I am fenfible, that this private Agreement has been reflected on as Tricking and unfair, but then it is by thofe, who have not fufficiently confider'd the Matter; for an dolus, an Virtus quis in Hofte requirit? All Stratagems are allow'd betwixt Enemies; the two Houfes were at War, and Conduct and Action were to decide the Victory; and whatever the Duke's Company might fall fhort of in Action, it is plain they won the Field by their Conduct. For Mr. Hart and Mr. Kynafton performed their Promises fo well, that the Union was effected in 1682. and fo continu'd till the Year 1695. when the Actors under the united Patents, thinking themselves aggrieved with Mr. Betterton at the head of them, got a new Licence to fet up a Play-house once more in Lincolns-Inn Fields. But when the Succefs of that Company began to give way to the Industry of the other, and Mr. Vanbrugh had built a new Theatre in the Hay-Market, Mr. Betterton, weary of the Fatigues and Toil of Government, deliver'd his Company over to the new Licence. But they again giving way to the new Mode of Opera's, the Companies were once more united in Drury-Lane, and the Opera's confin'd to the Hay-Market. But Revolutions being fo frequent in this Mimic State, Mr.Swinny got the chief Players over to him and the Opera Houfe, among whom was Mr. Betterwho now being very old, and much afflicted with the Gout, acted but feldom; and the Year before he dy'd, the Town paid a

ton;

par

particular Deference to him by making his Day worth 500 1.

- Mr. Betterton was fo fenfible of Friendship, that tho he loft near 8000 l. by the Father, yet he took Care of the Daughter himfelf, till The marry'd according to her own Inclinations. Three Plays were written or tranflated by him, and brought on the Stage with Succefs; The Woman made a fuftice; The Amorous Widow, or the Wanton Wife; and The Unjuft Judge, or Appius and Virginia. But he never would fuffer any of them to be printed, tho the Amorous Widow from a furreptitiousCopy vifited the World after it had been acted almoft 20 Years; but a true Copy will be added to this Book.

Being now feventy five Years of Age, and long troubled with the Stone and Gout, the latter at laft, by repellatory Medicines, was driven into his Stomach, which prov'd fo fatal as in a few Days to put an End to his Life. He was bury'd with great Decency at Westminster-Abby.

The Year before his Death being at his Country Houfe in Reading, my Friend and I travelling that way, according to my Promife, I call'd to fee him; and being Hofpitably receiv'd, one Day after Dinner we retir'd to his Garden, and after a little Walk there, we fell into the Difcourfe of Acting. Much was faid by my Friend against the prefent Players, and in Praise of those of his younger Days, for he was an old Man. But being pretty well tired with the Dispute as well as Walk, we fate down in an agreeable

Shade,

Shade, and I addrefs'd my self to Mr. Betterton in this manner.

I am fenfible, that my Friend's Tafte of these Pleasures was stronger in his Youth, than at this time, when the Morofenefs of Age rebates the Edge of our Appetites in more Pleasures, than one: He would elfe allow that no Woman of his Time excelled Mrs. Barry, nor any Man your felf. I mean not to flatter you, (faid I, finding him a little uneafy with my Complement) for it is really my Opinion; but I muft confefs, I fee but little Profpect, that we have of the Stage's long furviving you two, at least, in its moft valuable part, Tragedy; for this excellent Poem lofes Ground every Day in the Efteem of the Town; ; nor can I, by any means, attribute this entirely to the Want of Genius in our present Poets, fince notwithstanding that we must allow, that they are ftill far from Perfection in Tragedy, yet we have seen much better Performances in that kind of late Years, than in the fo much cried up Days of Charles the Second, when the Gayety of the Age made ftrange indigefted Things, under that Title, go down, in which there was neither Nature, nor her Handmaid ART. But I attribute this Difregard to Tragedy chiefly to a Defect in the Action, to which we may add the Sowerness of our Tempers under the Preffures of fo long and heavy a War, and laftly to an Abundance of odd Spectators, whom the Chance of War have enabled

to.

to crowd the Pit and Stage-Boxes, and fway too much by their Thoughtless and Arbitrary Cenfure, either to the Advantage or Prejudice of the Author and Player.

For as War carries abundance of peccant Humours from a State, generated by the Corruptions of a long and luxurious Peace; fo does it introduce a fort of Libertinifm in our Diversions, contrary to Decorum and Regularity; without which no Pleasure can be truly noble. Another ill Effect of Warlike Times, is a Neglect of the politer Sciences of Peace, and a fort of Barbarism in our Gufto of all the fine Arts. To these add, the multiplying the Avenues to Wealth, whofe Number increafing, increase likewise the Number of those, who are drawn into the Purfuit of Riches; which as it fpreads a mean and private Spirit, of neceffary Confequence makes the Love of the Public more weak and languishing.

Nor is there any greater Proof of the Virtue or Corruption of the People, than their Pleafures. Thus in the Time of the Vigour of the Roman Virtue, Tragedy was very much esteem'd, its Dignity kept up, and the Decorum of the Stage fo very nicely obferv'd, that a Player's standing out of his Order, or speaking a falfe Quantity, was fufficient for him to be hifs'd off the Stage, as Cicero affures us in his 3d Paradox *.

Hiftrio fi paulo movit extra Numerum, aut fi Verfus pronunciatus eft Syllabâ una brevior aut longior exfibilatur & exploditur.

And

And when they gave us the most noble Examples of Virtue in their real Life, they were moft pleas'd with the Representation of noble Examples on the Stage; for People are delighted with what bears the greatest Likeness to the Turn and Temperament of their own Minds. Thus when the Roman Virtue decay'd, or indeed was loft with their Liberty, and they fubfifted and spread their Dominions more by the Merits of their Ancestors, and the Roman Name, made terrible by them, than by their own Bravery, then Effeminacy and Folly fpread through the People, which immediately appear'd in their Sports or Spectacles; Tragedy was flighted; Farce on the one hand, with its Mimes and Pantomimes; and Opera on the other, with its emafculating Sounds, invade and vanquish the Stage, and drew the Ears and Eyes of the People; who now care only to laugh, or to fee things extravagant and monftrous.

I wish this may not be too much our own Cafe. But being unwilling to guess at a hidden Caufe, when there is an apparent one, I choose rather to attribute this Decay of Tragedy to our want of Tragedians, and indeed Tragic Poets, than to the Corruption of the People; which, tho great enough, yet I hope not fo defperate, as what I have mention'd in the Roman State.

Tho I am of Opinion, (reply'd Mr. Betterton) that the Decay of the Stage is in great measure owing to the long Continuance of the

War;