Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 37.djvu/56

 At Drury Lane, Covent Garden, or the Haymarket, with an occasional appearance in Italian opera, she played many comic and some serious parts, among which may be noted Ophelia and Mrs. Oakley. She was at Drury Lane, 19 Dec. 1822, the original Herman in Dimond's ‘Tale of Other Times,’ played Florella in ‘My Grandmother,’ Maria in ‘A Roland for an Oliver,’ Annette in the ‘Lord of the Manor,’ Letitia Hardy in the ‘Belle's Stratagem,’ was at Drury Lane, 13 Jan. 1824, the original Pauline in Beazley's opera ‘Philandering, or the Rose Queen,’ was Ariel to Macready's Prospero, Luciana in the ‘Comedy of Errors,’ Lydia Languish, Rosalind, Lady Teazle, Mrs. Ford and also Mrs. Page in the ‘Merry Wives of Windsor,’ Carlos in the ‘Duenna,’ Hypolita in ‘She would and she would not,’ Diana Vernon, and Cherubino in the ‘Marriage of Figaro.’ Her original parts also included Phœbe in ‘Paul Pry,’ Haymarket, 13 Sept. 1825; Georgette Clairville in ‘'Twas I,’ Covent Garden, 3 Dec. 1825; Fatima, a character introduced by Planché into his adaptation of ‘Oberon,’ Covent Garden, 12 April 1826; Madame Germance in Pocock's ‘Home, Sweet Home,’ Covent Garden, 19 March 1829; and Kate O'Brien in Haynes Bayly's ‘Perfection, or the Lady of Munster,’ Drury Lane, 25 March 1830. In 1825 she sang ‘Cherry Ripe’ at Vauxhall. On 8 June 1826, at Covent Garden, she performed Macheath, positively, as was announced, ‘for the last time.’ On 29 March 1828 she, however, repeated it. She played frequently in Ireland and at Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, and other places. Genest, who saw her in Bath in 1827–8, says that she did herself no credit by her Hypolita, and was not qualified to play first-rate characters, but was ‘one of the best singing actresses that ever appeared.’ Her singing in songs such as ‘Cherry Ripe,’ ‘Meet me by moonlight alone,’ ‘I've been roaming,’ ‘The Light Guitar,’ ‘Rise, gentle Moon,’ ‘Buy a Broom,’ &c., delighted town and country, as did her performances in ‘breeches’ parts, Don Giovanni, Macheath, Cherubino.

On 3 Jan. 1831, Mme. Vestris—according to a prologue by John Hamilton Reynolds, delivered on the occasion, the first female lessee the stage had known—opened the Olympic in partnership with Maria Foote [q. v.], who soon, however, seceded from management. Her opening programme consisted of ‘Mary Queen of Scots,’ with Miss Foote as the queen; the ‘Little Jockey,’ also for Miss Foote; ‘Clarissa Harlowe,’ a burletta, introducing Mrs. Glover; and ‘Olympic Revels,’ by Planché and Dance, the first of a series of extravaganzas in which Mme. Vestris obtained her greatest triumphs. The mounting and decoration of these were superintended by her and were regarded as models of taste. In ‘Olympic Revels’ Mme. Vestris made a hit as Pandora, raising the theatre to the height of popularity. Following this came ‘Olympic Devils,’ 26 Dec. 1831, in which she was Orpheus; the ‘Paphian Bower, or Venus and Adonis,’ 26 Dec. 1832, in which she was Venus; ‘High, Low, Jack, and Game,’ 30 Sept. 1833, with Mme. Vestris as Queen of Hearts; the ‘Deep, Deep Sea, or Perseus and Andromeda,’ in which she was Perseus. She played Calypso in ‘Telemachus, or the Island of Calypso,’ 26 Dec. 1834; Princess Esmeralda in ‘Riquet with the Tuft,’ 26 Dec. 1836; Ralph in ‘Puss in Boots,’ 26 Dec. 1837; and Praise in the ‘Drama's Levée,’ 16 April 1838. She had meanwhile gathered for the performance of comedy and burlesque a company including Mrs. Orger, Mrs. Humby, Miss Murray, Keeley, Farren, Bland, and Liston, and, after a few years, her future husband [see MATHEWS, CHARLES JAMES], who made his début, 7 Dec. 1835, under her management. After her marriage she started with him for America, received ungenerous treatment, and returned poorer than she went, to reappear at the Olympic as Fleurette in ‘Blue Beard,’ 1 Jan. 1839. She took her farewell of the Olympic 31 May 1839, and aided her husband in his management of Covent Garden, beginning 30 Sept. 1839. Here she played many musical parts in operas, ‘Artaxerxes,’ ‘Comus,’ the ‘Marriage of Figaro,’ in which she was Cherubino, &c.; played in ‘Love's Labour's Lost,’ Oberon in ‘A Midsummer-Night's Dream,’ and was Lucy Lockit in the ‘Beggar's Opera.’ Her original parts included Catherine in Sheridan Knowles's ‘Love,’ 1839, Lady Anne in the same writer's ‘Old Maids,’ 1841, and Grace Harkaway in Boucicault's ‘London Assurance,’ 4 March 1841. She also produced some of Plancheé's burlesques: ‘The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood,’ 20 April 1840, in which she was the Princess Is-a-belle; ‘Beauty and the Beast,’ 12 April 1841, in which she was Beauty; and the ‘White Cat,’ 28 March 1842. She was unable, however, to fight against the burden of debt to which Mathews succumbed. At the Haymarket, where, after having played with Macready at Drury Lane, she accepted an engagement under Webster, she was Medea in Planché's ‘Golden Fleece,’ 24 March 1845, and Suivanta in his ‘Golden Branch,’ 27 Dec. 1847. She then went with her husband to the Princess's, where she appeared in March 1846, and then undertook the management of the Lyceum, opening in October 1847 with the ‘Pride of