tre? She must be looked for in Killigrew's company.
His "leading lady" was Mrs. Ann Marshall, of whom Pepys makes
frequent mention, who is known to have obtained distinction alike in
tragedy and in comedy, and to have personated such characters as the
heroine of Beaumont and Fletcher's "Scornful Lady," Roxana in
"Alexander the Great," Calphurnia in "Julius Caesar," Evadne in "The
Maid's Tragedy," and so on; there is no record, however, of her having
appeared in the part of Desdemona. Indeed, this part is not invariably
assumed by "leading ladies;" it has occasionally devolved upon the
_seconda donna_ of the company. And in a representation of "Othello"
on February 6th, 1669, at the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane (to which
establishment Killigrew and his troop had removed from Vere Street in
April, 1663), it is certain, on the evidence of Downes's "Roscius
Anglicanus," that a Mrs. Hughes played the part of Desdemona to the
Othello of Burt, the Iago of Mohun, and the Cassio of Hart. Now, was
this Mrs. Hughes, who had been a member of Killigrew's company from
the first, the Desdemona on whose behalf, nine years before, Mr.
Thomas Jordan wrote his apologetic prologue? It seems not unlikely. At
the same time it must be stated that there are other claimants to the
distinction. Tradition long pointed to Mrs. Betterton, the wife of the
famous tragedian, as the first woman who ever appeared on the English
stage. She was originally known as Mrs. Saunderson--the title of
Mistress being applied alike to maidens and matrons at the time of the
Restoration--and married her illustrious husband about the year 1663.
She was one of four principal actresses whom Sir William Davenant
lodged at his own house, and she appeared with great success as Ianthe
upon the opening of his theatre with "The Siege of Rhodes." Pepys,
indeed, repeatedly refers to her by her dramatic name of Ianthe. Has
the belief that she was the first actress arisen from confusing her
assumption of Ianthe with the performance of the same part by Mrs.
Coleman in 1656, a fact of which mention has already been made?
Otherwise it is hardly creditable that she, one of Davenant's
actresses, had been previously attached to Killigrew's company, and
had in such wise chanced to play Desdemona in Vere Street. There is no
evidence of this whatever, nor can it be discovered that she appeared
as Desdemona at any period of her career. The Vere Street Desdemona,
we repeat, must be looked for