ager of the theatre, was, like many of his kind, more
given to considering the weight of his purse than the scant supply of
sentiment with which nature might originally have endowed him, and so
he tried to do two characteristic things. The salaries of his faithful
employes should be reduced and the older members of the company
retired into the background as much as possible. Younger faces must
occupy the centre of the stage; even Betterton, the greatest actor of
his time, should be supplanted in some of his parts by the dissolute
George Powell, and the genius of Mrs. Barry,[A] whom Dryden thought
the greatest actress he had ever seen, was to give way to the less
matured charms of the lovely Anne Bracegirdle.

[Footnote A: Mrs. Barry is said to have been a very elegant dresser;
but, like most of her contemporaries, she was not a very correct one.
Thus, in the "Unhappy Favourite," she played Queen Elizabeth, and in
the scene of the crowning she wore the coronation robes of James II.'s
Queen; and Ewell says she gave the audience a strong idea of the
first-named Queen.--DORAN'S "Annals of the Stage."]

Cibber relates the story in a sympathetic vein. "Though the success of
the 'Prophetess' and 'King Arthur' (two dramatic operas in which the
patentees[A] had embark'd all their hopes) was in appearance very
great, yet their whole receipts did not so far balance their expense
as to keep them out of a large debt, which it was publicly known was
about this time contracted.... Every branch of the theatrical trade
had been sacrificed to the necessary fitting out those tall ships
of burthen that were to bring home the Indies. Plays of course were
neglected, actors held cheap, and slightly dress'd, while singers and
dancers were better paid, and embroider'd. These measures, of course,
created murmurings on one side, and ill-humour and contempt on the
other."

[Footnote A: Alexander Davenant, Charles Killigrew, and Rich.]

"When it became necessary therefore to lessen the charge, a resolution
was taken to begin with the salaries of the actors; and what seem'd
to make this resolution more necessary at this time was the loss of
Nokes, Montfort and Leigh, who all dy'd about the same year. No wonder
then, if when these great pillars were at once remov'd the building
grew weaker and the audiences very much abated. Now in this distress,
what more natural remedy could be found than to incite and encourage
(tho' with some hazard) the indu