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Richard Hill, being in "love" with Mrs. Bracegirdle, who despised him, wanted a villain's assistance in carrying off the beautiful actress, and found what he needed, in Lord Mohun. In Buckingham Court, off the Strand, where the captain lodged, the conspirators laid their plans; and learning that Mrs. Bracegirdle, with her mother and brother, was to sup at the house of a friend, Mr. Page, in Princes Street, Drury Lane, they hired six soldiers to assist in carrying her off in a carriage. About ten at night, of the 9th December, 1692, the attempt was made; but what with the lady's screams, the resistance of the friend and brother, and the gathering of an excited mob, it failed; and a strange compromise was made, whereby Lord Mohun and Hill were allowed to unite in escorting her home to her house, in Howard Street, Strand. In that street lived also Will Mountfort, against whom the captain uttered such threats, in Mrs. Bracegirdle's hearing, that she, finding that my lord and the captain remained in the street, the latter with a drawn sword in his hand, and both of them occasionally drinking canary, sent to Mrs. Mountfort, to warn her husband, who was from home, to look to his safety. Warned, but not alarmed, honest Will, who loved his wife and respected Mrs. Bracegirdle, came round from Norfolk Street, saluted Lord Mohun (who embraced him), and said a word or two to his lordship, not complimentary to Hill. Thence, from the latter, words, a blow, and a pass of his sword through Mountfort's body, which the poor actor, as he lay dying on the floor of his own dining room, declared, was given by Hill before Mountfort could draw his sword. The captain fled, but my lord, surrendering to the watchmen of the Duchy of Lancaster, was tried by his peers, fourteen of whom pronounced him guilty of murder; but as above threescore gave a different verdict, Mohun lived on till he and the Duke of Hamilton hacked one another to death in the famous duel in Hyde Park. Mrs. Mountfort appealed against the acquittal, but just then, her father, Percival, a player, was sentenced to death for "clipping," and she only obtained his pardon by consenting to withdraw the appeal against Lord Mohun.

Mountfort, at the age of thirty-three, and with some reputation as the author of half a dozen dramas, was carried to the buryingground of St. Clement's Danes, where his remains rest with those of Lowen, one of the original actors of Shakspeare's plays, Tom Otway, and Nat. Lee. His widow became the wife of Verbruggen, a rough diamond, a wild, untaught, yet not an unnatural

actor. So natural, indeed, was he, that Lord Halifax took Oronooko from Powell, who was originally cast for it, and gave it to Verbruggen; such was the power of Lord Chamberlains! He could touch tenderly the finer feelings, as well as excite the. wilder emotions of the heart. Powell was a less impassioned player, who felt more than he made his audience feel. In the Spectator, No. 290, February, 1712, Powell "begs the public to believe, that if he pauses long in Orestes, he has not forgotten his part, but is only overcome at the sentiment." Verbruggen died in 1708. Among his many original characters were Oronooko, Bajazet, Altamont, and Sullen. He survived his widow about five years. He had more of a rough courtesy than a warm affection for her, and his sword was drawn on the least occasion. James Carlisle, a player, whose comedy, "The Fortune Hunters," was well received in 1689, entered King William's army, in Ireland, and in 1691, he was slain at Aghrim. Carlisle's fellowactor, Bowen, was a “low comedian" of some talent, and more conceit, who, in 1700, left the stage for a time; "being convinced by Mr. Collier's book," he opened a cane shop, in Middle Row, Holborn; but Bowen was not absent more than a year. He was jealous of his reputation, and died, by Quin's sword, consequently. Of this I shall speak later. Peer came to grief also, but in a different way. The spare man was famous for the Apothecary, in Romeo and Juliet," and the actor who speaks the prologue to the play, in "Hamlet." Hamlet." Nature had made him for them; but Peer grew fat, and being unable to act any other character with effect, he lost his vocation, and died of grief, in 1713, when he had passed threescore years and ten. Of Norris, or "Jubilee Dicky," a player of an odd, formal, little figure, and a squeaking voice, I shall have ample occasion to speak in a later page. A greater than he was Doggett, who was before the public from 1691 to 1713, and who died in 1721. He was a Dublin man— a failure in his native city, but in London a deserved favourite, for his original and natural comic powers. He always acted Shylock as a serio-comic character, in a red wig. Congreve wrote for him Fondlewife, Sir Paul Pliant, and Ben. This little, lively fellow, "danced the Cheshire Rounds full as well as the famous Captain George," says Aston. Somewhat illiterate, he was a gentleman in his acts and bearing. The consciousness of his value, and his independence of character, gave trouble to managers and Lord Chamberlains. On one occasion, having left Drury Lane, at some offence given, he went to Norwich, whence he was

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DOGGETT'S COAT AND BADGE.

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brought up to London, under my Lord's warrant. Doggett lived luxuriously on the road, at the Chamberlain's expense, and when he came to town, Chief Justice Holt liberated him, on some informality in the procedure. Doggett was a staunch Whig. The accession of the house of Brunswick, dated from a first of August. On that day, in 1716, Doggett gave "an orange-coloured livery, with a badge, representing Liberty," to be rowed for by six watermen, whose apprenticeship had expired during the preceding year. He left funds for the same race to be rowed for annually, from London Bridge to Chelsea, "on the same day for ever.' The match still takes place, with modifications caused by changes on and about the river.

Doggett never took liberties with an audience; Pinkethman was much addicted to the bad habit of inserting nonsense of his own; but the anger of the audience taught him better manners. He was remarkable as a speaking Harlequin. In the "Emperor of the Moon," his wit, audacity, emphasis, and point, delighted the critics, who thought that "expression" would be more perfect if the actor laid aside the mask of Harlequin. Pinkethman did so; but all his expression was thereby lost. It was no longer the saucy Harlequin that seemed speaking. Pinkey, so impudent on all other occasions, was uneasy and feeble on this, and his audacity and vivacity only returned on his again assuming the sable vizard. “He's the darling of Fortunatus,' says Downes, "and has gained more in theatres and fairs in twelve years than those who have tugged at the oar of acting these fifty."

After the division of the company into two, in 1695, the following new actors appeared between that period and the close of the century. At Drury Lane, Hildebrand Horden, the elder Mrs. Cibber, Johnson, Bullock, Mills, Wilks; and, as if the century should expire, reckoning a new glory,--Mrs. Oldfield. At Lincoln's Inn Fields,-Thurmond, Scudamore, Verbruggen, who joined from Drury Lane, leaving his clever wife there, Pack, and, that this house might boast a glory something like that enjoyed by its rival, in Mrs. Oldfield, in 1700, Booth made his first appearance, with a success which was welcomed by discerning and generous Betterton.

Mrs. Oldfield, Wilks, and Booth, like Colley Cibber, really belong to the eighteenth century, and I shall defer noticing them till we arrive at that period. The rest will require but a few words. Young Horden was a handsome actor, who died of a brawl

at the Rose Tavern, Covent Garden. He and two or three comrades were quaffing their wine, and laughing, at the bar, when some fine gentlemen, in an adjacent room, rudely ordered them to be quiet. The actors returned an answer which brought on a fight, in which the handsome Hildebrand was slain, by a Captain Burgess. Loving women went to look upon Horden's handsome corse. On Tuesday, 30th November, 1697, says. Luttrell, Captain Burgess, who killed Mr. Horden, the player, has obtained his Majesty's pardon."

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In the last year of the seventeenth century, the grand jury of Middlesex presented the two play-houses, and also the bear-garden, as nuisances and riotous and disorderly assemblies." So Luttrell writes, in December 1700, at which time, the theatres were "pestered with tumblers, rope-dancers, and dancing men and dogs from France." The grand jury succeeded in preventing play-bills from being posted in the city, and denounced the stage as a pastime which led the way to murder. On the poor players fell all the disgrace; but I shall endeavour to show, that the fault lay rather with the poets. The foremost men of the tuneful brotherhood, of the period from the Restoration to the end of the century, have much to answer for.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE DRAMATIC POETS.

Noble, gentle, and humble Authors.

THE number of dramatic writers between the years 1659-1700, inclusive, exceeds that of the actors.-Altogether, they amount to above a hundred; none of whose productions can now be called stock-pieces.

Of the actors who became authors, Cibber alone was eminently successful. The remainder, Betterton, Jevon, Mountfort, Carlisle, Harris, Powell, and Doggett, were mere adapters. The noble gentlemen, the amateur rather than professional poets, who contributed towards the public entertainment during the last half of the seventeenth century, may be reckoned at a dozen and a half. Of the two dukes, Buckingham and Newcastle, the former is the more distinguished dramatic writer, but his play of the "Chances" was a mere adaptation from Beaumont and Fletcher. The Duke's dramatic reputation rests on his burlesque tragedy, the "Rehearsal;" in which he is said to have had the assistance of Butler, Martin Clifford, and Dr. Sprat. Written to deride the bombastic tragedies then in vogue, Davenant, Dryden, and Sir Robert Howard are, by turns, struck at, under the person of the poet Bayes; and the irritability of Dryden is warrant that the satire was good. The humour is good, too. The rehearsed play commences with a scene between the royal usher and the royal physician, in a series of whispers; for, as Mr. Bayes remarks, the two officials were plotting against the King; but this fact it was necessary, as yet, to keep from the audience!

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Mr. Cavendish, afterwards Duke of Newcastle, was the author of a few plays, two of which were represented after the Restoration. The Country Captain," and "Variety," were composed in the reign of Charles I. The "Humourous Lovers," and the Triumphant Widow," subsequently. These are bustling but immoral

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