CHAPTER XV. An Apology for the Life of Mr. Colley Cibber, Volume II | ||
2.15. CHAPTER XV.
SirRichard Steele succeeds Collier in the Theatre-Royal. Lincoln's-Inn-Fields House rebuilt. The Patent restored. Eight Actors at once desert from the King's Company. Why. A new Patent obtain'd by Sir Richard Steele, and assign'd in Shares to the menaging Actors of Drury-Lane. Of modern Pantomimes. The Rise of them. Vanity invincible and asham'd. The Non-juror acted. The Author not forgiven, and rewarded for it.
UPON the Death of the Queen, Plays (as they always had been on the like Occasions) were silenc'd for six Weeks. But this happening on the first of August, [161.1] in the long Vacation of the Theatre, the Observance of that Ceremony, which at another
Though it may be no Addition to the favourable Part of this Gentleman's Character to say with what Pleasure he receiv'd this Mark of our Inclination to him, yet my Vanity longs to tell you that it surpriz'd him into an Acknowledgment that People who are shy of Obligations are cautious of confessing. His Spirits took such a lively turn upon it, that had we been all his own Sons, no unexpected Act of filial Duty could have more endear'd us to him.
It must be observ'd, then, that as Collier had no Share in any Part of our Property, no Difficulties from that Quarter could obstruct this Proposal. And the usual Time of our beginning to act for the Winter-Season now drawing near, we press'd him not to lose any Time in his Solicitation of this new License. Accordingly Sir Richard apply'd himself to the Duke of Marlborough, the Hero of his Heart, who, upon the first mention of it, obtain'd it of his Majesty for Sir Richard and the former Menagers
The Court and Town being crowded very early in the Winter-Season, upon the critical Turn of Affairs so much expected from the Hanover Succession, the Theatre had its particular Share of that general Blessing by a more than ordinary Concourse of Spectators.
About this Time the Patentee, having very near finish'd his House in Lincoln's-Inn Fields, began to think of forming a new Company; and in the mean time found it necessary to apply for Leave to employ them. By the weak Defence he had always made against the several Attacks upon his Interest and former Government of the Theatre, it might be a Question, if his House had been ready in the Queen's Time, whether he would then have had the Spirit to ask, or Interest enough to obtain Leave to use it: But in the following Reign, as it did not appear he had done anything to forfeit the Right of his Patent, he prevail'd with Mr. Craggs the Younger (afterwards Secretary of State) to lay his Case before the King, which he did in so effectual a manner that (as Mr. Craggs himself told me) his Majesty was pleas'd to say upon it, "That he remember'd when he had "been in England before, in King Charles his Time,
The Suspension of the Patent being thus taken off, the younger Multitude seem'd to call aloud for two Play-houses! Many desired another, from the common Notion that Two would always create Emulation in the Actors (an Opinion which I have consider'd in a former Chapter). Others, too, were as eager for them, from the natural Ill-will that follows the Fortunate or Prosperous in any Undertaking. Of this low Malevolence we had, now and then, had remarkable Instances; we had been forced to dismiss an Audience of a hundred and fifty Pounds, from a Disturbance spirited up by obscure People, who never gave any better Reason for it, than that it was their Fancy to support the idle Complaint of one rival Actress against another, in their several Pretensions to the chief Part in a new Tragedy. But as this Tumult seem'd only to be the Wantonness of English Liberty, I shall not presume to lay any farther Censure upon it. [166.2]
Now, notwithstanding this publick Desire of re-establishing
However (as I have observ'd) we made many Blots, which these unskilful Gamesters never hit: But the Fidelity of an Historian cannot be excus'd the Omission of any Truth which might make for the other Side of the Question. I shall therefore
When the new-built Theatre in Lincoln's-Inn Fields was ready to be open'd, seven or eight Actors in one Day deserted from us to the Service of the Enemy, [169.2] which oblig'd us to postpone many of our best Plays for want of some inferior Part in them which these Deserters had been used to fill: But the Indulgence of the Royal Family, who then frequently honour'd us by their Presence, was pleas'd to accept of whatever could be hastily got ready for their Entertainment. And tho' this critical good Fortune prevented, in some measure, our Audiences falling so low as otherwise they might have done, yet it was not sufficient to keep us in our former Prosperity: For that Year our Profits amounted not to above a third Part of our usual Dividends; tho' in the following Year we intirely recover'd them. The Chief of these Deserters were Keene, Bullock, Pack, [169.3] Leigh, Son of the
After this new Theatre had enjoy'd that short Run of Favour which is apt to follow Novelty, their Audiences began to flag: But whatever good Opinion
Richard Steele
[Description: Mezzotint Portrait. Engraving by R. B. Parkes. Richard Steele. From the painting by Jonathan Richardson, 1712]When we proposed to put this Agreement into Writing, he desired us not to hurry ourselves; for that he was advised, upon the late Desertion of our Actors, to get our License (which only subsisted during Pleasure) enlarg'd into a more ample and durable Authority, and which he said he had Reason to think would be more easily obtain'd, if we were willing that a Patent for the same Purpose might be granted to him only, for his Life and three Years after, which he would then assign over to us. This was a Prospect beyond our Hopes; and what we had long wish'd for; for though I cannot say we had ever Reason to grieve at the Personal Severities or Behaviour of any one Lord-Chamberlain in my Time, yet the several Officers under them who had not the Hearts of Noblemen, often treated us (to use Shakespear's Expression) with all the Insolence of Office that narrow Minds are apt to be elated with; but a Patent, we knew, would free us from so abject a State of Dependency. Accordingly, we desired Sir Richard to lose no time; he was immediately promised it: In the Interim, we sounded the Inclination of the Actors remaining with us; who had all Sense enough to know, that the Credit and Reputation we stood in with the Town, could not but be a better Security for their Sallaries, than the Promise of any other Stage put into Bonds could
We receiv'd the Patent January 19, 1715, [174.1] and (Sir Richard being obliged the next Morning to set out for Burrowbridge in Yorkshire, where he was soon after elected Member of Parliament) we were forced that very Night to draw up in a hurry ('till our Counsel might more adviseably perfect it) his Assignment to us of equal Shares in the Patent, with farther Conditions of Partnership: [174.2] But here I ought to take Shame to myself, and at the same time to give this second Instance of the Equity and Honour of Sir Richard: For this Assignment (which I had myself the hasty Penning of) was so worded, that it gave Sir Richard as equal a Title to our Property
The Grant of this Patent having assured us of a competent Term to be relied on, we were now emboldened to lay out larger Sums in the Decorations of our Plays: [175.1] Upon the Revival of Dryden's All for Love, the Habits of that Tragedy amounted to an Expence of near Six Hundred Pounds; a Sum unheard of, for many Years before, on the like Occasions.
When it was first publickly known that the New
In every Article of this Opinion they afterwards found I had not been deceived; and the Truth of it may be so well remember'd by many living Spectators, that it would be too frivolous and needless a Boast to give it any farther Observation.
But in what I have said I would not be understood to be an Advocate for two Play-houses: For we shall soon find that two Sets of Actors tolerated in the same Place have constantly ended in the Corruption of the Theatre; of which the auxiliary Entertainments that have so barbarously supply'd the Defects of weak Action have, for some Years past, been a flagrant Instance; it may not, therefore, be here improper to shew how our childish Pantomimes first came to take so gross a Possession of the Stage.
I have upon several occasions already observ'd, that when one Company is too hard for another, the lower in Reputation has always been forced to exhibit some new-fangled Foppery to draw the Multitude after them: Of these Expedients, Singing and Dancing had formerly been the most effectual; [179.1] but, at the Time I am speaking of, our English Musick had
If I am ask'd (after my condemning these Fooleries myself) how I came to assent or continue my Share of Expence to them? I have no better Excuse for
But what is all this to the Theatrical Follies I was talking of? Perhaps not a great deal; but it is to my Purpose; for though I am an Historian, I do not
Notwithstanding, then, this our Compliance with the vulgar Taste, we generally made use of these Pantomimes but as Crutches to our weakest Plays: Nor were we so lost to all Sense of what was valuable as to dishonour our best Authors in such bad Company: We had still a due Respect to several select Plays that were able to be their own Support; and in which we found our constant Account, without painting and patching them out, like Prostitutes, with these Follies in fashion: If therefore we were not so strictly chaste in the other part of our Conduct, let the Error of it stand among the silly Consequences of Two Stages. Could the Interest of both Companies have been united in one only Theatre, I had been one of the Few that would have us'd my utmost Endeavour of never admitting to the Stage any Spectacle that ought not to have been seen there; the Errors of my own Plays, which I could not see, excepted. And though probably the Majority of Spectators would not have been so well pleas'd with a Theatre so regulated; yet Sense and Reason cannot
While I am making this grave Declaration of what I would have done had One only Stage been continued; to obtain an easier Belief of my Sincerity I ought to put my Reader in mind of what I did do, even after Two Companies were again establish'd.
About this Time Jacobitism had lately exerted itself by the most unprovoked Rebellion that our Histories have handed down to us since the Norman Conquest: [185.1] I therefore thought that to set the Authors and Principles of that desperate Folly in a fair Light, by allowing the mistaken Consciences of some their best Excuse, and by making the artful Pretenders to Conscience as ridiculous as they were ungratefully wicked, was a Subject fit for the honest Satire of Comedy, and what might, if it succeeded, do Honour to the Stage by shewing the valuable Use of it. [185.2] And considering what Numbers at that
To give Life, therefore, to this Design, I borrow'd the Tartuffe of Moliere, and turn'd him into a modern Nonjuror: [186.1] Upon the Hypocrisy of the French Character I ingrafted a stronger Wickedness, that of an English Popish Priest lurking under the Doctrine of our own Church to raise his Fortune upon the Ruin of a Worthy Gentleman, whom his dissembled Sanctity had seduc'd into the treasonable Cause of a Roman Catholick Out-law. How this Design, in the Play, was executed, I refer to the Readers of it; it cannot be mended by any critical Remarks I can make in its favour: Let it speak for itself. All the Reason I had to think it no bad Performance was, that it was acted eighteen Days running, [186.2] and that the Party that were hurt by it (as I have been told) have not been the smallest Number of my back Friends ever since. But happy was it for this Play that the very Subject was its Protection; a few Smiles of silent Contempt were the utmost Disgrace that on the first Day of its Appearance it was thought safe to throw upon it; as the
On the first Day of the Provok'd Husband, ten Years after the Nonjuror had appear'd, [189.2] a powerful Party, not having the Fear of publick Offence or private Injury before their Eyes, appear'd most impetuously concern'd for the Demolition of it; in which they so far succeeded, that for some Time I gave it up for lost; and to follow their Blows, in the publick Papers of the next Day it was attack'd and triumph'd over as a dead and damn'd Piece; a swinging Criticism was made upon it in general invective Terms, for they disdain'd to trouble the
Now, if such notable Behaviour could break out upon so successful a Play (which too, upon the Share Sir John Vanbrugh had in it, I will venture to call a good one) what shall we impute it to? Why may not I plainly say, it was not the Play, but Me, who had a Hand in it, they did not like? And for what Reason? if they were not asham'd of it, why did not they publish it? No! the Reason had publish'd itself, I was the Author of the Nonjuror! But, perhaps, of all Authors, I ought not to make this sort of Complaint, because I have Reason to think that that particular Offence has made me more honourable Friends than Enemies; the latter of which I am not unwilling should know (however unequal the Merit may be to the Reward) that Part of the Bread I now eat was given me for having writ the Nonjuror. [190.1]
And yet I cannot but lament, with many quiet Spectators, the helpless Misfortune that has so many Years attended the Stage! That no Law has had Force enough to give it absolute Protection! for
What a Blessing, therefore, is it! what an enjoy'd Deliverance! after a Wretch has been driven by Fortune to stand so many wanton Buffets of unmanly Fierceness, to find himself at last quietly lifted above the Reach of them!
But let not this Reflection fall upon my Auditors without Distinction; for though Candour and Benevolence are silent Virtues, they are as visible as the most vociferous Ill-nature; and I confess the Publick has given me more frequently Reason to be thankful than to complain.
In the Dedication to Steele of "Ximena" (1719) Cibber warmly acknowledges the great service Steele had done to the theatre, not only in improving the tone of its performances, but also in the mere attracting of public attention to it. "How many a time," he says, "have we known the most elegant Audiences drawn together at a Day's Warning, by the Influence or Warrant of a single Tatler, when our best Endeavours without it, could not defray the Charge of the Performance." In the same Dedication Cibber's gratitude overstepped his judgment, in applying to Steele's generous acknowledgment of his indebtedness to Addison's help in his "Spectator," &c., Dryden's lines:—
I bore this Wren, 'till I was tir'd with soaring,
And now, he mounts above me—"
The following Epigram is quoted in "The Laureat," p. 76. It originally appeared in "Mist's Journal," 31st October, 1719:—
See here, Sir Knight, how I've outdone Corneille;
See here, how I, my Patron to inveigle,
Make Addison a Wren, and you an Eagle.
Safe to the silent Shades, we bid Defiance;
For living Dogs are better than dead Lions."
In one of his Odes, at which Johnson laughed (Boswell, i. 402 Cibber had the couplet:—
The lowly linnet loves to sing."
"Ximena; or, the Heroic Daughter," produced on 28th November, 1712, was an adaptation of Corneille's "Cid." We do not know the cast of 1712, but that of 1718 (Drury Lane, 1st November) was the following:—
- DON FERDINAND........Mr. Mills.
- DON ALVAREZ..........Mr. Cibber.
- DON GORMAZ...........Mr. Booth.
- DON CARLOS...........Mr. Wilks.
- DON SANCHEZ..........Mr. Elrington.
- DON ALONZO...........Mr. Thurmond.
- DON GARCIA...........Mr. Boman.
- XIMENA...............Mrs. Oldfield.
- BELZARA..............Mrs. Porter.
A Royal Licence was granted on 18th October, 1714, to Steele, Wilks, Cibber, Dogget, and Booth. The theatre opened before the Licence was granted. The first bill given by Genest is for 21st September, 1714.
Christopher Rich died before the theatre was opened, and it was under the management of John Rich, his son, that Lincoln's Inn Fields opened on 18th December, 1714, with "The Recruiting Officer." The company was announced as playing under Letters Patent granted by King Charles the Second.
This refers to a riot raised by the supporters of Mrs. Rogers, on Mrs. Oldfield's being cast for the character of Andromache in Philip's tragedy of "The Distressed Mother," produced at Drury Lane on 17th March, 1712.
Cibber on one occasion manifested temper to a rather unexpected degree. In 1720, when Dennis published his attacks on Steele, in connection with his being deprived of the Patent, he accused Cibber of impiety and various other crimes and misdemeanours; and Cibber is said in the "Answer to the Character of Sir John Edgar" to have inserted the following advertisement in the "Daily Post": "Ten Pounds will be paid by Mr. CIBBER, of the Theatre Royal, to any person who shall (by a legal proof) discover the Author of a Pamphlet, intituled, 'The Characters and Conduct of Sir JOHN EDGAR, &c'" (Nichols, p. 401.)
Cibber refers to his remarks (see vol. i. p. 191) on the conduct of the Patentees which caused Betterton's secession in 1694-5.
In addition to Keen, Bullock (William), Pack, and Leigh, whom Cibber mentions a few lines after, Spiller and Christopher Bullock were among the deserters; and probably Cory and Knap. Mrs. Rogers, Mrs. Knight, and Mrs. Kent also deserted.
George Pack is an actor of whom Chetwood ("History," p. 210) gives some account. He first came on the stage as a singer, performing the female parts in duets with Leveridge. His first appearance chronicled by Genest was at Lincoln's Inn Fields in 1700, as Westmoreland in the first part of "Henry IV." Chetwood says he was excellent as Marplot in "The Busy Body," Beau Maiden in "Tunbridge Walks," Beau Mizen in "The Fair Quaker of Deal," &c.: "indeed Nature seem'd to mean him for those Sort of Characters." On 10th March, 1722, he announced his last appearance on any stage; but he returned on 21st April and 7th May, 1724, on which latter date he had a benefit. Chetwood says that on his retirement he opened the Globe Tavern, near Charing-Cross, over against the Hay-market. When Chetwood wrote (1749) Pack was no longer alive.
Francis Leigh. There were several actors of the name of Leigh, and it is sometimes difficult to distinguish them. This particular actor died about 1719.
In the "Weekly Packet," 18th December, 1714, the following appears:—
"This Day the New Play-House in Lincolns-Inn Fields, is to be open'd and a Comedy acted there, call'd, The Recruiting Officer, by the Company that act under the Patent; tho' it is said, that some of the Gentlemen who have left the House in Drury-Lane for that Service, are order'd to return to their Colours, upon Pain of not exercising their Lungs elsewhere; which may in Time prove of ill Service to the Patentee, that has been at vast Expence to make this Theatre as convenient for the Reception of an Audience as any one can possibly be."
Genest remarks that this seems to show that the Lord Chamberlain threatened to interfere in the interests of Drury Lane. He adds: "Cibber's silence proves nothing to the contrary, as in more than one instance he does not tell the whole truth" (ii. 565). In defence of Cibber I may say that the Chamberlain's Records contain no hint that he threatened to interfere with the Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre or its actors.
In both the first and second editions Cibber writes 1718, but this is so obviously a misprint that I correct the text. Steele was elected for Boroughbridge in the first Parliament of George I., which met 15th March, 1715.
"The very night I received it, I participated the power and use of it, with relation to the profits that should arise from it, between the gentlemen who invited me into the Licence."—Steele, in "The Theatre," No. 8 [Nichols, p. 64].
The managers also expended money on the decoration of the theatre before the beginning of the next season after the Patent was granted. In the "Daily Courant," 6th October, 1715, they advertise: "His Majesty's Company of Comedians give Notice, That the Middle of next Week they will begin to act Plays, every day, as usual; they being oblig'd to lye still so long, to finish the New Decorations of the House."
This revival was on 2nd December, 1718. Dennis, whose "Invader of his Country" was, as he considered, unfairly postponed on account of this production, wrote to Steele:—
Nesciet.'"
[Ars Poetica, 34.] Nichols' "Theatre," p. 544.
Cibber here skips a few years, for the report by Sir Thomas Hewitt is dated some years after the granting of the Patent. The text of it will be found in Nichols's "Theatre," p. 470:—
"MY LORD, Scotland-yard, Jan. 21, 1721.
"In obedience to
his Majesty's commands signified to me by your Grace the 18th instant, I
have surveyed the Play-house in Drury-lane; and took with me Mr. RIPLEY,
Commissioner of his Majesty's Board of Works, the Master Bricklayer, and
Carpenter: We examined all its parts with the greatest exactness we
could; and found the Walls, Roofing, Stage, Pit, Boxes, Galleries,
Machinery, Scenes, &c. sound, and almost as good as when first
built; neither decayed, nor in the least danger of falling; and when
some small repairs are made, and an useless Stack of Chimnies (built by
the late Mr. RICH) taken down, the Building may continue for a long
time, being firm, the Materials and Joints good, and no part giving way;
and capable to bear much greater weight than is put on them.
"MY
LORD DUKE,
"Your GRACE'S Most humble and obedient servant,
"THOMAS HEWETT.
"N.B. The Stack of Chimnies mentioned in this Report (which were placed over the Stone Passage leading to the Boxes) are actually taken down."
Cibber, vol. i. p. 94, relates how, when the King's Company proved too strong for their rivals, Davenant, "to make head against their Success, was forced to add Spectacle and Music to Action."
In the season 1718-19, Rich at Lincoln's Inn Fields frequently produced French pieces and operas. He must have had a company of French players engaged.
This is, no doubt, John Weaver's dramatic entertainment called "The Loves of Mars and Venus," which was published, as acted at Drury Lane, in 1717.
The following lines ("Dunciad," iii. verses 229-244) are descriptive of such pantomimes as Cibber refers to:—
Swift to whose hand a winged volume flies:
All sudden, Gorgons hiss, and dragons glare,
And ten-horn'd fiends and giants rush to war.
Hell rises, Heav'n descends, and dance on Earth,
Gods, imps, and monsters, music, rage, and mirth,
A fire, a jig, a battle, and a ball,
Till one wide conflagration swallows all.
Breaks out refulgent, with a heav'n its own:
Another Cynthia her new journey runs,
And other planets circle other suns:
The forests dance, the rivers upward rise,
Whales sport in woods, and dolphins in the skies,
And last, to give the whole creation grace,
Lo! one vast Egg produces human race."
The allusion in the last line is to "Harlequin Sorcerer," in which Harlequin is hatched from a large egg on the stage. See Jackson's "History of the Scottish Stage," pages 367-8, for description of John Rich's excellence in this scene.
In the "Dunciad" (book iii. verses 261-4) Pope writes:—
New wizards rise: here Booth, and Cibber there:
Booth in his cloudy tabernacle shrin'd,
On grinning Dragons Cibber mounts the wind."
On these lines Cibber remarks, in his "Letter to Mr. Pope," 1742 (page 37):
Henry of Navarre, of whom it has been said that he regarded religion mainly as a diplomatic instrument.
It is hardly necessary to note that this was the Scottish Rebellion of 1715; yet Bellchambers indicates the period as 1718.
Cibber's most notorious play, "The Nonjuror," was produced at Drury Lane on 6th December, 1717. The cast was:—
- SIR JOHN WOODVIL........Mr. Mills.
- COLONEL WOODVIL.........Mr. Booth.
- MR. HEARTLY.............Mr. Wilks.
- DOCTOR WOLF.............Mr. Cibber.
- CHARLES.................Mr. Walker.
- LADY WOODVIL............Mrs. Porter.
- MARIA...................Mrs. Oldfield.
Genest (ii. 615) quotes the Epilogue to Sewell's "Sir Walter Raleigh," produced at Lincoln's Inn Fields 16th January, 1719:—
As you have seen by—Cibber—in Tartuffe.
With how much wit he did your hearts engage!
He only stole the play;—he writ the title-page."
Genest remarks (ii.616) that "Cibber deserved all the abuse and enmity that he met with—the Stage and the Pulpit ought NEVER to dabble in politics."
Theo. Cibber, in a Petition to the King, given in his "Dissertations" (Letter to Garrick, p. 29), says that his father's "Writings, and public Professions of Loyalty, created him many Enemies, among the Disaffected."
"Mist's Weekly Journal" was an anti-Hanoverian sheet, which was prominent in opposition to the Protestant Succession. Nathaniel Mist, the proprietor, and, I suppose, editor, suffered sundry pains and penalties for his Jacobitism. In his Preface to the second volume of "Letters" selected from his paper, he relates how had had, among other things, suffered imprisonment and stood in the pillory.
CHAPTER XV. An Apology for the Life of Mr. Colley Cibber, Volume II | ||