[Illustration: Ad Lalauze, sc]
_The Patentee, having now no Actors, rebuilds the new Theatre
in _Lincolns-Inn-Fields_. A Guess at his Reasons for it. More
Changes in the State of the Stage. The Beginning of its better
Days under the _Triumvirate_ of Actors. A Sketch of their
governing Characters._
As coarse Mothers may have comely Children, so Anarchy has been the
Parent of many a good Government; and by a Parity of possible
Consequences, we shall find that from the frequent Convulsions of the
Stage arose at last its longest Settlement and Prosperity; which many of
my Readers (or if I should happen to have but few of them, many of my
Spectators at least) who I hope have not yet liv'd half their Time, will
be able to remember.
Though the Patent had been often under Distresses, it had never felt
any Blow equal to this unrevoked Order of Silence; which it is not easy
to conceive could have fallen upon any other Person's Conduct than that
of the old Patentee: For if he was conscious of his being under the
Subjection of that Power which had silenc'd him, why would he incur
the Danger of a Suspension by his so obstinate and impolitick Treatment
of his Actors? If he thought such Power over him illegal, how came he
to obey it now more than before, when he slighted a former Order
that injoin'd him to give his Actors their Benefits on their usual
Conditions?[74] But to do him Justice, the same Obstinacy that involv'd
him in these Difficulties, at last preserv'd to his Heirs the Property
of the Patent in its full Force and Value;[75] yet to suppose that he
foresaw a milder use of Power in some future Prince's Reign might be
more favourable to him, is begging at best but a cold Question. But
whether he knew that this broken Condition of the Patent would not make
his troublesome Friends the Adventurers fly from it as from a falling
House, seems not so difficult a Question. However, let the Reader form
his own Judgment of them from the Facts that follow'd: It must
therefore be observ'd, that the Adventurers seldom came near the House
but when there was some visible Appearance of a Dividend: But I could
never hear that upon an ill Run of Audiences they had ever returned or
brought in a single Shilling, to make good the Deficiencies of their
daily Receipts. Therefore, as the Patentee in Possession had alone, for
several Years, supported and stood against this Uncertainty of Fortune,
it may be imagin'd that his Accounts were under so voluminous a
Perplexity that few of those Adventurers would have Leisure or Capacity
enough to unravel them: And as they had formerly thrown away their
Time and Money at law in a fruitless Enquiry into them, they now seem'd
to have intirely given up their Right and Interest: And, according
to my best Information, notwithstanding the subsequent Gains of the
Patent have been sometimes extraordinary, the farther Demands or Claims
of Right of the Adventurers have lain dormant above these five and
twenty Years.[76]
Having shewn by what means _Collier_ had dispossess'd this Patentee, not
only of the _Drury-Lane_ House, but likewise of those few Actors which
he had kept for some time unemploy'd in it, we are now led to consider
another Project of the same Patentee, which, if we are to judge of it by
the Event, has shewn him more a Wise than a Weak Man; which I confess at
the time he put it in Execution seem'd not so clear a Point: For
notwithstanding he now saw the Authority and Power of his Patent was
superseded, or was at best but precarious, and that he had not one Actor
left in his Service, yet, under all these Dilemma's and Distresses, he
resolv'd upon rebuilding the New Theatre in _Lincolns-Inn-Fields_, of
which he had taken a Lease, at a low Rent, ever since _Betterton_'s
Company had first left it.[77] This Conduct seem'd too deep for my
Comprehension! What are we to think of his taking this Lease in the
height of his Prosperity, when he could have no Occasion for it? Was he
a Prophet? Could he then foresee he should, one time or other, be turn'd
out of _Drury-Lane_? Or did his mere Appetite of Architecture urge him
to build a House, while he could not be sure he should ever have leave
to make use of it? But of all this we may think as we please; whatever
was his Motive, he, at his own Expence, in this Interval of his having
nothing else to do, rebuilt that Theatre from the Ground, as it is now
standing.[78] As for the Order of Silence, he seem'd little concern'd at
it while it gave him so much uninterrupted Leisure to supervise a Work
which he naturally took Delight in.
After this Defeat of the Patentee, the Theatrical Forces of _Collier_ in
_Drury-Lane_, notwithstanding their having drawn the Multitude after
them for about three Weeks during the Trial of _Sacheverel_, had made
but an indifferent Campaign at the end of the Season. _Collier_ at least
found so little Account in it, that it obliged him to push his
Court-Interest (which, wherever the Stage was concern'd, was not
inconsiderable) to support him in another Scheme; which was, that in
consideration of his giving up the _Drury-Lane_, Cloaths, Scenes, and
Actors, to _Swiney_ and his joint Sharers in the _Hay-Market_, he
(_Collier_) might be put into an equal Possession of the _Hay-Market_
Theatre, with all the Singers, _&c._ and be made sole Director of the
Opera. Accordingly, by Permission of the Lord Chamberlain, a Treaty was
enter'd into, and in a few Days ratified by all Parties, conformable to
the said Preliminaries.[79] This was that happy Crisis of Theatrical
Liberty which the labouring Comedians had long sigh'd for, and which,
for above twenty Years following, was so memorably fortunate to them.
However, there were two hard Articles in this Treaty, which, though it
might be Policy in the Actors to comply with, yet the Imposition of them
seem'd little less despotick than a Tax upon the Poor when a Government
did not want it.
The first of these Articles was, That whereas the sole License for
acting Plays was presum'd to be a more profitable Authority than that
for acting Operas only, that therefore Two Hundred Pounds a Year should
be paid to _Collier_, while Master of the Opera, by the Comedians; to
whom a verbal Assurance was given by the _Plenipo'_s on the Court-side,
that while such Payment subsisted no other Company should be permitted
to act Plays against them within the Liberties, _&c._ The other Article
was, That on every _Wednesday_ whereon an Opera could be perform'd, the
Plays should, _toties quoties_, be silent at _Drury-Lane_, to give the
Opera a fairer Chance for a full House.
This last Article, however partial in the Intention, was in its Effect
of great Advantage to the sharing Actors: For in all publick
Entertainments a Day's Abstinence naturally increases the Appetite to
them: Our every _Thursday_'s Audience, therefore, was visibly the better
by thus making the Day before it a Fast. But as this was not a Favour
design'd us, this Prohibition of a Day, methinks, deserves a little
farther Notice, because it evidently took a sixth Part of their Income
from all the hired Actors, who were only paid in proportion to the
Number of acting Days. This extraordinary Regard to Operas was, in
effect, making the Day-labouring Actors the principal Subscribers to
them, and the shutting out People from the Play every _Wednesday_ many
murmur'd at as an Abridgment of their usual Liberty. And tho' I was one
of those who profited by that Order, it ought not to bribe me into a
Concealment of what was then said and thought of it. I remember a
Nobleman of the first Rank, then in a high Post, and not out of
Court-Favour, said openly behind the Scenes----_It was shameful to take
part of the Actors Bread from them to support the silly Diversion of
People of Quality_. But alas! what was all this Grievance when weighed
against the Qualifications of so grave and staunch a Senator as
_Collier_? Such visible Merit, it seems, was to be made easy, tho' at
the Expence of the--I had almost said, _Honour_ of the Court, whose
gracious Intention for the Theatrical Common-wealth might have shone
with thrice the Lustre if such a paltry Price had not been paid for it.
But as the Government of the Stage is but that of the World in
Miniature, we ought not to have wonder'd that _Collier_ had Interest
enough to quarter the Weakness of the Opera upon the Strength of the
Comedy. General good Intentions are not always practicable to a
Perfection. The most necessary Law can hardly pass, but a Tenderness to
some private Interest shall often hang such Exceptions upon particular
Clauses, 'till at last it comes out lame and lifeless, with the Loss of
half its Force, Purpose, and Dignity. As, for Instance, how many
fruitless Motions have been made in Parliaments to moderate the enormous
Exactions in the Practice of the Law? And what sort of Justice must that
be call'd, which, when a Man has not a mind to pay you a Debt of Ten
Pounds, it shall cost you Fifty before you can get it? How long, too,
has the Publick been labouring for a Bridge at _Westminster_? But the
Wonder that it was not built a Hundred Years ago ceases when we are
told, That the Fear of making one End of _London_ as rich as the other
has been so long an Obstruction to it:[80] And though it might seem a
still greater Wonder, when a new Law for building one had at last got
over that Apprehension, that it should meet with any farther Delay; yet
Experience has shewn us that the Structure of this useful Ornament to
our Metropolis has been so clogg'd by private Jobs that were to be
pick'd out of the Undertaking, and the Progress of the Work so
disconcerted by a tedious Contention of private Interests and Endeavours
to impose upon the Publick abominable Bargains, that a whole Year was
lost before a single Stone could be laid to its Foundation. But
Posterity will owe its Praises to the Zeal and Resolution of a truly
Noble Commissioner, whose distinguish'd Impatience has broke thro' those
narrow Artifices, those false and frivolous Objections that delay'd it,
and has already began to raise above the Tide that future Monument of
his Publick Spirit.[81]
[Illustration: HESTER SANTLOW.]
How far all this may be allow'd applicable to the State of the Stage is
not of so great Importance, nor so much my Concern, as that what is
observ'd upon it should always remain a memorable Truth, to the Honour
of that Nobleman. But now I go on: _Collier_ being thus possess'd of his
Musical Government, thought his best way would be to farm it out to a
Gentleman, _Aaron Hill_, Esq.[82] (who he had reason to suppose knew
something more of Theatrical Matters than himself) at a Rent, if I
mistake not, of Six Hundred Pounds _per Annum_: But before the Season
was ended (upon what occasion, if I could remember, it might not be
material to say) took it into his Hands again: But all his Skill and
Interest could not raise the Direction of the Opera to so good a Post as
he thought due to a Person of his Consideration: He therefore, the Year
following, enter'd upon another high-handed Scheme, which, 'till the
Demise of the Queen, turn'd to his better Account.
After the Comedians were in Possession of _Drury-Lane_, from whence
during my time upon the Stage they never departed, their Swarm of
Audiences exceeded all that had been seen in thirty Years before; which,
however, I do not impute so much to the Excellence of their Acting as to
their indefatigable Industry and good Menagement; for, as I have often
said, I never thought in the general that we stood in any Place of
Comparison with the eminent Actors before us; perhaps, too, by there
being now an End of the frequent Divisions and Disorders that had from
time to time broke in upon and frustrated their Labours, not a little
might be contributed to their Success.
_Collier_, then, like a true liquorish Courtier, observing the
Prosperity of a Theatre, which he the Year before had parted with for a
worse, began to meditate an Exchange of Theatrical Posts with _Swiney_,
who had visibly very fair Pretensions to that he was in, by his being
first chosen by the Court to regulate and rescue the Stage from the
Disorders it had suffer'd under its former Menagers:[83] Yet _Collier_
knew that sort of Merit could stand in no Competition with his being a
Member of Parliament: He therefore had recourse to his Court-Interest
(where meer Will and Pleasure at that time was the only Law that
dispos'd of all Theatrical Rights) to oblige Swiney to let him be off
from his bad Bargain for a better. To this it may be imagin'd _Swiney_
demurred, and as he had Reason, strongly remonstrated against it: But as
_Collier_ had listed his Conscience under the Command of Interest, he
kept it to strict Duty, and was immoveable; insomuch that Sir _John
Vanbrugh_, who was a Friend to _Swiney_, and who, by his Intimacy with
the People in Power, better knew the Motive of their Actions, advis'd
_Swiney_ rather to accept of the Change, than by a Non-compliance to
hazard his being excluded from any Post or Concern in either of the
Theatres: To conclude, it was not long before _Collier_ had procured a
new License for acting Plays, _&c._ for himself, _Wilks_, _Dogget_, and
_Cibber_, exclusive of _Swiney_, who by this new Regulation was reduc'd
to his _Hobson_'s Choice of the Opera.[84]
_Swiney_ being thus transferr'd to the Opera[85] in the sinking
Condition _Collier_ had left it, found the Receipts of it in the Winter
following, 1711, so far short of the Expences, that he was driven to
attend his Fortune in some more favourable Climate, where he remain'd
twenty Years an Exile from his Friends and Country, tho' there has been
scarce an _English_ Gentleman who in his _Tour_ of _France_ or _Italy_
has not renew'd or created an Acquaintance with him. As this is a
Circumstance that many People may have forgot, I cannot remember it
without that Regard and Concern it deserves from all that know him: Yet
it is some Mitigation of his Misfortune that since his Return to
_England_, his grey Hairs and cheerful Disposition have still found a
general Welcome among his foreign and former domestick Acquaintance.
_Collier_ being now first-commission'd Menager with the Comedians, drove
them, too, to the last Inch of a hard Bargain (the natural Consequence
of all Treaties between Power and Necessity.) He not only demanded six
hundred a Year neat Money, the Price at which he had farm'd out his
Opera, and to make the Business a _Sine-cure_ to him, but likewise
insisted upon a Moiety of the Two hundred that had been levied upon us
the Year before in Aid of the Operas; in all 700_l._ These large and
ample Conditions, considering in what Hands we were, we resolv'd to
swallow without wry Faces; rather chusing to run any Hazard than contend
with a formidable Power against which we had no Remedy: But so it
happen'd that Fortune took better care of our Interest than we ourselves
had like to have done: For had _Collier_ accepted of our first Offer, of
an equal Share with us, he had got three hundred Pounds a Year more by
complying with it than by the Sum he imposed upon us, our Shares being
never less than a thousand annually to each of us, 'till the End of the
Queen's Reign in 1714. After which _Collier_'s Commission was
superseded, his Theatrical Post, upon the Accession of his late Majesty,
being given to Sir _Richard Steele_.[86]
From these various Revolutions in the Government of the Theatre, all
owing to the Patentees mistaken Principle of increasing their Profits by
too far enslaving their People, and keeping down the Price of good
Actors (and I could almost insist that giving large Sallaries to bad
Ones could not have had a worse Consequence) I say, when it is
consider'd that the Authority for acting Plays, _&c._ was thought of so
little worth that (as has been observ'd) Sir _Thomas Skipwith_ gave away
his Share of it, and the Adventurers had fled from it; that Mr.
_Congreve_, at another time, had voluntarily resign'd it; and Sir _John
Vanbrugh_ (meerly to get the Rent of his new House paid) had, by Leave
of the Court, farm'd out his License to _Swiney_, who not without some
Hesitation had ventur'd upon it; let me say again, out of this low
Condition of the Theatre, was it not owing to the Industry of three or
four Comedians that a new Place was now created for the Crown to give
away, without any Expence attending it, well worth the Acceptance of any
Gentleman whose Merit or Services had no higher Claim to Preferment, and
which _Collier_ and Sir _Richard Steele_, in the two last Reigns,
successively enjoy'd? Tho' I believe I may have said something like this
in a former Chapter,[87] I am not unwilling it should be twice taken
notice of.
We are now come to that firm Establishment of the Theatre, which, except
the Admittance of _Booth_ into a Share and _Dogget_'s retiring from it,
met with no Change or Alteration for above twenty Years after.
_Collier_, as has been said, having accepted of a certain Appointment of
seven hundred _per Annum_, _Wilks_, _Dogget_, and Myself were now the
only acting Menagers under the Queen's License; which being a Grant but
during Pleasure oblig'd us to a Conduct that might not undeserve that
Favour. At this Time we were All in the Vigour of our Capacities as
Actors, and our Prosperity enabled us to pay at least double the
Sallaries to what the same Actors had usually receiv'd, or could have
hoped for under the Government of the Patentees. _Dogget_, who was
naturally an Oeconomist, kept our Expences and Accounts to the best of
his Power within regulated Bounds and Moderation. _Wilks_, who had a
stronger Passion for Glory than Lucre, was a little apt to be lavish in
what was not always as necessary for the Profit as the Honour of the
Theatre: For example, at the Beginning of almost every Season, he would
order two or three Suits to be made or refresh'd for Actors of moderate
Consequence, that his having constantly a new one for himself might seem
less particular, tho' he had as yet no new Part for it. This expeditious
Care of doing us good without waiting for our Consent to it, _Dogget_
always look'd upon with the Eye of a Man in Pain: But I, who hated Pain,
(tho' I as little liked the Favour as _Dogget_ himself) rather chose to
laugh at the Circumstance, than complain of what I knew was not to be
cured but by a Remedy worse than the Evil. Upon these Occasions,
therefore, whenever I saw him and his Followers so prettily dress'd out
for an old Play, I only commended his Fancy; or at most but whisper'd
him not to give himself so much trouble about others, upon whose
Performance it would but be thrown away: To which, with a smiling Air of
Triumph over my want of Penetration, he has reply'd--Why, now, that was
what I really did it for! to shew others that I love to take care of
them as well as of myself. Thus, whenever he made himself easy, he had
not the least Conception, let the Expence be what it would, that we
could possibly dislike it. And from the same Principle, provided a
thinner Audience were liberal of their Applause, he gave himself little
Concern about the Receipt of it. As in these different Tempers of my
Brother-Menagers there might be equally something right and wrong, it
was equally my Business to keep well with them both: And tho' of the two
I was rather inclin'd to _Dogget_'s way of thinking, yet I was always
under the disagreeable Restraint of not letting _Wilks_ see it:
Therefore, when in any material Point of Menagement they were ready to
come to a Rupture, I found it adviseable to think neither of them
absolutely in the wrong; but by giving to one as much of the Right in
his Opinion this way as I took from the other in that, their Differences
were sometimes soft'ned into Concessions, that I have reason to think
prevented many ill Consequences in our Affairs that otherwise might have
attended them. But this was always to be done with a very gentle Hand;
for as _Wilks_ was apt to be easily hurt by Opposition, so when he felt
it he was as apt to be insupportable. However, there were some Points in
which we were always unanimous. In the twenty Years while we were our
own Directors, we never had a Creditor that had occasion to come twice
for his Bill; every _Monday_ Morning discharged us of all Demands before
we took a Shilling for our own Use. And from this time we neither ask'd
any Actor, nor were desired by them, to sign any written Agreement (to
the best of my Memory) whatsoever: The Rate of their respective
Sallaries were only enter'd in our daily Pay-Roll; which plain Record
every one look'd upon as good as City-Security: For where an honest
Meaning is mutual, the mutual Confidence will be Bond enough in
Conscience on both sides: But that I may not ascribe more to our Conduct
than was really its Due, I ought to give Fortune her Share of the
Commendation; for had not our Success exceeded our Expectation, it might
not have been in our Power so thoroughly to have observ'd those laudable
Rules of Oeconomy, Justice, and Lenity, which so happily supported us:
But the Severities and Oppression we had suffer'd under our former
Masters made us incapable of imposing them on others; which gave
our whole Society the cheerful Looks of a rescued People. But
notwithstanding this general Cause of Content, it was not above a Year
or two before the Imperfection of human Nature began to shew itself in
contrary Symptoms. The Merit of the Hazards which the Menagers had run,
and the Difficulties they had combated in bringing to Perfection that
Revolution by which they had all so amply profited in the Amendment of
their general Income, began now to be forgotten; their Acknowledgments
and thankful Promises of Fidelity were no more repeated, or scarce
thought obligatory: Ease and Plenty by an habitual Enjoyment had lost
their Novelty, and the Largeness of their Sallaries seem'd rather
lessen'd than advanc'd by the extraordinary Gains of the Undertakers;
for that is the Scale in which the hired Actor will always weigh his
Performance; but whatever Reason there may seem to be in his Case, yet,
as he is frequently apt to throw a little Self-partiality into the
Balance, that Consideration may a good deal alter the Justness of it.
While the Actors, therefore, had this way of thinking, happy was it for
the Menagers that their united Interest was so inseparably the same, and
that their Skill and Power in Acting stood in a Rank so far above the
rest, that if the whole Body of private Men had deserted them, it would
yet have been an easier matter for the Menagers to have pick'd up
Recruits, than for the Deserters to have found proper Officers to head
them. Here, then, in this Distinction lay our Security: Our being Actors
ourselves was an Advantage to our Government which all former Menagers,
who were only idle Gentlemen, wanted: Nor was our Establishment easily
to be broken, while our Health and Limbs enabled us to be
Joint-labourers in the Work we were Masters of.
The only Actor who, in the Opinion of the Publick, seem'd to have had a
Pretence of being advanc'd to a Share with us was certainly _Booth_: But
when it is consider'd how strongly he had oppos'd the Measures that had
made us Menagers, by setting himself (as has been observ'd) at the Head
of an opposite Interest,[88] he could not as yet have much to complain
of: Beside, if the Court had thought him, now, an equal Object of
Favour, it could not have been in our Power to have oppos'd his
Preferment: This I mention, not to take from his Merit, but to shew from
what Cause it was not as yet better provided for. Therefore it may be no
Vanity to say, our having at that time no visible Competitors on the
Stage was the only Interest that rais'd us to be the Menagers of it.
But here let me rest a while, and since at my time of Day our best
Possessions are but Ease and Quiet, I must be content, if I will have
Sallies of Pleasure, to take up with those only that are to be found in
Imagination. When I look back, therefore, on the Storms of the Stage we
had been toss'd in; when I consider that various Vicissitude of Hopes
and Fears we had for twenty Years struggled with, and found ourselves at
last thus safely set on Shore to enjoy the Produce of our own Labours,
and to have rais'd those Labours by our Skill and Industry to a much
fairer Profit, than our Task-masters by all their severe and griping
Government had ever reap'd from them, a good-natur'd Reader, that is not
offended at the Comparison of great things with small, will allow was a
Triumph in proportion equal to those that have attended the most heroick
Enterprizes for Liberty! What Transport could the first _Brutus_ feel
upon his Expulsion of the _Tarquins_ greater than that which now danc'd
in the Heart of a poor Actor, who, from an injur'd Labourer, unpaid his
Hire, had made himself, without Guilt, a legal Menager of his own
Fortune? Let the Grave and Great contemn or yawn at these low Conceits,
but let me be happy in the Enjoyment of them! To this Hour my Memory
runs o'er that pleasing Prospect of Life past with little less Delight
than when I was first in the real Possession of it. This is the natural
Temper of my Mind, which my Acquaintance are frequently Witnesses of:
And as this was all the Ambition Providence had made my obscure
Condition capable of, I am thankful that Means were given me to enjoy
the Fruits of it.
----_Hoc est
Vivere bìs, vitâ; posse priore frui._[89]
Something like the Meaning of this the less learned Reader may find in
my Title Page.