EPIGRAM. GEORGIUM SIDUS, the new-difcovered BRITAIN, in fpite of ev'ry blow, Question and Anfwer. REFORM the Parliament ! pray tell me how? A. Make men a-new: No other way I know. Epitaph on the late HOUSE of COMMONS. (An Imitation.) THIS House was the beft that e'er motion was made in, For faction, and noise, and alternate upbraiding; But for Charters and People, for Peers and the Throne, 'Twas the very worst House that ever was known. EPITAPH on an ATTORNEY. HERE lieth one who often lied before, But now he lieth here, he lies no more! The following is an exact copy of the lines with which Sir Richard Hill concluded a fpeech in the House of Commons: His Majefty's most gracious Answer to the Mover of the late bumble, loyal, dutiful, respectful Addrefs. With all humility I own Thy power fupreme to mount my throne; The Board's *** before thee: all is thine, But don't forget th' obfequious crew Of useful friends, about Duke's Place ‡‡. Anecdote.In the reign of James II. the Court was bufy in making converts to the Roman Catholic faith, and fome of the new papifts pretended on this occafion to have seen vifions; and amongst the reft Joe Haines, the comedian, who profeffed himself a convert, declared that the Virgin Mary had appeared to him. Lord Sunderland being informed of this, fent for him, asked him about the truth of his conversion, and whether he had really feen the Virgin? "Yes, my lord, I affure you 'tis a fact !"-" How was it, pray?"—" Why, as I was lying in my bed, the Virgin appeared to me, and faid, "Arife, Joe!" "You lie, you rogue," replied the Earl; "for had it. really been the Virgin herself, she should have faid, Arife, Jofeph! at leaft, if it had been only out of refpect to her husband !" Bon. Mot.-During the late contested election at Colchester, the returning officer, who is a miller, received many heavy tokens of the mob's difpleafure, on account of fome decifion which they deemed illegal. Not a little agitated on the occafion, he turned round to Mr. Rigby and faid, "He hoped to God he was fafe in what he had done?"-"O yes," rejoins Mr. R- "as fafe as a thief in a mill." A celebrated phyfician was fent for to a lady who imagined herfelf very ill; when ho came, The complained difmally that the eat too much, flept too found, and had a very alarming flow of fpirits. "Make yourself perfectly easy, Madam," said the doctor; "only follow my prefcriptions, and you shall foon have no reason to complain of any fuch things." A dancing-mafter afked one of his friends if it was true that Harley was Lord High * Lord North's own expreffion in a late fpeech. + It was propofed by an honourable member to put the Mace under the table, if the Crown got the better in the present struggle. Khan. Alluding to the print of Mr. Fox riding upon an elephant, in the character of Carlo The Man of the People was the name by which Mr. Fox was diftinguished in the days of his popularity. The appellation given by Mr. Sheridan to Mr. Pitt, borrowed from the play of the Al chemift. ¶The expreffion fo much agitated in the late attempts to bring about an union. ** The Treasury Board. ++ The French name for the blue ribband. ++ The Jews' quarter. Treasurer? Treasurer? “It is," fays his friend. “That is very amazing,” said the dancing-mafter: "what merit can the Queen find in that man? I had him two years for a pupil, and I declare I could never make any thing of him." THE. CIB BER. SEVERAL years fince Mrs. Willis, an excellent actress in low comedy, having lived to a great age, with its worfe companion Poverty, a charitable fubfcription was fet on foot for her relief among the players, who feldom turn their backs upon want and affiction. The. Cibber, the diffipated fon of the Laureat, was then young and very extravagant. When Mrs. Willis applied to him, he put her off with the excufe," that he had a large family to provide for."—" O dear Sir, (faid the) how can that be? you have neither wife nor child."-" It may be fo," replied the humourift-" But I have a large family of vices, Madam.” MICHAEL STOPPELAER. THIS honeft Teague had the faculty of uttering abfurd fpeeches and difagreeable truths, without any defign of giving offence Rich, the late Manager of Covent-Garden Theatre, talking to fome of the actors when Stoppelaer was prefent, concerning an agreement he had made with Hallam greatly to his own difadvantage-Stoppelaer fhook his head, and faid with a fignificant look, "By my fhoul, Sir, he has got the blind fide of you there."-Rich, apprehenfive of hearing fomething more oftenfive, abruptly left the company, when one of Mich.'s friends, who was by, obferved that his fpeech was exceedingly improper and affronting, as every body knew Mr. Rich had a great blemish in one of his eyes." Upon my credit, (returned Mich.) I never heard of it before; but I'll go immediately and afk his pardon."--Which he prefently did with great folemnity. Another time, when the fweeteft favourite of the Tragic Mufe was performing Belvidera, Mich. being inflamed with liquor, made fuch a difturbance by the fide of the fcene, that when that celebrated actiefs came off the stage, the rebuked him in very fevere terms for his rude behaviour. Irritated at this, the intoxicated comedian replied in very coarfe language, and concluded with calling the fair-one-" an adulterous huffey." The next morning, when Mich. came to rehearfal, he could hardly believe he had been capable of fuch indecency, and running up to Mrs. C, who was rehearsing, made three or four aukward bows, faying, "I beg ten thousand pardons, Madam, for the fhocking names I called you last night; but I was very much overtaken and children and drunken men generally tell the truth-you know." A Correfpondent being upon an excurfion into South Wales, at a confiderable markettown met with the following advertisement, the peculiarity of which afforded him fome amufement, and he supposes it may not be unacceptable to our readers in general :-" To the inhabitants of the town of alfo the nobility and gentry, of either fex, who may refort to that favourite watering place, the enfuing feafon, for pleasure or the benefit of bathing. This is intended to inform the world, that a native of Taunton, in Somerfetshire, Mr. Thomas Lemon, has had the honour to carry arms in the Cardigan batta lion, and was particularly distinguished in the course of last campaign, when he had the good fortune to be employed on fome eminent fervices, not far from the encampment at Wevel, near Gosport-the advanced poft bines the intrepidity of Alexander with the of his Majefty's British dominions. He comcaution of Fabius; his principles patriotic; equal to Caftar as a man, nor inferior to Brutus as the friend of liberty. Amorous as Antony, and, like him too, of irrefiftible perfon. Incorrupt as Ariftides; patient as Socrates; eloquent as Cicero. In manners and addrefs, what Chesterfield was, be is. Although a stranger to Locke, with the Seven Wife Mafters.—The exand unacquainted with Newton, he is familiar traordinary young man, at the conclufion of the war, received his discharge from the fervice of his country; not enriched by plunder, rapine, or extortion. Poor as Fabricius he of thofe heads without, which nothing can retires, and now practifes the improvement within. **" He is avowedly the first hairdreffer, fhaver, and wig-maker, of the prefent age; and humbly folicits that encouragement and fupport, his tranfcendent abilities and exalted virtues fo justly demand." A Bon Mot. A perfon reading a paragraph in the papers, that a large piece of land had been walked away by an inundation in Poland, but that the account wanted confirmation; a gentleman obferved, even admit ting it was true, one might fafely say, there was no ground for the report. EPITAPH. On DEFUNCT COALITION. See an Epitaph of Ben Jonfon in the Spectator. THE Dramatic Mifcellanies; confifting of critical Obfe rvations on several Plays of Sha kfpeare; With a Review of his principal characters, and those of various eminent Writers, as reprefented by Mr. Garrick and other celebrated Comedians: With Anecdotes of Dramatic Poets, Actors, &c. By Thomas Davies. 3 Vols. 8vo. THE entertainments of the Stage compose so great, and we may add fo innocent, a portion of the amusement of life, that it may be efteemed a matter of furprize that fo little attention has been paid to the history of the Theatres by writers of any eminence. Of the numerous frequenters of the playhouses, few will condefcend to confider what passes before them in any other light than mere tranfient objects of momentary gratification, to be looked at and forgotten, to be feen and thought of no more. The memorials of paffed pleasures ought not however to be neglected. They are fraught with amufement, and they anfwer more valuable purposes. By means of them the taste of the public at different periods is exhibited, the variations noted, the causes afcertained, and the improvement or decline in manners and morals traced from their fource to their effects. The author of these volumes, from his fituation and abilities, is well qualified to entertain his readers on the subject of the Theatre. He has long been converfant with the Drama, and has evidently looked upon the entertainments of the Theatre equally in a critical and a candid point of view. His obfervations are judicious, his anecdotes amufing, and his ftrictures humane and impartial. After a Dedication to the Prince of Wales rather too high-feafoned with politicks, we are prefented with an Advertizement, in which the author fets forth his plan, and the affistances he received in its execution. In the courfe of this part of his work we have fome ftrictures on the reprefentatives of the late Mr. Garrick, and a further difplay of the benevolence of our admired Rofcius. Mr. Davies informs us, he is now at the advanced age of 70, and intimates his intention of refigning his pen. We fee no appearance of debility in the faculties of our author's mind, EUROP, MAG. Vol. V. and hope to find him still continuing to entertain the public on such subjects, as, from 'the present specimen and his Life of Garrick, we deem him fully competent to. The first volume contains obfervations and notes on King John, Richard II. First and Second parts of Henry IV. and Henry VIII. with anecdotes of the feveral performers in thofe plays. The fecond, on All's Well that Ends Well, Every Man in his Humour, on Ben Johnson, on Macbeth, on Julius Cæfar, on King Lear, on Antony and Cleopatra, and on Rule a Wife and have a Wife. The third has for its fubje&t Hamlet, Dryden, Otway, Alexander, the Rehearsal, Congreve, Betterton, and Cibber. As a fpecimen of the entertainment the reader may expect, we fhall felect the laft chapter of the third volume which, from the title is devoted to Colley Cibber, but which, as will be feen, is not entirely confined to him. "To a player we are indebted for the reformation of the ftage. The first comedy, afted fince the Restoration, in which were preferved purity of manners and decency of language, with a due refpect to the honour of the marriage-bed, was Colley Cibber's Love's laft Shift, or the Fool in Fashion. The principal plot of this play was not unknown to the English theatre: Amanda's fcheme to allure her profligate husband to her arms, by perfonating another woman, refembles the contrivance of Helen in All's Well that Ends Well, and still more, I believe, the wife's fcheme in Shirley's Gamefter. The fuccefs of this piece exceeded greatly the authors expectation: but fo little was hoped from the genius of Cibber, that the critics reproached him with ftealing his play. To his cenfures he makes a ferious defence of himself in his dedication to Richard Norton, Efq. of SouthA a wick, a gentleman who was fo fond of ftage plays and players, that he has been accused of turning his chapel into a theatre. "The furious John Dennis, who hated Cibber for obstructing, as he imagined, the progrefs of his tragedy called the Invader of his Country, in very paffionate terms denies his claim to this comedy; When the Fool in Fashion was first acted,' says the critic, Cibber was hardly twenty years of age; now could he at the age of twenty, write a comedy with a just design, distinguished characters, and a proper dialogue, who now, at forty treats us with Hibernian fenfe and Hi-, bernian English?' "Poor Cibber! it was his hard fate to have his best comedies attributed to anybody but himself. His Carelefs Hufband was, for a long time, given to the Duke of Argyle and other noblemen. Nothing could put an end to fuch ungenerous and weak fuggeftions but his fcenes of high life in the Provoked Hufband, which he proved to be his own by printing the unfinished MS. of Sir John Vanbrugh's play, called a Journey to London.Some comic characters of this writer were feverely treated by the audience, because fuppofed to be written by Cibber. "In Love's laft Shift, the audience were particularly charmed with the great fcene in the last act, where the ill-treated and abandoned wife reveals herself to her fupprifed and admiring hufband. The joy of unexpected reconcilement, from Lovelefs's remorfe and penitence, spread fuch an uncommon rupture of pleasure in the audience, that never were spectators more happy in cafing their minds by uncommon and repeated plaudits. The honeft tears fhed by the audience at this interview, conveyed a ftrong reproach to our licentious poets, and to Cibber the highest mark of honour. The uncommon run of this comedy, which I have been told formerly, by feveral who lived at that time, was greatly admired and followed, is a convincing proof that the people at large are never fo vicious as to abandon the cause of decency and virtue, and that it was entirely owing to our dramatic writers themselves, that plays were not leffons of morality as well as amufements of pleafure. While Congreve's plays were acted with applaufe at Lincoln's inn-fields theatre, Cibber's Love's Laft Shift, Vanbrugh's Relapfe, and Southern's Oroonoko, were fuccefsfully oppofed to them at Drury-lane. But, while Cibber, by his new comedy, and his peculiar merit in acting foppifh and other parts, drew crouds after him, the parfimonious and ungrateful patentees allotted him no larger income than thirty or forty fhillings per week. of manners in the fop of the times. Before this author wrote, our affected gentleman of the stage were, I believe, not quite fo entertaining with their extravagance, nor fo learned in their profession of foppery. Etherege's Sir Fopling Flutter is rather a copy of Moliere's Marquis than any thing of English growth. Crown's Sir Courtly Nice, is in a few shadows, distinct from the other, by being more infignificantly foft and more pompously im. portant. Sir Courtly's fong. offtop thief!' is a tranflation from a fonnet of the French poet. The prefcating the reader with Sir Novelty's drefs will revive the idea of the long-forgotten beau of King William's time. In the genuine language of a fop, who expects his mistress should admire him for his outfide decoration rather than the accomplishments of his mind, Sir Novelty tells Narciffa, that his fine fashioned fuit raifes a great number of ribbon-weavers: In fhort, madam, the cravat-ftring, the garter, the sword-knot, the cinturine, the bardafh, the fteinkirk, the large button, the plume, and full peruke, were all created, cried down, and revived, by me.' Such a dress of antient oppery, exhibited at a masquerade, would draw as many admirers as any habit of modern inven tion. "In his Narciffa, acted by Mrs. Montford, Cibber drew an outline of a coquet in high life; of which character he afterwards made a finished picture, in his Lady Betty Modifh. Befides the honour of reforming the moral of comedy, Cibber was the first who introduced men and women of high quality on the stage, and gave them language and manners fuitable to their rank and birth. "Mrs. Cibber, the wife of Colley, whofe name is feldom to be found in any of the perfonæ dramatis, was his Hillaria. So much depended on Amanda, and especially in the two last acts, that the success of the play muft, in fome measure, be owing to the actress, Mrs. Rogers, who continued a favourite of the public till her merit was eclipfed by the fuperior fplendor of an Oldfield. Sir William Wifewould, the old gentleman, who pretends to great command over his paffions, and is conftantly fubdued by them, is, I think, a new character; and I believe, the first, of confequence, which gave old Ben Johnfon an opportunity to difcover his great comic pow ers: he had been just brought to London from an itinerant company. The audience faw his merit, and cherished it through life, from 1695 to 1742. "Mr. Horden, the fon of a clergyman, a very promising young actor, and remarkable for his fine perfon, was the Young Worthy. "Sir Novelty Fashion was a true picture This gentleman was bred a scholar: he com plimented plimented George Powell, in a Latin encomium on his Treacherous Brothers. He was soon after killed, in an accidental fray, at the bar of the Rofe-tavern, which was at that time remarkable for entertaining all forts of company, and fubject, of confequence, to riot and diforder.—In this houfe George Powell spent great part of his time; and of ten toasted, to intoxication, his miftrefs, with bumpers of Nantz brandy; he came fometimes fo warm, with that noble spirit, to the theatre, that he courted the ladies fo furiously on the stage, that in the opinion of Sir John Vanbrugh, they were almost in danger of being conquered on the fpot. Powell was a principal player of Drury-lane when Love's laft Shift was first acted: fome quarrel or difference between him and Cibber, we may reasonably suppose, prevented his having a part in the play, confidering there were two, at least, well fuited to his abilities, Lovelefs and young Worthy. Verbruggen he chofe to reprefent the former. As the Mifcellanies are drawing to a conclufion, I fhall not have fo fit an opportunity to do justice to the merits of an actor of whom Cibber speaks fo sparingly and coldly. "Cibber and Verbruggen were two diffipated young fellows, who determined, in oppofition to the advice of friends, to become great actors. Much about the fame time they were conftant attendants upon Downs, the prompter of Drury-lane, in expectation of employment. What the first part was, in which Verbruggen distinguished himself, cannot now be known. But Mr. Richard Crofs, late prompter of Drury-lane theatre, gave me the following hiftory of Colley Cibber's first eftablishment as a hired actor. He was known only, for fome years, by the name of Master Colley. After waiting impatiently a long time for the prompter's notice, by good for tune he obtained the honour of carrying a message on the ftage, in fome play, to Bet terton. Whatever was the caufe, Mafter Colley was fo terrified, that the scene was difconcerted by him. Betterton afked, in fome anger, who the young fellow was that had committed the blunder. Downs replied, Master Colley. Mafter Colley! then forfeit him.' Why, Sir,' faid the prompter, he has no falary.'- -No!' faid the old man; why then put him down ten fhillings a week, and forfeit him 5s.' "To this good-natured adjustment of reward and punishment, Cibber owed the first money he took in the treasurer's office. "Verbruggen was fo paffionately fond of Alexander the Great, at that time the hero of the actors, that the players and the public knew him, for fome years, by no other name. I have feen the name of Mr. Alexander to feveral parts in Dryden's plays; Ptolemy in Cleormenes King of Sparta, to Aurelius in K. Arthur, and Ramirez in Love Triumphant, or Nature Will Prevail. Verbruggen, 1 believe, did not affume his own name, in the play-house-bills,till the fucceffion of Betterton and others, from Drury-lane, in 1695. The author of the Laureat fays, that the name of Colley was inferted in the characters of feveral plays. For this I have fearched in vain; the earliest proof of Cibber's appearing in any part is amongst the dramatis perfonæ of Southern's Sir Antony Love, acted for the first time in 1691, in which his name is placed to a Servant. That Verbruggen and Cibber did not accord is plainly infinuated by the author of the Laureat. It was known that the former would resent an injury, and that the latter's valour was entirely paffive. The temper of Verbruggen may be known from a ftory, which I have been often told by the old comedians as a certain fact, and which found its way into fome temporary publication. "Verbruggen, in a difpute with one of King Charles's illegitimate fons, was fo far tranfported by fudden anger, as to strike him, and call him a fon of a whore.-The affront was given, it seems, behind the scenes of Drury-lane. Complaint was made of this daring infult on a nobleman; and Verbruggen, was told, he must either not act in London, or fubmit publicly to ask the nobleman's pardon. During the time of his being interdicted acting, he had engaged himself to Betterton's theatre. He confented to ask pardon, on liberty granted to exprefs his fubmiffion in his own terms. He came on the stage dreffed for the part of Oroonoko, and, after the ufual preface, owned that he had called the Duke of St. A. a fon of a whore; It is true, and I am forry for it.' On faying this he invited the company prefent to fee him act the part of Oroonoko at the theatre in Lincoln's-innfields. "To Cibber's paffive valour Lord Chesterfield ironically alludes in a weekly paper, called Common Sense; ⚫ Of all the comedians who have appeared on the ftage in my memory, no one has taken a kicking with fuch humour as our excellent laureat.' He is thus characterized in the History of the two Stages: He is always repining at the fuccefs of others; and, upon the ftage, is always making his fellow-actors uneafy.' Whatever' glofs Cibber might put on his conduct, and however, in his Apology, he may extol the equanimity of his own temper, there is too much reafon co believe part of this charge to be true. Cibber, however, choose Verbruggen for his Lovelefs, and certainly from a confidence in his superior abilities, in preference to any other actor. A a 2 "I |
