d festivals.

In 1769 Shakespeare's 'jubilee' was celebrated for three days (September
6-8) at Stratford, under the direction of Garrick, Dr. Arne, and Boswell.
The festivities were repeated on a small scale in April 1827 and April
1830. 'The Shakespeare tercentenary festival,' which was held at
Stratford from April 23 to May 4, 1864, claimed to be a national
celebration. {334}

On the English stage. The first appearance of actresses in Shakespearean
parts. David Garrick, 1717-1779.

On the English stage the name of every eminent actor since Betterton, the
great actor of the period of the Restoration, has been identified with
Shakespearean parts. Steele, writing in the 'Tatler' (No. 167) in
reference to Betterton's funeral in the cloisters of Westminster Abbey on
May 2, 1710, instanced his rendering of Othello as proof of an
unsurpassable talent in realising Shakespeare's subtlest conceptions on
the stage. One great and welcome innovation in Shakespearean acting is
closely associated with Betterton's first name. He encouraged the
substitution, that was inaugurated by Killigrew, of women for boys in
female parts. The first role that was professionally rendered by a woman
in a public theatre was that of Desdemona in 'Othello,' apparently on
December 8, 1660. {335} The actress on that occasion is said to have
been Mrs. Margaret Hughes, Prince Rupert's mistress; but Betterton's
wife, who was at first known on the stage as Mrs. Saunderson, was the
first actress to present a series of Shakespeare's great female
characters. Mrs. Betterton gave her husband powerful support, from 1663
onwards, in such roles as Ophelia, Juliet, Queen Catherine, and Lady
Macbeth. Betterton formed a school of actors who carried on his
traditions for many years after his death. Robert Wilks (1670-1732) as
Hamlet, and Barton Booth (1681-1733) as Henry VIII and Hotspur, were
popularly accounted no unworthy successors. Colley Cibber (1671-1757) as
actor, theatrical manager, and dramatic critic, was both a loyal disciple
of Betterton and a lover of Shakespeare, though his vanity and his faith
in the ideals of the Restoration incited him to perpetrate many outrages
on Shakespeare's text when preparing it for theatrical representation.
His notorious adaptation of 'Richard III,' which was first produced in
1700, long held the stage to the exclusion of the original version. But
towards the middle of the eighteenth century all earlier