Curl says that Lady Davanant, out of friendship for his memory, reared and educated his daughter, and recommended her to adopt the stage as a profession. Antony Aston, however, who was living in her time, asserts, that "she was woman to Lady Shelton, of Norfolk, (my good mother), when Lord Rochester took her on the stage, where, for some time, they could make nothing of her, she could neither sing, nor dance, no, not even in a country dance." To be "woman," however, to a lady of title, in those days, was considered a position not derogatory to a person of good family, fallen upon evil times. All agree that at first she showed such little capacity for her profession that she was pronounced utterly incapable, and dismissed from the theatre three times in succession. Then, according to Curll's story, Rochester made a wager that within six months he would train her to be one of the finest actresses upon the stage. He took incredible pains with his task, made her rehearse some parts thirty times in the dresses, and exactly as she was to perform them at night. It was as the Queen of Hungary, in Lord Orrery's play of "Mustapha," he decided to bring her out. Her tutor had uttered no vain boast; her acting of the part produced a profound impression, and from that time Mrs. Barry became not only one of the finest, but the finest actress of the day, in spite of Mrs. Betterton surpassing her in Shakespearian parts. To Roches

ter she undoubtedly owed the training that developed her latent talent, and of all the women who became the prey of this English Don Juan, she was the only one for whom he had any real affection. As a woman, no good can be said of Elizabeth Barry; she was cold, heartless, mercenary. She was the evil genius of the unhappy Otway, who loved her to distraction, and who created for her Belvidera and Monimia. She was said to have been mistress of every passion of the mind; love, joy, grief, rage, tenderness, and jealousy were all represented by her with equal skill and effect. Cibber says that in characters of greatness her presence was full of dignity, her mien and motion superb and gracefully majestic, her voice so full, clear, and strong that no violence of passion could be too much for her; that in the art of exciting pity she had a passion beyond all the actresses he had ever seen, or that imagination could conceive; that in scenes of anger and fiance she was impetuous and terrible. Her greatest tragic impersonations were Otway's two famous heroines, and Cleopatra and Roxana. Aston speaks highly of her comedy. She was the original Clarissa in the "Confederacy," and Lady Brute in "The Provoked Wife," of Isabella in Southerne's "Fatal Marriage," and of Calista in Rowe's "Fair Penitent." She created one hundred and nineteen parts, and among these are many of the most famous of the drama. So delighted was Mary of Modena with her imper

her on

sonation of Queen Elizabeth, in "The Unhappy Favourite," that, when Duchess of York, she presented her with her own wedding dress for the part, and after she became Queen, with her coronation robes.* Mrs. Barry was the first performer to whom a benefit was given; a privilege accorded, account of her extraordinary abilities, in the year 1687. Her last appearance upon the stage was as Lady Easy in the "Careless Husband,' on June 13, 1710. Her last years were passed in rural retirement, in the Vale of Acton, but she died, in 1713, in Red Lion Court. She is buried in the south aisle of Acton Church, where there is a tablet to her memory.

Davies says: "The stage perhaps never produced four such handsome women at once as Mrs. Barry, Mrs. Bracegirdle, Mrs. Mountfort, and Mrs. BowWhen they stood together in the last scene of "The Old Bachelor," the audience was struck with so fine a group of beauty, and broke into loud applause."

man.

* It was not an uncommon custom for the nobility and even the sovereigns to send their cast off dress suits to the theatre wardrobes.

† So says Cibber; but in Gildon's Life of Betterton, there is a copy of an agreement, dated 1681, between Charles Hart, Edward Kynaston, and other actors, in which it is stipulated that the sum of five shillings shall be paid to each of the latter on every performance, "excepting the days the young men or young women play for their own profit only."

CHAPTER IV.

COLLEY CIBBER.

His Early Career-How he obtained his First Salary-His First Success-George Powel and the Bailiffs-How Colley obtained his First Success-His First Play-More Disappointment— "Richard the Third" and the "Careless Husband "-The New Theatre in the Haymarket-Suspension of the Drury Lane Patent The Triumvirate-Description of the Theatre of the Period-Of the Audiences-Anecdotes-Dresses-Scenery, &c.

T was malice alone, unmitigated by any show

IT

of truth or justice, that made Pope fix upon Colley Cibber as the second hero of "The Dunciad." Theobald might have deserved such a distinction, but there was no man of that day to whom the term "dullard" could be less appropriately applied than to the witty creator of Lord Foppington and Lady Betty Modish, to the author of "The Apology," of "The Careless Husband," the collaborateur of Vanbrugh in "The Provoked Husband," and one of the finest comedians of the age. Yet that malice has familiarised the name of Cibber—as it has so many others less deserving of immortality-to thousands who might otherwise have never heard of it, while many actors of his generation, even more famous than he, are now

almost unknown except to students of dramatic literature.

Cibber was born in 1671 in Southampton Street, Strand; his father, who was a sculptor and a native of Holstein, had come over to England previous to the Restoration. His handiwork may still be seen in the bassi-relievi on the base of the Monument, and in the figures of Raving and Melancholy Madness over the gates of Bedlam. His mother, whose maiden name was Colley, was of a good old Northamptonshire family. The boy was sent to the Grantham Free Grammar School, where he obtained such education as such institutions then afforded. Although in his "Life" he accuses himself of "a giddy negligence" in his studies, he displayed, even at this early period, that indomitable assurance, that tact in seizing upon every opportunity of distinguishing himself, which were the secrets of his successful career. Upon the death of Charles the Second, the master of the school proposed to the boys to compete in the composition of a funeral ode; not one had the courage to make the attempt except Master Colley. This procured him high favour with the pedagogue, and the hatred of all the boys of his form. A Coronation Ode followed, produced, he says, in about half an hour. "I cannot say it was much above the merry style of Sing! Sing the day and sing the song in the farces; yet, bad as it was, it