1 Betterton in some degree supported Shakespeare upon the stage, but a change had taken place in the taste and in the manners of the nation, which made his plays appear barbarous or insipid. Even Dryden, who defended him, only ventured with some timidity to pronounce him to be equal, if not superior to Ben Jonson; and the depreciating or contemptuous language which Pepys employed about nearly every Shakespearian play 2 that he witnessed probably reflected very fairly the sentiments of the average playgoer. Many of the greatest plays were soon completely banished from the stage, and the few which retained any popularity were re-written, printed under other names, or at least largely altered, reduced to a French standard of correctness, or enlivened with music and dancing. Thus Romeo and Juliet' was superseded by the 'Caius Marius' of Otway, 'Measure for Measure' by the 'Law against Lovers' of Davenant, the 'Merry Wives of Windsor' by Dennis's Comical Gallant,' Richard II.' by Tate's Sicilian Tyrant,' Cymbeline' by Durfey's Injured Princess,' The Merchant of Venice' by Lord Lansdowne's Jew of Venice.' 'Macbeth' was re-cast by Davenant, Richard III.' by Cibber, The Tempest' by both Davenant and Shadwell, 'Coriolanus' by Dennis, and 'King Lear' by Tate.3 6 The revolution of taste which gradually reinstated in his ascendency the greatest writer of England, and perhaps of the world, and made his ideas and language familiar to the upper and middle classes of the nation, is certainly not less worthy of commemoration than any of the military or political incidents of the time. Its effect in educating the English mind can hardly be overrated, and its moral influence was very great. It was partly literary and partly dramatic. The first critical Dryden's Essay on Dramatic Poetry. 2 He calls Midsummer Night's Dream 'the most insipid, ridiculous play' he ever saw; the Taming of the Shrew a silly play;' Othello (which he appears at first to have liked), 'a mean thing;' Henry VIII. 'a simple thing made up of many patches,' with nothing good in it 'besides the shows and processions.' Macbeth he acknowledged was a pretty good play.' Malone's Historical Account of the English Stage. 1 edition of Shakespeare was that of Rowe, which was published in 1709; and, before half the century had passed, it was followed by those of Pope, Theobald, Sir Thomas Hanmer, and Warburton. Dr. Johnson has noticed as a proof of the paucity of readers in the seventeenth century that the nation had been satisfied from 1623 to 1664, that is, forty-one years, with only two editions of Shakespeare, which probably did not together make 1,000 copies." By the middle of the eighteenth century, however, there had been thirteen editions, and of these, nine had appeared within the last forty years. It is obvious from this fact that the interest in Shakespeare was steadily increasing, and that the critical study of his plays was becoming an important department of English literature; and he slowly 'reappeared in his unaltered form upon the stage. The merit of this revival has often been ascribed almost exclusively to Garrick, but in truth it had begun before, and was a natural reflection of the movement in literature. Six or seven years before the appearance of Garrick, some ladies of rank formed a 'Shakespearian Club' for the purpose of supporting by their presence or encouragement the best plays of Shakespeare. Soon after revivals became both frequent and successful. In 1737 King John' was revived at Covent Garden for the first time since the downfall of the stage. In 1738 the second part of Henry IV.,' 'Henry V.,' and the first part of Henry VI.,' no one of which had been acted for forty or fifty years, were brought upon the stage. In 1740 As You Like It' was reproduced after an eclipse of forty years, and had a considerable run. In February 1741 the Merchant of Venice' was produced in its original form for the first time after one hundred years, and Macklin excited the most enthusiastic applause by his representation of Shylock, who in Lord Lansdowne's version of the play had been reduced to insignificant proportions. In the same year the Winter's Tale' was Life of Milton. 3 Davies' Life of Garrick, ii. p. 2 p. 141. Knight's Studies of Shakespeare, See, too, Miller's Retrospect of the Eighteenth Century, iii. 48–49, 296-297. 224. See an interesting account of this great triumph in Kirkman's lafe of Macklin, ii. 253–265. 6 revived after one hundred years, and All's Well that Ends Well for the first time since the death of Shakespeare; and a monument of the great poet was erected in Westminster Abbey, paid for by the proceeds of special representations at the two great theatres. In the October of this year Garrick appeared for the first time on the London stage in the character of Richard III.2 The effects of the talent of a great actor are necessarily so extremely evanescent that it is impossible to compare with much confidence the merits of those who have long passed away. When, however, we consider the extraordinary versatility of the acting of Garrick, and the extraordinary impression which during a long series of years it made upon the most cultivated, as well as upon the most illiterate, it will appear probable that he has never been surpassed in his art—it is certain that he had never been equalled in England since the death of Betterton.3 The grandson of one of those refugees who had been expelled from France upon the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, he is another of the many instances of the benefits which England has indirectly derived from the intolerance of her neighbours; and in two respects his appearance on the stage has a real importance in the history of the English mind. He was before all things a Shakespearian actor, and he did more than any other single man to extend the popularity and increase the reputation of the great dramatist. He usually gave seventeen or eighteen plays of Shakespeare in a year. He brought out 'Mrs. Delany's Life, ii. 139. Pope wrote- After one hundred and thirty years' nap He was buried in Westminster Abbey, and Steele took occasion of his funeral to devote an admirable paper in the Tatler to his acting. See, too, Cibber's 2 Malone's Historical Account of Apology. Cibber pronounced him as the English Stage, 292-294. The interval that had elapsed since the former acting of each of these plays is given by Malone on the authority of the advertisements, which may not always have been absolutely cor supreme among actors as Shakespeare among poets. A few other particulars relating to him will be found in Galt's Lives of the Players. Pope thought Betterton the greatest actor, but said that some old people spoke of Hart as his superior. Betterton died in 1710. Spence's Anecdotes. Davies' Life of Garrick, i. 114. their beauties with all the skill of a consummate artist, and he at the same time produced a revolution in the art of acting very similar to that which Kent had effected in the art of gardening. A habit of slow, monotonous declamation, of unnatural pomp, and of a total disregard for historic truth in theatrical costume, had become general on the English stage, and the various and rapid intonations of Garrick, the careful and constant study of nature and of history which he displayed both in his acting and his accessories, had all the effect of novelty. It is worthy of notice that a similar change both in gardening and in acting took place in France a generation later, and was in a great degree due to the love of nature and the revolt against conventional forms, resulting from the writings of Rousseau. Garrick, like all innovators, had to encounter at first much opposition. Pope and Fielding were warmly in his favour, but the poet Gray declared himself stiff in opposition.' Horace Walpole professed himself unable to see the merit of the new performer. Cibber, who had been brought up in the school of Betterton, was equally contemptuous, and the leading actors took the same side. Macklin always spoke of him with the greatest bitterness. Quin, who had for some time held the foremost rank in tragedy, and whose ready wit made him a specially formidable opponent, said, 'If the young fellow is right, I and the rest of the players have been all wrong;' and he added, Garrick is a new religion-Whitefield was followed for a time-but they will all come to church again.' Garrick 6 it, between him and his mother, when you told me he acted so fine, why, Lord help me! any man- that is, any good man-that has such a mother would have done exactly the same. I know you are only joking with me, but indeed, Madam, though I was never at a play in London, yet I have seen acting before in the country; and, the King for my money! he speaks all his words distinctly, half as loud again as the other. Anybody may see he is an actor.'-Tom Jones. See, too, The World, No. 6. answered in a happy epigram to the effect that it was not heresy but reformation.' In two or three characters Quin is said to have equalled him. The Othello of Garrick was a comparative failure, which was attributed to the dark colouring that concealed the wonderful play of his features,' and Barry, owing to his rare personal advantages, was, in the opinion of many, superior as Romeo, but on the whole the supremacy of Garrick was in a few months indisputable, and it continued unshaken during his whole career. At the same time his excellent character, his brilliant qualities, both as a writer and a talker, and the very considerable fortune that he speedily amassed, gave him a social position which had, probably, been attained by no previous actor. The calling of an actor had been degraded by ecclesiastical tradition, as well as by the gross immorality of the theatre of the Restoration. For some time, however, it had been steadily rising, and Garrick, while elevating incalculably the standard of theatrical taste, contributed also not a little to free his profession from the discredit under which it laboured. From the time of his first appearance upon the stage till the close of the careers of Kemble, of the elder Kean, and of Miss O'Neil, the English stage was never without some actors who might rank with the greatest on the Continent. 3 The old Puritanical and ecclesiastical hatred of the theatre | had abated, but it was still occasionally shown. In Scotland it completely triumphed, and the attempts of Allan Ramsay and a few others to promote dramatic taste were almost completely abortive. In England, Collier not only censured the gross indecency and immorality of the stage with just severity, but he also contended that it was profane to employ any form of words which was ultimately derived from the Bible, even Nichols' Life of Hogarth, pp. 191, 192. 2 Mrs. Montagu's Letters, iii. 107. Some particulars of the increase of actors' salaries will be found in Kirkman's Life of Macklin, i. 435. Davies' Life of Garrick, ii. 239-242. Burton's Hist. of Scotland from VOL. I. 39 the Revolution, ii. 561. James I., before he ascended the English throne, had come into violent collision with the Puritan ministers, because he tried to procure actors toleration in Scotland.-Collier's Annals of the Stage, i. pp. 344-6. |