[317] Juvenal, i. 73.

[318] Mr. Dobson ("Fielding," page 67) says: "He [Cibber] called him, either in allusion to his stature, or his pseudonym in the Champion, a 'Herculean Satyrist,' a 'Drawcansir in Wit.'"

[319] Fielding's political satires, in such pieces as "Pasquin" and "The Historical Register for 1736," contributed largely to the passing of the Act of 1737, although "The Golden Rump" was the ostensible cause.

[320] Fielding, in the "Champion" for Tuesday, April 22nd, 1740, says of Cibber's refusal to quote from "Pasquin"—"the good Parent seems to imagine that he hath produced, as well as my Lord Clarendon, a [Greek: Ktêma es aei]; for he refuses to quote anything out of Pasquin, lest he should give it a chance of being remembered."

Mr. Dobson ("Fielding," page 69) says Fielding "never seems to have wholly forgotten his animosity to the actor, to whom there are frequent references in Joseph Andrews; and, as late as 1749, he is still found harping on 'the withered laurel' in a letter to Lyttelton. Even in his last work, the Voyage to Lisbon, Cibber's name is mentioned. The origin of this protracted feud is obscure; but, apart from want of sympathy, it must probably be sought for in some early misunderstanding between the two in their capacities of manager and author."

[321] By Lord Chesterfield.

[322] Horace, Ars Poetica, 180.

[323] Guiscard's attack on Harley occurred in 1711.

[324] Genest (iii. 521) remarks, "If the power of the Licenser had been laid under proper regulations, all would have been right." The whole objection to the Licenser is simply that he is under no regulations whatever. He is a perfectly irresponsible authority, and one from whose decisions there is no appeal.

[325] Cibber received three thousand guineas from Highmore for his share in the Patent (See Victor's "History," i. 8).

[326] "The Laureat," page 72: "Indeed, Laureat, notwithstanding what thou may'st dream of the Immortality of this Work of thine, and bestowing the same on thy Favourites by recording them here; thou mayst, old as thou art, live to see thy precious Labours become the vile Wrappers of Pastry-Grocers and Chandlery Wares." The issue of the present edition of Cibber's "Apology" is sufficient commentary on "The Laureat's" ill-natured prophecy.

[327] Cibber prints 1684, repeating his former blunder. (See p. 96.)

[328] The first play acted by the United Company was "Hamlet." In this Estcourt is cast for the Gravedigger, so that if Cibber's anecdote is accurate, as no doubt it is, Estcourt must have "doubled" the Gravedigger and the speaker of the Prologue.

[329] The first edition reads "1708," and in the next chapter Cibber says 1708. In point of fact, the first performance by the United Company took place 15th January, 1708. This does not make Estcourt's "gag" incorrect, for though we now should not consider May, 1707, and the following January in the same year, yet up to 1752, when the style was changed in England, they were so.

[330] Southerne's "Oroonoko" was produced at Drury Lane in 1696.

[331] Of Horden we know little more than Cibber tells us. He seems to have been on the stage only for a year or two; and during 1696 only, at Drury Lane, does his name appear to important parts. Davies ("Dram. Misc.," iii. 443) says Horden "was bred a Scholar: he complimented George Powell, in a Latin encomium on his Treacherous Brothers."

"The London News-Letter," 20th May, 1696, says: "On Monday Capt. Burges who kill'd Mr. Fane, and was found guilty of Manslaughter at the Old Baily, kill'd Mr. Harding a Comedian in a Quarrel at the Rose Tavern in Hatton [should be Covent] Garden, and is taken into custody."

In "Luttrell's Diary," on Tuesday, 19th May, 1696, is noted: "Captain Burgesse, convicted last sessions of manslaughter for killing Mr. Fane, is committed to the Gatehouse for killing Mr. Horden, of the Playhouse, last night in Covent Garden."

And on Tuesday, 30th November, 1697, "Captain Burgesse, who killed Mr. Horden the player, has obtained his majesties pardon."

[332] This tavern seems to have been very near Drury Lane Theatre, and to have been a favourite place of resort after the play. In the Epilogue to the "Constant Couple" the Rose Tavern is mentioned:—

In the "Comparison between the two Stages" one scene is laid in the Rose Tavern, and from it we gather that the house was of a very bad character:—

"Ramb. Defend us! what a hurry of Sin is in this House!

Sull. Drunkenness, which is the proper Iniquity of a Tavern, is here the most excusable Sin; so many other Sins over-run it, 'tis hardly seen in the crowd....

Sull. This House is the very Camp of Sin; the Devil sets up his black Standard in the Faces of these hungry Harlots, and to enter into their Trenches is going down to the Bottomless Pit according to the letter."—Comp., p. 140.

Pepys mentions the Rose more than once. On 18th May, 1668, the first day of Sedley's play, "The Mulberry Garden," the diarist, having secured his place in the pit, and feeling hungry, "did slip out, getting a boy to keep my place; and to the Rose Tavern, and there got half a breast of mutton, off the spit, and dined all alone. And so to the play again."

[333] Cibber's chronology cannot be reconciled with what we believe to be facts. Horden was killed in 1696; Wilks seems to have come to England not earlier than the end of 1698, while it is, I should say, certain that Estcourt did not appear before 1704. I can only suppose that Cibber, who is very reckless in his dates, is here particularly confused.

[334] For Leigh's playing of this character, see ante, p. 145.

[335] Curll, in his "Life of Mrs. Oldfield," says that the only part she played, previous to appearing as Alinda, was Candiope in "Secret Love." She played Alinda in 1700.

[336] In 1702, Gildon, in the "Comparison between the two Stages" (p. 200), includes Mrs. Oldfield among the "meer Rubbish that ought to be swept off the Stage with the Filth and Dust."

[337] "Miff," a colloquial expression signifying "a slight degree of resentment."

[338] Cibber is pleasantly candid in allowing that he had no share in Mrs. Oldfield's success. The temptation to assume some credit for teaching her something must have been great.

[339] Mrs. Anne Oldfield, born about 1683, was introduced to Vanbrugh by Farquhar, who accidentally heard her reading aloud, and was struck by her dramatic style. Cibber gives so full an account of her that it is only necessary to add that she made her last appearance on 28th April, 1730, at Drury Lane, and that she died on the 23rd October in the same year. It was of Mrs. Oldfield that Pope wrote the often-quoted lines ("Moral Essays," Epistle I., Part iii.):—

I may note that, though Cibber enlarges chiefly on her comedy acting, she acted many parts in tragedy with the greatest success.

[340] Produced 7th December, 1704, at Drury Lane.

"The Careless Husband"
Lord Morelove	Mr. Powel.
Lord Foppington	Mr. Cibber.
Sir Charles Easy	Mr. Wilks.
Lady Betty Modish	Mrs. Oldfield.
Lady Easy	Mrs. Knight.
Lady Graveairs	Mrs. Moore.
Mrs. Edging	Mrs. Lucas.

[341] Mrs. Oldfield played Lady Townly in the "Provoked Husband," 10th January, 1728. I presume that Cibber means that this was her last important original part, for she was the original representative of Sophonisba (by James Thomson) and other characters after January, 1728.

[342]

"The Provoked Husband"
Lord Townly	Mr. Wilks.
Lady Townly	Mrs. Oldfield.
Lady Grace	Mrs. Porter.
Mr. Manley	Mr. Mills, sen.
Sir Francis Wronghead	Mr. Cibber, Sen.
Lady Wronghead	Mrs. Thurmond.
Squire Richard	Young Wetherelt.
Miss Jenny	Mrs. Cibber.
John Moody	Mr. Miller.
Count Basset	Mr. Bridgewater.
Mrs. Motherly	Mrs. Moore.
Myrtilla	Mrs. Grace.
Mrs. Trusty	Mrs. Mills.

Vanbrugh left behind him nearly four acts of a play entitled "A Journey to London," which Cibber completed, calling the finished work "The Provoked Husband." It was produced at Drury Lane on 10th January, 1728.

[343]

[344] "The Laureat," p. 57: "But I can see no Occasion you have to mention any Errors. She had fewer as an Actress than any; and neither you, nor I, have any Right to enquire into her Conduct any where else."

[345] The following is the passage referred to:—

"But there is no doing right to Mrs. Oldfield, without putting people in mind of what others, of great merit, have wanted to come near her—'Tis not enough to say, she here outdid her usual excellence. I might therefore justly leave her to the constant admiration of those spectators who have the pleasure of living while she is an actress. But as this is not the only time she has been the life of what I have given the public, so, perhaps, my saying a little more of so memorable an actress, may give this play a chance to be read when the people of this age shall be ancestors—May it therefore give emulation to our successors of the stage, to know, that to the ending of the year 1727, a cotemporary comedian relates, that Mrs. Oldfield was then in her highest excellence of action, happy in all the rarely found requisites that meet in one person to complete them for the stage. She was in stature just rising to that height, where the graceful can only begin to show itself; of a lively aspect, and a command in her mien, that like the principal figure in the finest painting, first seizes, and longest delights, the eye of the spectators. Her voice was sweet, strong, piercing, and melodious; her pronunciation voluble, distinct, and musical; and her emphasis always placed, where the spirit of the sense, in her periods, only demanded it. If she delighted more in the higher comic, than in the tragic strain, 'twas because the last is too often written in a lofty disregard of nature. But in characters of modern practised life, she found occasion to add the particular air and manner which distinguished the different humours she presented; whereas, in tragedy, the manner of speaking varies as little as the blank verse it is written in.—She had one peculiar happiness from nature, she looked and maintained the agreeable, at a time when other fine women only raise admirers by their understanding—The spectator was always as much informed by her eyes as her elocution; for the look is the only proof that an actor rightly conceives what he utters, there being scarce an instance, where the eyes do their part, that the elocution is known to be faulty. The qualities she had acquired, were the genteel and the elegant; the one in her air, and the other in her dress, never had her equal on the stage; and the ornaments she herself provided (particularly in this play) seemed in all respects the paraphernalia of a woman of quality. And of that sort were the characters she chiefly excelled in; but her natural good sense, and lively turn of conversation, made her way so easy to ladies of the highest rank, that it is a less wonder if, on the stage, she sometimes was, what might have become the finest woman in real life to have supported." [Bell's edition.]

[346] Mr. Julian Marshall, in his "Annals of Tennis," p. 34, describes the two different sorts of tennis courts—"that which was called Le Quarré, or the Square; and the other with the dedans, which is almost the same as that of the present day." Cibber is thus correct in mentioning that the court was one of the lesser sort.

[347] Interesting confirmation of Cibber's statement is furnished by an edict of the Lord Chamberlain, dated 11th November, 1700, by which Betterton is ordered "to take upon him y^e sole management" of the Lincoln's Inn Fields company, there having been great disorders, "for want of sufficient authority to keep them to their duty." See David Craufurd's Preface to "Courtship à la Mode" (1700), for an account of the disorganized state of the Lincoln's Inn Fields Company. He says that though Betterton did his best, some of the actors neither learned their parts nor attended rehearsals; and he therefore withdrew his comedy and took it to Drury Lane, where it was promptly produced.

[348] Mons. Castil-Blaze, in his "La Danse et les Ballets," 1832, p. 153, writes: "Ballon danse avec énergie et vivacité; mademoiselle de Subligny se fait généralement admirer pour sa danse noble et gracieuse." Madlle. Subligny was one of the first women who were dancers by profession. "La demoiselle Subligny parut peu de temps après la demoiselle Fontaine [1681], et fut aussi fort applaudie pour sa danse; mais elle quitta le théâtre, en 1705, et mourut après l'année 1736."—"Histoire de l'Opéra." Of Mons. L'Abbé I have been unable to discover any critical notice.

[349] Downes ("Roscius Anglicanus," p. 46) says: "In the space of Ten Years past, Mr. Betterton to gratify the desires and Fancies of the Nobility and Gentry; procur'd from Abroad the best Dances and Singers, as Monsieur L'Abbe, Madam Sublini, Monsieur Balon, Margarita Delpine, Maria Gallia and divers others; who being Exhorbitantly Expensive, produc'd small Profit to him and his Company, but vast Gain to themselves."

Gildon, in the "Comparison between the two Stages," alludes to some of these dancers:—

"Sull. The Town ran mad to see him [Balon], and the prizes were rais'd to an extravagant degree to bear the extravagant rate they allow'd him" (p. 49).

"Crit. There's another Toy now [Madame Subligny]—Gad, there's not a Year but some surprizing Monster lands: I wonder they don't first show her at Fleet-bridge with an old Drum and a crackt Trumpet" (p. 67).

[350] In the Prologue to "The Ambitious Stepmother," produced at Lincoln's Inn Fields in 1701 (probably), Rowe writes:—

And in the Epilogue (not Prologue, as Cibber says):—

[351] In "The Constant Couple," and its sequel, "Sir Harry Wildair."

[352] This theatre, opened 9th April, 1705, was burnt down 17th June, 1788; rebuilt 1791; again burnt in 1867. During its existence it has borne the name of Queen's Theatre, Opera House, King's Theatre, and its present title of Her Majesty's Theatre.

[353] The beautiful Lady Sunderland. Mr. Percy Fitzgerald ("New History," i. 238) states that it was said that workmen, on 19th March, 1825, found a stone with the inscription: "April 18th, 1704. This corner-stone of the Queen's Theatre was laid by his Grace Charles Duke of Somerset."

[354] Should be 1705. Downes (p. 47) says: "About the end of 1704, Mr. Betterton Assign'd his License, and his whole Company over to Captain Vantbrugg to Act under HIS, at the Theatre in the Hay Market." Vanbrugh opened his theatre on 9th April, 1705.

[355] In Dryden's Prologue at the opening of Drury Lane in 1674, in comparing the situation of Drury Lane with that of Dorset Garden, which was at the east end of Fleet Street, he talks of

This is now the Strand and Fleet Street! No doubt the road westward to the Haymarket was equally wild.

[356] This experiment was never tried. From the time Cibber wrote, the house was used as an Opera House.

[357]

[358] Salvini, the great Italian actor, played in America with an English company, he speaking in Italian, they answering in English: I have myself seen a similar polyglot performance at the Edinburgh Lyceum Theatre, where the manager, Mr. J. B. Howard, acted Iago (in English), while Signor Salvini and his company played in Italian. I confess the effect was not so startling as I expected.

[359] "The Confederacy" was not produced till the following season—30th October, 1705.

[360] It was acted ten times.

[361] Genest (ii. 333) says that Congreve resigned his share at the close of the season 1704-5.

[362] Cibber should have said "The Confederacy." "The Cuckold in Conceit" has never been printed, and Genest doubts if it is by Vanbrugh. Besides, it was not produced till 22nd March, 1707.

[363] "The Mistake" was produced 27th December, 1705. "Squire Trelooby," which was first played in 1704, was revived 28th January, 1706, with a new second act.

[364] A junction of the companies seems to have been talked of as early as 1701. In the Prologue to "The Unhappy Penitent" (1701), the lines occur:—

[365] In "The Post-Boy Rob'd of his Mail," p. 342, some curious particulars of the negotiations for a Union are given. One of Rich's objections to it is that he has to consider the interests of his Partners, with some of whom he has already been compelled to go to law on monetary questions.

[366] In July, 1705, Rich was approached on behalf of Vanbrugh regarding a Union, and the Lord Chamberlain supported the latter's proposal. Rich, in declining, wrote: "I am concern'd with above forty Persons in number, either as Adventurers under the two Patents granted to Sir William Davenant, and Tho. Killigrew, Esq.; or as Renters of Covent-Garden and Dorset-Garden Theatres.... I am a purchaser under the Patents, to above the value of two Thousand Pounds (a great part of which was under the Marriage-Settlements of Dr. Davenant)."—"The Post-Boy Rob'd of his Mail," p. 344.

[367] Owen Swiney, or Mac Swiney, was an Irishman. As is related by Cibber in this and following chapters, he leased the Haymarket from Vanbrugh from the beginning of the season 1706-7. At the Union, 1707-8, the Haymarket was made over to him for the production of operas; and when, at the end of 1708-9, Rich was ordered to silence his company at Drury Lane, Swiney was allowed to engage the chief of Rich's actors to play at the Haymarket, where they opened September, 1709. At the beginning of season 1710-11, Swiney and his partners became managers of Drury Lane, but Swiney was forced at the end of that season to resume the management of the operas. After a year of the Opera-house (end of 1711-12), Swiney was ruined and had to go abroad. He remained abroad some twenty years. On 26th February, 1735, he had a benefit at Drury Lane, at which Cibber played for his old friend. The "Biographia Dramatica" says that he received a place in the Custom House, and was made Keeper of the King's Mews. He died 2nd October, 1754, leaving his property to Mrs. Woffington. Davies, in his "Dramatic Miscellanies" (i. 232), tells an idle tale of a scuffle between Swiney and Mrs. Clive's brother, which Bellchambers quotes at length, though it has no special reference to anything.

[368] At Drury Lane this season (1706-7) very few plays were acted, Rich relying chiefly on operas.

[369] Cibber seems to be wrong in including Estcourt in this list. His name appears in the Drury Lane bills for 1706-7, and his great part of Sergeant Kite ("Recruiting Officer") was played at the Haymarket by Pack. On 30th November, 1706, it was advertised that "the true Sergeant Kite is performed at Drury Lane."

[370] See memoir of Theophilus Keen at end of second volume.

[371] Downes (p. 50) gives the following account of the transaction:—

"In this Interval Captain Vantbrugg by Agreement with Mr. Swinny, and by the Concurrence of my Lord Chamberlain, Transferr'd and Invested his License and Government of the Theatre to Mr. Swinny; who brought with him from Mr. Rich, Mr. Wilks, Mr. Cyber, Mr. Mills, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Keene, Mr. Norris, Mr. Fairbank, Mrs. Oldfield and others; United them to the Old Company; Mr. Betterton and Mr. Underhill, being the only remains of the Duke of York's Servants, from 1662, till the Union in October 1706."

[372] The chief actors left at Drury Lane were Estcourt, Pinkethman, Powell, Capt. Griffin, Mrs. Tofts, Mrs. Mountfort (that is, the great Mrs. Mountfort's daughter), and Mrs. Cross: a miserably weak company.

[373] Swiney's company began to act at the Haymarket on 15th October, 1706. Cibber's first appearance seems to have been on 7th November, when he played Lord Foppington in "The Careless Husband."