That to have trod the Stage has not always been thought a Disqualification from more honourable Employments; several have had military Commissions; _Carlile_,[75] and _Wiltshire_[76] were both kill'd Captains; one in King _William_'s Reduction of _Ireland;_ and the other in his first War in _Flanders_; and the famous _Ben. Johnson_, tho' an unsuccessful Actor, was afterwards made Poet-Laureat.[77]
To these laudable Distinctions let me add one more; that of Publick Applause, which, when truly merited, is perhaps one of the most agreeable Gratifications that venial Vanity can feel. A Happiness almost peculiar to the Actor, insomuch that the best Tragick Writer, however numerous his separate Admirers may be, yet, to unite them into one general Act of Praise, to receive at once those thundring Peals of Approbation which a crouded Theatre throws out, he must still call in the Assistance of the skilful Actor to raise and partake of them.
In a Word, 'twas in this flattering Light only, though not perhaps so thoroughly consider'd, I look'd upon the Life of an Actor when but eighteen Years of Age; nor can you wonder if the Temptations were too strong for so warm a Vanity as mine to resist; but whether excusable or not, to the Stage at length I came, and it is from thence, chiefly, your Curiosity, if you have any left, is to expect a farther Account of me.
_A short View of the Stage, from the Year 1660 to the Revolution. The King's and Duke's Company united, composed the best Set of_ English _Actors yet known. Their several Theatrical Characters._
Tho' I have only promis'd you an Account of all the material Occurrences of the Theatre during my own Time, yet there was one which happen'd not above seven Years before my Admission to it, which may be as well worth notice as the first great Revolution of it, in which, among numbers, I was involv'd. And as the one will lead you into a clearer View of the other, it may therefore be previously necessary to let you know that.
King _Charles_ II. at his Restoration granted two Patents, one to Sir _William Davenant_,[78] and the other to _Thomas Killigrew_, Esq.,[79] and their several Heirs and Assigns, for ever, for the forming of two distinct Companies of Comedians: The first were call'd the _King's Servants,_ and acted at the Theatre-Royal in _Drury-Lane_;[80] and the other the _Duke's Company_, who acted at the Duke's Theatre in _Dorset-Garden_.[81] About ten of the King's Company were on the Royal Houshold-Establishment, having each ten Yards of Scarlet Cloth, with a proper quantity of Lace allow'd them for Liveries; and in their Warrants from the Lord Chamberlain were stiled _Gentlemen of the Great Chamber_.[82] Whether the like Appointments were extended to the Duke's Company, I am not certain; but they were both in high Estimation with the Publick, and so much the Delight and Concern of the Court, that they were not only supported by its being frequently present at their publick _Presentations_, but by its taking cognizance even of their private Government, insomuch that their particular Differences, Pretentions, or Complaints were generally ended by the _King_ or _Duke_'s Personal Command or Decision. Besides their being thorough Masters of their Art, these Actors set forwards with two critical Advantages, which perhaps may never happen again in many Ages. The one was, their immediate opening after the so long Interdiction of Plays during the Civil War and the Anarchy that followed it. What eager Appetites from so long a Fast must the Guests of those Times have had to that high and fresh variety of Entertainments which _Shakespear_ had left prepared for them? Never was a Stage so provided! A hundred Years are wasted, and another silent Century well advanced, and yet what unborn Age shall say _Shakespear_ has his equal! How many shining Actors have the warm Scenes of his Genius given to Posterity? without being himself in his Action equal to his Writing! A strong Proof that Actors, like Poets, must be born such. Eloquence and Elocution are quite different Talents: _Shakespear_ could write _Hamlet,_ but Tradition tells us That the _Ghost_, in the same Play, was one of his best Performances as an Actor: Nor is it within the reach of Rule or Precept to complete either of them. Instruction, 'tis true, may guard them equally against Faults or Absurdities, but there it stops; Nature must do the rest: To excel in either Art is a self-born Happiness which something more than good Sense must be the Mother of.