[ [320] Fielding, in the "Champion" for Tuesday, April 22nd, 1740, says of Cibber's refusal to quote from "Pasquin"—"the good Parent seems to imagine that he hath produced, as well as my Lord Clarendon, a [Greek: Ktêma es aei]; for he refuses to quote anything out of Pasquin, lest he should give it a chance of being remembered."
Mr. Dobson ("Fielding," page 69) says Fielding "never seems to have wholly forgotten his animosity to the actor, to whom there are frequent references in Joseph Andrews; and, as late as 1749, he is still found harping on 'the withered laurel' in a letter to Lyttelton. Even in his last work, the Voyage to Lisbon, Cibber's name is mentioned. The origin of this protracted feud is obscure; but, apart from want of sympathy, it must probably be sought for in some early misunderstanding between the two in their capacities of manager and author."
[ [321] By Lord Chesterfield.
[ [322] Horace, Ars Poetica, 180.
[ [323] Guiscard's attack on Harley occurred in 1711.
[ [324] Genest (iii. 521) remarks, "If the power of the Licenser had been laid under proper regulations, all would have been right." The whole objection to the Licenser is simply that he is under no regulations whatever. He is a perfectly irresponsible authority, and one from whose decisions there is no appeal.
[ [325] Cibber received three thousand guineas from Highmore for his share in the Patent (See Victor's "History," i. 8).
[ [326] "The Laureat," page 72: "Indeed, Laureat, notwithstanding what thou may'st dream of the Immortality of this Work of thine, and bestowing the same on thy Favourites by recording them here; thou mayst, old as thou art, live to see thy precious Labours become the vile Wrappers of Pastry-Grocers and Chandlery Wares." The issue of the present edition of Cibber's "Apology" is sufficient commentary on "The Laureat's" ill-natured prophecy.
[ [327] Cibber prints 1684, repeating his former blunder. (See p. 96.)
[ [328] The first play acted by the United Company was "Hamlet." In this Estcourt is cast for the Gravedigger, so that if Cibber's anecdote is accurate, as no doubt it is, Estcourt must have "doubled" the Gravedigger and the speaker of the Prologue.