Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 10.djvu/362

 Vanbrugh wrote forthwith ‘The Relapse’ as a sequel. In this, 1697, Cibber was Lord Foppington, as Vanbrugh elected to call Sir Novelty Fashion. Cibber's performance in Vanbrugh's piece established his reputation, and the eccentric characters in which he is best remembered were now assigned him as a right. The list of characters in which he subsequently appeared is very long. The names and dates of a few only can be given. Except where otherwise stated, the performance took place at Drury Lane. Cibber played, among other parts, Æsop in Vanbrugh's comedy of that name, 1697; Richard III in his own adaptation of Shakespeare, 1700; Mons (sic) Marquis in Farquhar's ‘Sir Harry Wildair,’ 1701; Don Manuel in his own ‘She would and she would not,’ 1702; Sir Courtly Nice in Crowne's play so named, 1703; Sir Fopling Flutter in Etherege's ‘The Man of Mode,’ 1706 (Haymarket); Ben in Congreve's ‘Love for Love,’ 1708; Gloster in his adaptation of ‘King Lear;’ Iago in ‘Othello,’ and Sparkish in Wycherley's ‘Country Wife,’ 1708–9; Fondlewife in Congreve's ‘Old Bachelor,’ date unknown, but after 1708; Tinsel in Addison's ‘Drummer,’ 1716; Barnaby Brittle in Betterton's ‘Amorous Widow;’ Bayes in the ‘Rehearsal;’ Dr. Wolf in his own ‘Nonjuror,’ 1716–17; Shallow in ‘King Henry IV,’ pt. 2, as altered by Betterton; Jaques in ‘Love in a Forest,’ an alteration of ‘As you like it,’ 1722; Wolsey in ‘Henry VIII,’ 1724; Lord Richly in Fielding's ‘Modern Husband,’ 1732, and, after his retirement, Pandulph in his own ‘Papal Tyranny,’ 1745. Of many of the comic characters named he was the original. The dates given do not in every case record necessarily the first appearance. His plays were as follows: 1. ‘Love's Last Shift,’ 4to, 1696, was succeeded by (2) ‘Woman's Wit, or the Lady in Fashion,’ comedy, 4to, 1697, written in part, as Cibber tells us in the preface, during a temporary secession to Lincoln's Inn Fields, a fact which is unmentioned in the ‘Apology.’ It was produced at Drury Lane and damned. 3. ‘Xerxes,’ a tragedy, 4to, 1699, given at Lincoln's Inn Fields, shared the same fate, being apparently acted but once. In an inventory of ‘the moveables of Christopher Rich, esq., who is breaking up housekeeping,’ No. 42 of the ‘Tatler’ classes with Roxana's nightgown, Othello's handkerchief, &c., ‘the imperial robes of Xerxes, never worn but once.’ In 1700 (4) his alteration of ‘King Richard the Third’ was printed in 4to and acted at Drury Lane. Great as are its faults, it held possession of the stage as the only acting version until 1821. In 1701 (5) ‘Love makes the Man, or the Fop's Fortune,’ in which two plays of Beaumont and Fletcher, ‘The Custom of the Country’ and ‘The Elder Brother,’ are welded together, was acted at Drury Lane and printed in 4to. 6. ‘She would and she would not, or the Kind Impostor,’ one of the best of Cibber's comedies, taken in part from the ‘Counterfeits’ by Leanerd, came next, being played at Drury Lane 26 Nov. 1702, and printed in 4to the following year. 7. ‘The Careless Husband,’ a brilliant comedy of intrigue, was given at Drury Lane 7 Dec. 1704, and printed 4to, 1705. 8. ‘Perolla and Izadora,’ tragedy, Drury Lane, 3 Dec. 1705, 4to, 1706. 9. ‘The Schoolboy, or the Comical Rivals,’ a comedy altered from ‘Woman's Wit’ (see above), printed 1707, and acted at Drury Lane, date uncertain. 10. ‘The Comical Lovers, or Marriage à la Mode,’ Drury Lane, 4 Feb. 1707, 4to, 1707, combining the comic scenes of Dryden's ‘Secret Love’ and those of his ‘Marriage à la Mode.’ 11. ‘The Double Gallant, or Sick Lady's Cure,’ 4to, 1707, acted 1 Nov. 1707 at Haymarket, a compilation from Mrs. Centlivre's ‘Love at a Venture’ and Burnaby's ‘Lady's Visiting Day,’ owing something also to ‘Le Galant Double’ of Thomas Corneille, 1660. 12. ‘The Lady's Last Stake, or the Wife's Resentment,’ comedy, 4to, no date (1708), a fairly good play, which the ‘Biographia Dramatica’ says was indebted to Burnaby's ‘Reformed Wife.’ It was acted at the Haymarket on 13 Dec. 1707. 13. ‘The Rival Fools,’ comedy, 4to, no date (1709), an alteration of Beaumont and Fletcher's ‘Wit at several Weapons,’ played unsuccessfully at Drury Lane on 11 Jan. 1710. 14. ‘Myrtillo,’ a pastoral interlude, 8vo, 1715, played at Drury Lane, assumably 1715–16, with little success. 15. ‘Hob, or the Country Wake,’ farce, 12mo, 1715, a reduction of the ‘Country Wake’ of Doggett (Drury Lane, date unrecorded). 16. ‘Venus and Adonis,’ masque, 8vo, 1716, acted at Drury Lane. 17. ‘The Non-juror,’ comedy, 8vo, 1718, played at Drury Lane on 6 Dec. 1717, is a successful adaptation of Molière's ‘Tartuffe’ to English life of the day. 18. ‘Ximena, or the Heroick Daughter,’ tragedy, 8vo, 1718, acted at Drury Lane on 28 Dec. 1712, and again 1 Nov. 1718, owing something to the ‘Cid.’ 19. ‘The Refusal, or the Ladies' Philosophy,’ comedy, 8vo, 1721, taken from ‘Les Femmes Scavantes’ of Molière, and acted at Drury Lane 14 Feb. 1721. 20. ‘Cæsar in Egypt,’ tragedy, 8vo, 1725 (Drury Lane, 9 Dec. 1724), taken from ‘The False One’ of Beaumont and Fletcher, and ‘La Mort de Pompée’ of Pierre Corneille. 21. ‘The Provoked Husband,’ 8vo, 1728 (Drury Lane, 10 Jan.