Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 1.djvu/28

 NOTES AND QUERIES.

[12 S. I. JAN. 8, 1916.

persons belonging to His Majesty's company of comedians of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane," and for short, " Baddeley's Asylum." I fear this wo aid have turned out as great a failure as some similar bequests, seeing that retired actors want congenial company. They declined to live at the " Dramatic College," because they did not like solitary confinement, notwithstanding that they had an uninterrupted view of green fields all round their " asylum," with the occasional delight of seeing trains pass.

T. P. Cooke, celebrated as the sailor " William " in Jerrold's ' Black-Eyed Susan,' a part he acted 833 times between June, 1829, and his retirement from the stage in 1861, left what the late Joseph Knight in the ' D.N.B.' calls " the insufficient amount " of 2,0007. to the " Dramatic College " ; but the object for which he left it was such a failure " that when the Royal Dramatic College was wound up the bequest was too (see 8 S. iv. 62, July 22, 1893).

Robert Baddeley was for many years a member of the Drury Lane Company, and is said to have been an inferior actor of old men, but an excellent one of Jews and French- men. In early life he spent some time in France, travelling as valet to a gentleman, and he made the best of his time while there, as he not only performed his ordinary duties, but became sufficiently expert to serve afterwards as cook to Samuel Foote, the celebrated comedian.

Baddeley made his first appearance as an actor at the Haymarket Theatre (then under Foote' s management), June 28, 1760, as Sir William Wealthy in 'The Minor.' He was soon afterwards engaged at Drury Lane, where he was the original representa- tive of Canton in' The Clandestine Marriage,' and Moses in ' The School for Scandal.' While dressing for the last-named part on the night of Oct. 19, 1794, he was seized with illness, 'and conveyed to his house in Store Street, Bedford Square, where he died on the following day in his 61st year.

Baddeley's wife predeceased him. Both he and his son (who died before his father) are buried at St. Paul's, Covent Garden.

It seems worth while to note that so great a dramatic critic as W. Clark Russell con- sidered Baddeley and his wife to be repre- sentative actors of their day.

Alderman Birch, pastrycook and drama- tist, for many years till his death, was in the habit of supplementing Baddeley's gift. Birch's most successful play was 'The Adopted Child,' 1795, but I cannot find that it was ever printed. His fame must

always rest on his being the founder of " Birch's " in Cornhill. The shop is still a- popular resort, and still has the iron front (the first in London) which he put in, with " Birch, Birch & Co." over it, as correctly depicted in * Chambers' s Book of Days, 1 1869, vol. i., under January. The original kitchen in the basement is also still in use with the oven, which extends underneath and beyond the footway.

Your contributor MR. WILLIAM DOUGLAS has assisted me in identifying the characters: in West's print, and generally in composing this article ; in fact, without his professional knowledge of actors and the literature of the stage I could not have written it. He informs me that it was the custom to drink in solemn silence " To the memory of Badde- ley's skull," but other toasts are now given.. Of late years the managers of " Old Drury" have added to Baddeley's gift. The late- Sir Augustus Harris was extremely generous in promoting the festivity of the annual celebration, contributing as much as a hundred pounds. There were probably over one hundred guests. The Drury Lane Green Room no longer exists, having been con- verted to other purposes some years ago. RALPH THOMAS,

'THE TRAGEDY OF MARIAM.' (Malone Society's Reprints, 1914.)

THE following notes are supplementary to those given by the Malone Society's editors, Mr. A. C. Dunstan and Dr. W. W. Greg. In some cases they afford explana- tions which no doubt appeared to the editors to be obvious, but which perhaps would not be obvious at first sight to all their readers. In others they suggest emendations, in some cases different from those which the editors have proposed. It should be stated that the editors do not profess to emend their text, though as a matter of fact they have suggested many emendations, some of which are very happy and ingenious.

Line 46. Assent ( = Ascent). Cp. 1. 713.

Line 70. To be punctuated " your admirer, and my Lord."

Line 153. tfunfce. Read " thanke."

Line 187. leeke. The editors say "read ' seeke.' " But " leeke " is probably right. This form of " like " is found in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries according to the ' N.E.D.,' which gives a quotation from T. Howell's 'Deuises' (1581): " Wante makes the Lyon stowte, a slender pray to leeke."

Line 190. bare ( =bar). Cp. 11. 316 and 1020. t Line 203. And part. The editors' suggestion,

Apart," would hardly help the sense. For