thomson was not afraid to set above the heroine of ,corneille1 abounds in platitudes1 and it was fatal to ,cibber1 who1 never tolerable in tragedy1 was fairly hissed out of the character of ,scipio1 which he surrendered to a promising player1 ,williams4 ,the latter was violently hissed also on the first night of his acting ,scipio1 he bore so close a resemblance to his predecessor4 ,mrs4 ,oldfield1 alone1 made a sensation1 especially in the delivery of the line1 ,not one base word of ,carthage--on thy soul6 ,her grandeur of action1 her stern expression1 and her powerful tone of voice1 elicited the most enthusiastic applause4 ,exactly two months later1 on the #bhth of ,april #agcj1 she acted ,lady ,brute1 and therewith suddenly terminated her thirty years of service1 dying exactly six months after illness compelled her to withdraw4 ,before noticing more fully the career of ,mrs4 ,oldfield1 let me record here1 that on the night she played ,lady ,brute in the ,provoked ,wife1 the part of ,mademoiselle was acted by ,charlotte ,charke1 the wife of a good singer1 but a worthless man1 and the youngest child of ,colley ,cibber4#acd ,there seems to have been a touch of insanity1 certainly there was no power of self-control in this poor woman4 ,from her childhood she had been wild1 wayward1 and rebellious2 self-taught as a boy might be1 and with nothing feminine in her character or pursuits4 ,with self-assertion1 too1 she was weak enough to be won by a knave with a sweet voice1 whose cruel treatment drove his intractable wife to the stage1 where she failed to profit by her fine opportunities4 ,the corresponding season at ,lincoln's ,inn ,fields was the usual one of an unfashionable house2 but ,quin1 ,ryan1 ,walker1 and ,boheme were actors who made way against ,wilks1 ,cibber1 ,mills1 and ,bridgewater4 ,no new piece of any value was produced2 the only incidents worth recording being the playing of ,macheath by ,quin1 for his benefit3 and the sudden death of ,spiller1 stricken by apoplexy1 as he was playing in the ,rape of ,proserpine4 ,he was inimitable in old men1 though he himself was young2 but whatever he played1 he so identified himself with his character that ,spiller disappeared from the eyes and the thoughts of an audience1 unconsciously deluded by the artist4 ,as the town grew1 so also did theatres increase2 that in ,goodman's ,fields1 and the little house in the ,haymarket1 were open this season4 ,at the former ,giffard and his wife led in tragedy and comedy2 but the company was generally weak4 ,not so the authors who wrote for the house4 ,first among them was ,fielding1 a young fellow of three and twenty2 bred to the law1 but driven to the drama by the inability of his father1 the ,general1 to supply him with funds4 ,his first play1 ,love in ,several ,masques1 was acted at ,drury ,lane in #agbh2 his second1 and a better1 the ,temple ,beau1 was played at ,goodman's ,fields4 ,ralph1 who had been a schoolmaster in ,philadelphia1 and came to ,england to thrive by political1 satirical1 or dramatic writings1 and to live for ever in the abuse lavished on him by ,pope1 supplied a ballad-opera1 the ,fashionable ,lady1 which was intended to rival the ,beggar's ,opera4 ,to ,macheath-,walker is ascribed a tragedy1 the ,fate of ,villany2 and ,mottley1 the disappointed candidate for place1 and the compiler of ,joe ,miller's ,jests--,miller being a better joker than he was an actor--wrote for this house his ,widow ,bewitched1 the last and poorest of his contributions to the stage4 ,for the ,haymarket1 ,fielding wrote the only piece which has come down to our times1 his immortal burlesque-tragedy of ,tom ,thumb1 in which the weakness and bombast of late or contemporary writers are copied with wonderful effect4 ,young suffered severely by this2--and the ,oh1 ,huncamunca6 ,huncamunca1 oh6 was a dart at the ,oh1 ,sophonisba6 ,sophonisba1 oh6 of ,jamie ,thomson4 ,of the other pieces ,i need not disturb the dust4 ,let me rather1 contemplating that of ,mrs4 ,oldfield1 glance at the career of that great actress1 who living knew no rival1 and in her peculiar line has never been excelled4 ,illustration3 ,mr4 ,garrick as ,abel ,drugger4 ,,footnotes3 #abe ,malone says ,august #aa4 #abf ,giving his answer to the ambassador4--,victor4 #abg ,dr4 ,doran exactly reverses the state of the case4 ,dr4 ,johnson says3 ,the ,whigs applauded every line in which liberty was mentioned1 as a satire on the ,tories2 and the ,tories echoed every clap1 to show that the satire was unfelt4 #abh ,wrong4 ,victor in his ,memoirs of ,booth says five-and-twenty nights3 but this also is incorrect4 ,on ,may #i1 #agac1 ,cato is announced to be played for the twentieth time1 and on ,may #aj1 for ,mrs4 ,rogers' benefit1 ,the ,funeral is in the bill4 ,cibber says ,cato was acted every day for a month1 ,mondays excepted4 #abi ,bellchambers1 in his ,notes to ,cibber1 is very severe on this marriage4 ,in the year #agai1 ,mr4 ,booth1 who seems to have been a libertine and a sensualist1 gave his hand to ,miss ,santlow1 a strumpet of condition--and then follow some very strong remarks on ,booth and his wife4 #acj ,these four characters were certainly not among ,booth's best4 ,wildair and ,sir ,charles ,easy were ,wilks' parts1 and indeed ,i cannot find that ,booth ever played any of the four4 #aca ,chetwood states that her first character was ,ismenes1 a page1 in ,mithridates1 in which she sang with extraordinary success4 ,genest supposes this to have been in ,november #agbh4 #acb ,acted nine times4 #acc ,it was acted fourteen times--a great success in those days4 #acd ,charlotte ,charke says in her ,autobiography that this was her first appearance1 but it was really her second4 ,,index4 ,actor1 profession of1 in ,greece and ,rome1 #b1 #c4 ,actors and clergy in collision1 #ac2 playing under forged licence1 #ac2 authors1 #ahe2 ,dennis' abuse of1 #cfa4 ,actors' famous ,points1 #aee4 ,actresses1 introduction of1 #bh2 pre-restoration ,english1 #ff4 ,addison1 ,joseph1 part author of the ,tender ,husband1 #bid2 his ,rosamond1 #cja2 his ,cato1 #cbi2 his ,drummer1 #cci4 ,aldridge1 ,mrs41 #adh4 ,alleyn1 ,edward1 #ca1 #dc1 #dh4 ,amboyna1 #bh4 ,angel1 #fe1 #gj4 ,anne1 queen of ,james ,i41 an actress1 #bd4 ,anne1 ,princess1 as ,lemandra1 #id4 ,apothecaries' ,hall the site of an early theatre1 #af4 ,arbuthnot1 part author of ,three ,hours after ,marriage1 #cdb4 ,arrest of players1 #ae4 ,arrowsmith1 dramatist1 #bjg4 ,arsinoe1 first opera after the ,italian fashion1 #bie4 ,aston1 ,anthony1 his criticisms of ,betterton1 #aca2 of ,mrs4 ,barry1 #aeb1 #aed1 #aef2 his appearance at ,lincoln's ,inn ,fields1 #cfi4 ,audience on the stage forbidden1 #bhi4 ,audiences of the seventeenth century1 #bdf4 ,baker1 ,thomas1 dramatist1 #bge4 ,bale1 ,bishop1 #ad4 ,bancroft1 ,archbishop1 #be4 ,bancroft1 ,john1 dramatist1 #bjh4 ,bankes1 ,john1 dramatist1 #bcd4 ,bankside1 theatres on the1 #cb4 ,barford1 ,richard1 dramatist1 #dba4 ,baron1 the ,french actor1 #acd4 ,barry1 ,mrs4 ,elizabeth1 #aba1 #adh1 #aij2 account of her life1 #adi-afa2 tutored by ,lord ,rochester1 #aea2 as ,isabella in ,mustapha1 #aea2 as ,alcmena1 #abc2 as ,calista1 #aca1 #aed2 as ,monimia1 #aeb1 #aef2 her industry1 #aec2 as ,belvidera1 #aec2 as ,cassandra1 #aec2 as ,lady ,brute1 #aed2 as ,zara1 #aed2 as ,clarissa1 #aed2 as ,isabella in the ,fatal ,marriage1 #aed2 as ,queen ,elizabeth1 #aef2 in free comedy1 #aef2 and ,mrs4 ,boutell1 #aeg2 and ,lord ,rochester and ,etheridge1 #aeh1 #aei2 her last appearance1 #aei2 the first player to have a benefit1 #afj2 her death1 #afj2 her portrait by ,kneller1 #afj4 ,barton ,street1 ,westminster1 #adc4 ,bateman1 actor1 #fd4 ,baxter1 actor1 #fd4 ,bear ,garden1 #cb4 ,beckingham1 dramatist1 #cej1 #cfc4 ,beeston1 actor1 #fd4 ,beggar's ,opera1 #chf2 its famous run1 #chh4 ,behn1 ,mrs4 ,aphra1 #bch2 her indecency1 #bci4 ,bell1 actor1 #fd4 ,benefits1 performers'1 first devised for ,mrs4 ,barry1 #afj4 ,benfield1 actor1 #bf4 ,betterton1 father of the actor1 #ec1 #aag4 ,betterton1 ,mrs4 7see also ,mrs4 ,saunderson71 #id2 instructs the ,princesses ,mary and ,anne1 #id2 in her old age1 #aac2 pensioned by ,queen ,anne1 #ie4 ,betterton1 ,thomas1 #ec1 #eg1 #eh1 #fe1 #aia1 #big1 #caj1 #caa1 #cad2 account of his life1 #aji-ace2 as ,hamlet1 #aji1 #aaa1 #aca2 tutored in ,hamlet by ,davenant1 #aab2 his famous benefit1 #aad1 #cab2 as ,melantius1 #aad2 his death1 #aaf1 #cad2 as ,bosola1 #aai2 in ,mustapha1 #abj2 as ,colonel ,jolly1 #aba2 his modesty1 #aba2 in the ,provoked ,wife1 #aba2 as ,jupiter1 #abc2 his friendship with ,dryden and ,tillotson1 #abd2 and ,pope1 #abf2 as ,othello1 #abh1 #abi2 as ,castalio1 #abh2 his portrait by ,kneller and ,pope1 #abh2 as ,bassanio1 #abi2 as ,horatio1 #abi2 patronised by royalty1 #acj2 licence granted to him by ,william ,,iii41 #acj2 adversely criticised by ,aston1 #aca2 ,cibber's praise of1 #acb1 #acc2 as ,brutus1 #acc2 his salary1 #acc2 the ,tatler on ,betterton1 #acd2 as an author1 #ahe2 helps ,booth1 #cid4 ,betterton1 ,william1 #be1 #gj4 ,bicknell1 ,mrs41 #djd2 death of1 #cgc4 ,bird1 ,theophilus1 #fd2 accident to1 #if4 ,bishopsgate ,street1 theatre at an inn1 #ca4 ,blackfriars' theatre1 #af1 #bb2 its history1 #cj1 #db4 ,blagden1 actor1 #fd1 #fe4 ,boar's ,head1 the1 without ,aldgate1 #ae4 ,boheme1 ,anthony1 #cef1 #djj2 marries ,mrs4 ,seymour1 #cgd2 as ,herod1 #cge4 ,book of ,sports1 the1 #bi4 ,booth1 ,barton1 #bhc1 #cae2 as ,maximus1 #abi1 #cid2 recognised by ,betterton as his successor1 #abi1 #agh2 leading actor at ,drury ,lane1 #cab2 in ,elfrid1 #cab2 as ,pyrrhus1 #cba1 #cif2 as ,cato1 #cbi1 #cif1 #cig2 made a manager1 #ccj1 #dja2 as ,hastings1 #cca2 his marriage1 #ceh2 as ,cleombrotus1 #cei2 as ,alonzo1 #cfe2 as ,young ,bevil1 #cgj1 #djb2 as ,hotspur1 #cgi1 #dae2 his illness1 #cha2 as ,julio1 #chf1 #dag2 his last season1 #chf2 his last appearance1 #chf2 account of his life1 #cia-dbj2 as ,pamphilus1 #cib2 his dbut as ,oroonoko1 #cib2 and ,betterton1 #cid2 as ,captain ,worthy1 #cie2 as the ,ghost in ,hamlet1 #cie2 keeps house with ,susan ,mountfort1 #cif2 as ,tamerlane1 #djh2 his sense of appreciation1 #dji2 ,aaron ,hill's criticism of him1 #daj1 #daa2 his great parts1 #daa1 #dab2 his feeling1 #dab2 as ,laertes1 #dac2 as ,henry ,,viii41 #dac2 finest when on his mettle1 #dad1 #daf2 his powers of application1 #dae2 his love of fame1 #daf2 his retirement1 #dag2 his death1 #dah2 his will1 #dah4 ,boothby1 ,mrs41 dramatist1 #bcg4 ,boutel1 ,mrs41 #fd1 #hb4 ,bowen1 ,william1 #afc2 converted by ,collier's ,short ,view1 #agd2 killed by ,quin1 #agd1 #cdi2 his original characters1 #cej4 ,bowman1 #abb1 #adb4 ,bowman1 ,mrs41 as ,lady ,fancyful1 #aba2 adopted by the ,bettertons1 #aba4 ,boyer1 ,abel1 dramatist1 #bab4 ,boyle1 ,charles1 dramatist1 #bhg4 ,boys superseded by women1 #fg4 ,boys in ,rhodes's company1 #fg4 ,bracegirdle1 ,mrs4 ,anne1 #afb1 #aff1 #afi2 as the ,page in ,the ,orphan1 #aeb2 as ,millamant1 #afg2 as ,statira1 #afg2 her high private character1 #afg1 #afh2 and ,lord ,burlington1 #afi2 attempted to be carried off by ,hill1 #aga2 opposed by ,mrs4 ,oldfield1 #cjb4 ,bradshaw1 ,mrs41 #cae2 her marriage1 #ccb4 ,brady1 ,nicholas1 dramatist1 #bcd4 ,brett1 ,colonel1 patentee1 #cjf2 sells his share1 #caa4 ,bristol1 ,george1 ,earl of1 #aij4 ,brown1 ,tom1 on ,mrs4 ,barry1 #aei4 ,buckingham1 ,duke of1 #ahg4 ,bull1 the1 in ,bishopsgate ,street1 #ca4 ,bullock1 ,christopher1 his ,woman's a ,riddle1 #cdc2 his ,perjuror1 #cea2 as ,bardach1 #cfc2 his death1 #cfi4 ,bullock1 ,mrs41 as ,mrs4 ,mincemode1 #chj4 ,bullock1 ,william1 #agh1 #ahj4 ,burbage1 ,james1 #af4 ,burbage1 ,richard1 #bb1 #bf4 ,burnaby1 ,charles1 dramatist1 #bgh4 ,burt1 #dh1 #fd2 in female characters1 #gj2 as ,cicero1 #gj4 ,busby1 ,dr41 an amateur actor1 #de4 ,cademan1 #adc2 accident to1 #adc4 ,cambridge1 plays at1 #aa1 #af1 #bd1 #eb4 ,cantrell1 ,miss1 as ,polly ,peachum1 #dba4 ,carey1 ,henry1 ,viscount ,falkland1 #aic4 ,carlell1 ,sir ,ludovick1 #bjj4 ,carlisle1 ,james1 #afc2 killed at ,aghrun1 #agc2 an author1 #ahf4 ,carrol1 ,mrs4 7afterwards ,mrs4 ,centlivre71 #abc4 ,cartwright1 ,rev4 ,wm41 dramatist1 #de4 ,cartwright1 actor1 #fd2 his bequest to ,dulwich ,college1 #ig2 great as ,falstaff1 #ig4 ,caryll1 ,earl of1 #aij4 ,castlemaine1 ,lady1 #bdi1 #bej4 ,cato1 by ,addison1 #cbi1 #cig4 ,centlivre1 ,mrs41 #abd1 #bdc1 #cfi1 #che2 her ,busy ,body1 #caa2 her ,wonder1 #ccj1 #cca2 her ,bold ,stroke for a ,wife1 #cea4 ,champmesl1 ,la1 the ,french actress1 #afa4 ,charke1 ,charlotte1 daughter of ,colley ,cibber1 #dbd4 ,charles ,i4 and the stage1 #bi4 ,charles ,,ii4 and ,dryden1 #bbh2 at the theatre 7see chap4 xii474 ,charleton1 actor1 #fd4 ,children of the ,chapel ,royal performing before royalty1 #aj4 ,children of the ,revels1 #bc4 ,church employs the stage in early times1 #g4 ,cibber1 ,colley1 quoted3 on ,kynaston1 #gb2 on ,nokes1 #ge2 on ,betterton1 #acb1 #acc2 on ,underhill1 #aci2 on ,anthony ,leigh1 #add2 on ,mrs4 ,barry1 #aec1 #aed2 on ,mrs4 ,mountfort1 #afc2 on the wearing of vizard-masks1 #bfe2 on theatrical dissensions1 #cjg2 on the success of the ,united ,companies1 #cag2 on the critics1 #cai2 on ,estcourt1 #cbe4 ,cibber1 ,colley1 #cjb1 #cai2 as the ,chaplain in ,the ,orphan1 praised by ,goodman1 #ajc2 and ,betterton1 #acj2 as ,sir ,gentle's ,servant1 #afc2 as ,sigismond1 #afc2 and his wig1 #bff2 his comedies1 #bhj2 his ,careless ,husband an attempt at greater decency1 #bib2 ,wilks and ,dogget1 #cah2 his famous play ,the ,nonjuror1 #cde1 #cdf-cdi2 his ,refusal1 #cff2 as ,achoreus1 #cgh2 his share of ,the ,provoked ,husband1 #chf2 in the law courts1 #chg2 his ,love in a ,riddle1 #dba2 hissed as ,scipio1 #dbc4 ,cibber1 ,mrs41 the elder1 #agh1 #ahj4 ,cibber1 ,theophilus1 his first appearance1 #cff2 as ,pistol1 #cff1 #dbj2 his first wife1 #cgi4 ,clerical actors1 #aj2 auditors1 #bfh4 ,clive1 ,kitty1 #dbj4 ,clun1 #fd2 superior to ,mohun as ,iago1 #gj2 as ,subtle1 #gj2 his tragic death1 #gj4 ,cockburn1 ,mrs41 dramatist1 #bda4 ,cockpit1 the1 in ,drury ,lane1 #eg1 #ei4 ,coleman1 ,mrs4 ,edward1 early actress1 #fg4 ,collier1 ,jeremy1 his ,short ,view converts ,bowen1 #agd2 attacks the indecency of the stage1 #bbe4 ,collier1 ,w41 ,m4,p41 patentee of ,drury ,lane1 #cab1 #cae1 #caf4 ,company of ,players1 ,richard ,,iii4 first ,english prince to employ them1 #i4 ,condell1 #bf4 ,congreve1 #bbc1 #bbe1 #bbf1 #bcc1 #bgc2 and ,mrs4 ,bracegirdle1 #afh2 and ,voltaire1 #bad2 his sarcasm on ,cibber1 #bid2 his death1 #dba4 ,cooke1 ,g4 ,f41 #dja4 ,corey1 ,john1 #bgg4 ,corey1 ,mrs41 #fd1 #hb2 mimics ,lady ,harvey1 #bei4 ,corye1 ,john1 dramatist1 #bjg4 ,covent ,garden ,theatre1 different buildings1 #fb4 ,cowley1 ,abraham1 dramatist1 #baf4 ,cowley ,street1 ,westminster1 #dbj4 ,cox1 ,richard1 #eb4 ,crauford1 ,david1 dramatist1 #bab4 ,cromwell1 ,lady ,mary1 #bej4 ,cromwell's buffooneries1 #ee4 ,cross ,keys1 ,gracechurch ,street1 #ca4 ,crowne1 ,john1 dramatist1 #bai1 #bbb2 his death1 #bcc4 ,curtain ,road1 #cc4 ---- ,theatre1 the1 #cc4 ,davenant1 #eg1 #bba1 #bcb2 his company1 #fa1 #fe2 his improvements of ,shakspeare's plays1 #b1 #ai4 ,davenport1 ,mrs41 #fe2 as ,roxalana1 #fh1 #ia2 entrapped by a mock marriage by the ,earl of ,oxford1 #ib4 ,davies1 ,mrs41 #fe1 #ib2 ,charles ,,ii4's mistress1 #ic4 ,davys1 ,mrs41 authoress1 #cda4 ,decrees regarding players1 #ad1 #ba1 #df1 #dg4 ,dennis1 #baf1 #bcd1 #bgg1 #bia1 #cfa2 his ,appius and ,virginius1 #caa2 the inventor of stage thunder1 #caa2 his ,invader of his ,country1 #ceh4 ,dering1 ,charles1 duel with ,vaughan on the stage1 #bfa4 ,digges1 #dja4 ,dixon1 actor1 #fe4 ,dogget1 #afc1 #agf2 as ,shylock1 #agf2 his original parts1 #agf2 a manager of ,drury ,lane1 #agf2 his ,coat and ,badge1 #agg2 as an author1 #ahf2 the first star1 #bgb2 as ,moneytrap1 #cjj2 his care in dressing his parts1 #cjj2 ,cibber and ,wilks1 #cah2 gives up management1 #ccj1 #dja4 ,dorset ,garden1 ,duke's ,theatre in1 #fa4 ,drake1 ,dr41 #baj4 ,dramatists1 list of1 #ahc1 #ahd1 #bac1 #bad4 ,drury ,lane ,theatre1 #fj2 the various theatres1 #fb2 burnt1 #adj2 united with the ,haymarket1 #cje2 its waning prospects1 #cha4 ,dryden1 ,john1 #bba1 #bbd1 #bbg-bbi1 #bcb2 his ,amboyna1 #bh2 his friendship with ,betterton1 #abd2 his assault upon ,shakspeare1 #bai4 ,duelling in the theatre1 #bfa4 ,duffett1 ,thomas1 dramatist1 #bji4 ,duke1 actor1 #fd4 ,duke's ,theatre1 #fa4 ,dunstable1 early theatre at1 #g4 ,durfey1 ,thomas1 #bcd1 #ccj2 in his decline1 #bhd2 his ,prophets1 #caa4 ,eastland1 ,mrs41 #fd4 ,eccleston1 actor1 #bf4 ,egleton1 ,baron1 #cgc4 ,elizabeth1 a sharp censor1 #af2 stage used to attack1 #ag1 #ah4 ,elrington1 ,tom1 in ,oroonoko1 #cda1 #djg1 #djh2 a substitute for ,booth1 #djg2 as ,bajazet1 #djg2 plays against ,booth1 #djh2 principal tragedian at ,drury ,lane1 #dji4 ,encore introduced at the ,haymarket1 #cae4 ,estcourt1 ,richard1 his youthful adventures1 #bhd2 as ,dominic1 #bie2 the true ,serjeant ,kite1 #cjb1 #cbe2 his career1 #cbd-cbf2 becomes a wine merchant1 #cbf2 his death1 #cbf4 ,etherege1 ,sir ,john1 #bjb-bjg4 ,eugene1 ,prince1 and ,mrs4 ,centlivre1 #cbj4 ,evans1 ,miss1 a dancer1 #bgb4 ,evelyn at the theatre1 #bea1 #beg2 on licentious plays1 #bee4 ,falkland1 ,viscount1 #aic4 ,fane1 ,sir ,francis1 #bja4 ,farquhar1 ,captain ,george1 #bcd1 #bha2 his ,recruiting ,officer1 #big2 his death1 #cjd4 ,farren1 ,william1 mentioned1 #ig4 ,fenton1 ,elijah1 his treatment by ,cibber1 #cgd2 success of his ,mariamne1 #cgd4 ,fenton1 ,lavinia1 her first appearance1 #chd2 as ,polly ,peachum1 #chh2 and the ,duke of ,bolton1 #chi4 ,field1 ,nathaniel1 the actor1 #bf4 ,fielding1 ,henry1 #dbe2 his ,tom ,thumb1 #cec1 #dbf4 ,filmer1 ,dr41 #baj4 ,flecnoe1 #bbi4 ,floid1 actor1 #fe1 #gj4 ,folkes1 ,martin1 marries ,mrs4 ,bradshaw1 #ccb4 ,footmen admitted free to gallery1 #bfg4 ,fortune ,theatre1 ,playhouse ,yard1 #ca4 ,foster1 actor1 #dj4 ,french actors and actresses in ,blackfriars1 #fe2 pelted off the stage1 #ff4 ,french ,company1 a1 at ,lincoln's ,inn1 #ceg4 ,frowde1 ,philip1 dramatist1 #chc4 ,fryer1 ,peg1 an actress eighty-five years old1 #cfd4 ,gammer ,gurton's ,needle1 #af4 ,garrick1 ,david1 #abe1 #acc1 #afi4 ,gay1 ,john1 #cdb2 his first piece1 #cbi2 his ,what ,d'ye ,call ,it8 #ccd2 his ,captives1 #cgf2 the ,beggar's ,opera1 #chf1 #chh2 his ,polly forbidden1 #dbb4 ,geoffrey1 an early manager1 #g4 ,gibbs1 ,mrs41 #fe4 ,giffard as ,prince of ,wales in ,henry ,,iv41 #dae4 ,gildon1 ,charles1 #bbj1 #bhe4 ,gillow1 actor1 #afc4 ,globe ,alley1 #cb4 ,globe ,theatre1 #cb1 #cc4 ,gloucester1 ,richard1 ,duke of1 #i4 ,goffe1 an actor1 #ed4 ,goodman1 ,cardell 7,scum71 #fd2 as ,julius ,csar1 #aja2 as ,alexander1 #aja2 his rascalities1 #ajb1 #ajc2 his prophecy regarding ,cibber1 #ajc4 ,goodman's ,fields ,theatre1 #dbe4 ,gosson1 ,stephen1 #ai1 #cg4 ,gough1 actor1 #bf4 ,gould1 ,robert1 dramatist1 #bji4 ,gracechurch ,street ,theatre in an inn1 #ca4 ,griffin1 ,benjamin1 his young days1 #cch2 an author1 #cfd4 ,griffin1 ,captain1 #fd1 #adb1 #bge4 ,grindal1 ,archbishop1 #bj4 ,guilman1 actor1 #dj4 ,gwyn1 ,madam1 #hg4 ,gwyn1 ,nell1 #fd1 #gi1 #hb1 #bea2 her birth1 #hc2 her first appearance as ,crydaria1 #hd2 her lovers1 #he2 as ,almahide1 #hg2 her sons1 #hg2 her extravagance1 #hh2 her death1 #hi4 ,haines1 ,joseph1 #fd1 #ajd2 at ,drury ,lane1 #aje2 as ,sparkish1 #aje2 his practical jokes1 #aje1 #ajg2 as ,captain ,bluff1 #ajg2 as ,roger in sop1 #ajg2 as ,tom ,errand1 #ajg2 his misconduct on the stage1 #ajg2 his death1 #ajh4 ,hancock1 actor1 #fd4 ,harris 7the great actor of that name71 #fd1 #fe1 #acg2 as ,romeo1 #aac2 a rival to ,betterton1 #abj2 as ,henry ,v41 #acf2 as ,wolsey1 #acf2 his portrait by ,hailes1 #acf4 ,harris1 ,joseph 7actor and author71 #ahf4 ,hart1 ,charles1 #dg1 #fd1 #hf1 #hg2 as the ,duchess in ,shirley's ,cardinal1 #fh2 as ,othello1 #fh2 as ,alexander1 #fi2 as ,brutus1 #fi2 as ,cataline1 #fi2 as ,amintor1 #fi2 as ,manly1 #fi2 his retirement1 #fi2 his bearing on the stage1 #fi2 his death1 #fi2 ,haines's practical joke on ,hart1 #ajf4 ,harvey1 ,lady1 and ,mrs4 ,corey1 #bei4 ,hatton1 ,lord1 #ed4 ,hawker1 dramatist1 #dba4 ,hawkins1 licensed to train children of the revels1 #bc4 ,haymarket1 ,vanbrugh's theatre in the1 #big4 ,haymarket ,theatre opened1 #cgh4 ,haywood1 ,mrs41 dramatist1 #cfg1 #dba2 as an actress1 #cgc4 ,hemings1 #bf4 ,henslowe1 money-lender and manager1 #ca4 ,herbert1 ,sir ,henry1 ,master of the ,revels1 #aai4 ,higden1 ,henry1 a jovial dramatist1 #bji4 ,higgins1 a posture-master1 #cad4 ,higgons1 ,bevil1 dramatist1 #bgg4 ,hill1 ,aaron1 #cdj1 #cfh1 #cgf2 account of1 #cab-ad4 ,hill1 ,captain ,richard1 murders ,mountfort1 #agj4 ,hippisley1 #chh4 ,histrio-,mastix1 #db4 ,hodgson1 actor1 #afc4 ,holden1 ,mrs41 #fe2 her unfortunate blunder1 #ie4 ,holywell ,lane1 ,shoreditch1 ,the ,theatre in1 #cc4 ,hope1 the1 a playhouse1 #cb4 ,hopkins1 ,charles1 dramatist1 #baa4 ,horden1 ,hildebrand1 #agh2 killed in a brawl1 #agi4 ,horton1 ,mrs41 #ccf2 as ,isabella1 #cfe4 ,howard1 ,edward1 dramatist1 #aif1 #aig4 ,howard1 ,james1 dramatist1 #aig1 #aii4 ,howard1 ,sir ,robert1 dramatist1 #aih4 ,hughes1 actor1 #fd4 ,hughes1 ,john1 dramatist1 #cfa2 his ,siege of ,damascus1 #cfa1 #cfb4 ,hughes1 ,mrs4 ,margaret1 #fd2 suggested to have been the first actress1 #fg2 wooed by ,prince ,rupert1 #gh4 ,inns1 theatres at1 #ae1 #ca4 ,jacob1 ,sir ,hildebrand1 dramatist1 #cgb4 ,james ,i4 a patron of the stage1 #bc1 #be4 ,james1 ,mrs41 #fd4 ,jennings1 ,mrs41 #fe4 ,jevon1 ,thomas1 as ,jobson1 #adc2 as ,lycurgus1 #adc2 his silly buffoonery1 #adc2 his one play1 #ahe4 ,johnson1 ,benjamin1 #agh2 a great actor1 #ahj4 ,johnson1 ,charles1 dramatist1 #cbh1 #ceb4 ,keen1 ,theophilus1 his death1 #ceb4 ,kemble1 ,charles1 allusion to1 #bgg4 ,kemble1 ,j4 ,p41 #dja4 ,kendall1 licensed to train children of the revels1 #bc4 ,killigrew1 ,thomas1 #fa2 his patent1 #fb2 his death1 #fb2 his company1 #fd2 the first to employ actresses for all female characters1 #fg4 ,killigrew1 ,sir ,william1 author1 #aie4 ,kirkham1 licensed to train children of the revels1 #bc4 ,knight1 ,joseph1 his edition of the ,roscius ,anglicanus1 #fc n1 #ff n4 ,knipp1 ,mrs41 #fd1 #hj4 ,kynaston1 #eg1 #fd1 #fe2 as ,olympia1 #ga2 in ,the ,silent ,woman1 #ga2 a ladies' favourite1 #ga2 thrashed by order of ,sedley1 #ga2 as ,leon1 #gb2 as ,henry ,,iv41 #gc2 his death1 #gd2 as ,boabdelin1 #hg4 ,lacy1 ,john1 #fd2 instructor of ,nell ,gwyn1 #hd2 a great ,falstaff1 #ig2 the original ,teague1 #ig2 as ,bayes1 #ig2 as ,captain ,otter1 #ih2 his quarrel with ,hon4 ,edward ,howard1 #ih2 his posthumous comedy1 #ii4 ,lansdowne1 ,lord1 #aid2 his ,jew of ,venice1 #bgf4 ,leanard1 ,john1 dramatist1 #bjh4 ,lee1 ,mrs41 actress1 #adh4 ,lee1 ,nat1 #bba1 #bcb2 tries his fortune as an actor1 #adb2 his death1 #bcc4 ,leicester1 ,earl of1 #bc2 his players1 #af4 ,leigh1 ,anthony1 #add2 as ,dominique1 #add4 ,leveridge1 ,dick1 #bgb2 as ,pyramus1 #cdc4 ,lewis1 ,david1 dramatist1 #chd4 ,licensed players1 #i1 #bf1 #da4 ,lilliston1 #fe4 ,lincoln's ,inn ,fields1 theatres in1 #fa1 #fb1 #ccg4 ,little ,rose ,theatre1 #cb4 ,long1 ,mrs41 actress1 #fe4 ,lovel1 actor1 #fe4 ,lowen1 actor1 #bf1 #di4 ,lyddoll1 #fd4 ,mac,swiney1 #bgc note1 #cae1 #caf2 takes the ,haymarket ,theatre1 #cjb1 #cjf1 #cji4 ,madden1 ,dr4 ,samuel1 dramatist1 #dba4 ,maidwell1 ,l41 dramatist1 #bji4 ,mallory1 ,christopher1 punished1 #da4 ,manley1 ,mrs41 dramatist1 #bdj4 ,manning1 ,francis1 dramatist1 #bhe4 ,marshall1 ,anne1 #fd1 #ha1 #hb2 said to have been the first actress1 #fg4 ,marshall1 ,rebecca1 #fe1 #ha2 as ,dorothea1 #hb2 as ,queen of ,sicily1 #hb2 and ,sir ,hugh ,middleton1 #bfb4 ,marshall1 ,stephen1 the ,presbyterian1 father of the actresses1 #ha4 ,martyn1 ,benjamin1 dramatist1 #dbb4 ,medbourne1 ,matthew1 #fe1 #add2 his death1 #ade2 an author1 #ahe4 ,middleton1 the dramatist1 imprisoned1 #bf1 #bg4 ,middleton1 ,sir ,hugh1 and ,rebecca ,marshall1 #bfb4 ,miller1 ,rev4 ,james1 dramatist1 #dbb4 ,mills1 ,john1 #agh2 his character as an actor1 #ahj2 his original characters1 #ahj2 as ,zanga1 #cfe4 ,milward1 ,william1 his first appearance1 #cgh4 ,miracle-plays1 #g4 ,mitchell1 ,joseph1 dramatist1 #cfh4 ,mohun1 ,major1 #dh1 #fd1 #fi1 #ii2 as ,iago1 #gj2 his portrait1 #ajj2 as ,maximin1 #ajj2 as ,clytus1 #ajj2 his versatility1 #ajj2 his modesty1 #ajj4 ,mohun1 ,lord1 concerned in ,mountfort's murder1 #agj4 ,moore1 ,master1 #dj4 ,moore1 ,sir ,thomas1 his ,mangora1 #cea4 ,moralities1 #g1 #i4 ,moseley1 #fe1 #gj4 ,mossop1 #djj4 ,motteux1 ,peter ,anthony1 #baj2 his disgraceful death1 #baj4 ,mottley1 ,john1 dramatist1 #cfd-fg1 #dbe4 ,mountfort1 ,mrs4 7see also ,mrs4 ,verbruggen71 #afb1 #bge2 described by ,colley ,cibber1 #afc2 in ,the ,western ,lass1 #afd2 as ,bayes1 #afe2 as ,melantha1 #afe2 her original characters1 #aff2 her death1 #aff1 #bhf4 ,mountfort1 ,susan1 #cef1 #ceg2 lives with ,booth1 #cif2 as ,ophelia1 #cif2 her insanity1 #cif2 success in the lottery1 #djb4 ,mountfort1 ,william1 #afc1 #afi2 his powers of mimicry1 #agj2 his murder1 #agj-gb2 an author1 #ahe4 ,mysteries and ,miracle ,plays1 #g1 #h4 ,newcastle1 ,duke of1 #ahg1 #ahh4 ,nokes1 ,james1 #fe1 #gd1 #add2 as ,nurse in ,caius ,marius and ,fatal ,jealousy1 #ge2 as ,sir ,arthur ,addel1 #gg2 before ,charles ,,ii41 #gg4 ,nokes1 ,robert1 #fe4 ,nonjuror1 ,cibber's1 #cde1 #cdf-cdi4 ,norris1 #fe1 #afc2 as ,dicky in ,constant ,couple1 #age2 his original characters1 #agf2 his death1 #agf4 ,odell1 ,thomas1 dramatist1 #cfg4 ,odingsell1 ,gabriel1 an unfortunate dramatist1 #cgi1 #chj4 ,oldfield1 ,mrs4 ,anne1 #aff1 #agh1 #bhf1 #cbj1 #cff1 #cgi2 as ,lady ,betty ,modish1 #bic2 as ,biddy ,tipkin1 #bie2 and ,mrs4 ,bracegirdle1 #cjb2 as ,marcia1 #cbi2 as ,jane ,shore1 #cca2 as ,violante1 #ccb2 as ,lady ,jane ,grey1 #ccd2 as ,maria in the ,nonjuror1 #cdg2 as ,celonis1 #cei2 as ,indiana1 #cgj2 as ,cydene1 #cgf2 as ,sophonisba1 #dbc2 her last part1 #dbd4 ,oldmixon1 ,john1 dramatist1 #bab1 #bhg2 operas1 #fc4 ,opera1 introduction of1 after the ,italian manner1 #bie4 ,orrery1 ,lord1 #aia1 #aib1 #bhc4 ,otway1 #bcb2 tries his fortune on the stage1 #adb2 his assault on ,shakspeare1 #bai2 his death1 #bcc4 ,owenson1 a comic ,tamerlane1 #bhb4 ,oxford1 ,earl of1 #ib4 ,oxford1 plays at1 #de4 ,pack1 #agh1 #cdc2 his original characters1 #aha2 as ,thisbe1 #cdc2 his retirement1 #cfi4 ,pantomimes1 #cai1 #cgg4 ,paris ,garden1 #cb4 ,patents--7#aegd71 #ba2 ,killigrew's1 #fa2 ,davenant's1 #fa2 value of1 #cjf4 ,payne licensed to train children of the revels1 #bc4 ,payne1 ,nevil1 #bjh4 ,peer1 ,william1 #afc2 as the ,apothecary and as the speaker of the prologue in ,hamlet1 #age2 his death1 #age1 #ccj4 ,pepys1 ,samuel1 #ga1 #gh1 #gi1 #hj1 #hb1 #hf1 #aaa1 #aab1 #aai1 #abj1 #acg1 #bdf1 #bdg1 #bdh1 #bdi1 #beb1 #bed1 #bfd2 his low opinion of ,shakspeare1 #bba4 ,percival1 ,mrs41 see ,mrs4 ,verbruggen4 ,philips1 ,ambrose1 #cfh2 success of his ,distressed ,mother1 #cba2 his ,humphrey1 ,duke of ,gloucester1 #cga4 ,philips1 ,mrs41 dramatist1 #bch4 ,phoenix1 the1 #fj4 ,pinkethman1 #afc2 an incorrigible gagger1 #agg2 as ,harlequin1 #agh2 his good fortune1 #agh2 his death1 #cgg4 ,piran ,round1 #cd4 ,pix1 ,mrs41 dramatist1 #ahf1 #bdb4 ,playhouse ,yard1 #ca4 ,playhouses and ,bear ,garden presented as a nuisance1 #aha4 ,pollard1 #di4 ,pope1 ,alexander1 actor1 #dja4 ,pope ,alexander1 on ,betterton1 #aai2 and ,ambrose ,philips1 #cbc2 part author of ,three ,hours after ,marriage1 #cdb4 ,pordage1 ,samuel1 dramatist1 #bjh4 ,porter1 ,tom1 #bja4 ,porter1 ,mrs41 #caf2 as ,hermione1 #cba2 as ,lucia in ,cato1 #cbi2 as ,alicia1 #cca2 as ,isabella1 #cdb2 as ,lady ,woodvil1 #cdg2 as ,volumnia1 #cei2 as ,leonora1 #cfe4 ,powell1 ,george1 #cje1 #cae2 imprisoned for deserting ,betterton's company1 #aca2 his dresser's contretemps1 #aca2 as ,falstaff1 #ada2 his original parts1 #ada2 as ,worthy1 #adb2 ,oroonoko taken from him1 #agb2 as ,orestes1 #agb2 an author1 #ahf2 striking a gentleman1 #cjg2 his death1 #ccf2 injured by ,sandford on the stage1 #cdi4 ,price1 actor1 #fe4 ,price1 ,mrs41 her curious marriage1 #ajd4 ,prices of admission1 #adj1 #cjf4 ,provoked ,husband1 by ,vanbrugh and ,cibber1 #chf4 ,prynne's ,histrio-,mastix1 #db4 ,queen's ,theatre1 the1 #big4 ,quin1 ,james1 #cda1 #ceg1 #djj2 kills ,bowen1 #agd1 #age note1 #cdi2 his first appearance1 #ccd2 as ,hotspur1 ,tamerlane1 ,morat1 ,mark ,antony1 and ,scipio1 #cej2 as ,sir ,walter ,raleigh1 #ceg2 as ,henry ,,iv4 of ,france1 #cfc2 his progress1 #cff2 as ,macheath1 #dbd4 ,raftor1 ,miss 7afterwards ,mrs4 ,clive71 her first appearance as ,dorinda1 #dbj4 ,ralph ,roister ,doister1 #aj4 ,ralph1 ,james1 #dbe4 ,ravenscroft1 ,edward1 dramatist1 #bai1 #bbb4 ,rawlins1 ,tom1 dramatist1 #bjh4 ,reakstraw1 actor1 killed on the stage1 #cgd4 ,red ,bull1 ,clerkenwell1 #ca4 ,reeves1 actor1 #fd4 ,reeves1 ,mrs41 actress1 #fd4 ,rehearsal1 ,the1 #ahh4 ,revet1 ,ned1 dramatist1 #bjg4 ,rhodes1 the prompter1 #ec1 #aag2 receives a licence from ,monk1 #eg4 ,rhodes1 ,richard1 the author1 #bjg4 ,rich1 ,christopher1 #fb1 #bgc note2 driven from ,drury ,lane by ,collier1 #cab2 his patent restored1 #ccg4 ,rich1 ,john1 #cch2 opens ,lincoln's ,inn ,fields1 #ccg2 as ,harlequin1 #cde2 founds the ,christmas pantomime1 #cgg4 ,richard ,,iii4 first royal patron of stage in ,england1 #i4 ,richards1 actor1 #fe4 ,riots1 #bfj4 ,robinson1 ,will1 actor1 #bf2 killed in action1 #dh2 an accomplished actress1 #fh4 ,rochester1 ,wilmot1 ,earl of1 #aij4 ,rogers1 ,mrs41 as ,amanda1 #adb2 her death1 #cef2 her characters1 #ceg4 ,rogues and ,vagabonds1 #ba4 ,rose ,alley1 #cb4 ,rose ,theatre1 #cb1 #cc4 ,rowe1 ,nicholas1 #cje2 his ,tamerlane1 #bha2 his ,fair ,penitent1 #bhf1 #bhh2 his ,jane ,shore1 #ccj1 #cca2 his ,lady ,jane ,grey1 #cce2 his ,prologue to the ,nonjuror1 #cdg4 ,rupert1 ,prince1 and ,mrs4 ,hughes1 #gh4 ,russell ,court ,chapel1 proceeds of ,hamlet given to1 #bii4 ,rutter1 ,mrs41 #fd4 ,ryan as ,marcus in ,cato1 #cbi2 chosen by ,addison for the part1 #cig4 ,rymer1 ,thomas1 #bae2 on ,shakspeare1 #bae4 ,st4 ,john ,street1 ,clerkenwell1 #ca4 ,st4 ,katherine1 early drama1 #g4 ,salisbury ,court ,theatre1 #fa4 ,sandford1 #fe1 #ade2 as ,banquo's ,ghost to ,smith's ,banquo1 #ade2 famous for his villains1 #ade1 #adf2 nearly kills ,powell on the stage1 #cdi4 ,sandford1 dramatist1 #cgh4 ,santlow1 ,hester 7,mrs4 ,booth71 #bih2 as the ,eunuch in ,valentinian1 #cad2 as ,dorcas ,zeal1 #cad1 #djd2 her marriage1 #ceh1 #djc2 ,booth's ode to her1 #djc4 ,saunders1 dramatist1 #bji4 ,saunders1 ,mrs41 her retirement1 #cff4 ,saunderson1 ,mrs4 7afterwards ,mrs4 ,betterton71 #fe2 as ,ianthe1 #fh2 as ,ophelia1 #aji1 #aab4 ,savage1 ,richard1 his first play1 #cde2 his attempt at acting1 #cgb4 ,scott1 ,thomas1 dramatist1 #baj4 ,scudamore1 #ach1 #agh2 a ,jacobite agent1 #ach2 marries a fortune1 #ach4 ,sedley1 ,sir ,charles1 #bjb-g1 #bea1 #beb2 mimicked by ,kynaston1 #ga4 ,settle1 ,elkanah1 #bcc1 #caf4 ,sewell1 ,dr41 dramatist1 #ceg4 ,seymour1 ,mrs41 marries ,boheme1 #cgd2 as ,mariamne1 #cge4 ,shadwell1 ,thomas1 #bai1 #bbb1 #bbi1 #bcc4 ,shakspeare1 ,charles1 #fc4 ,shakspeare1 ,w41 acting in his own comedy of ,as you ,like it1 #fd2 improvements on him1 #bai1 #bhi2 the ,chandos portrait1 #aee4 ,shakspeare's plays more frequently acted in #agjc-d1 #bhi4 ,shaucks1 actor1 #bf4 ,shatterel1 #dh4 ,shatterel1 ,robert1 #fd4 ,shatterel1 ,william1 #fd4 ,sheridan1 ,r4 ,b41 borrowing from ,wycherley1 #bbc2 on the old comedies1 #bbf4 ,sheridan1 ,thomas1 #djj4 ,shipman1 #bjh4 ,shirley1 actor1 #fd4 ,shirley1 ,james1 dramatist1 #bbb4 ,skipwith1 ,sir ,thomas1 patentee1 #cjf4 ,slingsby1 ,lady ,mary1 #adh2 her death1 #adh4 ,smith1 ,william1 actor1 #fe2 as ,banquo1 #ade2 as ,sir ,fopling ,flutter and ,pierre1 ,chamont and ,scandal1 #adg2 as ,cyaxares1 #adg2 his death1 #adg2 the reason of his retirement1 #adg4 ,smith1 ,edmund 7,captain ,rag71 #cjc4 ,smythe1 ,james ,moore1 dramatist1 #cha1 #chb1 #chc4 ,south1 on the wickedness of theatres1 #bga4 ,southerne1 ,thomas1 dramatist1 #bcd2 his ,spartan ,dame1 #cei2 his last play1 #chj4 ,spiller1 ,james1 his wonderful acting of an old man1 #cdd2 as ,mat o' the ,mint1 #chh2 his sudden death1 #dbe4 ,stage1 condition of1 at end of seventeenth century1 #aha1 #bgc2 at beginning of eighteenth century1 #bgd4 ,stage denounced by the clergy1 #ac1 #ai1 #bj1 #bf1 #cg1 #ch4 ,stage ,plays3 ,a ,short ,treatise against1 #ch4 ,stapylton1 ,sir ,robert1 dramatist1 #aif4 ,starring1 first instance of1 #bgb4 ,steele1 ,sir ,richard1 #bgh2 his comedy of ,the ,funeral1 #bgh2 his ,christian ,hero1 #bgi2 his ,lying ,lover1 #bhi2 his ,tender ,husband1 #bid2 made a partner in the ,drury ,lane patent1 #ccc1 #ccd2 on ,addison's ,drummer1 #cdj2 his name struck out of the patent1 #cfj1 #cfa2 his ,conscious ,lovers1 #cgj2 his creditors' actions against his partners1 #chg2 his death1 #dba4 ,still1 ,bishop1 #ag4 ,stone1 ,miss1 actress1 #cfi4 ,strolling players1 #f1 #i1 #ad1 #ba1 #bd1 #abc4 ,sturmy1 ,john1 dramatist1 #cfi4 ,suppression of the theatres1 #di-eb4 ,sutton1 preacher at ,st4 ,mary ,overy's1 #bf4 ,swan ,theatre1 #cc4 ,swanston1 a ,presbyterian player1 #dh4 ,symcott1 ,margaret1 said to be ,nell ,gwyn's real name1 #ia4 ,tate1 ,nahum1 #bbj1 #bcd2 his assault on ,coriolanus1 #ceh4 ,taverner1 #caa1 #cdd1 #cea4 ,taylor1 ,joseph1 actor1 #dh1 #eg4 ,tennis ,court ,theatre1 #fa4 ,theatre1 ,the1 #cc4 ,theatres1 one of the earliest1 #g4 ,theatres1 two only licensed in ,london1 #fa4 ,theobald1 ,lewis1 #caa1 #cda2 his ,richard ,,ii41 #cfc4 ,thomson1 ,james1 his first dramatic attempt1 ,sophonisba1 #dbc4 ,thurmond1 actor1 #agh1 #aha4 ,tillotson1 ,archbishop1 his friendship with ,betterton1 #abd4 ,tofts1 ,mrs41 singer1 #bif4 ,tooley1 actor1 #bf4 ,tothill ,street1 ,westminster1 #aaf4 ,townsend1 actor1 #dj4 ,trotter1 ,miss 7see ,mrs4 ,cockburn74 ,tuke1 ,sir ,samuel1 #aie4 ,turbulent audiences1 #bei4 ,udal1 ,nicholas1 #aj4 ,underhill1 ,cave1 #ach2 as the ,gravedigger1 #aci1 #adj2 as ,don ,quixote and ,lolpoop1 #aci2 as ,sir ,sampson ,legend1 #aci4 ,underwood1 actor1 #bf4 ,union of the two companies in #afhb1 #fb1 #afb4 ,union ordered by ,lord ,chamberlain1 #agjh1 #cje4 ,unlicensed plays and houses1 #bd4 ,uphill1 ,mrs41 #fd4 ,vanbrugh1 ,sir ,john1 #bcj1 #chf2 his theatre in the ,haymarket1 #big2 as manager1 #big2 his indecency1 #bii2 his ,confederacy1 #cjj2 lets his theatre to ,mac,swiney1 #cjb1 #cji4 ,vandenhoff1 #dja4 ,verbruggen1 #afc1 #agb1 #agh2 as ,oroonoko1 #agb1 #agc2 as ,bajazet1 #agc2 as ,altamont1 #agc2 as ,sullen1 #agc4 ,verbruggen1 ,mrs41 #afb1 #bge2 described by ,colley ,cibber1 #afc2 in ,the ,western ,lass1 #afd2 as ,bayes1 #afe2 as ,melantha1 #afe2 her original characters1 #aff2 her death1 #aff1 #bhf4 ,verjuice1 ,mrs41 #fd4 ,vizard masks1 #bfe4 ,voltaire1 ,the ,relapse attributed to1 #bca4 ,walker1 ,thomas1 actor1 #cfi1 #dja1 #dbe2 as ,macheath1 #chh4 ,walker1 ,william1 dramatist1 #bab4 ,walpole1 ,sir ,robert1 and the ,beggar's ,opera1 #chi4 ,warren 7a dresser71 his amusing accident on the stage1 #aca4 ,warwick ,inn1 ,holborn1 #ae4 ,weaver1 #fd4 ,webster1 ,benjamin1 mentioned1 #ade4 ,welsted1 ,leonard1 dramatist1 #cha4 ,west1 ,richard1 his ,hecuba condemned unheard1 #chj4 ,whitaker1 ,william1 dramatist1 #bji4 ,whitefriars' ,theatre1 #cj4 ,wilks1 ,robert1 #agh1 #bge2 as ,sir ,charles ,easy1 #bid2 as ,plume1 #bih2 as ,archer1 #cjd2 ,wilks1 ,cibber1 and ,dogget1 #cah2 as ,juba1 #cbi2 as ,dumont1 #cca2 as ,don ,felix1 #ccb2 as ,carlos1 #cfe2 as ,sir ,harry ,wildair1 #cgh2 as ,antony1 #cgi4 ,williams1 ,bishop1 #be1 #bi4 ,williams1 as ,scipio1 #dbc4 ,wilson1 ,john1 dramatist1 #bji4 ,wintersel1 #fd1 #aja2 as ,slender1 #aja4 ,wiseman1 ,mrs4 ,jane1 authoress1 #bhb4 ,wither1 ,george1 his ,hallelujah1 #bed4 ,wright1 #dja4 ,wycherley1 ,william1 #bbb2 borrowed from1 by ,sheridan1 #bbc2 his death1 #bcd4 ,york1 ,duke of1 his company1 #fa4 ,yorke1 ,sir ,john1 #bd1 #da4 ,young1 an early actor1 #fe4 ,young1 ,c4 ,m41 #dja4 ,young1 ,dr4 ,edward1 #ced1 #che2 his ,busiris1 #cec2 his ,revenge1 #cfe4 ,younger1 ,mrs41 #bih1 #djd2 in the ,dissembled ,wanton1 #chb4 ,,end ,,of ,,vol4 ,i4 ,,printed ,,by ,,ballantyne1 ,,hanson ,,and ,,co4 ,,edinburgh ,,and ,,london4 ,,transcriber',s ,,note ,italic text is denoted by underscores4 ,the oe ligature has been replaced by 'oe' or ',,oe'4 ,obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within the text and consultation of external sources4 ,except for those changes noted below1 misspelling by the author1 and inconsistent or archaic usage1 has been retained4 ,for example1 a while1 awhile2 playhouse1 play-house2 coffee house1 coffee-house2 inuendo2 intrusted4 ,see the ,note at the front of the book3 ,this etext is derived from #baf of the #cjj copies printed4 ,the duplicates of the portraits have been removed4 p4 #ai 'twenty three' replaced by 'twenty-three'4 p4 #dd 'dnoment' replaced by 'dnouement'4 p4 #aee 'dis tu' replaced by 'dis-tu'4 p4 #bjj 'mitre' replaced by 'matre'4 p4 #cjd ',farqhuar' replaced by ',farquhar'4 p4 #cbg 'had attend' replaced by 'had attended'4 p4 #cde 'incontestible' replaced by 'incontestable'4 p4 #cfi 'couple' replaced by 'couples'4 p4 #cib 'debut' replaced by 'dbut'4 ,,index3 ,kirkham3 ',revels' replaced by 'the revels'4 ,payne3 'revels' replaced by 'the revels'4