On grinning Dragons Cibber mounts the wind."
On these lines Cibber remarks, in his "Letter to Mr. Pope," 1742 (page 37): "If you, figuratively, mean by this, that I was an Encourager of those Fooleries, you are mistaken; for it is not true: If you intend it literally, that I was Dunce enough to mount a Machine, there is as little Truth in that too."
[ [138] Henry of Navarre, of whom it has been said that he regarded religion mainly as a diplomatic instrument.
[ [139] It is hardly necessary to note that this was the Scottish Rebellion of 1715; yet Bellchambers indicates the period as 1718.
[ [140] Cibber's most notorious play, "The Nonjuror," was produced at Drury Lane on 6th December, 1717. The cast was:—
| Sir John Woodvil | Mr. Mills. |
| Colonel Woodvil | Mr. Booth. |
| Mr. Heartly | Mr. Wilks. |
| Doctor Wolf | Mr. Cibber. |
| Charles | Mr. Walker. |
| Lady Woodvil | Mrs. Porter. |
| Maria | Mrs. Oldfield. |
[ [141] Genest (ii. 615) quotes the Epilogue to Sewell's "Sir Walter Raleigh," produced at Lincoln's Inn Fields 16th January, 1719:—
"Yet to write plays is easy, faith, enough,
As you have seen by—Cibber—in Tartuffe.
With how much wit he did your hearts engage!