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 Life and times o!,.M,,,f,iiSffiV,liii^^^^^^ 
 
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THE 
 
 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 OF THAT 
 
 Excellent and Renowned Actor 
 
 THOMAS BETTERTON, 
 
 Of the Bvkt's and United Companies, at the Theatres 
 in Portugal Street, Dorset Gardens, Drury Lane, &c., 
 
 DURING THE LATTER HALF OP THE SEVENTEENTH 
 CENTURY. 
 
 With such Notices of the Stage and English Histoey, 
 
 BEFOKE AND AB'TEK THE EeSTOKATION, AS SERVE 
 GENERALLY TO ILLUSTRATE THK SUBJECT, 
 
 BY THE 
 
 AUTHOR AND EDITOH 
 
 Of the Lives of " Jlrs. Abingdon,'' "James Qidn," 
 
 READER, ORANGE STREET, HOLBORN. 
 
 1888. 
 
35C. 
 
 A -4'?^'^^^^ 
 
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PREFACE. 
 
 No Life, properly so called, of that great actor, Thomas 
 Betterton, has yet been printed. 
 
 In 1710 was published a small book by one Gildon, called 
 a " Life of Betterton " ; — it is admitted however, by all who 
 have seen it, that it was nothing of the kind, but a sort of 
 "Ehapsody," and rambling reflections and supposed con- 
 versations with Mr. Betterton, upon plays, players, and 
 playing. 
 
 In 1741 was published, by the bookseller Curll, a small 
 work entitled " The History of the English Stage," (sent out 
 as written by Betterton himself), similar in size to the 
 above, and not only as deficient in biographical material, 
 but absurd and impossible in some of the few particulars 
 attempted of such a nature. 
 
 With the exception of some odd magazine articles, culled 
 chiefly from the foregoing, and repeating their mistakes, a 
 chapter now and then in volumes devoting sundry pages to 
 each of a number of actors, and carefully refraining from 
 anything in the way of tracing out the details of a life, and 
 occasional notices in accounts of old Plays, nothing more is 
 shewn in Dramatic Bibliography, or has been discovered 
 after a long and laborious search in the catalogue of the 
 library of the British Museum. 
 
PEBFACB. 
 
 Betterton was an actor of such renown, if he was not, as 
 some have said he was, the greatest of actors, and the times 
 he lived in, and the circumstances and experiences surround- 
 ing a player of that period, were so different to those of all 
 others, and consequently endowed with an unusual interest, 
 that this is to be regretted. 
 
 To supply this deficiency and want, is the object of the 
 present unpretentious volume. 
 
 It will of course be evident to all our readers that it is 
 utterly impossible to supply undeniable information upon a 
 good deal of that early history of which *he records have 
 been lost, and which is consequently involved in inextricable 
 confusion, no pains, however, have been spared in endeavour- 
 ing to clear up, as far as possible, matters which careful 
 research would throw light upon, and a number of errors 
 disfiguring several well-known and often consulted works 
 relating to the British Stage, have been corrected and 
 explained. 
 
 In addition, have been added in their proper placesj 
 several ancient documents, almost, if not quite unknown 
 to the present generation, which help us to understand the 
 actor's career, and also full extracts from the criticisms of 
 acknowledged high class reviewers. 
 
 The whole have been woven into what it is hoped may 
 fairly be termed a Life of Betterton, without any pretences 
 to absolute accuracy, or freedom from faults literary or 
 otherwise. 
 
THE LIFE OF THOMAS BETTERTON. 
 
 -:o:- 
 
 CHAPTEK I. 
 
 Celebrity of Betterton, opinions of old Oritioa— Birth and Parentage — 
 Tothill-Street, Westminster, past and present — Early life of Bet- 
 terton — Errors and defects of the Biographia Britannioa — Malone's 
 dogmatism — Choice of the Stage as a profession — Davenant's 
 theatre at Rutland-house — Puritan decrees against the stage — 
 Attack on the players by soldiers — Alexander Goffe the " Jackall " 
 — Subterfuges resorted to by the actors — Sir William Davenant's 
 adventures, starts his theatre, character of the first performance — 
 Davenant's bolder and more pronounced efforts — Number of 
 theatres iu London, Prynne's testimony, Pepys' Diary, the Boscius 
 Anglicanus — Restoration of King Charles 2nd, and granting of a 
 Patent to Davenaut— Articles of Agreement between Davenant, 
 Betterton and others — The Master of the Revels, extracts from his 
 office book — Attempt to control the players, struggle for the mas- 
 tery — The Patents granted to Davenant and Killigrew, recital of 
 — Opposition of Sir Henry Herbert, correspondence with the 
 actors, petitions to the King — Renewal of Davenant's Patent — Sir 
 Henry Herbert's defiance of the King — Action at Law, Herbert 
 and Thelwall v. Thomas Betterton, plaintiflf's statement — Dave- 
 nant petitions the King— End of the strife, success of Davenant- 
 and the others concerned with him. 
 
 TUDGING by the fragmentary notices of this actor occa- 
 sionally met with in works biographical and dramatic, 
 
 there cannot be the slightest doubt that his genius was of 
 
 E 2 
 
4 LIFE OF THOMAS BETTEETON. 
 
 a very high order indeed : writers and critics, some of them, 
 such as CoUey Gibber, men of acknowledged ability, in this 
 respect vying with each other in the production of panegyrics 
 setting forth his excellence. The " Biographia Britannioa" 
 describes him as the " most famous actor upon the stage, 
 who might be very justly styled the English Eosciu8"j 
 Davies calls him the " accomplished actor and respectable 
 man"; Barton Baker in his "Old Actors," calls him "this 
 noble Actor," and Gait in his " Lives of the Players " says 
 " He was not, at seventy, equal to what he had been at fifty, 
 but to the last he was without his equal ; and for many 
 years after his decease, his parts in Shakespear were con- 
 sidered as unsupplied." Pepys also in his diary has a number 
 of entries in which he expresses his unbounded admiration 
 of this actor, declaring him to be the best he had ever met 
 with, and Gildon, in his Preface to the " Life of Betterton," 
 a book most inappropiately named, as it was indeed no 
 " Life " at all, but as the Biographia Britannica puts it, a 
 " kind of rhapsody," says : — "As it was said of Brutus and 
 Cassius, that they were the last of the Eomans ; so may it 
 be said of Mr. Betterton, that he was the last of our 
 Tragedians. There being, therefore, so much due to his 
 memory from all lovers of the Stage ; I could not lay aside 
 my design of conveying his name with this discourse at 
 least to a little longer date, than nature has given his body. 
 Nor can I imagine than it can be looked on as injurious to 
 _our reputation, either as men of candour, figure or sense, to 
 express a concern for the loss of a man so excellent in an 
 art which is now expiring, and for which antiquity had so 
 peouhar a value ; since it is plain from the motto of this 
 book, that Cicero pleading the cause of the poet Archias tells 
 the Judge, a man of the first quality, that everybody was 
 
LIFE OP THOMAS BETTERTON. 5 
 
 concerned for tlie death of Roscius the Comedian ; or which 
 is more emphatic, says he, Who of us was of so brutish and 
 sour a temper as not to be moved, at the late death of 
 Eoaciua 1 Who though he died old, yet for the excellence 
 of his art, and beauty in performance, seemed as if he ought 
 to have been exempted entirely from death. 
 
 " Whether Mr. Betterton or Roscius made a just parallel or 
 not in their merits as actors, is difficult to know ; but thus 
 far it is certain, that let the excellence of the Roman be 
 never so great, that of the Britain was the greatest we had, 
 and though we shall find, that in Cicero's time the decorums 
 of the Stage were more exactly observed than in ours, yet 
 we may suppose Mr. Betterton in his own particular 
 performance, on a foot with Roscius, especially when we 
 consider that our Player excelled in both Comedy and 
 Tragedy, the Roman only in the former, as far as we can 
 discover." 
 
 Thomas Betterton, son of an under-cook of King Charles 
 the First's, was born in Tothill Street, Westminster, pro- 
 bably in the year 1635. Curll, the bookseller, in his " History 
 of the English Stage," published in 1741, says the year was 
 1637, but on the same page of his beck, writes : " I must 
 not here pass by Mr. Betterton's Loyalty and Courage; 
 who though but a mere stripling, went a volunteer into the 
 King's service as Mr. Hart, Mr. Smith, and Mr. Mohun, 
 had done before him. They were all four engaged at the 
 Battle of Edgehill in Warwickshire." A mere stripling was 
 Thomas Betterton ? Something less than that, Mr. Curll. 
 The battle of Edgehill was fought on the twenty third of 
 October, 1642, the stripling was therefore just five years old 
 at that date. This preposterous statement has been repeated 
 by other writers. Whincop, author of a " Compleat List of 
 
6 LIFE OP THOMAS BETTEETON. 
 
 all the Dramatic Poets, &c.," to the year 1747, says Better- 
 ton, was born in 1638, but the majority of writers agree in 
 giving 1635. 
 
 Materials for a life of this great actor are unfortunately 
 very scarce, and, to add to the difficulty, nearly everything 
 save what has just been mentioned, occurring previous to 
 his choice of the Stage as a profession, has been the subject 
 of dispute. The Biographia Britannica says, " There are 
 very few lives in which the dates and circumstances are 
 more difficult to be settled with tolerable certainty than 
 this, which probably arises from nothing so much as persons 
 affirming facts upon memory, in which they were liable to 
 be mistaken, and others committing them to writing without 
 discerning their mistakes. As for instance, Mr. Charles 
 Gildon tells iis, that at his decease he was seventy-five 
 years of age. Another author says that he was about 
 seventy, and a person who had reason to be better acquainted 
 with his history, assures us, that he was considerably 
 above that age. In all this we have nothing of certainty ; 
 but the late Mr. Southern who was very well acquainted .with 
 Mr. Betterton, when applied to upon this head, recollected 
 that on his last benefit Mr. Betterton declared he was in his 
 seventy-fifth year, if so, that fixes the time of his bii'th very 
 exactly." 
 
 TothiU, or Tuttle Street, as it was sometimes written, 
 the most ancient street in Westminster, was at one time a 
 region of some repute as the dwelling place of several noble- 
 men and gentlemen of the higher class, whose names are 
 well known in history, such as Lord Dudley, the Bishop of 
 Chester in 1488, Sir Andrew Dudley, Lord Dacre, Lord 
 Grey de Wilton, Sir George Carew, Edmund Burke, Sir 
 Henry Herbert, Master of the Revels, 1 644, and Southern 
 
LIFE OF THOMAS BETTERTON. 7 
 
 the dramatist. The name appears to be derived from 
 "toot," beacon, from the Welsh "twt," a rising, and was, no 
 doubt, given to this spot from the circumstance of there 
 being a beacon here, marking it as the highest spot in the 
 region of Westminster. Mr. Wykeham Archer thinks the 
 name was derived from " Teut," the chief divinity of the 
 Druids, be this as it may, how/ever, it is agreed on all hands 
 that in this street was born Thomas Betterton, the subject 
 of our present memoir. 
 
 Doran suggests that as far back as 1635, this street was 
 " on the decline, or one of King Charles's cooks could hardly 
 have had a home in it," with the dawn of 1700 however it 
 . decidedly began to go down, and some years afterwards was 
 almost entirely demolished ; the greater part of the northern 
 side is now occupied by the buildings of the Eoyal West- 
 minster Aquarium. 
 
 Very little seems to be known of the boyish years of 
 Betterton, except that he received in several schools the 
 rudiments of a tolerable education, and that he displayed a 
 great propensity for reading and study. This disposition 
 on his part suggested to his family his further education 
 and training for one of the learned professions, but the dis- 
 turbed state of the kingdom rendering this somewhat diffi- 
 cult, another and more readily attainable sphere of labour 
 had to be sought. 
 
 Here again, we find the biographers in opposition to each 
 other. That he was apprenticed to a bookseller, all are 
 agreed, but some, as Gildon, say it was to Mr. Ehodes at 
 the Bible at Charing Cross, where he had for his under 
 apprentice Mr. Kynaston, while others, with the Biographia 
 Britannica, insist that it was to Mr. John Holden, a person 
 in those days very famous, and much in the confidence of 
 
8 LIFE OP THOMAS BETTEETON. 
 
 Sir William Davenant. The B;:itannica says " It is affirmed 
 by Mr. Gildon that he was bound to Mr. Rhodes, a book- 
 seller, and that he was fellow apprentice with Mr. Kynaston, 
 but if Mr. Betterton might be allowed to know this fact 
 better than anybody else, he told the late Mr. Pope that he 
 was bound to Mr. Holden." Richardson's " Life of Milton " 
 (1734), p. 90, states that Betterton was "Prentice to a 
 Bookseller, John Holden, the same who printed Davenant's 
 Gondibert." It is admitted, however, that he might after- 
 wards have lived with Mr. Rhodes, a question, says the 
 Britannica, not easy to be answered at this distance of time 
 (1747), and when there are few people living to whom any 
 application could be made with any tolerable hopes of 
 receiving an answer with certainty. Unless this latter 
 solution of the question be admitted, that he lived wi+h 
 both Rhodes and Holden, the weight of evidence certainly 
 preponderates in favour of the former, who was at one time 
 wardrobe-keeper and prompter to the theatre in Blackfriars, 
 before the suppression of dramatic amusements. 
 
 Davies says, " The compilers of the Biographia Britannica, 
 a work which confers honour upon themselves and the 
 nation, have very assiduously laboured, to clear up the 
 obscurities in which the life of this eminent man is involved. 
 In a matter of great difficulty, and where so little authentic 
 information can be obtained, it is not surprising that a few 
 mistakes should escape the most inquisitive intelligence. I 
 shall endeavour to rectify some errors in that work, and to 
 throw light on certain facts which have, through length of 
 time, been somewhat darkened. I do not find, that, in the 
 article on Betterton, the writers of this valuable work have 
 made any use of Downes's Roscius Anglicanus ; and, though 
 it must be confessed that Dowuea is very confused and 
 
LIFE OF THOMAS BETTERTON. 9 
 
 inaccurate, yet, as he is almost the only -writer on the stage 
 for a long period, some valuable matter may, with curious 
 searching, be picked out of his pamphlet. His authority, 
 relating to the age of Better ton, must give place to the more 
 authentic testimony of Southern, adduced in the Biographia, 
 who, it seems, had his intelligence from the mouth of the 
 great actor himself. By this account he was born in 16.35, 
 though Downes places his birth three years later : and this 
 seems a little surprising, as the Eoscius Anglicanus was 
 published in the lifetime of Betterton, who must have 
 conversed with the author almost continually from 1662 to 
 1706, the date of his Narrative."— (ifwceZ^., 3, 228). 
 
 Why these writers should place &o much reliance in the 
 testimony of Southern in preference to that of all others, it 
 is difficult to say; they tell us that he was very well 
 acquainted with Mr. Betterton, and that his recollection of 
 the sayings and doings of the great actor was particularly 
 vivid ; but there is no reason why the evidence of Gildon, 
 Downes, and others who were also in frequent communica- 
 tion with Betterton, should not be regarded as of equal au- 
 thority. 
 
 Malone in his "Historical Account of the English Stage," 
 speaks somewhat dogmatically as follows : " Very inaccurate 
 accounts of this actor have been given in the Biographia 
 Britannica and several other works. It is observable that 
 biographical writers often give the world long dissertations 
 concerning facts and dates, when the fact contested might 
 at once be ascertained by visiting a neighbouring parish 
 church : and this has been particularly the case of Mr. Bet- 
 terton. He was the son of Matthew Betterton (under cook 
 to King Charles the First) and was baptized, as I learn, from 
 the register of St. Margaret's parish, August 11th, 1635. He 
 
10 LIFE OF THOMAS BETTEETON. 
 
 could not have appeared on the stage in 1656, as has been 
 asserted, no theatre being then allowed. His first appear- 
 ance was at the Cockpit, in Drury Lane, in Mr. Ehodes's 
 company, who played there by a licence in the year 1659, 
 when Betterton was twenty-four years of age." 
 
 The next, and perhaps still more difficult, question to de- 
 cide is in reference to the first appearance of Betterton 
 upon the stage, accounts differing as much upon this as upon 
 the year of his birth. One writer asserts that being appren- 
 tice to a bookseller, his visits to the play-house about his 
 master's business, suggested to him the choice of the stage 
 as a profession, Gildon, however, says " That whicb prepared 
 Mr. Betterton and his fellow prentice for the stage was, that 
 his master Ehodes having formerly been Wardrobe -keeper to 
 the King's company of comedians in the Blackfriars, on 
 General Monck's march to London, in 1659, with his Army, 
 got a Licence from the Powers then in being, to set up a 
 company of Players in the Cockpit in Drury Lane, and soon 
 made his company complete, his apprentice ■ Mr. Betterton 
 for Men's parts, and Mr. Kynaston for Women's parts, being 
 at the head of them. Mr. Betterton was now about twenty- 
 two years of age, when he got great applause by acting in 
 the Loyal Subject, the Wild Goose Chace, the Spanish 
 Curate, and many more. But while our young actor is thus 
 rising under his Master Rhodes, Sir William Davenant — get- 
 ting a Patent of King Charles the ,Second for erecting a 
 Company under the name of the Duke of York's Servants, — 
 took Mr. Betterton and all that acted under Mr. Rhodes, into 
 his Company." 
 
 There is evidently something wrong here, for if Betterton 
 at twenty-two years of age gained great applause for his 
 acting, he must have joined the stage in 1656 or 7, whereas 
 
LIFE OP THOMAS BETTEETON. 11 
 
 he is said to have joined in 1659. Probably 1656 is the real 
 time at which he first became an actor, soon after Sir Wil- 
 liam Davenant opened his theatre at Kutland-house, Charter- 
 house Yard, about the 21st or 23rd of JVTay, supported by 
 Lord Whitlocke, Sir John Maynard, and other persons of 
 rank. 
 
 There was, of course, considerable difficulty and danger 
 attendant upon such a venture, for when the Puritans had 
 gained the upper hand in the Parliament, they had passed 
 an Act, on February 11th, 1647, ordering that "All Stage 
 galleries, seats and boxes should be pulled down by warrant 
 of two Justices of the Peace — that all Actors of plays for the 
 time to come, being convicted, should be publicly whipped, 
 and all spectators of plays for every oifence should pay five 
 shillings." 
 
 Enforcing this upon one occasion when peace had been 
 restored, and, the royalists defeated, and the remaining ac- 
 tors had united and ventured to act a play or two with the 
 greatest care and privacy, a party of foot soldiers, after the 
 performance had gone on some three or four days, surrounded 
 the house, the Cock-pit in Drury Lane, in the middle of the 
 tragedy of the Bloody Brother, and humed off" the per- 
 formers to the prison of Hatton House, where they kept 
 them for some time and robbed them of their clothes. After- 
 wards they would travel several miles from London and 
 .play at various gentlemen's houses, " in particular Holland 
 House at Kensington," to small assembled companies who 
 used to make a collection for them, " each giving a broad 
 Piece or the like." One Alexander Goffe, the Woman Actor 
 at Black-friars, who was well known to the nobility and gen- 
 try, was appointed a sort of agent, or " Jackal]," as the old 
 dialogue on plays and players says, to convey the notices of 
 
12 LIFE OP THOMAS BETTEETON. 
 
 the times and places of the various performances. At par- 
 ticular times such as Christmas and Bartholomew Fair, free- 
 dom to act was only to be obtained by bribing the officer in 
 command at Whitehall, when a few days' performances were 
 managed at the Red Bull in St. John Street, but even with 
 this precautionary measure, they were often disturbed by the 
 soldiers, and their gatherings broken up. 
 
 The lives of these early players were in such times ex- 
 tremely hard, and absolute want was constantly staring them 
 in the face ; in a variety of ways they endeavoured to eke 
 out a precarious existence, as by publishing copies of plays 
 previously only in manuscript, but many of them notwith- 
 standing every exertion, died in a condition of the greatest 
 poverty. 
 
 That violence was being done to the tastes and desires of 
 many by these stringent and arbitrary measures, was evident 
 from the subterfuges resorted to by the players to provide 
 the public with the very simple recreation then at aU possi- 
 ble. Eobert Cox, considered a capital performer, used to act 
 his own farces under the presence of rope-dancing, and met 
 with an enthusiastic reception wherever he went in Town or 
 Country. So good a delineator of character was he, that it 
 is said by Langbaine, that after he had been playing the 
 part of Simpleton the Smith at a country fan-, a real Smith 
 of some eminence in those parts, who saw him act, came to 
 him and offered to take him as his journeyman, and even to 
 allow him twelve pence per week more than the customary 
 wages. 
 
 It appears that Daveuant had been in considerable trouble 
 just before the opening of this theatre, having been accused 
 before the Parliament of being a partner with many of the 
 King's friends iu the design of bringing the army to London 
 
ijlJJJS ur XnUMAiS BETTiSRTON. 13 
 
 for his Majesty's protection. He was then arrested at Faver- 
 sham and sent up to London, the others making their escape, 
 Some time after, he was bailed, but attempting a second time 
 to get over to France, he was taken in Kent. He contrived 
 at last, however, to effect his escape and reached the conti- 
 nent in safety. Endeavouring to make his way to Virginia, 
 a colony that remained loyal to the King, the vessel was 
 captured off the coast of France, by a parliamentary ship of 
 war, and he was conveyed first of all to Cowes in the Isle of 
 Wight, from"_ whence he was taken to the Tower of London, 
 for the purpose of trial by a high commission court. At 
 this time it is considered his life was in considerable danger, 
 but he somehow contrived to get his liberty, by what means 
 it is difficult to say. Some tell us two Aldermen of York, 
 whom he had befriended, when he held high command in the 
 Earl of Newcastle's army, when they were prisoners, inter- 
 fered in his behalf (Athen. Oxon. v. 2): others say that Mil- 
 ton assisted him, (see Eichardson's Notes on Paradise Lost) : 
 at any rate his life was saved, though two years after he was 
 still a prisoner in the Tower. Here, however, he clearly 
 got into favour witb the Lord Keeper Whitlocke, from whom 
 he received many an indulgence. From one thing he went 
 on to another, and at last obtained even his freedom, but in 
 circumstances extremely straitened, if not actually poverty 
 stricken. What was he to do to recruit his exhausted finan- 
 ces 1 His thoughts turned towards a play-house, but that 
 was forbidden, and would find no favour with those who were 
 responsible for the rigid morals of the time, yet well enough 
 he knew there were many who felt considerably chafed by 
 the sternness with which their favourite amusement was sup- 
 pressed, and who would support him liberally if he could but 
 commence a performance. He soon by his energy and de- 
 
14 MFE OP THOMAS BETTEKION. 
 
 termination assembled a number of friends around him who 
 encouraged him in a variety of ways, and assisted by the 
 gentlemen mentioned, viz. Lord Whitlocke, Sir John May- 
 nard, and others, started the theatre at Eutland house in 
 1656. He and his Mends had rightly judged the hyprocrisy 
 of the times, for the people who had been persecuting the 
 poor players and visiting them with legal penalties for the 
 simplest elocutionary displays in private, now flocked into 
 his theatre, to his great profit, to witness what he from 
 notions of policy called an opera, but which was nothing 
 more nor less than a play. 
 
 Whitlocke in his "Memorials of the English Affairs,'' 
 gives the following: — "September 3rd, 1656. I received 
 this letter from Sir William Daveuant. 
 
 " My Lord, 
 " When I consider the nicety of the times, I fear it may 
 draw a curtain between your Lordship and our Opera ; there- 
 fore I have presumed to send your Lordship, hot from the 
 Press, what we mean to represent ; making your Lordship 
 my supreme judge, though I despair to have the honour of 
 inviting you to be a spectator. I do not conceive the peru- 
 sal of it worthy any part of your Lordships leisure, unless 
 your ancient relation to the Muses make you not unwilhng 
 to give a little entertainment to poetry ; though in so mean 
 a dress as this, and coming from, my Lord, 
 " Your Lordship's 
 
 "Most obedient servant, 
 
 " William Davenant." 
 
 A little book of ninety small pages is occasionally to be met 
 with, published in the year 1656, called " The First Day's 
 
ijiiLi ur inuiJlAa BETTBETON. 15 
 
 Entertainment at Rutland House, by Declamations and 
 Musiok : After the manner of the Ancients •" this appears to 
 be the document alluded to in the above letter. 
 
 The Britannica says, " This being an introductory piece, 
 it required all the author's wit to make it answer different 
 intentions, for, first, it was to be so pleasing as to gain 
 applause ; and next, it was to be so remote from the very 
 appearance of a play as not to give any offence to that pre- 
 tended sanctity which was then in fashion. It began with 
 music, then followed a prologue, in which the author banters 
 the oddity of his own performance. The curtain being 
 drawn up to the sound of slow and solemn music, there fol- 
 lowed a grave declamation by one in a gilded rostrum, who 
 personated Diogenes, and whose business was to rail at and 
 expose public entertainments. Then music in a lighter strain, 
 after which a person in the character of Aristophanes, the 
 old comic poet, answered Diogenes, and showed the use and 
 excellency of dramatic entertainments. The whole of the 
 grave entertainment was concluded by a song accompanied 
 with music, in which the arguments on both sides are suc- 
 cinctly and elegantly stated. The second part of the enter- 
 tainment consisted of two light declamations ; the first by a 
 citizen of Paris, who wittily rallies the follies of London ; the 
 the other by a citizen of London, who takes the same liberty 
 with Paris and its inhabitants. To this was tacked a song, 
 and after that came a short a epilogue : the music which was 
 very good, was composed by Dr. Coleman, Capt. Cook, Mr. 
 Henry Laws, and Mr. George Hudson." 
 
 Davenant was a man of considerable boldness, and pro- 
 ceeding iipou the principle of " nothing venture, nothing 
 have,'' followed up his first effort with others still more 
 daring, and Wrote and acted plays of a much more pronounced 
 
16 LIFB OF THOMAS BBITBK'l'OJS. 
 
 character than formerly. After a number of performances 
 at Kutland House he removed with his company to the Cock- 
 pit or Phoenix, in Drury Lane, where Mr. Betterton, seems 
 to have made his first appearance, " for," says the Britanniea, 
 " his master Mr Holden having printed Sir William's Poem 
 called Gondibert, and afterwards many other performances 
 of his, Betterton became thereby known to that gentleman, 
 who finding him a very capable person, took great pains in 
 instructing him, and gave him the first relish for theatric en- 
 tertainments, as himself frequently acknowledged, and 
 therefore we have reason to think that this point is at last 
 freed from those difiSculties with which it has been hitherto 
 incumbered." 
 
 In estimating the difficulty attendant upon the prepara- 
 tion of a biographical sketch of an actor of this period, it is 
 worthy of note, amongst other things, that even with regard 
 to the number of theatres and their localities, there is a good 
 deal of contradiction and misstatement. Whitefriars and 
 Salisbury Court, for instance, were frequently spoken of as 
 if they were two distinct theatres, whereas there is evidence 
 to show that they were one and the same. The writings of 
 Eeed and Prynne, especially those of the latter, render this 
 tolerably clear. In the " Epistle dedicatory " to the " His- 
 triomastix," he says, " Two olde Play-houses ( the Fortune 
 and Eed Bull), being also lately re-edified and enlarged, 
 and one new Theatre (the Whitefriars Playhouse) erected, 
 the multitude of our London Play-hunters being so aug- 
 mented now, that all the ancient Divel's Chappels (for so the 
 Fathers stile all play-houses) being five in number, are not 
 sufficient to containe their troppes, whence we see a sixth 
 now added to them, whereas even in vitious Nero his 
 rayne, there were but three standing theatres in Pagan 
 
liIPE OF THOMAS BETTERTON. 17 
 
 Kome (though farre more spacious than our Christian Lon- 
 don) and those three too many." 
 
 Genest says : — " On the supposition that Wbitefriars and 
 Salisbury Court were distinct theatres, there would have 
 been not only six, but seven theatres in 1633, when Prynne 
 published his book." Maitland in his " Survey of London," 
 does not define how far Whitefriars extended, but he says 
 sufficient to show that the theatre in Salisbury Court might 
 be called the theatre in Whitefriars with little or no impro- 
 priety — his words are (vol. II., p. 993). " The Priory of the 
 Carmelites, or Whitefriars, stood on the south side of Fleet 
 Street, between the New Temple and Salisbury Court." 
 
 The Theatre here situate, was, sometimes, perhaps gene- 
 rally known as Salisbury Court, but in Pepys' Diary we 
 the following : — 
 
 "March lst,^1661. To Whitefriars and saw the Bondman 
 acted, an excellent play and well done. But above all that 
 I ever saw, Betterton do the Bondman the best." 
 
 "March 19th, 1661. Mr. Creed and I to Whitefriars where 
 we saw the Bondman acted most excellently, and though I 
 have seen it often, yet I am every time more and more 
 pleased with Betterton's action." 
 
 With respect to Whitefriars, Genest remarks, " Chalmers 
 says (from Stowe's Chronicle) that this theatre was established 
 in 1629. — Langbane says that Bussy D'Ambois his Eevenge 
 was printed in 1613, and had often been presented at the 
 private house in White-friars. — The Widow's Tears, printed 
 in 1612, is said to have been often acted at Black and White- 
 friars, — but Prynne, in his epistle dedicatory 1633, expressly 
 calls Whitefriars a neiv theatre." 
 
 There is evidently a deal of confusion in th6se early ac- 
 counts and any attempt to arrange a table of facts worthy 
 
,18 LIFE OF THOMAS BETTEETON. 
 
 to be pronounced infallibly correct, would be a task hopeless 
 and impossible. Different writers have accepted the varying 
 statements here recorded, each of them probably upon very 
 slight authority, and with anything but clear ideas as to why 
 they did so. 
 
 Downes in his " Koscius Anglicanus" — a tract pronounced 
 by some to be of great value, though said by others to be in- 
 accurate, — endorses the statement that upon the arrival of 
 General Monck in London, 1659, Khodes the bookseller, ob- 
 taining a licence from the then governing state, fitted up a 
 house for acting called the Cock-pit in Drury Lane, and in a 
 short time compleated his company. 
 
 Their names were, he says — 
 
 « Mr. Betterton, Mr. Sheppy, Mr. Lovel, Mr. LiUiston, 
 Mr. Underbill, Mr. Turner, Mr. Dixon, Eobert Nokes — Note, 
 these six commonly acted Women's Parts. Mr. Kynaston, 
 James Nokes, Mr. Angel, William Betterton, Mr. Mosely, 
 Mr. Floid." 
 
 In his diary of Feb. 3rd, 1659, Pepys says : — "We went 
 walking all over Whitehall, whither General Monck was 
 newly come, and we saw all his7orces march by in very good 
 plight, and stout officers." 
 
 Then on the 18th of August, 1660, he writes :— " Captain 
 Ferrers took me and Creed to the Cockpit play, the first that 
 I have had time to see since my coming from the sea. The 
 Loyall Subject, where one Kynaston, a boy, acted the Duke's 
 Sister (Olympia) but made the loveliest lady that ever I saw 
 in my life." 
 
 Downes mentions this play, the " Loyall Subject," as one 
 that was performed at the Cockpit at this time, and as one in 
 which Betterton was highly applauded. i 
 
 The question is, where was Betterton playing during the 
 
LIFE OF THOMAS BETTBETON. 19 
 
 year 1660? Putting Downes and Pepys together it would 
 seem that it was at the Cockpit in Drury Lane. Genest how- 
 ever, says that Downes seems to have copied from Wright 
 and that they are, probably, both wrong, " it being certain 
 from PepyB that the old Actors were in possession of the 
 Cockpit in 1660, and that Ehodes' Company were acting at 
 Whitefriars (or Salisbury Court as it is more usually called) 
 in March, 1661." 
 
 Soon after the Eestoration (King Charles the Second re- 
 turning to London, May 29th, 1660) Davenant who had 
 been re-arrested at the time of Sir George Booth's insurrec- 
 tion, and again released, wrote some complimentary poems 
 to the King and General Monck, and shortly after received 
 a Patent from the King for the formation of a company of 
 actors to be called the Duke's Company, Killigrew (a Groom 
 of the Chambers) receiving one at the same time for a com- 
 pany to be called the King's Servants. The King's Company 
 acted first at the Red Bull at the upper end of St. John's 
 Street, from thence they removed to Vere Street, Clare Mar- 
 ket, finally establishing themselves in Drury Lane, at the 
 Theatre Eoyal. Davenant after leaving his old house opened 
 the Duke's Theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields. The Britannica 
 says, he took into his Company, all who had formerly played 
 under Mr., Rhodes, in the Cock-pit in Drury Lane, and 
 amongst those, the famous Mr. Betterton, who appeared first 
 to advantage under the patronage of Sir William Dave- 
 nant. 
 
 The Articles of Agreement between Sir William Davenant 
 and Thomas Betterton and others are considered to afford 
 such a complete picture of the theatrical management of 
 the period, that they are herewith appended. 
 
 " Articles of Agreement tripartite, indented, made, and 
 
 c 2 
 
20 LIFE OP THOMAS BETTEETON. 
 
 agreed upon this fifth, day of Nouember, in the twelfth 
 yeere of the reigne of _^our souereigne Lord King Charles the 
 Second, Annoque Domini 1660, between Sir William Dave- 
 nant of London, Kt. of the first part, and Thomas Batterton 
 [Betterton] Thomas Sheppey, Eobert Noakes, James Noakes, 
 Thomas Lovell, John Moseley, Cave Underhill, Eobert 
 Turner, and Thomas Lilleston, of the second part; and 
 Henry Harris, of the citty of London, painter, of the third 
 part, as followeth. 
 
 " Imprimis, the said Sir William Dauenant doth for him- 
 self, his executors, administrators, and assigns, couenant, 
 promise, grant, and agree to and with the said Thomas 
 Batterton (and the others) that he the said Sir William 
 Dauenant by vertue of the authority to him derived for that 
 purpose does hereby constitute, ordeine and erect them the 
 said Thomas Batterton (and the others) and their associates, 
 to bee a company, publiquely to act all manner of tragedies, 
 comedies and playes whatsoever, in any theatre or playhouse 
 erected in London or Westminster or the suburbs thereof, 
 and to take the usual rates for the same, to the uses here- 
 after exprest, untill the said Sir William Dauenant shall 
 provide a newe theatre with scenes. 
 
 " Item, It is agreed by and between all the said parties to 
 these presents, that the said company, (untill the said 
 theatre bee provided by the said Sir William Davenant) bee 
 authorised by him to act tragedies, comedies and playes in 
 the playhouse called Salisbury Court playhouse, or any 
 other house, upon the conditions only hereafter following, 
 vizt. 
 
 " That the generall receipte of money of the said play- 
 house shall (after the house-rent, hirelings, and all other 
 accustomary and necessary expenses in that kind be defrayed) 
 
LIFE OF THOMAS BETTBETON. 21 
 
 bee divided into fowerteene proportions or shares, -whereof 
 the said Sir William Dauenant shall have foure full propor- 
 tions or shares to his owne use, and the rest to the use of 
 the said companie. 
 
 " That during the time of playing in the said playhouse 
 (untill the aforesaid theatre bee provided by the said Sir 
 Wm. Dauenant) the said Sir Wm. Davenant shall depute 
 the said Thomas Batterton, James Noakes, and Thomas 
 Sheppey, or any one of them particularly, for him and on 
 his behalfe, to receive his proportion of those shares, and 
 to surveye the accompte conduceinge thereunto, and to pay 
 the said proportion every night to him the said Sir Wm. 
 Dauenant or his assigns, which they doe hereby covenant to 
 pay accordingly. 
 
 " That the said Thomas Batterton, Thomas Sheppey, and 
 the rest of the said company shall admit such a consort of 
 musicians into the said play-house for their necessary use, 
 as the said Sir William shall nominate and provide, duringe 
 their playinge in the said playhouse, not exceeding the rate 
 of 30s. the day, to bee defrayed out of the general expencea 
 of the house before the said fowerteene shares bee devided. 
 
 " That the said Thomas Batterton, Thomas Sheppey and 
 the rest of the said companie see authorised to play in the 
 playhouse in Salisbury Court or elsewhere, as aforesaid, shall 
 at one week's warninge given by the said Sir William 
 Dauenant, his heirs or assignes, dissolve and conclude their 
 plaeing at the house and place aforesaid, or at any other 
 house where they shall play, and shall remove and joyne 
 with the said Henry Harris and with other men and women 
 provided or to be provided by the said Sir Wm. Dauenant, 
 to performs such tragedies, comedies, playes^ and represen- 
 
22 LIFE OF THOMAS BETTEETOK'. 
 
 tations in that theatre to be prouided by him the said Sir 
 William as aforesaid. 
 
 " Item, It is agreed by and betweene all the said parties 
 to these presents in manner and form followinge, vizt. That 
 when the said companie, together with the said Henry 
 Harris, are joyned with the men and women to be provided 
 by the said Sir Wm. Dauenant to act and performe in the 
 said theatre to bee provided by the said Sir Wm. Dauenant, 
 that the generall receipts of the said theatre (the generall 
 expence first beinge deducted) shall bee devided into fifteene 
 shares or proportions, whereof two shares or proportions 
 shall bee paid to the said Sir William Dauenant, his 
 executors, administrators or assigns, towards the house-rent, 
 buildinge, scaffoldinge, and makeing of frames for scenes, 
 and one other share or proportion shall likewise bee paid to 
 the said Sir William, his executors, etc., for provision of 
 habitts, properties, and scenes, for a supplement of the said 
 theatre. 
 
 " That the other twelve shares (after all expences of men 
 hirelinges and other customary expences deducted) shall bee 
 devided into seaven and five shares or proportions, whereof 
 the said Sir Wm. Dauenant, his executors, &o., shall have 
 seauen shares or proportions, to mainteine all the women 
 that are to performe or represent womens parts in the 
 aforesaid tragedies, comedies, playes, or representations; 
 and in consideration of erectinge and establishinge them to 
 bee a companie, and his, the said Sir William's paines and 
 expences to that purpose for many yeeres. And the other 
 five of the said shares or proportions is to bee devided 
 amongst the rest of the persons [parties] to theis presents, 
 whereof the said Henry Harris is to have an equal share 
 
LIKE OF THOMAS BETTEETON. 23 
 
 with the greatest proportion in the said five shares or pro- 
 portions. 
 
 "That the general receipte of the said theatre (from and 
 after such time as the said companie have performed their 
 playeinge in Salisbury Court or in any other playhouse, 
 according to and noe longer than the tyme allowed by him 
 the said William as aforesaid) shall bee by ballatine, or 
 tickets sealed for all doors and boxes. 
 
 " That Sir Wm. Dauenant, his executors, etc., shall at 
 the general chardge of the whole receipte provide three 
 persona to receive money for the said tickets, in a roome 
 adjoyning to the said theatre ; and that the actors in the 
 said theatre, nowe parties to these presents, who are con- 
 cerned in the said five shares or proportions, shall dayly or 
 weekly appoint two or three of themselves, or the men 
 hirelings deputed by them, to sit with the aforesaid three 
 persons appointed by the said Sir William, that they may 
 survey or give an accompt of the money received for the 
 said tickets : That the said seaven shares shall be paid 
 nightly by the said three persons by the said Sir Wm. 
 deputed, or by anie of them, to him the said Sir Wm. his 
 executors, administrators, or assignes. 
 
 " That the said Sir William Dauenant shall appoint half 
 the number of the door-keepers necessary for the receipt of 
 the said tickets for doores and boxes, the wardrobe-keeper, 
 barber, and all other necessary persons as hee the said Sir 
 Wm. shall think fltt, and their sallary to bee defrayed at 
 the publique chardge. 
 
 " That when any sharer amongst the actors of the afore- 
 said shares, and parties to these presents shall dye, that 
 then the said Sir Wm. Dauenant, his executors, etc., shall 
 have the denomination and appointment of the successor 
 
24 LIFE OF THOMAS BBTTERTON. 
 
 and suocessors. And likewise that the wages of the men 
 hirelings shall be appointed and established by Sir Wm. 
 Dauenant, his executors, etc. 
 
 " That the said Sir Wm. Dauenant, his executors, etc., 
 shall not bee obliged out of the shares or proportions allowed 
 to him for the supplyeinge of cloathes, habitts, and scenes, 
 to provide eyther hatts, feathers, gloues, ribbons, sworde- 
 belts, bands, stockings, or shoes, for any of the men actors 
 aforesaid, unless it be a propertie. 
 
 " That a private boxe bee prouided and established for the 
 use ©f Thomas Killigrew, Esqr., one of the groomes of his 
 Maties. bedchamber, suificient to conteine sixe persons, into 
 which the said Mr. Killigrew, and such as he shall appoint, 
 shall haue liberty to enter without any sallary or pay for 
 their entrance into such a place of the said theatre as the 
 said Sir Wm. Dauenant, his heirs, etc., shall appoint. 
 
 "That the said Thomas Batterton. (and the others as 
 aboue) doe hereby for themselues couenant, promise, grant 
 and agree, to and with the said Sir W. D.,his executors, &c., 
 by these presents, that they and euery of them shall become 
 bound to the said Sir Wm. Dauenant in a bond of 5000^. 
 conditioned for the performance of these presents. And 
 that euery successor to any part of the said fine shares or 
 proportions shall enter into the like bonds before he or they 
 shall bee admitted to share anie part or proportion of the 
 said shares or proportions. 
 
 " And the said Henry Harris doth hereby for himself, his 
 executors, &c., couenant, promise, grant and agree, to and 
 with the said Sir William Dauenant, his executors, &c., by 
 these presents, that hee the said Henry Harris shall within 
 one weeke after the notice giuen by Sir William Dauenant 
 for the coucludinge of the playeinge at Salisbuiy Coui-t or 
 
LIFE OF THOMAS BETTEETON. 25 
 
 any other house else abouesaid, become bound to the said 
 Sir Wm. Dauenant in a bond of 5000Z. conditioned for the 
 performance of these [presents]. And that euery successor 
 to any of the said fiue shares shall enter into the like bond, 
 before hee or they shall bee admitted to haue any part or 
 proportion in the said fiue shares. 
 
 " Item, it is mutually agreed by and betweene all the 
 parties to these presents, that the said Sir William Dauenant 
 alone shall bee Master and Superior, and shall from time to 
 time haue the sole gouernment of the said Thomas Batter- 
 ton, Thomas Sheppey, Eobert Noakes, James Noakes, 
 Thomas Louell, John Mosely, Caue Underbill, Kobert 
 Turner, and Thomas Lilleston, and also of the said Henry 
 Harris, and their associates, in relation to the playes [play- 
 house] by these presents agreed to bee erected."* 
 
 Hitherto, the licensing of Plays had been in the hands of 
 a certain official styled the " Master of the Eeuelsj " without 
 his authority no piece whatever could be lawfully acted. It 
 was his business to examine everything before it was played, 
 so that he might purge it of any immoralities or seditious 
 expressions before it went into public, or, if he deemed it 
 irreparable, forbid it altogether ; for this license he was paid 
 in the reign of Elizabeth, one noble, but afterwards the sum 
 of two pounds. 
 
 In the oflBce books of these officials some curious and 
 interesting entries are found which shew us how things were 
 managed. Malone and others give us a number of these, 
 some of which we reproduce, owing to their connection, 
 more or less, with the subject in hand. 
 
 • From the Haslewood MSS. 
 
26 LIFE OP THOMAS BETTERTON. 
 
 "On Friday the nineteenth of October, (so the MS., 
 though afterwards Sir Henry Herbert calls it Friday, the 
 18th ?) 1633, 1 sent a warrant by a messenger of the chamber 
 to suppress The Tamer Tamd, to the Kings players, for that 
 afternoone, and it was obeyed ; upon complaints of foule and 
 offensive matters conteyned therein. 
 
 " They acted The Scornful Lady instead of it, I have 
 enterd the warrant here. 
 
 " These are to will and require you to forbeare the actinge 
 of your play called The Tamer Tamd, or the Taminge of the 
 Tamer, this afternoone, or any more till you have leave from 
 mee : and this at your periU. 
 
 "On Friday morninge the 18th October, 1633. 
 
 " To Mr. Taylor, Mr. Lowins, or any of the Kings players 
 at the Blackfryers." 
 
 " On Saterday morninge foUowinge the book was brought 
 mee, and at my lord of Hollands request I returned it to 
 the players ye Monday morninge after, purg'd of oaths, 
 prophaness, and ribaldrye, being ye 21 of Octob 1633." 
 
 " Because the stopping of the acting of this play for that 
 afternoone, it being an ould play, hath raysed some dis- 
 course in the players, thogh no disobedience, I have thought 
 litt to insert here ther submission upon a former dis- 
 obedience, and to declare that it concernes the Master of 
 the Ee veils to bee carefull of their ould revived playes, as of 
 their new, since they may conteyne offensive matter, which 
 ought not to be allowed in any time. 
 
 "The Master ought to have copies of their new playes 
 left with him, that he may be able to shew what he hath 
 allowed or disallowed. 
 
LIFE OF THOMAS BETTBRTON. 27 
 
 " All ould plays ought to be brought to the Master of the 
 Eevells, and have his allowance to them for which he shall 
 have his fee, since they may be full of offensive things 
 against church and state ; ye rather that in former times 
 the poetts tooke greater liberty than is allowed them by 
 mee. 
 
 " The players ought not to study their parts till I have 
 allowed of the booke.'' 
 
 "To Sir Henry Herbert, Kt. master of his Maties. Bevels. 
 " After our humble servise remembered unto your good 
 worship, Whereas not long since we acted a play called the 
 Spanishe Viceroy, not being licensed under your worships 
 hande, nor allowd of : wee doe confess and herby acknow- 
 ledge that wee will not act any play without your hand or 
 substitute hereafter, nor doe any thinge that may prejudice 
 the authority of your office. So hoping that this humble 
 submission of ours may bee accepted, wee have therunto 
 sett our hands. 
 
 Joseph Taylor. John Lowen. 
 
 Eichard Kobinson. John Shancke. 
 
 Elyard Swanston. John Eice. 
 
 Thomas Pollard. Will. Eowley. 
 
 Eobert Benfeilde. Eichard Sharpe. 
 
 George Burght." 
 
 " Mk. Knight, 
 " In many things you have saved mee labour ; yet wher 
 your judgment or penn fayld you, I have made boulde to 
 use mine. Purge ther parts, as 1 have the booke. And I 
 hope every hearer and player will thinke that I have done 
 God good servise, and the quality no wronge ; who hath no 
 
28 LIFE OP THOMAS BKTTEETON. 
 
 greater enemies than oaths, prophaness, and publique ribal- 
 dry, whch. for the future I doe absolutely forbid to bee 
 presented unto mee in any playbooke, as you -will answer it 
 at your perill. 21 Octob, 1633." 
 
 This was subscribed to their play of the Tamer Tamd, 
 and directed to Knight, their book-keeper. 
 
 "The 24th Octob., 1633, Lowing and Swanstone were sorry 
 for their ill manners, and craved my pardon, which I gave 
 them in presence of Mr. Taylor and Mr. Benfeilde.'' 
 
 "On Monday the 4 May, 1640, William Beeston was 
 taken by a messenger, and committed to the Marshalsey, by 
 my Lord Chamberlens warant, for playinge a playe without 
 license. The same day the company at the Cockpitt was 
 commanded by my Lord Chamberlens warant to forbeare 
 playinge, for playinge when they were forbidden by mee, 
 and for other disobedience, and laye still monday, tuesday 
 and wensday. On thursday at my Lord Chamberlen's 
 entreaty I gave them their liberty, and upon their petition 
 of submission subscribed by the players, I restored them to 
 their liberty on thursday." 
 
 The document already alluded to, giving authority to 
 Sir Wm. Davenant and Thomas Killigrew to erect two 
 theatres and set up two Companies of actors, ran as 
 foUows : — 
 
 " Charles the Second by the Grace of God, of England, 
 Scotland, Ffrance and Ireland, King deffender of the ffayth, 
 &c. To all to whome these presents shall Come Greeting, 
 Whereas wee are giuen to vnderstand that Certaine persons 
 In and about our Citty of London or the Suburbs thereof, 
 Doe frequently assemble for the performing and Acting of 
 
LIFE OF THOMAS BETTEHTON. 29 
 
 Playes and Enterludes for Eewards ; To which diuers of 
 Our Subiects doe for theire Entertainment Resort, which 
 said playes, As wee are Informed doe Containe much Matter 
 of Prophanation and Scurrility, soe that such kind of En- 
 tertainments, which if well Mannaged might serue as Mor- 
 rall Instructions In Humanne life : As the same are now 
 vsed doe for the most part tende to the Debauchinge of 
 Manners of Such as are present at them, and are very 
 Scandalous and ofiensive, to all pious and well disposed 
 persons, Wee takeing the premisses into our Princely Con- 
 sideration, yett not holding it necessary totally to Suppresse 
 the vse of theatres, because wee are assured that if the Evill 
 & Scandall In the Playes that now are or haue bin acted, 
 were taken away, the same might seme as Innocent and 
 Harmlesse diuertisements for many of our Subiects, And 
 Haueing Experience of the Art and skill of our trusty and 
 wellbeloued Thomas Killigrew Esquire one of the Groomes 
 of our Bedchamber and of Sir William Daueuant Knight 
 for the purposses hereafter mencioned, Doe hereby giue & 
 Grante vnto the said Thomas Killegrew and Sir William 
 Dauenant full power and authority to Erect two Companies 
 of Players Consistinge respectiuely of such persons. As they 
 shall ohuse and appoint. And to purchase builde and Erect 
 or hire at theire Charge, As they shall thinke fitt, two 
 Houses or theaters, with all Conuenient Eoomes and other 
 Necessaries therevnto appertaining, for the Representation 
 of Tragydies, Comedyes, Playes, Operas and all other En- 
 tertainments of that nature In Conuenient places And 
 likewise to Setle and Esstablish such payments to be paid 
 by those that shall resort to see the said Representations 
 performed As either haue bin accustomely Giuen and taken 
 in the like kind or as shall be reasonable In regard of the 
 
30 LIFE OP THOMAS BETTERTON. 
 
 Great Expences of Scenes musick and sucli new Decorations 
 as Haue not bin formerly used with further power to make 
 such allowances out of that which they shall so receiue to 
 the Actors and other persons Employed In the said Repre- 
 sentations in both houses Respectiuely As they shall thinke 
 fitt, the said Companies to be vnder the Gouernement and 
 Authority of them the said • Thomas Killegrew afld Sir 
 William Dauenant And In regard of the Extraordinary 
 Licentiousnes that hath benn Lately used In things of this 
 nature, Our Pleasure, Is, that there shall bee noe more 
 Places of Pvepresentations nor Companies of Actors of 
 Playes or Operas by Recitative, musick or Representations 
 by dancing and Scenes or any other Entertainments on the 
 Stage In ovr Citties of London and "Westminster or in the 
 Liberties of them, then the two, to be now Erected by vertue 
 of this Authority, Neuertheless wee doe Hereby by our 
 Authority Royall strictly enione the said Thomas Killegrew 
 and Sir William Dauenant that they doe not at any time 
 hereafter cause to be acted or represented any Play, Enter, 
 lade, or opera Containing any Matter of Prophanatiou 
 Scurrility, or Obscenity, And wee doe further Hereby 
 authorise and command them the said Thomas Killegrew 
 and Sir William Dauenant to peruse all playes that haue 
 benn formerly written and to expunge all Prophanesse and 
 Scurrility from the same, before they be represented or 
 Acted, And this Our Grante and Authority made to the 
 said Thomas Killigrew and Sir William Dauenant, shall be 
 effectuall and Remaine in full force and vertue. Notwith- 
 standing any former order or direction by vs Giuen, for the 
 Suppressing of Playhouses and playes or any other Enter- 
 tainments of the Stage, Giuen August 21st 1660. 
 
 "Copy of the grante the 21 August. 60. made to Mister 
 
LIFE OF THOMAS BETTERTON. 31 
 
 Thomas Killegrew and Sir William Dauenant by the Kings 
 Maiesty vnder the Priuy Signett." 
 
 ■ "* 
 
 The Patents granted by the King to Davenant and Killi- 
 grew soon provoked a serious and prolonged opposition from 
 the official who had hitherto' enjoyed the prerogative of for- 
 bidding- or allowing such plays as he thought fit, at the 
 expense of actors and authors. Not without a struggle was 
 this office with its emoluments to be relinquished; the 
 King's license struck directly and vitally at it, and unless 
 his majesty could be prevailed upon to withdraw it. Sir 
 Henry Herbert's occupation was gone. We find him, in 
 consequence, shewing fight in the most determined manner, 
 and in spite of what the King had done, issuing an order to 
 both Companies forbidding them to play without his 
 authority. 
 
 In the collection of Haslewood Manuscripts already quoted 
 from, we find the following : — 
 
 " Whereas by vertue of a Grante vnder the Greate Seale 
 of England, Playes, Players and Play-makers, and the Per- 
 mission for Errecting of Playhouses have been allowed, 
 Ordered and Permitted by the Masters of his Maiesties 
 Office of the Eevells my Predecessors sucoespively time out 
 of minde whereof the memory of mann is not to the 
 Contrary, And by mee for almost ffiarty yeares with excep- 
 tion only to the Late times. 
 
 " These are therefore in his Maiesties name to require you 
 to attende me concerning your Playhouse called the Cockpitt 
 Playhouse in Drury Lane, And to bring with you such 
 Authority As you have for Erecting of the said house. Into 
 
 * From the Haslewood MSS. 
 
32 LIFE OF THOMAS BBTTEETON. 
 
 a Playhouse at your perill, Given at his Majesties Office of 
 the Revells the 8th day of October, 1660." 
 
 Henry Herbert. 
 
 " To Mister John Eoades at the Cockpitt 
 Playhouse in Drury Lane. 
 " Warrant sent to Rhodes and" brought backe by him the 
 10th of October, 1660, with this Answer that the Kinge did 
 authorize Him." 
 
 In addition to the above, in fact before it, he had petitioned 
 as follows : — 
 
 " To the Kings most Excellent Maiestie 
 The humble peticion of Sir Henry Herbert, Knight Master 
 of your Maiesties Office of the Revells, 
 Sheweth 
 
 "That whereas your petitioner by vertue of severall 
 graunts vnder the great seale of England hath executed the 
 said Office as a Master of the Revells for about 40 yeares 
 in the times of King James and of King Charles, both of 
 blessed memory with excepcion only to the time of the late 
 horrid rebellion. 
 
 " And whereas the ordering of plaies, players and play 
 makers, and the permission for erecting of playhouses are 
 Peculiar branches of the said Office and in the constant 
 Practice thereof by your petitioner's Predecessors in the 
 said Office and himselfe with excepcion only as before 
 excepted and authorised by graunt vnder the said great 
 seale of England, and that no person or persons haue erected 
 any Playhouses or raised any Company of Players without 
 Licence from your petitioner's said Predecessors or from 
 your petitioner But Sir William Davenant, Knight, who 
 obtained Leaue of Oliuer and Richard Cromwell to vent his 
 
LIFE OP THOMAS BETTEETON. 33 
 
 Operas in a time when your petitioner owned not theire 
 Authority. 
 
 "And whereas your Maiesty hath lately signified your 
 pleasure by warant to Sir Jefierry Palmer, Knight and 
 Barronet your Maiesties Attorney Generall for the drawing 
 of a graunt for your Maiesties signature to passe the greato 
 seale thereby to enable and impower Mister Thomas Killi- 
 grew and the said Sir William Dauenant to erect two new 
 Playhouses in London, Westminster, or the Subburbs 
 thereof but such as the said Mister Killigrew and Sir 
 William Dauenant shall allow of. 
 
 " And whereas your petitioner hath been represented to 
 your Maiesty as a person consenting to the said powers 
 expressed in the said Warrant, your petitioner vtterly denies 
 the least Consent or foreknowledge thereof but look vpon it 
 as an vniust surprise and distructive to the powers graunted 
 vnder the said great seale to your petitioner and to the 
 Constant practice of the said Office, and executed in the 
 said Office ever since Players were first admitted by 
 authority to act plaies, and cannot legally bee done as 
 your petitioner is advised by a new graunt to take away 
 and out off a braunch of the antient powers graunted to the 
 said Office vnder the great seale. 
 
 " Your petitioner therefore humbly praies that your 
 Maiesty would bee iustly as graciously pleased to revoke 
 the said Warrant from your Maiesties said Attorney 
 Generall, Or to referr the premises to the consideracion of 
 your Maiesties said Attorney Generall to Certify your 
 Maiesty of the truth of them and his Judgment, on the 
 whole matters in question betwixt the said Mister Killigrew, 
 Sir William Dauenant, and your petitioner in relacion to 
 
34 LIFE OF THOMAS BETTEETON. . 
 
 tlie Legallity and consequence of theire demaunds and your 
 petitioners rights. 
 
 " And your petitioner shall ever pray, etc." 
 
 " At the Court at Whitehall, 4 Augusti, 16G0. 
 "His Maieatie is pleased to referre this Peticion to 
 Sir Jeffery Palmer, Knight and Baronet, his Maiesties 
 Atturney generall ; -who, having called before him aU 
 Persons concerned, and examined the Peticioners right is to 
 certify what hee finds to bee the true state of the matters 
 in difference, together with his opinion tliereupon. And 
 then his Maiestie will declare his further pleasure. 
 
 "Edward Nicholas." 
 
 " May it please your most excellent Maiesty. 
 "Although I haue heard the Parties concerned in this 
 Petition seuerally and apart, yet in respect Mister KilligTew 
 and Sir William Dauenant haueing notice of a time 
 appointed to heare all parties together did not comej I 
 have forborne to proceede further ; haueing alsoe receaued 
 an intimacion by Letter from Sir William Dauenant that I 
 was freed from further hearing this matter. 
 
 «G. Palmer. 
 
 "14 Sept., 1660." 
 
 Just here for the better understanding of the true 
 position of things, it will be advantageous to insert the 
 King's renewal of the old Patents to Davenant and Killi- 
 grew. 
 
 " 15 January, 14 Car. 2. 1662. 
 
 " A Copy of the Letters Patents then granted by King 
 Charles 2., under the Great Seal of England, to Sir William 
 Davenant, Knt., his Heirs and Assigns, for erecting a new 
 
LIFE OP THOMAS BETTEETON. 35 
 
 theatre, and establishing of a Company of Actors in any 
 place within London or Westminster, or the suburbs of the 
 same ; and that no other but this Company, and one other 
 Company by virtue of a lilce Patent, to Thomas Killigrew, 
 Esqr., should be permitted within the said Liberties." 
 
 " Charles the Second, by the Grace of God, King of Eng- 
 land, Scotland, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, 
 &o. To all to whom all these Presents shall come Greeting. 
 
 " "Whereas Our Eoyal Father, of glorious memory, by his 
 Letters Patents under his Great Seal of England, bearing 
 date at Westminster, the 26th day of March, in the 14th 
 year of his reign, did give and grant unto Sir William 
 Davenant (by the name of William Davenant, Gent.) his 
 Heirs, Executors, Administrators, and Assigns, full power, 
 licence, and authority, that he, they, and eveiy one of them, 
 by him and themselves, and by all and every such person 
 and persons as he or they should depute or appoint, and his 
 and their labourers, servants and worlimen, should and 
 might, lawfully, quietly, and peaceably, frame, erect, new- 
 build, and set up, upon a parcel of ground lying near vnto 
 or behind the Three Kings' Ordinary in Fleet street, in 
 the parishes of St. Dunstan's in the West, London, or in 
 St. Bride's, London, or in either of them, or in any other 
 ground in or about that place, or in the whole street afore- 
 said, then allotted to him for that use ; or in any other 
 place that was, or then after should be, assigned or allotted 
 out to the said Sir William Davenant, by Thomas, Earl of 
 Arundel and Surrey, then Earl Marshal of England, or any 
 other Commissioner for building, for the time being in that 
 behalf, a Theatre or Play-house, with necessary tiring and 
 
 retiring rooms and other places convenient, containing in 
 * D 2 
 
36 LIFE OF THOMAS BETTEETON. 
 
 the whole forty yards square at the most, wherein Plays, 
 Musical Entertainments, Scenes, or other, the like present- 
 ments, might be presented. And our said Koyal Father did 
 grant unto the said Sir "William Davenant, his Heirs, 
 Executors, and Administrators, and Assigns, that it should 
 and might be lawful to, and for him the said Sir William 
 Davenant, his Heirs, Administrators and Assigns, from time 
 to time, to gather together, entertain, govern, privilege, and 
 to keep such and so many Players and persons to exercise 
 Actions, Musical Presentments, Scenes, Dancing, and the 
 Like, as he the said Sir William Davenant, his Heirs, Exe- 
 cutors, Administrators or Assigns, should think fit and 
 approve for the said House ; and such persons to permit 
 and continue at and during the pleasure of the said Sir 
 William Dauenant, his Heirs, Executors, Administrators or 
 Assigns, from time to time to act plays in such House so to 
 be by him or them erected, and exercise Musick, Musical 
 Presentments, Scenes, Dancing, or other the like, at the 
 same or other houses or times, or after Plays are ended, 
 peaceably and quietly, without the impeachment or impedi- 
 ment of any person or persons whatsoever, for the honest 
 recreation of such as should desire to see the same : and that 
 it should and might be lawful to and for the said Sir 
 William Dauenant, his Heirs, Administrators, and Assigns, 
 to take and receive of such as should resort to see or hear 
 any such Plays, Scenes and Entertainments whatsoever, 
 such sum or sums of money as were, or then after from time 
 to time should be, accustomed to be given or taken in other 
 Playhouses and places, for the like Plays, Scenes, Present- 
 ments, and Entertainments, as in and by the said Letters 
 Patents, relation being thereunto had, more at large may 
 appear. 
 
LIFE OF THOMAS BETTEETON. 37 
 
 " And whereas, "We did, by our Letters Patents, under the 
 Great Seal of England, bearing date the 16th day of May, 
 in the 13th year of our reign, exemplify the said recited 
 Letters Patents granted by our Koyal Father, as in and by 
 the same, relation being thereunto had, at large may appear: 
 , "And -whereas the said Sir William Dauenant hath 
 surrendered our said Letters Patents of Exemplification, 
 and also the said recited Letters Patents granted by Our 
 Koyal Father, into our Court of Chancery, to be cancelled ; 
 ■which surrender We have accepted, and do accept by these 
 Presents : 
 
 " Know ye that we, of our special grace, certain knowledge, 
 and meer motion, and upon the humble petition of the said Sir 
 William Davenant, and in consideration of the good and 
 faithful service which he the said Sir William Dauenant 
 hath done unto us, and doth intend to do for the future, and 
 in consideration of the said surrender, have given and 
 granted, and, by these Presents, for Us, our Heirs and 
 Successors, do give and grant unto the said Sir William 
 Dauenant, his Heirs, Executors, Administrators, and Assigns, 
 full power, licence, and authority, that he, they, and every 
 one of them, by him and themselves, and by all and every 
 such person and persons as he or they should depute or 
 appoint, and his or their labourers, servants and workmen, 
 shall and may lawfully, peaceably and quietly, frame, erect, 
 new-build, and set up, in any place within our cities of 
 London and Westminster, or the suburbs thereof, where he 
 or they shall find best accommodation for that purpose, to 
 be assigned and allotted out by the surveyor of our works, 
 one Theatre or Playhouse, with necessary tiring and re- 
 tiring rooms and other places convenient, of such extent and 
 dimensions as the said Sir William Dauenant-, his Heirs and 
 
38 LIFE OF THOMAS BETIEETON. 
 
 Assigns, shall think fitting ; wherein Tragedies, Comedies, 
 Plays, Operas, Musick, Scenes, and all other Entertainments 
 of the Stage whatsoever may be shewed and presented. 
 
 " And we do hereby, for Us, our Heirs and Successors, 
 grant unto the said Sir William Dauenant, his Heirs and 
 Assigns, full power, licence, and authority, from time to 
 time, to gather together, entertain, govern, privilege, and 
 keep, such and so many Players and persons, to exercise 
 and act Tragedies, Comedies, Plays, Operas, and other Per- 
 formances of the Stage, within the house to be built aa 
 aforesaid, or within the house in Lincolns-Inn Fields wherein 
 the said Sir William Dauenant doth now exercise the 
 premises, or within any other house where he or they can 
 best be fitted for that purpose, within our cities of London 
 and Westminster or the suburbs thereof ; which said Com- 
 pany shall be the servants of our dearly beloved brother 
 James Duke of York, and shall consist of such number as 
 the said Sir William Dauenant, his Heirs or Assigns, shall 
 from time to time think meet, and such persons to permit 
 and continue, at and during the pleasure of the said Sir 
 William Dauenant, his Heirs or Assigns, from time to time 
 to act Plays and Entertainments of the Stage of all sorts, 
 peaceably and quietly, without the impeachment or impedi- 
 ment of any person or persons whatsoeuer, for the honest 
 recreation of such as tshall desire to see the same. 
 
 " And it shall and may be lawful to and for the said Sir 
 William Dauenant, his Heirs and Assigns, to take and 
 receive of such our subiects as shall resort to see or hear 
 any such Plays, Scenes, and Entertainments whatsoeuer, 
 such sum or sums of money as cither haue accustomably 
 been giueu and taken in the like kind, or as shall be thought 
 reasonable by him or them, in regard of the groat expences 
 
LIFE OF THOMAS BETTEETOX. 39 
 
 of scenes, musick, and such new decorations, as have not 
 been formerly used. 
 
 " And further, for Us, our Heirs and Successors, We do 
 hereby give and grant unto the said Sir William Dauenant, 
 his Heirs and Assigns, full power to make such allowances, 
 out of that which he shall so receive by the acting of Plays 
 and Entertainments of the Stage as aforesaid, to the actors 
 and other persons employed in acting, representing, or in 
 any quality whatsoeuer about the said theatre, as he or 
 they shall think fit ; and that the said Company shall be 
 under the sole government and authority of the said Sir 
 William Dauenant, his Heirs and Assigns. And all scan- 
 dalous and mutinous persons shall, from time to time, be by 
 him and them ejected and disabled from playing in the said 
 Theatre. 
 
 " And for that We are informed, that diners companies of 
 players have taken upon them to act Plays publicly in our 
 said cities of London and Westminster, or the suburbs 
 thereof, without any authority for that purpose : We do 
 hereby declare our dislike of the same ; and will and grant, 
 that only the said Company erected and set up or to be 
 erected and set up, by the said Sir William Dauenant, his 
 Heirs and Assigns, by virtue of these Presents, and one 
 other Company erected and set up, or to be erected and set 
 up, by Thomas Killigrew, Esqr., his heirs and Assigns, and 
 none other, shall from henceforth act or represent Comedies, 
 Tragedies, Plays or Entertainments of the Stage within our 
 said Cities of London and Westminster, or the suburbs 
 thereof; which said Company to be erected by the said 
 Thomas Killigrew, his Heirs and Assigns, shall be subject 
 to his and their government and authority, and shall be 
 styled the Company of Us and Our Eoyal Consort. 
 
40 LIFE OF THOMAS BETTEHTON. 
 
 "And the better to preserve amity and correspondency 
 betwixt the said Companies, and that the one may not 
 incroach upon the other by any indirect means, We will and 
 ordain, that no Actor or other Person employed about either 
 of the said Theatres, erected by the said Sir "William Dave- 
 nant and Thomas Killigrew, or either of them, or deserting 
 his Company, shall be receiued by the Gouemor or any of 
 the said other Company, or any other person or persons to 
 be employed in acting, or in any matter relating to the 
 Stage, without the consent and approbation of the Gouemour 
 of the Company whereof the said person so ejected or 
 deserting was a member, signified under his hand and seal. 
 And we do by these Presents, declare all other Company 
 and Companies, saving the two Companies before mentioned, 
 to be silenced and suppressed. 
 
 " And forasmuch as many Plays, formerly acted, do con- 
 tain seueral prophane, obscene, and scurrilous passages ; 
 and the women's parts therein haue been acted by men in 
 the habits of women, at which some haue taken offence j for 
 the preventry of these abuses for the future, We do hereby 
 straitly charge, and command and enjoin, that from hence- 
 forth no new Play shall be acted by either of the said 
 Companies, containing any passages offensive to piety and 
 good manners, nor any old or revived Play, containing any 
 such offensive passages as aforesaid, until the same shall be 
 corrected and purged by the said Masters or Governours of 
 the said respective Companies from all such offensive and 
 scandalous passages as aforesaid. And We do likewise 
 permit and give leave that all the women's parts to be acted 
 in either of the said two Companies for the time to come 
 may be performed by women, so long as these recreations, 
 which, by reason of the abuses aforesaid, were scandalous 
 
LIFE or THOMAS BETTEETON. 41 
 
 and offensive, may by such reformation be esteemed not 
 only harmless delights, but useful and instructive represen- 
 tations of human life, to such of Our good subjects as shall 
 resort to see the same. 
 
 " And these our Letters Patent, or the inroUment thereof, 
 shall be in all things good and effectual in the law, accord- 
 ing to the true intent and meaning of the same, any thing 
 in these presents contained, or any Law, Statute, Act, Ordi- 
 nance, Proclamation, Provision, Restriction, or any other 
 matter, cause or thing -vvhatsoeuer, to the contrary in any 
 wise notwithstanding ; although express mention of the 
 true yearly value, or certainty of the premises, or of any of 
 them, or of any other gifts or grants by Us, or by any 
 of Our Progenitors or Predecessors heretofore made to the 
 said Sir William Dauenant in these Presents, is not made, 
 or any other Statute, Act, Ordinance, Provision, Procla- 
 mation, or Restriction, heretofore had, made, enacted, 
 ordained, or provided, or any other matter, cause, or thing 
 whatsoever, to the contrary thereof in any wise notwith- 
 standing. 
 
 " In Witness whereof. We have caused these our letters 
 to be made Patents. Witness Ourself, at Westminster, the 
 15th day of January in the fourteenth year of our reign. 
 
 " By the King. 
 
 " Howard." 
 
 In defiance of the Eoyal Patents, which he afiirmed to be 
 illegal. Sir Henry Herbert, in October, proceeded to com- 
 mence actions at law against Davenant, Killigrew, Betterton 
 and others, in some of which he was successful, while failing 
 in others. 
 
4 , .LIFE OF THOMAS BETTEETON. 
 
 " Sir Henry Herbert's Answer 
 " Master of Hia Maiesties office of the Eeuells. 
 
 " That the Licensinge and Orderinge of Playes, Players 
 and Playmakers and for Erecting of Playhouses Is an Antierit 
 Branche of His Alaiesties office of the Eeuells and hath ben 
 soly exercised by the present master of the Kenells and His 
 Predecessors tyme out of minde, with exception only to the 
 time of the Late Horrid Kebellion when sir Henry Herbert 
 owned not their uniuat and Tyrannicall Authority, thogh 
 sir William Dauenant did and obteyned theu Leaue to uente 
 his Operas. 
 
 "That the Gran te of the foreuamed Powers Is Destrvc- 
 tive to the Powers granted under the Create Seale to sir 
 Henry Herbert by the Late Kinge of Blessed Memory, And 
 to the constant practise of the said office. 
 
 " That it is Destructive to a Hundred Persons at Least 
 that depende upon the Quality and the Houses and Have 
 noe other Liuelyhood. 
 
 "That It cannot Legally be done As Councell doth 
 Aduise and being granted begets a Suite at Law upon the 
 Ualidity of the Grantes."* 
 
 In order to get as comprehensive a view as possible of 
 Betterton's career as an actor, we annex the following docu- 
 ment which will no doubt be regarded with interest by all 
 who desire to make themselves acquainted with the life of 
 that great performer. 
 
 " Sir Henry Herbert Knight and Symon Thelwall Esquire 
 plaintiffs and Thomas Betterton defendant in au Accion of 
 the case. 
 
 * Haslewood MSS. 
 
 ^ 
 
LIFE OP THOMAS BETTERTON. 43 
 
 " The plaintifiFs declare that whereas withiij this realme. 
 of England to witt at London in the parish of St. Mary Bowe 
 in the ward of Cheape there is and time out of minde hath 
 been an office of the Master of the Keuells and Masks of 
 onr Lord the King his heires and successors To which said 
 office and to which said Master or Masters by vertue of that 
 office the licenceing alloweing ouerseing and correction of 
 all and singular Common Actors of Playes and of all Stage 
 Playes by them Acted by the whole time aforesaid haue 
 belonged and apperteincd and doe yett belonge and apper- 
 teine for the executing of wliich said office the Masters of 
 the Reuells and Masks aforesaid for the time being from 
 time to time dureing the whole time aforesaid haue had and 
 receiued and haue accustomed to haue and receiue of the 
 Common Actors of Playes aforesaid for the time being 
 diuers fees profitts and emoluments for the licenceing and 
 allowing the said stage Playes which said office togeather 
 with all fees profitts and emoluments to the same office 
 belonging and apperteuing by the whole time aforesaid was 
 giuen and graunted and hath been accustomed to be given 
 and graunted by our Lord the King now and his 
 predecessors Kings and Queens of England for the time 
 being to any person or persons willing to exercise the said 
 office : Aud whereas Queen Elizabeth by her letters Patents 
 vnder the great seale dated at Westminster the 24th of 
 July in the 21st yeare of her Eeigne did graunt the said 
 office to Edmund Tilney Esquire habendum the said office 
 to the said Edmund for his life to be exercised by him or 
 his deputy : By vertue whereof the said Edmond was seized 
 of the said office as of his franktenement for his life and 
 being soe seized King James by his letters Patents vnder the 
 great seale the 23rd of June in the first yeare of his Reigne 
 
44 lilPE OP THOMAS BETTEETON. 
 
 ouer England did graunt to George Bncke tlien Esquire and 
 afterwards Knight the said office Habendum the said office 
 to him for his life to be exercised by himself or his deputy 
 from the time of the death of the said Edmond Tilney or as 
 soon as the said office should become void by surrender for- 
 feiture or any other legall manner. And that afterwards 
 the 20th of August 1610 the said Edmond Tilney died after 
 whose death the said George Bucke by vertue of the said 
 graunte of the office was thereof seized as of his freehold for 
 the terme of his life And being soe seized King James by his 
 Letters Patents vnder the great scale the 3rd of Aprill in 
 the 10th yeare of his Reigne did graunt the said office to 
 John Ashley Knight Habendum to him from the death of 
 the said George Bucke or as soone as the said office by 
 resignacion surrender or other lawfull way should become 
 void for the terme of his life to be exercised by himselfe or 
 deputy. And whereas alsoe King James by his other 
 Letters Patents the 5th of October in the 19th yeare of his 
 Reigne graunted the said office to Beniamin Johnson gentle- 
 man for his life from the death of the said George Bucke 
 and John Ashley or as soon as the said office by resignacion 
 or surrender or other lawful manner should become void 
 after which graunt to witt the 20th of September 1623 the 
 said George Bucke dyed after whose death John Ashley by 
 vertuo of the said graunt of the office was seized thereof as 
 of his freehold for his life, And being soe seized and the said 
 Beniamin Johnson then aline the late King Charles by his 
 Letters Patents vnder the great scale the 22nd of August in 
 the 5th yeare of his Roigne of his certaine knowledge and 
 mere mocion for himself his heirs and successors did giue 
 and graunt to tlie plaintiffs the said office Habendum to 
 them for their liues and the life of the longer liuer of them 
 
LIFE OP THOMAS BETTEBTON, 45 
 
 after the death of the said John Ashley and Beniamin and as 
 soon as the said office by resignacion surrender forfeiture or 
 other lawfull meanes should become void with all mancion 
 houses Eegards profitts rights liberties and advantages to the 
 same office belonging or apperteining And afterwards to witt 
 the 20th of Nouember 1635 Beniamin Johnson dyed and on 
 the 13th of January 1640 the said John Ashley dyed after 
 whose deaths the plaintiffs tooke vpon them the said office and 
 from thence hitherto haue endeauoured faithfully and dili- 
 gently to exercise the same and to haue and receiue the 
 vails fees profitts and aduantages to the said office belonging 
 And that the defendant intending to hinder the plaintiffs in 
 the vse and exercise of their said office and to depriue and 
 exclude them of the fees vailes regards profitts and aduan- 
 tages to the same office belonging between the 15th of 
 Nouember in the t2th year of the Eeigiae of our now Lord 
 the King and the day of the bringing the plaintiffs Originall 
 writt to witt the sixth of May in the 14th year of this King 
 at London aforesaid in the parish and ward aforesaid the said 
 defendant with diners other persons vniustly and without 
 the licence or allowance of the said plaintiffs or either of 
 them and against their wills did Act diuers stage Playes as 
 well new Playes as reuiued Playes to witt 10 new playes 
 and 100 reuiued Playes the fees for the licenceing and 
 allowing thereof due to the plaintiffs or either of them not 
 being paid And this they lay to their damage Cli. 
 
 " The defendant by Henry Salman his Attorney hath 
 pleaded not guilty." 
 
 " Herbert and Thelwall versus Betterton, 
 
 " Declaration, May 6, 16[62]." * 
 
 * From the Haslewood MSS. 
 
46 LIFE OF THOMAS BETTERTON. 
 
 Wearied with the contest which had thus been going on 
 for something like two years, Sir Wilham Davenant at last 
 sought the interposition of the king and petitioned aa 
 follows ! — 
 
 " To the King's most Sacred Majesty 
 
 " The humble Petition of Sir William Davenant Knight 
 Sheweth, 
 
 " That your Petitioner has been molested by Sir Henry 
 Harbert with severall prosecutions at Law. 
 
 " That those prosecutions have not proceeded by your 
 Petitioners default of not paying the said Henry Harbert 
 his pretended Fees (he neuer hauing sent for any to your 
 Petitioner) but because your Petitioner hath publiquely 
 presented Plaies ■ notwithstanding he is authorised there- 
 vnto by Pattent from your Majesties most royall Father, 
 and by seueral warrants vnder your Majesties royal hand 
 and signet. 
 
 " That your Petitioner [^(to prevent being out Lawd) has 
 bin enforc'd to answer him in Two Tryals at Law, in one of 
 ■which, at Westminster, your petitioner hath had a Verdict 
 against him, where it was declard' that he hath no jurisdic- 
 tion over any plaiers, nor any right to demand fees of them. 
 In the other (by a London Jury) the master of Revels was 
 allowd' the correction of plaies and Fees for soe doing • but 
 not to give Plaiers any licence or authoritie to play, it being 
 proved that no Plaiers were ever authorized in London or 
 Westminster, to play by the Commission of the Master of 
 Revels, but by authoritie immediately from the Crown'e. 
 Neither was the proportion of Fees then determined or made 
 certaihe because severall witnesses affirmed that Variety of 
 paymentes had bin made ; sometimes of a Noble, sometimes 
 of Twenty, and afterwards of Forty shillings for correcting a 
 
Lint: OF THOMAS BETTEBTON, it 
 
 new Play, and that it was the custome to pay nothing for 
 supervising revived Plaies. 
 
 " That without any aiithoritie given Mm by that last 
 Verdict, he sent the day after the tryall, a prohibition vnder 
 his hand and seale (directed to the Plaiers in Little Lin- 
 colnes Inn fields) to forbid them to act Plaies any more. 
 
 " Therefore your Petitioner humbly prays that your 
 Majesty will graciously please (Two Verdicts having pass'd 
 at Common Law contradicting each other) to referre the 
 Case to the examination of such honorable persons as may 
 certify your Majesty of the just authoritie of the 
 Master of Revells, that so his Fees (if any be due to him) 
 may be made certaine to prevent extortion ; and time 
 prescribd' how long he shall keep plaies in his hands; in 
 pretence of correcting them ; and whether he can demand 
 Fees for revived Plaies ; and lastly, how long Plaies may 
 bo"layd asyde ere he shall judge them to be reviv'd. 
 
 " And your Petitioner (as in duty bound) shall euer pray, 
 &c."* 
 
 The king's answer was to the effect that desiring to pro- 
 mote a just and friendly agreement between the litigating 
 parties, he was pleased to refer the petition to the Lord high 
 Chancellor of England and the Lord Chamberlain, who were 
 to call before them all who might be concerned in the matter 
 and make a fair and amicable accommodation between them, 
 or otherwise certifie his Majesty the true state of this 
 business, together with their Lordship's opinions. 
 
 The end of all this strife and recrimination and opposition 
 
 * Haslewood MSS, 
 
48 LIFE OF THOMAS BETTEKTON. 
 
 to the king's authority was, as might have been anticipated, 
 the royal will proved supreme, and Davenant, Betterton, 
 Killigrew and the rest, were free to exfercise the rights and 
 privileges conferred upon them by their Patents. 
 
49 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Portugal-Street — The Lincola's-Inn Fields theatre, its history, its 
 final destruction — Opening of Davenaut's theatre here — Opera, 
 Second part of the Siege of Bhodes, Betterton as Solyman the 
 Magnificent — Play of the Witts in 1661, Betterton as Elder Palatine 
 — Hamlet at Portugal Street, Betterton as the Prince — Betterton 
 as Sir Toby Belch in Twelfth Night, in 1661 — Love and Honour 
 — The Bondman, Pepys' delight on account of Betterton's per- 
 formance—Cutter of Coleman Street, Betterton as Colonel Jolly — 
 The Law against Lovers — Borneo and Juliet, Betterton as Mercutio 
 — Duchess of Malfy— The Villain. 
 
 "PARALLEL with the south side of Lincoln's-Inn Fields, 
 and immediately behind the houses and public buildings 
 standing in that part of the square, lies Portugal-Street. 
 Gay as any thoroughfare of its size and character was it in 
 the olden time, when the pleasure loving citizens of the me- 
 tropolis and suburbs, came ilocking thither to witness the 
 performances of the last, though not the least, of the old 
 company of actors ; now it is quiet to a degree, King's 
 College Hospital occupying a considerable portion of its 
 southern side, and the dead back wall of the Museum of the 
 Royal College of Surgeons, with a few stationers' shops, its 
 northern side. 
 
 Here, at the period we are writing about, on a part of the 
 site of the building holding the magnificent collection of 
 
50 THE UPE THOMAS BETTERTON. 
 
 anatomical specimens and preparations commenced by the 
 celebrated Hunter, stood the Lincoln's Inn Theatre, and, 
 according to the rate books of St. Clement Danes, for 1 668, 
 the residences of a number of noble and distinguished per- 
 sonages. The Earl of Kochester, among others, lived here, 
 and he tells one of his correspondents " If you write to me, 
 direct to Lincoln's Inn Fields, the house next to the Duke 
 Playhouse, in Portugal Row, there lives your humble ser- 
 vant." 
 
 Altogether there have been three theatres on this spot, 
 which was originally a tennis court. The first was called 
 the Duke's theatre, from the Duke of York who was its 
 chief patron, and also the Opera, on account of its musical 
 performances. After undergoing considerable alterations, it 
 came into the hands of Sir William Davenant, who opened 
 it in 1662, with his operatic piece the "Siege of Rhodes.'' 
 In 1671 and 2, the actors removed to Dorset Gardens, and 
 the King's Company, burnt out of Drury Lane, took posses- 
 sion of it for a year, after which it reverted to its former use, 
 and again became a tennis court. 
 
 In 1695, it was once more a theatre for a time, but was 
 taken down in the early part of the 18th century, a new one 
 erected on its site, " built," says Timbs, " for Christopher 
 Rich, and opened by John Rich in 1714." In 1732 Rich 
 abandoned it for Covent Garden, and it was used for all kinds 
 of purposes, as the proprietors could let it. 
 
 In 1735, Mr. Gifford took possession, keeping it open for 
 about two years, after which it was closed. Tradition has 
 handed down the following story in connection with the final 
 shutting up of the theatre :— " Upon a representation of the 
 pantomime of Harlequin and Dr. Faustus, when a tribe of 
 demons, necesssary for the piece, were assembled, a super- 
 
LIFE OP THOMAS BBTTEUTON'. 51 
 
 numerary devil was observed, tvho not approving of going out 
 in a complaisant manner at the door, to show a devil's trick, 
 flew up to the ceiling, made his way through th& tiling, and 
 tore away one fourth of the house, which circumstance so 
 affrighted the manager, that the proprietor had not courage 
 to open the house ever afterwards." 
 
 The building then became a barrack, then an auction 
 room, and afterwards the china-ware repository of Messrs. 
 Copeland and Spode, being finally taken down in 1848 for 
 the enlargement of the museum of the College of Surgeons, 
 the front of which building is adorned with some columns 
 which are said to have formed part of the theatre. 
 
 The name Portugal Street, of course reminds us of the un- 
 happy wife of Charles the Second, Catherine of Portugal ; 
 and Portsmouth Street, a narrow thoroughfare at its western 
 end, of his notorious court favourite, the Duchess of Ports- 
 mouth. 
 
 It is generally stated that Davenant opened his theatre in 
 Portugal Street, in the year 1662, but from entries in 
 Pepys' diary, this seems incorrect. He makes it 1661, and 
 on July 2nd of that year we have ; — 
 
 " Went to Sir William Davenant's Opera, this being the 
 fourth day it hath begun, and the first that I have seen it, 
 To day was acted the second part of the Siege of Rhodes." 
 
 The Cast in this play was : — 
 
 Solyman the Magnificent Betterton, 
 
 Alphonso Harris. 
 
 Villerius (the Grand Master) Lilliston, 
 
 The Admiral Blagden. 
 
 Roxalana Mrs. Davenport. 
 
 lanthe Mrs. Saunderson. 
 
 ^ 2 
 
52 LIFE OP THOMAS BETTEBTON. 
 
 " All the parts were justly and excellently performed, and 
 the play was acted 12 days together without interruption 
 and with great applause."* 
 
 August 15th, 1661, Pepys' again writes : — 
 
 " Walked to the Wardrobe and dined with my lady, thence 
 to the opera which begins again to-day with the ' Witts,' 
 never acted yet with scenes ; and the King, and Duke, and 
 Duchess were there — it is a most excellent play and admir- 
 able scenes." 
 
 Downes, who was himself acting at Sir ^William Dave- 
 ant's house at the opening, gives the Cast thus : — 
 
 Elder Palatine Betterton. 
 
 Younger Palatine Harris. 
 
 Sir M. Thwack Underhill. 
 
 Lady Ample Mrs. Davenport, 
 
 and he says, "All the parts being exactly performed, it con- 
 tinued 8 days acting, successively." 
 
 Genest says, " Hamlet, and Love and Honour, were cer- 
 tainly revived soon after Davenant opened his theatre, as 
 Downes does not exactly say when a revived play was per- 
 formed, it is impossible to ascertain the point precisely." A 
 reference to Pepys, however, clears up the difficulty, at least 
 so far as Hamlet is concerned, for we have entered for Au- 
 gust 24th, 1661 : 
 
 " To the Opera and there saw Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, 
 done with scenes very well; but above all, Betterton did the 
 Prince's part beyond imagination." 
 
 * Downea. 
 
LIFE OP THOMAS BETTERTON. 53 
 
 The Cast in Hamlet was : — 
 
 Hamlet Betterton. 
 
 Horatio Harris. 
 
 The King Lilliston. 
 
 Ghost , Eichards. 
 
 Polonius Lovel. 
 
 Rosencrans Dixon. 
 
 Guilderstem Price, 
 
 1st Grave maker Underhill. 
 
 2nd do. do Dacres. 
 
 Queen Mrs. Davenport. 
 
 Ophelia Mrs. Saunderson. 
 
 " No succeeding tragedy, for several years, got more repu- 
 tation or money to the company than this."* 
 
 Downes mentions "Twelfth Night, or what you will," 
 a play of Shakespeare's, as having a mighty success 
 by its performance. He gives no date, though a note 
 says it was got up on purpose to be acted on Twelfth- 
 night. 
 
 It seems to have escaped Genest's notice altogether, but 
 an entry in Pepys, at any rate fixes one night on which it 
 was performed. 
 
 "Sept. 11th, 1361. Walking through Lincoln's Inn 
 Fields, observed at the Opera a new play, " Twelfth Night," 
 was acted there, and the King there : so I, against my own 
 mind and resolution, could not forbear to go in, which did 
 make the play seem a burthen to me, and I took no pleasure 
 at all in it." 
 
 * Downes. 
 
54: LIFE OP THOMAS BETTEBTON. 
 
 The Cast was :— 
 
 Sir Toby Belcli Betterton. 
 
 Sir Andrew Agiieclieek... Harris. 
 
 Fool Underhill. 
 
 Malvplio the Steward Level. 
 
 Olivia Mrs. Ann Gibbs. 
 
 " All the parts," observes Downes, " being justly acted, 
 crowned the play." 
 
 With respect to " Love and Honour," a tragi-comedy by 
 Sir William Davenant, Genest is in ignorance about the date, 
 as he was with Hamlet. Again, we turn to Pepys and for 
 October 21st, 1661, of the Diary we have : — 
 
 " To the Opera which is now newly begun to act again 
 after some alteration of their scene, which do make it very 
 much worse ; but the play (Love and Honour,) being the 
 first time of their acting it, is a very good plot, and well 
 done." 
 
 Downes gives us the cast, but says nothing of the date, 
 the above however not only fixes when it was played, but, 
 when it was played the first time. 
 
 " This play was richly cloathed, the King giving Mr. Bet- 
 terton his Coronation Suit, in which he acted the part of 
 Prince Alvaro ; the Duke of York giving Mr. Harris his, 
 who did Prince Prospero j and my Lord of Oxford gave Mr. 
 Joseph Price his, who did Lionel, the Duke of Parma's son j 
 the Duke was acted by Mr. Lilliston ; Evandra, by Mrs. 
 Davenport ; and all the other parts being very well done ; 
 the play having a great run, produced to the Company great 
 gain and estimation from the Town."* 
 
 * Downes. 
 
LIFE OP THOMAS BETTERTOX. 55 
 
 " Nov. 4th, 1661. With my wife to the Opera, where we 
 saw ' The Bondman,' which of old we both did so doate on, 
 and do still ; though to both our thinking not so well acted 
 here, having too great expectations, as formerly at Salisbury 
 Court. But for Betterton, he is called by us both, the best 
 actor in the world." 
 
 The Bondman was an ancient story by Massinger, acted at 
 the Cockpit, Druty Lane, It was considered a very excellent 
 tragedy. The scene lies at Syracuse, and the plot of the 
 , slaves being seduced to rebellion by Pisander, and reduced 
 by Tiiholeon, and their flight at the sight of the whips, is 
 borrowed from the story of the Scythian Slaves' rebellion 
 against their masters, 
 
 Pepys' Diary, Dec. 16th, 1661. "After dinner to the 
 Opera, where there was a new play. Cutter of Coleman 
 Street, made in the year 1658, with reflections much upon 
 the late times ; and it being the first time, the pay was 
 doubled, and so to save money, my wife and I went into the 
 gallery, and there sat and saw very well ; and a very good 
 play it is — it seems of Cowley's making." 
 
 Cast : — 
 
 Colonel Jolly Betterton. 
 
 Cutter Underhill. 
 
 Worm Sandford. 
 
 Puny , Nokes. 
 
 Truman Senior. Lovel. 
 
 Truman Junior Harris. 
 
 Parson Soaker Dacres. 
 
 Will Price. 
 
 Aurelift .11 1 Mrs. Bettertoui 
 
56 LIFE OF THOMAS BETTBETON. 
 
 Lucia Mrs. Gibbs. 
 
 Jane Mrs. Long. 
 
 " Acted so perfectly well," says- Downes, " that it was per- 
 formed a whole week with a full audience." 
 
 Cutter in old language meant a swaggerer, hence the 
 title of this play. The author of it, Abraham Cowley, was 
 charged with an intent to ridicule the Cavaliers, which 
 charge he defended himself against. It was considered a 
 very good play, though it had been rejected at first ; when 
 it was resumed it was acted with considerable applause. 
 Originally it was called the Guardian, and was acted before 
 the Prince when he passed through Cambridge on his way 
 to York in 1641. Cowley says it was neither written nor 
 acted, but rough drawn by him and repeated by the 
 scholars. 
 
 The scene of the play was London, and a good deal of 
 humourous ridicule was in it heaped upon the prevailing 
 fanatical principles of the times. Some writers say it was 
 without reason considered a satire upon the Cavaliers, and 
 Cowley in his preface wrote, " That having belonged to 
 that party all the time of their misfortunes, he must be a 
 madman to choose that of their restoration to quarrel with 
 them." 
 
 Dennis joins Downes in saying that the play was performed 
 a whole week with a full audience. 
 
 Cutter is said to be a better play than its original the 
 Guardian, a greater part of the dialogue having been writ- 
 ten afresh, and the plot improved while not very materially 
 altered. 
 
 A note in the Koscius Anglicauus, says, " This play was 
 not a little injurious to the Cavalier indigent Officers, 
 
LIFE OP THOMAS BETTERTON. 57 
 
 especially the characters of Cutter and Worm. Being a tem- 
 porary satire, it was soon banished the theatre, notwithstand- 
 ing it had the great name of Cowley to support it. 
 
 "February 18th, 1662," says Pepys, "I went to the 
 Opera, and saw the ' Law Against Lovers,' a good play and 
 well performed, especially the little girls, whom I never saw 
 act before, dancing andsinging • and were it not for her, the 
 losse of Roxalana would spoil the house." 
 
 It is generally believed that Betterton played some part in 
 this piece, but the Cast not being to hand we are unable to 
 say what. Genest calls the play a " bad alteration of ' Mea- 
 sure for' Measure,' with the characters of Benedick and 
 Beatrice added to it, the greater part of what they say, how- 
 ever, not being from Shakespear— Davenant having added 
 a good deal of his own, most of which, particularly the 
 serious part, being poor stuff in comparison with the original, 
 at the same time, enough of Shakespear being retained to 
 make this a good play on the whole." The Biographica 
 Dramatica says it was a play that met with great success^ 
 that the characters, and almost the whole language of the 
 piece, are borrowed from that divine author Shakespear, and 
 that all Davenant did was to blend the circumstances of both 
 plays together, so as to form some connexion between the 
 plots and to soften and moderize those passages of the lan- 
 guage which appeared rough or obsolete. 
 
 March 1st, 1662, Pepys writes : — "My wife and I by 
 coach, first to see my little picture that is a drawing, and 
 thence to the Opera, and there saw Eomeo and Juliet, the 
 first time it was ever acted, but it is a play of itself the 
 worst that ever I heard, and the worst acted that ever I saw 
 these people do, and I am resolved to go no more to see the 
 
58 LIFE OF THOMAS BETTERTON. 
 
 first time of acting, for they were all of them out more or 
 less." 
 
 The Cast was : — 
 
 Romeo » Harris. 
 
 Mercutio Betterton. 
 
 Count Paris Price. 
 
 The Fryar Richards. 
 
 Sampson Sandford. 
 
 Gregory Underhill. 
 
 Juliet Mrs. Saunderson. 
 
 Count Paris's Wife ... Mrs. Holden. 
 
 There is a silly and improper stoiy connected with Mrs. 
 Holden related by Downes and repeated by Davies, but un- 
 der protest, that had it been observed when the advertise- 
 ment to the new edition of Roscius Anglicanus was written it 
 would have been omitted, but that the advertisement set- 
 ting out that the Original was faithfully followed, it had 
 been retained. Davies, however, proceeds to show its 
 utter absurdity, and any one desiring to see the statement, 
 must refer to his Note, on page 31 of the 1789 edition. 
 
 Sept. 30th, 1662, Pepys writes :—" To the Duke's play- 
 house where we saw ' The Duchess of Malfy,' well performed, 
 but Betterton'and lanthe to admiration." 
 
 This was a tragedy by John Webster, and Downes says, 
 " It was so excellently acted in all parts ; chiefly Duke Fer- 
 dinand and Bolsola ; it filled the house 8 days successively, it 
 proving one of the best of stock tragedies." 
 
 October 20th, 1662, Pepys writes :— " By and by up to 
 the Duke, who was making himself ready, and there young 
 Killigrew did so commend ' The Villaine,' a new play made 
 
LIFE OF THOMAS BETTERTON. 59 
 
 by Tom Porter, and acted only on Saturday at the Duke's- 
 House, as if there had never been any such play come upon 
 the stage. The same yesterday was told me by Captain 
 FeiTers, and this morning afterwards by Dr. Clark, who saw 
 it." 
 
 Genest gives October 20, as the day on which The Villain 
 was brought out at the Duke's, evidently he should have 
 written the 18th, for the 20th was a Monday, and Pepys 
 writing on that day says the play came out on the Satur- 
 day. 
 
 It had a gTcat and unexpected success, drawing full houses 
 for ten days. 
 
 The two heroes of the piece were Betterton, who played 
 Monsieur Brisac, and Sandford, who played the Villain ; the 
 latter is said by Langbaine to have performed the part of 
 Maligni (the Villain) incomparably, and Aston remarks that 
 " he acted strongly with his face," and as King Charles said 
 " was the best villain in the world." 
 
60 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Changes in theatrical tactics — Use of scenery in plays— Earliest notices 
 of scenery for the stage in England — Karly scenery described — 
 Davenant not the originator of scenery, but the reviver of it — 
 Meaning of the term scene in certain plays — Authority of Fleckno 
 — Testimony of Phillips in his " Theatrum Poetarum " — Opposition 
 to the use of scenery, attempts to account for the same — Dave- 
 nant's determination in favour of scenery — Gildon's support of 
 Davenant — The Athenian Stage — Employment of women upon 
 the stage — Men players of ■women's parts in the English, Greek, 
 and Eoman Stages — Opposition to the movement^Lord Macau- 
 lay's denunciation — Opinion divided in the 17th century — Nash's 
 tirade — The first woman on the stage. 
 
 A T this period in the history of the English stage, two 
 very important changes were made in theatrical tac- 
 tics, and which were destined to exercise a wide and lasting 
 influence upon dramatic performances, they were the employ- 
 ment of women as actresses, the female parts having pre- 
 viously been undertaken by men, and the increased use of 
 scenery. We say the increased use of scenery, for it is a 
 fact that such adornments had to a limited extent been used 
 long before this time. Downes speaks very unguardedly 
 about this in the Roscius Anglicanus. He says : — " His 
 Company being now compleat, Sir William, in order to pre- 
 pare Plays to open his Theatre, it being then a Building in 
 Lincoln's-Iun-Fields, rehearsed the First and Second Part of 
 
LIFE OP THOMAS BETTEKTON. 61 
 
 the Siege of Rhodes, and the Wits at Apothecaries' Hall ; 
 and in Spring, 1662 •(1) opened his house with the said Plays 
 having new Scenes and Decorations, being the first that e'er 
 were introduced in England." This certainly was not the 
 time when scenery was first used on the stage, it had pre- 
 viously been used in private theatrical exhibitions, though 
 perhaps of very crude and imperfect construction. Four 
 years before, an entertainment had been presented called 
 " the Cruelty of the Spaniards in Peru, exprest by vocal 
 and instrumental musick, and by Art of Perspective in 
 Scenes." This was represented daily at the Cockpit in 
 Drury Lane in 1658, " a performance," says Davies in his 
 note to Downes, " which Cromwell, from his hatred to the 
 Spaniards, permitted, though he had prohibited all other 
 theatrical exhibitions." 
 
 The first notice to be found of anything like moveable 
 scenes being used in England, is in the narrative of the 
 entertainment given to King James at Oxford, in August, 
 1605, when three plays were performed in the hall of Christ. 
 Church, of which the following account is given by a con- 
 temporary writer : — " The Stage was built close to the 
 upper end of the hall, as it seemed at the first sight ; but 
 indeed it was but a false wall faire painted, and adorned 
 with stately pillars, which pillars would turn about; by 
 reason whereof, with the help of other painted clothes, their 
 stage did vary three times in the acting of one tragedy."* 
 This writer also says, " The same day, Aug. 28th, after 
 supper, about nine of the clock, they began to act the 
 tragedy of Ajax Flagellifer, wherein the stage varied three 
 times. They had all goodly antique apparell, but for all 
 that, it was not acted so well by many degrees as I had seen 
 it in Cambridge. The King was very wearie before he came 
 
62 LIFE OP THOMAS BETTERTON. 
 
 thither, but much more wearied by it, and spoke many 
 words of dislike." 
 
 That painted scenes were used in the University of Ox- 
 ford, and consequently that the word scene had existence, 
 may be proved by the following stage direction annexed to 
 the Prologue to TECHNOGAMIA, &c., by Barton Holiday, 
 1618: "Here the upper part of the scene opened; when 
 straight appeared an heauen, etc. — they descended in order 
 within the scene whiles the musick played."t Where no 
 scenery was available, it was usual to write the names of the 
 different places where the scenes were laid in the 'progress 
 of the play, which were so arranged, as to be visible to the 
 audience. 
 
 Downes is so frequently inaccurate, that it is by no 
 means a matter for wonderment to find him making the 
 erroneous statement that the scenes used by Davenaut at 
 the opening of his house with the Siege of Khodes and The 
 Wits, were the first that ever were introduced in England. 
 Malone is of opinion that he must have meant the first ever 
 exhibited in a regular drama in a public theatre. 
 
 However, we must take care not to be mis-led by the 
 term scene in some of the early accounts, for clearly enough 
 that did not mean painted and moveable views as now 
 understood thereby, but short stage representations or 
 presentments ; that such scenery as we now have (^makin" 
 due allowance of course for modern improvements) was 
 unknown to the early theatre, is pretty well settled by the 
 majority of those who have written upon the subject. 
 Fleckno in his "Short Discourse," 1664-, says, " now for the 
 difference betwixt our theatres and those of former times, 
 
 * Lelaud Coll., vol 2. + Stevens. 
 
LIFE OF THOMAS BETTERTON. 63 
 
 they were but plain and simple, with no other scenes nor 
 decorations of the stage, but only old tapestry, and the 
 stage strewed with rushes ; with their habits accordingly.'' 
 
 A little further on, Fleckno says, "For scenes and 
 machines, they are no new invention; our masques and 
 some of our playes in former times (though not so ordinary) 
 having had as good or rather better than we have now." 
 Malone remarks this apparent contradiction to what he had 
 previously written, and says : — " To reconcile this passage 
 with the foregoing, the author must be supposed to speak 
 here, not of the exhibitions at the public theatres, but of 
 masques and private plays, performed either at court or at 
 noblemen's houses. He does not say ' some of our theatres, 
 but our masques and some of our playes, having had,' &c. 
 We have already seen that Love's Mistakes, or the Queen's 
 Masque, was exhibited with scenes at Denmark house in 
 1636. In the reign of King Charles the First, the perform- 
 ance of plays at court, and at private houses, seems to have 
 been very common, and gentlemen went to great expence in 
 these exhibitions." 
 
 To the authority of Fleckno may be added that of Edward 
 Phillips, who in his "Theatrum Poetarum," 1674, [article 
 Davenant], praises the poet for " the great fluency of his 
 wit and fancy, especially for what he wrote for the English 
 Stage, of which, having laid the foundation before by his 
 musical dramas, when the usual plays were not suffered to 
 be acted, he was the first reviver and improver by painted 
 scenes." (p. 191). 
 
 Wricht also, who was well acquainted with the history of 
 our ancient stage, and had certainly conversed with many 
 persons who had seen theatrical performances before the 
 civil wars, expressly says that " scenes were first introduced 
 
64 LIFK OP THOiSIAS BBITERTON. 
 
 by Sir William Davenant on the publick stage, at the Duke's 
 old theatre in Lincoln-Inn fields. Presently after the 
 Restoration," this writer informs us, "the King's players acted 
 publickly at the Red Bull for some time, and then removed 
 to a newly built playhouse in Vere-street by Clare-market. 
 There they continued for a year or two, and then removed 
 to the theatre-royal in Drury-lane, where thej first made use 
 of SCENES tvliich had been a little before introduced upon the 
 PUBLICK STAGE by Sir William Davenant, at the Duke's Old 
 Theatre, in Lincoln's-Inn Fields, but afterwards very much 
 improved, with the addition of curious machines by Mr. Bet- 
 terton, at the new theatre in Dorset Gardens, to the great 
 expense and continual charge of the players.'' Wright calls it 
 the Duke's old theatre in Lincoln's-Inn Fields, though in fact 
 in 1663 it was a new building, because when he wrote, it had 
 become old, and a new theatre had been built in Lincoln's 
 Inn fields in 1695. He is here speaking of plays and 
 players, and therefore makes no account of the musical 
 entertainments exhibited by Davenant a few years before at 
 Rutland House, and at the Cockpit in Drury Lane, in 
 which a little attempt at scenery had been made. In those 
 pieces, I believe, no stage player performed. * 
 
 In these days of elaborate and gorgeous spectacular enter- 
 tainments, when the mounting of a play is a matter of so 
 much anxious consideration, and when such vast sums are 
 expended thereupon to gratify the public thirst for beautiful 
 scenery, and secure a flattering panegyric from the critics, 
 it sounds strange to hear that in the opinion of some, the 
 scenery "while a great addition of beauty to dramatic en- 
 
 * Malone's Hist, of English Stage. 
 
LIFE OF THOMAS BETTEETON. 65 
 
 tertainments, proved the ruin of 6ne acting." Eichard 
 Fleckno says (in the treatise already quoted), " that which 
 makes our Stage the better, makes our Playes the worse 
 perhaps, they striving now to make them more for sight 
 than hearing ; whence that solid joy of the interior is lost, 
 and that benefit which men formerly received from Playes, 
 from which they seldom or never went away, but far better 
 and wiser than when they came." 
 
 The Bi'ographia Britannica attempts to account for this 
 chiefly in two ways — first, on the part of the public who 
 enjoyed low prices of admission, while the adornments were 
 of the most limited description — " when there was nothing 
 more than a curtain of some very coarse stuiF, upon the 
 drawing up of which the stage appeared either with bare 
 walls, or the sides coarsely matted, or covered with tapestry, 
 so that the place originally represented, and all the changes 
 successively in which the Poets of those times indulged 
 themselves very freely, there was nothing to help the reader's 
 understanding, or to assist the actor's performance but bare 
 imagination, and secondly, on the part of the owners of 
 playhouses, who, notwithstanding the advanced prices found 
 their profits continually sinking. The author of the Historia 
 Histrionica says that the whole sharers in Mr. Hart's Com- 
 pany divided a thousand pounds a year apiece, before the 
 new and expensive decorations came into fashion." 
 
 Sir William Davenant, however, we are told, " considered 
 things in another light ; he was well acquainted with the 
 alterations which the French theatre had received under the 
 auspices of Cardinal Eichlieii, who had an excellent taste ; and 
 he remembered the elegant contrivances of Inigo Jones, which 
 were not at all inferior to the designs of the best French 
 masters ; Sir William v,as likewise sensible, that the monarch 
 
 F 
 
66 LIFE OF THOMAS BETTERTON. 
 
 he served was an exquisite judge of everything of. this kind ; 
 and all these considerations taken together, excited in him a 
 passion for the advancement of the theatre, to which without 
 dispute the great figure it has since made is chiefly owing."* 
 
 There is no doubt that Sir William's arrangements were, 
 many of them, made in view of that knowledge of the French 
 stage which he had derived from the account given by 
 Betterton, who by command of the King paid a visit to 
 Paris to observe how things were there managed that he 
 might judge of what would tend to the improvement of the 
 stage in England. 
 
 In allusion to this matter, Gildon says, " others have laid 
 it to the charge of Mr. Betterton as the first Innovator on 
 our rude Stage as a Crime ; nay as the Destruction of good 
 Playing ; but I think with very little Show of Beasou, and 
 very little knowledge of the Stages of Athens and Eome, 
 where I am apt to believe, was in their flourishing times as 
 great Actors as ever played here before Curtains. For how 
 that which helps the Representation, by assisting the 
 pleasing delusion of the mind in regard of the place, should 
 spoil the acting, I cannot imagine. 
 
 " The Athenian Stage was so much adorned, that the very 
 ornaments or decorations cost the State more money than 
 their wars against the Persians ; and the Eomans, though 
 their Dramatic Poets were much inferior to the Greeks (if 
 we may guess at those who are perished, by those who 
 remain), were yet not behind them in the magnificence of 
 the Theatre to heighten the pleasure of the representation. 
 If this was Mr. Betterton's thought, it was very just; since 
 the audience must be often puzzled to find the place and 
 
 * Biographia Dramatioa. 
 
LIFE OP THOMAS BETTERTON. 67 
 
 situation of the scene, which gives light to the play, and 
 helps to deceive us agreeably, while they saw nothing before 
 them but some linsy woolsy curtains, or at best some piece of 
 old tapestry filled with awkward figures that would almost 
 fright the audience. 
 
 " This, therefore, I must urge as his praise, that he en- 
 deavoured to complete that representation, which before was 
 imperfect." 
 
 The second change in theatrical management to which we 
 alluded as taking place at this period, was the employment 
 of women to take womerCs parts, these having previously 
 been performed by men. 
 
 Downes says of Hart : — " An apprentice to Robinson, an 
 actor who lived before the civil wars ; he afterwards had a 
 Captain's commission, and fought for Charles the First. He 
 acted Women's parts when a boy." 
 
 Of Burt : — "Boy or apprentice to Shanke, and acted in his 
 youth women's parts ; this seems to have been the practice 
 of the old Actors to initiate their apprentices in women's 
 characters." 
 
 Of Mr. Kynaston : — " He acted Arthiope in the Unfor- 
 tunate Lovers ; the Princess in the Mad Lover ; Aglaura ; 
 Ismenia, in the Maid of the Mill ; and several other women's 
 parts ; he being then very young, made a compleat female 
 stage beauty ; performing his parts so well, especially Ar- 
 thiorpe and Aglaura, being parts greatly moving compassion 
 and pity; that it has since been disputable among the 
 judicious, whether any woman that succeeded him so sensibly 
 touched the audience as he." 
 
 It is well known, of course, to scholars, that in the earliest 
 
 times on the Greek stage, women's parts were undertaken 
 
 F 2 
 
68 LIFE OF THOMAS BETTEETON. 
 
 by men. Plutarch mentions in his ' Life of Phocion," that 
 318 years before the Christian era, a tragedy was stopped 
 for some time, by one of the actors who was to personate a 
 queen, refusing to come on the stage without a proper mask 
 and dress, and a number of gaily dressed attendants. The 
 Antigone of Sophocles is also mentioned by Demosthenes in 
 one of his Orations as being represented by Theodoras and 
 Aristodemus. 
 
 It was similar on the Koman stage as it was on the Greek, 
 as shewn by the letters of Cicero to Atticus, and by passages 
 in Horace, women only appearing in the interludes between 
 the acts, some notable instances being recorded by Pliny 
 the elder, of two of them who had done this for an unusual 
 number of years, viz., Lucceia, whose career was said to have 
 extended 100 years, and Galeria Copiola who had acted for 
 90 years. 
 
 This old custom held its ground in England from the 
 earliest dawn of the drama down to the year 1659 (or 1660), 
 when women, as we have said, were introduced for womenh 
 parts. The change, however, was not favourably regarded 
 by all parties, and in some instances it was thought proper 
 to apologize when making it. It was considered by many 
 highly indecorous that females should make their appearance 
 on the public stage,, though when once introduced, the prac- 
 tice soon grew into favour, and became an essential feature 
 of the performance. Macaulay is of opinion that the public 
 morals were thereby seriously deteriorated, and that through 
 it the stage degenerated rapidly until it became the home of 
 everything that was impure. ''The fascination of sex," 
 he says, " was called in to aid the fascination of art ; and 
 the young spectator saw, with emotions unknown to the 
 contemporaries of Shakspeare and Jonson, tender and 
 
LIFE OP THOMAS BETTERTON. 69 
 
 sprightly heroines personated by lovely women. From the 
 day ou which the theatres were re-opened, they became 
 seminaries of vice ; and the evil propagated itself. The 
 profligacy of the representation soon drove away sober people. 
 The frivolous and dissolute who remained required every 
 year stronger and stronger stimulants. Thus the artists 
 corrupted the spectators, and the spectators the artists, till 
 the turpitude of the drama became such as must astonish 
 all who are not aware that extreme relaxation is the natural 
 effect of extreme restraint and that an age of hypocrisy is in 
 the regular couirse of things, followed by an age of impu- 
 dence."* 
 
 It is amusing to notice how men differed two or three 
 centuries ago about this matter. Thomas Nash in his book, 
 '' Pierce Penniless, his Supplication of the Devil " (1592), 
 prided himself on the fact that the English players were 
 " not as the players beyond sea, having common curtizans to 
 play women's parts " ; but Prynne took quite an opposite 
 view of the assumption of women's parts by men, and quoted 
 numerous authorities to shew that "those playes wherein 
 any men act women's parts in woman's apparell must needs 
 be sinful, yea abominable unto Christians."! He en- 
 deavoured to substantiate this by the quotation of Dent. 22, 
 V. 5, " The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto 
 man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment." He 
 proved himself however just as averse to the employment of 
 women upon the stage as Nash was, notwithstanding his 
 tirade against the assumption by one sex of the clothing 
 proper to the other, for shortly after, he wrote that " some 
 
 * Hist. o£ England. C:\ i'^-'^-^' 
 t Histriomatix. 
 
70 LIFE OF THOMAS BETTEETON. 
 
 Frenchwomen, or monsters rather, in Michaelmas term, 1629, 
 attempted to act a French play at the playhouse in Black- 
 friars — an impudent, shameful, unwomanish, graceless, if 
 not more than w h attempt." 
 
 The exact date of the first appearance of women upon the 
 stage is unknown, though it is upon record that as far back 
 as 1056, Mrs. Coleman performed lanthe in the first part of 
 Davenant's Siege of Rhodes, and even earlier than this, 
 just about the time Pryune mentions, the Office book of 
 Philip, Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery, is said to show 
 the existence of a French Theatre in Loudon where " without 
 doubt women acted." 
 
 Malone and Stevens say that "the first woman that 
 appeared in a regular drama on a public stage, performed 
 the part of Desdemona,'' but who the lady was, they declare 
 they are unable to say. 
 
 Pepys writes, Jan. 3rd, 1661, "To the theatre, when was 
 acted ' Beggar's Bush,' it being very well done ; and here 
 the first time that ever I saw women come upon the stage." 
 
 Malone says, " The play of Othello is enumerated by 
 Downes as one of the stock plays of the King's Company on 
 their opening their theatre in Drury Lane, in April, 1663, 
 and it appears from a paper found with Sir Henry Herbert's 
 Office Book, and endorsed by him, that it was one of the 
 stock plays of the same company from the time they began 
 to play without a patent at the Eed Bull in St. John Street. 
 Mrs. Hughes performed the part of Desdemona in 1663, 
 when the company removed to Dniry Lane, but whether 
 she performed with them while they played at the Red 
 Bull, or in Vere Street, near Clare ilarket, has not been 
 ascertained. Perhaps Mrs. Sauuderson made her first essay 
 there, though she afterwards was enlisted in Davenant's 
 
LIFE OF THOMAS BETTERTON. 71 
 
 Company, tlie received tradition is that she was the first 
 English Actress." 
 
 This Mrs. Saunderson was the lady -whom Betterton sub- 
 sequently married, and it may not be out of place here to 
 explain that the appellation mistress was the title given to 
 unmarried ladies before the Revolution; Miss was under- 
 stood in olden times to mean a woman of pleasure ; many 
 mistakes have been made about this and much confusion 
 caused. 
 
 It may probably be taken for granted, at any rate, that 
 this lady was the first actress in Davenant's Company, play 
 ing lanthe in the Siege of Rhodes on the opening of the new 
 theatre in Lincoln's-lnn Fields in April, 1662. 
 
72 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Betterton as Don Henrique in the Adventures of Five Hours — Hia 
 Marriage — Twelfth Night — The Slighted Maid, Betterton as Iberio 
 — The Stepmother — Hamlet revived, renewed admiration of Pepys 
 — Harris's defection — Henry the Eighth — Bondman revived — 
 Henry the Fifth, Betterton as Owen Tudor — Anne of Burgundy — 
 Betterton as Macbeth — Comical Eevenge— The Rivals — Duchess 
 of Malfy revived — Mustapha — The great Plague and Fire of Lon- 
 don — Close of the theatres and suspension of all amusements — 
 Reopening of the theatres — Performance of Cambyses — The Eng- 
 lish Princess— Betterton's pickness— Sir Solomon Single — Better- 
 ton's three plays : Woman made a Justice, The Amorous Widow, 
 The Unjust Judge— Performance of Juliana. 
 
 "OETURNINGr now more particularly to Betterton's per- 
 mances and what the critics thought of him. The 
 record recommences with January the 8th, 166.3, at Lincoln's 
 Inn Fields, when we have performed for the first time, " The 
 Adventures of Five Hours/' with the following cast : — 
 
 Don Henrique Betterton. 
 
 Don Antonio Harris. 
 
 Don Octavio Young. 
 
 Diego Sandford. 
 
 Ernesto Smith. 
 
 Silvio Price. 
 
LIFE OF THOMAS BETTERTON. 73 
 
 The Corrigidor Smith. 
 
 Camilla Mrs. Davenport. 
 
 Porcia Mrs. Betterton. 
 
 Flora Mrs. Long. 
 
 The question of the date of Betterton's marriage seems to 
 start up just here, for Genest says, in his selection from her 
 characters, 1661 — 2, as Mrs. Saunderson, 1663, as Mrs. 
 Betterton. The Biographia Britannica states that this 
 marriage took place in 1670, hut this is clearly wrong, and 
 the mistake has been copied and perpetuated by others. It 
 is indeed a question whether the marriage did not take 
 place earlier than 1663. 
 
 On twelfth night was played Twelfth Night, with great 
 success ; Betterton as Sir Toby Belch. 
 
 Feb. 23rd, 1663, erroneously marked May. 28th, by 
 Genest, was played " The Slighted Maid." Pepys on that 
 day says, " While my wife dressed herself, Creed and I 
 walked out to see what play was acted to-day, and we find 
 it ' The Slighted Mayde ' (a comedy by Sir Eobert Stapyl- 
 ton). To the Duke's house, where we saw it well acted, 
 though the play hath little good in it." 
 
 The cast was : — 
 
 Iberio Betterton. 
 
 Salerno Harris. 
 
 Peralta Underbill. 
 
 • Arviedo Cademan. 
 
 Filomarini . . . Medburn. 
 
 Lugo Smith. 
 
 Corbuto Young. 
 
74 LIFE OP THOMAS BETTERTON. 
 
 Vindex Sandford. 
 
 Gioseppe . . . Noke the elder.- 
 
 Decio Mrs. Gibbs. 
 
 Pyramena. . . .Mrs. Betterton. 
 
 Diacelia Mrs. Long. 
 
 Leandra Mrs. Williams. 
 
 Menan the.... Note the younger. 
 Joan Mrs. Turner. 
 
 Considerable difference of opinion has existed as to the 
 merits of this comedy, gome regarding it as a very good one 
 •with a complicated, but regularly conducted, plot, while 
 Dryden says, " There is no scene in the first act, which 
 might not by as good reason be in the fifth."* 
 
 The Stepmother, by Sir Robert Stapleton was licensed 
 this year (1663) and played at some time therein, but the 
 date seems to be lost. It was a play of but little value, 
 some of its scenes being pronounced decidedly bad. Fila- 
 moor was played by Betterton, and Csesarina by Mrs. 
 Betterton. 
 
 May 28th, 1663, Pepys writes, " To the Duke's house, and 
 there saw Hamlet done, giving us fresh reason never to 
 think enough of Betterton." 
 
 The name of Harris has oocmTed several times in the 
 casts we have given, in connection with that of Betterton < 
 in Pepys, for July 22nd, 1663, we read, " Wotton tells me 
 the reason of Harris's going from Sir William Davenant's 
 
 * Preface to Troilus aud Crcssida. 
 
LIFE OP THOMAS BETTERTON. 75 
 
 house is, that he gi-ew very proud, and demanded 201. for 
 himself extraordinary, more than Betterton or any body else, 
 upon every new play, and 10^. upon every revive ; which, 
 with other things, Sir W. Davenant would not give him, 
 and so he swore he would never act there more, in expecta- 
 tion of being received in the other house ; but the King 
 ■would not suiFer it, upon Sir W. Davenant's desire that he 
 would not, for then , he might shut up house, and that is 
 true. He tells me that his going is at present a great loss 
 to the House, and that he fears he hath a stipend from the 
 other House privately. He tells me that the fellow grew 
 very proud of late, the King and every body else, crying him 
 up so high, and that above Betterton, he being a more 
 ayery man, as he is indeed. But yet Betterton he says, 
 they all say, do act some parts that none but himself can 
 do." 
 
 Jan. 1st, 1664. Pepys writes, "Went to the Duke's 
 house, the first play I have been at these six months accord- 
 ing to my last vowe, and here saw the so much cried-up play 
 of 'Henry the Eighth,' which, though I went with resolution 
 to like it, is so simple a thing, made up of a great many 
 patches, that, besides the shows and processions in it, there 
 is nothing in the world good or well done.'' From this we 
 may conclude that the play was revived in 1663, probably 
 near the end of the year. 
 
 Downes gives a somewhat more favourable account of it, 
 for he says it continued acting fifteen days together, with 
 general applause. He tells us " The part of the King was 
 so right and justly done by Mr. Betterton, he being 
 instructed in it by Sir William, who had it from old Mr. 
 Lowen that had his instructions from Mr. Shakcspear him- 
 
76 LIFE OF THOMAS BETTERTON. 
 
 self, that he dared and would aver none could or ever would 
 come near him in that age, in the performance of that 
 Part." Queen Katharine was played by Mrs. Betterton. 
 We are told that Mr. Harris's performance of Cardinal 
 Wolsey was little inferior to Betterton's performance, " He 
 doing it,'' says Downes, " with such just state, port and 
 mien, that I dare affirm none hitherto have equalled him." 
 All the players were newly clothed in proper habits. The 
 King's was new, and all the Lords, the Cardinals, the 
 Bishops, the Doctors, Proctors, Lawyers, and Tipstaves. 
 
 July 28th, 1664, Pepys says, "Home and then abroad, 
 and seeing the Bondman upon the posts, I went to the 
 Duke's House and saw it acted. It is true for want of 
 practice, they have many of them forgot their parts a little ; 
 but Betterton and my poor lanthe, outdo all the world." 
 
 August 13th, 1664, Pepys writes, '■ To a new play at the 
 Duke's House, of ' Henry the Fifth,' a most noble play, writ 
 by my Lord Orrery : wherein Betterton, Harris, and 
 lanthe's parts, are most incomparably wrote and done, 
 and the whole play the most full of height and raptures of 
 wit and sense that I ever heard." 
 
 The cast was (according to the print of 1668) : — 
 
 King Henry Hams. 
 
 Owen Tudor Betterton. 
 
 Duke of Burgundy Smith. 
 
 Duke of Bedford Underbill. 
 
 Count of Blamount Medbourne. 
 
 Dauphin Young. 
 
 Constable of France James Noke. 
 
LIFE OF THOMAS BETTERTON. 77 
 
 Queen of France Mrs. Long. 
 
 Princes Catharine Mrs. Betterton. 
 
 Anne of Burgundy Mrs. Davis (Genest). 
 
 Downes fixes the date of this play several years later, 
 erroneously so, according to Genest, who says it was then 
 only revived. Downes's cast varies somewhat from the above, 
 he says the Duke of Bedferd was played by Mr. Lilliston 
 and the Queen by Mrs. Betterton. 
 
 Nov. 5th, 1664, — Betterton played Macbeth, — "A pretty 
 good play," says Pepys, " but admirably acted." 
 
 Somewhere about this time was acted " Comical Revenge; 
 or. Love in a Tub." The company cleared in the month a 
 thousand pounds by this play, Betterton performing Lord 
 Beaufort ; and Mrs. Betterton, Graciana. The author was 
 Etheridge, and the play was licensed for printing, July 8th, 
 1664. Pepys says it was played Jan. 4th, 1665. 
 
 Also was acted at this time " The Rivals," by Sir William 
 Davenant, says Downes, but Davies says, in a note in the 
 " Roscius,'' " I know not on what authority this Play of The 
 Rivals is ascribed to Davenant ; it is not in the folio collec- 
 tion of his works, nor does the 4to edition of it, 1668, bear 
 his name. It is a very indifferent alteration of Shakspeare 
 and Fletcher's Two Noble Kinsmen, and contains several 
 Songs, (fee, not in the original ; particularly a hunting- 
 dialogue sung by Forresters, Hunters and Huntresses : the 
 ideas and hunting terms in which are entirely borrowed from 
 Ben Jonson's Pastoral of the Sad Shepherd." Downes, 
 however, seems to regard it more favourably, at least in 
 
78 LIFE OP THOMAS BETTERTON. 
 
 some parts. He says it had a very fine interlude in it, of 
 vocal and instrumental music, mixed with very diverting 
 dances ; and that Mr. Price, introducing the dancing by a 
 short comic prologue, gained him an universal applause of 
 the town. The part of Theocles was done by Mr. Harris ; 
 Philander, by Mr. Betterton ; Cunopes, the Jailor, by Mr. 
 Underbill ; and all the "Women's parts admirably acted j 
 chiefly Celia, a Shepherdess, being mad for love ; especially 
 in singing several wild and mad songs ; My Lodging is on 
 the Cold Ground, &c. He does not give the name of the 
 lady who sang this latter song, and so charmed the King 
 that he made her at once one of his favourites, and roused 
 the vindictive jealousy of Nell Gwyn, who by a trick managed 
 to secure her departure from the royal presence, though 
 with a pension of a thousand pounds per annum ; she was 
 the beautiful Miss Davies, and the name of the character 
 she played was not Celia, as Downes gives it, but Celania. 
 The play was admirably performed, and had a run of nine 
 days, with a full audience. 
 
 One date, at least, of the performance of this play is fixed 
 by Pepys. On Deo. 2nd, 1664, he writes, — "After dinner 
 with my wife and Mercer to the Duke's House, and there 
 saw ' The Eivalls,' which I had seen before, but the play 
 not 'good, nor anything but the good actings of Betterton 
 and his wife and Harris." 
 
 Webster's " Dutchess of Malfy " was also revived at this 
 period, with the following cast : — 
 
 Duke Ferdinand Harris. 
 
 Bosola.. Betterton. 
 
 Antonia...: Smith. 
 
 Cardinal Young. 
 
LIFE OP THOMAS BETTEETON. i3 
 
 Dutchess of Malfy Mrs. Betterton. 
 
 Julia Mrs. Gibbs. 
 
 Downes says, " This Play was so exceedingly excellently 
 acted in all parts ; chiefly Duke Ferdinand and Bosola ; it 
 filled the House 8 days successively; it proving one of the 
 best Stock Tragedies," 
 
 April 3rd, 1665, Pepys says, " To a play at the Duke's, of 
 my Lord Orrery's, called Mustapha, which being not good, 
 made Betterton's part and lanthe's but ordinary too. All 
 the pleasure of the Play was, the King and my Lady 
 Castlemaine were there ; and pretty witty Nell Gwynn, at 
 the King's House, and the younger Marshall sat next us ; 
 which pleased me mightily." 
 
 The cast on this occasion was : — 
 
 Solyman the Magnificent Betterton. 
 
 Mustapha, his son Harris. 
 
 Zanger, do Smith. 
 
 Cardinal Young. 
 
 Eoxalana Mrs. Betterton. 
 
 Previously by Mrs. Davenant and 
 afterwards by Mrs. Wiseman. 
 
 Queen of Hearts Mrs. Davis. 
 
 A good play, well mounted and well performed. 
 
 For some time after this all is a blank in dramatic 
 history ; this was the terrible plague year and men were in 
 no humour for theatrical or any other recreation, even had 
 it been safe to assemble for such a purpose. Pepys writes 
 on April 30th : — " Great fears of the sickness here in the 
 
80 LIFE OF THOMAS BBTTERTON. 
 
 City, it being said that two or three houses are already shut 
 up." This is one of the earliest indications of what was in 
 store for the unhappy metropolis, and it was not long before 
 the full horrors of the situation burst upon the inhabitants. 
 Week after week saw the bills of mortality rising with 
 fearful rapidity, from two or three the deaths from the foul 
 pestilence rose to scores, from scores to hundreds, and from 
 hundreds to thousands. All who could leave the city did 
 so, but there were numbers who had not the facilities or the 
 means for flying from the plague-stricken place, and these 
 had to remain and face the terrors and dangers surrounding 
 them. Instead of the notice announcing the presentation 
 of some amusement or other, appeared the warnings of phy- 
 eicians and the proclamations of the authorities ; instead of 
 the open door, through wliich went in and out merry and 
 active passengers, was the closed portal with its red cross 
 and touching inscription, " Lord have mercy upon us,'' and 
 at night, instead of the coach and waggon conveying the 
 pleasure-seekers to the houses of entertainment, was the 
 rumbling cart with its torchmen, on its way to the great 
 pits where hundreds found a common grave, and the doleful 
 cry, " Bring out your dead ! " The theatre was closed, and 
 all other entertainments at which men were likely to 
 assemble in numbers, and so propagate disease, including 
 fairs, were forbidden. 
 
 The sickness, in due course, reached its height, and then 
 gradually subsided. Before, however, the city had time to 
 resume its usual appearance, indeed, before all danger from 
 the plague was removed, came the further disaster of the 
 terrible iiro which raged with a fury that threatened to 
 sweep away a greater part, if not the whole, of the town. 
 Not until Plague and Fire had been exterminated was any 
 
iilFE OP THOMAS BETTEETON. 81 
 
 attempt made to recommence theatrical performances, when, 
 Downes writes, " After a year and a half's discontinuance 
 they (the Company) by Command began with the same play 
 again at Court (Mustapha) the Christmas after the Fire in 
 1666 J and from thence continued to act at their theatre in 
 Lincoln's-Inn-Fields." Pepys, however, while contradicting 
 this, also contradicts himself, for he says on Dec. 7th, 1666, 
 " To the King's Playhouse, where two acts were almost 
 done when I came in ; and there I sat with my cloak about 
 my face and saw the remainder of ' The MEQrd's Tragedy,' a 
 good play and well acted, especially by the younger Marshall, 
 who is become a pretty good actor, and is the first flay I 
 have seen in either of the two houses, since before the great 
 •plague, they having acted now about fourteen days pub- 
 lickly. But I was in mighty pain, lest I should be seen by 
 toybody to be at a play." Two months before this, viz., on 
 October 29th, he had written, " To Whitehall, and into the 
 new playhouse there, the first time I ever was there, and 
 the first play I have seen since before the great plague. By 
 and by, the King and Queen, Duke and Duchess, and all 
 the great ladies of the Court ; which indeed was a fine sight. 
 But the play being ' Love in a Tub,' a silly play, and though 
 done by the Duke's people, yet having neither Betterton nor 
 his wife, and the whole thing done ill, and being ill also, I 
 had no manner of pleasure in the play : Besides, the House, 
 though very fine, yet bad for the voice for hearing. The 
 sight of the ladies indeed, was exceedingly noble ; and above 
 all, my lady Castlemaine. The play done by ten o'clock." 
 
 We are told that the first play after the theatre was fairly 
 reopened was Cambyses, a tragedy, by Mr. Settle ; Betterton 
 playing Cambyses ; Harris, Prexaspes the General; Young, 
 
82 LIFE OF THOMAS BETTEBTON. 
 
 Prince Smerdis ; and Mrs. Betterton, Mandana. Also that 
 the play was " well acted and succeeded for six days with a 
 full audience." 
 
 Several entries occur in Pepys' diary of visits to the 
 Duke's house, and of the performance of certain plays, in 
 the early part of 1667, but no mention is made of Betterton, 
 though probably, he acted in most of them. 
 
 Genest gives March 7th as the date of the performance of 
 the " English Princess ; or, the Death of Eichardthe 3rd," a 
 tragedy, by Caryl. Excellently acted, says Downes, in every 
 part, chiefly King Eichard, by Mr. Betterton ; Duke of 
 Eichmond, by Mr. Harris j Sir "William Stanley, by Mr. 
 Smith. 
 
 Davies has a note in the Eoscius to the effect that " Bet- 
 terton's action must have been very excellent to support so 
 wretched a piece, of which the author has not borrowed a 
 line from Shakespeare." 
 
 Pepys was present at this performance and his opinion oil 
 it was, in some respects, similar to that of Davies. Hf! 
 saySj " To the Dulie's Playhouse, and saw ' The Englisl:, 
 Princess, or Eichard the Third,' a most sad, melancholji 
 play, and pretty good ; but nothing eminent in it, as some 
 tragedies are ; only little Miss Davies did dance a jig after 
 the end of the play, and these telling the next day's play ; sci 
 that it come in by force only to please the company to seej 
 her dance in boys' clothes." 
 
 October 16th, 1G67, Pepys writes:— "To the Duke of 
 York's house ; and 1 was vexed to see Young, who is but ai 
 bad actor at best, act Macbeth in the room of Betterton:; 
 who, poor man ! is sick : but Lord ! what a prejudice it 
 
^^va Kji' THOMAS BEa^TERTON. 83 
 
 ■wrought in me against the whole play, and everybody else 
 agreed in disliking this fellow." 
 
 March 3rd, 1669, was acted Carrol's " Sir Solomon Single; 
 or, the Cautious Coxcomb." 
 
 Sir Solomon Betterton. 
 
 Sir Arthur Addel Nokes. 
 
 Peregrine Woodland Harris. 
 
 Young Single Smith. 
 
 Wary Sandford. 
 
 Timothy Underhill. 
 
 Mrs. Betty Mrs. Johnson. 
 
 Mrs. Julia Mrs. Betterton. 
 
 The versatility of Betterton's genius is said to have been 
 conspicuously shewn in his rendering of this part, which was 
 altogether unsuited to his usual style of acting. The play 
 was said to have been singularly well acted and to have run 
 twelve days together. 
 
 We now come across three plays described by Downes as 
 written by Betterton and acted about this time. 
 
 1. — " Woman made a Justice." Mrs. Long acting " the 
 Justice so charmingly, and the Comedy being perfect and 
 justly acted, so well pleased the audience, it continued 
 acting 14 days together: the prologue being spoke to it 
 each day." 
 
 2, — " The Amorous Widow ; or, Wanton Wife." 
 
 Lovermore Betterton. 
 
 Cunningham Smith. 
 
 Barnaby Brittle Nokes. 
 
 The Widow Mrs. Betterton. 
 
 Mrs. Brittle Mrs. Long. 
 
 a 
 
 o 
 
84 LIFE OP THOMAS BETTEETON. 
 
 3. — " The Unjust Judge ; or, Appius and Virginia." 
 
 Virginius Betterton. 
 
 Appius „. Harris. 
 
 Virginia Mrs. Betterton. 
 
 " All the parts," says Downes, " exactly performed. It 
 lasted successively 8 days, and very frequently acted after- 
 wards.'' 
 
 "The precise year, in which each of Betterton's three 
 plays came out, cannot be ascertained — the point however is 
 nothing material, as at this part of the history of the stage, 
 it would be difficult, or rather impossible, to state the time 
 at which every play came out with any degree of exactness 
 — Downes has certainly not arranged the plays in chrono- 
 logical order — he rarely states the exact time of their re- 
 presentation ; and he is sometimes so vague in his 
 expressions, that no stress can be laid on what he says — ^yet, 
 as he is probably right in most cases, he has been followed, 
 when no reason has appeared to the contrary — in many 
 instances there is nothing to guide one, but the date of 
 publication ; and all that one learns from that date with 
 certainty, is, that the 'play had, wholly or in part, lost its 
 attraction on the stage, and was therefore committed to the 
 press — the time that intervened between the representation 
 and publication varied according to circumstances."* 
 
 Licensed Sept. 8th, 1671, and played near the end of the 
 Company's performances at that theatre. 
 
 * Genest. 
 
LIFE OF THOMAS BETTBRTON. 85 
 
 " Juliana ; or, the Priucess of Poland," by Crowne. 
 
 Ladislaus Betterton. 
 
 Demetrius Young, 
 
 Cardinal Harris. 
 
 Sharnofsky Smith. 
 
 Cassonofsky Sandford. 
 
 Landlord Angel. 
 
 Juliana Mrs. Betterton. 
 
 Paulina Mrs. Long. 
 
 Considered a very poor play, with plot confused, and 
 language frequently bad. 
 
86 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 A new theatre projected and built ; opposition to it ; its character — 
 Opening performance.Sir Martin Mar-all — Comical Revenge — King 
 Charles the 8th of France — Mr. Anthony — Epsom Wells — Mack- 
 heth — The Forced Marriage — The Morning Eamble — Empress of 
 Morocco — Hamlet revived — -Betterton's excellence in this character 
 the Tatler on, and Rowe — Alcibiades — Ibrahim the Illustrious 
 Bassa — Man of the Mode — Don Carlos — Madam Fickle — Pastor 
 Fido — The Libertine — Titus and Berenice — Antony and Cleopatra 
 — Circe — The Rover — Siege of Babylon — Abdelazer — Destruction 
 of Troy — Sir Patient Fancy — Friendship in Fashion — Squire Old- 
 sapp — Counterfeits — Timon of Athens — ^dipus — Troilus and 
 Cressida — Feigned Courtesans — CsesarBorgia — The Orphans— Loyal 
 General — Caius Marius — Theodosius — Loving Enemies — Henry 
 VI., part 1 — King Lear — Lucius Junius Brutus — Soldier's Fortune 
 — Spanish Fryar — City Heiress — Princess of Cleve — Venice Pre- 
 served — Virtue Betrayed — Quarrels amongst the Players — Artifice 
 of the Duke's Company — Agreement with Hart and Kynaston, the 
 Deed— Gildon's Defence of the Scheme — Performance of the Duke 
 of Guise — Rule a Wife — Plain Dealer — King and no King — Valen- 
 tinian — Julius Ceesar revived — Lucky Chance — Injured Lovers — 
 Bury Fair — Massacre of Paris — Don Sebastian — Prophetess — Am- 
 phitryon. 
 
 rPHE theatre in Lincolii's-Iun where the subject of our me- 
 moir has hitherto been performing, proving by this time 
 to be too small and inconvenient both for actors and audience, 
 a new one was projected by Sir William Daveuaut in Dorset 
 
LIFE OP THOlfAS BETTEKTON. 87 
 
 Gardens, Salisbury Court, Fleet Street. He was able to do 
 this under his patent of 1662, which granted power to build 
 in the cities of London and Westminster, or the suburbs 
 thereof. The design is attributed to Sir Christopher Wren, 
 whose attention might have been directed by Davenant, in 
 his life-time, to the giving effect to the new scenery ; and 
 therefore this elegant structure was as richly adorned with- 
 out as within. The front had a southern aspect, with a por- 
 tico, and two smaller arches for the convenience of carriages. 
 The building and scenery cost £5000. Among other fanci- 
 ful ornaments, there were busts of our principal dramatic 
 writers, which time, or the gods, and perhaps both, muti- 
 lated. Durfey in Collin's Walk through London, 1690, says, 
 « Collin, 
 
 saw each box with beauty crown'd. 
 
 And pictures deck the structure round ; 
 Ben, Shakespear, and the learned rout. 
 With noses some, and some without." 
 
 Dryden alludes to this exhibition of the poets in the fol- 
 lowing couplet of an Epilogue, spoken on opening the new 
 house in Drury Lane, 1674 : — 
 
 " Though in their house the Poet's heads appear, 
 We hope we may presume their wits are here." 
 
 Though this theatre was probably erected upon nearly the 
 same spot where dramatic exhibitions had, with only occa- 
 sional intermissions, existed for nearly a century, the project 
 was not carried into effect without considerable opposi- 
 tion from the citzens. Baxter says :-^ " A new playhouse 
 
60 LIFE OF THOMAS BETTBETON. 
 
 being built in Salisbury Court, Fleet Street, called the Duke 
 of York's, the Lord Mayor, it is said, desired of the King that 
 it might not be, the youth of the city being already so cor- 
 rupted by sensual pleasures ; but he obtained not his end,'' 
 and the theatre was opened in 1671, by Davenant's widow 
 and sons, into whose hands the patent had fallen. 
 
 The new theatre is said to have been built by subscription 
 
 and at an unusual expense, and that the subscribers were 
 
 called Adventurers,who Genest remarks are said to have been 
 
 in a greater fright about the success of the theatre than ever 
 
 poet was about the success of his play. 
 
 ' /^ r. Lady Davenant, Sir William's widow, was really at the 
 
 ^ head of affairs at the theatre, but her son Charles acted for 
 
 tL^ her, and Betterton and Harris took a leading part in the 
 
 management of the Company. 
 
 The new building was opened November 9th, with Sir 
 Martin Mar-all, a comedy by J. Dryden, which proved highly 
 successful, although it had been acted 30 times at least at 
 Lincoln's-Inn, and several times at Court. 
 
 Then came " The Comical Eevengc, or. Love m a Tub," 
 performed two days to full ■ audiences. 
 
 The first new play brought out at the new theatre was 
 " King Charles VIII. of France," a rhyming play of an his- 
 torical character, by J. Crowne. " It was all new cloathed," 
 says Downes, " yet lasted but sis days together, but was 
 acted now and then afterwards." 
 
 Charles the King Betterton, 
 
 Ferdinand Harris. 
 
 Prince of Salerne Smith. 
 
LIFE OF THOMAS BETTHRTON. 89 
 
 Alphonso Medburne. 
 
 Trivultio Sandford. 
 
 Ascanio Youno-. 
 
 Ghost Cademan. 
 
 Isabella Mrs. Betterton. 
 
 Julia Mrs. Dixon. 
 
 Cornelia Mrs. Slaughter. 
 
 Irene Mrs. Shadwell. 
 
 At some time or other near this Betterton played Art, and 
 Mrs. Betterton, Mrs. Isabella in Anthony, but it is difficult 
 to fix the date. Genest says we may be nearly certain that 
 it was in the season of" 1671 — 72. 
 
 In 1672, at Dorset Gardens was acted, Shadwell's excellent 
 play, " Epson Wells," a piece having so much true wit in it, 
 that it was greatly admired by foreigners as well as English- 
 men. Betterton played Bevil, and Mrs. Betterton, Mrs. Jilt. 
 Downes says Mrs. Johnson, who acted Carolina, " danced a 
 jig so charming well, Love's power, in a little time after, 
 ooerc'd her to dance more charming elsewhere." 
 
 Then came Macbeth with both Betterton and his wife as 
 Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. 
 
 Afterwards " The forced Marriage, or Jealous Bridegroom," 
 a play of but little account by Mrs. Behn. Betterton as Al- 
 cippus, and Mrs. Betterton as Erminia. 
 
 In 1673 was acted "The Morning Eamble, or Town Hu. 
 mours," by Nevil Payne acoordirig to Downes, but described 
 as anonymous by Baker, and said generally to be a tolerably 
 
90 LIFE OP THOMAS BETTEETON. 
 
 good comedy. The character of Townlove played by Better- 
 ton. 
 
 The Empress of Morocco was played soon after this with 
 the following Cast : — 
 
 Crimalhaz Betterton. 
 
 Muley Hamet Smith. 
 
 Muley Labas Harris. 
 
 Hametalhaz Medboume. 
 
 Laula (Empress) Mrs. Betterton. 
 
 Mariamne Mrs. Mary Lee. 
 
 Morena Mrs. Johnson. 
 
 This is said to have been the first play that was ever sold 
 in England for two shillings, and the first that was ever 
 printed with cuts. It was played with great success, and 
 created much jealousy in the minds of the author's contem- 
 poraries. 
 
 Soon after the above we have Hamlet revived. Hamlet of 
 course was played by Betterton, while his wife took the part 
 of Ophelia ; Medboume acting the Ghost ; Smith, Horatio, 
 and Crosby the King. 
 
 Great as Betterton was in all the characters he played, he 
 seems to have been greatest in that of the Prince in this 
 play. Testimony to this effect comes from all quarters, and 
 the highest praise is constantly lavished upon him. In the 
 10 I Tatler for instance we have the following : — 
 ..,^.- " I was going on iu reading my letter when I was inter- 
 ( ^ rupted by Mr. Greenhat, who had been this evening at the 
 
 play of Hamlet. Mr. Biclicrstaff, said he, had you been -to- 
 
 
LIFE OF THOMAS BBTTERTON. 91 
 
 night at the play-house, you had seen the froce of Action to 
 perfection. Your admired Mr. Betterton behaved himself so 
 well, that though now about seventy, he acted Youth, and 
 by the prevalent power of proper manner, gesture and voice, 
 appeared through the whole Drama, a youth of great expec- 
 tation, vivacity, and enterprise. The Soliloquy where he 
 began the celebrated sentence of To he, or not to he ; the ex- 
 postulation where he explains with his mother in her closet, 
 the noble ardor after seeing his father's ghost, and his gener- 
 ous distress for the death of Ophelia, are each of them cir- 
 cumstances which dwell strongly upon the minds of the au- 
 dience, and would certainly affect their behaviour on any 
 parallel occasions in their own lives. Pray, Mr. BickerstafiF, 
 let us have virtue thus represented on the stage with its 
 proper ornaments, or let these ornaments be added to her in 
 places more sacred." 
 
 Eowe, likewise, in his life of Shakespeare, offers a similar 
 tribute of praise and admiration : — 
 
 " I cannot leave Hamlet without taking notice of the ad- 
 vantage with which we have seen this masterpiece of Shake- 
 spear distinguish itself upon the stage, by Mr. Betterton's fine 
 performance of that part. A man, who, though he had no 
 other good qualities, as he has a great many, must have 
 made his way into the esteem of all men of letters, by this 
 only excellency. No man is better acquainted with Shake- 
 spear's manner of expression ; and indeed he has studied him 
 so well, and is so much a master of him, that whatever part 
 of his he performs, he does it as if it had been writen on pur- 
 pose for him, and that the author had exactly conceived it 
 as he plays it. I must own a particular obligation to him, 
 for the most considerable part of the passages relating to this 
 
92 LIFE OF THOMAS BETTERTON. 
 
 life, which I have here transmitted to the public : his venera- 
 tion for the memory of Shakespear having engaged him to 
 make a journey into Warwickshire, on purpose to gather up 
 what remains he could of a name for which he had so great 
 a veneration." 
 
 During 1674, "No new character," is reported of Bet- 
 terton. ' /xeJiest 
 
 In 1675 at Dorset Gardens, was played Alcibiades, a 
 tragedy by Thomas Otway, with the following Cast : — 
 
 Alcibiades Betterton. 
 
 Tissaphernes Sandford. 
 
 Theramnes Harris. 
 
 Agis (King of Sparta) Medbourne. 
 
 Patroclus Crosby. 
 
 Deidamia (Queen of Sparta) Mrs. Mary Lee. 
 
 Timandra Mrs. Betterton. 
 
 Drasilla Mrs. Barry. 
 
 The chief defects in this play arose, it is said, from Ot- 
 way's ignorance of Spartan manners. 
 
 Licensed May 4th, 1676, and played almost same time, 
 Ibrahim, the Illustrious Bassa, a tragedy of little quality, by 
 Settle, founded according to Langbaine, on Scudery's Eo 
 mance, Ibrahim. Solyman was played by Betterton, and 
 Isabella by Mrs. Betterton. 
 
 Licensed June 3rd, 1676, ' The Man of the Mode, or Sir 
 Fopling Flutter," a comedy by Etherege, Betterton as Dori- 
 mant, Mrs. Betterton as Bellinda. 
 
LIFE OP THOMAS BETTEETON. 93 
 
 Licensed June 15th, 1676, " Don Carlos, Prince of Spain," 
 a tragedy by Thomas Otway. This was the second work of 
 the Author, and met with considerable success and applause; 
 notwithstanding it is pronounced by Genest to be an indiffe- 
 rent tragedy in rhyme. 
 
 Booth writing to Aaron Hill, says : — " Mr. Betterton ob- 
 served to me, many years ago, that Don Carlos succeeded 
 much better than either Venice Preserved, or The Orphan) 
 and was infinitely more applauded and followed for many 
 years." That it was successful, whatever its merits, is 
 undeniable, and additional testimony is found in Lord 
 Rochester's lampoon in his "Trial of the Poets for the 
 Bays." He says 
 
 " Tom Otway came next, Tom Shadwell's dear Zany, 
 And swears for Heroicks, he writes best of any, 
 Don Carlos his pocket so amply had filled, 
 That his mange was quite cur'd, and his lice were all 
 killed." 
 
 The play which is full of love scenes from beginning to 
 end, refers of course to Spanish life, but is aiBrmed by Lang- 
 baine to be a following of the French novel of Don Carlos. 
 The Cast was as follows : — 
 
 King Philip the 2nd Betterton. 
 
 Don Carlos Smith. 
 
 Don John of Austria Harris. 
 
 Rin Gomez Medburne. 
 
 Queen of Spain Mrs. Mary Lee. 
 
 Duchess of Eboli Mrs. Shadwell. 
 
 Henrietta Mrs. Gibbs. 
 
94 LIFE OP THOMAS BETTEBTON, 
 
 Licensed Nov. 20th, 167G, "Madam Fickle, or the Witty 
 False One," a comedy by Thomas Durfey. This Author, if, 
 he may be so called, has always been considered one of the 
 greatest plagiarists that ever lived,and in confirmation there, 
 of, the play before us is said to be wholly made up from 
 other comedies, such as the Antiquary, the Walks of Isling- 
 ton, the Fawn, etc. Betterton played the part of Lord Bel- 
 lamour. 
 
 Licensed Dec. 26th, 1676, "Pastor Fido, or the Faithful 
 Shepherd," a translation from the Italian by Mr. Dymock. 
 Betterton as Sylvano, a discontented Shepherd, and Mrs. 
 Betterton as Amaryllis. 
 
 Betterton seems also to have play the part of Don John in 
 ' The Libertine," and by his performance, says Downes, to 
 have crowned the play." 
 
 Licensed Feb. 19th, 1677, "Titus and Berenice," and 
 played with Betterton as the Emperor. 
 
 Licensed April 24th, 1677, "Antony and Cleopatra," a 
 tragedy in rhyme by Sir Charles Sedley. Betterton as An- 
 tony, and Mrs. Betterton as Octavia. 
 
 Licensed June 18th, 1677, " Circe," by Dr. Davenant. 
 Betterton as Orestes, Mrs. Betterton as Iphigenia. 
 
 Licensed July 2nd, 1677, " The Eover, or the Banished 
 Cavaliers," a comedy by Mrs. Behn. Betterton as Belville, 
 Mrs. Betterton as Florinda. 
 
LIFE OP THOMAS BBTTEETON. 95 
 
 Licensed Nov. 2nd, 1677, " The Siege of Babylon," called 
 by some a ' wretched ' tragedy, by Pordage. Betterton as 
 Orontes, Mrs. Betterton as Statira. 
 
 Played at the close of 1677, "Abdelazer, or the Moor's 
 Eevenge," by Mrs. Behn. Betterton as Abdelazer, and Mrs, 
 Betterton as Florella. 
 
 Licensed Jan. 29th, 1678, " The Destruction of Troy," by 
 Banker, a play not at all favourably regarded by the critics, 
 but according to Baker, " far from being a despicable piece.'' 
 Betterton as Achilles, Mrs Betterton as Andromache. 
 
 Licensed Jan. 1678, " Sir Patient Fancy," by Mrs. Behn. 
 Betterton as Wittmore, Mrs. Betterton as Isabella. 
 
 Licensed May 31st, 1678, " Friendship in Fashion," a very 
 good comedy by Otway. Betterton played Coodvile. 
 
 Licensed June 28th, 1678, " Squire Oldsapp, or the Night 
 Adventurers," by Durfey. Betterton as Welford. 
 
 Licensed August 29th, 1678, " Counterfeits," a comedy 
 ascribed by some to Leonard, which Langbaine throws doubt 
 upon, on the ground that it is too good for his writing. 
 
 Betterton played the part of Vitelli. 
 
 Played also in 1678, " Timon 'of Athens, or the Man 
 Hater," by Shadwell. Betterton as Timon, Mrs. Betterton 
 as Evandra. 
 
 Played early in 1679, "(Edipus,"by Dryden and Lee, 
 
96 LIFK OF THOMAS BETTKRTON. 
 
 called by the Biographia Dramatioa, a very excellent tragedy, 
 and by Genest a poor production, although he gives an un- 
 usually long account of it. Betterton as GEdipus, Mrs. 
 Betterton as Jocasta. 
 
 Entered on the Stationer's Books, April 14th, 1679, " Tro- 
 ilus and Cressida, or Truth found too late," Betterton as 
 Troilus. 
 
 Near this time also, " Feigned Couterzans, or a Night's 
 Intrigue,'' considered a good comedy, by Mrs. Behn. Bet- 
 terton as Galliard. 
 
 Early in 1680, "Csesar Borgia," by Lee, a tragedy con- 
 taining many excellencies, with a like number of defects, and 
 which though highly successful at first, was before long with- 
 drawn from the list of acting dramas. Betterton played 
 Csesar Borgia. 
 
 Also ahout this time, " The Orphans, or the Unhappy 
 Marriage," a tragedy by Otway, founded upon a novel called 
 English Adventures. Betterton as Castalio. 
 
 Also " The Loyal General," by Tate. Betterton as Theo- 
 crin. 
 
 Also " The History and Fall of Caius Marius," by Otway, 
 who admits that half the play is taken from Eomeo and 
 Juliet. Betterton as Caius Marius. 
 
 Also " Theodosius, or the Force of Love ; " Betterton as 
 Varanes; Mrs. Betterton as Pulcheria. 
 
LIFE OP THOMAS BETTEETON. 9 1 
 
 Also " Loving Enemies," a comedy by Maidwell. Better- 
 ton as Lorenzo. 
 
 In 1681, was acted " Henry 6th, part first,'' made up from 
 Shakespeare by Crowne. Betterton as the Duke of Glouces- 
 ter. 
 
 Also " King Lear,'' as altered from Shakespeare by Tate. 
 Betterton as Lear. 
 
 Also " Lucius Junius Brutus," by Nathaniel Lee, highly 
 commended by Langbaine and pronounced by the Biographia 
 Dramatica, a very fine play. Betterton as Brutus, Mrs. Bet- 
 terton as Lucretia. Prohibited the third night. 
 
 Also, "The Soldier's Fortune," by Otway, acted with 
 great success. Betterton as Captain Beaxigard. 
 
 Also '•' The Spanish Fryar, or the Double Discovery," by 
 Dryden, a play which Downes says was admirably acted and 
 produced vast profit to the company. Betterton as Torris- 
 mond, Mrs. Betterton as Elvira. 
 
 Also " The City Heiress, or Sir Timothy Treat-all," a good 
 comedy by Mrs. Behn. Betterton as Tom Wilding. 
 
 Also " The Princess of Clive," by Nat. Lee, abominably 
 indelicate in some of its parts. Betterton as Duke Nemours, 
 Mrs Betterton as Elianor. 
 
 April 21st, 1682, "Venice Preserved," by Otway, founded 
 
 BE 
 
98 LIFE OF THOMAS BETTERTON. 
 
 on the history of the Spanish Conspiracy against the Repub- 
 lic of Venice, in 1618, Betterton as Jaffier. 
 
 Also " Virtue Betrayed, or Anna Bullen," by Bankes, 
 Betterton as Piercy. 
 
 Just at this time it became more evident than ever that 
 the stage experienced a great loss of strength from the exis- 
 tence of the two companies, or at any rate one theatre 
 attained to a prosperity veiy much superior to that of the 
 other, " notwithstanding all the industry of the Patentee 
 and Managers " (of the Bute's), says Gildon, " it seems the 
 King's House then carried the vogue of the town, and the 
 Linooln's-Inn-Fields House being not so commodious, the 
 Players and other Adventurers built a much more magnifi- 
 cent theatre in Dorset Gardens ; and fitted it for all the 
 machines and decorations the skill of those times could 
 afford. This likewise proving less effectual than they hoped, 
 other arts were employed, and the political maxim of 
 divide and govern being put in practice, the feuds and 
 animosities of the King's company were so well improved, 
 as to produce an union betwixt the two Patents. To bring 
 this design about, the following Agreement was signed by 
 the Parties hereafter mentioned. 
 
 Memorandum, October 14, 1681. 
 
 " It was then agreed upon between Dr. Charles Davenant, 
 Thomas Betterton, Gent., and William Smith, Gent., of the 
 one Part, and Charles Hart, Gent., and Edward Kynaston, 
 Gent, on the other Part— That the said Charles Davenant, 
 Thomas Betterton, and William Smith, do pay or cause to 
 be paid, out of the profits of acting, unto Charles Hart and 
 Edward Kynaston, five shillings a piece for every day there 
 
LIFE OP THOMAS BETTEETON. 99 
 
 shall be any Tragedies, or Comedies, or other Eepresentations 
 acted at the Duke's theatre in Salisbury Court, or whenever 
 the Company shall act during the respective lives of the 
 said Charles Hart and Edward Kynaston, excepting the 
 days the young men or young women play for their own 
 profit only ; but this Agreement to cease if the said Charles 
 Hart or Edward Kynaston shall at any time play among, or 
 effectually assist the King's company of actors ; and for as 
 long as this is paid, they both covenant and promise not to 
 play at the King's theatre. 
 
 " If Mr. Kynaston shall hereafter be free to act at the 
 Duke's theatre, this agreement with him, as to his pension, 
 shall also cease. 
 
 " In consideration of this pension, Mr. Hart and Mr. Kynas- 
 ton do promise to make over within a month after the 
 sealing of this, unto Charles Davenant, Thomas Betterton, 
 and William Smith, all the right, title and claim, which they 
 or either of them may have to any plays, books, cloaths and 
 scenes in the King's Playhouse. 
 
 " Mr. Hart and Mr. Kynaston do both also promise, 
 within a month after the sealing hereof to make over to the 
 said Charles Davenant, Thomas Betterton, and William 
 Smith, all the title which they each of them have to six and 
 three pence a piece for every day there shall be any playing 
 at the King's theatre. 
 
 " Mr. Hart and Mr. Kynaston do both also promise to 
 
 promote with all their power and interest an agreement 
 
 between both Play-houses, and Mr. Kynaston for himself 
 
 promises to endeavour as much as he can to get free, that he 
 
 may act at the Duke's Play house, but he is not obliged to 
 
 play unless he have ten shillings per day allowed for his 
 
 acting, and his pension then to cease. 
 
 H 2 
 
100 LIFE OP THOMAS BETTEETON. 
 
 " Mr. Hart and Mr. Kynaston promise to go to Law with 
 Mr. Killigrew to have these articles performed, and are to 
 be at the expense of the suit. 
 
 " In witness of this agreement, all the Parties have here- 
 unto set their Hands, this 14th of October, 1681." 
 
 The Biographia Britannica says the above was so singular 
 a transaction and of an incredible nature, if the original ar- 
 ticle containing this secret treaty were not actually in being. 
 And Gildon says, " I am sensible that this private agree- 
 ment has been reflected on as tricking and unfair, but then 
 it is by those who have not sufficiently considered the 
 matter. All stratagems are allowed between enemies ; the 
 two houses were at war, and conduct and action were to 
 decide the victory ; and whatever the Duke's company might 
 fall short of in action, it is plain they won the field by their 
 conduct. For Mr. Hart and Mr. Kynaston performed their 
 promises so well that the union was efl'eoted in 1682, and 
 so continued till the year 1695, when the actors under the 
 united patents, thinking themselves aggrieved with Mr. 
 Betterton at the head of them, got a new license to set up 
 a Play-house once more in Linooln's-Inn-Fields." 
 
 Gibber says the union did not take place till 1684, and 
 Dr. Burney follows suit, but this evidently wrong, and but 
 one of many known instances of inaccuracy on Gibber's part 
 as to dates. 
 
 The united companies, for by the action of the Duke's 
 company the King's were forced to join the scheme, then 
 opened as what it was hoped would prove a new company 
 altogether superior to any hitherto existing, in the Theatre 
 Royal, Drury Lane, 
 
LIFE OP THOMAS BETTEETON. 101 
 
 December 4tli, 1682, was acted " The Duke of Guise," with 
 a cast as follows : — 
 
 Duke Betterton. 
 
 Grillon Smith. 
 
 King of France Kynaston. 
 
 Duke of Mayenne Jevon. 
 
 Cardinal of Guise Wiltshire. 
 
 Alphonso Corse Mountfort. 
 
 Aumale Carlile. 
 
 Archbishop of Lyons Perin. 
 
 Melanax Gillow. 
 
 Malicorne Percival. 
 
 Curate of Eustace Underbill. 
 
 Sheriffs Bright and Sandford. 
 
 Marmontier Mrs. Barry. 
 
 Queen Mother Lady Slingsley. 
 
 In 1683, the new company revived several plays that 
 were the property of Killigrew. One of these was "Eule a 
 Wife," in which Betterton played Michael Perez. 
 
 In the " Plain Dealer," " Evening's Love," " Othello," and 
 the " Humorous Lieutenant," also, we learn he played, but 
 Downes does not tell us the characters. 
 
 " King and no King," was also played with Betterton as 
 Arbaces. 
 
 In 1684 was played " Valentinian," by the Earl of Eoches- 
 ter, an alteration from Fletcher, Betterton acting .iEcius. 
 
 Also "Constantine the Great," by Lee; Betterton as 
 Crispus. 
 
 Also " The Atheist, or secoiid part of the Soldier's 
 
102 LIFE OP THOMAS BETTERTON. 
 
 Fortune," by Thomas Otway, his last performance and a very 
 unworthy one. Betterton as Beaugard. 
 
 Also "Disappointment, or the Mother in Fashion," a 
 comedy by Thomas Southerns ; Betterton as Alphonso. 
 
 Also " Julius Csesar," revived ; Betterton as Brutus. 
 
 In 1687, was played " The Lucky Chance, or an Alder- 
 man's Bargain,'' a comedy by Mrs. Behn, in which her usual 
 indelicacy of style strongly prevails. Betterton played 
 Gayman. 
 
 In 1688, was played "The Injured Lovers, or the Am- 
 bitious Father," a tragedy of little value by Mountfort. 
 Betterton played Eheusanes. 
 
 In 1689, was played "Bury Fair," a comedy by Thomas 
 Shadwell j Betterton as Lord Bellamy. 
 
 In 1690, was played " The Massacre of Paris," a tragedy 
 by Lee, considered somewhat better than most of his works. 
 Betterton as Admiral of France. 
 
 Also " Don Sebastian, King of Portugal," a tragedy by J. 
 Dryden ; Betterton as Dorax. 
 
 Also " The Prophetess," an alteration from Fletcher by 
 Betterton. 
 
 Also "Amphitryon, or the two Sosias," a fairly good 
 comedy by Dryden j Betterton as Jupiter. 
 
103 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Anecdote of Gibber's early daya at the theatre — Betterton's good 
 nature— Gibber's criticism of Betterton as au actor — Anecdote 
 of Betterton and the countryman at the fair, etc. — Performance 
 of King Arthur — Merry Devil of Islington — lunoceut Impostors 
 — Regulus— Wive's Excuse— Henry 2ad—01dBatchelor— Double 
 Dealer — Love Triumphant — Fatal Marriage — Innocent Usurper 
 — Reopening of Lincolns-Inu theatre— Love for Love — Cyrus the 
 Great — Love's a Jest— Country Wake — The Gallant — Lover's 
 Luck — Royal Mischief— Unnatural Brother — Provoked Wife — 
 Boadicea — Intrigues at Versailles— Innocent Mistress— Mourning 
 Bride — Queen Cathariue — Heroic Love— Beauty in Distress — 
 Fatal Friendship — Deceiver Deceived — Xerxes — Rinaldo and Ar- 
 mida — Princess of Parma — Friendship Improved —Iphigenia — 
 Henry i, part 1 — Measure for Measure — Fate of Capua — Ambi- 
 tious Step-mother— Way of the World— Lady's Visiting Day — 
 Jewof Venice — Love's Victim — Tamerlane — Altemira — Governor 
 of Cyprus — Fair Penitent — As you Find it — Abra-Mule — Othello 
 — Liberty Asserted — AU for Love— Sir Solomon — Merry Wives of 
 Windsor — Anatomist— Squire Trelooby — Henry 4— The Biter — 
 The Gamester — Ulysses- The Mistake — Faithful General— Revo- 
 lution of Sweden — British Enchanters — Henry 4, part 1 — Lear — 
 Maid's Tragedy — Spanish Fryar — Valentinian — Platonlck Lady 
 — Hamlet again— Almyna — Silent Woman— Julius Caesar — In- 
 dian Bmperour — Othello— Adventures of Five Hours— Carius 
 Marius — Don Sebastian— Spanish Fryar — Phedra and Hippolitus 
 — Henry 4th — Mithridates— Macbeth— Lear — Henry 4, part 1 — 
 Indian Emperour— Henry 8th — Othello — Love for Love — Better- 
 ton's benefit — Epilogue for the occasion — Don Sebastian — Hu- 
 morous Lieutenant— Lear — Othello— Macbeth- Lear- Old 
 Batchelor — Maid's Tragedy, last performance— Testimonies and 
 criticisms respecting character and talent. 
 
 A LITTLE story comes in here which, as anecdotes are 
 -^ not over plentiful, it may be as well to relate. 
 
104 LIFE OF THOMAS BETTERTON. 
 
 " Gibber says he joined the united company this year and 
 was admitted into the lowest rank of it : he was at that 
 time about 19. Cross, the prompter, told Davies, that he 
 was for some time known only by the name of Master CoUey, 
 and that after waiting impatiently a long time for the 
 prompter's notice, by good fortune he obtained the honour 
 of carrying a message in some play to Betterton. Whatever 
 was the cause, Master Colley was so terrified that the scene 
 was disconcerted by him. Betterton asked in some anger 
 who the young fellow was that had committed the blunder. 
 Downes replied 'Master Colley.' — 'Master Colley! then 
 forfeit him.' ' Why, sir,' said Downes, ' he has no salary.' 
 ' No,' said Betterton, ' why then put him down ten shillings 
 a week, and forfeit him five shillings,' To this good-natured 
 adjustment of reward and punishment, Cibber owed the first 
 money he ever received from the theatre."* 
 
 Cibber says in reference to this, " the privileges of every 
 day seeing plays for nothing, I thought was a sufficient 
 consideration for the best of my service, so that it was no 
 pain to my patience that I waited full three quarters of a 
 year before I was taken into a salary of ten shillings per 
 week." 
 
 This able critic gives us an interesting description of the 
 theatre at this time, and some very excellent notices of the 
 celebrated actors and actresses who then trod its boards. As 
 it will be necessary to give some authoritative criticism 
 upon the character and scope of Betterton's genius, the 
 following rather long quotation has been selected as the best 
 thing of the kind within reach. It is admitted that the 
 author was peculiarly adapted for such a task, and his 
 
 • Uavjes. 
 
LIFE OF THOMAS BETTBRTON. 105 
 
 remarks will be found of the highest value in estimating the 
 great excellence of the actor before us. 
 
 " Betterton was an actor, as Shakespeare was an author, 
 both without competitors I formed for the mutual assistance 
 and illustration of each other's genius ! How Shakespeare 
 wrote, all men who have a taste for nature may read, and 
 know — but, with what higher rapture would he still be read, 
 could they conceive how Betterton played him ! Then might 
 they know, the one was born alone to speak what the other 
 only knew to write ! Pity it is that the momentary beauties 
 flowing from an harmonious elocution, cannot like those of 
 poetrj-, be their own record ! That the animated graces of 
 the player can live no longer than the instant breath and 
 motion that presents them ; or at best can but faintly glim- 
 mer through the memory or imperfect attestation of a few 
 surviving spectators. Could how Betterton spoke be as easily 
 known as what he-spoke ; then might you see the Muse of 
 Shakespeare in her triumph, with all her beauties in their 
 best array, rising into real life, and charming her beholders. 
 But alas ! since all this is so far out of the reach of descrip- 
 tion, how shall I shew you Betterton ? Should I therefore 
 tell you, that all the Othellos, Hamlets, Hotspurs, Macheths, 
 and Brutuis, whom you may have seen since his time, have 
 fallen far short of him ; this still would give you no idea 
 of his particular excellence. Let us see then, what a par- 
 ticular comparison may do, whether that may yet draw him 
 nearer to you. 
 
 "You have seen a Hamlet perhaps, who, on the first appear- 
 ance of his father's spirit,, has thrown himself into all the 
 straining vociferation requisite to express Eage and Fury, 
 and the house has thundered with applause, though the 
 
106 LIFE OF THOMAS BBTTEETON. 
 
 misguided actor was all the while (as Shakespeare terms it), 
 tearing a passion into rags. I am the more bold to offer 
 you this particular instance, because the late Mr. Addison, 
 while I sat by him, to see this scene acted, made the same 
 observation, asking me with some surprise, if I thought 
 Hamlet should be in so violent a passion with the Ghost, 
 which though it might have astonished, it had not provoked 
 him 1 for you may observe that in this beautiful speech, the 
 passion never rises beyond an almost breathless astonishment, 
 or an impatience, limited by filial reverence, to enquire into 
 the suspected wrongs that may have raised him from his 
 peaceful tomb, and a desire to know what a spirit so 
 seemingly distressed, might wish or enjoin a sorrowful son 
 to execute towards his future quiet in the grave 1 This was 
 the light into which Betterton threw this scene : which he 
 opened with a pause of mute amazement, then rising slowly 
 to a solemn trembling voice, he made the ghost equally 
 terrible to the spectator, as to himself, and in the descriptive 
 part of the natural emotions which the ghastly vision gave 
 him, the boldness of his expostulation was still governed by 
 decency, manly, but not braving ; his voice never rising into 
 that seeming outrage, or wild defiance of what he naturally 
 revered. But alas ! to preserve this medium, between 
 mouthing and meaning too little, to keep the attention more 
 pleasingly awake, by a tempered spirit, than by a mere 
 vehemence of voice, is of all the master-strokes of an actor 
 the most difficult to reach. In this, none yet have equalled 
 Betterton. But I am unwilling to shew his superiority only 
 by recounting the errors of those, who now cannot answer 
 to them, let their further failings tlierefore be forgotten, or 
 rather, shall I in some measure excuse them ? for I am not 
 yet sure, that they might not be as much owing to the false 
 
LIFE OF THOMAS BETTEETON. 107 
 
 judgment of the spectator, as the actor. While the million 
 are so apt to be transported, when the drum of their ear is 
 so soundly rattled ; while they take the life of elocution to 
 lie in the strength of their lungs, it is no wonder the actor, 
 whose end is applause, should be so often tempted at this 
 easy rate, to excite it. Shall I go a liitle further 1 and allow 
 that this extreme is more pardonable than its opposite error. 
 I mean that dangerous affectation of the monotone, or 
 solemn sameness of pronunciation, which to my ear is 
 insupportable ; for of all faults that so frequently pass upon 
 the vulgar, that of flatness will have the fewest admirers. 
 That this is an error of ancient standing seems evident by 
 what Samlet says, in his instructions to the players, viz. : 
 Be not too tame, neither &c. The actor, doubtless, is as 
 strongly tied down to the rules of Horace, as the writer. 
 
 Si vis me flere, dolendum est 
 
 Primum ipsi tibi . 
 
 He that feels not himself the passion he would raise, will 
 talk to a sleeping audience ; but this never was the fault of 
 Betterton, and it has often amazed me, to see those who soon 
 came after him, throw out in some parts of a character, a 
 just and graceful spirit, which Betterton himself could not 
 but have applauded. Aud yet in the equally shining passages 
 of the same character, have heavily dragged the sentiment 
 along, like a dead weight ; with a long toned voice, and 
 absent eye, as if they had fairly forgot what they were about ; 
 if you have never made this observation, I am contented 
 you should not know, where to apply it. 
 
 "A further excellence in Betterton, was, that he could vary 
 his spirit to the different characters he acted. Those wild 
 impatient starts, that fierce and flashing fire, which he threw 
 into Hotspur, never came from the unruffled temper of his 
 
108 LIFE OF THOMAS BETTEETON. 
 
 Brutus (for, I have more than once, seen a Brutus as warm 
 as Hotspur), when the Betterton Brutus was provoked, in his 
 dispute with Cassius his spirit flew only to his eye ; his 
 steady look alone supplied that term, which he disdained an 
 intemperance in his voice should rise to. Thus with a 
 settled dignity of contempt, like an unheeding rock, he 
 repelled upon himself the foam of Cassius. Perhaps the 
 very words of Shakespeare will better let you into my 
 meaning : — 
 
 Must I give way, and room, to your rash Choler ? 
 Shall I he frighted when a madman stares ? 
 And a little after : 
 
 There is no terror, Cassius, in your looks ! &e. 
 Not, but in some parts of this scene, where he reproaches 
 Cassius, his temper is not under this suppression, but opens 
 into that warmth which becomes a man of virtue ; yet this 
 is that Hasty Spark of Anger, which Brutus himself, en- 
 deavours to excuse. 
 
 " But with whatever strength of nature, we see the poet 
 show, at once, the philosopher and the hero, yet the image 
 of the aotor's excellence will be still imperfect to you, unless 
 language could put colours in our words to paint the voice 
 with. 
 
 " Et, si vis similem pingere, pinge sonum, is enjoining an 
 impossibility. The most that a Vandycke can arrive at, is to 
 make his portraits of great persons seem to think ; a Shakes- 
 peare goes further yet, and tells you what his pictures 
 thought ; a Betterton steps beyond them both, and calls them 
 from the grave, to breathe and be themselves again, in 
 feature, speech, and motion. When the skilful actor shews 
 you all tliese powers united, and gratifies at once your eye, 
 your ear, your understanding, to conceive the pleasure rising 
 
LIFE OF THOMAS BETTEETON. 109 
 
 from snch harmony, you must have been present at it, 'tis 
 not to be told you. 
 
 " There cannot be a stronger proof of the charms of har- 
 monious elocution, than the many, even unnatural scenes 
 and flights of the false sublime it has lifted into applause. 
 In what raptures have I seen an audience, at the furious 
 fustian and turgid rants in Nat. Lee's Alexander the Great/ 
 For though I can allow this play a few great beauties, yet it 
 is not without its extravagant blemishes. Every play of the 
 same author has more or less of them. Let me give you a 
 sample from this. Alexander in a full crowd of courtiers, 
 without being occasionally called or provoked to it, falls into 
 this rhapsody of vain glory. 
 
 ' Can none remember ? Yes, I know all must I 
 And therefore they shall know it again. 
 
 ' When Glory, like the dazzling Eagle, stood 
 Perched on my Beaver, in the Granic Flood, 
 When Fortune's self, my standard trembling bore, 
 And the pale Fates stood frighted on the Shore, 
 When the Immortals on the Billows rode, 
 And I myself appear' d the leading Ood.' 
 
 " When these flowing numbers came from the mouth of a 
 Betterton, the multitude no more desired sense to them than 
 our musical connoisseurs think it essential in the celebrate 
 airs of an Italian opera. Does not this prove that there is 
 very near as much enchantment in the well-governed voice 
 of an Actor, as in the sweet pipe of an eunuch ! If I tell 
 you there was no one tragedy, for many years, more in favour 
 with the town than Alexander, to what must we impute this 
 its command of public admiration? Not to its intrinsic 
 
110 LIFE OP THOMAS BETTBRTON. 
 
 merit, surely, if it swarms with passages like this I have 
 shewn you. If tliis passage has merit, let us see what 
 figure it would make upon canvas, what sort of picture 
 would rise from it. If Le Brun, who was famous for painting 
 the battles of this hero, had seen this lofty description, what 
 one image could he have possibly taken from it ? In what 
 colours would he have shewn us Glory 2>erched upon a 
 Beaver ? How would he have drawn Fortune trembling ? 
 Or, indeed, what use could he have made of pale Fates or 
 Immortals riding upon Billows, with this blustering God of 
 his own making at the head of them ! Where, then, must 
 have lain the Charm that once made the public so partial 
 to this Tragedy ! Why, plainly, in the Grace and Harmony 
 of the actor's utterance. For the actor himself is not account- 
 able for the false poetry of his author ; that the hearer is to 
 Judge of, if it passes upon him, the actor can have no quarrel 
 to it, who, if the periods given him are round, smooth, 
 spirited, and high-sounding, even in a false passion, must 
 throw out the same fire and grace as may be required in one 
 justly rising from nature ; where those his excellencies will 
 be only the more pleasing, in proportion to the taste of his 
 hearer. And I am of opinion, that to the extraordinary 
 success of this very play, we may impute the corruption of 
 so many actors and tragic writers as were immediately 
 misled by it. The unskilful actor, who imagined all the 
 merit of delivering these biasing rants lay only in the 
 strength and strained exertion of the voice, began to tear 
 his lungs, upon every false or slight occasion, to arrive at 
 the same applause. And it is from hence I date our having 
 seen the same reason prevalent for above fifty years. Thus 
 equally misguided, too, manj' a barren-brained author has 
 streamed into a frothy, flowing style, pompously rolling into 
 
LIFE OP THOMAS BETTEETON. Ill 
 
 sounding periods, signifying — roundly nothing ; of which 
 number, in some of my former labours, I am something more 
 than suspicious that I may myself have made one. But to 
 keep a little closer to Betterton. 
 
 " When this favourite play I am speaking of, from its being 
 too frequently acted, was worn out, and came to be deserted 
 by the town, upon the sudden death of Monfort, who had 
 played Alexander with success, for several years, the part 
 was given to Betterton, which, under this great disadvantage 
 of the satiety it had given, he immediately revived with so 
 new a lustre, that for three days together it filled the house; 
 and had his then declining strength been equal to the fatigue 
 the action gave him, it probably might have doubled its 
 success, an uncommon instance of the power and intrinsic 
 merit of an actor. This I mention, not only to prove what 
 irresistible pleasure may arise from a judicious elocution, 
 with scarce sense to assist it, but to shew you too, that 
 though Betterton never wanted fire and force, when his 
 character demanded it, yet, where it was not demanded, he 
 never prostituted his power to the low ambition of a false 
 applause. And further, that when, from a too advanced age, 
 he resigned that toilsome part of Alexander, the play, for 
 many years after, never was able to impose upon the public; 
 and I look upon his so particularly supporting the false fire 
 and extravagancies of that character, to be a more surprising 
 proof of his skill, than his being eminent in those of Shake- 
 spear, because there, truth and nature coming to his 
 assistance, he had not the same difficulties to combat, and 
 consequently, we must be less amazed at his success, where 
 we are more able to account for it. 
 
 " Notwithstanding the extraordinary power he shewed in 
 blowing Alexander once more into^ a blaze of admiration, 
 
112 LIFE OP THOMAS BBTTERTON. 
 
 Betterton had so just a sense of what was true or false 
 applause, that I have heard him say, he never thought any 
 kind of it equal to an attentive silence ; that there were 
 many ways of deceiving an audience into a loud one ; hut 
 to keep thorn hushed and quiet was an applause which only 
 truth and merit could arrive at : of which art there never 
 was an equal master to himself. From these various 
 excellencies, he had so full a possession of the esteem and 
 regard of his auditors, that upon his entrance into every 
 scene he seemed to seize upon the eyes and ears of the 
 giddy and inadvertent. To have talked or looked another 
 way would then have been thought insensibility or ignorance. 
 In all his soliloquies of moment, the strong intelligence of 
 his attitude and aspect, drew you into such an impatient 
 gaze and eager expectation that you almost imbibed the 
 sentiment "with your eye, before the ear could reach it. 
 
 " As Betterton is the centre to which all my observations 
 upon action tend, you will give me leave, under his cha- 
 racter, to enlarge upon that head. In the just delivery of 
 poetical numbers, particularly where the sentiments are 
 pathetic, it is scarce credible upon how minute an article of 
 sound depends their greatest beauty or inaffection. The 
 voice of a singer is not more strictly tied to time and tune 
 than that of an actor in theatrical elocution : the least 
 syllable too long, or too slightly dwelt upon, in a period, 
 depreciates it to nothing : which very syllable if rightly 
 touched, shall, like the heightening stroke of light from a 
 master's pencil, give life and spirit to the whole. I never 
 heard a line in tragedy come from Betterton wherein my 
 judgment, my ear, and my imagination were not fully 
 satisfied ; which since his time, I cannot equally say of any 
 one actor whatsoever : not but it is possible to be much his 
 
LIFE OP THOMAS BETTERTON. 113 
 
 inferior, with great excellencies, -which I shall observe in 
 another place. Had it been practicable to have tied down 
 the clattering hands of all the ill-judges who were commonly 
 the majority of an audience, to what amazing perfection 
 might the English theatre have arrived, with so just an 
 actor as Betterton at the head of it ! If what was truth only 
 could have been applauded, how many noisy actors had 
 shooli their plumes with shame, who, from the injudicious 
 approbation of the multitude, have bawled and strutted in 
 the place of merit ? If, therefore, the bare speaking voice 
 has such allurements in it, how much less ought we to 
 wonder, however we may lament, that the sweeter notes of 
 vocal music should so have captivated the politer world into 
 an apostacy from sense, to an idolatry of sound. Let us 
 enquire from whence this enchantment arises. I am afraid 
 it may be too naturally accounted for : for when we com- 
 plain, that the finest music, purchased at such vast expense, 
 is so often thron-n away upon the most miserable poetry, we 
 seem not to consider that, when the movement of the Air 
 and Tone of the voice are exquisitely harmonious, thoxigh 
 we regard not one word of what we hear, yet the power of 
 the melody is so busy in the heart, that we naturally 
 annex ideas to it of our own creation, and, in some sort, 
 become ourselves the Poet to the Composer ; and what poet 
 is so dull as not to be charmed with the child of his own 
 fancy 1 So that there is even a kind of language in agree- 
 able sounds, which, like the aspect of beauty without words, 
 speaks ' and plays with the imagination. While this taste 
 therefore is so naturally prevalent, I doubt, to propose 
 remedies for it, were but to give laws to the winds or advice 
 to inamoratos, and however gravely we may assert that 
 profit ought always to be inseparable from the delight of the 
 
114 LIFE OF THOMAS BETTEnTON. 
 
 theatre, nay, adaiitting tliat the pleasure would be heightened 
 by the uniting them, yet, -while instruction is so little the 
 concern of the auditor, how can we hope that so ciioice a 
 commodity will come to a market where there is so seldom 
 a demand for it 1 
 
 " It is not to the actor, therefore, but to the vitiated and 
 low taste of the spectator that the corruptions of the stage 
 (of what kind soever) have been owing. If the public, by 
 whom they must live, had spirit enough to discountenance 
 and declare against all the trash and fopperies they have 
 been so frequently fond of, both the actors and the authors, 
 to the best of their power, must naturally have served their 
 daily table with sound and wholesome diet. But I have 
 not yet done with my article of Elocution. 
 
 " As we have sometimes great composers of music who 
 cannot sing, we have as frequently great writers who cannot 
 read, and though without the nicest ear, no man can be 
 master of poetical numbers, yet the best ear in the world 
 ■will not always enable him to pronounce them. Of this 
 truth, Dryden, our first great master of verse and harmony, 
 was a strong instance. When he brought his play of 
 Amphytrion to the stage, I heard him give it his first reading 
 to the actors, in which, though it is true, he delivered the 
 plain sense of every period, yet the whole was in so cold, so 
 fiat and unaffecting a manner, that I am afraid of not being 
 believed when I affirm it. 
 
 " On the contrary, Lee, far his inferior in poetry, was so 
 pathetic a reader of his own scenes, that I have been in- 
 formed by an actor, who was present, that while Lee was 
 reading to Major Mohun, at a rehearsal, Mohun, in the 
 warmth of his admiration, threw down his part, and said, 
 unless I were able to play it as well as you read it, to what 
 
LIFE OF THOMAS BETTEKTON. 115 
 
 purpose should I undertake it 1 And yet this very author, 
 whose elocution raised such admiration in so capital an 
 actor, when he attempted to be an actor himself, soon 
 quitted the stage in an honest despair of ever making any 
 profitable figure there. From all this, I would infer, that 
 let our conception of what we are to speak be ever so just, 
 and the ear ever so true, yet, when we are to deliver it to an 
 audience (I will leave fear out of the question) there must 
 go along with the whole a natural freedom and becoming 
 grace, which is easier to conceive than to describe, for 
 without this inexpressible somewhat, the performance will 
 come out oddly disguised, or somewhere defectively, unsur- 
 prising to the hearer. Of this defect, too, I will give you 
 yet a stranger instance, which you will allow fear could not 
 be the occasion of. If you remember Estcourt, you must 
 have known that he was long enough upon the stage not to 
 be under the least restraint from fear in his performance. 
 This man was so amazing and extraordinary a mimic that 
 no man or woman, from the coquette to the privy-counseller, 
 ever moved or spoke before him, but he Could carry their 
 voice, look, mien, and motion instantly into another com- 
 pany. I have heard him make long harangues, and form 
 various arguments, even in the manner of thinking, of an 
 eminent pleader at the Bar, with every the least article and 
 singularity of his utterance so perfectly imitated, that he 
 was the very alter ipse, scarce to be distinguished from his 
 original. Yet more ; I have seen, upon the margin of the 
 written part of FalstaiF, which he acted, his own notes and 
 ^observations upon almost every speech of it, describing the 
 ■true spirit of the liamour, and with what tone of voice, look 
 ■and gesture each of them ought to be delivered. Yet, in 
 
 ■ his execution upon the stage, he seemed" to have lost all the 
 
 K 2 
 
116 LIFE OF THOMAS BETTEETON. 
 
 just ideas he had formed of it, and almost through the 
 character, laboured under a heavy load of flatness, in a 
 word, with all his skill in mimicry, and knowledge of what 
 ought to be done, he never, upon the stage, could bring it 
 truly into practice, but was upon the whole, a languid, 
 unaffecting actor. 
 
 "After I have shewn you so many necessary qualifications, 
 not one of which can be spared in true theatrical elocution, 
 and have at the same time proved that with the assistance 
 of them all united, the whole may still come forth defective, 
 what talents shall we say will infallibly form an actor 1 This 
 I confess, is one of nature's secrets, too deep for me to dive 
 into ; let us content ourselves, therefore, with affirming that 
 genius which nature only gives, only can complete him. 
 This genius, then, was so strong in Betterton, that it shone 
 out in every speech and motion of him. Yet voice and 
 person are such necoessary supports to it, that, by the 
 multitude, they have been preferred to genius itself, or at 
 least, often mistaken for it. Betterton had a voice of that 
 kind, which gave more spirit to terror than to the softer 
 passions : of more strength than melody. The rage and 
 jealousy of Othello became him better than the sighs and 
 tenderness of Castalio, for though in Castalio he only 
 excelled others, in Othello he excelled himself, which you 
 will easily believe, when you consider, that in spite of his 
 complexion, Othello has more natural beauties than the best 
 actor can find in all the magazine of poetry, to animate his 
 power and delight his judgment with. 
 
 " The person of this excellent actor was suitable to his 
 voice, more manly than sweet, not exceeding the middle 
 stature, inclining to the corpulent, of a serious and penetrat- 
 ing aspect, his limbs nearer the athletic than the delicate 
 
LIFE OF THOMAS BETTERTON. 117 
 
 proportion; yet, however formed, there arose from the 
 harmony of the whole a commanding mien of majesty, which 
 the fairer faced or (as Shakespeare calls them) the curled 
 darlings of his time, ever wanted something to be equal 
 masters of. There was, some years ago, to be had, almost in 
 every print shop, a mezzotint from Kneller, extremely like 
 him. 
 
 " In all I have said of Betterton, I confine myself to the 
 time of his strength and highest power in action, that you 
 may make allowances from what he was able to execute at 
 fifty, to what you might have seen of him at past seventy ; 
 for though to the last ho was without his equal, he might 
 not then be equal to his former self, yet so far was he from 
 being ever overtaken, that for many j'ears after his decease, 
 I seldom saw any of his parts, in Shakespeare, supplied by 
 others, but it drew from me the lamentation of Ophelia 
 upon Hamlet's being unlike what she had seen him. 
 Ah ! woe is me 
 T'have seen what I have seen, see what I see !" 
 
 The author of "An Apology for the Life of Mr. T 
 
 C being a "Proper Sequel," to the Apology for the life 
 
 of Gibber (pub. in 1740) in allusion to the foregoing re- 
 marks about " some who can write being unable to read," 
 &c., says, " I could on this head add several curious anec- 
 dotes of my own, and from experiencin the Stage Affairs 
 prove, that as some who write can't read, so there are others 
 who read that can't write ; and yet some who can both read, 
 act, and tv?-ite. How far indeed these reading, luriting, acting, 
 qualifications may be conjoined inone and the same person, 
 this A2)ologetical History, as well as that of Mr. Colley Gibber 
 will be some humble kind of Demonstration of : some indeed 
 may think that by these Memoirs we may blaze to Posterity 
 
118 LIFE OF THOMAS BKTTERTON. 
 
 in a hidicrous Lmtre, and that our Observations and Di- 
 gressions sigivify, roundly, Noiliinrj ; yet to the drum of 
 the Ear will I roundly rattle, 
 "A Fico for thy Criticism, vile Wight, 
 
 You say we Print indeed yet cannot Write. 
 
 I, myself, I and Father p^'int indeed, 
 
 But what we print we ivrote, and ivhat we wrote you read. 
 
 " — But halt a little. — I had something to say on the 
 above description of Betterton : it may be in the greatest 
 part, or even in the whole, just ; yet is it not carrying the 
 Elogium too far, to think, nor Hart, nor Mohun, nor any in 
 their Company, nor some before them equalled him, perhaps 
 surpassed him ! Mr. Gibber says none has since arrived at 
 his Perfections ; this very possibly may be, yet very likely 
 every succeeding Age will think in the same manner of other 
 Actors. As Mr. Hart's and Mohun' s excellencies were forgot 
 by degrees, Mi: Betterton' s arosej when his failed by his death, 
 Mr. Booth was thought to be a very great successor : in 
 in short they who remember Betterton, shake their heads at 
 Booth ; they that are in full memory of Booth, with pitiful 
 scorn see some modern performers, who, half a century 
 hence, may be highly admired in their turn, in prejudice to 
 New Adepts in the Profession : this, say what you will, is a 
 prejudice of nature, the impressions we first receive are so 
 deeply affecting, that even, having judgment afterwards, it 
 imposes on it : prejudices in theatrical affairs are so imper- 
 ceptibly, got, and so obstinately maintained, as those in 
 religion, and wc may say of the first lleprcsentatiou we 
 see, what Dryden says of our first Education : — 
 " ' By Education most men are mis-led. 
 We so believe because ive so were bred ; 
 
LlfE OP THOMAS BETTERTOS. 119 
 
 The Priest continues what the Nurse hegan, 
 And thus the Child imiooses on the man.' 
 
 " But really Betterton, besides his excellencies of nature 
 knA judgment, and other great advantages, for though he is 
 called an original, he had seen all the old players, who were 
 very excellent, and those were remembered who were 
 Originals of ShaJcespear. — What aid such remembrance might 
 be, take from the following Anecdotes. 
 
 " 'In the Tragedy of Hamlet,' says old Downes, the part of 
 Hamlet was perform'd by Mr. Betterton, Sir William Dave- 
 uant having seen Mr. Taylor of the Blaclc-Fryars Company 
 act it, who was instructed by the Author, Mr. Shakesjxar, 
 taught Mr. Betterton in every article of it, which, by his 
 exact performance of it, gain'd him esteem and reputation 
 superlative to all other Players.' 
 
 • " Thus again this ancient, but faithful Memoirist delivers 
 himself concerning the Play of Henry the Eighth, 
 
 " ' The part of the king was all new cloath'd in a proper 
 Habit, and so right and justly done by Mr. Betterton, he 
 being instructed in it by Sir William Davenant, who had it 
 from old Mr. Lowen, that had his instructions from Mr. 
 Shakespeare himself, that I dare and will aver, none can or 
 will come near him in this Age in the performance of that 
 Part.' 
 
 " The reader will observe, that in theatrical Memoirists, a 
 simplicity of style in plain narration too often occurs ; but 
 he will pardon this bold disregard for grammatical correct- 
 ness, if through our rapidity of thought, he investigates the 
 meaning i he will see then how in Hamlet Mr. Betterton came 
 by that judgment, which Mr. Gibber takes up some pages in 
 extolling ; he will find those actors who have been Originals 
 in Parts, are thought to have excelled to the highest 
 
120 LIFE OP THOMAS BETTEETON. 
 
 Degree : and Mr. Betterton might have been as excellent in 
 those Parts in which he was an Original, as any other Actor 
 before him ; yet an Actor after him, who has an original 
 Part, and consequently thereby becomes an Original, may 
 be thought so far to excel, that few Actors, while he is 
 remembered, shall, with any equal judicious approbation, 
 succeed in that Part. — On the whole, original Parts make an 
 Actor, and they who have seen a perfect set of Actors, can 
 only judge of succeeding ones by them : the 
 
 Laudator Te^npcyris acti 
 is not merely confined to old men ; by natural prejudice we 
 catch the appurtenance to old age, when we have scarce 
 passed the verge of youth. But to conclude of Mr. Better-- 
 ifoi,' with a greater compliment than any other paid him, 
 though the epilogue to his last benefit, wrote by Mr. Howe 
 was a very good one, take this description of him from a 
 Prologue by Dryden : — 
 
 " ' He like the setting Sun, still shoots a glimm'ring Eay, 
 
 Like ancient Rome, majestic in Decay.' 
 " Mr. C. Gibber's long digression has let me into this : 
 but as, in his account of Betterton, his sentiments on 
 theatrical Action are chiefly expressed ; I have ventured to 
 subjoin these sentiments of mine to his account, that I may 
 not be so tedious on this subject in another place." 
 
 Tu get a just view of the subject, it may be well to give 
 a specimen of what another well-known critic has said ; let 
 us, therefore, hear what Aston says in his supplement to 
 Gibber's " Lives of the Actors," we shall probably think that 
 his conclusion to a somewhat adverse criticism is commen- 
 datory of the actor rather than otherwise. 
 
LIFE OF THOMAS BETTEETON. 121 
 
 " Mr. Betterton (although a superlative good actor) 
 laboured under ill figure, being clumsily made, having a 
 great head, a short thick neck, stooped in the shoulders, and 
 had fat short arms, which he rarely lifted higher than his 
 stomach. His left hand frequently lodged in his breast, 
 between his coat and waistcoat, while, with his right, he 
 prepared his speech. His actions were few, but just. — He 
 had little eyes, and a broad face, a little pock-fretten ; a 
 corpulent body, and thick legs, with large feet. He was 
 better to meet than to follow ; for his aspect was serious, 
 venerable and majestic ; in his latter time a little paralytic. 
 His voice was low and grumbling ; yet he could tune it by 
 an artful climax, which enforced universal attention, even 
 from fops and orange-girls. He was incapable of dancing, 
 even in a country dance ; as was Mrs. Barry : but their 
 good qualities were more than equal to their deficiencies. 
 While Mrs. Bracegirdle sung very agreeably in the Loves of 
 Mars and Venus, and danced in a country dance, as well as 
 Mr. Wilks, though not with so much art and foppery, but 
 like a well bred gentlewoman. Mr. Betterton was the most 
 extensive actor, from Alexander or Sir John Falstaf ; but in 
 that last character, he wanted the waggery of Estcourt, the 
 drollery of Harper, and sallaciousuess of Jack Evans. But 
 then, Estcourt was too trifling ; Harper had too much of the 
 Bartholomew-fair ; and Evans misplaced his humour. — 
 Thus, you see what flaws are in bright diamonds : and I 
 have often wished that Mr. Betterton would have resigned 
 the part of Hamlet to some young actor (who might have 
 personated, though not have acted, it better) for, when he 
 threw himself at Ophelia's feet, he appeared a little too 
 grave for a young student, lately come from the University 
 of Wirtemburg ; and his repartees seemed rather aa Apoph- 
 
122 LIFE OP THOMAS BBTTEETON. 
 
 ihegms from a sage philosopher, than the sporting flashes of 
 a young Hamlet ; and no one else could have pleased the 
 town, he was so rooted in their opinion. His younger 
 contemporary (Betterton 63, Powel 40, years old) Powel 
 attempted several of Betterton's parts, as Alexander, Jaf- 
 fier, &c., but lost his credit ; as in Alexander, he 
 maintained not the dignity of a king, but out-Heroded 
 Herod ; and in his poisoned mad scene, out-rav'd all pro- 
 lability ; while Betterton kept his passion under, and shewed 
 it most (as fume smoaks mo3t when stifled). Betterton from 
 the time he was dressed, to the end of the play, kept his 
 mind in the same temperament and adaptness as the present 
 character required. — If I was to write of him all day I should 
 still remember fresh matter in his behalf." 
 
 Before proceeding with the plays in which our actor took 
 parts we may relate the following amusing anecdote which 
 will no doubt be found acceptable. 
 
 Mr. Betterton had a small Farm near Eeading, in the 
 County of Berks : and a countryman came, in the time of 
 Bartholomew-Fair, to pay his Eent. — Mr. Betterton took 
 him to the Fair, and going to one Crawley's Puppet-Shew, 
 offered Two Shillings for himself and Koger, his tenant. 
 "No, no, sir," said Crawley, "we never take money of one 
 another." This affronted llr. Betterton, who threw down 
 the money and they entered. Roger was greatly diverted 
 with Punch and caused a great noise ; saying that he 
 would drink with him, for he was a merry fellow. Mr. Bet- 
 terton told him he was only a puppet, made up of sticks 
 and rags. However, lloger still cried out that he would go 
 and drink with Punch. When he was taken behind, where 
 the puppets hung up, he swore he thought Punch had been 
 
LIFE OF THOMAS BETTERTON. 123 
 
 alive. " However," said he, " though he be but sticks and 
 rags, I'll give him sixpence to drink my health." At niglit 
 Mr. Betterton went to the theatre, where was played the 
 "Orphan." "Well," said Mr. B., "how do you like this 
 play, Roger." "Why, I don't know," said Roger, "it's well 
 enough for sticks and rags." (Betterton and Mrs. Barry 
 were both acting in the piece). 
 
 We now reach 1691, when was performed a play which 
 Dr. Johnson says does not seem to have ever been brought 
 on the stage (a most singular mistake) viz., "King Arthur; 
 or. The British Worthy," a Dramatic Opera by John 
 Dry den. 
 
 King Arthur Betterton, 
 
 Oswald Williams. 
 
 Merlin Kynaston. 
 
 Osmond Sandford. 
 
 Duke of Cornwall Hodgson. 
 
 Grimbald Bowman. 
 
 Philadel Mrs. Butter. 
 
 Emmeline Mrs. Bracegirdle. 
 
 Also the anonymous comedy, " The Merry Devil of Ed- 
 monton," Betterton as Sir Ralph Jerningham. 
 
 In 1692 was played " The Innocent Impostors," a tragedy 
 attributed to Brady ; Betterton as Gunderic (King of the 
 Vandals), and Mrs. Betterton as Amalazontha (Queen of the 
 Vandals). 
 
 Also " Regulus," a tragedy by John Crowne, Betterton as 
 Regulus, the Consul. 
 
124 LIFE OP THOMAS BETTEETOX. 
 
 Also, " The Wives' Excuse," by Thomas Southern, Bet- 
 terton as Lovemore. 
 
 Also, " Henry 2nd, King of England," attributed to Ban- 
 croft, but signed in the dedication, W. Mountfort ; Betterton 
 as the King. 
 
 In 1693 (Malone says in January) Congreve's play, "The 
 Old Batchelor," came out, with Betterton as Heartwell. 
 
 Also (Nov., according to Malone) Congreve's " Double 
 Dealer ;" Betterton as Maskwell. 
 
 Also, Dryden's '' Love Triumphant ; " Betterton as 
 Alphonso, and Mrs. Betterton as Ximena. 
 
 In 1694 was played Southerne's tragedy, " The Fatal 
 Marriage ; " Betterton as Villeroy. The name of this play, 
 some years afterwards, was changed to Isabella. 
 
 Also, Banks's tragedy, " The Innocent Usurper ; or, The 
 Death of Lady Jane Gray ; " Betterton as Lord Gilford 
 Dudley, Mrs. Betterton as the Duchess of Suffolk. This is 
 the last appearance of Mrs. Betterton's name. 
 
 In 1695, somewhere in March or April, was re-opened the 
 theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields under the licence alluded to on 
 a pievious page, with Congreve's " Love for Love ; " Better- 
 ton as Valentine. " This play,'" says Downes, " was superior 
 in success to most of the precedent plays, it was extraordinary 
 well acted and took 13 days successively." 
 
LIFE OP THOMAS BETTEETON. 125 
 
 In 1696, at Lincoln's Inn Fields, was acted Banks's 
 tragedy of "Cyrus the Great; or, the Tragedy of Love ;" 
 Betterton as Cyrus. 
 
 Also, " Love's a Jest," by Motteux ; Betterton as Eail- 
 more. 
 
 Also, Dogget's comedy, " The Country Wake ;" Betterton 
 as Woodville. 
 
 Also, Granville's comedy, "The She Gallants;" Betterton 
 as Bellamour. 
 
 In 1696 was played Dilke's comedy, "Lover's Luck," a 
 play of little value [and soon withdrawn; Betterton as 
 Bellair. 
 
 Also, Mrs. Manley's "Eoyal Mischief;" Betterton as 
 Osman. 
 
 In 1697 was acted Filmer's " Unnatural Brother," an 
 unsuccessful tragedy; Betterton as Granmont. 
 
 Also ' (about May) " The Provoked Wife," by Sir John 
 Vanbrugh ; Betterton as Sir John Brute. 
 
 Also, Hopkins's " Boadicea, Queen of Britain ; " Betterton 
 as Cassibelan, the General. 
 
 Also, " Intrigues at Versailles," by Durfey ; Betterton as 
 the Duke de Sanserre. 
 
126 LIFE OF THOMAS BETXEKTON. 
 
 Also, Mrs. Fix's comedy, "The Innocent Mistress ;" Bet- 
 terton as Sir Charles Beauolair. 
 
 Also, Congreve's tragedy, " The Mourning Bride," a play 
 that was evidently popular, if not altogether good, as it run 
 13 days without interruption. Betterton played Osmyn. 
 
 In 1698, at Lincoln's Inn, was played Mrs. Pix's inferior 
 tragedy of "Queen Catharine; or, the Euins of Love;" 
 Betterton as Owen Tudor. 
 
 Also, Lord Lansdowne's tragedy, " Heroic Love ; " Better- 
 ton as Agamemnon. 
 
 Also, Matteux's tragedy, " Beauty in Distress ; " Betterton 
 as Don Vincentio. 
 
 Also, Mrs. Trotter's " Fatal Friendship ;" Betterton as 
 Gramont. 
 
 Also, Mrs. Pix's comedy, " The Deceiver Deceived ; " Bet- 
 terton as Melito Bondi. 
 
 In 1699, at Lincoln's Inn, Cibber's tragedy, "Xerxes-" 
 Betterton as Artabanus, a General. 
 
 Also, Deimis's " Rinaldo ai:d Armida." Betterton as Ri- 
 naldo, the hero of the Christian Army. 
 
 Also, Smith's .tragedy " The Princess of Parma.'' Better- 
 ton as Doria, the famous Admiral of Genoa. 
 
L,IFB OF THOMAS BETTEETON. 127 
 
 Also, Hopkin's tragedy, " Friendship ImproYed." Better- 
 on as Zoilus. 
 
 Also, Dennis's unsuccessful tragedy, " Iphigenia." Bet- 
 terton as Orestes. 
 
 In 1700 at Lincoln's Inn, revived with alterations by Bet- 
 terton, " Henry 4th', part first." Betterton playing Falstaff. 
 
 Also, " Measure for Measure." Betterton as Angelo. 
 
 Also, Southerne's tragedy, " The Fate of Capua." Better- 
 ton as Virginius. 
 
 Also, Eowe's tragedy, " The Ambitious Step-mother." 
 Betterton as Memnon. 
 
 Also, Congreve's comedy, considered a good one though 
 badly received, " The Way of the World." Betterton as 
 Fainall. 
 
 In 1701 was acted Burnaby's comedy the " Lady's Visit- 
 ing Day." Betterton as Courtine. 
 
 Also, '"The Jew of Venice," altered by Granville from 
 Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice. Betterton as Bassanio. 
 
 Also, a tragedy attributed to Gildon, called, " Louis' Vic- 
 tim, or the Queen of Wales." Betterton as Rhesus, the King. 
 
 In 1702 was acted Howe's tragedy, '"Tamerlane." Bet- 
 terton as Tamerlane. 
 
 Also, " Altemira," a posthumous tragedy by the first Earl 
 of Orrery. Betterton as Clorimon. 
 
128 LIFE OP THOMAS BBTTERTON. 
 
 Ill 1703 was played, "The Govemour of Cyprus," a tra- 
 gedy by Oldmixon. Bettertou as lopano. 
 
 Also, Eowe's tragedy, " The Fair Penitent," described by 
 Dr. Johnson as " one of the most pleasing tragedies," yet 
 nevertheless one that did not succeed. Betterton played 
 Horatio. 
 
 April 28th, 1703, the Earl of Orrery's comedy, "As you 
 Find it." Betterton as Bevil. 
 
 In January, 1704, the tragedy of "Abra-Mule, or Love," 
 attributed to Dr. Trapp, was acted for 14 days. Betterton 
 as Mahomet. 
 
 On Feb. 19th, for Dogget's benefit, Betterton acted 
 Othello. 
 
 On Feb. 24th, was acted Dennis's tragedy, " Liberty As- 
 serted." Betterton as Miramont. 
 
 We now get a list of 4 plays, from Dowaes, which were 
 commanded to be acted at Court by the players of both 
 houses. 
 
 1. " All for Love." Betterton as Anthony. 
 
 2. " Sir Solomon." Betterton as Sir Solomon. 
 
 3. " Merry Wives of Windsor." Bettertou as Falstaff. 
 
 4. " The Anatomist.'' Cast not recorded. 
 
 March 16th, 1704. Confusion occurs here in the accounts, 
 Betterton being put down as Crimalhaz in Liberty As- 
 serted, whereas that part was in the Empress of Morocco. 
 
 March 30th, 1704. The farce of " Squire Trelooby," was 
 acted. Betterton as Lovewell. 
 
LIFE OP THOMAS BETTEETON. 129 
 
 Nov. 9th, 1704. "Henry 4th." Betterton as Falstaff. 
 
 Dec. 4th, 1704. Eowe's comedy, " The Biter." Better- 
 ton as Sir Timothy Tallapoy. 
 
 Feb. 22nd, 1705. " The Gamester.^' Betterton as Love- 
 well. 
 
 Nov. 23rd, 1705. "Ulysses." Betterton as Ulysses. 
 
 Dec. 27th, 1705. " The Mistake." Betterton as Don 
 Alvarez. 
 
 Jan. 3rd, 1706. " The Faithful General." Betterton as 
 Marus. 
 
 Feb. 7th, 1706. " The Eevolution of Sweden." Better- 
 ton as Count Arwide. 
 
 Feb. 21, 1706. "The British Enchanters, or No Magick 
 like Love." Betterton as Ccelius. 
 
 Oct. 26th, 1706. "Henry 4th, part 1st." Betterton as 
 Falstaff. (At Haymarket.) 
 
 Oct. 30th, 1706. Betterton as King Lear. (At Haymar- 
 ket.) 
 
 Nov. 2nd, 1706. " The Maid's Tragedy." Betterton as 
 Melantius. (At Haymarket.) 
 
 Nov. 13th, 1706. "The Spanish Fryar." Betterton as 
 Torrismond. 
 
 Nov. 21. " Valentinian." Betterton as jEcius. 
 
 Nov. 25th. " The Platoniok Lady." Betterton as Sir 
 Thomas Beaumont. 
 
 Ij 
 
130 LIFE OF THOMAS liETTEETON. 
 
 Deo. 10. Betterton as Hamlet again. 
 
 Deo.- IG. "Almyna, or the Arabian Vow," a tragedy by 
 Mrs. Manley. Betterton as Caliph Almanzor, 
 
 Jan. 1st, 1707. " The Silent Woman." Betterton as 
 Morose. 
 
 Jan. 14th. " Julius Csesar." Betterton as Brutus. 
 
 Jan. 25th. "The Indian Emperour." Betterton as Monte, 
 zuma. 
 
 Jan. 28th. " Othello." Betterton as that character. 
 
 Feb. 3rd, 1707. "The Adventures of Five Hours." Bet- 
 terton as Don Antonio. 
 
 " Feb. 18. " Caius Marius." Betterton as Marius Senior. 
 
 March 6, 1707. " Don Sebastian." Betterton as Dorax. 
 
 March 18. Betterton in Spanish Fryar. 
 
 April 21, 1707. " Phfedra and Hippolitus." Betterton as 
 Theseus. 
 
 Nov. 19, 1707. " Henry 4th." Betterton as Falstaff. 
 
 At Drury Lane, March 22, 1708. Betterton acted Mith. 
 ridates, for Mrs. Eogers's benefit. 
 
 Oct. 16. Betterton as Macbeth. (Drury Lane.) 
 
 Oct. 21. Betterton as King Lear. (Drury Lane.) 
 
 Oct. 28. " Henry 4th, part 1st." Betterton as Falstaff. 
 (Drury Lane.) 
 
LIFE OP THOMAS BETTERTON. 131 
 
 Jan. 7th, 1709, at Drury Lane, " The Indian Emperour." 
 Betterton as Montezuma. 
 
 Jan. 26th. "Henry 8th." Betterton as the King. (Drury 
 Lane.) 
 
 March 24. Betterton as Othello. (Drury Lane.) 
 
 April 7th, for Betterton's benefit, " Love for Love." Bet- 
 terton as Valentine. (Drury Lane.) 
 
 On this occasion the boxes and pit were thrown into one, 
 and no person was admitted without a ticket, which Genest 
 says were a guinea each, others say that it was only half that 
 amount. 
 
 " This was Betterton's famous benefit — there had not been 
 known so great a concourse of persons of distinction as at 
 that time. The stage itself was covered with Gentlemen and 
 Ladies, and when the curtain was drawn, it discovered even 
 there a very splendid audience — all the parts were acted to 
 perfection ; and no one was guilty of the affectation to insert 
 witticisms of his own." (Tatler and Genest.) 
 
 EPILOGUE 
 
 Spoken by Mrs. Barry 
 
 At the Theatre Eoyal in Drury Lane, April 7, 1709, 
 
 At her playing in Love for Love ; with Mrs. Bracegirdle, 
 
 For the Benefit of Mr. Betterton. 
 
 "Written by N. Eowe, Esq. 
 
 As some brave knight, who once with spear and shield 
 Had sought renown in many a well fought field. 
 But now no more with sacred fame inspir'd. 
 Was to a peaceful hermitage retir'd ; 
 
132 LIFE OP THOMAS BETTEETON.' 
 
 There, if by chance disastrous tales he hears 
 Of Matron's wrongs, and captive Virgin's tears, 
 He feels soft pity urge his gen'rous breast, 
 And vows once more to succour the distress'd. 
 Buckled in mail he sallies on the plain 
 And turns him to the feat of arms again. 
 
 So'we to former leagues of Friendship true, '\ 
 
 Have bid once more our peaceful homes adieu, v 
 To aid old Thomas, and to pleasure you. ) 
 
 Like errant damsels boldly we engage, 
 Arm'd, as you see for the defenceless stage. 
 Time was, when this good man no help did lack, 
 And scorn'd that any She should hold his Back. 
 But now, so age and frailty have ordained 
 By two at once he's forc'd to be sustain'd. 
 You see what failing nature brings man to, ■\ 
 
 And yet let none insult, for ought we know, \ 
 
 She may not wear so well with some of you : 1 
 Though old, you find his strength is not clean past. 
 But true as steel, he's Mettle to the last. 
 If better he perform'd in days of yore, '\ 
 
 Yet now he give's you all that's in his power, ^ 
 What can the youngest of you all do more 1 ) 
 
 What he has been, tho' present praise be dumb 
 
 Shall haply be a T/ieme in times to come, 
 
 As now we talk of Eosoius and of Some. 
 
 Had you with-held your favours on this night, 
 
 Old Shakespear's Ghost had ris'n to do him right. 
 
 With indignation had you seen him frown 
 
 Upon a worthless, witless, tasteless Town ; 
 
LIFE OF THOMAS BETTEETON. 133 
 
 Griev'd and repining you had heard him say "J 
 Why are the Muse's Labours cast away ? \. 
 
 Why did I only write what only he could play 1 j 
 
 But since like friends to wit, thus throng'd you meet 
 Go on and make the gen'rous work complete ; 
 Be true to Merit, and still own his Cause, 
 Find something for him more than bare applause. 
 In just remembrance of your pleasures past, 
 Be kind, and give him a discharge at last. 
 In peace and ease life's remnant let him wear. 
 And hang his consecrated Buskin here. 
 
 April 9th. "Don Sebastian." Betterton as Doras. 
 (Drury Lane.) 
 
 April 11, "The Humorous Lieutenant." Betterton as 
 Leontins. For Mrs. Bradshaw's benefit. (Drury Lane.) 
 
 April 27th. Betterton as King Lear. (Drury Lane.) 
 
 Sep. 15, 1709. At Haymarket. Betterton as Othello. 
 
 Dec. 17. Betterton as Macbeth. (Haymarket.) 
 
 Feb. 4, 1710. At the Haymarket, Betterton as King 
 Lear. 
 
 March 9th. At Haymarket, Betterton played the old 
 Batchelor. 
 
 April 13, 1710. At the Haymarket, for Betterton's bene- 
 fit, " The Maid's Tragedy." 
 
 Melantius Betterton. 
 
 Amintor Wilks. 
 
134 LIFE OP THOMAS BETTBETON. 
 
 Calianax Pinkethman. 
 
 Evadne Mrs. Barry. 
 
 Let the scene presented this night be described in the 
 beautiful words of Dr. Doran, than which, nothing could be 
 better. 
 
 "It is the 13th of April, 1710— his benefit night; and the 
 tears are in the lady's (his aged wife's) eyes, and a painful 
 sort of smile on her trembling lips, for Betterton kisses her 
 as he goes forth that afternoon to take leave, as it proved 
 of the stage for ever. He is in such pain from gout that he 
 can scarcely walk to his carriage, and how is he to enact the 
 noble and fiery Melantius, in that ill-named drama of horror, 
 'The Maid's Tragedy 1 ' Hoping for the best, the old player, 
 is conveyed to the theatre, built by Sir John Vanbrugh, in 
 the Haymarket, the site of which is now occupied by the 
 Opera-house. Through the stage door he is carried in loving 
 arms to his dressing room. At the end of an hour Wilks is 
 there, and Pinkethman, and Mrs. Barry, all dressed for their 
 parts, and agreeably disappointed to find the Melantius of 
 the night robed, armoured, and besworded, with one foot in 
 a buskin, and the other in a slipper. To enable him even to 
 wear the later, he had first thrust his inflamed foot into 
 water ; but stout as he seemed, trying his strength to and 
 fro in the room, the hand of death was at that moment 
 descending on the grandest of English actors. 
 
 " The house arose to receive him who had delighted them 
 selves, their sires, and their grandsires. The audience were 
 packed ' like Norfolk biffins.' The edifice itself was only five 
 years old, and when it was a building, people laughed at the 
 folly which reared a new theatre in the country, instead of 
 in London ; — for in 1705 all beyond the rural haymarket was 
 
jjirji ujf THOMAS BETTERTON. 135 
 
 open field, straight away westward and northward. That 
 such a house could ever be tilled was set down as an impossi- 
 bility ; but the achievement was accomplished on this event- 
 ful benefit night ; when the popular favourite was about to 
 utter his last words, and to belong thenceforward only to the 
 history of the stage he had adorned. 
 
 " There was a shout which shook him, as Lysippus uttered 
 the words, ' Noble Melantius,' which heralded his coming. 
 Every word which could be applied to himself was marked 
 by a storm of applause, and when Melantius said of Amin- 
 tor : — 
 
 ' His youth did promise much, and his ripe years 
 Will see it all performed,' 
 
 a murmuring comment ran round the house, that this had 
 been effected by Betterton himself. Again, when he bids 
 Amintor ' hear thy friend, who has more years than thou,' 
 there were probably few who did not wish that Betterton 
 were as yonng as Wilks : but when he subsequently thun- 
 dered forth the famous passage, ' My heart will never fail me,' 
 there was a very tempest of excitement, which was carried to 
 its utmost height, in thundering peal on peal of unbridled 
 approbation, as the great Rhodian gazed full on the house, 
 exclaiming. 
 
 My heart 
 
 And limbs are still the same : my will as great 
 
 To do you service !' " 
 
 "No one doubted more than a fractional part of the asser- 
 tion, and Betterton, acting to the end under a continued 
 
136 LIFE OP THOMAS BETTERTON. 
 
 fire of ' bravoes ! ' may have thrown more than the original 
 meaning into the phrase : — 
 
 " ' That little word was worth all the sounds 
 That ever I shall hear again ! ' " 
 
 Few were the words he was ever destined to hear again ; 
 and the subsequent prophecy of his own certain and proxi- 
 mate death, on which the curtain slowly descended, was 
 fulfilled eight and forty hours after they were uttered. 
 
 By the Benefit of 1709, when Mrs. Bracegirdle and Mrs. 
 Barry, both of whom had left the theatre, returned for that 
 night and helped him to the assistance he was so much in 
 need of, he cleared as much as 5001., and a promise' was 
 made the effort should be repeated annually as long as he 
 lived. Once more only did he experience the warm-hearted 
 generosity of the players and an admiring public. The 
 effort of this night was too much for him, and in the 
 struggle to relieve the acute paroxysms of gout, which had 
 hitherto raged in his foot, the disease flew to his stomach 
 and death speedily followed. 
 
 " Such was the close of a career which had commenced 
 fifty-one years before ! Few other actors of eminence have 
 kept the stage, with the public favour, for so extended a 
 period, with the exception of Cave, XTnderhill, Quin, Mack- 
 liu. King, and in the later times, Bartley and Cooper, most 
 of whom at least accomplished their half century. The 
 record of that career affords many a lesson and valuable 
 suggestion to young actors."* 
 
 On the 2nd of May, 1710, his remains were interred with 
 much pomp and ceremony in that last resting-place of so 
 
 * Doran. 
 
LIFE OP THOMAS BETTERTON. 13f 
 
 many of England's illustrious dead, Westminster Abbey, and 
 an account of the solemnity, with a tribute to hia memory, 
 appeared in the Tatler, which, it has been said, " will out- 
 last even brasen monuments and perhaps the very Abbey 
 itself." 
 
 " From my own apartment, May 2nd, 1710. 
 
 " Having received notice that the famous actor Mr. Bet- 
 terton was to be interred this evening in the cloysters near 
 Westmmster Abbey, I was resolved to walk thither, and see 
 the last office done to a man whom I had always very much 
 admired, and from whose action I had received more strong 
 impressions of what is great and noble in human nature, 
 than from the arguments of the most solid Philosophers, or 
 the descriptions of the most charming poets, I had ever 
 read. 
 
 " As the rude and untaught multitude are no way wrought 
 upon more effectually than by seeing public punishments 
 and executions, so men of letters and education feel their 
 humanity most forcibly exercised when they attend the 
 obsequies of men who had arrived at any perfection in 
 liberal accomplishments. Theatrical action is to be esteemed 
 as such, except it be objected, that we cannot call that an 
 art which cannot bo attained by art. Voice, stature, motion, 
 and other gifts must be very bountifully bestowed by nature, 
 or labour and industry will but push the unhappy endeavour 
 in that way, the further off his wishes. 
 
 " Such an actor as Mr. Betterton ought to be recorded 
 with the same respect as lioscms among the Romans. The 
 greatest orator has thought fit to quote his judgment and 
 celebrate his life. Rosoius was the example to all that 
 would form themselves into proper and winning behaviour. 
 His action ■ was so well adapted to the sentiments he ex- 
 
l38 THE LIFE THOMAS BETTBETON. 
 
 pressed, that the youth of Rome thought they wanted only 
 to be virtuous to be as graceful in their appearance as 
 JRoscius. The imagination took a lovely impression of what 
 was great and good, and they who never thought of setting 
 up for the art of imitation, became themselves imitable 
 characters. 
 
 " There is no human invention so aptly calculated for the 
 forming a free-born people as that of a theatre. Tully 
 reports that the celebrated player, of whom I am speaking, 
 used frequently to say, tlie perfection of an actor is only to 
 become ivJiat he is doing. Young men who are too inattentive 
 to receive lectures, are irresistibly taken with performances. 
 Hence it is that I extremely lament the little relish the 
 gentry of this nation have at present for the just and noble 
 representations in some of our tragedies. The operas which 
 are of late introduced, can leave no trace behind them that 
 can bs of service beyond the present moment. To sing 
 and to dance are accomplishments very few have any 
 thoughts of practising; but to speak justly and move grace- 
 fully is what every man thinks he doe.s perform, or wishes 
 he did. 
 
 " 1 have hardly a notion that any performer of antiquity 
 could surpass the action of Mr. Betterton in any of the 
 occasions in which he has appeared on our stage. The 
 wonderful agony which he appeared in when he examined 
 the circumstance of the handkerchief of Othello ; the mix- 
 ture of love that intruded upon his mind upon the innocent 
 answers Desdemona makes, betrayed in his gesture such a 
 variety and vicissitude of passions, as would admonish a man 
 to be afraid of his own heart, and to convince him, that it ia 
 to stab it, to admit that worst of daggers, jealousy. Who- 
 ever reads in his closet this admirable scene, will find that 
 
uirci Ul' IJaUJMAS BETTBETOl^. l39 
 
 he cannot, except he has as warm an imagination as Shake- 
 speare himself, find any but dry, incoherent and broken 
 sentences ; but a reader that has seen Betterton act, observes 
 there could not be a word added; that longer speech had 
 been unnatural, nay, impossible, in Othello's circumstances. 
 The charming passage in the same tragedy, where he tells 
 the manner of winning the affection of his mistress, was 
 urged with so moving and graceful an energy, that while I 
 walked in the cloysters, I thought of him with the same 
 concern as if I waited for the remains of a person who had 
 in real life done all that I had seen him represent. The 
 gloom of the place, and faint lights before the ceremony 
 appeared, contributed tq the melancholy disposition I was 
 in ; and I began to be extremely afflicted, that Brutus and 
 Cassius had any difference, that Hotspur's gallantry was so 
 unfortunate, and that the mirth and good humour of Fal- 
 staff could not exempt him from the grave. Nay, this 
 occasion in me, who look upon the distinctions amongst 
 men to be merely scenical, raised reflections upon the 
 emptiness of all human perfection and greatness in general, 
 and I could not but regret that the sacred heads which lie 
 buried in the neighbourhood of this little portion of earth 
 in which my poor old friend is deposited, are returned to 
 dust as well as he, and that there is no difference in the 
 grave between the imaginary and the real monarch. This 
 made me say of human life itself with Macbeth : — 
 " ' To-morrow, to-morrow, and to-morrow, 
 Creeps in a stealing Pace from Day to Day, 
 To the last Moment of recorded Time I 
 And all our Yesterdays have lighted Fools 
 To their Eternal Night ! Out, out, short Candle I 
 Life's but a Wallcing Shadow, a poor Player, 
 
i4() LIFE OP THOMAS BETTfiETOK. 
 
 That struts and frets his Hour tipon the Stage, 
 And tlien is heard no more.' 
 
 " The mention I have here made of Mr. Betterton, for 
 whom I had, as long as I have known any thing, a very 
 great esteem and gratitude for the pleasure he gave me, 
 can do him no good, but it may possibly be of service to 
 the unhappy woman he has left behind him, to have it 
 known that this great tragedian was never in a scene half 
 so moving as the circumstances of his affairs created at his 
 departure. His wife, after the cohabitation of forty years 
 in the strictest amity, has long pined away with a sense of 
 his decay as well in his person as his little fortune, and in 
 proportion to that she has herself decayed both in her 
 health and her reason. Her husband's death, ad ded to 
 her age and infirmities, would certainly have determined 
 her life; but that the greatness of her distress has been her 
 relief, by a present deprivation of her senses. This absence 
 of reason is her best defence against age, sorrow, poverty, 
 and sickness. I dwell upon this account so distinctly in 
 obedience to a certain great spirit, who hides her name, and 
 has by letter applied to me to recommend to her some object 
 of compassion, from whom she may be concealed. 
 
 " This I think is a proper occasion for exerting such 
 heroick generosity ; and as there is an ingenuous shame in 
 those who have known better fortune to be reduced to 
 receive obligations, as well as a becoming pain in the truly 
 generous to receive thanks in this case, both those delicacies 
 are preserved ; for the person obliged is as incapable of 
 knowing -her benefactress as her benefactress is unwilling to 
 be known by her."* 
 
 Tatler. 
 
LIFE OF THOMAS BETTEHTON. 141 
 
 Evidence of the great abilities of this noble actor has 
 already appeared in these pages, and records of what the 
 unprejudiced and the competent thought of him : further 
 testimony to the same effect abounds, and it is difficult to 
 make a judicious selection. 
 
 Mr Addison says of him : " Such an actor as Mr. Better- 
 ton ought to be recorded with the same respect as Eoscius 
 among the Komans. The greatest orator (Tully), has 
 thought fit to quote his judgment and celebrate his life. 
 Eoscius was the example to all that would form themselves 
 into proper and winning behaviour, his action was so well 
 adapted to the sentiments he expressed that the youth of 
 Eome thought they wanted only to be virtuous to be as 
 graceful in their appearance as Eoscius. The imagination 
 took a lovely impression of what was gxeat and good ; and 
 they, who never thought of setting up the art of imitation, 
 became themselves inimitable characters. There is no 
 human invention so aptly calculated for the forming of a 
 free-born people, as that of a theatre. Tully reports that 
 the celebrated Eoscius used frequently to say, the perfection 
 of an actor is only to become what he is doing. I have 
 hardly a notion that any performer of antiquity could sur- 
 pass the action of Mr. Betterton in any of the occasions in 
 which he has appeared on our stage. |_ The wonderful agony 
 which he appeared in, when he examined the circumstance 
 of the handkerchief in the part of Othello ; the mixture of 
 love that intruded upon his mind, upon the innocent answers 
 Desdemona makes, betrayed in his gesture such a variety 
 and vicissitude of passions, as would admonish a man to be 
 afraid of his own heart ; and perfectly convince him, that it 
 is to stab it, to admit that worst of daggers, jealousy. 
 Whoever reads in his closet this admirable scene will find 
 
1i2 LIFE OF THOMAS BETTEETOK. 
 
 that he cannot (except he has as warm an imagination as 
 Shakespeare himself) find any but dry, incoherent, and 
 broken sentences. But a reader, that has seen Betterton 
 act it, observes, there could not be a word added; that 
 \J/l 1 longer speechs had been un-natural, nay, impossible, in 
 6^0^/^, Othello's circumstances.''] 
 
 So marvellous was Betterton's power, so exact was he in 
 following nature, that it is related that the look of surprise he 
 assumed in the character of Hamlet, astonished Booth (when 
 he personated the ghost) to such a degree that he was 
 unable to proceed in his part for some moments. 
 
 " The following account of Betterton's amazing feeling 
 will furnish a proof that when the player is truly impressed 
 with his character, he will, in. the representation of fear and 
 terror, assume a pallid hue, as well as the contrary complexion 
 from different emotions. 
 
 " I have lately been told by a gentleman who has fre- 
 quently seen Betterton perform Hamlet, that he discerned 
 his countenance, which was naturally ruddy and sanguine, 
 in the scene of the third act, where his father's ghost 
 appears, through the violent and sudden emotions of amaze- 
 ment and horror, turn, instantly, on the sight of his father's 
 spirit, as pale as his neckcloth ; when his whole body seemed 
 to be affected with a tremour, inexpressible ; so that, had 
 his father's ghost actually risen before him, he could not 
 have been seized with more real agonies. And this was felt 
 so strongly by the audience that the blood seemed to shudder 
 in their veins likewise, and they, in some measure, partook 
 of the astonishment and horror with Avhich they saw this 
 excellent actor affected."* 
 
 * Davies' Dram. Miscell. 
 
LIFE OF THOMAS BETTERTOK. 143 
 
 " Betterton's Hotspur is celebrated by Gibber amongst 
 his most capital exhibitions, and. by Sir Kichard Steele in 
 the Tatler. But the versatility of Betterton's genius was 
 never more conspicuous than in his resigning the oholerio 
 Hotspur, in his declining years, and assuming the humour 
 and gaiety of Falstaff, in which he is said to have been full 
 as acceptable to the public as in the former. Being a 
 perfect master of his profession, he wore the sock with as 
 much ease and grace as the buskin. With the greatest 
 stock of merit, this consummate comedian possessed an 
 equal share of modesty. He was ever open to advice, and 
 refused it from no man who offered it."* 
 
 " Much has been said by Downes, by the Tatler, by Gib- 
 ber, and others, of Betterton's uncommon powers of action 
 and utterance in several of Shakespeare's principal parts, 
 particularly Hamlet, Macbeth, OtheUo, and Bru.tus, but no 
 writer has taken notice of hie exhibition of Lear ; a part of 
 equal consequence, and requiring as perfect skill in the 
 player as any of them. I am almost tempted to believe 
 that this tragedy, notwithstanding that Tate's alterations 
 were approved, was not in such an equal degree of favour 
 with the public, as Hamlet, Othello, and many other of our 
 poet's dramas. The Spectators, when they were first pub- 
 lished, contained theatrical advertisements, but no Lear is, 
 I believe, to be found amongst them ; had it been a favou- 
 rite tragedy, Wilks, after the death of Betterton, would, in 
 all probability, have seized Lear for his friend John Mills, 
 and this would have served the double purpose of elevating 
 his favourite and of depressing Booth, whose pretensions to 
 
 * Daviea' Dram. Misoell. 
 
144 LIBE OE THOMAS BETTEETON. 
 
 the character were more just. It is in vain, therefore, to 
 talk of Betterton's Lear, for we know nothing of it."* 
 
 " Betterton, after the re-union of the companies, acted 
 Alexander with as much eclat as any of his other characters. 
 This accomplished and yet modest player, when rehearsing 
 this character, was at a loss to recover a particular 
 emphasis of Hart, which gave a force to some interesting 
 situation of the part ; he applied for information to the 
 players who stood near him. At last one of the lowest of 
 the company repeated the line exactly in Hart's key. Bet- 
 terton tlianked him heartily, and put a piece of money in 
 his hand as a reward for so acceptable a service. 
 
 "But Betterton, growing in years, soon resigned this 
 laboriovis part to Mountfort, of whose merits, in acting 
 lovers and heroes. Gibber speaks at large. On the unhappy 
 murder of Mountfort, Betterton, says Gibber, resumed 
 Alexander, and threw unexpected lustre on the part."* 
 
 " Actors will sometimes give a force and a truth to a 
 character beyond what the author himself conceived, and I 
 could name literal instances of it. Let it not then be 
 credited that an actor is but a mere vehicle, a conveyance. 
 Many that pass for actors, indeed, are but little more ; but 
 the eminent requisites are strongly mental, and require a 
 great deal that good authors have, and a great deal that 
 they want ; and it is upon this account that, while the stage 
 has been inundated by authors for two hundred years, many 
 of them men of great talents ; the world has seen but 
 one Betterton and one Garrick.''J 
 
 Here we must add a few more words from Doran on this 
 matter : — 
 
 * Davies' Dram. Miscell. 
 J Dibdin's Hist. Stage. 
 
^irnj ur iJluMAB UBTTERTON. 149 
 
 " I can never look on Kneller's masterly portrait of this 
 great player, without envying those who had the good for- 
 tune to see the original, especially in Hamlet. How grand 
 the head, how lofty the brow, what eloquence and fire in the 
 eyes, how firm the mouth, how manly the sum of all ! How 
 is the whole audience subdued almost to tears at the 
 mingled love and awe which he displays in presence of the 
 spirit of his father ! Some idea of Betterton's acting in this 
 scene may be derived from Gibber's description of it, and 
 from that I come to the conclusion that Betterton fulfilled 
 all that Overbnry laid down with regard to what best graced 
 an actor. ' Whatsoever is commendable to the grave orator 
 is most exquisitely perfect in him ; for by a full and signifi- 
 cant action of body he charms our attention. Sit in a full 
 theatre, and you will think you see so many lines drawn 
 from the circumference of so many ears, while the actor is 
 the centre.' This was especially the case with Betterton ; 
 and now, as Hamlet's first soliloquy closes, and the charmed 
 but silent audience ' feel music's pulse in all their arteries,' 
 Mr. Pepys almost too loudly exclaims in his ecstasy, ' It's 
 the best acted part ever done by man.' And the audience 
 think so too." 
 
 Betterton appears to have been a man as highly respected 
 for his moral and amiable character as for his dramatic 
 talent. His knowledge of things was most extensive, and 
 his opinion was regarded as of the greatest value, yet he is 
 said to have been the most modest man living. " The 
 young actors revered him as a parent, but they loved him as 
 a parent as the same time. He was gentle in his language, 
 mild in his behaviour, ready in commendation, sincere in 
 advice, and so indirect in his reproofs, that he had an art of 
 shewing men their foibles without their seeing that this was 
 
150 LIFE OP THOMAS BETTBKTU^. 
 
 what he intended, and the secret was the better kept, be. 
 cause he never mentioned such failings to another man. He 
 was so far from putting on assuming looks and a supercilious 
 air to young authors, that he always insisted on their reading 
 his parts to him, and took their instructions in the acting 
 them, with the utmost deference and respect. He was 
 naturally cheerful and had a very high confidence in 
 Providence.'' 
 
 Unfortunately, in his later years Betterton was induced 
 to invest the bulk of his property in a commercial venture 
 to the Indies, at the instigation and persuasion of Sir Frede- 
 rick Watson ; failure ensued, and he lost the greater part 
 of what he had possessed. But the man whose scheme had 
 nearly ruined him, was himself totally ruined. What was 
 Betterton's action ! He actually adopted the ruined man's 
 child, and devoted himself heart and soul to her welfare and 
 education. 
 
 It is not to be wondered at that such a man found many 
 friends amongst the distinguished of the day, who deemed 
 his acquaintance an honour and a privilege ; one such friend 
 was Archbishop Tillotson, a man whose charity and mental 
 breadth made him recognise and admire honest worth 
 wherever he met it. Thus, as has been said, " it is indis- 
 putable that when Betterton and Tillotson met, the greatest 
 preacher and the greatest player of the day were together." 
 It was Tillotson who told the actor one day how puzzled he 
 was to account for the vaster power the later possessed over 
 human sympathies and antipathies, than he had hitherto 
 done as a preacher, and the reply was, "You in the p\ilpit 
 only tell a story : I, on the stage, show facts." 
 
 " The claims of Betterton, as an original author, are not 
 
LIFE OF THOMAS BETTERTOy. 151 
 
 greatly distinguished, but his alterations and adaptations 
 to the stage of several dramas are considered highly judi- 
 cious." The following statement by a writer in an old 
 volume of the Gentleman's Magazine will be found of 
 interest. 
 
 " While I was intent in observing, &c., I discerned a man 
 advanced in years, with a manly look, distinguished more 
 by his modest behaviour than by his dress, leaning over the 
 the back of Dryden's seat, but standing without the rail 
 which enclosed the assembly. As there was somewhat 
 striking in his aspect, I examined his features more nar- 
 rowly, and found them variously affected according as he 
 threw his eyes upon the different members, so that he 
 seemed severally to assume their most distinguishing cha- 
 racters. Dryden at this time accidently rose from his seat, 
 and turning round discovered this extraordinary person. He 
 then took him by the hand with great affection, and though 
 the other seemed much to decline it, led him about to the 
 bar of the rails, where the other members entered. I observed 
 Dennis, who had now reassumed his post, interposing to hinder 
 his entry, but being checked by a frown from Dryden, he 
 desisted with a furious reluctance. Dryden then led the 
 new member up to a seat not far from Otway, where he 
 was placed, to the great satisfaction of the rest of the 
 members. I was not able to know who this was till my 
 conductor assured me it was Betterton, the famous player, 
 who by the beauty and justness of his action, made the 
 thoughts of some of our finest poets to be felt by those who 
 could only read and see, and who, perhaps, never knew any 
 other sentiment of virtue than what they received from the 
 stage. Observe, continued he, how many others of the 
 
 M 2 
 
152 
 
 LIFE OP THOMAS BETTERTOX. 
 
 same profession crowd behind the members' seats, what 
 distortions, what grimaces they assume, how unlike to 
 Betterton, and how much disregarded by the assembly." — 
 (vol, 9). 
 
153 
 
 A PKOLOGUE 
 
 To the University of Oxford. 
 Spoken by Mr. Betterton, on Monday, July the 5th, 1703. 
 
 /^NCE more our London muses pleas'd repair. 
 
 To this bless'd seat, and breathe their native air ; 
 Here seek protection from their kindred gown, 
 Glad to retire from that degenerate town : 
 Where spurious critics in false judgment sit. 
 Debauch'd with farce, and negligent of wit ; 
 Our indignation equally they raise. 
 Whether they frown, or smile upon our plays. 
 And damn us with the scandal of their praise. 
 
 ■I 
 
 B. ) 
 
 Now, to our wish, we have an audience found 
 Which will be pleas'd with sense, and well as sound ; 
 You only can reform th' unthinking age, 
 Eedeem our credit lost, and dignify the stage. 
 Wit is your growth, and now ('tis all we crave) 
 Eetrieve that honour which before you gave : 
 Poetry yet will thrive, if rais'd by you ; 
 As plants their fading vigour will renew. 
 From that kind soil in which at first they grew. 
 Your learned censures will instruct the town. 
 And teach them when to smile, and when to frown. 
 And by yolir judgment to improve their own 
 
 
.00 } 
 
 154 LIFE OP THOMAS BETTEETON. 
 
 You as wits higher powers our doom reveal, 
 From whose decisive court there's no appeal. 
 Then rise, Athenians ! in the just defence 
 Of poetry oppress'd, and long neglected sense ; 
 The reputation of our art advance, 
 Suppress th' exhorbitance of song and dance. 
 And in one Pow'rful party conquer France : 
 
 Nor have we vicious entertainments brought ; 
 You safely may approve, and smile without a fault. 
 With shame, we must confess, our city guests 
 Have been regal'd with such unwholesome feasts ; 
 With greediness the fulsome bait they seize. 
 And dress'd in vice, ev'n sense itself will please. 
 But now w'have nought t' offend the chastest ear 
 You from imputed crimes our stage shall clear, 
 For none will blush to own, what you vouchsafe to hear- 
 Thus far their poet, who might blush to view 
 An audience he condemns in oens'ring you : 
 If pens immodest, what was modest knew. 
 Now on your side the London muse should rise, 
 And vindicate whom all that know must prize ; 
 But you'll give leave, our answer he delay'd, 
 Till in the following scenes our duty's paid : 
 Those finish'd once, and honoured with your sight. 
 Our Epilogue shall do their Prologue right. 
 
 } 
 
1D5 
 
 A PREFATORY PROLOGUE 
 
 By -way of Introduction 
 
 To one spoken by Mr. Betterton, at Oxford, on Monday, 
 
 the 5th of July. 
 
 Spoken by Mr. Mills, at the Theatre Royal, in Drury-Lane, 
 on Friday, the 16th of July, and Friday, the 23rd, 1703. 
 
 A S paupers who on charity are fed 
 
 Should bless their absent patrons for their bread, 
 Tho' for a while no wonted bounty's fall. 
 And pious ears are distant from their call : 
 So would we let our gratitude be seen. 
 Both for our friends that a/re, and friends have heen ; 
 To these, that by their gracious smiles we live ; 
 To those, for favours they vouchsafd to give ; 
 But to'ther house has other methods chose. 
 And treat their distant friends like common foes : 
 Traduce their judgments, and their sense deride, 
 Who never judg'd amiss, but on their side ; 
 Like mercenary's reeking from the stews. 
 Who in one lover's arms the rest abuse. 
 Nothing have we to please you that is new '\ 
 In them ev'n ridicule is out of view, > 
 
 And not a subject left since they withdrew. } 
 
156 LIFE OP THOMAS BETTEETON. 
 
 Satyr is lost in this deserted town, 
 
 And we can give no scandal but their own : 
 
 Accept it then, 'tis inoffensive writ, 
 
 And take their satyr on themselves for wit : 
 
 Since its base spite your characters secures, 
 
 And shews their want of sense in blaming yours. 
 
 As you distinguish, ours from their designs, 
 
 And know their grateful temper by their lines. 
 
 THE END. 
 
157 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Addison, 106, 141 
 
 Adventures of Five Hours, oast of, 
 
 72 
 Angel, 18, 85 
 Ashley (Sir J.) 44, 45 
 Aston, 59, 120 
 Bancroft, 124 
 Banker, 95 
 Banks, 124, 125 
 Barry (Mrs.), 92, 101, 121, 131, 134, 
 
 136 
 Bartley, 136 
 Baxter, 87 
 Beeston (W.), 28 
 
 Behn (Mrs.). 89, 94, 95, 96, 97, 102 
 Benefeilde (R.), 27, 28 
 Betterton— Celebrity of, 4— Birth 
 and Parentage of, 5 — Education, 
 7 — Choice of the Stage as a Pro- 
 fession, 10 — First appearance, 16 
 —In the Bondman, 17 — Articles 
 of Agreement between Betterton 
 and Sir W. Davenant, 19 — As 
 Solyman the Magnificent, 51 — 
 In the Witts, 52— In Hamlet, 
 53— In the Twelfth Night, 54— 
 Acts in the King's Coronation 
 Suit, 54— Pepys describes Bet- 
 terton as the best actor in the 
 world, 55 — In the Cutter of 
 Coleman Street, 55— In Borneo 
 and Juliet, 58 — In the Villain, 
 59— Invents Scenery, 64— In 
 
 Adventures of Five Hours, 72— 
 His Marriage, 73 — In the 
 Slighted Maid, 73— In Hamlet 
 revived, renewed admiration of 
 Pepys, 74 — Betterton and 
 Harris, 75 — In Henry VIII., in 
 the Bondman revived, 76 — In 
 Henry V., 76— As Owen Tudor, 
 76— In Macbeth, 77— In Comi- 
 cal Revenge, 77 — In the Rivals, 
 77— In the Duchess of Malfy, 78 
 —In Mustapha, 79— Illness, 82 
 — In Sir Solomon Single, 83 — 
 Plays written by, 83 — As King 
 Charles, 88— In Anthony, 89— 
 In Epsom Wells, 89-Maobeth. 
 89— Forced Marriage, 89— And 
 in other plays, 90 to 102— Praise 
 of his Hamlet, 90, 91— Agree- 
 ment with Hart and Kynaston, 
 98, 99- His good nature, 104— 
 Gibber's criticism on, 104 — Anec- 
 dote of, 122— In King Arthur, 
 123 — In various plays, 123 to 
 131 — H is benefit, 13 1 — Criticisms 
 on, 134— Death of, 136— His 
 burial, 137 — Testimonies and 
 criticisms, 137 to finish. 
 Betterton (Mrs.), previously called 
 Mrs. Sannderson, 51, 53, 55, 58, 
 68, 70, 71, 73, 74, 76, 77, 78, 79, 
 82, 83, 84, 85, 89, 90, 92, 94, 95, 
 96, 97, 123, 124, 440 
 
lo8 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Blagden, 51 
 
 Booth, 93, lis, 142, 143 
 
 Bowman, 123 
 
 Bracegiidle (Mrs.), 121, 123, 131, 
 
 136 
 Bradshaw (Mrs.), 133 
 Bright, 101 
 Bucke (Geo.), 44, 45 
 Burght (G.), 27 
 Burke (Edmund), 6 
 Burnaby, 127 
 Buruey (Dr.), 100 
 Burt, 67 
 
 Butler (Mrs.), 123 
 Cademan, 73, 89 
 Carew (Sir G.) 6 
 Carlile, 101 
 Carrol, 83 
 Caryl, 82 
 
 Castlemaine (Lady), 79 
 Cave, 20, 25, 136 
 Charles I., 5, 32, 63 
 Charles II., 52, 53, 54, 59, 66, 07, 
 
 78, 88 
 Chester (Bishop of), 6 
 Cibber (C), 4, 100, 104, 119, 120, 
 
 126, 14.3, 144, 149 
 Clark (Dr.), 59 
 Cockpit (Drury Lane), 10, 11, 16, 
 
 18, 19, 28, 31, 55, 61, 64 
 Collins, 87 
 Coleman (Dr.), 15 
 Coleman (Mrs.), 70 
 Congreve, 124, 126, 127 
 Cook (Capt), 15 
 Cooper, 136 
 Covent Garden, 50 
 Cowley (A,), 66,57 
 Cox (R), 12 
 Creed, 17, 18 
 Cromwell, 32, 61 
 Crosby, 90, 92 
 Cross, 104 
 Crowne, 97, 123 
 Curll, 5 
 
 Cutter of Coleman St., cast of, 55 
 Dacre (Lord), 6 
 Daorea, 53, 55 
 Davenant (Sir W.), 8,10, 11, 12, 
 
 13, 14, 15, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 2-t, 
 25, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 
 30, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 48, 50, 
 
 51, 52, 53, 54, 57, 60, 62, 6.\ 64, 
 
 65, 66, 71, 74, 75, 77, 8(i, 119 
 Davenant (Dr. C), 94, 98, 99 
 Davenant (Lady), 88 
 Davenant (Mrs.), 79 
 Davies (Mrs.), 77, 78,79 
 Davies, 104 
 
 Dennis, 56, 126, 127, 128, 151 
 Devonport (Mrs.), 51, 52, 53, 54, 
 
 73 
 Dilke, 125 
 Diion, 18, 53 
 Dixon (Mrs.), 89 
 Dogget, 125, 128 
 Doran, (Dr.), 134, 144 
 Dorset Garden Theatre, .50, 64, 
 
 86, 87, 89, 98 
 Downes (Rosious Anglioaniis), 8, 9, 
 
 18, 19, 52, 53, 54. 56, 58, 60, 62, 
 
 67, 70. 75, 70, 77, 78, 79, 119, 
 
 124, 128, 143 
 Drury Lane Theatre, 19, 64 
 Dryden, 74, 87, 88, 95, 97, 102, 
 
 114, 117, 118, 120, 123, 124, 151 
 
 Duchess of MaUy, cast of, 78 
 
 Dudley (Lord), 6 
 
 Durfey, 94, 95, 125 
 
 Dymock, 94 
 
 Elizabeth (Queen), 43 
 
 Estcourt, 115, 121 
 
 Etheridge, 77, 92 
 
 Evans (Jack), 121 
 
 Ferrers (Capt.), 59 
 
 Filmer, 125 
 
 Fleckno, 62, 63, 65 
 
 Fletcher, 77, 101, 102 
 
 Floid, 18 
 
 Gait, 4 
 
 Garrick, 144 
 
 Gibbs (Mrs.), 56, 74, 79, 93 
 
 Gildon, 4, 6. 7, 8, 9, 10, 66, 127 
 
 Gillow, 101 
 
 Goife (Alexander), 11 
 
 Granville, 125, 127 
 
 Gwynne (Nell). 78, 79 
 
 Hamlet, cast of, 53 
 
 Harper, 121 
 
 Harris, 20, 21, 22, 24, 2.'; 51 52 
 53, 54, 55, 58, 72, 73, 74, 76. 78, 
 79, 82, 83, 84, 85, 88, 90, 92, 93 
 
 Hart, 5, 05, 67, 98, 100, 118, 144 
 
Herbert (Sir H.) 6, 26, 27, 31, 32, 
 41, 42, 70 > . . , 
 
 Herbert (Sir J ) 46, 70 
 
 Hodgson, 123 
 
 Holden, 7, 8, 16 
 
 Holden (Mrs.) 58 
 
 Holiday (B.) 62 
 
 Hopkins, 125, 127 
 
 Holland House, 11 
 
 Hudson, 15 
 
 Hughes (Mrs.) 70 
 
 Isabella (Mr^.) 89 
 
 James I., 32, 61 
 
 Jevon, 101 
 
 Johnson (Dr.) 123, 128 
 
 Johnson (Mrs.) 83, 89, 90 
 
 Jones (Inigo) 65 
 
 Jonson (Ben) 44, 45, 68, 77 
 
 ICilligrew, 19, 24, 28, 29, 30, 31, 
 
 33, 3i, 35, 39, 40, 41, 48, 58, 100, 
 
 101 
 Kiag, 136 
 
 Kneller(Sir G.) 117, 149 
 Kynaston, 7, 8, 10, 18, 98, 99, 100, 
 
 101,123 
 Langbaine, 12, 17, 59 
 Land-sdown (Lord) 126 
 Laws (H.) 15 
 LeBrun, 110 
 
 Lee, 95, 96, 97, 101, 102, 109 
 Lee (Mrs. Mary) 90, 92, 93 
 Leouard, 95 
 
 Lilliston, 18. 20, 25, 51, 53, 54, 77 
 Long (Mrs.) 56, 73, 74, 77. 83, 
 
 85 
 Lovell,18, 20,25,5.9, 54,55 
 Lowins(J.)26, 27, 28, 119 
 Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre, 19, 
 
 38, 50, 53, 60, 64, 72, 76, 82, 86, 
 
 98, 124 
 Maoklin, 136 
 Maidwell, 97 
 Malone, 9, 25, 62. 70, 124 
 Manley, 125, 130 
 Massinger, 55 
 Maynard (Sir John) 11, 14 
 Med burn, 73,76. 89, 90, 91, 92, 93 
 Mills (John) 143 
 Milton, 13 
 Mohun,5. 114, lis 
 Monok (General) 10, IS, 19 
 Mosely, 18, 20, 25 
 
 INDEX. 159 
 
 Motteux, 125, 120 
 
 Monntfort, 101, 102, 111,144 
 
 Mustapha, cast of. 79 
 
 Noakes (James) 20, 21, 25,55, 74, 
 
 76 
 Noakes (R.) 18, 20, 25, 74, 83 
 Nash (Thomas) 69 
 Oklmixon, 128 
 Orrery (Lord) 76, 79, 127, 128 
 Overbury, 149 
 
 Otway, 92, 93, 95, 96. 97, 102, 151 
 Palmer (Sir J.) 33, 34 
 Payne (Nevil) 89 
 Pepys, 4, 16, 18, 19, 51, 52, 53, 54, 
 
 55,57,58,70,73,74, 75, 76, 77, 
 
 78, 79, 81, 82, 149 
 Percival, 101 
 Perin, 101 
 Phillips (Edw.) 63 
 Pinkerman, 134 
 Fix (Mrs.) 120 
 Pollard (T.) 27 
 Pope, 8 
 Pordage. 95 
 Porter (Tom.) 59 
 Portsmouth (Duchess of) 51 
 Powel, 122 
 Price, 72, 78 
 Price, 53, 54, 55, 58 
 Prynne, 16, 17, 69, 70 
 Quin, 136 
 Keed, 16 
 Red Bull, John Street, 12, 16, 19, 
 
 64, 70 
 Rhodes (J.) 7, 8, 10, 18, 19, 32 
 Rice (,r.) 27 
 Eich (J.) 50 
 Richards, 53, 58 
 Richlieu (Cardinal) 65 
 Robinson (R.) 27, 67 
 Rochester (Earl of) 50, 93, 101 
 Rogers (Mrs.) 130 
 Romeo and Juliet, cast of, 58 
 Rowe, 91, 120, 127, 128, 129, 131 
 Rowley (W.) 27 
 Rutland House Theatre, II, 14, 
 
 15, 10, 64 
 Salisbury Court Theatre, 16, 17, 
 
 20,21,2.^,55 
 Sandfonl, 55, 58,59, 72, 74. S3, 85, 
 
 89,92,101, 123 
 Sedley (Sir C.) 
 
160 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Settle, 92 
 Shadwell, 93, 102 
 Shadwell (Mrs.) 89, 93 
 Shakespeare, 4, 57, 76, 77, 82, 92, 
 
 97, 105, 108, 117,119,143 
 Shancke, 27 
 Sharpe (R.) 27 
 Sheppy, 18, 20, 21, 25 
 Siege of Rhodes, oast of, 51 
 Slaughter (Mrs.) 89 
 Slighted Maid, cast of, 73 
 Slingsley (Lady) 101 
 Smith, 5, 72, 73, 76,78, 79, 82, 83, 
 
 85,88,90,93, 98, 99, 101, 126 
 Southern, 6, 9, 124, 127 
 Stapylton (Sir E.) 73, 74 
 Steele (Sir R.) 143 
 Swanstone (E.) 27, 28 
 Tate, 97, 143 
 Taylor (J.) 26, 27, 28, 119 
 Tillotson (Archbishop) 150 
 Tilney (E.) 43, 44 
 Tower of London, 12 
 Trapp (Dr.) 128 
 
 Trotter (Mrs.) 126 
 
 TuUy, HI 
 
 Turner, 18, 20, 25 
 
 Turner (Mrs.) 74 
 
 UnderhiU, 18, 20, 25, 52, 53, 54, 53, 
 
 58, 73, 76, 78, 83, 101, 136 
 Vanburgh (Sir J.) 125, 134 
 Watson (Sir F.) 150 
 Westminster Abbey, 137 
 Webster (John) 58, 78 
 Whincop, 5 
 
 Whitelocke (Lord) 11, 13, 14 
 Whitfriars Theatre, 16, 17 
 Wilks, 121, 133, 134, 135, 143 
 Williams, 123 
 Williams (Mrs.), 74 
 Wilton (Lord de Grey) 6 
 Willshire, 101 
 Wiseman (Mrs.) 79 
 Witts (The) cast of, 52 
 Wright, 63, 64 
 York (Duke of) 51 
 York (Duchess of) 
 Young, 72, 73, 76, 78, 79, 82, 85, 89 
 
 S. AND J. Braw.v, PntNtEtW, 
 ll!i Gate Street, Hion IIotAoh-?, toNboN, ■ff.C. 
 
Orange Street, Holborn, London. 
 
 READER'S DRAMATIC PUBLICATIONS. 
 
 Xives of the Ip^Ia^ers; 
 
 Consisting of reprints of rare Dramatic Biographies and 
 
 original lives by eminent writers, crown 8vo., uniformly 
 
 bound in parchment, 7/6 each ; also a few large 
 
 PAPER copies for illustrating, 15/- 
 
 ABINGTON (Mrs., formerly Miss Barton) Life of, with 
 full accounts of her various Performances in the Theatres 
 of London and Dublin, including also Interesting Notes 
 upon the History of the Irish Stage, and copious 
 Notices, Anecdotes, and Criticisms of her Theatrical 
 Contemporaries, &c., by the editor of the Life of Quin, 
 with a full index ; portrait specially engraved on steel, 
 ajter Cosway 1888 
 
 This celebrated lady achieved so high a position in the comio 
 walks of theatrical life, and was so famed for her personal 
 beanty and exquisite taste in those matters of dress which are 
 so dear to the female heart, that anything like a conseontive 
 narrative of her career mnst be of general interest. Hitherto, 
 all that has appeared in print, has been of such a disjointed 
 and fragmentary, as well as limited, character, that it was ex- 
 ceedingly diiBcnlt to get anything like a clear idea of the origin, 
 progress, and successful termination of her professional life ; 
 an effort has now been made, after considerable labour and 
 research, to connect and arrange in chronological order, all 
 attainable and trnstworthy facts. 
 
 Very full lists are given of the parts she played in various 
 comedies, &c., on the stages of the London and Dublin theatres, 
 and, to relieve these from the barrenness and dryness naturally 
 attending them, many of their characteristics have been dwelt 
 upon, and, so far as was necessary and proper to the faithful 
 exhibition of Mrs. Abington's experience and influence, incidental 
 notices of other performers and historical notes respecting the 
 Irish stage have been freely added. 
 
 Under these circumstances the publisher believes that the book 
 will be peculiarly acceptable to those who have read some of the 
 brief references to this actress's life which have occasionally 
 appeared, and who have had neither the time nor the facilities 
 for the search and study necessary to the construction of a 
 reliable biography. — "Preface. 
 
QUIN (James) The Life of that famous Comedian, with a 
 History of the Stage from his commencing Actor to 
 his retreat to Bath, including many CuriouS Anecdotes 
 of Persons of Distinction in Literature and 
 Gallantry, with a Supplement of Original Facts and 
 Anecdotes, together with his Trial for the Murder 
 of Mr. Bowen, with a complete index ; etched portrait 
 
 1887 
 
 This intereeting work embraces the history of the Stage before 
 and during the earlier part of Garrick'a career, giving an 
 account of the rivalry between Garrick and Qnin. Much 
 curious information is given concerning the customs prevailing 
 at the theatres during this period, such as the appearance of 
 ladies masked, origin of the theatres guarded by the military 
 power, and the riots caused by the French Players. Qnin, 
 being a great wit, there are numerous amusing Anecdotes and 
 Jests of Managers and Actors, with the characters of Barry, 
 Mrs. Gibber, WofBngton, Olive, Pritchard, and others. 
 
 "The reissue of the life of Quin is creditably in typographical 
 respects, and includes a reproduction of Hudson's scarce por- 
 trait. The reprinted portion contains something that is useful 
 to the student of the stage and more that is interesting to the 
 observer of manners. It is at least satisfactory to find within 
 reach a book the treasures of which promised on the title-page 
 were sufficiently tantalizing to the reader. The execution 
 meanwhile of the second portion is satisfactory. A fairiy trust- 
 worthy memoir is supplied, and the best authorities are laid 
 under contribution for anecdote and gossip. From the two 
 parts taken together, a Life of Quin is to be obtained." — Satur- 
 day Review. 
 
 " ' The Life of Quin,' first published in 1766, is one of the scarcest. 
 Such few copies as have been brought to light within the last 
 quarter of a century have been eagerly snapped up at prices 
 ordinarily reserved for early Tennysons or Brownings, and the 
 book for those engaged in theatrical researches has been 
 practically inaccessible. It is a boon to the student of the 
 drama, and so far as the concluding portion is concerned, in 
 which we seem to trace the hand of a well-known writer on 
 bibliographical and antiquarian subjects, is satisfactory in the 
 information it conveys." — Athenceum. 
 
GIBBER (Mrs, Susannah Maria) An Account of the Life 
 of that Celebrated Actress, with Interesting and Amusing 
 Anecdotes, also the Two Remarkable and Romantic 
 Trials between Theophilus Gibber and William Sloper, 
 portrait 1887 
 
 This accomplished actress often appeared with Garriok at Drnry 
 Lane, and afterwards joined the powerful company at Covent 
 Garden, consisting of Mrs. Woffington, Quain, Barry, Maokin 
 and others. She was the pupil of CoUey Gibber, and the wife 
 of Theophilus Gibber, who, after throwing her into the arms of 
 a Mr. Sloper, brought first a curious action against him for 
 Grim. Gon., and afterwards another another action for unlawful 
 detention of his wife. Mr. Gibber, discovering the retreat of 
 his wife, with great brutality carried her off and secretly con- 
 fined her. She managed to escape by crying murder while her 
 brother collected a crowd outside and forced open the door. 
 Much information with regard to salaries, benefits, &o., was 
 made known at the trial for Grim. Gon., the whole of the curious 
 evidence of which is given in the above book. 
 
 JORDAN.— Public and Private Life of that Celebrated 
 Actress, Mrs. Jordan, late Mistress of George IV., 
 Delineating the Vicissitudes of her Early Life, 
 the Splendour of her Noontide Blaze, as Mistress of 
 the King, and Numerous Anecdotes of Illustrious 
 and Fashionable Characters of the Day. 
 
 J. Duncomhe 
 
 This work contains numerous anecdotes and statements not to be 
 found in Boaden's Life of Mrs. Jordan. Boadeu took rather a 
 one-sided view in favour of Royalty, while the pr sent work 
 exposes the cruel way she was treated by her Eoyal Protector, 
 with an interesting account of her forcible detention at St. 
 Cloud, where she died broken hearted. 
 
VESTRIS.— Memoirs of the Life, Public and Private 
 Adventures of Madame Vestris, of the Theatres Drury 
 Lane, Covent Garden, Olympic, and Haymarket, with 
 Interesting and Amusing Anecdotes of Celebrated 
 Characters in the Fashionable World, detailing an 
 Interesting Variety of Singular, Curious, and Amu- 
 sing' Scenes, as performed before and behind the 
 Curtain ; portrait London [1839] 
 
 In this memoir have been gleaned from every quarter anec- 
 dotes of this charming actress, not without much trouble and 
 assiduity, considering the number that are floating on the 
 stream of fashion and folly — the greatest part of which are 
 fictitious — but we are convinced that the reader will experience 
 the most pleasing recreations from this record of this most 
 fascinating actress that ever trod the London boards. 
 
 CATLEY (Miss Anne) Life of, celebrated Singing Per- 
 former of the last century, including an Account of 
 her Introduction to Public Life, her Professional 
 Engagements in London and Dublin, and her Various 
 Adventures and Intrigues with Men of well-known 
 Quality and Wealth, compiled from the best and most 
 authentic Records extant ; very finely etched portrait, 
 from an exceedingly rare print of her at the age of thirty 
 
 1888 
 
 An amusing memoir of one of the most notorious actresses of the 
 eighteenth century, with a list of characters performed by her. 
 She is said to have been the favourite of Thalia, the favourite 
 of the town, and the favourite of fortune. 
 
 Several other Biographies in active preparation 
 BY Different Writers. 
 
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