Chapter IX (4)

[Footnote 66: One of the commonest imputations made against Cibber was that he was of a cowardly temper. In "Common Sense" for 11th June, 1737, a paper attributed to Lord Chesterfield, there is a dissertation on kicking as a humorous incident on the stage. The writer adds: "Of all the Comedians who have appeared upon the Stage within my Memory, no one has taking (_sic_) a Kicking with so much Humour as our present most excellent Laureat, and I am inform'd his Son does not fall much short of him in this Excellence; I am very glad of it, for as I have a Kindness for the young Man, I hope to see him as well kick'd as his Father was before him."

I confess that I am not quite sure how far this sentence is ironically meant, but Bellchambers refers to it as conveying a serious accusation of cowardice. He also quotes from Davies ("Dram. Misc.," iii. 487), who relates, on the authority of Victor, that Cibber, having reduced Bickerstaffe's salary by one-half, was waited upon by that actor, who "flatly told him, that as he could not subsist on the small sum to which he had reduced his salary, he must call the author of his distress to an account, for that it would be easier for him to lose his life than to starve. The affrighted Cibber told him, he should receive an answer from him on Saturday next. Bickerstaffe found, on that day, his usual income was continued." This story rests only on Victor's authority, but is, of course, not improbable. There is also a vague report that Gay, in revenge for Cibber's banter of "Three Hours after Marriage," personally chastised him, but I know no good authority for the story.]

[Footnote 67: Cibber (1st ed.) wrote: "new Honours of Duke of _Devonshire_, Lord Steward," &c. He corrected his blunder in 2nd ed.]

[Footnote 68: See Macaulay ("History," 1858, vol. ii. p. 251).]

[Footnote 69: Davies ("Dram. Misc.," iii. 444) says: "Cibber and Verbruggen were two dissipated young fellows, who determined, in opposition to the advice of friends, to become great actors. Much about the same time, they were constant attendants upon Downes, the prompter of Drury-Lane, in expectation of employment."]

[Footnote 70: "The Laureat" states that Miss Santlow (afterwards Mrs. Barton Booth) was the actress referred to; that Captain Montague was her assailant, and Mr. Secretary Craggs her defender.]

[Footnote 71: See memoir of William Smith at end of second volume.]

[Footnote 72: See memoir.]

[Footnote 73:

"As where's that palace whereinto foul things
Sometimes intrude not?"--"Othello," act iii. sc. 3.]

[Footnote 74: Captain Griffin was, no doubt, the Griffin who is mentioned by Downes as entering the King's Company "after they had begun at Drury Lane." This is of course very indefinite as regards time. Drury Lane was opened in 1663, but the first character for which we can find Griffin's name mentioned, is that of Varnish in "The Plain-Dealer," which was produced in 1674. At the Union in 1682, Griffin took a good position in the amalgamated company, and continued on the stage till about 1688, when his name disappears from the bills. During this time he is not called _Captain,_ but in 1701 the name of Captain Griffin appears among the Drury Lane actors. Genest says it is more probable that this should be Griffin returned to the stage after thirteen years spent in the army, than that Captain Griffin should have gone on the stage without having previously been connected with it. In this Genest is quite correct, for the anecdote of Goodman and Griffin, which Cibber tells in Chap. XII. shows conclusively that _Captain_ Griffin was an actor during Goodman's stage-career, which ended certainly before 1690. He appears to have finally retired about the beginning of 1708. Downes says "_Mr._ Griffin _so Excell'd in_ Surly. Sir Edward Belfond, _The_ Plain Dealer, _none succeeding in the 2 former have Equall'd him_, [nor any] _except his Predecessor Mr._ Hart _in the latter_" (p. 40). I have ventured to supply the two words "nor any" to make clear what Downes must have meant.]

[Footnote 75: The "Biographia Dramatica" (i. 87) gives an account of James Carlile. He was a native of Lancashire, and in his youth was an actor; but he left the stage for the army, and was killed at the battle of Aughrim, 11th July, 1691. Nothing practically is known of his stage career. Downes (p. 39) notes that at the Union of the Patents in 1682, "Mr. _Monfort_ and Mr. _Carlile_, were grown to the Maturity of good _Actors_." I cannot trace Carlile's name in the bills any later than 1685.]

[Footnote 76: Wiltshire seems to have been a very useful actor of the second rank. In 1685 he also appears for the last time.]

[Footnote 77: That Ben Jonson was an unsuccessful actor is gravely doubted by Gifford and by his latest editor, Lieut.-Col. Cunningham, who give excellent reasons in support of their view. See memoir prefixed to edition of Jonson, 1870, i. xi.]

[Footnote 78: Sir William Davenant was the son of a vintner and innkeeper at Oxford. It was said that Shakespeare used frequently to stay at the inn, and a story accordingly was manufactured that William Davenant was in fact the son of the poet through an amour with Mrs. Davenant. But of this there is no shadow of proof. Davenant went to Oxford, but made no special figure as a scholar, winning fame, however, as a poet and dramatist. On the death of Ben Jonson in 1637 he was appointed Poet-Laureate, and in 1639 received a licence from Charles I. to get together a company of players. In the Civil War he greatly distinguished himself, and was knighted by the King for his bravery. Before the Restoration Davenant was permitted by Cromwell to perform some sort of theatrical pieces at Rutland House, in Charter-House Yard, where "The Siege of Rhodes" was played about 1656. At the Restoration a Patent was granted to him in August, 1660, and he engaged Rhodes's company of Players, including Betterton, Kynaston, Underhill, and Nokes. Another Patent was granted to him, dated 15th January, 1663, (see copy of Patent given _ante,_) under which he managed the theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields till his death in 1668. Davenant's company were called the Duke's Players. The changes which were made in the conduct of the stage during Davenant's career, such as the introduction of elaborate scenery and the first appearance of women in plays, make it one of the first interest and importance. (See Mr. Joseph Knight's Preface to his recent edition of the "Roscius Anglicanus.")]

[Footnote 79: Thomas Killigrew (not "Henry" Killigrew, as Cibber erroneously writes) was a very noted and daring humorist. He was a faithful adherent of King Charles I., and at the Restoration was made a Groom of the Bedchamber. He also received a Patent, dated 25th April, 1662, to raise a company of actors to be called the King's Players. These acted at the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane. Killigrew survived the Union of the two Companies in 1682, dying on the 19th of March, 1683. He cannot be said to have made much mark in theatrical history. The best anecdote of Killigrew is that related by Granger, how he waited on Charles II. one day dressed like a Pilgrim bound on a long journey. When the King asked him whither he was going, he replied, "To Hell, to fetch back Oliver Cromwell to take care of England, for his successor takes none at all."]

[Footnote 80: It is curious to note that this theatre, which occupied the same site as the present Drury Lane, was sometimes described as Drury Lane, sometimes as Covent Garden.]

[Footnote 81: Should be Lincoln's Inn Fields. Dorset Garden, which was situated in Salisbury Court, Fleet Street, was not opened till 1671.]

[Footnote 82: Genest (ii. 302) remarks on this: "How long this lasted does not appear--it appears however that it lasted to Queen Anne's time, as the alteration of 'Wit without Money' is dedicated to Thomas Newman, Servant to her Majesty, one of the Gentlemen of the Great Chamber, and Book-keeper and Prompter to her Majesty's Company of Comedians in the Haymarket." Dr. Doran in his "Their Majesties' Servants" (1888 edition, iii. 419), says that he was informed by Benjamin Webster that Baddeley was the last actor who wore the uniform of scarlet and gold prescribed for the Gentlemen of the Household, who were patented actors.]

[Footnote 83: The question of the identity of the first English actress is a very intricate one. Mr. Percy Fitzgerald, in his "New History of the English Stage," seems to incline to favour Anne Marshall, while Mr. Joseph Knight, in his edition of the "Roscius Anglicanus," pronounces for Mrs. Coleman. Davies says positively that "the first woman actress was the mother of Norris, commonly called Jubilee Dicky." Thomas Jordan wrote a Prologue "to introduce the first woman that came to act on the stage," but as the lady's name is not given, this does not help us. The distinction is also claimed for Mrs. Saunderson (afterwards Mrs. Betterton) and Margaret Hughes. But since Mr. Knight has shown that the performances in 1656 at Rutland House, where Mrs. Coleman appeared, were for money, I do not see that we can escape from the conclusion that this lady was the first English professional actress. Who the first actress after the Restoration was is as yet unsettled.]

[Footnote 84: Meaning, no doubt, Nell Gwyn and Moll Davis.]

[Footnote 85: Genest points out (i. 404) that Cibber is not quite accurate here. Shakespeare's and Fletcher's plays _may_ have been shared; Jonson's certainly were not.]

[Footnote 86: See memoir of Hart at end of second volume.]

[Footnote 87: Genest says that this regulation "might be very proper at the first restoration of the stage; but as a perpetual rule it was absurd. Cibber approves of it, not considering that Betterton could never have acted Othello, Brutus, or Hotspur (the very parts for which Cibber praises him so much) if there had not been a junction of the companies." Bellchambers, in a long note, also contests Cibber's opinion.]

[Footnote 88: In the season 1735-6, in addition to the two Patent Theatres, Drury Lane and Covent Garden, Giffard was playing at Goodman's Fields Theatre, and Fielding, with his Great Mogul's Company of Comedians, occupied the Haymarket. In 1736-7 Giffard played at the Lincoln's-Inn-Fields Theatre, and Goodman's Fields was unused. The Licensing Act of 1737 closed the two irregular houses, leaving only Drury Lane and Covent Garden open.]

[Footnote 89: Cibber here refers to the Pantomimes, which he deals with at some length in Chapter XV.]

[Footnote 90: Fielding ("Champion," 6th May, 1740): "Another Observation which I have made on our Author's Similies is, that they generally have an Eye towards the Kitchen. Thus, _page 56, Two Play-Houses are like two_ PUDDINGS _or two_ LEGS OF MUTTON. _224. To plant young Actors is not so easy as to plant_ CABBAGES. To which let me add a Metaphor in _page 57_, where _unprofitable Praise can hardly give Truth a_ SOUP MAIGRE."]

[Footnote 91: "Dramatic Operas" seem to have been first produced about 1672. In 1673 "The Tempest," made into an opera by Shadwell, was played at Dorset Garden; "Pysche" followed in the next year, and "Circe" in 1677. "Macbeth," as altered by Davenant, was produced in 1672, "in the nature of an Opera," as Downes phrases it.]

[Footnote 92: Dryden, in his "Prologue on the Opening of the New House" in 1674, writes:--

"'Twere folly now a stately pile to raise,
To build a playhouse while you throw down plays;
While scenes, machines, and empty operas reign----"

and the Prologue concludes with the lines:--

"'Tis to be feared----
That, as a fire the former house o'erthrew,
Machines and Tempests will destroy the new."

The allusion in the last line is to the opera of "The Tempest," which I have mentioned in the previous note.]

[Footnote 93:

"Probitas laudatur et alget." Juvenal, i. 74.]

[Footnote 94: In the Prologue to "The Emperor of the Moon," 1687, the line occurred: "There's nothing lasting but the Puppet-show."]

[Footnote 95:

"Ita populus studio stupidus in funambulo
Animum occuparat."
Terence, _Prol. to "Hecyra,"_ line 4.]

[Footnote 96: See memoir of Michael Mohun at end of second volume.]

[Footnote 97: See memoir of Cardell Goodman at end of second volume.]

[Footnote 98: Of Clark very little is known. The earliest play in which his name is given by Downes is "The Plain-Dealer," which was produced at the Theatre Royal in 1674, Clark playing Novel, a part of secondary importance. His name appears to Massina in "Sophonisba," Hephestion in "Alexander the Great," Dolabella in "All for Love," Aquitius in "Mythridates," and (his last recorded part) the Earl of Essex, the principal character in "The Unhappy Favourite," Theatre Royal, 1682. After the Union of the Companies in 1682 his name does not occur. Bellchambers has several trifling errors in the memoir he gives of this actor.]

[Footnote 99: Curll ("History of the English Stage," p. 9) says: "The Feuds and Animosities of the KING'S _Company_ were so well improved, as to produce an Union betwixt the two Patents."]

[Footnote 100: Cibber gives the year as 1684, but this is so obviously a slip that I venture to correct the text.]

[Footnote 101: Genest (ii. 62) remarks: "The theatre in Dorset Garden had been built by subscription--the subscribers were called Adventurers--of this Cibber seems totally ignorant--that there were any new Adventurers, added to the original number, rests solely on his authority, and in all probability he is not correct."]

[Footnote 102: Cibber afterwards relates the connection of Owen Swiney, William Collier, M.P., and Sir Richard Steele, with himself and his actor-partners.]

[Footnote 103: The only one of Cibber's contemporaries of any note who was alive when the "Apology" was published, was Benjamin Johnson. This admirable comedian died in August, 1742, in his seventy-seventh year, having played as late as the end of May of that year.]

[Footnote 104: The actor pointed at is, no doubt, Wilks. In the last chapter of this work Cibber, in giving the theatrical character of Wilks, says of his Hamlet: "I own the Half of what he spoke was as painful to my Ear, as every Line that came from Betterton was charming."]

[Footnote 105: Barton Booth, who was probably as great in the part of the Ghost as Betterton was in Hamlet, said, "When I acted the Ghost with Betterton, instead of my awing him, he terrified me. But divinity hung round that man!"--"Dram. Misc.," iii. 32.]

[Footnote 106: "The Laureat" repeats the eulogium of a gentleman who had seen Betterton play Hamlet, and adds: "And yet, the same Gentleman assured me, he has seen Mr. _Betterton_, more than once, play this Character to an Audience of twenty Pounds, or under" (p. 32).]

[Footnote 107: _Ars Poetica_, 102. This is the much discussed question of Diderot's "Paradoxe sur le Comédien," which has recently been revived by Mr. Henry Irving and M. Coquelin, and has formed the subject of some interesting studies by Mr. William Archer.]

[Footnote 108: This is doubtless directed at Booth, who was naturally of an indolent disposition, and seems to have been, on occasions, apt to drag through a part.]

[Footnote 109: Ausonius, II, 8 (_Epigram_, xi.).]

[Footnote 110: "Alexander the Great; or, the Rival Queens," act ii. sc. 1.]

[Footnote 111: Bellchambers notes on this passage: "The criticisms of Cibber upon a literary subject are hardly worth the trouble of confuting, and yet it may be mentioned that Bishop Warburton adduced these lines as containing not only the most sublime, but the most judicious imagery that poetry can conceive. If Le Brun, or any other artist, could not succeed in pourtraying the terrors of fortune, it conveys, perhaps, the highest possible compliment to the powers of Lee, to admit that he has mastered a difficulty beyond the most daring aspirations of an accomplished painter." With all respect to Warburton and Bellchambers, I cannot help remarking that this last sentence seems to me perilously like nonsense.]

[Footnote 112: I can find no record of this revival, nor am I aware that any other authority than Cibber mentions it. I am unable therefore even to guess at a date.]

[Footnote 113: In 1706, in Betterton's own company at the Haymarket, Verbruggen played Alexander. At Drury Lane, in 1704, Wilks had played the part.]

[Footnote 114: Anthony Aston says that his voice "enforced universal attention even from the Fops and Orange girls."]

[Footnote 115: Anthony Aston says of Mrs. Barry: "Neither she, nor any of the Actors of those Times, had any Tone in their Speaking, (too much, lately, in Use.)" But the line of criticism which Cibber takes up here would lead to the conclusion that Aston is not strictly accurate; and, moreover, I can scarcely imagine how, if these older actors used no "tone," the employment of it should have been so general as it certainly was a few years after Betterton's death. Victor ("History," ii. 164) writes of "the good old Manner of singing and quavering out their tragic Notes," and on the same page mentions Cibber's "quavering Tragedy Tones." My view, also, is confirmed by the facts that in the preface to "The Fairy Queen," 1692, it is said: "he must be a very ignorant Player, who knows not there is a Musical Cadence in speaking; and that a Man may as well speak out of Tune, as sing out of Tune;" and that Aaron Hill, in his dedication of "The Fatal Vision," 1716, reprobates the "affected, vicious, and unnatural tone of voice, so common on the stage at that time." See Genest, iv. 16-17. An admirable description of this method of reciting is given by Cumberland ("Memoirs," 2nd edition, i. 80): "Mrs. Cibber in a key, high-pitched but sweet withal, sung, or rather recitatived Rowe's harmonious strain, something in the manner of the Improvisatories: it was so extremely wanting in contrast, that, though it did not wound the ear, it wearied it." Cumberland is writing of Mrs. Cibber in the earlier part of her career (1746), when the teaching of her husband's father, Colley Cibber, influenced her acting: no doubt Garrick, who exploded the old way of speaking, made her ultimately modify her style. Yet as she was, even in 1746, a very distinguished pathetic actress, we are forced to the conclusion that the old style must have been more effective than we are disposed to believe.]

[Footnote 116: As Dr. Johnson puts it in his famous Prologue (1747):--

"Ah! let no Censure term our Fate our Choice,
The Stage but echoes back the public Voice;
The Drama's Laws the Drama's Patrons give,
For we, that live to please, must please to live."]

[Footnote 117: "Amphytrion" was played in 1690. The Dedication is dated 24th October, 1690.]

[Footnote 118: Downes ("Roscius Anglicanus," p. 34) relates Lee's misadventure, which he attributes to stage-fright. He says of Otway the poet, that on his first appearance "_the full House put him to such a Sweat and Tremendous Agony, being dash't, spoilt him for an Actor. Mr._ Nat. Lee, _had the same Fate in Acting_ Duncan _in_ Macbeth, _ruin'd him for an Actor too_."]

[Footnote 119: See memoir of Estcourt at end of second volume.]

[Footnote 120: It will be remembered that the Elder Mathews, the most extraordinary mimic of modern times, had this same power in great perfection. See his "Memoirs," iii. 153-156.]

[Footnote 121: Cibber has been charged with gross unfairness to Estcourt, and his unfavourable estimate of him has been attributed to envy; but Estcourt's ability seems to have been at least questionable. This matter will be found treated at some length in the memoir of Estcourt in the Appendix to this work.]

[Footnote 122: "His voice was low and grumbling."--Anthony Aston.]

[Footnote 123: In Otway's tragedy of "The Orphan," produced at Dorset Garden in 1680, Betterton was the original Castalio.]

[Footnote 124: See memoir of Betterton at end of second volume.]

[Footnote 125: 13th April, 1710.]

[Footnote 126: In the "Tatler," No. 167, in which the famous criticism of Betterton's excellencies is given, his funeral is stated to have taken place on 2nd May, 1710.]

[Footnote 127: I do not know whether Cibber in making this remark had in view Gildon's Life of Betterton, in which there are twenty pages of memoir to one hundred and fifty of dissertation on acting.]

[Footnote 128: This seems to have been done to a very limited extent. The first unquestionable date on which, after 1660, women appeared is 3rd January, 1661, when Pepys saw "The Beggar's Bush" at the Theatre, that is, Killigrew's house, and notes, "and here the first time that ever I saw women come upon the stage." At the same theatre he had seen the same play on 20th November, 1660, the female parts being then played by men. Thomas Jordan wrote "_A Prologue, to introduce the first woman that came to act on the stage, in the tragedy called_ The Moor of Venice" (quoted by Malone, "Shakespeare," 1821, iii. 128), and Malone supposes justly as I think, that this was on 8th December, 1660; on which date, in all probability, the first woman appeared on the stage after the Restoration. Who she was we do not know. See _ante_, p. 90. On 7th January, 1661, Kynaston played Epicoene in "The Silent Woman," and on 12th January, 1661, Pepys saw "The Scornful Lady," "now done by a woman." On the 4th of the same month Pepys had seen the latter play with a man in the chief part, so that it is almost certain that the "boy-actresses" disappeared about the beginning of 1661.]

[Footnote 129: "The Laureat" (p. 33): "I am of Opinion, _Booth_ was not wrong in this. There are many of the Sentiments in this Character, where Nature and common Sense are outraged; and an Actor, who shou'd give the full comic Utterance to them in his Delivery, would raise what they call a _Horse-Laugh_, and turn it into Burlesque."

On the other hand, Theophilus Cibber, in his Life of Booth, p. 72, supports his father's opinion, saying:--

"The Remark is just--Mr. _Booth_ would sometimes slur over such bold Sentiments, so flightily delivered by the Poet. As he was good-natured--and would 'hear each Man's Censure, yet reserve his Judgment,'--I once took the Liberty of observing, that he had neglected (as I thought) giving that kind of spirited Turn in the afore-mentioned Character--He told me I was mistaken; it was not Negligence, but Design made him so slightly pass them over:--For though, added he, in these places one might raise a Laugh of Approbation in a few,--yet there is nothing more unsafe than exciting the Laugh of Simpletons, who never know when or where to stop; and, as the Majority are not always the wisest Part of an Audience,--I don't chuse to run the hazard."]

[Footnote 130: A long account of the production of "Cato" is given by Cibber in Chap. XIV. From the cast quoted in a note, it will be seen that Cibber himself was the original Syphax.]

[Footnote 131: "The Laureat" (p. 33): "I have seen the Original _Syphax_ in _Cato_, use many ridiculous Distortions, crack in his Voice, and wreathe his Muscles and his Limbs, which created not a Smile of Approbation, but a loud Laugh of Contempt and Ridicule on the Actor." On page 34: "In my Opinion, the Part of _Syphax_, as it was originally play'd, was the only Part in _Cato_ not tolerably executed."]

[Footnote 132: Bellchambers on this passage has one of those aggravating notes, in which he seems to try to blacken Cibber as much as possible. I confess that I can see nothing of the "venom" he resents so vigorously. He says:--

"Theophilus Cibber, in the tract already quoted, expressly states, that Booth 'was not so scrupulously nice or timerous' in this character, as in that to which our author has invidiously referred. I shall give the passage, for its powerful antidote to Colley's venom:--

"Mr. _Booth_, in this part, though he gave full Scope to the Humour, never dropped the Dignity of the Character--You laughed at _Henry_, but lost not your Respect for him.--When he appeared most familiar, he was by no means vulgar.--The People most about him felt the Ease they enjoyed was owing to his Condescension.--He maintained the Monarch.--_Hans Holbein_ never gave a higher Picture of him than did the actor (_Booth_) in his Representation. When angry, his Eye spoke majestic Terror; the noblest and the bravest of his Courtiers were awe-struck--He gave you the full Idea of that arbitrary Prince, who thought himself born to be obeyed;--the boldest dared not to dispute his Commands:--He appeared to claim a Right Divine to exert the Power he imperiously assumed.' (p. 75)." ]

[Footnote 133:

"Spirat Tragicum satis et feliciter audet."
Hor. _Epis._ ii. I, 166.]

[Footnote 134: "Aurenge-Zebe; or, the Great Mogul," act iv.]

[Footnote 135: Kynaston was the original Morat at the Theatre Royal in 1675; Hart the Aurenge-Zebe.]

[Footnote 136: "King Henry IV.," First Part, act i. sc. 3.]

[Footnote 137: See memoir of Kynaston at end of second volume.]

[Footnote 138: Downes spells Mountfort's name Monfort and Mounfort.]

[Footnote 139: "Spanish Friar," act ii. sc. 1.]

[Footnote 140: Willmore, in Mrs. Behn's "Rover," of which Smith was the original representative.]

[Footnote 141: In Crowne's "Sir Courtly Nice," produced at the Theatre Royal in 1685.]

[Footnote 142: William Mountfort was born in 1659 or 1660. He became a member of the Duke's Company as a boy, and Downes says that in 1682 he had grown to the maturity of a good actor. In the "Counterfeits," licensed 29th August, 1678, the Boy is played by Young _Mumford_, and in "The Revenge," produced in 1680, the same name stands to the part of Jack, the Barber's Boy. After the Union in 1682 he made rapid progress, for he played his great character of Sir Courtly Nice as early as 1685. In this Cibber gives him the highest praise; and Downes says, "Sir Courtly was so nicely Perform'd, that not any succeeding, but Mr. _Cyber_ has Equall'd him." Mountfort was killed by one Captain Hill, aided, it is supposed, by the Lord Mohun who died in that terrible duel with the Duke of Hamilton, in 1712, in which they hacked each other to death. Whether Hill murdered Mountfort or killed him in fair fight is a doubtful point. (See Doran's "Their Majesties' Servants," 1888 edition, i. 169-172; see also memoir at end of second volume.)]

[Footnote 143: Creon (Dryden and Lee's "OEdipus"); Malignii (Porter's "Villain"); Machiavil (Lee's "Cæsar Borgia").]

[Footnote 144: The "Tatler," No. 134: "I must own, there is something very horrid in the publick Executions of an _English_ Tragedy. Stabbing and Poisoning, which are performed behind the Scenes in other Nations, must be done openly among us to gratify the Audience.

When poor _Sandford_ was upon the Stage, I have seen him groaning upon a Wheel, stuck with Daggers, impaled alive, calling his Executioners, with a dying Voice, Cruel Dogs, and Villains! And all this to please his judicious Spectators, who were wonderfully delighted with seeing a Man in Torment so well acted."]

[Footnote 145: Bellchambers notes: "This anecdote has more vivacity than truth, for the audience were too much accustomed to see Sandford in parts of even a comic nature, to testify the impatience or disappointment which Mr. Cibber has described." I may add that I have been unable to discover any play to which the circumstances mentioned by Cibber would apply. But it must not be forgotten that, if the play were damned as completely as Cibber says, it would probably not be printed, and we should thus in all probability have no record of it.]

[Footnote 146: Probably the Earl of Shaftesbury.]

[Footnote 147: Macready seems to have held something like this view regarding "villains." At the present time we have no such prejudices, for one of the most popular of English actors, Mr. E. S. Willard, owes his reputation chiefly to his wonderfully vivid presentation of villainy.]

[Footnote 148: The play in question is "The Triumphs of Virtue," produced at Drury Lane in 1697, and the actress is Mrs. Rogers, who afterwards lived with Wilks. The lines in the Epilogue are:--

"I'll pay this duteous gratitude; I'll do
That which the play has done--I'll copy you.
At your own virtue's shrine my vows I'll pay,
Study to live the character I play."]

[Footnote 149: Chetwood gives a short memoir of this "first-born," who became the wife of Christopher Bullock, and died in 1739. Mrs. Dyer was the only child of Mrs. Bullock's mentioned by Chetwood.]

[Footnote 150: See memoir of Sandford at end of second volume.]

[Footnote 151: It is a very common mistake to state that Cibber founded his playing of Richard III. on that of Sandford. He merely says that he tried to act the part as he knew Sandford _would_ have played it.]

[Footnote 152: Cibber's adaptation, which has held the stage ever since its production, was first played at Drury Lane in 1700. Genest (ii. 195-219) gives an exhaustive account of Cibber's mutilation. His opinion of it may be gathered from these sentences: "One has no wish to disturb Cibber's own Tragedies in their tranquil graves, but while our indignation continues to be excited by the frequent representation of Richard the 3d in so disgraceful a state, there can be no peace between the friends of unsophisticated Shakspeare and Cibber." "To the advocates for Cibber's Richard I only wish to make one request--that they would never say a syllable in favour of Shakspeare."]

[Footnote 153: "The Laureat" (p. 35): "This same Mender of Shakespear chose the principal Part, _viz. the King_, for himself; and accordingly being invested with the purple Robe, he screamed thro' four Acts without Dignity or Decency. The Audience ill-pleas'd with the Farce, accompany'd him with a smile of Contempt, but in the fifth Act, he degenerated all at once into Sir _Novelty_; and when in the Heat of the Battle at _Bosworth Field_, the King is dismounted, our Comic-Tragedian came on the Stage, really breathless, and in a seeming Panick, screaming out this Line thus--_A Harse, a Harse, my Kingdom for a Harse_. This highly delighted some, and disgusted others of his Auditors; and when he was kill'd by _Richmond_, one might plainly perceive that the good People were not better pleas'd that so _execrable a Tyrant_ was destroy'd, than that so _execrable an Actor_ was silent."]

[Footnote 154: James Noke, or Nokes--not _Robert_, as Bellchambers states. Of Robert Nokes little is known. Downes mentions both actors among Rhodes's original Company, Robert playing male characters, and James being one of the "boy-actresses." Downes does not distinguish between them at all, simply mentioning "Mr. Nokes" as playing particular parts. Robert Nokes died about 1673, so that we are certain that the famous brother was James.]

[Footnote 155: "The Comical Revenge; or, Love in a Tub."]

[Footnote 156: Of these plays, "The Spanish Friar," "The Soldier's Fortune," and "Amphytrion" were produced after Robert Nokes's death.]

[Footnote 157: See memoir of James Nokes at end of second volume.]

[Footnote 158: "_Coligni_, the character alluded to, at the original representation of this play, was sustained, says Downs, 'by that inimitable sprightly actor, Mr. Price,--especially in this part.' Joseph Price joined D'Avenant's company on Rhodes's resignation, being one of 'the new actors,' according to the 'Roscius Anglicanus,' who were 'taken in to complete' it. He is first mentioned for _Guildenstern_, in 'Hamlet;' and, in succession, for _Leonel_, in D'Avenant's 'Love and Honour,' on which occasion the Earl of Oxford gave him his coronation-suit; for _Paris_, in 'Romeo and Juliet;' the _Corregidor_, in Tuke's 'Adventures of five hours;' and _Coligni_, as already recorded. In the year 1663, by speaking a 'short comical prologue' to the 'Rivals,' introducing some 'very diverting dances,' Mr. Price 'gained him an universal applause of the town.' The versatility of this actor must have been great, or the necessities of the company imperious, as we next find him set down for _Lord Sands_, in 'King Henry the Eighth.' He then performed _Will_, in the 'Cutter of Coleman-street,' and is mentioned by Downs as being dead, in the year 1673."

The above is Bellchambers's note. He is wrong in stating that Price played the Corregidor in Tuke's "Adventures of Five Hours;" his part was Silvio. He omits, too, to mention one of Price's best parts, Dufoy, in "Love in a Tub," in which Downes specially commends him in this queer couplet:--

"Sir Nich'las, Sir Fred'rick; Widow and Dufoy,
Were not by any so well done, Mafoy."

Price does not seem to have acted after May, 1665, when the theatres closed for the Plague, for his name is never mentioned by Downes after the theatres re-opened in November, 1666, after the Plague and Fire.]

[Footnote 159: "Sir Solomon; or, the Cautious Coxcomb," by John Caryll.]

[Footnote 160: By Otway.]

[Footnote 161: By Shadwell.]

[Footnote 162: "Rest" is a term used in tennis, and seems to have meant a quick and continued returning of the ball from one player to the other--what is in lawn tennis called a "rally."

Cibber uses the word in his "Careless Husband," act iv. sc. 1.

"_Lady Betty_ [to Lord Morelove]. Nay, my lord, there's no standing against two of you.

_Lord Foppington._ No, faith, that's odds at tennis, my lord: not but if your ladyship pleases, I'll endeavour to keep your back-hand a little; though upon my soul you may safely set me up at the line: for, knock me down, if ever I saw a rest of wit better played, than that last, in my life."

In the only dictionary in which I have found this word "Rest," it is given as "A match, a game;" but, as I think I have shown, this is a defective explanation. I may add that, since writing the above, I have been favoured with the opinion of Mr. Julian Marshall, the distinguished authority on tennis, who confirms my view.]

[Footnote 163: By Durfey.]

[Footnote 164: Bartoline. Genest suggests that this character was intended for the Whig lawyer, Serjeant Maynard. The play was written by Crowne.]

[Footnote 165: See memoir of Pinkethman at end of second volume.]

[Footnote 166: In this farce, written by Mrs. Behn, and produced in 1687, Jevon was the original Harlequin. Pinkethman played the part in 1702, and played it without the mask on 18th September, 1702. The "Daily Courant" of that date contains an advertisement in which it is stated that "At the Desire of some Persons of Quality ... will be presented a Comedy, call'd, _The Emperor of the Moon_, wherein Mr. _Penkethman_ acts the part of _Harlequin_ without a Masque, for the Entertainment of an _African_ Prince lately arrived here."]

[Footnote 167: This refers to "Art and Nature," a comedy by James Miller, produced at Drury Lane 16th February, 1738. The principal character in "Harlequin Sauvage" was introduced into it and played by Theophilus Cibber. The piece was damned the first night, but it must not be forgotten that the Templars damned everything of Miller's on account of his supposed insult to them in his farce of "The Coffee House." Bellchambers says the piece referred to by Cibber was "The Savage," 8vo, 1736; but this does not seem ever to have been acted.]

[Footnote 168: This probably refers to the incident related by Davies in his "Dramatic Miscellanies":--"In the play of the 'Recruiting Officer,' Wilks was the Captain _Plume_, and Pinkethman one of the recruits. The captain, when he enlisted him, asked his name: instead of answering as he ought, Pinkey replied, 'Why! don't you know my name, Bob? I thought every fool had known that!' Wilks, in rage, whispered to him the name of the recruit, _Thomas Appletree_. The other retorted aloud, '_Thomas Appletree_? Thomas Devil! my name is Will Pinkethman:' and, immediately addressing an inhabitant of the upper regions, he said 'Hark you, friend; don't you know my name?'--'Yes, Master Pinkey,' said a respondent, 'we know it very well.' The play-house was now in an uproar: the audience, at first, enjoyed the petulant folly of Pinkethman, and the distress of Wilks; but, in the progress of the joke, it grew tiresome, and Pinkey met with his deserts, a very severe reprimand in a hiss; and this mark of displeasure he changed into applause, by crying out, with a countenance as melancholy as he could make it, in a loud and nasal twang, 'Odso! I fear I am wrong'" (iii. 89).]

[Footnote 169: See memoir of Leigh at end of second volume.]

[Footnote 170: By Shadwell.]

[Footnote 171: Underhill seems to have partially retired about the beginning of 1707. He played Sir Joslin Jolley on 5th December, 1706, but Bullock played it on 9th January, 1707, and, two days after, Johnson played Underhill's part of the First Gravedigger. Underhill, however, played in "The Rover" on 20th January, 1707. The benefit Cibber refers to took place on 3rd June, 1709. Underhill played the Gravedigger again on 23rd February, 1710, and on 12th May, 1710, for his benefit, he played Trincalo in "The Tempest." Genest says he acted at Greenwich on 26th August, 1710. The advertisement in the "Tatler" (26th May, 1709) runs: "Mr. Cave Underhill, the famous Comedian in the Reigns of K. Charles ii. K. James ii. K. William and Q. Mary, and her present Majesty Q. Anne; but now not able to perform so often as heretofore in the Play-house, and having had losses to the value of near £2,500, is to have the Tragedy of Hamlet acted for his Benefit, on Friday the third of June next, at the Theatre-Royal in Drury-Lane, in which he is to perform his Original Part, the Grave-Maker. Tickets may be had at the Mitre-Tavern in Fleet-Street." See also memoir of Underhill at end of second volume.]

[Footnote 172: See memoir of Powel at end of second volume.]

[Footnote 173: John Verbruggen, whose name Downes spells "Vanbruggen," "Vantbrugg," and "Verbruggen," is first recorded as having played Termagant in "The Squire of Alsatia," at the Theatre Royal, in 1688. His name last appears in August, 1707, and he must have died not long after. On 26th April, 1708, a benefit was announced for "a young orphan child of the late Mr. and Mrs. Verbruggen." He seems to have been an actor of great natural power, but inartistic in method. See what Anthony Aston says of him. Cibber unfairly, as we must think, seems carefully to avoid mentioning him as of any importance. "The Laureat," p. 58, says: "I wonder, considering our Author's Particularity of Memory, that he hardly ever mentions Mr. _Verbruggen_, who was in many Characters an excellent Actor.... I cannot conceive why _Verbruggen_ is left out of the Number of his excellent Actors; whether some latent Grudge, _alta Mente repostum_, has robb'd him of his Immortality in this Work." See also memoir of Verbruggen at end of second volume.]

[Footnote 174: See memoir of Williams at end of second volume.]

[Footnote 175: Produced at the Theatre Royal in 1692.]

[Footnote 176: In Chapter IX. of this work Cibber gives an elaborate account of Mrs. Oldfield. He remarks there that, after her joining the company, "she remain'd about a Twelvemonth almost a Mute, and unheeded."]

[Footnote 177: See memoir of Mrs. Barry at end of second volume.]

[Footnote 178: In "The Orphan," produced at Dorset Garden in 1680, and in "Venice Preserved," produced at the same theatre in 1682.]

[Footnote 179: In "The Rival Queens." Mrs. Marshall was the original Roxana, at the Theatre Royal in 1677. So far as we know, Mrs. Barry had not played Cleopatra (Dryden's "All for Love") when Dryden wrote the eulogy Cibber quotes. Mrs. Boutell originally acted the part, Theatre Royal, 1678.]

[Footnote 180: Bellchambers contradicts Cibber, saying that the Agreement of 14th October, 1681 [see Memoir of Hart], shows that benefits existed then. The words referred to are, "the day the young men or young women play for their own profit only." But this day set aside for the young people playing was, I think, quite a different matter from a benefit to a particular performer. Pepys (21st March, 1667) says, "The young men and women of the house ... having liberty to act for their own profit on Wednesdays and Fridays this Lent." These were evidently "scratch" performances on "off" nights; and it is to these, I think, that the agreement quoted refers.]

[Footnote 181: As Dr. Doran points out ("Their Majesties' Servants," 1888 edition, i. 160) this does not settle the question so easily as Cibber supposes. Twelve Tory peers were created by Queen Anne in the last few days of 1711, and Mrs. Barry did not die till the end of 1713.]

[Footnote 182: See memoir of Mrs. Betterton at end of second volume.]

[Footnote 183: Downes includes Mrs. Leigh among the recruits to the Duke's Company about 1670. He does not give her maiden name, but Genest supposes she may have been the daughter of Dixon, one of Rhodes's Company. As there are two actresses of the name of Mrs. Leigh, and one Mrs. Lee, and as no reliance can be placed on the spelling of names in the casts of plays, it is practically impossible to decide accurately the parts each played. This Mrs. Leigh seems to have been Elizabeth, and her name does not appear after 1707, the Eli. Leigh who signed the petition to Queen Anne in 1709 being probably a younger woman. Bellchambers has a most inaccurate note regarding Mrs. Leigh, stating that she "is probably not a distinct person from Mrs. Mary Lee."]

[Footnote 184: Mrs. Charlotte Butler is mentioned by Downes as entering the Duke's Company about the year 1673. By 1691 she occupied an important position as an actress, and in 1692 her name appears to the part of La Pupsey in Durfey's "Marriage-Hater Matched." This piece must have been produced early in the year, for Ashbury, by whom, as Cibber relates, she was engaged for Dublin, opened his season on 23rd March, 1692. Hitchcock, in his "View of the Irish Stage," describes her as "an actress of great repute, and a prodigious favourite with King Charles the Second" (i. 21).]

[Footnote 185: Chetwood gives a long account of Joseph Ashbury. He was born in 1638, and served for some years in the army. By the favour of the Duke of Ormond, then Lord Lieutenant, Ashbury was appointed successively Deputy-Master and Master of the Revels in Ireland. The latter appointment he seems to have received in 1682, though Hitchcock says "1672." Ashbury managed the Dublin Theatre with propriety and success, and was considered not only the principal actor in his time there, but the best teacher of acting in the three kingdoms. Chetwood, who saw him in his extreme old age, pronounced him admirable both in Tragedy and Comedy. He died in 1720, at the great age of eighty-two.]

[Footnote 186: This artistic sense was shown also by Margaret Woffington. Davies ("Life of Garrick," 4th edition, i. 315) writes: "in Mrs. Day, in the Committee, she made no scruple to disguise her beautiful countenance, by drawing on it the lines of deformity and the wrinkles of old age, and to put on the tawdry habiliments and vulgar manners of an old hypocritical city vixen."]

[Footnote 187: In "The Scornful Lady."]

[Footnote 188: "The Bath; or, the Western Lass," produced at Drury Lane in 1701.]

[Footnote 189: It is curious to compare with this Anthony Aston's outspoken criticism on Mrs. Mountfort's personal appearance.]

[Footnote 190: Anthony Aston says "Melantha was her Master-piece." Dryden's comedy was produced at the Theatre Royal in 1672, when Mrs. Boutell played Melantha.]

[Footnote 191: Act ii. scene 1.]

[Footnote 192: Mrs. Mountfort, originally Mrs. (that is Miss) Percival, and afterwards Mrs. Verbruggen, is first mentioned as the representative of Winifrid, a young Welsh jilt, in "Sir Barnaby Whigg," a comedy produced at the Theatre Royal in 1681. As Diana, in "The Lucky Chance" (1687), Genest gives her name as Mrs. Mountfort, late Mrs. Percival; so that her marriage with Mountfort must have taken place about the end of 1686 or beginning of 1687. Mountfort was killed in 1692, and in 1694 the part of Mary the Buxom, in "Don Quixote," part first, is recorded by Genest as played by Mrs. Verbruggen, late Mrs. Mountfort. In 1702, in the "Comparison between the Two Stages," Gildon pronounces her "a miracle." In 1703 she died. She was the original representative of, among other characters, Nell, in "Devil of a Wife;" Belinda, in "The Old Bachelor;" Lady Froth, in "The Double Dealer;" Charlott Welldon, in "Oroonoko;" Berinthia, in "Relapse;" Lady Lurewell; Lady Brumpton, in "The Funeral;" Hypolita, in "She Would and She Would Not;" and Hillaria, in "Tunbridge Walks."]

[Footnote 193: Bellchambers has here a most uncharitable note, which I quote as curious, though I must add that there is not a shadow of proof of the truth of it.

"Mrs. Bracegirdle was decidedly not 'unguarded' in her conduct, for though the object of general suspicion, no proof of positive unchastity was ever brought against her. Her intrigue with Mountfort, who lost his life in consequence of it,{A} is hardly to be disputed, and there is pretty ample evidence that Congreve was honoured with a gratification of his amorous desires.{B}

{Subnote A: "'We had not parted with him as many minutes as
a man may beget his likeness in, but who should we meet but
Mountfort the player, looking as pale as a ghost, sailing
forward as gently as a caterpillar 'cross a sycamore leaf,
gaping for a little air, like a sinner just come out of the
powdering-tub, crying out as he crept towards us, "O my back!
Confound 'em for a pack of brimstones: O my back!"--"How now,
_Sir Courtly_," said I, "what the devil makes thee in this
pickle?"--"O, gentlemen," says he, "I am glad to see you; but
I am troubled with such a weakness in my back, that it makes
me bend like a superannuated fornicator." "Some strain," said
I, "got in the other world, with overheaving yourself."--"What
matters it how 'twas got," says he; "can you tell me anything
that's good for it?" "Yes," said I; "get a warm girdle and tie
round you; 'tis an excellent corroborative to strengthen the
loins."--"Pox on you," says he, "for a bantering dog! how can
a single _girdle_ do me good, when a _Brace_ was my
destruction?"'--Brown's 'Letters from the Dead to the Living'
[1744, ii. 186].}

{Subnote B: "In one of those infamous collections known by the
name of 'Poems on State Affairs' [iv. 49], there are several
obvious, though coarse and detestable, hints of this
connexion. Collier's severity against the stage is thus
sarcastically deprecated, in a short piece called the
'Benefits of a Theatre.'

Shall a place be put down, when we see it affords
_Fit wives for great poets_, and whores for great lords?
Since _Angelica_, bless'd with a singular grace,
Had, by her fine acting, preserv'd all his plays,
In an amorous rapture, young _Valentine_ said,
One so fit for his plays might be fit for his bed.

"The allusion to Congreve and Mrs. Bracegirdle wants, of
course, no corroboration; but the hint at their marriage,
broached in the half line I have italicised, is a curious
though unauthorized fact. From the verses I shall continue to
quote, it will appear that this marriage between the parties,
though thought to be private, was currently believed; it is an
expedient that has often been used, in similar cases, to cover
the nakedness of outrageous lust.

He warmly pursues her, she yielded her charms,
And bless'd the kind youngster in her kinder arms:
But at length the poor nymph did for justice implore,
And _he's married her now_, though he'd ---- her before.

"On a subsequent page of the same precious miscellany, there
is a most offensive statement of the cause which detached our
great comic writer from the object of his passion. The thing
is too filthy to be even described."}]

[Footnote 194: Rowe and Congreve.]

[Footnote 195: In Congreve's "Way of the World."]

[Footnote 196: Cibber's chronology is a little shaky here. Mrs. Bracegirdle's name appeared for the last time in the bill of 20th February, 1707. Betterton's benefit, for which she returned to the stage for one night, took place on 7th April, 1709.]

[Footnote 197: Mrs. Anne Bracegirdle made her first appearance on the stage as a very young child. In the cast of Otway's "Orphan," 1680, the part of Cordelio, Polydore's Page, is said to be played by "the little girl," who, Curll ("History," p. 26) informs us, was Anne Bracegirdle, then less than six years of age. In 1688 her name appears to the part of Lucia in "The Squire of Alsatia;" but it is not till 1691 that she can be said to have regularly entered upon her career as an actress. She was the original representative of some of the most famous heroines in comedy: Araminta, in "The Old Bachelor;" Cynthia, in "The Double Dealer;" Angelica, in "Love for Love;" Belinda, in "The Provoked Wife;" Millamant; Flippanta, in "The Confederacy," and many others. Mrs. Bracegirdle appears to have been a good and excellent woman, as well as a great actress. All the scandal about her seems to have had no further foundation than, to quote Genest, "the extreme difficulty with which an actress at this period of the stage must have preserved her chastity." Genest goes on to remark, with delicious _naïveté_, "Mrs. Bracegirdle was perhaps a woman of a cold constitution." Her retirement from the stage when not much over thirty is accounted for by Curll, by a story of a competition between her and Mrs. Oldfield in the part of Mrs. Brittle in "The Amorous Widow," in which the latter was the more applauded. He says that they played the part on two successive nights; but I have carefully examined Dr. Burney's MSS. in the British Museum for the season 1706-7, and "The Amorous Widow" was certainly not played twice successively. I doubt the story altogether. That Mrs. Bracegirdle retired because Mrs. Oldfield was excelling her in popular estimation is most likely, but I can find no confirmation whatever for Curll's story. "The Laureat," p. 36, attributes her retirement to Mrs. Oldfield's being "preferr'd to some Parts before her, by our very _Apologist_"; but though the reason thus given is probably accurate, the person blamed is as probably guiltless; for I do not think Cibber could have sufficient authority to distribute parts in 1706-7. Mrs. Bracegirdle died September, 1748, but was dead to the stage from 1709. Cibber's remark on p. 99 had therefore no reference to her.]

[Footnote 198: Cibber writes here with feeling; for, after his "Nonjuror" abused the Jacobites and Nonjurors, that party took every opportunity of revenging themselves on him by maltreating his plays.]

[Footnote 199: See _ante_, p. 63, for an allusion to this passage by Fielding in "The Champion."]

[Footnote 200: Æneid, i. 630.]

[Footnote 201: This is a curious statement, and has never, so far as I know, been commented on; the cause of Cibber's retirement having always been considered mysterious. I suppose this reference to ill-treatment must be held as confirming Davies's statement that the public lost patience at Cibber's continually playing tragic parts, and fairly hissed him off the stage. Davies ("Dram. Misc.," iii. 471) relates the following incident: "When Thomson's Sophonisba was read to the actors, Cibber laid his hand upon Scipio, a character, which, though it appears only in the last act, is of great dignity and importance. For two nights successively, Cibber was as much exploded as any bad actor could be. Williams, by desire of Wilks, made himself master of the part; but he, marching slowly, in great military distinction, from the upper part of the stage, and wearing the same dress as Cibber, was mistaken for him, and met with repeated hisses, joined to the music of cat-cals; but, as soon as the audience were undeceived, they converted their groans and hisses to loud and long continued applause."]

[Footnote 202: Cibber retired in May, 1733. The reappearance he refers to was not that he made in 1738, as Bellchambers states. He no doubt alludes to his performances in 1734-35, when he played Bayes, Lord Foppington, Sir John Brute, and other comedy parts. On the nights he played, the compliment was paid him of putting no name in the bill but his own.]

[Footnote 203: The original holders of the Patents, Sir William Davenant and Thomas Killigrew, were dead in 1690; and their successors, Alexander Davenant, to whom Charles Davenant had assigned his interest, and Charles Killigrew, seem to have taken little active interest in the management; for Christopher Rich, who acquired Davenant's share in 1691, seems at once to have become managing proprietor.]