Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 2.djvu/388

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NOTES AND QUERIES. 1 [i2s.iLNov.ii.i9ia

In 1663 Mrs. Bout ell also played Lilly in ' The Elder Brother.' Downes, who has greatly confused the cast of this piece, writes Lilia Bianca. Lillia Bianca is the " airy clnughter of Nantolet " in ' The Wild-Goose Chase.' It is probable there was about the ^;'ine date a revival of this excellent comedy with Mrs. Boutell in that role.* In 1664 she certainly played in Killigrew's racy ' The Parson's Wedding,' when it was " acted all ]>y women."

Owing to the calamity of the Plague the theatres were closed from the first week of June, 1665, to the end of November, 1666. In 1668 Mrs. Boutell created Donna Theo- dosia in Dryden's sparkling ' An Evening's Love,' produced June 18. In the spring of the following year she acted St. Catharine, a part of rarest beauty, in that magnificent, if somewhat extravagant tragedy, ' Tyrannic Love.' It is still often misstated! that Nell Gwyn created St. Catharine. The cast, however, was Mohun, Maxim in ; Hart, Porphyrius ; Kynaston, Placidius ; Beeston, the wizard Nigrinus ; Cartwright, Apollonius ; Bell Amariel, the Guardian Angel ; Mrs. Marshall, Berenice ; Nell Gwyn, Valeria, the emperor's daughter ; Mrs. Knepp, Felicia, the Saint's mother. Mrs. Knepp doubled this role with Nakar to Mrs. James's Damilcar, the two astral spirits of the Incantation Scene in Act IV., an episode whose exquisite if fantastic lyricism met with some terrible parody in ' The Rehearsal.'

In 1670 Mrs. Boutell played Aurelia in Joyner's ' The Roman Empress,' J and the same year she appears in ' The Conquest of Granada ' as Benzayda, the gentle daughter of old Selin, a pleasing character. In the spring of 1671 she acted Christina, with Kynaston as her jealous lover Valentine, in Wycherley's witty ' Love in a Wood.' Circa May of that year she is cast for Semena in Corye's ' The Generous Enemies,' an undis- tinguished piece, to which she spoke a good epilogue. 1671 also saw a revival of Fletcher's fine tragedy ' The Double Marriage.' The probable cast was : Virolet, Hart ; Duke of Sesse, Mohun ; Ascanio, Kynaston ; Juliana, Mrs. Boutell ; Martia, Mrs. Marshall.

On Jan. 25, 1672, the Theatre Royal was destroyed by fire, and Killigrew's actors

1668. He speaks of it as " a famous play," and from his account it had obviously been revived several years before.
 * Pepys saw ' The Wild-Goose Chase,' Jan. 1 1

t E.g., by Saintsbury in his life of Dryden " English Men of Letters."

J Possibly this tragedy was even pr. duced in the late winter of 1669.

were glad to take refuge in the Lincoln's Inu Fields Theatre, which the Duke of York's company had vacated for their new theatre in Dorset Gardens.* In 1672 there was produced at Lincoln's Inn Fields one of Dryden's best comedies, ' Marriage a la Mode,' in which Mrs. Boutell played the superb coquette Melantha. ' Philaster ' and ' The Maiden Queen ' were also revived , both " all by women." Mrs. Boutell, " in man's clothes," spoke the prologue to the latter comedy, whilst the epilogue was de- livered by Dryden's mistress, Anne Reeve, likewise " in man's clothes." Prologue and epilogue, from the Laureate's pen, were printed the same year in ' Covent Garden Drollery.' Although it is obvious that these actresses played male parts on that occasion, it would be purely conjectural to assign them any two out of the three male characters in. ' The Maiden Queen.' For some unaccount- able reason ' The Assignation ; or, Love in a Nunnery,' which was produced the same year, failed. Mrs. Boutell acted Laura.

In 1673 she had a first-rate comic char- acter, Mrs. Margery Pinchwife in Wycher- ley's brilliant ' The Country Wife,' which , being produced with an all-star cast, won the triumphant success so fine a masterpiece amply deserved. In the New Exchangef scene Mrs. Boutell delighted the house by appearing as a boy, Mrs. Pinchwife visiting the Exchange disguised as her brother, little Sir James, in order to save herself whilst sight -seeing from the gallantries of the town sparks, a ruse which has little or no effect, Circa November of the same year Mrs. Boutell played Alcinda in Duffet's riming comedy ' The Spanish Rogue.' Early in 1674, perhaps January, she sustained Fidelia in ' The Plain Dealer,' a " breeches " role from start to finish. In February of the same year she acted Clara in Duffet's ' The Amorous Old Woman.' At the beginning of the play Clara dresses as a boy, and calls her- self Infortunio, " a shepherd's son in Sicily." This false page, who has two songs, ' If Love enjoy'd 's the greatest Bliss ' and ' I never shall henceforth approve,' wears male clothes throughout most of the five acts. " A very Pretty Youth " one of the characters calls him. In the spring of 1675 Mrs. Boutell appeared as Cyara, a Parthian princess, mistress of Britannicus, in Lee's

exterior, see the copperplates illustrating Settle's ' The Empress of Morocco,' quarto, 1673.
 * For views of this theatre, both interior and

f The New Exchange was a kind of bazaar on the south side of the Strand. It continued popu- lar until the reign of Queen Anne.