The Life and Adventures of Peg Woffington ... New and revised edition. With a portrait

Chapter I. Page

The little Water-carrier and the Foreign Lady — Madame Violante and Mrs. Wofifington — Pupil to a Dancer — The Booth in Fownes Court — Little Peg in "The Beggar's Opera" — Charles Kelly and "The Devil to Pay" — At the Aungier Street Playhouse— Dancing between the Acts — Playing Ophelia, her Beauty and her Triumph — The Part of Phillis — Falling in Love — A Young Gentleman of Quality and his Ways — A Journey to London Town ..... I

Chapter II

In Merry London Town — The King's Court and the Prince's — Views of the Street — The Coffee-houses and their Frequenters — Round Covent Garden — The Players' Quarters and Clare Market — Laws concerning the Playhouses and their Audiences—Dress of the Period — Johnson. Garrick, and Savage — At the Fountain Tavern— Visiting on " Clean Shirt Day" — Reynolds, Pope, and Smollett- — Quin at Drury Lane, Cibber at Covent Garden — Vauxhall, its Ways and its Visitors — With Lady Caroline Petersham — A Strange Advertisement 14

Chapter III

A Faithless Lover — Fortune hunting — News of a Marriage — Hatred and Vengeance — Peg Woffington's Plot — Young Mr. Adair — The Ridotto at Vauxhall Gardens — Miss Dallaway and her Friends — A Scene — Reproaches — A Lover's Departure . 29

Chapter IV

John Rich, Manager of Covent Garden — His First Pantomime — His Treatment of Dramatic Authors — Peg Woffington's Interview with him — Sensation in the Town -Actors at Covent Garden— Ryan's Tragedy in Real Life — Theophilus Contents VI PAGE 44 59 Cibber— Peg Woffington's First Appearance in London — An Old-fashioned Comedy — Surprise and Admiration of the Town — Sir Harry Wildair — All the Town in Love with her .

Chapter V

Peg Woffington's Engagement at Drury Lane — Kitty Clive, her Passion for Tragedy — Delane the Student of T. C. D. — Macklin and his Adventures — The Turning-point of his Career — His Wonderful Shylock— What Mr. Pope said — Young David Garrick — His Early Life at Lichfield — Becomes a Wine-merchant — Among the Critics at the Bedford — Hesitates to go on the Stage — Falls in love with Peg Woffington — In the Green-room at Drury Lane — Sir Charles Hanbury Williams — Peg Woffington's Definition of an Age

Chapter VI

Garrick's Irresolution — Plays at Ipswich under a False Name — First Appearance in Town — A Memorable Night — Description of his Richard — The Talk of the Town — Persons of distinction at the Playhouse — Our Little Poetical Hero — Letters to Peter— The Wine-merchant will not be Comforted — David's Arguments and Fair Promises — " The Lying Valet" — Mimicking the Old Players — The Favour of great Men — Going to Dublin with Peg Woffington ..... 83

Chapter VII

Excitement in Dublin — A Warm Greeting — The Delight of the Town — Hamlet and Ophelia — Back to London — The Rival Playhouse — Quin's Reputation — His Contempt for Garrick — Quin and Macklin — A Green-room Quarrel — Making it up — Charming Susanna Cibber — "A Romp and a Good-natured Boy" — Theo Cibber's Baseness — Elopement, Rescue, and Action — Legal Bathos — Woffington and Garrick at Drury Lane 104

Chapter VIII

Peg Woffington and Garrick keep House — Old Colly Cibber — Drinking Tea at Peggy's Rooms — Fielding, Quin, Mis. Porter, Foote, Johnson, and Macklin — Peg Woffington and Garrick part — Polly Woffington, Lord Tyrawley's Amour — George Anne Bellamy — Acting in a Bain — Captain Cholmondeley's Marriage — Violette the Dancer — Her Love for Garrick — Marriage — Peg Woffington goes to Covent Garden — Her Dublin Engagement . . . . . . .12c Contents VII 176 209

Chapter IX. Page

Thomas Sheridan, the Manager — Letter to Garrick — Becomes a Manager — Conditions of the Playhouse — A Theatrical Riot and its Result — Dublin before the Union — Lionel, Duke of Dorset, at the Castle — Diversions of the Town— High Life and Low — Mrs. Butler, Miss Bellamy, and David Garrick — A strange Love-letter — Mrs. Butler's Present . . . 148

Chapter X

Peg Woffington in Dublin — A Command Night — Going to the Play — A Brilliant Audience — Some Irish Celebrities of the Period — " The only Theme in or out of the Theatre " — Mrs. Gunning and her Family — Miss Bellamy's Account of them — Peg Woffington and the Gunnings — The Beauties go to London — Wooed and Wedded ......

Chapter XI

A Second Dublin Season — The Acme of her Fame — The Beefsteak Club — The Sublime Society of Beefsteaks — Political Disturbances — The Tragedy of " Mahomet " — Mr. Digges and the Audience — Sheridan's Address to his Company — Kiot in the Playhouse— Sheridan's Address — Peg Woffington leaves Ireland .......... 194

Chapter XII

Diversions of the Polite World — My Lady Coventry — " A Little Lively sort of Fairy " — Masquerade at Somerset House — The Prince with the Pink Eyes — Juliet Disconcerted — The Player and the Peeress — A Scotch Venus— Lady Albemarle's Dream — Poor Lord Montford— General Braddock and Mrs. Upton— Entertainments Abound — Jack Spencer's Wedding .

Chapter XIII

Another Side of London Life — Men of Letters — The Poverty of Poets — The Ingenious Samuel Boyse — His Wretched Life and Miserable Death — Picture of a Poet — Richard Savage — A Man of Melancholy Aspect — A Noble Patron — An Author to be Let — The Volunteer Laureate — Striving to Live — Life in Bristol— Death in a Prison ...... 222

Chapter XIV

Goldsmith in London — Physician, Usher, and Hack-writer — The "Monthly Review" — In Green Court Arbour — Beginning the World at Thirty-one —Letters to His Friends in Ireland — Contents VIII PAGE 242 264 The Great City by Night — Johnson's Garret — Drinking Tea vvith Mrs. Williams — The Black Boy — The Philosopher's Appearance — Visiting with Mr. Joshua Reynolds — The Great Mr. Richardson — An Evening Walk with the Sage

Chapter XV

Charles Macklin and his Tavern — The British Inquisition — Foote's most Excellent Wit — Macklin's Pupils - Foote as an Actor — The Diversions of the Morning — Drinking a dish of Chocolate with the Wit— His Mimicry — Young Tate Wilkinson and Peg Woffington — Her Anger and Resentment — The Mimic Mimicked — Wilkinson, Foote, and Garrick — A Night at Drury Lane — The Mirror at Covent Garden — Rich, Foote, Garrick, ar.d Wilkinson .......

Chapter XVI

Spranger Barry — His Dclnit in Dublin — Arrival in London — His Personal Beauty and Sweetness of Voice — Plays at Drury Lane — His Personation of Othello — Dissatisfied with Garrick — ■ Goes to Covent Garden — The Rival Romeos— The Rival Juliets — Excitement of the Town — Tragedies produced by Garrick — Monsieur Jean Naverre — The Chinese Festival — George II. at the Playhouse — His Impressions of Richard III. — Riot at Drury Lane 297

Chapter XVII

Peg Woffington's Last Years at Covent Garden— Her famous Characters— The Comedy of "The Careless Husband" — Introduction of a Scene from Real Life — Its Sparkling Dialogue — Its Plot and Characters — Peg Woffington as Lady Betty Modish— Opinion of an Anonymous Critic — Her Last Night ■ — Cibber, Quin, Barry, Sir Charles Hanbury Williams, and Lady Coventry— The Curtain Descends upon Peg Woffington's Life . . . . . . . -317 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF PEG WOFFINGTON.

Chapter I

The little Water-carrier and the Foreign Lady — Madame Violante and Mrs. Woffington — Pupil to a Dancer — The Booth in Fownes Court — Little Peg in " The Beggars' Opera" — Charles Kelly and " The Devil to Pay " — At the Aungier Street Playhouse — Dancing between the Acts— Playing Ophelia, her Beauty and her Triumph — The Part of Phillis — Falling in Love — A Young Gentleman of Quality and his Ways— A Journey to London Town. At the close of an October day in the year 1727, a child of about eight years old slowly tottered along Ormond Quay, Dublin, under the weight of a pitcher of water which she carried on her head. The evening, which had set in dark and cold, promised a bleak and dreary night. Already the sky was overcast by heavy clouds ; a sad voiced north-east wind, sweeping up the sluggish Liffey, carried with it a chill, penetrating mist, that gradually increased to drenching rain.

Heavily framed lamps, imprisoning the wan light of oil wicks, swung with many a creak from the corner houses of dreary streets and black-looking alleys, or hung above the old stone bridges with their quaint and ponderous balustrades, and but- B tresses green and slimy from the ebb and flow of countless tides, casting a patch of light upon the black waters beneath, as if seeking crimes and mysteries hidden in their depths. A few passengers, with heads bowed low and cloaks and coats drawn tightly round them to exclude the bitter wind, hastened to and fro, shadow-like, in the deepening gloom. A coach or two rattled with noisy haste over the uneven pavements. The bells of church clocks rang out six, their sounds falling faint and change ful, like frightened voices crying for help from the heights of steeples and towers upon which vapour and cloud had already descended.

With the wind blowing in her face, the rain dashing on her scarcely covered limbs, the child, labouring under the weight of her pitcher, made but slow way. At last, shivering in her wet rags, and overcome by her misery, she burst into tears, raised her arms above her head, removed the pitcher, and sought the shelter of an open doorway. She had scarcely wiped the rain from her face with the remains of an old tattered and colourless shawl which helped to cover her shoulders, when a lady who had for some time followed her, also sought protection in the hall, faintly lit by the flickering rays of a lamp. " You are cold, my childe," said the lady, looking at her keenly. "Yes, ma'am," said the girl, raising her eyes, expressive of surprise, to the stranger's face. Even in her rags the child looked picturesque.

Her dark unkempt hair curled naturally round a well-shaped head, and hung above a wide, low forehead ; her eyes, large and liquid, seemed almost black under the shadow of their long lashes, and the full sweeping curve of her brows ; her cheeks were pale and beautifully oval, her lips somewhat full and red ; whilst her prettily dimpled " Me Name is Peg " 3 chin gave a piquant look to the lower part of her face, which the sweet gravity of her eyes contradicted. "And what is your name, my leetle childe ? " said the lady, in a voice to which a foreign accent gave a peculiar softness. " Me name is Peg, ma'am," said the girl, opening wide her eyes, made all the brighter by the tears which yet glistened in them. " Peg ; it is a pretty name. But is there no other ? " asked the lady, pushing back the dark, tangled locks with a touch that was caressing in its gentleness.

" Peg Woffington, ma'am," said the girl, pleased with the lady's attentions. " And where you live, eh, leetle Peg Woff-ing-ton ? Is it far from here, eh ? " continued the foreign lady, letting her eyes wander from the child's handsome face to her limbs, rounded and shaped with wonderful grace. " Not far, ma'am," said Peg. " Me mother lives in George's Court. She is a widee, an' she washes for the neighbours ; " and so saying, she cast her eyes on the pitcher of water by her side, as if some train of thought had suddenly suggested itself to her mind. " An' this is washing-day, an' I've been carryin' jugs o' water since dinner. But this is the last of 'em an'— an' I must go now, ma'am ; for there's no sign o' the rain stoppin', an' mother will be w*onderin' what keeps me," said Peg, stooping to raise her burden on her head once more.

" And I will go with you," said the lady, in that foreign accent which gave her voice so sweet a sound. The child set the pitcher down again, straightened herself, and looked at the lady with eyes expressive of wonder. " I am," said the lady, " Madame Violante. You perhaps have heard my name ? " " What ! " said Peg, in greater amazement now than B ever ; for at the mention of that name there rose before her a vision of a great booth in Fownes Court, with a vast glare of lights, where the sounds of fiddles and drums were heard strumming and beating right merry measures, and to which crowds flocked nightly, that they might see such tricks and daring feats as had never before been witnessed in this goodly city. " And you are Madame 'Lante, that dances on the rope ? " said Peg, looking down at the lady's feet, as if by her glance she would unravel the mystery by which the celebrated dancer nightly balanced herself on a tight rope and skipped upon a slack-wire above the heads of applauding crowds.

" The same," said the French lady, smiling. " Would you like to dance also on the rope — " " And wear such beautiful dresses, with spangles ? " interrupted this juvenile daughter of Eve. " Oh, ma'am, I would be delighted." " Very well, I will teach you," said Violante. " And shall I wear a star on me forehead, ma'am, when I dance, like you ? " she asked. " Yes," answered Madame Violante, " if you learn quickly and well. But first we must ask your mother, and hear what she will say ; show me the way to her house, and whilst we go you can tell me all about your self, my childe." So Peg lifted the earthenware pitcher, that seemed now no heavier than a feather, and placing it on her shapely head, went out into the darkness which was almost as of night. Her steps were so light and quick that her new friend could scarcely keep pace with her ; the rain and wind were unheeded, though the one pattered on her face and the other sent the poor rags fluttering from her rounded limbs.

Presently they left the exposed quays and turned up a dark, narrow street, Peg Discourses 5 with high, black-looking houses on either side, in the friendly shelter of which the child, in answer to the Frenchwoman's questions, told her that she and her mother and her little sister were as poor as church mice, since, said she, " the doctors, the devil take 'em, killed me father when he had the saver a few years ago ; an' sure, 'twas the first time in his life he ever had 'em to attend him, and 'twas his last. God be good to his sowl, but they say the doctors are never lucky, and they kill a mighty lot o' people, anyhow. An' me mother," she continued, " takes in washin', an' works hard all day ; an' at night she sells oranges outside the doors o' the playhouse in Aungier Street, an' never a much she makes be that same ; an' as for meself, sometimes I sell oranges too, an' sallad for a ha'penny a dish, an' watercresses in the sayson ; and the young gentlemen in Trinity College behave dacent to me, an' often give me a penny for nothin' at all, only because I talk to them and make them laugh, an' they're not bad, poor fellows, anyhow, when they have the money ; but sure, there are times when they're just as poor as meself, a'most, an' it's many a time I popped their clothes for them, coming to the end o' the month, you know.

But they're rale good hearted, and they like me well." At the end of this dark street they turned into a lane on the right, and finally entered an unsavoury court, lighted only by dim rays of tallow candles shining through the small-paned windows of surrounding hovels. Ouickly gliding into one of them, the child mounted a rickety stair, loudly calling out to her mother that a lady was coming to see her. At this information, a woman wearing a deep-bordered blowsy cap that once had been w*hite, and a cotton gown, the sleeves of which were rolled to the shoulders, displaying her red and smoky arms fresh from the w*ash-tub, hastily took a candle from a tin sconce nailed to the whitewashed wall, and rushing forward with it, held it above the creaking stairway, in a position most favourable to the descent of melted tallow on her visitor's head.

" Walk in, ma'am, an' welcome," said the hostess, foreseeing in her mind's eye an additional customer to the wash-tub. Restoring the candle to the sconce, she made a rush at the best chair the poor room contained, and rubbed it heartily with her apron, which she after wards applied in the same manner to her perspiring face. "An' won't you sit down, ma'am?" she continued, peering into the stranger's countenance through an atmosphere which was rendered a trifle misty by smoke from the turf fire and steam from the wash-tub. " Peg, rock the cradle, and don't let Polly wake. Do you hear me ? " " Mother," said Peg, feeling herself called on to make some introduction, " it's Madame 'Lante," adding, after a moment's pause, " the lady that dances on the rope." And so saying, the child made a curtsey, not without grace, to her visitor.

Being favoured with this introduction, the danseuse seated herself and explained the motive of her visit. She had been struck by the beauty of Peg's face, and by the grace and bearing of her figure, and offered to take her as an apprentice and teach her the business of a tight rope dancer. The poor washerwoman dried her arms, opened wide her eyes, and looked bewildered at the unexpected proposal so suddenly laid before her. " It will be well for the leetle Peg ; she will earn good salaries in a short time," put in Madame Violante, " and I will dress and support her." At this prospect a shrewd twinkle came into Mrs. Woffington's eyes. She knew the value of money. Madame Violante's Proposal 7 " Well, ma'am," she said, putting her arms akimbo, "none of me blood has ever been play-actors, or ever danced upon a rope ; an' for the matter o' that, me mother's people never disgraced themselves be earning a penny piece, but lived upon their own 'states like the highest in the land ; an' sure, 'twas often tould us the head of the family was one o' the rale kings of Ireland himself.

But sure, that was in the good owld times, and there's no use in talking o' them ; and here am I, only a poor widee-woman, God help me, with two children to support, an' the times mighty hard, an' me good man took from me with little or no warning, God help us. An' it's a miserable world we live in." " It was sad," the sympathetic Frenchwoman said, taking advantage of a slight pause in the widow's autobiographical sketch. " An' sure, every one knows, ma'am," she continued, " that you bear the character of an honest woman, an' not like most o' them wenches belonging to the play house. An' sure, as you say Peggy might earn a dacent livin' in a little while, an' that you will support and clothe the child, sure you may take her, an' I'll pray God to protect her," said the washerwoman. So it w*as settled that Peg was to become one of Madame's pupils ; and in a little while, attired in long drawers, short jacket, and flat pumps, she learned to dance and skip about the stage, and presently to sing songs ; for all of which she was duly admired by the frequenters of the booth, who flung her showers of pence, which she quickly picked up and duly gave to her mother.

But public taste is proverbially fickle. Although such surprising performances on the tight-rope as Madame Violante's had never been seen in Dublin before, yet there was a monotony about them which palled after a while, and by degrees the pleasant booth in Fownes Court, with its sconces of tallow lights, its fiddles, its drums, its merry dances, and its aerial performances, became deserted. Now Madame Violante was a woman of enterprise and energy, and no sooner did one attraction fail to fill her coffers than she quickly looked about her for another ; and like those who seek in earnest, she found it in good time. But a little before all theatrical London had been in a state of intense excitement concerning a performance called " The Beggars' Opera," by the poet Gay. It had been produced by Rich, then manager of Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre, and had been played for sixty-tw*o consecutive nights, " making Rich gay, and Gay rich."

The opera was furthermore notable as being the occasion of a drawn battle between George II. and her Grace the Duchess of Oueensbury ; which of course added to its notoriety considerably. Now this comic opera had never been heard or witnessed in Dublin, though the report of its sparkling dialogue, its genuine wit and satirical ditties, had of course crossed the channel. It therefore struck Madame Violante to form a company of children, instruct them in the parts of this opera, and have it performed in her booth. The idea was no sooner conceived than acted upon, and in a little while the Dublin public was invited to witness the results of her training. The principal character, Polly, was given to Peg Woffington ; and strange to say, not only she, but almost all the children who played in this opera, after wards became celebrated actors and actresses.

Madame Violante, meanwhile, moved to a more commodious booth in George's Court, which on the night of the first. performance of " The Beggars' Opera" was prodigiously crowded. Amongst the audience sat a goodly number of Peg's old friends and admirers from Trinity College, Her First Success 9 who when this lovely girl with the blueblack hair and liquid eyes came forward looking pale from fright, received her with an ovation that set her nervousness to flight and gave her hope of much forbearance. The charm of her face, the beauty of her limbs, the natural grace of her movements, compensated for much that was crude to a people ever keenly sensitive to the effects of physical gifts. When the curtain fell that night, the young actress had the satisfaction of knowing that her first appearance in what may be called an important part gave promise of future success.

In those old days and good there existed a common feeling of friendship between performers and their audiences, which was productive of many advantages to both; and in accord ance with the custom of the times, at the conclusion of the opera Madame Violante stepped fonvard from the world behind the scenes to receive the congratulations of her patrons on her financial success, as well as on the result of the training of her troupe. Little Peg Woffington also descended into the commonplace world, by means of a half-dozen creaking steps, to receive her meed of praise before joining her mother, who hoarse from crying oranges at the door of the booth, was now awaiting her daughter, with her empty basket on her arm, a comfortable sense of pro prietorship in her manner, and a glow of pride in her honest face — round, rubicund, and set in a framework of blowsy borders.

Now, amongst those who most warmly congratulated Peg and her patroness was Mr. Charles Coffey — a little, wiry, dark-complexioned man, who looked as if he were being half-strangled by his high collar and many-folded cravat. His meagre frame was clad in a black body-coat ; his lower limbs in velvet breeches fastened at the knee by rows of brass buttons and bows of black ribbon, and in worsted stockings that betrayed a lamentable lack of calf. For all that, it was easily seen that Mr. Charles Coffey was a man of parts, and likewise of vast importance ; for he was the composer of " The Beggars Wedding," a ballad opera of great humour, which had met with prodigious success, if not in Dublin, at least in London, where it had been per formed for thirty consecutive nights at the Haymarket, and had likewise held the boards of Covent Garden and the great Drury Lane playhouse itself.

Moreover, he had likewise written, or rather plagiarized, a ballad farce rejoicing in the comprehensive title of " The Devil to Pay," which had also met with great applause at Drury Lane, and to which Miss Raftor (known afterwards as Kitty Clive) owed vast obligations, as it afforded her scope for display of the comic talents which the world was not aware she possessed till then. Now it pleased Mr. Charles Coffey to graciously offer to instruct Peg Woffington in the part of Nell in his new ballad farce — the character in which Kitty Raftor had won her laurels. He had closely studied the Drury Lane actress, until her ever*,* whimsical movement and humorous expression were stamped on his mind ; and these he was ready to teach Peggy, in order that his farce might meet success in his native town, in which he was no prophet, such as it had already received in the greater capital.

At this proposal both Peg and her mistress were delighted ; she was apt, studied hard, and made a sensation in the part when the ballad farce was duly produced in Madame Violante's canvas-covered booth. From this hour she was looked on as a prodigy, destined for renown some day, and was sought after by the polite circles of the town. From association with such society, being imitative and impressionable, she quickly learned to act in accordance with its genteel manners, just as she had Playing Ophelia 11 rapidly learned singing from Charles Coffey and French from Madame Violante. For a considerable time the charming Peggy acted small parts, sang ballads, and danced jigs under Madame Violante's management ; but fate proving unkind to this lady, her business declined, and she was obliged to let her booth.

But Peg's reputation as a clever and accomplished young actress had meanwhile risen, and her services were sought for by Elrington, then manager of the Theatre Royal, as the Aungier Street playhouse was called, where she sang in operas and farces, and danced with grace between the acts, in company with Monsieur Moreau and Mr. William Delemain. It was not, how ever, until February, 1737, that she was permitted to make her appearance in what is known as "a speaking character." The accident that gave her this chance was the same which has afforded similar opportunities to many actresses aftenvards known to fame. The play of " Hamlet," " written by the famous Shakespeare," was announced for performance at the Theatre Royal. Two days before that on which the tragedy was to be pro duced, the lady selected to play the part of Ophelia fell ill ; when Peg came forward and offered to undertake the character.

Elrington in return laughed at her proposal ; but nothing daunted, she offered to repeat some of Ophelia's lines for his benefit, the result being that Miss Woffington was announced in the bills to play the part of this woe-stricken heroine. She had long ago become a favourite with the public, and the event of her making her appearance in this important character caused vast excitement to her patrons in particular, and the town in general. The good citizens of Dublin were excessively fond of playhouses. On friendly personal terms w*ith most of the actors and actresses, they were familiar with every event of their lives, and dealt out to them from pit and gallery their favour or displeasure, if with occasional indiscre tion, at least with an openness that left no doubt of their prejudices. Peg Woffington had been known to them from the days when she had sold salad and watercresses in the streets, and the town regarded her with especial favour ; her appearance in so prominent a part as that of Ophelia was therefore looked forward to with unusual interest, and on the evening of the 12th of February the Aungier Street playhouse was crowded from pit to gallery to witness her performance.

Seldom had there been seen so brilliant a house, or one more keenly, nay, anxiously, attentive ; and when at length Ophelia came forward, her dark eyes luminous with excitement, her beautiful face pale from fear, she held her audience as by a spell, which the justness of her expression and grace of her manner heightened as the play proceeded. When the curtain descended on the mad-scene, it was felt that she had secured a triumph which was not only complete in itself, but gave promise of great achievements in the future. From this date she no longer danced between the acts or sang ballads in small parts. It was her ambition to climb the ladder of theatrical fame ; and once having gained a step, she was not the woman to descend to her former level. Her next important part was that of Phillis in Sir Richard Steele's " Conscious Lovers," and was almost as great a success as her representation of Ophelia.