Sheridan's management produced a thorough reformation; and when Garrick appeared, on the 9th of December 1745, as Hamlet, the sensation was extraordinary; but it was increased when Garrick, Barry, and Sheridan acted in the same plays – the "Orphan" and the "Fair Penitent." Then, the enthusiasm was unbounded. In the latter play, Barry is said to have so distinguished himself in Altamont as to have raised that character to a level with those of Lothario and Horatio, played respectively by Garrick and Sheridan. This was the most successful season ever known in Dublin. During its progress Garrick played but one character he had never played before, – Orestes,44 and that he never repeated in England. His objection to wear the old classical costume, or what then passed for it, was extreme. His sojourn in Dublin was otherwise not void of incident. There was one thin house, and that by command of a leading lady of fashion, on the night of his playing Faulconbridge to Sheridan's King John. The part of Constance belonged by right to that sparkling young beauty, Mrs. Bellamy. Garrick thought her too youthful to enact the mother of Arthur, and he persuaded Sheridan to give the part to an older actress, Mrs. Furnival. The angry Bellamy flew to lay her wrongs before the most influential woman then in Dublin, the Hon. Mrs. Butler, whose word, throughout the Irish world of fashion, passed for law. Mrs. Butler espoused the suppliant's case warmly, and issued her decree, prohibiting the world over which she ruled from visiting the theatre on the night "King John" was to be played. As she gave excellent dinners and exquisite balls, she was obeyed by all ages and both sexes, and the "quality," at least, left the actors to play to empty boxes.
Garrick had recovered from the attendant mortification, when he asked Mrs. Bellamy to play Jane Shore to his Hastings, for his benefit. The lady declined. If she was too young for Constance, she was too young for Jane Shore. Garrick applied to Mrs. Butler to use her influence, but it availed nothing. He addressed a high-flown letter to Mrs. Bellamy: "To my soul's idol, the beautified Ophelia;" but the epistle fell into wrong hands and found its way into the papers.
Roscius, before leaving Ireland, paid homage to the Hon. Mrs. Butler, by taking leave of her in a formal visit. With equal formality, as the visitor was about to depart, the lady placed in his hands a small packet. It contained, she said, her own sentiments and convictions, and, in presenting it to Mr. Garrick, all that she requested was, that he would abstain from too curiously inquiring into its contents until he had sailed out of Dublin Bay. The actor had vanity enough to lead him to think that, within the mysterious packet might be enclosed some token of affection, perhaps an acknowledgment of love. He obeyed the lady's injunctions till the ship, which was conveying him to Holyhead, had passed the Hill of Howth, then, "by your leave, fair seal!" and he arrived at the heart of the mystery. Carefully unfolded, he found a copy of Wesley's Hymns and of Swift's Discourse on the Trinity. In his disappointment he is said to have flung both books into the sea; but I think he may have had better taste, and that he took Mrs. Butler's remembrances with him to London.
Before proceeding to chronicle the leading events of the next London season, it remains to be stated that in the last season at Covent Garden, there was one first appearance of note; that of George Anne Bellamy, on the 22d of November, 1744, as Monimia, in the "Orphan." Rich persuaded this gifted but self-willed girl to become an actress, greatly to the displeasure of Quin, who objected to perform Chamont to such a child. In the first three acts her terrors rendered her so incapable, that old Quin's objections seemed justified; but, recovering her power with her courage, the brilliant young creature played with such effect that Quin embraced her after the act-scene dropped, pronounced her "divine," and declared that she was of the "true spirit." She sensibly strengthened a company already strong, in Mrs. Pritchard, Mrs. Clive, and Mrs. Horton. On the 15th of April, 1745, Shuter, from Richmond, appeared at Covent Garden, in the "Schoolboy," under the designation of Master Shuter.
At the Haymarket, Theophilus Cibber revived some of Shakspeare's plays, and produced his daughter Jane in Juliet and other parts; but Colley compelled him to withdraw his daughter, and the Lord Chamberlain forced him to close an unlicensed house, which, however, his eccentric sister, Mrs. Charke, contrived to keep open for a while, playing there Captain Macheath and other male characters before she attempted to pass herself off on the world, or hide herself from it, as a man.
There is this irregularity in the season of 1745-46, that neither Garrick, nor Quin, nor Mrs. Cibber was engaged at either house. The public was more concerned with the Scottish Rebellion than with the drama. Loyal Lacy, who had succeeded the incapable Fleetwood in the patent, applied for leave to raise 200 men in defence of King and Government; and the whole Company of Drury Lane players expressed their willingness to engage in it. The spirit which some hundred years before had animated the loyal actors, now moved Delane, and Luke and Isaac Sparks, with Barrington – all three newly come from Ireland – Mills, with orthodox Havard, Bridges, Giffard, Yates, Macklin, Neale, and Foote. The ladies, Clive, Woffington, Macklin, mother and daughter, Mrs. Giffard, and the rest, applauded the loyal confederacy. The "Nonjuror" was revived with Luke Sparks as Dr. Wolf, because of its political allusions. Macklin in six weeks wrote his "Henry VII., or the Popish Impostor," and distributed it act by act for study, and he sent the Pretender, Perkin Warbeck, to execution without much succouring King George. Ford's ultra-monarchical piece, on the same subject, was revived at Goodman's Fields, and Covent Garden rehearsed another to no effect, as the Rebellion was over before the piece could suppress it. The "Massacre at Paris," with its story of the pretensions of the Duke de Guise (Ryan) and its famous Protestant prologue, was among the Covent Garden revivals. The Scottish rebellion being over, Theophilus Cibber congratulated the audience thereon at Drury; and Mrs. Pritchard, at the Garden, after acting Arpasia in "Tamerlane," recited an exulting prologue, which Dodsley printed in his best type. Both houses gave benefits for the "Veteran Scheme" at Guildhall, for which scheme Mrs. Cibber offered to play three nights, gratis, but was snubbed by a hyper-Protestant in the papers. The handsome Catholic actress indignantly replied, that her love for King George was not diminished by her faith in the Romish religion. The whole matter ended merrily by George II. and the entire royal family repairing to Covent Garden, where "Macbeth" was performed, and a rebel and regicide put to death to the great satisfaction of the royal, noble, gentle, and simple audience there congregated.
I do not know which of the new comers, named above, so struck Lady Townshend, that she told Horace Walpole, in September, 1745, "she had seen a new fat player, who looked like everybody's husband." Walpole replied, "I could easily believe that from seeing so many women who looked like everybody's wives!"
In all other respects, there is little worthy of notice, save that, at the close, when all was jubilee again, and Charles Edward no longer an object of fear, Garrick re-appeared in London. He arrived in town in May, 1746. Rich and Lacy were both eager to engage him, but the former succeeded, and Garrick closed the season at Covent Garden, by playing six nights at £50 per night. Thus he gained more in a week than Betterton, ere he was a "master," had gained in a year. Lacy, meanwhile, had secured Barry, and the town were eager to hear him of the silver-tongue. Garrick generously said of him, in answer to a query respecting the merits of the Irish actor, that he was the most exquisite lover that had ever been seen on the stage. Barry proved the truth of this criticism, by excelling Garrick in Romeo, in which the latter was so fervent, the former so winning and so seductive.
Before we proceed to notice the coming struggle, let us cast back a glance at the stage from whence this master came.
CHAPTER VII
THE OLD DUBLIN THEATRE
But for a murder in the house of a Mrs. Bungy, Dublin would not have had its famous old