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  TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE

  Italic text is denoted by _underscores_.
  The oe ligature has been replaced by 'oe' or 'OE'.

  Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been
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  More detail can be found at the end of the book.




  NOTE.--_Three Hundred copies of this Edition printed on fine
  deckle-edge Royal 8vo paper. The fifty Portraits are given in
  duplicate, one on Japanese and the other on plate paper, as India
  proofs._

  _Each of these copies is numbered._

  _No._..........




  "Their Majesties' Servants"


  DR. DORAN, F.S.A.

  VOLUME THE FIRST




  Ballantyne Press

  BALLANTYNE, HANSON AND CO.
  EDINBURGH AND LONDON

  [Illustration: (Frontispiece, Dr. Doran)]




  "_THEIR MAJESTIES' SERVANTS_"

  ANNALS

  OF

  THE ENGLISH STAGE

  FROM

  THOMAS BETTERTON TO EDMUND KEAN

  BY

  DR. DORAN, F.S.A.


  _EDITED AND REVISED BY ROBERT W. LOWE_

  With Fifty Copperplate Portraits and Eighty Wood Engravings

  _IN THREE VOLUMES_

  VOLUME THE FIRST


  LONDON

  JOHN C. NIMMO

  14, KING WILLIAM STREET, STRAND

  MDCCCLXXXVIII




PREFACE.


It is unnecessary to apologise for a new edition of Dr. Doran's
_Annals of the Stage_. The two editions already published have been
for many years out of print, and the first is so rare that copies of
it bring a high price whenever they occur for sale. And this demand
is not a mere bibliographical accident, for the book has held for
many years a recognised position as the standard popular history of
the English stage. The admirable work of Genest, indispensable as
it is to every writer on theatrical history, and to every serious
student of the stage, is in no sense a popular work, and is, indeed,
rather a collection of facts towards a history than a history itself.

In preparing this new edition every effort has been made to
add to its interest by the introduction of portraits and other
illustrations, and to its authority as a book of reference, by
correcting those errors which are scarcely to be avoided by a writer
working among the confused, inaccurate, and contradictory documents
of theatrical history. No one who has not ventured into this maze can
conceive the difficulty of keeping the true path, and I can imagine
nothing better calculated to sap one's self-confidence than the task
of noting the false turnings made by such a writer as Dr. Doran. I
can hardly hope that my own work, light as it is in comparison with
his, will be found free from sins of omission, and even of commission.

My principle has been to pass no error, however trifling; but, at
the same time, I have not thought myself entitled to discuss matters
of opinion, or to criticise, either directly or indirectly, Dr.
Doran's treatment of his subject. Thus it would be easy to supplement
the information regarding the ancient theatres and the theatre of
Shakspeare's time contained in the first and second chapters; but,
as Dr. Doran obviously intended that his real work should begin with
the Restoration Theatres, I have not interfered with his scheme. I
trust that, in this, as in other respects, my work has been done in a
spirit free from captiousness.

The illustrations to this edition have been chosen, not from the book
"illustrator's" point of view, but with a serious desire to increase
its value as a history. In the case of the portraits, those which
Dr. Doran specially mentions, have, wherever it was possible, been
selected, and in every instance I believe the portrait given is an
accurate and trustworthy likeness. The headpieces, intended to form
a supplement to the full-page illustrations, include portraits of
persons whose importance scarcely justified their place among the
larger pictures, drawings of theatres, and of actors in character.
The tailpieces are reproductions of Sayer's beautiful little drawings
of Garrick and his contemporaries in their best characters; and in
their case no chronological arrangement is possible.

For many valuable notes I am indebted to the kindness of Mr. Alban
Doran, who intrusted to me his father's annotated copy of this work.
These notes have in every case been acknowledged and marked "_Doran
MS._"

  ROBERT W. LOWE.

  LONDON, _September 1887_.




  CONTENTS.


  CHAPTER I.                                                  PAGE

  PROLOGUE                                                       1


  CHAPTER II.

  THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE PLAYERS                           37


  CHAPTER III.

  THE "BOY ACTRESSES," AND THE "YOUNG LADIES"                   60


  CHAPTER IV.

  THE GENTLEMEN OF THE KING'S COMPANY                           96


  CHAPTER V.

  THOMAS BETTERTON                                             109


  CHAPTER VI.

  "EXEUNT" AND "ENTER"                                         136


  CHAPTER VII.

  ELIZABETH BARRY                                              149


  CHAPTER VIII.

  "THEIR FIRST APPEARANCE ON THE STAGE"                        162


  CHAPTER IX.

  THE DRAMATIC POETS                                           183


  CHAPTER X.

  PROFESSIONAL AUTHORS                                         213


  CHAPTER XI.

  THE DRAMATIC AUTHORESSES                                     237


  CHAPTER XII.

  THE AUDIENCES OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY                     246


  CHAPTER XIII.

  A SEVEN YEARS' RIVALRY                                       274


  CHAPTER XIV.

  THE UNITED AND THE DISUNITED COMPANIES                       310


  CHAPTER XV.

  UNION, STRENGTH, PROSPERITY                                  317


  CHAPTER XVI.

  COMPETITION, AND WHAT CAME OF IT                             337


  CHAPTER XVII.

  THE PROGRESS OF JAMES QUIN, AND DECLINE OF BARTON BOOTH      356


  CHAPTER XVIII.

  BARTON BOOTH                                                 391




  LIST OF COPPERPLATE PORTRAITS.

  VOLUME I.

  ENGRAVED BY MESSRS. ANNAN & SWAN, LONDON.


                                                                   PAGE

     I. DR. DORAN                                        _Frontispiece_

    II. RICHARD BURBAGE                                              16

   III. NATHANIEL FIELD   { From an original picture in Dulwich }    26
                          {   College                           }

    IV. EDWARD ALLEYN             Do.            do.                 43

     V. JOHN LOWEN        { From an original picture in the     }    49
                          {   Ashmolean Museum, Oxford          }

    VI. NELL GWYN           From the picture by Gascar               83

   VII. MICHAEL MOHUN     { From the original in the Dorset     }   100
                          {   Collection                        }

  VIII. JOSEPH HARRIS       As Cardinal Wolsey                      136

    IX. ANTHONY LEIGH     { As Dominique in the "Spanish        }   144
                          {   Friar"                            }

     X. ELIZABETH BARRY   { From the original of Sir Godfrey    }   160
                          { Kneller                             }

    XI. THOMAS BETTERTON          Do.            do.                185

   XII. COLLEY CIBBER       From the picture by Grisoni             266

  XIII. MRS. BRACEGIRDLE                                            302

   XIV. JAMES QUIN          From the original by Hudson             334

    XV. LAVINIA FENTON                                              384

   XVI. BARTON BOOTH                                                400




  LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ON WOOD.

  VOLUME I.

  ENGRAVED BY DEL ORME & BUTLER, LONDON, AND PRINTED ON JAPANESE PAPER
  BY ED. BADOUREAU, LONDON.


                                                             PAGE

   1. THE BEAR GARDEN--Sixteenth Century                        1

   2. THE SWAN THEATRE--As it appeared in 1614                 37

   3. THE GLOBE THEATRE--Sixteenth Century                     60

   4. THE FORTUNE THEATRE--Sixteenth Century                   96

   5. THEATRE ROYAL, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS--1714               109

   6. THE DUKE'S THEATRE, DORSET GARDEN--1662                 136

   7.      Do.       do.         do.   --River View           149

   8. CONTEST FOR DOGGET'S COAT AND BADGE                     162

   9. COLLEY CIBBER--From a painting by J. B. Van Loo         183

  10. SIR WILLIAM DAVENANT--From a painting by Greenhuth      213

  11. MRS. CENTLIVRE                                          237

  12. PRYNNE                                                  246

  13. SIR RICHARD STEELE                                      274

  14. THOMAS DOGGET--From a rare contemporary print           310

  15. POPE AND DR. GARTH--By Hogarth                          317

  16. SPILLER'S BENEFIT TICKET--By Hogarth                    337

  17. THE NEW AND OLD THEATRES ROYAL, HAYMARKET--1720-1821    356

  18. BARTON BOOTH                                            391




  LIST OF TAILPIECES ON WOOD.

  VOLUME I.


                                                                PAGE

  1. MR. GARRICK AS SIR JOHN BRUTE IN "THE PROVOKED WIFE"         36

  2. MR. GARRICK AS KING LEAR--Act iii. Scene 1                  135

  3. MRS. BARRY AND MR. GARRICK AS DONNA VIOLANTE AND DON FELIX
         IN "THE WONDER"                                         236

  4. MR. GARRICK AS HAMLET--Act i. Scene 4                       355

  5. MR. FOOTE AS THE DOCTOR IN THE "DEVIL UPON TWO STICKS"      390

  6. MR. GARRICK AS ABEL DRUGGER IN THE "ALCHYMIST"              426




[Illustration: THE BEAR GARDEN]

CHAPTER I.

PROLOGUE.


The period of the origin of the drama is an unsettled question, but
it has been fixed at an early date, if we may accept the theory of a
recent writer, who suggests that Moses described the Creation from a
visionary pictorial representation, which occupied seven days from
the commencement to the close of the spectacle!

Among the most remote of the Chinese traditions, the theatre
holds a conspicuous place. In Cochin-China there is at this day a
most primitive character about actors, authors, and audience. The
governor of the district enjoys the least rude seat in the sylvan
theatre; he directs the applause by tapping with his fingers on a
little drum, and as at this signal his secretaries fling strings full
of _cash_ on to the stage, the performance suffers from continual
interruption. For the largesse distributed by the patron of the
drama, and such of the spectators as choose to follow his example,
the actors and actresses furiously scramble, while the poor poet
stands by, sees his best situations sacrificed, and is none the
richer--by way of compensation.

In Greece the profession of actor was accounted honourable. In Rome
it was sometimes a well-requited, but also a despised vocation.
During the decade of years when that aristocratic democrat
Pisistratus held power, the drama first appeared (it is said) at
Athens. It formed a portion of the religion of the State. The theatre
was a temple in which, rudely enough at first, the audience were
taught how the will, not only of men but of gods, must necessarily
submit to the irresistible force of Destiny. This last power,
represented by a combination of the lyric and epic elements, formed
the drama which had its origin in Greece alone. In such a sense the
Semitic races had no drama at all, while in Greece it was almost
exclusively of Attic growth, its religious character being especially
supported on behalf of the audience by the ever-sagacious, morally,
and fervently-pious chorus. Lyric tragedy existed before the age of
Thespis and Pisistratus; but a spoken tragedy dates from that period
alone, above five centuries earlier than the Christian era; and the
new theatre found at once its Prynne and its Collier in that hearty
hater of actors and acting, the legislative Solon.

At the great festivals, when the theatres were opened, the expenses
of the representations were borne partly by the State and partly
by certain wealthy officials. The admission was free, until
over-crowding produced fatal accidents. To diminish the latter an
entrance-fee of two _oboli_, 3-1/4d., was established, but the
receipts were made over to the poor.[1] From morning till dewy eve
these roofless buildings, capable of containing on an average twenty
thousand persons, were filled from the ground to the topmost seat, in
the sweet spring-tide, sole theatrical season of the Greeks.

Disgrace and disfranchisement were the penalties laid upon the
professional Roman actor. He was accounted infamous, and was excluded
from the tribes. Nevertheless, the calling in Italy had something
of a religious quality. Livy tells us of a company of Etruscan
actors, ballet-pantomimists, however, rather than comedians, who were
employed to avert the anger of the gods, which was manifested by a
raging pestilence. These Etruscans were in their way the originators
of the drama in Italy. That drama was at first a dance, then a
dance and song; with them was subsequently interwoven a story. From
the period of Livius Andronicus (B.C. 240) is dated the origin of
an actual Latin theatre, a theatre the glory of which was at its
highest in the days of Attius and Terence, but for which a dramatic
literature became extinct when the mimes took the place of the old
comedy and tragedy.

Even in Rome the skill of the artist sometimes freed him from the
degradation attached to the exercise of his art. Roscius, the popular
comedian, contemporary with Cicero, was elevated by Sulla to the
equestrian dignity, and with AEsopus, the great tragedian, enjoyed
the friendship of Tully and of Tully's friends, the wisest and the
noblest in Rome. Roscius and AEsopus were what would now be called
scholars and gentlemen, as well as unequalled artists, whom no amount
of application could appal when they had to achieve a triumph in
their art. An Austrian emperor once "encored" an entire opera (the
_Matrimonio Segreto_); but, according to Cicero, his friend AEsopus so
delighted his enthusiastic audience, that in one piece they encored
him "millies," a thousand, or perhaps an indefinite number of times.
The Roman tragedian lived well, and bequeathed a vast fortune to his
son. Roscius earned L32 daily, and he too amassed great wealth.

The mimes were satirical burlesques, parts of which were often
improvised, and had some affinity to the pasquinades and
harlequinades of modern Italy. The writers were the intimate friends
of emperors; the actors were infamous. Caesar induced Decius Laberius,
an author of knightly rank, to appear on the stage in one of these
pieces; and Laberius obeyed, not for the sake of the _honorarium_,
L4000, but from dread of disobeying an order from so powerful a
master. The unwilling actor profited by his degradation to satirise
the policy of Caesar, who did not resent the liberty, but restored
Laberius to the rank and equestrian privileges which he had forfeited
by appearing on the stage. Laberius, however, never recovered the
respect of his countrymen, not even of those who had applauded him
the most loudly.

The licentious pantomimists were so gross in their performances
that they even disgusted Tiberius, who forbade them from holding
any intercourse, as the professional _histriones_ or actors of the
drama had done, with Romans of equestrian or senatorial dignity.
It was against the stage, exclusively given up to their scandalous
exhibitions, that the Christian fathers levelled their denunciations.
They would have approved a "well-trod stage," as Milton did, and the
object attributed to it by Aristotle,--but they had only anathemas
for that horrible theatre where danced and postured Bathyllus and
Hylas, and Pylades, Latinus and Nero, and even that graceful Paris,
whom Domitian slew in his jealousy, and of whom Martial wrote that
he was the great glory and grief of the Roman theatre, and that all
Venuses and Cupids were buried for ever in the sepulchre of Paris,
the darling of old Rome.

In this our England, minds and hearts had ever been open to dramatic
impressions. The Druidical rites contained the elements of dramatic
spectacle. The Pagan Saxon era had its dialogue-actors, or buffoons;
and when the period of Christianity succeeded, its professors and
teachers took of the evil epoch what best suited their purposes.
In narrative dialogue, or song, they dramatised the incidents
of the lives of the saints, and of One greater than saints; and
they thus rendered intelligible to listeners what would have been
incomprehensible if it had been presented to them as readers.

In Castle-Hall, before farm-house fires,