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THE AUGUSTAN REPRINT SOCIETY
_THE_
HARLOT'S PROGRESS
THEOPHILUS CIBBER
(_1733_)
_and_
_THE_
RAKE'S PROGRESS
(_MS., Ca. 1778-1780_)
_Introduction by_
MARY F. KLINGER
PUBLICATION NUMBER _181_
WILLIAM ANDREWS CLARK MEMORIAL LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES
_1977_
GENERAL EDITORS
William E. Conway, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library
George Robert Guffey, University of California, Los Angeles
Maximillian E. Novak, University of California, Los Angeles
David Stuart Rodes, University of California, Los Angeles
ADVISORY EDITORS
James L. Clifford, Columbia University
Ralph Cohen, University of Virginia
Vinton A. Dearing, University of California, Los Angeles
Arthur Friedman, University of Chicago
Louis A. Landa, Princeton University
Earl Miner, Princeton University
Samuel H. Monk, University of Minnesota
Everett T. Moore, University of California, Los Angeles
Lawrence Clark Powell, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library
James Sutherland, University College, London
H. T. Swedenberg, Jr., University of California, Los Angeles
Robert Vosper, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library
CORRESPONDING SECRETARY
Beverly J. Onley, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library
EDITORIAL ASSISTANT
Frances M. Reed, University of California, Los Angeles
INTRODUCTION
The prints and engraved sequences of William Hogarth (1697-1764)
inspired a wide range of dramatic entertainments throughout the
eighteenth century. The types include comedy of manners (_The
Clandestine Marriage_, 1766), burletta with _tableau vivant_ (_Ut
Pictura Poesis!_ 1789), specialty act (_A Modern Midnight Conversation_,
1742), cantata (_The Roast Beef of Old England_, ca. 1759), ballad opera
(_The Decoy_),[1] pantomime (_The Jew Decoy'd_ and _The Harlot's
Progress_, 1733), and a morality ballad opera (_The Rake's Progress_,
ca. 1778-1780). Two of these are reprinted here. Theophilus Cibber's
"Grotesque Pantomime Entertainment" of Hogarth's six-scene series "A
Harlot's Progress" (1732), entitled _THE HARLOT'S PROGRESS_; or The
Ridotto Al'Fresco," was first published 31 March 1733 for its Drury Lane
debut as an afterpiece.[2] Less familiar is the anonymous "Dramatised
Version" of Hogarth's eight-print sequence "A Rake's Progress" (1735),
British Library Add. MS. 25997, entitled The Rake's Progress.[3]
Of critical interest in looking at the engravings along with the dramas
they inspired is the evidence provided of significant visual-verbal
reciprocities in the period. In particular, it shows one aspect of the
interrelationship operative between (1) creation of the prints, with the
artist often relying perceptibly on dramatic literature and theatrical
sets,[4] and (2) inspiration from print to theater, as playwrights
generated new stage pieces based on the graphic works. Moreover, these
two dramas underscore the importance of music in eighteenth century
theater where the use of songs in pantomimes and new lyrics for old
tunes in ballad opera were alike commonplace by mid-century.[5] The
plays lend support to Bertrand Bronson's observation that, in an age
which "thought Man the proper study of Mankind," it is not surprising
that the "major emphasis (and accomplishment) in music should be
dramatic and, in a broad sense, social."[6] These dramas add visual and
musical insights to literary concerns of the time.
In "A Harlot's Progress" (1732) Hogarth's six prints recount a few years
in the young life of "M. Hackabout" from her innocent arrival in London
(from Yorkshire) through debauchery, prostitution, and theft to death
from venereal disease at the age of 23. Hogarth's engraved sequence
shows about 12 characters, including Moll's child and supernumerary
harlots at her funeral. The stage piece by Colley Cibber's son entitled
_The Harlot's Progress_ consists solely of stage directions and verses
set to six "Airs." It has 27 characters, including a "little Harlequin
Dog." The harlot's new name, "Kitty," probably refers to the actress
(Mrs. Raftor, later Kitty Clive) who initially played this role. The
music for the songs seems to be lost, though many tunes can be
identified.[7] Furthermore, Roger Fiske reports that later in 1733 this
work was offered at Bartholomew Fair with a band that included "oboes,
bassoons, horns, trumpets, drums and strings." Though traditionally _The
Harlot's Progress_ has been treated as pantomime, Fiske considers it a
"mixture of masque, ballad opera and pantomime."[8] Actually Cibber's
piece, with its concluding "Masque," more closely fits Paul Sawyer's
definition of pantomime as "a mixture of comic (sometimes called
grotesque) elements" concerning the love adventures and misadventures of
Harlequin and Columbine, "largely in dumb show," but "occasionally
interspersed with songs and dances."[9] In addition, Sawyer notes, there
is a "serious part," usually drawn from mythology, featuring dancing,
recitative, song, and some dialogue. In the present case, this would be
the masque of "The Judgment of Paris" which concludes _The Harlot's
Progress_ (p. 12).
On the stage, Cibber shifts the Hogarthian tone from an ineluctable
moral formula (the wages of sin equal death) to one that transforms
social and moral punishment into lyrical pageantry. To accomplish this,
he uses the mechanical humor of harlequinade and omits three grim
occasions portrayed by Hogarth: Hackabout's apprehension by Sir John
Gonson in a garret (Pl. 4), her early death from venereal disease (Pl.
5), and her funeral with its morally dubious mourners (Pl. 6). Cibber
replaces the potential moral commentary of these three prints with stage
antics and dance. Cibber's harlot "Kitty" is sent to Bridewell like
Hogarth's Moll Hackabout (Pl. 4), but her punishment there turns
magically into a dance.
The "Keeper" forces her and other women to beat hemp, but the blocks
suddenly disappear; in their stead appear her lover Harlequin, with
Scaramouch and others, and all "dance off" to the "Ridotto al'Fresco,"
while the Keeper "runs away frighted." The threat of punishment vanishes
with the blocks. At the "Ridotto," in a stage set depicting a Vauxhall
scene, people appear in masquerade, and a grand "Comic Ballad" is
performed to various musical tunes. But this is not the end of the
pantomime, for yet to come is "The Judgment of Paris," John Weaver's
"Dramatic Entertainment" after the "Manner of the Ancient Greeks and
Romans," which had premiered in February 1733.[10]
Though he was quite consciously imitating Hogarth's "Celebrated
Designs," Cibber's directions do not specify that costuming duplicate
Hogarth's contemporary London figures such as the notorious Mother
Needham, Colonel Charteris (Pl. 1), Justice Gonson (Pl. 4), or the
quarreling doctors Misaubin and Rock at Moll's deathbed (Pl. 5).[11] In
addition to changing the name "M. Hackabout" to "Kitty" the "Country
Girl," Cibber dubs his Charteris character "Old Debauchee," Needham
"Madame Decoy," and the Jew who keeps Kitty, "Beau Mordecai."
The comic element asserts itself in the first stage scene as Harlequin
hides in Kitty's trunk and then disguises himself as a cadet, imitating
Hackabout's lover in Hogarth's second print. During this stage trick,
Madame Decoy sings new verses to an eighteenth century ballad
celebrating the innocent beauties of rural poverty (Air I, "What tho' I
am a Country Lass"). Clearly, audiences familiar with the more biting
pictorial scenes of a harlot's life would be easily diverted, even
relieved, by the elaborate mixture of Greek and Italian elements, and
the flourish of songs in the parodic ballad opera tradition. Cibber of
course capitalized on the occasion, popularity, and familiarity of
Hogarth's six prints in 1733, but his theatrical realization clarifies
the quality of pantomimic entertainment with its numerous contemporary
graphic allusions, revealing an aborted moral embellished by a splay of
music and masque.
Theophilus Cibber's entertainment was quite successful on the London
stage, having a good run at the patent theaters and the fairs in 1733
and for a while thereafter.[12] Furthermore, it is related to an
important event in Drury Lane history. Cibber seceded with a group of
actors in May of 1733 from that theater because of management disputes.
After playing at the fairs, the protesting actors performed at the
Little Theatre in the Haymarket until the spring of 1734 when they
returned to Drury Lane. In a letter to patentee John Highmore, Cibber
wrote of the _Harlot's Progress_: "This entertainment (for which I am
indebted to Mr. Hogarth's designs) the Town were pleased to approve of
and encourage." But, he adds, it might have been performed "three months
sooner than it was, but for the Obstructions I met with from my
Partners."[13] This theatrical quarrel created much public discussion in
the first decade of the century (_LS_, 3, 1, "Introduction," _passim_).
Hogarth included in his print "Southwark Fair" (which came out after
August 1733) a showcloth of John Laguerre's engraving "The Stage
Mutiny," a print that in turn had been inspired by the actors'
secession. Hogarth's additions to the Laguerre print demonstrate his
close touch with these events (_HGW_, I, 156-7).[14] _The Harlot's
Progress_ provides us with a good example of the genre "Grotesque
Pantomime," and throws much light on the London stage entertainment
stream of an evening that included Hogarth, harlequin, Venus and Paris,
as well as dancing and singing.
Hogarth's eight prints of "A Rake's Progress" of 1735[15] provided the
subject--the rise and fall of a libertine--for a morality ballad opera
more than forty years later. The 15-scene stage piece, entitled _The
Rake's Progress_, elaborates visually and musically the formula: follow
virtue and avoid vice. The author clearly counted on audience
familiarity with the graphic scenes many years after their appearance,
and on an increased receptivity to explicit moralizing. This manuscript
was submitted by the unknown playwright to Drury Lane sometime between
September 1778 and June 1780. The possible date is most clearly focused
in the Sheridans' joint management. Richard assumed the management in
1776 and held it to at least 1809, but his father Thomas managed it with
his son only for the seasons 1778-1779 and 1779-1780.[16] I think it is
therefore possible to suggest a date for the manuscript between
September 1778 when Thomas Sheridan came to Drury Lane, and the end of
the 1779-1780 theatrical season, when he left at the age of 61.[17] The
piece was not performed.
Like the Cibber work, the text consists of stage directions and songs.
Allusions to Hogarth appear in title, characters, plot, and specific
scenes. Moreover, a "transparency" introduces the artist in a literal
stage portrait. This device praises Hogarth and reminds the audience of
the graphic correspondences in dramatic form to come.
_The Rake's Progress_ makes significant changes in the content of
Hogarth's series, expanding characters and scenes, and altering the
denouement somewhat from madness to suicide. New elements of music and
clowning change his lugubrious didacticism to a lyrical warning in a
form I call "morality ballad opera." The morality and masque features
appear in such characters as "Virtue" and "Vice" who frame the piece,
and "Liberty" and "Benevolence" who descend and ascend on a cloud, at
the end taking Virtue with them. Not included in the theater version is
Hogarth's depiction of the harsh realities of Bethlehem Hospital, or
Bedlam, where spectators pay to gawk at the inmates, and where
Rakewell's libertine journey ends dismally (Pl. 8). On the boards, the
didacticism is even more emphatic. Rakewell shoots himself to background
music which slows in tempo until it is "render'd as dismal as possible"
and Virtue proclaims a triumph over the demonstrated "baneful influence
of Vice."
In "A Rake's Progress" (1735), Hogarth depicts an inverse relationship
between morality and the misuse of money. In the first of the eight
prints, young Tom Rakewell inherits wealth from his miserly father and
misspends it for the remainder of his life in copying the lifestyle of
an aristocrat. His moral poverty is evident as he offers money to the
mother of pregnant Sarah Young, his former girlfriend, who stands
disconsolately poising a wedding ring. Letters containing his false
promises to her clarify the situation. Material wealth is the
cornerstone of this series as we next see the rake being measured by a
tailor for new clothes while a lawyer pilfers cash; and an upholsterer's
hammering to ready the room for mourning results in a shower of
previously hidden gold coins (Pl. 1). The levee (Pl. 2) shows Rakewell
in a fashionable morning gown, courted by a gardener, huntsman, and
others, while a list of gifts from the nobility to opera star Farinelli
includes a snuff box from Rakewell. His nocturnal taste shows in the
Rose Tavern where he carouses and is himself raked by harlots (Pl. 3).
As part of this debauched ambiance, a pregnant woman sings the bawdy
ballad "Black Joke." In daylight, the faithful Sarah saves Rakewell from
street arrest while a group of gamblers fills out the visual exposition
of the rake's dissipation (Pl. 4). Saved by the middle class girl he
ruined, Rakewell next weds a rich widow to recoup his losses. Sarah, her
mother, and Rakewell's infant offspring unsuccessfully try to abort this
clandestine wedding (Pl. 5). Rakewell's marriage of convenience cannot
meet his needs, and he soon rails despairingly in a Covent Garden
gambling house (Pl. 6). The juggernaut of vice presses on as he is
jailed for debt in Fleet Street prison where he runs up more bills. A
prisoner drops a "Scheme for paying y^{e} Debts of y^{e} Nation" to the
floor as Sarah faints away and Rakewell's wife scolds (Pl. 7). The
social nadir of Bedlam illumines darkly Rakewell's last loss--his
reason--and this graphic anti-progress concludes, as it began, with
Sarah's sorrow (Pl. 8).
What did the playwright do with Hogarth's harsh comment on the
misappropriation of inherited wealth? He seems to have enhanced
entertainment values and emphasized instruction at the same time. The
drama embellishes the series by (a) adding stage links only imaginable
by spectators of the print sequences, (b) framing the progress with a
morality masque starring Virtue and Vice, and (c) replacing Hogarth's
serious ironic tone with slapstick and songs drawn from stage musical
fare, such as the burletta _Poor Vulcan!_ by Charles Dibdin, which
premiered in February 1778 (_LS_, 5, I, 109). Basically, Hogarth's eight
prints of 1735 are transformed in part into a series of _tableaux
vivants_ which served, with variations, in the late 1770's as strong
visual reminders for an audience already familiar with the original
pictorial sequence.
For example, directions for the second scene attempt to put on the
boards the initial print, adding music and slapstick as "money from the
raftor falls into Clown's mouth." The play invites the spectator to
follow Sarah and her mother after they leave Rakewell and listen to
their duet, sung to the music of Air I of _The Beggar's Opera_. The
lyrics change, so that Peachum's cynical comment "Through all the
employments of life/Each neighbor abuses his brother" becomes "His vows,
ah! Why did'st thou believe?/He ne'er meant a promise to keep," with the
new association of Sarah's being cast off by Rakewell.
The drama closely follows the series for the rake's levee, where
professionals "pay Court" to Rakewell. A new character, "Van Butchel,"
who sings in dialect, is added. The opportunism of those proffering
services to the young man becomes clear in their musical medley when
they announce they will "plunder him as fast as we can agree." At the
Rose Tavern, stage directions for Rakewell state "the actor must let his
intoxication gradually increase." Before Rakewell's arrest, the bailiff
sings a solo. Sarah saves her lover, as in the sequence, but a small
revelation of his character not in the print marks the incident: he
"kisses her hand" before returning to his sedan chair.
The stage piece exploits the potential emotional element in such
gestures to the point of sentimentality. For instance, Sarah's lament
following Rakewell's marriage to the rich "Old Woman" shows grief
driving her to despair; she sings "The Grave will extinguish my
woes/Then Sarah--prepare thee to die" to the music of the seventeenth
century ballad tune "Mary's Lamentation." The drama also exploits the
sensational as the smoking fire in a Covent Garden gambling house
(Hogarth's Pl. 5) becomes a public catastrophe with fire engines and
furniture being carried into the street and "Confusion kept up as long
as necessary."
In the jail scene, the rake turns out of his breeches a "Scheme to Pay
the National Debt," a specific verbal echo of the Fleet Street print,
and the prisoners sing a familiar tune ("Welcome, Brother Debtor") as
musical background to his off-stage suicide. Then Virtue returns to
ascend with "Liberty and Benevolence" on a cloud, able to relax now that
Vice's influence has run its destructive course.
_The Rake's Progress_ is an essentially uneven dramatic work. The
playwright colors the didacticism of Hogarth's prints with music and
farce, yet underscores it by adding Virtue and Vice and the melodrama of
Rakewell's suicide and Sarah's probable death. The author capitalizes on
the suspense of choice, characteristic of the morality play, by
dramatizing it in conflicts between Vice and Virtue. Yet the effect
remains unbalanced. This palpable form of Hogarth's visual satire loses
much of its impact without a balance of serious, comic, and musical
ingredients. Furthermore, the musical elements are so haphazardly
distributed that they often contribute to a patchwork effect, as when
the bailiff sings a solo prior to making an arrest.
Although _The Rake's Progress_ purports to imitate Hogarth's "Comedy,"
where a "biginning, middle & an End/ Are Aptly join'd; where parts on
parts depend,/ Each made for each, as Bodies for their Soul," the 15
scenes alternate too erratically between humor and melodrama to convey
the artistic unity and moral conviction evident in the pictorial
sequence. But this stage piece does demonstrate the persistence of
Hogarth's visual presence in later eighteenth-century life along with
the adaptability of his graphic scenes for the London theater.
Clearly Theophilus Cibber's comical, lyrical exploitation in _The
Harlot's Progress_ of Hogarth's designs exhibits a more coherent
dramatic structure than the tentative, disjointed medley of music and
moralism in _The Rake's Progress_. Further, Cibber's piece adds literary
insight to our concept of the hardly dumb genre of pantomime, with its
musical and masque components. The added melodrama and sentimentality in
_The Rake's Progress_ can help to index theatrical taste in the later
period. For students of the century, both works demonstrate clearly an
aspect of the reliance on Hogarth's art by playwrights. They also show
the flexibility of the London stage in the use of elements of music and
dance to link separate print scenes, and so attempt a bridge between the
forms of art and drama. These two examples of the lively interplay
operative between stage and print in the early and late decades heighten
appreciation of the expectancies of cultural experiences of different
audiences in the eighteenth century.
THE TUNES
_The Harlot's Progress_ and _The Rake's Progress_ are alike interesting
for the parodic ballad opera pattern of setting new words to familiar
tunes. Though neither work includes the music, some songs indicate
familiar melodies such as "Let us take the road" from _The Beggar's
Opera_. In _The Harlot's Progress_, the six "Airs" come from varied
sources, with new lyrics by Theophilus Cibber. Of the approximately 24
unnumbered tunes and catches in _The Rake's Progress_, the most
outstanding in connection with the print sequence is "Black Joke,"
Richard Leveridge's bawdy tune shown by Hogarth in the Rose Tavern print
being sung by a pregnant woman (Pl. 5). In the stage piece, this song is
part of a medley sung to Rakewell by the various professionals who
compete for his money. The most important tunes are those from _Poor
Vulcan!_ the burletta by Charles Dibdin (February 1778), supporting my
1778-1780 date for _The Rake's Progress_ manuscript.
The sources used to trace the musical airs include Claude Simpson's _The
British Broadside Ballad and Its Music_ (New Brunswick: Rutgers
University Press, 1966); Minnie Sears' _Song Index_ (and _Supplement_)
(New York: Wilson Company, 1926 and 1934); Edythe N. Backus: _Catalogue
of Music Printed Before 1801_ (San Marino, Cal.: The Huntington Library,
1949), and William Barclay Squire, "An Index of Tunes in the
Ballad-Operas," _The Musical Antiquary_, II (October 1910), 1-17.[18]
E. V. Roberts points out that "the lack of a ballad designation for a
ballad-opera air usually means that the tune in question was composed
specially for that ballad opera" and that, because most "unnamed tunes
were unknown outside their ballad operas," they were "neither copied nor
printed, and simply do not turn up in the collections."[19] The catches
in _The Rake's Progress_ are not traceable. The numbering for songs in
_The Rake's Progress_ is my own. Airs from both plays give us some idea
of the rich musical treasure English stagewriters could draw upon for
theatrical offerings in the eighteenth century.[20]
THE HARLOT'S PROGRESS
_Air I_: "What tho I am a Country Lass" is an eighteenth century ballad
by Martin Parker printed in _Orpheus Calendonius; or, A Collection
of Scots Songs Set to Music by W[illiam] Thomson_, II (London 1733),
p. 85. Its first two lines are "Although I be but a Country Lass/Yet
a lofty Mind I bear-a." It was used by Theophilus Cibber (as Air
XII) in his 1732 one-act version of Charles Coffey's _The Devil to
Pay_ where the transformed cobbler's wife Nell sings: "Tho late I
was a Cobler's Wife,/In cottage most obscure-a" (pp. 20-21). In _The
Harlot's Progress_, this air, sung by Madame Decoy, is clearly
appropriate for seducing Kitty-Moll into the world of bawds and
prostitutes, with its theme of magical change and the conquest of
innocence by vice.
_Air II_: "Brisk Tom and Jolly Kate" is Air IX of Lacy Ryan's _The
Cobler's Opera_ (London 1729), which has tunes by Leveridge,
Purcell, and others. The lyrics in Ryan's piece allude to Bridewell:
"Pray; Sir, did I not give to you a Passage free/When Hemp did
threaten," (pp. 14-15).
_Air III_: "Maggy Lawther" is a tune used by Theophilus Cibber (Air IX)
in _Patie and Peggy ... A Scotch Ballad Opera_ (London 1730), p. 10.
_Air IV_: "Oh! what Pleasures will abound" is Air VII of Henry
Fielding's _The Lottery_ (London 1732). Johann Pepusch composed the
music for this air in collaboration with Lewis Theobald for the
pantomime opera _Perseus and Andromeda_ (1730). Fielding's name for
the tune was "In Perseus and Andromeda."
_Air V_: "Lads a Dunce." The music is preserved in British Library Add.
MS. 29371, fol. 30a, no. 45, and printed in Fielding's _The
Grub-Street Opera_ as Air II (ed. Edgar V. Roberts, Lincoln:
University of Nebraska Press, 1968), p. 92. Its composer is not
known.
_Air VI_: "Maidens fresh as a Rose" appears as Air VI in Ebenezer
Forrest's ballad opera _Momus turn'd fabulist; or, Vulcan's
Wedding_, a work translated from the French of Fuzelier and Le Grand
(London 1729), p. 12. It also could be the song in D'Urfey's _Wit
and Mirth: or, Pills to Purge Melancholy_ (1719), with a slightly
different title, "Maiden fresh as a Rose," though the syllabic
pattern does not seem to match: "Young buxome and full of
jollity,/Take no Spouse among Beaux," (I, p. 57).
THE RAKE'S PROGRESS
_Airs I-III_ are not traceable ("From Virue's sluggish Rules be free,"
"Mary's Dream" and "Alteration").
_Air IV_: "Duett" to the tune "An Old Woman Cloathed in Gray" is the
familiar first tune of John Gay's _The Beggar's Opera_, ed. Edgar V.
Roberts (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1969), pp. 94-95.
_Air V_: Van Butchel's song ("See Martin dus his goods display") is not
in the songbooks. Prof. Roberts suggests the lyrics could fit the
music of "Lillibullero," sometimes used for songs in dialect. Henry
Purcell wrote or arranged this Irish burden which was used in 12
ballad operas, including Fielding's _Don Quixote in England_ (1733).
Simpson (p. 454) gives one example in dialect: "By Creist my dear
Morish vat makes de sho'shad" (ca. 1689).
_Air VI_: "Shelah O'Sudds" (to the tune "The Siege of Troy") is not
traceable.
_Air VII_: "Medley. Tune, 'Petition Poor Vulcan'" is from Charles
Dibdin's burletta _Poor Vulcan!_ (London 1778) which begins: "The
humble prayer and petition/Of Vulcan, who his sad condition" (I, 1,
p. 7).
_Air VIII_: "Tune. Hunting Chorus, 'Poor Vulcan'" is the "Chorus and
Air" from Dibdin's _Poor Vulcan!_ It begins: "Blacksmith: 'Strike,
strike, ton, ton ton, ron'/Huntsman: 'Sound, Sound, tan, ran, ran,
tan'" (I, ii, p. 10).
_Air IX_: "Tune: 'Finale 1st act _Poor Vulcan!_'" seems to be the song
"Pike; 'Pooltroon! Damnation! Zounds, unhand me;/ Either you
villain, eat that word,'" (_Poor Vulcan!_ I, p. 23).
_Air X_: "Medley. Tune, 'Black Joke'" is Leveridge's song of 1730. See
E. V. Roberts, ed. Henry Fielding, _The Grub-Street Opera_ (p. 105)
and Charles Wood's _The Author's Farce_ (Lincoln: University of
Nebraska Press, 1966), p. 116.
_Air XI_: "Welcome, Brother Debtor" appears in many eighteenth-century
song collections, including Henry Roberts' _Calliope; or, English
Harmony, a collection of ... English and Scots tunes_ (London,
1739-1749), p. 315.
_Airs XII_, _XIII_ _and XIV_ are not traceable. ("Medley tunes 'Stoney
Batter,' 'Tyburn Tree,' and 'Ballance a Straw.'")
_Air XV_: "Bailiff's Song" has no tune and is not traceable.
_Air XVI_: "Mind the Golden Rule" is not identifiable.
_Air XVII_: "Tune 'Mary's Lamentation'" is the old ballad (set to the
music of "Crimson Velvet"), the "lamentable complaint" of Queen Mary
for the "unkind departure" of King Philip, "in whose absence she
fell sick, and died," which begins "Mary doth complain;/Ladies be
you moved," and appears in Richard Johnson's _Crown Garland of
Roses_ (1659), ed. Chappell, 1895. Though popular in the seventeenth
century, it may have been written soon after Queen Mary's death in
1558 (Simpson, p. 141). Verses similar to Air XVII ("I Sigh and
lament me in vain,/These Walls can but echo my moan,") appeared in
Signior Giordani's "Queen Mary's Lamentation," printed in Domenico
Corri's _Select Collection_ of 1779 (III, No. 71).
_Air XVIII_: The "Clown's Song" seems to have been specially composed
for this work.
_Air XIX_: "Tune: 'Let us take the Road'" is the famous "March in
Rinaldo" by Handel. See Air XX, _The Beggar's Opera_ (Act II, ed.
Roberts, pp. 130-131).
_Air XX_: "Ballad Tune: 'The Race Horse'" with the title "The Rake's
Progress." Thomas D'Urfey's tune is called "The Race Horse," and
begins "To Horse, brave Boys of Newmarket, to Horse," and is "set to
an excellent Scotch tune" called "Cock up thy Beaver" (Simpson, p.
112). It was first published with the music in D'Urfey's _Choice New
Songs_ (1684) and appears as an untitled air in Kane O'Hara's comic
opera _Midas_ (1764; ARS 167). It is also called "Newmarket," or
"Newmarket Horse Race," Air XXII of the 1730 and 1750 versions of
Fielding's _The Author's Farce_. The music is printed in Woods's
edition of _The Author's Farce_, p. 133.
California State University
Northridge
NOTES TO THE INTRODUCTION
[1]: There are at least three dramatic pieces other than the _Theophilus
Cibber_ work reprinted here which were inspired by William Hogarth's
"A Harlot's Progress." Ronald Paulson reports one announced in the
_Daily Advertiser_ (13 November 1732) by Charlotte Charke entitled
_The Harlot_. It had been printed by Curll; but there is no record
of performance (_Hogarth: His Life, Art, and Times_, I, London and
New Haven: Yale University Press, 1971, p. 290). Paulson also
mentions the publication announcement in the _Daily Advertiser_ (5
February 1732/3) of: "_The Decoy_, or _The Harlot's Progress_ (on
February 14 called _The Jew Decoy'd_), a new ballad opera, said to
be performed at Goodman's Fields" (p. 290). _The Jew Decoy'd_, a
work never performed and discussed at length by Robert E. Moore
(_Hogarth's Literary Relationships_, Minneapolis: University of
Minnesota Press, 1948, pp. 34-36) as being published in 1733, is a
different piece than _The Decoy; or, The Harlot's Progress, A New
Ballad Opera_ [By Henry Potter] (_The London Stage_, ed. Arthur
Scouten, Part 3, Vol. I, Carbondale: Southern Illinois University
Press, 1962-68, pp. 269-270, abbreviated in later citations as
"_LS_" followed by part, volume and page number.) The title page of
Potter's piece reads: "_The Decoy. An Opera. As it is Acted at the
New Theatre in Goodman's Fields_. London, 1733, with the
"Dedication" signed by Potter. This three-act piece contains 52
songs, three of which also appear in Cibber's "The Harlot's
Progress." The "Introduction" alludes to Hogarth's series as the
source ("the Sketch is now in Print"), but it has many links to John
Gay's _The Beggar's Opera_, and, like Cibber's piece, only follows
the first three plates. Potter's small theater in the Haymarket
opened in 1720 but no organized company had produced legitimate
drama there by 1728 (_LS_, 3, I, cxxxix). The run was successful for
Potter: he had a benefit on 8 February, with the comment "On account
of the great Demand for Places, the Pit and Boxes will be laid
together at 5s each" (_LS_ 3, I, 270). Hogarth had advertised the
subscription for "A Harlot's Progress" as early as 8 March 1731.
(See Ronald Paulson, _Hogarth's Graphic Works_, I, Rev. Ed., New
Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1970, p. 141. Citations in
my text are abbreviated _HGW_ followed by volume and page number.)
This piece appears in Baker's _Biographia Dramatica_ (Vol. II, p.
157) without comment, while he lists "_The Jew Decoy'd; or The
Progress of an Harlot_," 8vo. 1733 "as never being performed, but
founded on the Hogarth series." _The Jew Decoy'd_ discussed by Moore
has the title page: "London: Printed for E: Rayner ... 1733,"
published on 14 February (p. 34). The Henry E. Huntington Library
has a copy, "Printed by W: Rayner ... 1735" but does not have the
frontispiece Moore describes. For engravings, see Vol. II of
Paulson's _Hogarth's Graphic Works_.
[2]: Reprinted here with permission of the Henry E. Huntington Library
(No. 151783). There are two other extant copies of the first
edition: one in the Boston Public Library and the other in the
British Library. The British Library copy has two inserted engraved
portraits (Theophilus Cibber in his role of Pistol, and Hogarth
seated at an easel studying a cartoon of a goddess, probably based
on "Hogarth Painting the Comic Muse" of 1758). Yale University has a
photostat facsimile of the Boston Public Library edition. I thank
David Rodes for looking at the British Library copy.
[3]: Reprinted here in typescript form from a manuscript difficult to
reproduce legibly. The work is anonymous. The typescript appeared as
"Appendix I" of my unpublished New York University dissertation on
William Hogarth with permission of the Trustees of the British
Library. I have discussed it in "_The Rake's Progress_: A New
Dramatic Version of William Hogarth's Prints," in _Notes and
Queries_ (October 1972), 381-383. The theatrical career of the
author, Theophilus Cibber (1703-1758), has not been fully assessed.
He did know Hogarth: they both belonged to John Rich's group, the
"Sublime Society of Beef Steaks," which met in the scene-painting
loft over the Covent Garden stage. Cibber joined the group in
September 1739, and Hogarth was a charter member in 1735 (_HGW_, I,
188). Cibber himself played an active role in the creation of the
position of stage manager or "under-manager" (_LS_, 3, I, xcvi).
[4]: See my essay concerning such connections, in "William Hogarth and
London Theatrical Life," _Studies in Eighteenth Century Culture,
Vol. 5_, ed. R. Rosbottom (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press,
1975), 11-31.
[5]: See my "Music and Theatre in Hogarth," The _Musical Quarterly_, 57
(July 1971), 409-426.
[6]: "Some Aspects of Music and Literature," repr. _Facets of the
Enlightenment_ (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1968),
p. 92.
[7]: See "The Tunes" at end of Introduction.
[8]: _English Theatre Music in the Eighteenth Century_ (London: Oxford
University Press, 1973), p. 108.
[9]: "The Popularity of Various Types of Entertainment at Lincoln's Inn
Fields and Covent Garden Theatres, 1720-1733," _Theatre Notebook_,
XXIV: 4 (Summer 1970), 156.
[10]: The complete title is "_The Judgment of Paris. A Dramatic
Entertainment In Dancing and Singing, After the Manner of the
Ancient Greeks and Romans. As it is Perform'd at the Theatre-Royal
in Drury Lane_," with words by Congreve, music by Seedo and
"Compos'd by J. Weaver, Dancing-Master." This work had its Drury
Lane debut 6 February 1733, and _The London Stage_ entry for 31
March 1733 reads: "John Banks's _The Albion Queens_ ... Also _The
Harlot's Progress; or, the Triumph of Beauty_" (_LS_, 3, I, 283).
Many actors and actresses doubled (e.g., Mrs. Raftor is one of the
"Graces" in the masque). No doubt the concluding "Masque" of _The
Harlot's Progress_ is Weaver's piece (p. 12).
[11]: Paulson (_HGW_, I, 148) describes these two doctors, "well known
for their quack cures for venereal disease." Dr. Rock's name was
added by Hogarth in a later state of the print.
[12]: Cibber's piece may have opened as early as 12 March 1733 in the
pantomime house at Sadler's Wells, which had been reconstructed from
a seventeenth century Music Room (see _LS_, 3, I, xxxix). Cibber's
_The Harlot's Progress_ had a successful run at Drury Lane in the
spring of 1733, from 31 March until 28 May, when the actor-manager
dispute led to a closing of the playhouse (see _LS_, 3, I, 304). It
played as an afterpiece to such works as _Cato_ and _The Provok'd
Husband_, and on 26 April a playbill announced the "Royal Family
expected to attend" (_LS_, 3, I, 293). Thereafter it had a career at
the fairs, beginning with the Lee-Harper-Petit Booth on Tottenham
Court on 30 August 1733 (_LS_, 3, I, 310), moving on 23 August to
Bartholomew Fair and on 28 September to Mile End Green, where the
harlot's name is listed as "Moll Hackabout" (_LS_, 3, I, 321). On 27
October 1733 it had a command performance at Drury Lane (_LS_, 3, I,
330). It played frequently during that winter and in the spring, on
26 April, the seceding actors returned to Drury Lane to perform in
_The Conscious Lovers_ and _The Harlot's Progress_. The cast list is
the same as that in the text reprinted here (_LS_, 3, I, 390). The
successful run continued through October 1734; after that it was
only played a couple of times before the 1736 season (_LS_, 3, I,
_passim_). Scouten observes: "a remarkable feature" is that this
piece "places a Jewish merchant in a favorable light, treating him
not with sympathy but with respect as a pillar of trade" (_LS_, 3,
I, xcvi).
[13]: "A Letter from Theo. Cibber, Comedian, To John Highmore, Esq."
(London 1733).
[14]: Hogarth reversed Laguerre's print, adding the banner "We eat," the
label "Pistol's alive" under Theophilus Cibber's feet and the phrase
"Quiet and Snug" under Colley Cibber. For descriptions of the
rebellion, see John Genest, _Some Account of the English Stage from
the Restoration in 1660 to 1830_, III, Bath: 1832, pp. 415-416,
Richard H. Barker, _Mr. Cibber of Drury Lane_ (New York: Columbia
University Press, 1939), pp. 168-171, and Arthur Scouten, _LS_, 3,
I, lxxxix-xciii.
[15]: For exposition of the eight prints of "A Rake's Progress" (1735)
see Paulson's _HGW_, I, 158-170. The subscription was announced in
late 1733, but the paintings were not completed until mid-1734.
[16]: Esther K. Sheldon, _Thomas Sheridan of Smock-Alley_ (Princeton,
N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1967), pp. 284-285, and Raymond C.
Rhodes, _Harlequin Sheridan: The Man and the Legend_ (Oxford: B.
Blackwell, 1933), p. 79.
[17]: Sheldon, p. 301.
[18]: I am indebted to Prof. Edgar V. Roberts for pointing out this
source to me, and for his help in identifying many of the tunes.
[19]: "Mr. Seedo's London Career and His Work with Henry Fielding,"
_Philological Quarterly, XLV_ (January 1966), 185 and 189.
[20]: See Bronson's article (above, n. 6) _passim_, where he mentions
many of the songbooks.
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
The facsimile of _The Harlot's Progress_ (1733) is reproduced from the
copy (Shelf Mark: 151783) in the Henry E. Huntington Library. The total
type-page (p. 9) measures 155 x 115 mm. _The Rake's Progress_ (ca.
1778-1780) is presented in type from a manuscript (Additional MS. 25997)
in the British Library. Spelling, capitalization, and punctuation have
been preserved, but colons and doubled colons used to indicate word
divisions have been silently emended to hyphens or closed, and free-form
brackets for stage directions have been standardized to parentheses.
THE
HARLOT'S PROGRESS;
OR, THE
_RIDOTTO AL' FRESCO_:
A
Grotesque Pantomime Entertainment.
As it is perform'd by his Majesty's Company of Comedians
AT THE
THEATRE-ROYAL in _Drury-Lane_.
Compos'd by Mr. _Theophilus Cibber_, Comedian.
The SONGS made (to old Ballad Tunes) by a Friend.
Printed for the Benefit of _Richard Cross_ the Prompter;
and Sold at the Theatre. 1733. [Price Six Pence.]
THIS
ENTERTAINMENT
Is Dedicated to the Ingenious
Mr. _H O G A R T H_,
(On Whose
Celebrated Designs it is Plan'd,)
_By his Well-wisher,_
_and obliged_
_Humble Servant_,
Theo. Cibber.
_Saturday, March_
_31st, 1733._
Persons in the Harlot's Progress.
Harlequin, Mr. _Le Brun_.
Beau _Mordecai_, Mr. _Stoppelaer_.
Old Debauchee, Mr. _Berry_.
Justice _Mittimus_, Mr. _Mullart_.
Mons. _Poudre_, Mr. _Oates_.
Constable, Mr. _Jones_.
Keeper, Mr. _Burnet_.
Porter, Mr. _Peploe_.
_Pompey_, Y. _Grace_.
Beadles, {Mr. _Gray_.
{Mr. _Wright_.
Miss _Kitty_, Miss _Raftor_.
Madam _Decoy_, Mrs. _Mullart_.
_Jenny_, Mrs. _Grace_.
Bess _Brindle_, Mr. _Leigh_.
Persons in the _Ridotto al' Fresco_.
_Les Capricieux_ by Mr. _Essex_ and Miss _Robinson_.
The _Hungarians_ by Mr. _Houghton_ and Mrs. _Walter_.
The _Fingalians_ by Mr. _Lally_ Sen. and Miss _Mears_.
_Scaramouch_, _Pierot_, and _Mezetin_ by Mr. _Lally_, Junior, Mr.
_Tench_, and Mr. _Stoppelaer_.
Ladies of Pleasure by Miss _Mann_, Miss _Atherton_ and Miss _Price_.
The Marquis _de Fresco_ by Monsieur _Arlequin en Chien_.
THE
HARLOT'S PROGRESS;
OR, THE
_RIDOTTO AL' FRESCO_:
AFTER the Overture, the Curtain rises;--the Scene represents an Inn; The
Bawd, the Country Girl, the _Debauchee_ and the Pimp, all rang'd as they
are in the _first Print_.--The Parson on the Right Hand, reading the
Letter, soon goes off----while the Bawd is persuading the Girl to go
along with her, Harlequin appears at the Window, and seeing the Country
Girl, jumps down, and gets into a Trunk which belongs to her, while the
Bawd sings.
AIR I. What tho' I am a Country Lass.
_Let Country Damsels plainly nice,
In Home-spun Russet go, Sir;
While, Frolick we, chearful as wise,
More pleasing Transports know, Sir.
They dull and coy,
Refuse the Joy,
All bashful void of Skill-a:
We gay and free
To each fond He
Yield up our selves at Will-a._
_At last our Youth and Charms decay'd,
Like old experienc'd Sinners,
We follow the procuring Trade,
And train up young Beginners.
Thus ample Gains,
Reward our Pains;
Then mock not our Profession,
Like Courtiers we,
Secure the Fee,
And laugh at the Transgression._
After the Song, the Bawd beckons a Porter, orders him to take up the
Trunk and follow her and the Girl, which he does, with Harlequin in
it.--Then the _Debauchee_ comes forward, who seems to be enamour'd with
the Girl; the Pimp assures him he can procure her for him, upon which
the _Debauchee_ seems rejoic'd and sings in Praise of Women and Wine.
AIR II. _Brisk_ Tom _and Jolly_ Kate.
_Brisk Wine and Women are,
The Sum of all our Joy;
A Brimmer softens every Care,
And Beauty ne'er can cloy:
Then let us Drink and Love,
While still our Hearts are gay,
Women and Wine, by turns shall prove,
Our Blessings Night and Day._
After the Song he follows her--the Pimp struts about and sings.
AIR III. _Maggy Lawther._
_Pimping is a Science, Sir,
The only Mode and Fashion,
To Virtue bids Defiance, Sir,
'Tis the Glory of the Nation.
In City, Country, or in Court,
It is the Coup d'Grace, Sir;
If you your Patron's Vice support,
You need not fear a Place, Sir._
_The Lawyer pimps to gain a Coif,
While Porters pimp for Hire;
Kind_ Betty _serves his Worship's Wife,
The Page pimps for the Squire,
'Tis pimping gains a large Estate,
Makes Valets wear their Swords, Sir,
For Pimps oft look as big and great,
As any Duke or Lord, Sir._
After the Song he follows the Debauchee.--The Scene changes to the
Street; the Debauchee having found Harlequin in Company with Miss
_Kitty_, turns her out of Doors, and the Pimp kicks out Harlequin;
_Kitty_ goes out in the greatest Distress--Harlequin by his Action
signifies he's in Love, and is in doubt whether to hang or drown
himself, or cut his Throat, _&c_. At length he resolves to follow her,
and determines to dress himself like a smart _Cadet_, in order to
address her: To accomplish which he strikes the Ground, and there rises
a Dressing-Table fix'd in a Cloud, furnish'd with all necessary
Appurtenances.----After he is drest, the Table vanishes and he goes out.
The Scene changes to the Lodging that Beau _Mordecai_ has provided for
_Kitty_, whom he has just taken into high Keeping. (This Scene is taken
from _the Second Print_) she is discovered lolling upon a _Settee_,
attended by her Maid and Black-Boy, admiring the Grandeur of which she
is possess'd, and then sings.
AIR IV. Oh! what Pleasures will abound.
_Who wou'd not a Mistress be,
Kept in Splendor thus like me?
Deckt in golden rich Array,
Sparkling at each Ball and Play!
Gaily toying,
Sweets enjoying
Foreign to that thing a Wife,
Flirting, flaunting,
Jilting, jaunting,
Oh the Charming happy Life!_
After the Song Harlequin creeps from under her Toilet, in the Habit of
the _Cadet_, and courts Miss _Kitty_; she appears Coy at first, but at
length yields to him.--Then sings.
AIR V. _Lad's a Dunce._
_Thus finely set out,
I'll make such a Rout,
And top all the Rantipole Girls of the Town;
With Glances so bright,
Lords and Dukes I'll delight,
And make all the Rakes with their Ready come down,
The Stock-jobbing Cit,
For a hundred I'll hit,
While me he is rifling, I'll riflle his Purse;
With Saint-like Smile
I'll Zealots beguile,
And make the fond Hypocrite freely disburse._
_Thus, thus in full Pow'r,
I'll sweeten, I'll sour,
I'll whindle, I'll bluster, I'll wheedle, I'll cant,
I'll bubble, I'll blind,
Make Fools of Mankind,
Each Cully shall think he's my only Gallant,
With such Supplies
To Grandeur I'll rise,
And revel in Pleasure, in Plenty and Ease,
While in the dark,
A favourite Spark,
I'll keep at my Call to enjoy when I please._
After the Song they retire to the Bed; immediately is heard a knocking
at the Door; the Maid looks out and perceives it to be the _Jew_, upon
which she runs and tells her Mistress, who comes out with Harlequin in
the utmost Confusion.--But she advises him to retire to the Bed, which
he does; she sits down upon the _Settee_, and orders the Maid to let
_Mordecai_ in--when he enters he seems angry that she made him wait so
long at the Door, but is soon pacify'd when he sees _Kitty_ alone.--He
sits down by her, and is very fond of her; then orders the Maid to get
Tea, which she does--while they are drinking it, _Kitty_ appears in
Confusion, and makes Signs to the Maid to let Harlequin out; but while
he is attempting to steal away, he accidentally drops his Sword and
Cane, which surprizes the _Jew_, who turning about perceives Harlequin,
upon which Miss _Kitty_ in a Passion over-sets the Tea-Table.--The _Jew_
enrag'd, runs to secure the Door, and is in the greatest Passion with
her, she laughs at him, and they sing the following _Duette_.
AIR VI. _Maidens as fresh as a Rose._
Kitty. _Farewell, good Mr._ Jew;
_Now I hate your tawny Face;
I'll have no more to do
With you or any of your Race._
Jew. _Begone, you saucy Jade,
I will ne'er believe thee more;
Follow the_ Drury _Trade,
Thou shalt ne'er deceive me more._
Kitty. _Then take your self away,
Since I have chous'd you well, you Cull;
But come another Day,
When you have got your Pockets full._
Jew. _Be not so pert, my Dear,
This Pride may shortly have a Fall,
Soon shall I see or hear,
Madam,_ in Bridewell, _milling Doll._
Repeat. _Soon shall I see or hear_, &c.
She repeats with him. _Ne'er more will I come near,_
_Such a pitiful pimping Fool._
After the Song he turns her and her Maid out of Doors, then pursues
Harlequin.--A Picture falls down, Harlequin jumps thro' the Hangings,
and the Picture returns to its place and conceals him.--The Subject of
the Picture, which was before an Historical Story, is now chang'd to a
Representation of the _Jew_ with Horns upon his Head.--While he stands
in astonishment the other Picture changes likewise, and represents
Harlequin and _Kitty_ embracing--upon which the _Jew_ runs out in the
greatest surprize. Scene changes to the Street. Harlequin meets the
_Jew_, who immediately draws; Harlequin catches him by the Leg, and
throws him down, jumps over him, and runs off, the _Jew_ pursues
him.----The Scene changes to a poor Apartment in _Drury-Lane_. (This is
taken from the Third Print) _Kitty_ is discover'd sitting disconsolate
by the Bedside, drinking of Tea, attended by _Bess Brindle_ (a Runner to
the Ladies of Pleasure) Harlequin jumps in at the Window; she seems
overjoy'd to see him--just as they are going to sit down to drink Tea,
they hear a Noise without--Harlequin looks thro' the Key-hole, and
discovers it to be the Justice, Constable, Watch, &c. He is very much
surpris'd, and jumps into a Punch-Bowl that stands upon a Table, to hide
himself--Justice _Mittimus_ enters with the Constable, &c. the Watch
seize _Kitty_ and the Runner, and carry 'em off.--The Constable stays
behind to pilfer what he can, during which, Harlequin creeps from under
the Table; the Constable seeing him, goes to seize him, but he jumps
thro' the Window and escapes--the Constable runs off.--The Scene changes
to the Street. A melancholy Tune is play'd, while several Ladies of
Pleasure (alias _unfortunate Women_) are led cross the Stage as going to
_Bridewell_, with _Kitty_ and her Maid, the Bawd, &c. Three Justices
bring up the Rear.--Scene changes to _Bridewell_. The Women are
discover'd all leaning in an indolent manner upon their Blocks.--The
Keeper enters, and seeing them so idle, threatens to beat 'em--as they
take up their Hammers and Beetles, and are going to beat, the Blocks all
vanish, and in their stead appear Harlequin, Scaramouch, _Pierrot_, and
_Mezetin_, each takes out his Lady to dance, and signify they'll go to
the _Ridotto al Fresco_; the Keeper runs away frighted, they all dance
off.--Scene changes to the Street. A great Number of People pass over
the Stage, as going to the _Ridotto_, among whom appears the Marquiss
_ae Fresco_, perform'd by the little Harlequin Dog.
The Scene changes to the _Ridotto al Fresco_, illuminated with several
Glass Lustres, (the Scene taken from the place at _Vaux-Hall_) Variety
of People appear in Masquerade, and a grand Comic Ballad is perform'd by
different Characters to _English_, _Scotch_, _Irish_ and _French_ Tunes,
which concludes the whole.
* * * * *