ANTHONY LEIGH.
Now, though I observ'd before that Nokes never was tolerably touch'd by any of his Successors, yet in this Character I must own I have seen Leigh extremely well imitated by my late facetious Friend Penkethman, who, tho' far short of what was inimitable in the Original, yet, as to the general Resemblance, was a very valuable Copy of him: And, as I know Penkethman cannot yet be out of your Memory, I have chosen to mention him here, to give you the nearest Idea I can of the Excellence of Leigh in that particular Light: For Leigh had many masterly Variations which the other cou'd not, nor ever pretended to reach, particularly in the Dotage and Follies of extreme old Age, in the Characters of Fumble in the Fond Husband,[163] and the Toothless Lawyer[164] in the City Politicks, both which Plays liv'd only by the extraordinary Performance of Nokes and Leigh.
There were two other Characters of the farcical kind, Geta in the Prophetess, and Crack in Sir Courtly Nice, which, as they are less confin'd to Nature, the Imitation of them was less difficult to Penkethman,[165] who, to say the Truth, delighted more in the whimsical than the natural; therefore, when I say he sometimes resembled Leigh, I reserve this Distinction on his Master's side, that the pleasant Extravagancies of Leigh were all the Flowers of his own Fancy, while the less fertile Brain of my Friend was contented to make use of the Stock his Predecessor had left him. What I have said, therefore, is not to detract from honest Pinky's Merit, but to do Justice to his Predecessor——And though, 'tis true, we as seldom see a good Actor as a great Poet arise from the bare Imitation of another's Genius, yet if this be a general Rule, Penkethman was the nearest to an Exception from it; for with those who never knew Leigh he might very well have pass'd for a more than common Original. Yet again, as my Partiality for Penkethman ought not to lead me from Truth, I must beg leave (though out of its Place) to tell you fairly what was the best of him, that the superiority of Leigh may stand in its due Light——Penkethman had certainly from Nature a great deal of comic Power about him, but his Judgment was by no means equal to it; for he would make frequent Deviations into the Whimsies of an Harlequin. By the way, (let me digress a little farther) whatever Allowances are made for the Licence of that Character, I mean of an Harlequin, whatever Pretences may be urged, from the Practice of the ancient Comedy, for its being play'd in a Mask, resembling no part of the human Species, I am apt to think the best Excuse a modern Actor can plead for his continuing it, is that the low, senseless, and monstrous things he says and does in it no theatrical Assurance could get through with a bare Face: Let me give you an Instance of even Penkethman's being out of Countenance for want of it: When he first play'd Harlequin in the Emperor of the Moon,[166] several Gentlemen (who inadvertently judg'd by the Rules of Nature) fancied that a great deal of the Drollery and Spirit of his Grimace was lost by his wearing that useless, unmeaning Masque of a black Cat, and therefore insisted that the next time of his acting that Part he should play without it: Their Desire was accordingly comply'd with——but, alas! in vain—Penkethman could not take to himself the Shame of the Character without being concealed—he was no more Harlequin—his Humour was quite disconcerted! his Conscience could not with the same Effronterie declare against Nature without the cover of that unchanging Face, which he was sure would never blush for it! no! it was quite another Case! without that Armour his Courage could not come up to the bold Strokes that were necessary to get the better of common Sense. Now if this Circumstance will justify the Modesty of Penkethman, it cannot but throw a wholesome Contempt on the low Merit of an Harlequin. But how farther necessary the Masque is to that Fool's Coat, we have lately had a stronger Proof in the Favour that the Harlequin Sauvage met with at Paris, and the ill Fate that followed the same Sauvage when he pull'd off his Masque in London.[167] So that it seems what was Wit from an Harlequin was something too extravagant from a human Creature. If, therefore, Penkethman in Characters drawn from Nature might sometimes launch out into a few gamesome Liberties which would not have been excused from a more correct Comedian, yet, in his manner of taking them, he always seem'd to me in a kind of Consciousness of the Hazard he was running, as if he fairly confess'd that what he did was only as well as he could do——That he was willing to take his Chance for Success, but if he did not meet with it a Rebuke should break no Squares; he would mend it another time, and would take whatever pleas'd his Judges to think of him in good part; and I have often thought that a good deal of the Favour he met with was owing to this seeming humble way of waving all Pretences to Merit but what the Town would please to allow him. What confirms me in this Opinion is, that when it has been his ill Fortune to meet with a Disgraccia, I have known him say apart to himself, yet loud enough to be heard——Odso! I believe I am a little wrong here! which once was so well receiv'd by the Audience that they turn'd their Reproof into Applause.[168]
Now, the Judgment of Leigh always guarded the happier Sallies of his Fancy from the least Hazard of Disapprobation: he seem'd not to court, but to attack your Applause, and always came off victorious; nor did his highest Assurance amount to any more than that just Confidence without which the commendable Spirit of every good Actor must be abated; and of this Spirit Leigh was a most perfect Master. He was much admir'd by King Charles, who us'd to distinguish him when spoke of by the Title of his Actor: Which however makes me imagine that in his Exile that Prince might have receiv'd his first Impression of good Actors from the French Stage; for Leigh had more of that farcical Vivacity than Nokes; but Nokes was never languid by his more strict Adherence to Nature, and as far as my Judgment is worth taking, if their intrinsick Merit could be justly weigh'd, Nokes must have had the better in the Balance. Upon the unfortunate Death of Monfort, Leigh fell ill of a Fever, and dy'd in a Week after him, in December 1692.[169]
Underhil was a correct and natural Comedian, his particular Excellence was in Characters that may be called Still-life, I mean the Stiff, the Heavy, and the Stupid; to these he gave the exactest and most expressive Colours, and in some of them look'd as if it were not in the Power of human Passions to alter a Feature of him. In the solemn Formality of Obadiah in the Committee, and in the boobily Heaviness of Lolpoop in the Squire of Alsatia, he seem'd the immoveable Log he stood for! a Countenance of Wood could not be more fixt than his, when the Blockhead of a Character required it: His Face was full and long; from his Crown to the end of his Nose was the shorter half of it, so that the Disproportion of his lower Features, when soberly compos'd, with an unwandering Eye hanging over them, threw him into the most lumpish, moping Mortal that ever made Beholders merry! not but at other times he could be wakened into Spirit equally ridiculous——In the course, rustick Humour of Justice Clodpate, in Epsome Wells,[170] he was a delightful Brute! and in the blunt Vivacity of Sir Sampson, in Love for Love, he shew'd all that true perverse Spirit that is commonly seen in much Wit and Ill-nature. This Character is one of those few so well written, with so much Wit and Humour, that an Actor must be the grossest Dunce that does not appear with an unusual Life in it: But it will still shew as great a Proportion of Skill to come near Underhil in the acting it, which (not to undervalue those who soon came after him) I have not yet seen. He was particularly admir'd too for the Gravedigger in Hamlet. The Author of the Tatler recommends him to the Favour of the Town upon that Play's being acted for his Benefit, wherein, after his Age had some Years oblig'd him to leave the Stage, he came on again, for that Day, to perform his old Part;[171] but, alas! so worn and disabled, as if himself was to have lain in the Grave he was digging; when he could no more excite Laughter, his Infirmities were dismiss'd with Pity: He dy'd soon after, a superannuated Pensioner in the List of those who were supported by the joint Sharers under the first Patent granted to Sir Richard Steele.
The deep Impressions of these excellent Actors which I receiv'd in my Youth, I am afraid may have drawn me into the common Foible of us old Fellows; which is a Fondness, and perhaps a tedious Partiality, for the Pleasures we have formerly tasted, and think are now fallen off because we can no longer enjoy them. If therefore I lie under that Suspicion, tho' I have related nothing incredible or out of the reach of a good Judge's Conception, I must appeal to those Few who are about my own Age for the Truth and Likeness of these Theatrical Portraits.
There were at this time several others in some degree of Favour with the Publick, Powel,[172] Verbruggen,[173] Williams,[174] &c. But as I cannot think their best Improvements made them in any wise equal to those I have spoke of, I ought not to range them in the same Class. Neither were Wilks or Dogget yet come to the Stage; nor was Booth initiated till about six Years after them; or Mrs. Oldfield known till the Year 1700. I must therefore reserve the four last for their proper Period, and proceed to the Actresses that were famous with Betterton at the latter end of the last Century.
Mrs. Barry was then in possession of almost all the chief Parts in Tragedy: With what Skill she gave Life to them you will judge from the Words of Dryden in his Preface to Cleomenes,[175] where he says,