Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 62.djvu/287

  gossip and anecdotes relating to the author's own time, but much of it by no means trustworthy.  Twenty-four volumes of correspondence, partly preserved in the Advocates' Library, Edinburgh, and partly in the possession of the church of Scotland, of which three volumes were published in 1842–3. In 1841 the Wodrow Society was established at Edinburgh for the publication of works of the early writers of the church of Scotland; it was dissolved in 1847 after publishing twelve works.



WOFFINGTON, MARGARET (1714?–1760), actress, the daughter of John Woffington, a journeyman bricklayer, was born, it is commonly said, on 18 Oct. 1718 in Dublin, but probably four or five years earlier. Her father, dying in 1720, received a pauper's funeral, and left his wife, with two children, in debt. An effort on the part of the widow to keep a huckster's shop on Ormonde Quay failed, and Mrs. Woffington earned a small and precarious livelihood by hawking fruit or watercress in the street. At this time Madame Violante, a Frenchwoman, had opened, with a miscellaneous entertainment consisting largely of rope-dancing, an edifice, partly theatre partly booth, constructed in a house formerly occupied by Lord-chief-justice Whitehead, fronting on Fawnes' Court, near College Green. One of her feats was to cross the stage on a tight-rope with a basket containing an infant suspended to each foot. Among the children so carried was ‘Peg’ Woffington. When, after a season, the experiment failed, Peg took to her mother's occupation of selling fruit or vegetables in the street. When ten years of age she was engaged afresh by Madame Violante for a lilliputian company, and played Polly in the ‘Beggar's Opera.’ Subsequently she played Nell in the ‘Devil to Pay,’ and other parts. Her performance attracted the attention of (1688–1732) [q. v.], who engaged her at Aungier Street Theatre, where, besides dancing between the acts, she played elderly parts, such as Mrs. Peachum and Mother Midnight in Farquhar's ‘Twin Rivals.’ For a time she acted with Sparks, Barrington, and others at the Rainsford Street theatre, a house on the outskirts of Dublin. Her first serious attempt was as Ophelia, which she played successfully on 12 April 1737 at Smock Alley Theatre. She repeated her performance of Polly Peachum, and played Mrs. Clive's part of Miss Lucy in Fielding's ‘Old Man taught Wisdom, or the Virgin Unmasked.’ Her name also stands to Female Officer and to Phillis in the ‘Conscious Lovers.’ In April 1740 she gave what to the end was considered her most bewitching impersonation, that of Sir Harry Wildair in the ‘Constant Couple.’

The fame of this secured her an engagement from Rich for Covent Garden, at which house she appeared on 6 Nov. 1740 as Silvia in the ‘Recruiting Officer.’ She was then announced as ‘Miss Woffington.’ When on the 8th she repeated the part, it was as Mrs. Woffington, which name she subsequently bore. In this character she had to masquerade as a boy, and immediately took the town by storm. On 13 Nov. she was Lady Sadlife in the ‘Double Gallant,’ and on the 15th Aura in Charles Johnson's ‘Country Lasses.’ On the 21st she appeared, by particular desire, as Sir Harry Wildair. She acted the character twenty nights during the season, ten of them being consecutive, and was so successful in the part that no male actor was thenceforth acceptable in it. On 5 Dec. she was Elvira in the ‘Spanish Friar,’ and was seen during the season as Violante in the ‘Double Falsehood,’ Lætitia in the ‘Old Bachelor,’ Victoria in the ‘Fatal Marriage,’ some part (presumably Florella) in ‘Greenwich Park,’ Angelica in the ‘Gamester,’ Phillis, and Cherry in the ‘Beaux' Stratagem.’ Next year she was engaged at Drury Lane, where she made, it is believed, her first appearance on 8 Sept. 1741 as Silvia, playing Sir Harry Wildair on 4 Jan. 1742. Ruth in the ‘Committee,’ Lady Brute in the ‘Provoked Wife,’ Nerissa in the ‘Merchant of Venice,’ Rosalind in ‘As you like it,’ Helena in ‘All's well that ends well’ (in which, through illness, she broke down), Mrs. Sullen in the ‘Beaux' Stratagem,’ Clarinda in the ‘Double Gallant,’ Berinthia in the ‘Relapse,’ Belinda in ‘Man of the Mode,’ Lady Betty Modish in the ‘Careless Husband,’ Clarissa in the ‘Confederacy,’ and Cordelia to the Lear of Garrick followed. In the summer she returned to Dublin, when she sprang to the height of popularity.

She reappeared at Drury Lane on 15 June 1742 as Sir Harry Wildair, and on the arrival of Garrick two days later she played Lady Anne to his Richard III. She also supported him as Angelina in ‘Love makes a Man, or the Fop's Fortune,’ and other parts. She had her share in bringing about what was called the ‘Garrick fever’ [see ], and when Garrick returned to London, she accompanied him, or followed immediately after him. They were known lovers, Garrick's affection for her dating, it is thought, from a period before he went on the