Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 10.djvu/367

 confessedly unheroic. The author of the ‘Laureate’ says: ‘He was in stature of the middle size, his complexion fair, inclining to the sandy, his legs somewhat of the thickest, his shape a little clumsy, not irregular, and his voice rather shrill than loud or articulate, and cracked extremely when he endeavoured to raise it. He was in his younger days as lean as to be known by the name of Hatchet Face’ (p. 103). A less prejudiced authority, the ‘Gentleman's Magazine,’ says: ‘His shape was finely proportioned yet not graceful, essay but not striking ... his attitudes were pointed and exquisite; his expression was stronger than painting; he was beautifully absorbed by the character, and demanded and monopolised attention; his every extravagances were coloured with propriety.’ Davies (Miscellanies, iii. 427 et seq.) speaks of Cibber as possessing a weak pipe, an an inexpressive, meagre countenance. As a tragic actor he tried the patience of the audience until he was hissed off the stage. In the numerous portraits of him that are preserved, and especially in the famous picture of him as Lord Foppington in the ‘Relapse,’ by Grisoni, in the possession of the Garrick Club, the countenance sparkles with intelligence. In his behaviour to unknown authors Cibber is taxed with great impertinence. Gildon, in ‘A Comparison between Two Stages,’ puts in the mouth of Rambler and Critick the following dialogue: ‘Ramb. There's Cibber, a poet and a fine actor. Crit. And one that's always repining at the success of others, and upon the stage makes all his fellows uneasy’ (p. 199). In addition to these faults, which are the common property of most successful actors, Cibber incurred condemnation for being a gambler and irreligious. Looked at dispassionately, his character appears to differ in little, except inordinate vanity, from the beaux of the day whom he presented, and with whom he associated. He was a great comedian, and, with allowances for his personal prejudices, the best critic of acting the stage as known. In addition to the pamphlets cited, many contemporary tracts, prose and poetical, were directed against him. 'The Tryal of Colley Cibber for writing a Book entitled "An Apology for his Life,"’ (London, 1740), is a dull production, the preface to which is signed T. Johnson. ‘Blast upon Blast, or a New Lesson for the Pope,’ mentioned in Nichols's ‘Illustrations’ (ii. 765), should be, from the title, by Cibber. ‘Sawney and Colley, a Poetical Dialogue occasioned by a late Letter from the Laureate of St. James's to the Homer of Twickenham’ (fol. n. d.), is a coarse and poor imitation of Swift directed rather against Pope than Cibber. The ‘Laureate,’ to which previous reference has been made, assigns to Cibber a singularly clever and equally indecent witticism with which John Wilkes has since been credited. In addition to the ‘Apology,’ his plays, and pamphlets, Cibber printed some of his odes; others saw the light in periodicals. Nichols, in the ‘Index to Literary Illustrations,’ assigns him in error ‘The Lives of the Poets.’ Cibber wrote 'The Character and Conduct of Cicero considered from the History of his Life, by the Rev. Dr. Middleton,’ London, 1747, 4to, a poor work. Under Cibber appears in the British Museum ‘The Frenchified Lady never in Paris,’ a comedy in two acts, 8vo, 1757. It is taken from Cibber's ‘Comical Lovers,’ and from Dryden's ‘Secret Love,’ is by Henry Dell, and was acted by Mrs. Woffington for her benefit at Covent Garden on 28 March 1756. ‘Colley Cibber's Jests, or the Diverting, Witty Companion,’ Newcastle, 1761, 12mo, has, of course, nothing to do with Cibber beyond trading on his name. Among the poetic lampoons on Cibber, one is quoted by Cibber in has first ‘Letter to Pope,’ p. 39: In merry Old England it once was a rule The king had his poet and also his fool; But now we're so frugal, I'd have you to know it, That Cibber can serve both for fool and for poet.

Cibber taxes Pope with the authorship of this. Theobald, after distanced by Cibber in the race for the laureateship magnificently, in a letter to Warburton, preserved by Nichols (Illustrations), spells Cibber's name 'Keyber,' and quotes ‘the post of honour is a private station.’ An assignment to Robert Dodsley for 52l. 10s. of the copyright of the ‘Apology,’ in the handwriting of Colley Cibber, is in the collection of Mr. Julian Marshall. It is dated 1749. The 'Apology' was published 1740 in 4to.

 CIBBER, SUSANNAH MARIA (1714–1766), actress was born in London in February 1714. Her father was Mr. Arne, an upholsterer in Covent Garden, the original of the political upholsterer immortalised by Addison in the 155th number of the ‘Tatler,’