[ [171] Charles Williams was a young actor of great promise, who died in 1731. On the production of Thomson's "Sophonisba" at Drury Lane, on February 28th, 1730, Cibber played Scipio, but was so hissed by a public that would not suffer him in tragic parts, that he resigned the character to Williams. (See Footnote 201, vol. i. anchored on page 179.) This would seem to indicate that Williams was an actor of some position, for Scipio is a good part.
[ [172] "In the strong expression of horror on the murder of the King, and the loud exclamations of surprize and terror, Booth might have exceeded the utmost efforts of Wilks. But, in the touches of domestic woe, which require the feelings of the tender father and the affectionate husband, Wilks had no equal. His skill, in exhibiting the emotions of the overflowing heart with corresponding look and action, was universally admired and felt. His rising, after the suppression of his anguish, into ardent and manly resentment, was highly expressive of noble and generous anger."—"Dram. Misc.," ii. 183.
[ [173] This revival took place 11th January, 1726. The play was acted eleven times.
[ [174] Jeremy Collier specially attacked Vanbrugh and his comedies for their immorality and profanity, and for their abuse of the clergy. Even less strict critics than Collier considered Vanbrugh's pieces as more indecent than the average play. Thus the author of "Faction Display'd," 1704, writes:—
"Van's Baudy, Plotless Plays were once our boast,
But now the Poet's in the Builder lost."
[ [175] Davies ("Dram. Misc.," iii. 455) says that he supposes Cibber prevailed upon Vanbrugh to alter the disguise which Sir John Brute assumes from a clergyman's habit to that of a woman of fashion.
[ [176] Sir John Brute.
[ [177] Cibber's meaning is not very clear, but if he intends to convey the idea that it was for this revival that Vanbrugh made these alterations, he is probably wrong, for when the play was revived at the Haymarket, on 19th January, 1706, it was announced as "with alterations."
[ [178] Mrs. Oldfield played Lady Brute, whose lover Constant is.