THE REHEARSAL. JOHNS. ACTUS I. SCENA I. JOHNSON and SMITH. Oneft Frank! I'm glad to fee thee with all my heart: how long haft thou been in Town? SMI. Faith, not above an hour: and, if I had not met you here, I had gone to look you out; for I long to talk with you freely, of all the strange new things we have heard in the Country. JOHNS. And, by my troth, I have long'd as much to laugh with you, at all the impertinent, dull, fantaslical things, we are tir'd out with here. SMI. Dull and fantastical! that's an excellent compofition. Pray, what are our men of business doing? JOHNS. I ne'er enquire after 'em. Thou know'ft my humour lyes another way. I love to please my felf as much, and to trouble others as little as I can: and therefore do naturally avoid the company of those folemn Fops; who, being incapable of Reason, and infenfible of Wit and Pleasure, are always looking grave, and troubling one another, in hopes to be thought men of Business. language, and had thereby an advantage, which perhaps no former compiler ever had, in having all his materials ready collected to his hands. He had nothing to do, but sit down and examine: he accordingly read over every play, which the Duke could be supposed to have in his eye; chiefly all such as were either published or revived from the time of the Restoration till the publication of the Rehearsal: for tho' the Duke's view was chiefly to satirize what was then called "the new way of writing," yet he often exposes absurdities of longer standing, chiefly when the plays, which contained them, had been revived afresh, or still continued to captivate the publick. How far the research upon the whole has been successful the Reader will judge from the following pages. He will find many obscurities removed; and numerous references recovered: far more of both than could reasonably be expected, considering that no assistance could be had but what is fetched from books, and that all personal information has been long since swallowed up in the gulph of time. It must however be acknowledged that our inquiries have not always been successful: Some passages still remain, that evidently allude to absurdities then current upon the stage, yet of which we could find no traces in any play then published. But this is no more than might be expectd: We have that one play,* which the Duke has professedly ridiculed, was damned in the representation and therefore never printed; and the same might also be the case with others. Again the authors might remove the offensive passages from such plays as they published, so that no appearance of them is now remaining. After all, we are not to suppose that so masterly a pencil, as the Duke's, when finishing such a character as that of Bayes, would be confined to a mere dead likeness: he would not fail to heighten the caricature with a thousand touches supplied from his own fancy, and bring in whatever served to render the piece compleat, whether it resembled the original or not. Altho' the former key was faulty, it contained some particulars too valuable to be suppressed; we have therefore inserted the several articles everywhere in our own, taking care to correct the mistakes, and distinguishing every such article by an asterisk (*). We have also retained the former preface; as it preserved the memory of certain facts necessary to the illustration of the Rehearsal, and not found anywhere else. We next give BRISCOE'S address. HOU canst not be ignorant, that the town has had an eager expectation igHEARSAL ever since it first appeared in print; and none has more earnestly desired it than myself, tho' in vain : Till lately a gentleman of my acquaintance recommended me to a person, who he believed could give me a further light into this matter, than I had hitherto met with from any hand. In a short time I traced him out; and when I had found him, he appeared such a positive dogmatical spark, that I began to repent of my trouble in searching after him. It was my misfortune over a pot of beer to begin a short discourse of the rodern poets and actors: and immediately he fell into a great passion, and swore, that there were very few persons now living, who deserved the name of a good dramatick poet, or a natural actor; and declaimed against the present practice of the English stage with much violence; saying, he believed the two companies were joined in a confederacy against Smithfield, and resolved to ruin their fair, by out-doing them in their bombastick bills, and ridiculous representing their plays; adding, that he hoped ere long M. COLLIER and others would write them down to the devil. At the same time, he could not forbear to extol the excellent decorum and action of former years; and magnified the poets of the last age, especially Johnson, Shakespear, and Beaumont. I bore all this with tolerable patience, knowing it to be too common with old men to commend the past age, and rail at the present; and so took my The United Kingdoms, by Col. Henry Howard. See pp. 46 and go.] Continued at p. 33. SMI. Indeed, I have ever observed, that your grave lookers are the dulleft of men. JOHNS. I, and of Birds, and Beasts too: your graveft Bird is an Owl, and your gravest Beast is an Ass. SMI. Well; but how doft thou pass thy time? JOHNS. Why, as I ufe to do; eat and drink as well as I can, have a She-friend to be private with in the afternoon, and sometimes fee a Play: where there are fuch things (Frank) such hideous, monstrous things, that it has almoft made me forfwear the Stage, and refolve to apply my self to the folid nonfence of your pretenders to Bufinefs, as the more ingenious pastime. SMI. I have heard, indeed, you have had lately many new Plays, and our Country-wits commend 'em. JOHNS. I, fo do fome of our City-wits too; but they are of the new kind of Wits. SMI. New kind? what kind is that? JOHNS. Why, your Blade, your frank Perfons, your Drolls fellows that fcorn to imitate Nature; but are given altogether to elevate and surprise. SMI. Elevate, and surprise? pr'ythee make me underftand the meaning of that. JOHNS. Nay, by my troth, that's a hard matter: I don't understand that my felf. 'Tis a phrase they have got among them, to exprefs their no-meaning by. I'l tell you, as well as I can, what it is. Let me fee; 'tis Fighting, Loving, Sleeping, Rhyming, Dying, Dancing, Singing, Crying; and every thing, but Thinking and Sence. Mr. BAYES paffes o'er the Stage. BAYES. Your moft obfequious, and moft obfervant, very fervant, Sir. JOHNS. Godfo, this is an Author: I'l fetch him to you. SMI. Nay, pr'ythee let him alone. JOHNS. Nay, by the Lord, I'l have him. [Goes after him.] Here he is. I have caught him. Pray, Sir, for my fake, will you do a favour to this friend of mine? |