[ [34] See note, vol. i. p. 301.
[ [35] 1707. See note on page 3 of this vol.
[ [36] The edict which ordered this division of plays and operas is dated 31st December, 1707. Each theatre is ordered to confine itself to its own sphere on pain of being silenced; and no other theatre is permitted to be built. A copy of the edict is given by Mr. Percy Fitzgerald ("New History," i. 258), but it is not a verbatim copy of the original in the Lord Chamberlain's Office, though it contains all that is of importance in it.
[ [37] At the Union, 1707-8, the Lord Chamberlain took measures to assert his supremacy. Under date 6th January, 1708, he orders that no actors are to be engaged at Drury-Lane who are not Her Majesty's servants, and he therefore directs the managers to send a list of all actors to be sworn in.
[ [38] Bellchambers notes that Mrs. Tofts "sang in English, while her associates responded in Italian."
[ [39] The whole passage regarding Nicolini is:—
"I went on Friday last to the Opera, and was surprised to find a thin House at so noble an Entertainment, till I heard that the Tumbler was not to make his Appearance that Night. For my own Part, I was fully satisfied with the Sight of an Actor, who, by the Grace and Propriety of his Action and Gesture, does Honour to an human Figure, as much as the other vilifies and degrades it. Every one will easily imagine I mean Signior Nicolini, who sets off the Character he bears in an Opera by his Action, as much as he does the Words of it by his Voice. Every Limb, and every Finger, contributes to the Part he acts, insomuch that a deaf Man might go along with him in the Sense of it. There is scarce a beautiful Posture in an old Statue which he does not plant himself in, as the different Circumstances of the Story give Occasion for it. He performs the most ordinary Action in a Manner suitable to the Greatness of his Character, and shows the Prince even in the giving of a Letter, or the dispatching of a Message. Our best Actors are somewhat at a Loss to support themselves with proper Gesture, as they move from any considerable Distance to the Front of the Stage; but I have seen the Person of whom I am now speaking, enter alone at the remotest Part of it, and advance from it with such Greatness of Air and Mien, as seemed to fill the Stage, and at the same Time commanded the Attention of the Audience with the Majesty of his Appearance."—"Tatler," No. 115, January 3rd, 1710.
[ [40] An excellent account of Mrs. Tofts is given by Mr. Henry Morley in a note on page 38 of his valuable edition of the "Spectator." She was the daughter of one of Bishop Burnet's household, and had great natural gifts. In 1709 she was obliged to quit the stage, her mental faculties having failed; but she afterwards recovered, and married Mr. Joseph Smith, a noted art patron, who was appointed English Consul at Venice. Her intellect again became disordered, and she died about the year 1760.
[ [41] Cibber's most notorious blunder in language was made in this sentence. In his first edition he wrote "was then but an Adept in it," completely reversing the meaning of the word "Adept." Fielding ("Champion," 22nd April, 1740) declares Cibber to be a most absolute Master of English, "for surely he must be absolute Master of that whose Laws he can trample under Feet, and which he can use as he pleases. This Power he hath exerted, of which I shall give a barbarous Instance in the Case of the poor Word Adept.... This Word our great Master hath tortured and wrested to signify a Tyro or Novice, being directly contrary to the Sense in which it hath been hitherto used." It is of course conceivable that the error was a printer's error not corrected in reading the proof.
[ [42] Nicolini was the stage name of the Cavalier Nicolo Grimaldi. Dr. Burney says: "This great singer, and still greater actor, was a Neapolitan; his voice was at first a soprano, but afterwards descended into a fine contralto." He first appeared, about 1694, in Rome, and paid his first visit to England in 1708. Valentini Urbani was a castrato, his voice was not so strong as Nicolini's, but his action was so excellent that his vocal defects were not noticed.—"General History of Music," 1789, iv. 207, 205.