p. [399] Green-Ribbon-Brother. The green ribbon was the badge of Shaftesbury's party, as a red ribbon was of the Tories. North (Examen) gives the following account of the green ribbon fraternity: 'This was the club originally called the King's Head Club. The gentlemen of that worthy society held their evening sessions continually at the King's Head Tavern, over against the Inner Temple Gate. But upon occasion of the signal of a green ribbon agreed to be worn in their hats, in the days of street-engagements, like the coats of arms of valiant knights of old, whereby all the warriors of that society might be distinguished, and not mistake friends for enemies; they were called also the Green Ribbon Club. Their seat was in a sort of car-four at Chancery-lane-end; a centre of business and company most proper for such anglers of fools. The house was double balconied in the front, as may be yet seen, for the clubsters to issue forth in fresco, with hats and no perruques; pipes in their mouths, merry faces, and diluted throats, for the vocal encouragement of the canaglia below, at bonfires, on usual and unusual occasions.' The Green Ribbon is frequently alluded to. cf. Otway, The Poet's Complaint of His Muse (4to, 1680), xv:—
He gain'd authority and place:
By many for preferments was thought fit,
For talking treason without fear or wit:
For opening failings in the state: }
For loving noisy and unsound debate, }
And wearing of a mystical green ribband in his hat. }
p. [400] Mrs. Behn's Satyr on Dryden. This acrid attack upon the great laureate is ungenerous to a degree, and Mrs. Behn's jibes are the more surprising, inasmuch as she had always been Tory to the backbone and a particular partisan of King James II. No doubt continued ill health and a hard struggle are largely responsible for her bad temper. There can be no question that Dryden's conversion was absolutely conscientious, and his line of action at the Revolution amply proves his sincerity. Few, if any, critics would to-day venture to echo Macaulay's discredited pronouncements, doubly dangerous that they are from the vigour and charm of their expression. Burnet's partisan libels and denunciation of Dryden can be dismissed as impertinent and groundless. It is not to be supposed that on such an occasion the whole horde of waspish Lilliputians, who hated the genius of glorious John, would not pour forth a very torrent of venom and slime. Such impotent pasquils as The Renegado Poet, and To Mr. Dryden upon his declaring himself a Roman Catholic abound. Dryden, so far as we know, had always shown himself kindly to Mrs. Behn. He included her paraphrase of Ovid's [OE]none to Paris in the translation of Ovid's Epistles 'by several Hands' (1680), and took care to pay her a graceful compliment in the preface. Further, he allowed a prologue of his own to be used at the production of her posthumous play, The Widow Ranter, in 1690. His letter of advice to Corinna (Mrs. Thomas), which, with an acknowledgement of the freedom of some of his own scenes, bids her refrain from following the carelessness of the illustrious Astrea, was written with reference to the mitigated taste of the last years of the seventeenth century when Collier had already penned his diatribe of decorum, rather than as a rebuke of, or a reflection upon Mrs. Behn.
I owe the present copy of this satire, which has never before been printed, to the kindness of G. Thorn Drury, Esq., K.C., who generously transcribed the lines, thirty-one in number, from a MS. in his possession, which he copied from Haslewood, who writes 'From an old MS. in my Port Folio'.[7] The Historical MSS. Commission Third Report (1872) Appendix gives amongst the MSS. in the custody of the Bishop of Southwark, On Mr. Dryden renegate, by Mrs. Behn, 1 leaf, 33 lines. Fr. Cunningham, the Southwark archivist, whom I take this opportunity of most heartily thanking for the trouble he was put to in the matter, finds that this leaf was one of a number of MSS. restored by Bishop Danell in October, 1875, to the two sources whence they had been borrowed by the Rev. Mark Tierney. These were the Archivium of the late Cardinal Manning, and the Stonyhurst collection. Fr. Cyril Martindale, S.J., informs me that the poem is not to be found at Stonyhurst College. Nor can it be traced at Westminster. The unfortunate conclusion is that it has been irretrievably lost. A couplet would appear to have dropped out in the present copy.
[7] In line twenty-four the MS. has 'constant to worship', but as Mr. Thorn Drury pertinently points out, 'content' is clearly the right word.
p. [401] Valentinian. For Rochester's Valentinian see Vol. III, The Lucky Chance, Preface (p. 186), and note on that passage (p. 484). This alteration was printed quarto, 1685, with a vigorous defence of Rochester, 'a Preface concerning the Author and his Writings. By one of his Friends.' (i.e. Robert Wolseley, son of Sir Charles Wolseley.) It is curious to note that two publishers divided the risk of publication, and on the title pages of different 4tos we have different names. Mrs. Sarah Cook, who spoke this Prologue the first day, was an actress of no little eminence and beauty. Her origin was humble (her mother is said to have kept a tiny shop), and she early joined the Nursery. In 1677 we find her cast for Gillian, when Leanard's wholesale plagiarism of Brewer's Country Girl entitled Country Innocence; or, The Chambermaid turn'd Quaker, was produced during Lent by the younger part of the Theatre Royal Company, with help from such experienced performers as Haynes, Lydal, Goodman, Mrs. Marshall and Mrs. Knipp. The following year Mrs. Cook acted Flora in The Rambling Justice, another Nursery play, also put on in Lent. Langbaine ascribes this comedy to Leanard, and much of it is stolen in his style. Amongst Mrs. Cook's many rôles after she had joined the King's Company as a regular actress were:—1681, Livia, in D'Urfey's Sir Barnaby Whig; 1682, Semanthe, in Southerne's The Loyal Brother; The Countess of Rutland in Banks' The Unhappy Favourite. After the Union of the Companies (first performance 16 November, 1682), Mrs. Cook, who had already taken a high place, acted parts of great importance. We find that she spoke the Epilogue to Dryden and Lee's The Duke of Guise (December, 1682), and in 1683 she appears as Spaconia in a notable revival of A King and No King. The same year she possibly acted the Countess in Ravenscroft's Dame Dobson. In 1684 she played Serena in Lee's Constantine the Great; Erminia in Southerne's The Disappointment; Portia, in a revival of Julius Cæsar; 1685, Aminta in D'Urfey's The Commonwealth of Women; Edith, in a revival of Rollo, Duke of Normandy; 1686, Lady Lovemore in Jevon's farce, A Devil of A Wife; Donna Elvira in D'Urfey's The Banditti; 1687, Letitia in Mrs. Behn's The Lucky Chance; Quisara in Tate's poor alteration of The Island Princess; Elaria, in Mrs. Behn's farcical The Emperor of the Moon. Genest who records this as her last rôle says that she quitted the stage at this time. It has been stated that she died in the winter of 1687. At any rate her name no longer appears, and her place was amply filled by the advent of Mrs. Bracegirdle. Mrs. Cook was celebrated for speaking saucy and political epilogues, e.g. that to The Duke of Guise, and, again, Dryden's brilliant epilogue to Constantine the Great. A MS. (Harleian) Satire on the Players (c. 1682-3) coarsely vilipends her thus:—
Impudent Sarah thinks she's praised by all,
Mistaken Drab, back to thy Mother's stall,
And let true Savin whom thou hast proved so well; }
'Tis a rare thing that belly will not swell, }
Though swived and swived and as debauched as hell. }
On the Second Day of Valentinian a second prologue was spoken by Mrs. Cook. They are clever verses, and with regard to the critics who gird at Rochester, some 'for his want of Wit', and others because 'he too obscenely writ', it is said:—
Like Falstaffe let 'em conquer Heroes dead,
And praise Greek Poets they cou'd never read.
The third 'Prologue intended for Valentinian, to be spoken by Mrs. Barrey' contains the famous lines with reference to the dead author:—