Their Majesties Servants

Reprint of the original, first published in 1865.

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: equal to his conception of the character. Her mere conversation in that play intoxicated the house. At a later period, her audiences were even more ecstatic at her Lady Townley, ?an ecstasy in which the managers must have shared, for they immediately added fifty guineas to her salary. It was just the sum which the benevolent actress gave annually to that most contemptibly helpless personage, Savage. Her highest salary never, I believe, exceeded three hundred guineas; but this was exclusive of benefits, occasions on which gold was showered into her lap. Humour, grace, vivacity, ?all were exuberant on the stage, when she and Wilks were playing against each other. Indeed, one can hardly realise the idea of this supreme queen of comedy wearing the robe and illustrating the sorrows of tragedy. She, for her own part, disliked the latter vocation. She hated, as she said often, to have a page dragging her tail about. Why do not they give these parts to Porter ? She can put on a better tragedy-face than I can. Earnest as she was, however, in these characters before the audience, she was frolicsome at rehearsal. When Cato was in preparation, Mrs. Oldfield was cast for Marcia, the philosophical statesman's daughter. Addison attended the rehearsals, and Swift was at Addison's side, making suggestions, and marking the characteristics of the lively people about him. He never had a good word for woman, and consequently he had his usual coarse epithet for Mrs. Oldfield, speaking of her as the drab that played Cato's daughter; and railing at her for her hilarity while WALPOLE'S OPINION. n rehearsing that passionate part, and, in her forget- fulness, calling merrily out to the prompter, What next ? what next ? Yet this hilarious actress played Cleopatra with dignity, and Calista...