"In 1696, Verbruggen was called upon to an exertion of his talents in tragedy. The part of Oroonoko was affigned him by Southern, by the fpecial advice of William Cavendish, the first Duke of Devonshire. This we are told in the dedication to his grace: he adds, that it was Verbruggen's endeavour, in the performance of that part, to merit the duke's recommendation.' A more exalted character, dignified with the nobleft faculties of the mind, is not to be found in the English theatre. The paffion of love is no where fo tenderly or ardently expreffed. Cibber meanly drops any mention of the man who first acted this great original part. From Verbrug gen's Oroonoko, Tom Elrington, an excellent general player, caught a most noble flame of imitation. In the furprife of Oroonoko, on his unexpectedly meeting with Imoinda, a fituation which calls for an actor of the great est genius, Elrington charmed all who saw his action and heard his expreffion. I have heard Mr. Macklin fpeak of Elrington's excellence, in this fcene, with rapture.-Barry, himself was not always equally happy in this fuperior lover. Garrick feldom failed; but he was not equally fuccefsful in Oroonoko; the luftre of his eye was loft in the fhade of the black colour; nor was his voice fo finely adapted to the melting and paffionate addreffes and feelings of the lover, as to the more violent emotions of the heart. A farther confirmation of Cibber's unfair representation of Verbruggen's merit was the conftant refpect paid to him by fuch capable judges of merit as Congreve and Rowe, who trufted him with fome of their moft difficult characters. He was the original Bajazet; and the author of the Laureat thinks that part has not been equally acted fince. It is faid, he once boafted that he frightened a bailiff from purfuit of him, by putting on his Bajazet's look of teror. Elrington was, in Bajazet, as well as in other tragic characters, a fine copy of Verbruggen. When the managers of DruryJane gave Bajazet to Elrington, in preference to John Mills, the latter complained to Booth of the difgrace: Booth told him, Elrington would make nine fuch actors as Mills. When Verbruggen died we have no certain account; nor can I find his name to any part in a new play later than that of Sullen in the Stratagem, acted originally in 1707. To fum up his character in the words of a late author: He was in many parts an excellent actor. In Caffius, Oroonoko, Ventidius, Chamont, Pierre, Cethegus, (in trage dy) as well as feveral in comedy, as the Rover, &c. he was an original; and had a roughness and a negligent agreeable wildnefs, in his manner, action, and mien, which became him well.' "Cibber's next step to fame was his being honour'd, by Sir John Vanbrugh, with a continuation of his Love's last Shift, in the Re lapfe, or Virtue in Danger. Of all language in comedy, that of the author is the most natural, and the most easy to learn by rote. The Thalia of Vanbrugh refembles a female, who charms by the native beauty of her person, the sprightlinefs of her air, and fimplicity of her drefs; though, at the fame time, the exerts her influence to fteal into your heart and corrupt it. The ftyle of this writer is more the language of conversation than his friend Congreve's. Dine when you will with the latter, you are sure to feast; to have the choicest fish, pheasant, partridge, venifon, turtle, &c. With the other you have deli cious fare, it is true, but blended with the plainest dishes : the furloin is not banished to the fide-board, nor will you be at a loss to find a joint of mutton. "Thecoxcomb-knight, Sir Novelty in the Fool in Fashion, is, in the Relapfe dignified with a title. Lord Foppington, is exalted into a higher degree of folly than the knight; the author has placed him in more whimfical fituations to excite mirth. Cibber's FoppingtonI have often feen: as the fashions of the times altered, he adjusted his action and behaviour to them, and introduced every species of growing foppéry.-Cibber excelled in a va♦ riety of comic characters; but his perfection of action was the coxcomb of quality, and efpecially his Lord Foppington in the Careless Hufband, which is a very fine draft of a man of good parts ftepping beyond the bounds of fenfe by peculiarity of excess in drefs and behaviour. "In Vanbrugh's comedy of Æfop, Cibber acted the principal character with that easy gravity which becomes the man who instructs by fable. "In pronouncing the fables of Æfop, which more refemble the style of Fontaine than Prior's, which are profeffedly copied from him, my friend Mr. John Henderson excels all men, Those who have heard him read a tale of Prior or Swift, a chapter of Triftram Shandy, or any composition of the same fpecies, will justify my opinion of his merit in fully conceiving and uttering the spirit of an author in the most familiar and agreeable manner. "At her first onfet, the mufe of Vanbrugh was very prolific: in the fpace of fix or fe ven months she brought forth three comedies; the last was the Provoked Wife. There seems to have reigned in our dramatis of that age a ftrong defire to throw abuse on the clergy: in this play, which I think is the most per fect of his pieces, he has introduced Sir John Brute drunk in the habit of a clegyman; his Parfon Bull, in the Relapfe, was another vile representative of the facred order. Pope was at a lofs to guess at Swift's unalterable diflike to Vanbrugh: I think the doubt is safily resolved, from the poet's ridicule of church-men. "Cibber's Sir John Brute was copied from Betterton, as far as a weak pipe and an inexpreflive meager countenance could bear any refemblance to the vigorous original. I have feen him act this part with great and deferved applaufe; his skill was fo masterly, that, in fpite of natural impediments, he exhibited a faithful picture of this worshipful debauchee. Vanbrugh was, I fuppofe, prevailed upon by Cibber to transfer the abufe on the clergy to a fatirical picture on women of fashion, in a fcene which Cibber acted with much plea fantry. His comic feelings when drunk, and after receiving the challenge of Conftant when he found him and Heart free in his wife's clofet, was inimitable acting. The audience was fo delighted with him, that they renewed their loudest approbation feveral times. "Quin, for several years, was the Brute of Lincoln's-inn-fields, and other theatres.— He was in general a most valuable performer in comedy. In Sir John Brute, he feemed to have forgotten that he had ever been a gentleman, of which part of the character Cibber and Garrick retained the remembrance through every fcene of Brute's riot and debauchery. Quin, befides, in this part wanted variety, and that glow and warmth, in colouring the extravagance of this merry rake without which the picture remains imperfect and unfinished. "When Garrick was first announced for Brute, various were the opinions of the playgoing people. Quin fwore that he might poffibly act Mafter Jacky Brute, but that it was impoffible he fhould ever be Sir John Brute. The public almost unanimously fet the ftamp of approbation on his manner of representing this character upon his first attempt. After he had fully fatisfied his fancy, and ripened his judgment by the experience of two or three years, he was pronounced to be as perfect in this, as in any of his moft approved parts. "Though Cibber's performance in Brute was juftly admired, thofe who can call to remembrance the different portraits of this riotous debauchee, as exhibited by these two great mafters, will, I believe, juftify me in giving the preference, on the whole, to Mr. Garrick. The latter had, amongst other advantages, a more expressive countenance, and a much happier tone of voice; his action, too, was more diverfified, and his humour less confined.—In the Bacchanalian fcene, with Lord Rake and his gang, from deficiency of power and look, Cibber fell greatly short of Garrick; here the latter was moft triumphantly riotous, and kept the spectators in continual glee. Cibber's pale face, tame features, and weak pipe, did not present so full a contrast to female delicacy, when in wo man's apparel, as Garrick's ftronger-marked features, manly voice, and more sturdy action. The cap, which he ordered to be made for this scene, was a fatirical ftroke upon the vast quantity of gauze, ribbon, blond lace, flowers, fruit, herbage, &c. with which the ladies, about eight years fince, used to adorn their heads. After enlarging fo much on the great perfection of acting which Cibber displayed in the closet-scene, where Conftant and Heartfree are discovered, I cannot there give the preference to Garrick, though of all the actors of drunken-scenes he was allowed to be the most natural and diverting; but impartiality requires me here to give the palm to Cibber. "In 1699, Cibber was unhappily feized with a paffion for writing tragedy - This brought forth his Xerxes; but the patentees and actors of Drury-lane rejected his tragic brat fo abfolutely, that he was reduced to the neceffity of applying to the company of Lincoln's-inn-fields. "Betterton confented to act this tragedy, on condition the author would pledge his credit to pay all incidental expences, in case of non fuccefs*. The action of Betterton and Mrs. Barry could not prevent the entire damnation of Xerxes. "Soon after the author employed his talents more happily in writing the Careless Hufband. The fuccefs of this comedy raifed him, very defervedly, to a high rank amongst our dramatic writers. The plot is fimple; the reforming a gay, thoughtless libertine, into the kind and generous husband, by opening, in their full luftre, the amiable conduct of a patient and neglected wife; to the main plot was added, in an episode, a well concerted fcheme of pretended love, to reduce, by jealoufy, a lovely coquet to the frank acknowledgment of a real paffion for a worthy and conftant lover. The dialogue of the play is eafy and natural, properly elevated to the rank of the perfonæ dramatis. The acts feem to be made up of nothing but chit chat, though the characters are well difcriminated, and the plot regularly proceeds. Cibber was fond of scenes of reconciliation; in three or Life of Afopus, annexed to the Laureat. four our of his comedies he has wrought them up with incidents fo natural and interefting, and in a style fo truly affecting, that they afford perpetual fource of pleasure to an audience. So well did Cibber, though a profeffed libertine through life, understand the dignity of virtue, that no comic author has drawn more delightful and ftriking pictures of it. Mrs. Porter, upon reading a part, in which Cibber had painted virtue in the ftrongest and most lively colours, afked him how it came to pafs, that a man, who could draw fuch admirable portraits of goodnefs, fhould yet live as if he were a stranger to it ? Madam,' faid Colley, the one is abfolutely neceffary, the other is not.' "The first fhining proof of Mrs. Oldfield's merit was produced in the Carelefs Husband; little known before, fhe was barely fuffered. Her Lady Betty Modifh at once difcovered accomplishments to which the public were ftrangers. "Mrs. Oldfield was, in perfon tall, genteel, and well shaped; her countenance pleasing and expreffive, enlivened with large fpeaking eyes, which in fome particular comic fituations, fhe kept half fhut, efpecially when the intended to give effect to fome brilliant or gay thought. In fprightliness of air, and elegance of manner, the excelled all actreffes; and was greatly fuperior in the clear, fonorous, and harmonious tones of her voice. "By being a welcome and conftant vifitor to families of diftinction, Mrs. Oldfield acquired an elegant and graceful deportment in reprefenting women of high rank, She expreffed the fentiments of Lady Betty Modifh and Lady Townly in a manner so easy, naturai,and flowing, and fo like to her common converfation, that they appeared to be her own genuine conception. She was introduced to Chriftopher Rich by Sir John Vanbrugh. She lived fucceffively the friend and mistress of Arthur Manwaring, efq. one of the most accomplished men of his age, and General Churchill. She had a fon by each of thefe gentlemen. Notwithstanding these connections were publickly known, she was invited to the houses of women of fashion, as much diftinguished for unblemished character as elevated rank. The royal family did not difdain to fee Mrs. Oldfield at their levees. George II. and queen Caroline, when prince and princefs of Wales, often condefcended to converfe with her. One day, the princefs told Mrs. Oldfield, he had heard that general Churchill and the were married. So it is faid, may it please your highness, but we have not 'owned it yet.' "Mrs. Oldfield, from mere motives of compaffion, bestowed a yearly pension of 501. on the unfortunate Savage, which he enjoyed to her death. Dr. Johnson feems to approve Savage's not celebrating the memory of his benefactrefs in a poem. But, furely, he might have written verfes on his patronefs without offence to decency or morality. Mrs. Oldfield was generous and humane, witty, well-bred, and univerfally admired and beloved. In variety of profeffional merit, fhe excelled all the actreffes of her time. These are topics Mr. Savage might have infifted upon without wounding his piety. "Pope, who seems to have perfecuted the name of player with a malignancy unworthy of genius, in his Art of Sinking in Poetry, ftigmatized her converfation by the word Oldfieldifmos, which he printed in Greek characters, There cannot be a doubt that he meant Mrs. Oldfield by the dying coquet, in his Epistle on the Characters of Men: Odious! in woolen! 'twould a faint pro One would not, fure, be frightful when one's dead: And Betty, give this check a litile red. "The Betty here mentioned is supposed to have been Mrs Saunders, Mrs. Oldfield's friend and confidante, a very good actress in parts of decayed widows, nurfes, and old maids. She retired from the ftage in 1725; and played about nine years after, the part of Lady Wishfor't, in the Way of the World, for the benefit of Mrs. Younger, foon after, by marriage, the honourable Mrs. Finch. Mrs. Oldfield had, for a long time conceived a diflike to acting parts in tragedy; but the conftant applaufe which followed her tragic reprefentation, reconciled her to Melpomene. Her la new part, in tragedy, was Thomfon's Sophonisba. The author bestows, in his fhort advertisement to the play, a very high encomium on her action and deportment in that noble character.-In reply to fome degrading expreffion of Maffiniffa, relating to Carthage, fhe utter'd the following line, Love's laft Shift, Careless Husband, Wife's Refentment, Provoked Husband. Bruck ftruck, and expreffed their feelings by the most uncommon applause. To gain a more complete knowledge of this actress's diftinguifhed faculties of pleafing, the reader muft perufe the latter end of Cibber's preface to his Provoked Hufband. In all the tumults and disturbances of the theatre, on the first night of a new play, which was formerly a time of more dangerous fervice, to the actors, than it has been of late, Mrs. Oldfield was entirely mistress of herself; fhe thought it her duty, amidst the most violent oppofition and uproar, to exert the utmoft of her abilities to ferve the author. In the comedy of the Provoked Husband, Cibber's enemies tried all their power to get the play condemned. The reconciliation-fcene wrought so effectually upon the sensible and generous part of the audience, that the conclufion was greatly and generously approved. Amidst a thousand applaufes, Mrs. Oldfield came forward to speak the epilogue; but, when the had pronounced the first line,————— Methinks I hear fome powder'd critic fay a man of no distinguished appearance, from the feat next to the orchestra, faluted her with a hifs. She fixed her eye upon him immediately, made a very short paufe, and fpoke the words poor creature! loud enough to be heard by the audience, with fuch a look of mingled fcorn, pity, and contempt, that the most uncommon applaufe juftified her conduct in this particular, and the poor reptile funk down with fear and trembling. "Lady Townly has been univerfally faid to be her ne plus ultra in acting. She flided fo gracefully into the foibles, and difplayed fo humorously the exceffes, of a fine woman, too fenfible of her charms, too confident of her power, and led away by her paffion for pleasure, that no fucceeding Lady Townly arrived at her many diftinguished excellencies in the character. Mrs. Heron, her fucceffor, and the beautiful Mrs. Woffington, came nearest to her. "Cibber has, in his preface to this play, very justly commended Wilks for his manly affumed fpirit in Lord Townly. -Wilks was fo much the real fine gentleman, that, in the scene where he was reduced to the neceffity of reproaching Lady Townly with her faults, in his warmest anger he mixed fuch tenderness as was foftened into tears. The part has not been equally fupported by any actor fince. "Mr. Garrick, in Lord Townly, feemed ever to be under restraint. He kept back his natural impetuofity fo much, that he loft the spirit of the Provoked Husband. "During the embrace of reconciliation, in Speaking these words, But from a fhip wreck faved, we mingle tears with our embraces,'—Barry in happily mixing the va→ rious paffions which arife in the breast of a good man and reconciled husband, exceeded all conception. "Sir Francis Wronghead has been well acted by feveral comedians, and especially by Macklin and Yates; that they did not reach the finish of the author may be excu fed. "Cibber had two paffions which conftantly expofed him to fevere cenfure, and fometimes the highest ridicule: his writing tra gedy, and acting tragic characters. In both he perifted to the laft; for, after he had left the stage many year as he acted Richard III and very late in life produced his Papal Tyranny. Of his Cardinal Woolfey I have spoken largely on my remarks on Henry the Eight. Iago he acted in a style fo drawling and hypocritical, and wore the mask of honesty fo loosely, that Othello, who is not drawn a fool,mufthave feen the villain through his thin in this and other tragic parts, on account of difguifes. The truth is, Cibber was endur'd, his general merit in comedy. During this century, the public had not seen a proper outlineof Iago till Charles Macklin exhibited a faithful picture of this arch-villain, 1744. in the Haymarket-theatre, when Foote was his Othello It is to Macklin we chiefly owe the many admirable strokes of paffion with which Barry furprised us in Othello. Let not this be understood to mean the leaft degradation of that great actor's abilities; for, if Barry had not poffeffed a foul capable of receiving the inftructions of fo great master, he could not have fo pathetically affected an audience. Macklin himself will honestly tell us, that he owed no fmall part of his knowledge in acting to the leffons he gained from Mr. Chetwood, prompter or Drurylane-theatre. . "Cibber perfifted so obftinately in acting parts in tragedy, that at last the public grew out of patience, and fairly hiffed him off the ftage. The following anecdote was many years fince authenticated to me. "When Thompson's Sophonisba was read to the actors, Cibber laid his hand upon Scipio, a character, which, though it appears only in the last aft, is of great dignity and importance. For two nights fucceffively, Cibber was as much exploded as any bad actor could be. Williams, by defire of Wilks, made himself mafter of the part; but he, marching flowly, in great military diftinction, from the upper part of the stage, and wearing the fame drefs as Cibber, was mistaken for him, and met with repeated hiffes joined to the mufic of catcals; but, as foon as the audience were undeceived, they con converted their groans and hiffes to loud and probable. The fame author accufes him of long-continued applaufe. "To aim at general excellence is highly commendable; but to perfift, in oppofition to the repeated reproofs of the public is bidding defiance to the general fenfe. "As a manager, to whom was entrusted, the inspection of new plays, operas, and farces, and of receiving the applications of all dramatic writers, Cibber's character does not appear very juftifiable. In the Memoirs of Mr. Garrick, I related the ftory of his infolent behaviour to Mr. Fenton, the author of Mariamne, who perhaps fared the worfe with him from his being known to be the intimate friend of Mr. Pope. Various complaints were continually circulated, in the prints, of his pride and impertinence to authors, efpecially to the youngest of them, whom he termed finging-birds, which he was fond of choking. His callous temper rendered all attacks from the press ineffectual. One story of his unrestrained infolence is worth relating, because it seems for once, he was mortified with the chaitisement which attended his behaviour. "A certain young gentleman applied to Cibber to look over a new dramatic piece. He knocked at his door, and gave into his hands a roll of paper, as he stood on the the threshold, the door being but half opened; he defired he would read it, and give him his opinion of it. Cibber turned over the first leaf; and, reading only two lines, returned it with these words, Sir, it will not do.' The mortified author left him; and Cibber, full of the adventure, went to Button's coffeehoufe, and ready to fplit with laughter, related the story to Colonel Bret; but he, far from applauding fuch conduct, put on a fevere brow, and treated him with very sharp language. He told him, if the gentleman had had refented this vile ufage in any manner, he would have been juftified.-Do you pretend, Sir, by reading two lines, and that in a ridiculous curfory manner, to judge of the merit of a whole play ?-Much more, to the fame purpose, the Colonel added, and, when he had done, left the room. Cibber made no reply: he fquinted, as ufual; took a pinch of fnuff; and fat down to ruminate on the affair, under the pretence of reading a Spectator. "But Cibber was not only accused of treating authors with fuperciliousness, but with purloining from works which were left in his hands, and which he detained in order to make advantage of them. The author of the Laureat particularly mentions his difcourag ing a lady who brought him a play, in which a gallant gentleman courts two women once this he called an incident entirely im at afterwards engrafting this very character in one of his own comedies, under the name of Atall. At this distance of time, the evidence of Cibber's thefts, if any fuch were committed by him, being removed, nothing positive can be pronounced concerning them. "The author of the Laureat's defcription in what manner this manager and his bro thers treated authors, will give a strong picture of overbaring infolence on one fide, and of tame fubmiffion on the other. "The court fitting,' fays this writer, Chancellor Cibber (for the other two, like Mafters in Chancery, fat only for form-fake, did not prefume to judge) nodded to the author to open his manufcript. The author begins to read; in which if he failed to please the corrector, he would fometimes condefcend to read it for him. If the play ftruck him very warmly, as it would if he found any thing new in it, and he thought he could particularly shine as an actor, he would then lay down his pipe (for the Chancellor always fmoked when he made a decree,) and cry, "By G, there is fomething in this! I do not know but may do; I will play fuch a part." When the reading was fi nifhed, he made his proper corrections, and fometimes without any propriety.' "That Wilks, who was without a learned education, though a man of plain good fenfe, should fubmit to the fupreme direction of Cibber, refpecting new pieces, is not furprifing; but that Booth, a scholar, and a better judge, of tragedy at least, than Cibber, fhould refign his underftanding to an inferior must be refolved into the great love of eafe which accompanied him through life. Of Booth's conduct, as a manager, we have not the leaft or more distant hint of complaint in Cibber's Apology, but the author is extremely querelous with respect to Dogget's and Wilks's behaviour. The former was certainly, in the opinion of the world as well as Cibber, an original and inimitable actor a clofe copier of nature in all her attitudes or difguifes; a man fo fenfible of what his own natural abilities could poffibly attain to, that he never ventured upon any part that he was not sure he could properly reprefent. Of this integrity to himself Cibber produces a remarkable inftance.-On his return to Drury-lane, in 1697, Vanbrugh caft him into the part of Lory, in the Relapfe: after a trial, in which he found his deficiency, he gave it up to Pinkethman. Cibber fays, in dreffing a character to the greatest exactnefs, Dogget was remarkably skilful; the least article, of whatever habit he wore, feemed, in fome degree,to speak and mark the different hu mour he reprefented. This, fays the writer of |
