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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  The oe ligature has been replaced by 'oe' or 'OE'.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
  corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within
  the text and consultation of external sources.

  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