ON DRAMATIC CRITICS
(Addison in the "Spectator")
No. 592. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 1714.
"—Studium sine divite veni."
HOR. ARS POET. 409.
"Art without a vein."
ROSCOMMON.
I look upon the playhouse as a world within itself. They have lately furnished the middle region of it with a new set of meteors, in order to give the sublime to many modern tragedies. I was there last winter at the first rehearsal of the new thunder,[A] which is much more deep and sonorous than any hitherto made use of. They have a Salmonus behind the scenes who plays it off with great success. Their lightnings are made to flash more briskly than heretofore; their clouds are also better furbelowed, and more voluminous; not to mention a violent storm locked up in a great chest, that is designed for the "Tempest." They are also provided with above a dozen showers of snow, which, as I am informed, are the plays of many unsuccessful poets artificially cut and shredded for that use. Mr. Rymer's "Edgar" is to fall in snow, at the next acting of "King Lear," in order to heighten, or rather to alleviate, the distress of that unfortunate prince; and to serve by way of decoration to a piece which that great critic has written against.
[Footnote A: Mr. Dennis's new and approved method of making thunder. Dennis had contrived this thunder for the advantage of his tragedy of "Appius and Virginia"; the players highly approved of it, and it is the same that is used at the present day. Notwithstanding the effect of this thunder, however, the play was coldy received, and laid aside. Some nights after, Dennis being in the pit at the representation of "Macbeth," and hearing the thunder made use of, arose from his seat in a violent passion, exclaiming with an oath, that that was his thunder. "See (said he) how these rascals use me: they will not let my play run, and yet they steal my thunder."—"Notes on the Spectator."]
I do not indeed wonder that the actors should be such professed enemies to those among our nation who are commonly known by the name of critics, since it is a rule among these gentlemen to fall upon a play, not because it is ill written, but because it takes. Several of them lay it down as a maxim, that whatever dramatic performance has a long run, must of necessity be good for nothing; as though the first precept in poetry were "not to please." Whether this rule holds good or not, I shall leave to the determination of those who are better judges than myself; if it does, I am sure it tends very much to the honour of those gentlemen who have established it; few of their pieces having been disgraced by a run of three days, and most of them being so exquisitely written, that the town would never give them more than one night's hearing.
I have great esteem for a true critic, such as Aristotle and Longinus among the Greeks; Horace and Quintilian among the Romans; Boileau and Dacier among the French. But it is our misfortune, that some, who set up for professed critics among us, are so stupid, that they do not know how to put ten words together with elegance or common propriety; and withal so illiterate, that they have no taste of the learned languages, and therefore criticise upon old authors only at second hand. They judge of them by what others have written, and not by any notions they have of the authors themselves. The words unity, action, sentiment and diction, pronounced with an air of authority, give them a figure among unlearned readers, who are apt to believe they are very deep because they are unintelligible. The ancient critics are full of the praises of their contemporaries; they discover beauties which escaped the observation of the vulgar, and very often find out reasons for palliating and excusing such little slips and oversights as were committed in the writings of eminent authors. On the contrary, most of the smatterers in criticism, who appear among us, make it their business to vilify and depreciate every new production that gains applause, to descry imaginary blemishes, and to prove, by farfetched arguments, that what pass for beauties in any celebrated piece are faults and errors. In short, the writings of these critics, compared with those of the ancients, are like the works of the sophists compared with those of the old philosophers.
Envy and cavil are the natural fruits of laziness and ignorance; which was probably the reason that in the heathen mythology Momus is said to be the son of Nox and Somnus, of darkness and sleep. Idle men, who have not been at the pains to accomplish or distinguish themselves, are very apt to detract from others; as ignorant men are very subject to decry those beauties in a celebrated work which they have not eyes to discover. Many of our sons of Momus, who dignify themselves by the name of critics, are the genuine descendants of these two illustrious ancestors. They are often led into these numerous absurdities in which they daily instruct the people, by not considering that, first, there is sometimes a greater judgment shown in deviating from the rules of art than in adhering to them; and, secondly, that there is more beauty in the works of a great genius, who is ignorant of all the rules of art, than in the works of a little genius, who not only knows but scrupulously observes them.
First, we may often take notice of men who are perfectly acquainted with all the rules of good writing, and notwithstanding choose to depart from them on extraordinary occasions. I could give instances out of all the tragic writers of antiquity who have shown their judgment in this particular; and purposely receded from an established rule of the drama, when it has made way for a much higher beauty than the observation of such a rule would have been. Those who have surveyed the noblest pieces of architecture and statuary, both ancient and modern, know very well that there are frequent deviations from art in the works of the greatest masters, which have produced a much nobler effect than a more accurate and exact way of proceeding could have done. This often arises from what the Italians call the gusto grande in these arts, which is what we call the sublime in writing.
In the next place, our critics do not seem sensible that there is more beauty in the works of a great genius, who is ignorant of the rules of art, than in those of a little genius who knows and observes them. It is of those men of genius that Terrence speaks in opposition to the little artificial cavillers of his time:
"Quorum aemulari expotat negligentiam
Potius quam istorum obscuram diligentiam."
AND. PROL. 20.
"Whose negligence he would rather imitate, than these men's obscure diligence."
A critic may have the same consolation in the ill success of his play as Dr. South tells us a physician has at the death of a patient, that he was killed secundum artem. Our inimitable Shakespeare is a stumbling-block to the whole tribe of these rigid critics. Who would not rather read one of his plays, where there is not a single rule of the stage observed, than any production of a modern critic where there is not one of them violated![A] Shakespeare was indeed born with all the seeds of poetry, and may be compared to the stone in Pyrrhus's ring, which, as Pliny tells us, had the figure of Apollo and the nine Muses in the veins of it, produced by the spontaneous hand of Nature without any help from art.
[Footnote A: With all his fondness for classic models, Addison breaks away from conventionality of form in this essay, and pays his tribute to the genius of Shakespeare. But critical Joe could never forget the bard's so-called "faults" of construction.]
THEATRICAL PROPERTY
(Steele in "The Tatler," No. 42)
It is now twelve of the clock at noon, and no mail come in; therefore I am not without hopes that the town will allow me the liberty which my brother news-writers take in giving them what may be for information in another kind, and indulge me in doing an act of friendship, by publishing the following account of goods and moveables.
This is to give notice, that a magnificent palace, with great variety of gardens, statues, and water works, may be bought cheap in Drury-lane; where there are likewise several castles, to be disposed of, very delightfully situated; as also groves, woods, forests, fountains, and country-seats, with very pleasant prospects on all sides of them; being the moveables of Christopher Rich, Esquire,[A] who is breaking up house-keeping, and has many curious pieces of furniture to dispose of, which may be seen between the hours of six and ten in the evening.
[Footnote A: This essay was written (July, 1709) at the time that
Drury Lane was closed, by order of the Lord Chamberlain.]
THE INVENTORY.
Spirits of right Nantz brandy, for lambent flames and apparitions.
Three bottles and a half of lightning.
One shower of snow in the whitest French paper.
Two showers of a browner sort.
A sea, consisting of a dozen large waves; the tenth bigger than ordinary, and a little damaged.
A dozen and a half of clouds, trimmed with black, and well conditioned.
A rainbow, a little faded.
A set of clouds after the French mode, streaked with lightning and furbelowed.
A new moon, something decayed.
A pint of the finest Spanish wash, being all that is left of two hogsheads sent over last winter.
A coach very finely gilt, and little used, with a pair of dragons, to be sold cheap.
A setting-sun, a pennyworth.
An imperial mantle, made for Cyrus the Great, and worn by Julius
Caesar, Bajazet, King Harry the Eighth, and Signor Valentini.
A basket-hilted sword, very convenient to carry milk in.
Roxana's night-gown.
Othello's handkerchief.
The imperial robes of Xerxes, never worn but once.
A wild boar killed by Mrs. Tofts[A] and Dioclesian.
[Footnote A: A favourite singer of the day.]
A serpent to sting Cleopatra.
A mustard-bowl to make thunder with.
Another of a bigger sort, by Mr. D——'s[A] directions, little used.
[Footnote A: John Dennis, the critic.]
Six elbow-chairs, very expert in country dances, with six flower-pots for their partners.
The whiskers of a Turkish Pasha.
The complexion of a murderer in a band-box; consisting of a large piece of burnt cork, and a coal-black peruke.
A suit of clothes for a ghost, viz., a bloody shirt, a doublet curiously pinked, and a coat with three great eyelet-holes upon the breast.
A bale of red Spanish wool.
Modern plots, commonly known by the name of trapdoors, ladders of ropes, vizard-masques, and tables with broad carpets over them.
Three oak-cudgels, with one of crab-tree; all bought for the use of
Mr. Pinkethman.[A]
[Footnote A: The comedian.]
Materials for dancing; as masques, castanets, and a ladder of ten rounds.
Aurengezebe's scymitar, made by Will Brown in Piccadilly.
A plume of feathers, never used but by Oedipus and the Earl of Essex.
There are also swords, halbards, sheep-hooks, cardinals' hats, turbans, drums, gallipots, a gibbet, a cradle, a rack, a cart-wheel, an altar, an helmet, a back-piece, a breast-plate, a bell, a tub, and a jointed baby.
ACTORS AND AUDIENCE.
(From Cibber's "Apology")
Among our many necessary reformations, what not a little preserved to us the regard of our auditors was the decency of our clear stage, from whence we had now for many years shut out those idle gentlemen who seemed more delighted to be pretty objects themselves than capable of any pleasure from the play; who took their daily stands where they might best elbow the actor, and come in for their share of the auditor's attention. In many a laboured scene of the wannest humour and of the most affecting passion I have seen the best actors disconcerted, while these buzzing muscatos have been fluttering round their eyes and ears. How was it possible an actor, so embarrassed, should keep his impatience from entering into that different temper which his personated character might require him to be master of?
Future actors may perhaps wish I would set this grievance in a stronger light; and, to say the truth, where auditors are ill-bred, it cannot well be expected that actors should be polite. Let me therefore show how far an artist in any science is apt to be hurt by any sort of inattention to his performance.
While the famous Corelli,[A] at Rome, was playing some musical composition of his own to a select company in the private apartment of his patron-Cardinal, he observed, in the heighth of his harmony, his Eminence was engaging in a detached conversation, upon which he suddenly stopt short and gently laid down his instrument. The Cardinal, surprised at the unexpected cessation, asked him if a string was broke? To which Corelli, in an honest conscience of what was due to his musick, reply'd, "No, Sir, I was only afraid I enterrupted business." His Eminence, who knew that a genius could never shew itself to advantage where it had not its regards, took this reproof in good part, and broke off his conversation to hear the whole concerto played over again.
[Footnote A: Arcangelo Corelli, the "father of modern instrumental music."]
Another story will let us see what effect a mistaken offence of this kind had upon the French theatre, which was told me by a gentleman of the long robe, then at Paris, and who was himself the innocent author of it. At the tragedy of "Zaire," while the celebrated Mademoiselle Gossin[A] was delivering a soliloquy, this gentleman was seized with a sudden fit of coughing, which gave the actress some surprise and interruption; and his fit increasing, she was forced to stand silent so long that it drew the eyes of the uneasy audience upon him, when a French gentleman, leaning forward to him, asked him, If this actress had given him any particular offence, that he took so publick an occasion to resent it? The English gentleman, in the utmost surprise, assured him, So far from it, that he was a particular admirer of her performance; that his malady was his real misfortune, and if he apprehended any return of it, he would rather quit his seat than disoblige either the actress or the audience.
[Footnote A: Jeanne, Catherine Gossin, of the Comédie Française.]
This publick decency in their theatre I have myself seen carried so far that a gentleman in their second Loge, or middle-gallery, being observed to sit forward himself while a lady sate behind him, a loud number of voices called out to him from the pit, "Place à la Dame! Place à la Dame!" When the person so offending, either not apprehending the meaning of the clamour, or possibly being some John Trott who feared no man alive, the noise was continued for several minutes; nor were the actors, though ready on the stage, suffered to begin the play till this unbred person was laughed out of his seat, and had placed the lady before him.
Whether this politeness observed at plays may be owing to their clime, their complexion, or their government, is of no great consequence; but if it is to be acquired, methinks it is a pity our accomplished countrymen, who every year import so much of this nation's gawdy garniture, should not, in this long course of our commerce with them, have brought over a little of their theatrical good-breeding too.
INDEX
Abington, Mrs.
Actors and audience, Colley Cibber on
Addison, Joseph
his "Cato"
Anne, Queen
Anne's reign, Life in Queen
Ashbury, Joseph
Ashton's "Reign of Queen Anne"
Aston, Tony
Attorneys of Queen Anne's day
Baggs, Zachary
Baker of Dublin
Barry, Spranger,
Mrs. Spranger
Barry, Mrs. Elizabeth
Bartholomew Fair
Bath life
"Beaux' Stratagem," Farquhar's
Bellchambers, Edmund
Bertie, Miss Dye
Betterton, Thomas
Blackmore, Dr. (Sir Richard)
Boileau
Bolingbroke, Lord
Booth, Barton
Mrs. Barton
see also Santlow
Boswell, James
Bowman, an actor
Bracegirdle, Anne
Bradshaw, Mrs.
Brett, Colonel
Miss Anne
Broschi, Carlo (Farinelli)
Budgell, Eustace
Bullock, an actor
Burney, Dr.
"Busiris," Young's
Cadogan, Charles Sloane, 1st Earl
Campbell, Thomas
"Careless Husband," Cibber's
Cat, Christopher
Cat-calls
"Cato," Addison's
Centlivre, Mrs.
her "Perplexed Lovers"
Centlivre, Mr.
Charles II., King
Chener, Mons.
Chetwood, W.R.
"Christian Hero, The," Steele's
Church and stage
Church music and the theatre
Churchill, General (Marlborough's nephew)
Churchill, Colonel (Oldfield's son)
Churchill, Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough
Churchill, Mary, Countess of Cadogan
Cibber, Caius Gabriel
Cibber, Colley
"Cibber, Apology for the Life of"
Cibber, Theophilus
Clive, Mrs.
Coffee-houses of Addison's day
Collier, William
Colman's "Random Records"
Congreve
Corelli, Arcangelo
Costumes, Stage
Courthorpe's "Addison"
Covent Garden Theatre
Craggs, Mr. Secretary
Crawley, the showman
Critics, Addison on dramatic
Crown, John
Cuzzoni, Francesca
Davenant, Alexander
Davies, T.
Defoe, Daniel
Delany, Mrs.
Dennis, John,
"Essay on the Operas"
Diction of the eighteenth century
"Distressed Mother, The," Philips'
Dod, Benjamin
Dogget, Thomas
Doran, Dr.
Dorset, Earl of
Dorset, Garden Theatre
Downes, the prompter
Drama and the Restoration
Dramatic critics (Addison)
Dramatic writings, old and new
Drury Lane Theatre
Drury Lane,
revolt of Betterton
another exodus
riot
Drury Lane, Company
Dryden
"Duke of York's Company"
D'Urfey's "Western Lass"
"Echoes of the Playhouse"
Elrington, Thomas
Epilogues, Comic (The Spectator)
Estcourt, Dick
Eugene, Prince
Evans, John
"Fair Quaker of Deal," Shadwell's
Farinelli
Farquhar, Capt. George
Faustina, Bordoni Hasse
Fielding, Henry
Fitzgerald, Percy
Fontaine, Monsieur de la
Foote, Samuel
"Funeral, or Grief à la Mode, The," Steele's
Funeral customs, old time
Gambling women
Garrick, David
Garth, Dr.
Genest, P.
George I., King
Gildon, Charles,
Gossin, Jeane Catherine
Gregory, Mr.
Griffith, Thomas
Gwyne, Nell
Habits of society
Halifax, Lord
Haymarket Theatre,
restricted to operas
"Hearts, The King of," Maynwaring's
Hendon, Heywoodhill
Henley, Mr.
Hertford, Countess of
Hill, Aaron
Horton, Mrs.
Howard, Bronson
Hoyt, Mr.
Hughes, Mr.
Hulet, Charles
Ibsen
"Inconstant, The," Farquhar's
Ingolsby, General
Italian opera
"Jane Shore," Rowe's
Jerusalem Chamber, Westminster
Johnson, Dr. Samuel
Johnstone, Drury Lane machinist
Jones, Henry Arthur
Jonson, Benjamin
Keen, Theophilus
Killigrew, Charles
"King's Company, The"
Kit-Cat Club
Knight, Mrs.
Knipp, Mrs.
Lambro, Miss
Lecouvreur, French actress
Leigh, Francis
Lincoln's Inn Field Theatre of 1695,
re-opened
"Lives of the Poets," Cibber's
Lorrain, Rev. Paul
Lowe, R.W.
Macclesfield, Anne, 1st Countess of
Macklin
"Make-up," Art of
Marlborough, see Churchill
Master of the Revels, office of
Maynwaring, Arthur,
Maynwaring, Mr. (Oldfield's son)
"Milk White Flag, A," Mr. Hoyt's
Mills, John
Misson's, Henre, "Memoirs"
Mist, Nathaniel
Mist's Weekly Journal
Mitford, M.R.
Mitre Tavern
Molière
Montagu, Captain
Morley's "Notes on The Spectator"
Mountford, Will
Mountford, Mrs., see Verbruggen
Mountford, Susan
Neal, Edmund, "Phaedra and Hippolitus"
"Non-Juror, The," Cibber's
Norris, an actor
Oldfield, Captain
Oldfield, Mrs.
Oldfield, Anne (Nance)
birth
meets Farquhar
introduced to Vanbrugh,
joins the stage
Bath début
first stage triumph
Cibber's "Careless Husband" her success
deportment
as Sylvia in Farquhar's "Recruiting Officer"
leaves Drury Lane for the Haymarket
supplants Mrs. Bracegirdle
salary at the Haymarket
—— and at Drury Lane
as Andromache in "Distressed Mother"
plays Marcia in "Cato"
meets Alexander Pope
tragic parts
rivals produce a riot, her triumph
as Jane Shore
adheres to Drury Lane
takes Sophonisba, praised by Thomson
meridian lustre
mistress of A. Maynwaring
personal attractions
accepts protection of Marlborough's nephew
received at Court
her natural children
ancestress of Earls of Cadogan
sympathy for Richard Savage
intercedes for his life
mourned by Savage
contemporaries
her equipage
sweetness and common sense
retains her bloom
captivating as Lady Townley
moved in polite circles
ill-health, dies in Lower Grosvenor Street
laid in State in the Jerusalem Chamber
interred in Westminster Abbey
Oldfield, Anne, elegy by Richard Savage
Opera, Italian
Operatic singers
Oxford and the drama
actors contribute to St. Mary's restoration fund
Page, Francis
Pepy's Diary
"Perplexed Lovers, The," Centlivre's
Philips, Ambrose
Players in Queen Anne's time
Pope, Alexander
Porter, Mistress
Powell, George
Prince George of Denmark
Pritchard, Sir William
"Provoked Husband, The," Vanbrugh and Cibber's
Radcliffe, Dr.
"Recruiting Officer, The," Farquhar's
Rich, Christopher
Rich, John
Rivers, Lord
Rogers, Mrs.
Rowe, Nicholas
Russell Court Chapel
Ryan, Lacy
Sandridge, Dean
Santlow, Hester
see also Booth, Mrs.
Saunders, Mistress
Savage, Richard
Schlegel, Augustus Wm.
"Scornful Lady, The"
Shadwell, Thomas
Sheridan, Richard Brinsley
Side-shows
"Sir Courtly Nice," Crown's
"Sir Thomas Overbury," Savage's
Skipworth, Sir Thomas
Smith, an actor
Spectator, The
Stage armies
Stanyan, T.
Steele, Sir Richard
Strolling players
Swift, Dean
Swiney, Owen
"Tamerlane," N. Rowe's
"Tartuffe," Molière's
Theatre and church
and playgoers
Theatrical dress
claptrap, Addison on
property, Sir R. Steele on
Theatricals began, Hour
Thomas, Augustus
Thomson's "Sophonisba"
Thurmond, John
Toasts
Toasting glasses
Tofts, Mrs.
Tonson, Jacob
Trumbull, Sir William
Vanbrugh, Sir John
Verbruggen, Mrs.
Voltaire
Voss, Mrs.
Walker, an actor
Walpole, Horace
Walpole, Sir Robert
Ward, Ned
Wig, cost of a full-bottomed
Wilks, Robert
William III., King
Williams, Joseph
Woffington, Peg
"Wonder, The," Mrs. Centlivre's
Woollen shrouds
Yates, Mistress
Young's, Dr., "Busiris"