2.14. CHAPTER XIV.
The Stage in its highest
Prosperity. The Menagers not without
Errors. Of what Kind. Cato first acted.
What brought it to
the Stage. The Company go to Oxford. Their Success and different
Auditors there. Booth made a Sharer.
Dogget objects to him.
Quits the State upon his Admittance. That not his true Reason.
What was. Dogget's Theatrical
Character.
NOTWITHSTANDING the Menaging Actors
were now in a happier Situation than their
utmost Pretensions could have expected, yet it is
not to be suppos'd but wiser Men might have mended
it. As we could not all govern our selves, there were
Seasons when we were not all fit to govern others.
Our Passions and our Interest drew not always the
same way.
Self had a great Sway in our
Debates:
We had our Partialities; our Prejudices; our Favourites
of less Merit; and our Jealousies of those
who came too near us; Frailties which Societies of
higher Consideration, while they are compos'd of
Men, will not always be free from. To have been
constantly capable of Unanimity had been a Blessing
too great for our Station: One Mind among three
People were to have had three Masters to one Servant;
but when that one Servant is called three different
ways at the same time, whose Business is to be
done first? For my own Part, I was forced almost
all my Life to give up my Share of him. And if I
could, by Art or Persuasion, hinder others from
making what I thought a wrong use of their Power,
it was the All and utmost I desired. Yet, whatever
might be our Personal Errors, I shall think I have
no Right to speak of them farther than where the
Publick Entertainment was affected by them. If
therefore, among so many, some particular Actors
were remarkable in any part of their private Lives,
that might sometimes make the World merry without
Doors, I hope my laughing Friends will excuse
me if I do not so far comply with their Desires or
Curiosity as to give them a Place in my History. I
can only recommend such Anecdotes to the Amusement
of a Noble Person, who (in case I conceal
them) does me the flattering Honour to threaten my
Work with a Supplement. 'Tis enough for me that
such Actors had their Merits to the Publick: Let
those recite their Imperfections who are themselves
without them: It is my Misfortune not to have that
Qualification. Let us see then (whatever was amiss
in it) how our Administration went forward.
When we were first invested with this Power, the
Joy of our so unexpectedly coming into it kept us
for some time in Amity and Good-Humour with one
another: And the Pleasure of reforming the many
false Measures, Absurdities, and Abuses, that, like
Weeds, had suck'd up the due Nourishment from
the Fruits of the Theatre, gave us as yet no leisure
for private Dissentions. Our daily Receipts exceeded
our Imagination: And we seldom met as a
Board to settle our weekly Accounts without the Satisfaction
of Joint-Heirs just in Possession of an unexpected
Estate that had been distantly intail'd upon
them. Such a sudden Change of our Condition it
may be imagin'd could not but throw out of us a
new Spirit in almost every Play we appear'd in:
Nor did we ever sink into that common Negligence
which is apt to follow Good-fortune: Industry we
knew was the Life of our Business; that it not only
conceal'd Faults, but was of equal Value to greater
Talents without it; which the Decadence once of
Betterton's Company in Lincoln's-Inn-Fields had
lately shewn us a Proof of.
This then was that happy Period, when both
Actors and Menagers were in their highest Enjoyment
of general Content and Prosperity. Now it
was that the politer World, too, by their decent
Attention, their sensible Taste, and their generous
Encouragements to Authors and Actors, once more
saw that the Stage, under a due Regulation, was
capable of being what the wisest Ages thought it
might be, The most rational Scheme that
Human
Wit could form to dissipate with Innocence the
Cares of Life, to allure even the Turbulent or Ill-disposed
from worse Meditations, and to give the
leisure Hours of Business and Virtue an instructive
Recreation.
If this grave Assertion is less recommended by
falling from the Pen of a Comedian, I must appeal
for the Truth of it to the Tragedy of Cato,
which was
first acted in 1712.
[120.1]
I submit to the Judgment of
those who were then the sensible Spectators of it, if
the Success and Merit of that Play was not an
Evidence of every Article of that Value which I
have given to a decent Theatre? But (as I was
observing) it could not be expected the Summer
Days I am speaking of could be the constant Weather
of the Year; we had our clouded Hours as well as
our sun-shine, and were not always in the same Good-Humour
with one another: Fire, Air, and Water
could not be more vexatiously opposite than the
different Tempers of the Three Menagers, though
they might equally have their useful as well as their
destructive Qualities. How variously these Elements
in our several Dispositions operated may be judged
from the following single Instance, as well as a
thousand others, which, if they were all to be told,
might possibly make my Reader wish I had forgot
them.
Much about this time, then, there came over from
Dublin Theatre two uncelebrated Actors to
pick up
a few Pence among us in the Winter, as Wilks had
a Year or two before done on their side the Water
in the Summer.
[121.1]
But it was not so clear to Dogget and
myself that it was in their Power to do us the same
Service in Drury-Lane as Wilks might have done
them in Dublin. However, Wilks was so much a
Man of Honour that he scorned to be outdone in
the least Point of it, let the Cost be what it would
to his Fellow-Menagers, who had no particular
Accounts of Honour open with them. To acquit
himself therefore with a better Grace,
Wilks so
order'd it, that his
Hibernian Friends were
got upon
our Stage before any other Menager had well heard
of their Arrival. This so generous Dispatch of their
Affair gave
Wilks a very good Chance of
convincing
his Friends that Himself was sole Master of the
Masters of the Company. Here, now, the different
Elements in our Tempers began to work with us.
While
Wilks was only animated by a grateful
Hospitality
to his Friends,
Dogget was ruffled into a
Storm, and look'd upon this Generosity as so much
Insult and Injustice upon himself and the Fraternity.
During this Disorder I stood by, a seeming
quiet Passenger, and, since talking to the Winds I
knew could be to no great Purpose (whatever Weakness
it might be call'd) could not help smiling to
observe with what officious Ease and Delight
Wilks
was treating his Friends at our Expence, who were
scarce acquainted with them: For it seems all this
was to end in their having a Benefit-Play in the
Height of the Season, for the unprofitable Service
they had done us without our Consent or Desire to
employ them. Upon this
Dogget bounc'd and
grew
almost as untractable as
Wilks himself.
Here, again,
I was forc'd to clap my Patience to the Helm to
weather this difficult Point between them: Applying
myself therefore to the Person I imagin'd was most
likely to hear me, I desired
Dogget "to
consider that
"I must naturally be as much hurt by this vain and
"over-bearing Behaviour in
Wilks as he
could be;
"and that tho' it was true these Actors had no Pretence
"to the Favour design'd them, yet we could
"not say they had done us any farther Harm, than
"letting the Town see the Parts they had been
"shewn in, had been better done by those to whom
"they properly belong'd: Yet as we had greatly
"profited by the extraordinary Labour of
Wilks, who
"acted long Parts almost every Day, and at least
"twice to
Dogget's once;
[123.1]
and that I granted it
"might not be so much his Consideration of our
"common Interest, as his Fondness for Applause,
"that set him to Work, yet even that Vanity, if he
"supposed it such, had its Merit to us; and as we
"had found our Account in it, it would be Folly
"upon a Punctilio to tempt the Rashness of a Man,
"who was capable to undo all he had done, by any
"Act of Extravagance that might fly into his Head:
"That admitting this Benefit might be some little
"Loss to us, yet to break with him upon it could not
"but be ten times of worse Consequence, than our
"overlooking his disagreeable manner of making the
"Demand upon us."
Though I found this had made Dogget drop
the
Severity of his Features, yet he endeavoured still to
seem uneasy, by his starting a new Objection, which
was, That we could not be sure even of the Charge
they were to pay for it: For
Wilks, said
he, you
know, will go any Lengths to make it a good Day to
them, and may whisper the Door-keepers to give
them the Ready-money taken, and return the Account
in such Tickets only as these Actors have not
themselves disposed of. To make this easy too, I
gave him my Word to be answerable for the Charge
my self. Upon this he acceded, and accordingly they
had the Benefit-Play. But so it happen'd (whether
as
Dogget had suspected or not, I cannot
say) the
Ready-money receiv'd fell Ten Pounds short of the
Sum they had agreed to pay for it. Upon the
Saturday
following, (the Day on which we constantly made
up our Accounts) I went early to the Office, and
inquired if the Ten Pounds had yet been paid in;
but not hearing that one Shilling of it had found its
way thither, I immediately supply'd the Sum our of
my own Pocket, and directed the Treasurer to charge
it received from me in the deficient Receipt of the
Benefit-Day. Here, now, it might be imagined, all
this silly Matter was accommodated, and that no one
could so properly say he was aggrieved as myself:
But let us observe what the Consequence says—why,
the Effect of my insolent interposing honesty prov'd
to be this: That the Party most oblig'd was the most
offended; and the Offence was imputed to me who
had been Ten Pounds out of Pocket to be able to
commit it: For when
Wilks found in the
Account
how spitefully the Ten Pounds had been paid in, he
took me aside into the adjacent Stone-Passage, and
with some Warmth ask'd me, What I meant by pretending
to pay in this Ten Pounds? And that, for his
part, he did not understand such Treatment. To
which I reply'd, That tho' I was amaz'd at his
thinking himself ill-treated, I would give him a plain,
justifiable Answer.—That I had give my Word
to
Dogget the Charge of the Benefit should
be fully
paid, and since his Friends had neglected it, I found
myself bound to make it good. Upon which he told
me I was mistaken if I thought he did not see into
the bottom of all this—That
Dogget
and I were
always endeavouring to thwart and make him uneasy;
but he was able to stand upon his own Legs, and we
should find he would not be used so: That he took
this Payment of the Ten Pounds as an Insult upon
him and a Slight to his Friends; but rather than
suffer it he would tear the whole Business to pieces:
That I knew it was in his Power to do it; and if he
could not do a civil thing to a Friend without all
this senseless Rout about it, he could be received in
Ireland upon his own Terms, and could as
easily
mend a Company there as he had done here: That
if he were gone,
Dogget and I would not be
able to
keep the Doors open a Week; and, by G—, he
would not be a Drudge for nothing. As I knew all
this was but the Foam of the high Value he had set
upon himself, I thought it not amiss to seem a little
silently concerned, for the helpless Condition to
which his Resentment of the Injury I have related
was going to reduce us: For I knew I had a Friend
in his Heart that, if I gave him a little time to cool,
would soon bring him to Reason: The sweet Morsel
of a Thousand Pounds a Year was not to be met
with at every Table, and might tempt a nicer Palate
than his own to swallow it, when he was not out of
Humour. This I knew would always be of weight
with him, when the best Arguments I could use
would be of none. I therefore gave him no farther
Provocation than by gravely telling him, We all had
it in our Power to do one another a Mischief; but I
believed none of us much cared to hurt ourselves;
that if he was not of my Opinion, it would not be in
my Power to hinder whatever new Scheme he might
resolve upon; that
London would always have
a
Play-house, and I should have some Chance in it,
tho' it might not be so good as it had been; that he
might be sure, if I had thought my paying in the
Ten Pounds could have been so ill received, I should
have been glad to have saved it. Upon this he
seem'd to mutter something to himself, and walk'd
off as if he had a mind to be alone. I took the
Occasion, and return'd to
Dogget to finish
our Accounts.
In about six Minutes
Wilks came in to us,
not in the best Humour, it may be imagined; yet
not in so ill a one but that he took his Share of the
Ten Pounds without shewing the least Contempt of
it; which, had he been proud enough to have refused,
or to have paid in himself, I might have thought he
intended to make good his Menaces, and that the
Injury I had done him would never have been
forgiven; but it seems we had different ways of
thinking.
Of this kind, more or less delightful, was the Life
I led with this impatient Man for full twenty Years.
Dogget, as we shall find, could not hold it
so long;
but as he had more Money than I, he had not Occasion
for so much Philosophy. And thus were our
Theatrical Affairs frequently disconcerted by this
irascible Commander, this Achilles of our
Confederacy,
who, I may be bold to say, came very little
short of the Spirit Horace gives to that
Hero in his—
Impiger, iracundus, inexorabilis, acer.
[127.1]
This, then, is one of those Personal Anecdotes of our
Variances, which, as our publick Performances were
affected by it, could not, with regard to Truth and
Justice, be omitted.
From this time to the Year 1712 my Memory
(from which Repository alone every Article of what
I write is collected) has nothing worth mentioning,
'till the first acting of the Tragedy of Cato.
[127.2]
As to the Play itself, it might be enough to say, That the
Author and the Actors had their different Hopes of
Fame and Profit amply answer'd by the Performance;
but as its Success was attended with remarkable
Consequences, it may not be amiss to trace it from
its several Years Concealment in the Closet, to the
Stage.
In 1703, nine Years before it was acted, I had the
Pleasure of reading the first four Acts (which was
all of it then written) privately with Sir Richard
Steele: It may be needless to say it was impossible
to lay them out of my Hand 'till I had gone thro'
them, or to dwell upon the Delight his Friendship to
the Author receiv'd upon my being so warmly pleas'd
with them: But my satisfaction was as highly disappointed
when he told me, Whatever Spirit Mr.
Addison had shewn in his writing it, he
doubted he
would never have Courage enough to let his Cato
stand the Censure of an English Audience;
that it
had only been the Amusement of his leisure Hours
in Italy, and was never intended for the
Stage. This
Poetical Diffidence
[128.1]
Sir Richard himself spoke of
with some Concern, and in the Transport of his
Imagination could not help saying, Good God!
what
a Part would Betterton make of Cato!
But this
was seven Years before Betterton died, and
when
Booth (who afterwards made his Fortune by
acting
it) was in his Theatrical Minority. In the latter end
of Queen Anne's Reign, when our National
Politicks
had changed Hands, the Friends of Mr. Addison
then thought it a proper time to animate the Publick
with the Sentiments of Cato; in a word,
their Importunities
were too warm to be resisted; and it was
no sooner finish'd than hurried to the Stage, in April,
1712,
[129.1]
at a time when three Days a Week were
usually appointed for the Benefit Plays of particular
Actors: But a Work of that critical Importance was
to make its way through all private Considerations;
nor could it possibly give place to a Custom, which
the Breach of could very little prejudice the Benefits,
that on so unavoidable an Occasion were (in part,
tho' not wholly) postpon'd; it was therefore (
Mondays
excepted) acted every Day for a Month to constantly
crowded Houses.
[129.2]
As the Author had made us a
Present of whatever Profits he might have claim'd
from it, we thought our selves oblig'd to spare no
Cost in the proper Decorations of it. Its coming so
late in the Season to the Stage prov'd of particular
Advantage to the sharing Actors, because the Harvest
of our annual Gains was generally over before
the middle of
March, many select Audiences
being
then usually reserv'd in favour to the Benefits of
private Actors; which fixt Engagements naturally
abated the Receipts of the Days before and after
them: But this unexpected Aftercrop of
Cato
largely
supplied to us those Deficiencies, and was almost
equal to two fruitful Seasons in the same Year; at
the Close of which the three menaging Actors found
themselves each a Gainer of thirteen hundred and
fifty Pounds: But to return to the first Reception of
this Play from the Publick.
Although Cato seems plainly written upon
what
are called Whig Principles, yet the Torys of that
time had Sense enough not to take it as the least
Reflection upon their Administration; but, on the
contrary, they seem'd to brandish and vaunt their
Approbation of every Sentiment in favour of Liberty,
which, by a publick Act of their Generosity, was
carried so high, that one Day, while the Play was
acting, they collected fifty Guineas in the Boxes,
and made a Present of them to Booth, with
this
Compliment—For his honest Opposition to a
perpetual
Dictator, and his dying so bravely in the Cause
of Liberty: What was insinuated by any Part of
these Words is not my Affair;
[130.1]
but so publick a Reward had the Appearance of a laudable Spirit,
which only such a Play as Cato could have
inspired;
nor could Booth be blam'd if, upon so
particular a
Distinction of his Merit, he began himself to set
more Value upon it: How far he might carry it, in
making use of the Favour he stood in with a certain
Nobleman
[130.2]
then in Power at Court, was not difficult
to penetrate, and indeed ought always to have
been expected by the menaging Actors: For which
of them (making the Case every way his own) could
with such Advantages have contented himself in the
humble Station of an hired Actor? But let us see
how the Menagers stood severally affected upon this
Occasion.
Dogget, who expected, though he fear'd
not, the
Attempt of what after happen'd, imagin'd he had
thought of an Expedient to prevent it: And to cover
his Design with all the Art of a Statesman, he insinuated
to us (for he was a staunch Whig) that this
Present of fifty Guineas was a sort of a Tory
Triumph which they had no Pretence to; and that
for his Part he could not bear that so redoubted a
Champion for Liberty as Cato should be
bought off
to the Cause of a Contrary Party: He therefore, in
the seeming Zeal of his Heart, proposed that the
Menagers themselves should make the same Present
to Booth which had been made him from the
Boxes
the Day before. This, he said, would recommend
the Equality and liberal Spirit of our Menagement
to the Town, and might be a Means to secure
Booth more firmly in our Interest, it never
having
been known that the Skill of the best Actor had
receiv'd so round a Reward or Gratuity in one Day
before.
Wilks, who wanted nothing but
Abilities to
be as cunning as
Dogget, was so charm'd
with the
Proposal that he long'd that Moment to make
Booth
the Present with his own Hands; and though he
knew he had no Right to do it without my Consent,
had no Patience to ask it; upon which I turned to
Dogget with a cold Smile, and told him,
that if
Booth
could be purchas'd at so cheap a Rate, it would be
one of the best Proofs of his Oeconomy we had ever
been beholden to: I therefore desired we might have
a little Patience; that our doing it too hastily might
be only making sure of an Occasion to throw the
fifty Guineas away; for if we should be obliged to
do better for him, we could never expect that
Booth
would think himself bound in Honour to refund
them. This seem'd so absurd an Argument to
Wilks
that he began, with his usual Freedom of Speech, to
treat it as a pitiful Evasion of their intended Generosity:
But
Dogget, who was not so wide of my
Meaning, clapping his Hand upon mine, said, with
an Air of Security, O! don't trouble yourself! there
must be two Words to that Bargain; let me alone to
menage that Matter.
Wilks, upon this dark
Discourse,
grew uneasy, as if there were some Secret
between us that he was to be left out of. Therefore,
to avoid the Shock of his Intemperance, I was
reduc'd to tell him that it was my Opinion, that
Booth
would never be made easy by any thing we could do
for him, 'till he had a Share in the Profits and
Menagement; and that, as he did not want Friends
to assist him, whatever his Merit might be before,
every one would think, since his acting of
Cato, he
had now enough to back his Pretensions to it. To
which
Dogget reply'd, that nobody could
think his
Merit was slighted by so handsome a Present as
fifty Guineas; and that, for his farther Pretensions,
whatever the License might avail, our Property of
House, Scenes, and Cloaths were our own, and not
in the Power of the Crown to dispose of. To conclude,
my Objections that the Money would be only
thrown away,
&c. were over-rul'd, and
the same
Night
Booth had the fifty Guineas, which he
receiv'd
with a Thankfulness that made
Wilks and
Dogget
perfectly easy, insomuch that they seem'd for some
time to triumph in their Conduct, and often endeavour'd
to laugh my Jealousy out of Countenance:
But in the following Winter the Game happen'd to
take a different Turn; and then, if it had been a
laughing Matter, I had as strong an Occasion to
smile at their former Security. But before I make
an End of this Matter, I cannot pass over the good
Fortune of the Company that followed us to the Act
at
Oxford, which was held in the
intervening Summer:
Perhaps, too, a short View of the Stage in that different
Situation may not be unacceptable to the
Curious.
After the Restoration of King Charles,
before the
Cavalier and Round-head Parties, under their new
Denomination of Whig and Tory, began again to be
politically troublesome, publick Acts at Oxford (as I
find by the Date of several Prologues written by
Dryden
[134.1]
for
Hart on those Occasions) had been
more frequently held than in late Reigns. Whether
the same Party-Dissentions may have occasion'd the
Discontinuance of them, is a Speculation not necessary
to be enter'd into. But these Academical Jubilees
have usually been look'd upon as a kind of congratulatory
Compliment to the Accession of every new
Prince to the Throne, and generally, as such, have
attended them. King
James
[134.2]
,
notwithstanding his Religion, had the Honour of it; at which the
Players,
as usual, assisted. This I have only mention'd to
give the Reader a Theatrical Anecdote of a Liberty
which
Tony Leigh the Comedian took with the
Character of the well known
Obadiah Walker,
[134.3]
then Head of
University College, who in
that Prince's
Reign had turn'd
Roman Catholick: The
Circumstance
is this.
In the latter End of the Comedy call'd the Committee,
Leigh, who acted the Part of Teague,
hauling
in Obadiah with an Halter about his Neck,
whom,
according to his written Part, he was to threaten to
hang for no better Reason than his refusing to drink
the King's Health, (but here
Leigh) to
justify his
Purpose with a stronger Provocation, put himself
into a more than ordinary Heat with his Captive
Obadiah, which having heightened his
Master's Curiosity
to know what
Obadiah had done to deserve
such Usage,
Leigh, folding his Arms, with
a ridiculous
Stare of Astonishment, reply'd—
Upon my
Shoule, he has shange his Religion. As the Merit of
this Jest lay chiefly in the Auditors' sudden Application
of it to the
Obadiah of
Oxford, it was received
with all the Triumph of Applause which the Zeal of
a different Religion could inspire. But
Leigh was
given to understand that the King was highly displeased
at it, inasmuch as it had shewn him that the
University was in a Temper to make a Jest of his
Proselyte. But to return to the Conduct of our own
Affairs there in 1712.
[135.1]
It had been a Custom for the Comedians while
at Oxford to act twice a Day; the first
Play ending
every Morning before the College Hours of dining,
and the other never to break into the time of shutting
their Gates in the Evening. This extraordinary
Labour gave all the hired Actors a Title to double
Pay, which, at the Act in King William's
Time, I
had myself accordingly received there. But the present
Menagers considering that, by acting only once
a Day, their Spirits might be fresher for every single
Performance, and that by this Means they might be
able to fill up the Term of their Residence, without
the Repetition of their best and strongest Plays; and
as their Theatre was contrived to hold a full third
more than the usual Form of it had done, one House
well fill'd might answer the Profits of two but moderately
taken up: Being enabled, too, by their late
Success at
London, to make the Journey
pleasant
and profitable to the rest of their Society, they resolved
to continue to them their double Pay, notwithstanding
this new Abatement of half their
Labour. This Conduct of the Menagers more than
answer'd their Intention, which was rather to get
nothing themselves than not let their Fraternity be
the better for the Expedition. Thus they laid an
Obligation upon their Company, and were themselves
considerably, though unexpected, Gainers by
it. But my chief Reason for bringing the Reader
to
Oxford was to shew the different Taste
of Plays
there from that which prevail'd at
London.
A great
deal of that false, flashy Wit and forc'd Humour,
which had been the Delight of our Metropolitan
Multitude, was only rated there at its bare intrinsick
Value;
[136.1]
Applause was not to be purchased there
but by the true Sterling, the
Sal Atticum
of a
Genius, unless where the Skill of the Actor pass'd it
upon them with some extraordinary Strokes of
Nature.
Shakespear and
Johnson had there a sort
of classical Authority; for whose masterly Scenes
they seem'd to have as implicit a Reverence as formerly
for the Ethicks of
Aristotle; and were as
incapable of allowing Moderns to be their Competitors,
as of changing their Academical Habits for
gaudy Colours or Embroidery. Whatever Merit,
therefore, some few of our more politely-written
Comedies might pretend to, they had not the same
Effect upon the Imagination there, nor were received
with that extraordinary Applause they had met with
from the People of Mode and Pleasure in
London,
whose vain Accomplishments did not dislike themselves
in the Glass that was held to them: The
elegant Follies of higher Life were not at
Oxford
among their Acquaintance, and consequently might
not be so good Company to a learned Audience as
Nature, in her plain Dress and unornamented, in her
Pursuits and Inclinations seem'd to be.
The only distinguish'd Merit allow'd to any
modern Writer
[137.1]
was to the Author of Cato, which
Play being the Flower of a Plant raised in that
learned Garden, (for there Mr.
Addison had
his
Education) what favour may we not suppose was due
to him from an Audience of Brethren, who from
that local Relation to him might naturally have a
warmer Pleasure in their Benevolence to his Fame?
But not to give more Weight to this imaginary Circumstance
than it may bear, the Fact was, that on
our first Day of acting it our House was in a manner
invested, and Entrance demanded by twelve a Clock
at Noon, and before one it was not wide enough for
many who came too late for Places. The same
Crowds continued for three Days together, (an
uncommon Curiosity in that Place) and the Death of
Cato triumph'd over the Injuries of
Cæsar every
where. To conclude, our Reception at
Oxford, whatever
our Merit might be, exceeded our Expectation.
At our taking Leave we had the Thanks of the
Vice-Chancellor for the Decency and Order observ'd
by our whole Society, an Honour which had not
always been paid upon the same Occasions; for at
the Act in King
William's Time I remember
some
Pranks of a different Nature had been complain'd of.
Our Receipts had not only enabled us (as I have
observ'd) to double the Pay of every Actor, but to
afford out of them towards the Repair of St.
Mary's
Church the Contribution of fifty Pounds: Besides
which, each of the three Menagers had to his respective
Share, clear of all Charges, one hundred and
fifty more for his one and twenty Day's Labour,
which being added to his thirteen hundred and fifty
shared in the Winter preceding, amounted in the
whole to fifteen hundred, the greatest Sum ever
known to have been shared in one Year to that
Time: And to the Honour of our Auditors here and
elsewhere be it spoken, all this was rais'd without the
Aid of those barbarous Entertainments with which,
some few Years after (upon the Re-establishment of
two contending Companies) we were forc'd to disgrace
the Stage to support it.
This, therefore, is that remarkable Period when
the Stage, during my Time upon it, was the least
reproachable: And it may be worth the publick
Observation (if any thing I have said of it can be
so) that One Stage may, as I have prov'd it
has done,
very laudably support it self by such Spectacles only
as are fit to delight a sensible People; but the equal
Prosperity of Two Stages has always been of
a very
short Duration. If therefore the Publick should ever
recover into the true Taste of that Time, and stick
to it, the Stage must come into it, or starve; as,
whenever the general Taste is vulgar, the Stage must
come down to it to
live.—But I ask
Pardon of
the Multitude, who, in all Regulations of the Stage,
may expect to be a little indulg'd in what they like:
If therefore they
will have a May-pole,
why, the
Players must
give them a May-pole; but I
only speak
in case they should keep an old Custom of changing
their Minds, and by their Privilege of being in the
wrong, should take a Fancy, by way of
Variety, of
being in the
right—Then, in such a
Case, what I
have said may appear to have been no intended Design
against their Liberty of judging for themselves.
After our Return from Oxford, Booth was
at full
Leisure to solicit his Admission to a Share in the
Menagement,
[140.1]
in which he succeeded about the
Beginning of the following Winter: Accordingly a
new License (recalling all former Licenses) was
issued, wherein Booth's Name was added to
those of
the other Menagers.
[140.2]
But still there was a Difficulty
in his Qualification to be adjusted; what Consideration
he should allow for an equal Title to our Stock
of Cloaths, Scenes,
&c. without which
the License
was of no more use than the Stock was without the
License; or, at least, if there were any Difference,
the former Menagers seem'd to have the Advantage
in it; the Stock being intirely theirs, and three Parts
in four of the License; for
Collier, though
now but
a fifth Menager, still insisted on his former Appointment
of 700
l. a Year, which in Equity ought
certainly
to have been proportionably abated: But
Court-Favour was not always measur'd by
that
Yard;
Collier's Matter was soon out of the
Question;
his Pretensions were too visible to be contested;
but the Affair of
Booth was not so clear a
Point: The Lord Chamberlain, therefore, only recommended
it to be adjusted among our selves;
which, to say the Truth, at that Time was a greater
Indulgence than I expected. Let us see, then, how
this critical Case was handled.
Wilks was of Opinion, that to set a good
round
Value upon our Stock, was the only way to come
near an Equivalent for the Diminution of our Shares,
which the Admission of Booth must occasion:
But
Dogget insisted that he had no mind to
dispose of
any Part of his Property, and therefore would set no
Price upon it at all. Though I allow'd that Both
these Opinions might be grounded on a good deal
of Equity, yet I was not sure that either of them was
practicable; and therefore told them, that when they
could Both agree which of them could be made so,
they might rely on my Consent in any Shape. In
the mean time I desired they would consider, that
as our License subsisted only during Pleasure, we
could not pretend that the Queen might not recall or
alter it: But that to speak out, without mincing the
matter on either Side, the Truth was plainly this:
That
Booth had a manifest Merit as an
Actor; and as
he was not supposed to be a
Whig, it was as
evident
that a good deal for that Reason a Secretary of State
had taken him into his Protection, which I was afraid
the weak Pretence of our invaded Property would
not be able to contend with: That his having signaliz'd
himself in the Character of
Cato (whose
Principles
the
Tories had affected to have taken into
their own Possession) was a very popular Pretence of
making him free of the Stage, by advancing him to
the Profits of it. And, as we had seen that the Stage
was frequently treated as if it was not suppos'd to
have any Property at all, this Favour intended to
Booth was thought a right Occasion to avow
that
Opinion by disposing of its Property at Pleasure:
But be that as it might, I own'd it was not so much
my Apprehensions of what the
Court might
do, that
sway'd me into an Accommodation with
Booth,
as
what the
Town, (in whose Favour he now
apparently
stood) might think
ought to be done: That
there
might be more danger in contesting their arbitrary
Will and Pleasure than in disputing this less terrible
Strain of the Prerogative. That if
Booth
were only
impos'd upon us from his Merit to the Court, we were
then in the Condition of other Subjects: Then,
indeed, Law, Right, and Possession might have a
tolerable Tug for our Property: But as the Town
would always look upon his Merit to
them in
a
stronger Light, and be Judges of it themselves, it
would be a weak and idle Endeavour in us not to
sail with the Stream, when we might possibly make a
Merit of our cheerfully admitting him: That though
his former Opposition to our Interest might, between
Man and Man, a good deal justify our not making an
earlier Friend of him; yet that was a Disobligation
out of the Town's Regard, and consequently would
be of no weight against so approv'd an Actor's being
preferr'd. But all this notwithstanding, if they could
both agree in a different Opinion, I would, at the
Hazard of any Consequence, be guided by it.
Here, now, will be shewn another Instance of our
different Tempers: Dogget (who, in all
Matters that
concern'd our common Weal and Interest, little regarded
our Opinion, and even to an Obstinacy walk'd
by his own) look'd only out of Humour at what I had
said, and, without thinking himself oblig'd to give
any Reason for it, declar'd he would maintain his
Property. Wilks (who, upon the same
Occasions,
was as remarkably ductile, as when his Superiority
on the Stage was in question he was assuming and
intractable) said, for his Part, provided our Business
of acting was not interrupted, he did not care what
we did: But, in short, he was for playing on, come
what would of it. This last Part of his Declaration
I did not dislike, and therefore I desir'd we might
all enter into an immediate Treaty with
Booth, upon
the Terms of his Admission.
Dogget still
sullenly
reply'd, that he had no Occasion to enter into any
Treaty.
Wilks then, to soften him,
propos'd that, if
I liked it,
Dogget might undertake it
himself. I
agreed. No! he would not be concern'd in it. I then
offer'd the same trust to
Wilks, if
Dogget approv'd
of it.
Wilks said he was not good at
making of
Bargains, but if I was willing, he would rather leave
it to me.
Dogget at this rose up and said,
we might
both do as we pleas'd, but that nothing but he Law
should make him part with his Property—and so
went out of the Room. After which he never came
among us more, either as an Actor of Menager.
[144.1]
By his having in this abrupt manner abdicated his
Post in our Government, what he left of it naturally
devolv'd upon Wilks and myself. However,
this
did not so much distress our Affair as I have Reason
to believe Dogget thought it would: For
though by
our Indentures tripartite we could not dispose of his
Property without his Consent; Yet those Indentures
could not oblige us to fast because he had no
Appetite; and if the Mill did not grind, we could
have no Bread: We therefore determin'd, at any
Hazard, to keep our Business still going, and that
our safest way would be to make the best Bargain
we could with Booth; one Article of which
was to
be, That Booth should stand equally
answerable with
us to
Dogget for the Consequence: To which
Booth
made to Objection, and the rest of his Agreement
was to allow us Six Hundred Pounds for his Share
in our Property, which was to be paid by such Sums
as should arise form half his Profits of Acting, 'till
the whole was discharg'd: Yet so cautious were we
in this Affair, that this Agreement was only Verbal
on our Part, tho' written and sign'd by
Booth as
what intirely contented him: However, Bond and
Judgment could not have made it more secure to
him; for he had his Share, and was able to discharge
the Incumbrance upon it by his Income of that Year
only. Let us see what
Dogget did in this
Affair after
he had left us.
Might it not be imagin'd that Wilks and
Myself,
by having made this Matter easy to Booth,
should
have deserv'd the Approbation at least, if not the
Favour of the Court that had exerted so much Power
to prefer him? But shall I be believed when I
affirm that Dogget, who had so strongly
oppos'd the
Court in his Admission to a Share, was very near
getting the better of us both upon that Account, and
for some time appeared to have more Favour there
than either of us? Let me tell out my Story, and
then think what you please of it.
Dogget, who was equally oblig'd with us
to act
upon the Stage, as to assist in the Menagement of
it, tho' he had refus'd to do either, still demanded of
us his whole Share of the Profits, without considering
what Part of them Booth might pretend to
from our
late Concessions. After many fruitless Endeavours
to bring him back to us,
Booth join'd with
us in
making him an Offer of half a Share if he had a
mind totally to quit the Stage, and make it a
Sinecure.
No! he wanted the whole, and to sit still
himself, while we (if we pleased) might work for him
or let it alone, and none of us all, neither he nor we,
be the better for it. What we imagin'd encourag'd
him to hold us at this short Defiance was, that he
had laid up enough to live upon without the Stage
(for he was one of those close Oeconomists whom
Prodigals call a Miser) and therefore, partly from an
Inclination as an invincible
Whig to
signalize himself
in defence of his Property, and as much presuming
that our Necessities would oblige us to come
to his own Terms, he was determin'd (even against
the Opinion of his Friends) to make no other Peace
with us. But not being able by this inflexible Perseverance
to have his wicked Will of us, he was
resolv'd to go to the Fountain-head of his own
Distress, and try if from thence he could turn the
Current against us. He appeal'd to the Vice-Chamberlain,
[146.1]
to whose Direction the adjusting of all these
Theatrical Difficulties was then committed: But
there, I dare say, the Reader does not expect he
should meet with much Favour: However, be that
as it may; for whether any regard was had to his
having some Thousands in his Pocket; or that he
was consider'd as a Man who would or could make
more Noise in the Matter than Courtiers might care
for: Or what Charms, Spells, or Conjurations he
might make use of, is all Darkness to me; yet so it
was, he one way or other play'd his part so well, that
in a few Days after we received an Order from the
Vice-Chamberlain, positively commanding us to pay
Dogget his whole Share, notwithstanding we
had
complain'd before of his having withdrawn himself
from acting on the Stage, and from the Menagement
of it. This I thought was a dainty Distinction,
indeed! that
Dogget's Defiance of the
Commands in
favour of
Booth should be rewarded with so
ample
a
Sine-cure, and that we for our Obedience
should
be condemn'd to dig in the Mine to pay it him!
This bitter Pill, I confess, was more than I could
down with, and therefore soon determin'd at all
Events never to take it. But as I had a Man in Power
to deal with, it was not my business to speak
out to
him, or to set forth our Treatment in its proper
Colours. My only Doubt was, Whether I could bring
Wilks into the same Sentiments (for he
never car'd
to litigate any thing that did not affect his Figure
upon the Stage.) But I had the good Fortune to
lay our Condition in so precarious and disagreeable
a Light to him, if we submitted to this Order, that
he fir'd before I could get thro' half the Consequences
of it; and I began now to find it more difficult to
keep him within Bounds than I had before to alarm
him. I then propos'd to him this Expedient: That
we should draw up a Remonstrance, neither seeming
to refuse or comply with this Order; but to start
such Objections and perplexing Difficulties that
should make the whole impracticable: That under
such Distractions as this would raise in our Affairs
we could not be answerable to keep open our Doors,
which consequently would destroy the Fruit of the
Favour lately granted to
Booth, as well as
of This
intended to
Dogget himself. To this
Remonstrance
we received an Answer in Writing, which varied
something in the Measures to accommodate Matters
with
Dogget. This was all I desir'd; when
I found
the Style of
Sic jubeo was alter'd, when
this formidable
Power began to
parley with us, we knew
there could not be much to be fear'd from it: For I
would have remonstrated 'till I had died, rather than
have yielded to the roughest or smoothest Persuasion,
that could intimidate or deceive us. By this
Conduct we made the Affair at last too troublesome
for the Ease of a Courtier to go thro's with. For
when it was consider'd that the principal Point, the
Admission of
Booth, was got over,
Dogget was fairly
left to the Law for Relief.
[148.1]
Upon this Disappointment Dogget
accordingly
preferred a Bill in Chancery against us.
Wilks,
who hated all Business but that of entertaining the
Publick, left the Conduct of our Cause to me; in
which we had, at our first setting out, this Advantage
of Dogget, that we had three Pockets to
support our
Expence, where he had but One. My first Direction
to our Solicitor was, to use all possible Delay
that the Law would admit of, a Direction that
Lawyers seldom neglect; by this means we hung up
our Plaintiff about two Years in Chancery,
'till we
were at full Leisure to come to a Hearing before the
Lord-Chancellor Cooper, which did not
happen 'till
after the Accession of his late Majesty. The Issue
of it was this. Dogget had about fourteen
Days
allow'd him to make his Election whether he would
return to act as usual: But he declaring, by his
Counsel, That he rather chose to quit the Stage, he
was decreed Six Hundred Pounds for his Share in
our Property, with 15
per Cent. Interest
from the
Date of the last License: Upon the Receipt of which
both Parties were to sign General-Releases, and
severally to pay their own Costs. By this Decree,
Dogget, when his Lawyer's Bill was paid,
scarce got
one Year's Purchase of what we had offer'd him
without Law, which (as he surviv'd but seven Years
after it) would have been an Annuity of Five
Hundred Pounds and a
Sine Cure for Life.
[150.1]
Tho' there are many Persons living who know
every Article of these Facts to be true: Yet it will
be found that the strongest of them was not the
strongest Occasion of Dogget's quitting the
Stage.
If therefore the Reader should not have Curiosity
enough to know how the Publick came to be depriv'd
of so valuable an Actor, let him consider that he is not
obliged to go through the rest of this Chapter, which
I fairly tell him before-hand will only be fill'd up with
a few idle Anecdotes leading to that Discovery.
After our Law-suit was ended, Dogget for
some
few Years could scarce bear the Sight of Wilks or
myself; tho' (as shall be shewn) for different Reasons:
Yet it was his Misfortune to meet with us almost
every Day. Button's Coffee-house, so
celebrated in
the
Tatlers for the Good-Company that came
there,
was at this time in its highest Request.
Addison,
Steele, Pope, and several other Gentlemen of different
Merit, then made it their constant
Rendezvous. Nor
could
Dogget decline the agreeable
Conversation
there, tho' he was daily sure to find
Wilks
or myself
in the same Place to sour his Share of it: For as
Wilks and He were differently Proud, the
one rejoicing
in a captious, over-bearing, valiant Pride, and the
other in a stiff, sullen, Purse-Pride, it may be easily
conceiv'd, when two such Tempers met, how agreeable
the Sight of one was to the other. And as
Dogget
knew I had been the Conductor of our Defence
against his Law-suit, which had hurt him more for
the Loss he had sustain'd in his Reputation of
understanding Business, which he valued himself
upon, than his Disappointment had of getting so
little by it; it was no wonder if I was intirely out of
his good Graces, which I confess I was inclin'd upon
any reasonable Terms to have recover'd; he being
of all my Theatrical Brethren the Man I most delighted
in: For when he was not in a Fit of Wisdom,
or not over-concerned about his Interest, he had a
great deal of entertaining Humour: I therefore, notwithstanding
his Reserve, always left the Door open
to our former Intimacy, if he were inclined to come
into it. I never failed to give him my Hat and
Your Servant wherever I met him; neither of
which
he would ever return for above a Year after; but I
still persisted in my usual Salutation, without observing
whether it was civilly received or not. This
ridiculous Silence between two Comedians, that had
so lately liv'd in a constant Course of Raillery with
one another, was often smil'd at by our Acquaintance
who frequented the same Coffee-house: And one of
them carried his Jest upon it so far, that when I was
at some Distance from Town he wrote me a formal
Account that
Dogget was actually dead.
After the
first Surprize his Letter gave me was over, I began
to consider, that this coming from a droll Friend to
both of us, might possibly be written to extract some
Merriment out of my real belief of it: In this I was
not unwilling to gratify him, and returned an Answer
as if I had taken the Truth of his News for granted;
and was not a little pleas'd that I had so fair an
Opportunity of speaking my Mind freely of
Dogget,
which I did, in some Favour of his Character; I excused
his Faults, and was just to his Merit. His
Law-suit with us I only imputed to his having naturally
deceived himself in the Justice of his Cause.
What I most complain'd of was, his irreconcilable
Disaffection to me upon it, whom he could not reasonably
blame for standing in my own Defence; that
not to endure me after it was a Reflection upon his
Sense, when all our Acquaintance had been Witnesses
of our former Intimacy, which my Behaviour
in his Life-time had plainly shewn him I had a mind
to renew. But since he was now gone (however
great a Churl he was to me) I was sorry my Correspondent
had lost him.
This Part of my Letter I was sure, if Dogget's
Eyes were still open, would be shewn to him; if not, I
had only writ it to no Purpose. But about a Month
after, when I came to Town, I had some little Reason
to imagine it had the Effect I wish'd from it: For
one Day, sitting over-against him at the same Coffee-house
where we often mixt at the same Table, tho'
we never exchanged a single Syllable, he graciously
extended his Hand for a Pinch of my Snuff: As this
seem'd from him a sort of breaking the Ice of his
Temper, I took Courage upon it to break Silence on
my Side, and ask'd him how he lik'd it? To which,
with a slow Hesitation naturally assisted by the
Action of his taking the Snuff, he reply'd—Umh!
the best—Umh!—I have tasted a great
while!—If the
Reader, who may possibly think all this extremely
trifling, will consider that Trifles sometimes shew Characters
in as strong a Light as Facts of more serious
Importance, I am in hopes he may allow that my
Matter less needs an Excuse than the Excuse itself
does; if not, I must stand condemn'd at the end of my
Story.—But let me go on.
After a few Days of these coy, Lady-like Compliances
on his Side, we grew into a more conversable
Temper: At last I took a proper Occasion, and
desired he would be so frank with me as to let me
know what was his real Dislike, or Motive, that made
him throw up so good an Income as his Share with
us annually brought him in? For though by our
Admission of Booth, it might not probably
amount to
so much by a Hundred or two a Year as formerly,
yet the Remainder was too considerable to be
quarrel'd with, and was likely to continue more than
the best Actors before us had ever got by the Stage.
And farther, to encourage him to be open, I told
him, If I had done any thing that had particularly
disobliged him, I was ready, if he could put me in
the way, to make him any Amends in my Power;
if not, I desired he would be so just to himself as to
let me know the real Truth without Reserve: But
Reserve he could not, from his natural Temper,
easily shake off. All he said came from him by half
Sentences and
Inuendos, as—No, he had
not taken
any thing particularly ill—for his Part, he was very
easy as he was; but where others were to dispose of
his Property as they pleas'd—if you had stood it out
as I did,
Booth might have paid a better
Price for it.
—You were too much afraid of the Court—but that's
all over.—There were other things in the Playhouse.
—No Man of Spirit.—In short, to be always pester'd
and provok'd by a trifling Wasp—a—vain—shallow!
—A Man would sooner beg his Bread than bear it.
—(Here it was easy to understand him: I therefore
ask'd him what he had to bear that I had not my
Share of?) No! it was not the same thing, he said.
—You can play with a Bear, or let him alone and do
what he would, but I could not let him lay his Paws
upon me without being hurt; you did not feel him as
I did.—And for a Man to be cutting of Throats upon
every Trifle at my time of Day!—If I had been as
covetous as he thought me, may be I might have born
it as well as you—but I would not be a Lord of the
Treasury if such a Temper as
Wilks's were
to be at
the Head of it.—
Here, then, the whole Secret was out. The rest of
our Conversation was but explaining upon it. In a
Word, the painful Behaviour of Wilks had
hurt him
so sorely that the Affair of Booth was
look'd upon
as much a Relief as a Grievance, in giving him so
plausible a Pretence to get rid of us all with a better
Grace.
Booth too, in a little time, had his
Share of the
same Uneasiness, and often complain'd of it to me:
Yet as we neither of us could then afford to pay
Dogget's Price for our Remedy, all we could
do was
to avoid every Occasion in our Power of inflaming
the Distemper: So that we both agreed, tho' Wilks's
Nature was not to be changed, it was a less Evil to
live with him than without him.
Tho' I had often suspected, from what I had felt
myself, that the Temper of Wilks was Dogget's real
Quarrel to the Stage, yet I could never thoroughly
believe it 'till I had it from his own Mouth. And I
then thought the Concern he had shewn at it was a
good deal inconsistent with that Understanding
which was generally allow'd him. When I give my
Reasons for it, perhaps the Reader will not have a
better Opinion of my own: Be that as it may, I
cannot help wondering that he who was so much
more capable of Reflexion than Wilks, could
sacrifice
so valuable an Income to his Impatience of another's
natural Frailty! And though my Stoical way of
thinking may be no Rule for a wiser Man's Opinion,
yet, if it should happen to be right, the Reader may
make his Use of it. Why then should we not always
consider that the Rashness of Abuse is but the false
Reason of a weak Man? and that offensive Terms
are only used to supply the want of Strength in
Argument? Which, as to the common Practice of
the sober World, we do not find every Man in Business
is oblig'd to resent with a military Sense of
Honour: Or if he should, would not the Conclusion
amount to this? Because another wants Sense and
Manners I am obliged to be a Madman: For such
every Man is, more or less, while the Passion of
Anger is in Possession of him. And what less can
we call that proud Man who would put another out
of the World only for putting him out of Humour?
If Accounts of the Tongue were always to be made
up with the Sword, all the Wisemen in the World
might be brought in Debtors to Blockheads. And
when Honour pretends to be Witness, Judge, and
Executioner in its own Cause, if Honour were a Man,
would it be an Untruth to say Honour is a very impudent
Fellow? But in
Dogget's Case it may be
ask'd, How was he to behave himself? Were passionate
Insults to be born for Years together? To
these Questions I can only answer with two or three
more, Was he to punish himself because another was
in the wrong? How many sensible Husbands endure
the teizing Tongue of a froward Wife only because
she is the weaker Vessel? And why should
not a weak Man have the same Indulgence? Daily
Experience will tell us that the fretful Temper
of a Friend, like the Personal Beauty of a fine
Lady, by Use and Cohabitation may be brought
down to give us neither Pain nor Pleasure. Such,
at least, and no more, was the Distress I found myself
in upon the same Provocations, which I generally
return'd with humming an Air to myself; or
if the Storm grew very high, it might perhaps
sometimes ruffle me enough to sing a little out of
Tune. Thus too (if I had any ill Nature to gratify)
I often saw the unruly Passion of the Aggressor's
Mind punish itself by a restless Disorder of the
Body.
What inclines me, therefore, to think the Conduct
of Dogget was as rash as the Provocations
he complain'd
of, is that in some time after he had left us
he plainly discover'd he had repented it. His Acquaintance
observ'd to us, that he sent many a long
Look after his Share in the still prosperous State of
the Stage: But as his Heart was too high to declare
(what we saw too) his shy Inclination to return, he
made us no direct Overtures. Nor, indeed, did we
care (though he was a golden Actor) to pay too dear
for him: For as most of his Parts had been pretty
well supply'd, he could not now be of his former
Value to us. However, to shew the Town at least
that he had not forsworn the Stage, he one Day condescended
to play for the Benefit of Mrs.
Porter,
[158.1]
in the
Wanton Wife, at which he knew his
late Majesty
was to be present.
[158.2]
Now (tho' I speak it not of my
own Knowledge) yet it was not likely Mrs.
Porter
would have ask'd that Favour of him without some
previous Hint that it would be granted. His coming
among us for that Day only had a strong Appearance
of his laying it in our way to make him Proposals, or
that he hoped the Court or Town might intimate to
us their Desire of seeing him oftener: But as he
acted only to do a particular Favour, the Menagers
ow'd him no Compliment for it beyond Common
Civilities. And, as that might not be all he proposed
by it, his farther Views (if he had any) came to
nothing. For after this Attempt he never returned
to the Stage.
To speak of him as an Actor: He was the most
an Original, and the strictest Observer of Nature, of
all his Contemporaries.
[158.3]
He borrow'd from none of them: His
Manner was his own: He was a Pattern
to others, whose greatest Merit was that they had
sometimes tolerably imitated him. In dressing a
Character to the greatest Exactness he was remarkably
skilful; the least Article of whatever Habit he
wore seem'd in some degree to speak and mark the
different Humour he presented; a necessary Care in
a Comedian, in which many have been too remiss or
ignorant. He could be extremely ridiculous without
stepping into the least Impropriety to make him so.
His greatest Success was in Characters of lower
Life, which he improv'd form the Delight he took in
his Observations of that Kind in the real World.
In Songs, and particular Dances, too, of Humour,
he had no Competitor.
Congreve was a great
Admirer
of him, and found his Account in the Characters
he expresly wrote for him. In those of
Fondlewife,
in his
Old Batchelor, and
Ben, in
Love for Love,
no
Author and Actor could be more obliged to their
mutual masterly Performances. He was very acceptable
to several Persons of high Rank and Taste:
Tho' he seldom car'd to be the Comedian but among
his more intimate Acquaintance.
And now let me ask the World a Question.
When Men have any valuable Qualities, why are the
generality of our modern Wits so fond of exposing
their Failings only, which the wisest of Mankind
will never wholly be free from? Is it of more use
to the Publick to know their Errors than their Perfections?
Why is the Account of Life to be so
unequally stated? Though a Man may be sometimes
Debtor to Sense or Morality, is it not doing
him Wrong not to let the World see, at the same
time, how far he may be Creditor to both? Are
Defects and Disproportions to be the only labour'd
Features in a Portrait? But perhaps such Authors
may know how to please the World better than I
do, and may naturally suppose that what is delightful
to themselves may not be disagreeable to other.
For my own part, I confess myself a little touch'd in
Conscience at what I have just now observ'd to the
Disadvantage of my other Brother-Menager.
If, therefore, in discovering the true Cause of the
Publick's losing so valuable an Actor as Dogget, I
have been obliged to shew the Temper of Wilks in
its natural Complexion, ought I not, in amends and
Balance of his Imperfections, to say at the same time
of him, That if he was not the most Correct or Judicious,
yet (as Hamlet says of the King his Father)
Take him for All in
All, &c. he was certainly the
most diligent, most laborious, and most useful Actor
that I have seen upon the Stage in Fifty Years.
[160.1]