The latter house made no acquisitions such as Drury found in King and in Palmer. Dyer, however, proved a useful actor, beginning his career with Tom Errand, and bringing with him his wife, the daughter of Mrs. Christopher Bullock, the daughter of Wilks. On the other hand, the Garden lost Delane, whose first appearance at Goodman's Fields, in 1730,[54] was temporarily menacing to the supremacy of Quin, as Garrick's was permanently so, some years later. He was a graceful and clever actor, but there was only one character of note of which he was the original representative—Mahomet.
With this season also departed the actress whom Wilks and Booth looked upon as the legitimate successor of Mrs. Oldfield, namely, Mrs. Horton. Steele highly praised her for her acting Lady Brumpton in his "Funeral." Long after youth was passed she retained a luxuriant beauty, which was the envy of less richly endowed ladies. She loved homage rendered to her charms, and was grateful for it, however humble he who paid it. In her best days all young London was sighing at her feet, and in the meridian of her sunny time she invited adoration by the most exquisite coquetry. About this time her powers began so to decay that Rich only estimated her worth at £4 per week. Between Mrs. Woffington and Mrs. Pritchard she suffered shipwreck. Mrs. Horton was an artificial actress, the other two were of an opposite quality; Mrs. Pritchard especially captivated the public by her natural and intelligible style of speaking. Davies says,—Mrs. Horton had a small annuity, and that Garrick and Lacy added to it by giving her a "part of a benefit." She had, however, other resources. When Lord Orford patronised Lord Luxborough, eldest son of Knight, of South Sea Company notoriety, people could not account for it, but Horace Walpole could. "Lord Luxborough," he writes to Mann, "keeps Mrs. Horton the player; we (Orford) keep Miss Norsa, the player. Rich, the harlequin, is an intimate of all; and to cement the harlequinity, somebody's brother (excuse me if I am not perfect in such genealogy) is to marry the Jewess's sister." In this wise did the stage in those days act upon politics. The Miss Norsa, above-named, had been a singer, of some repute, and Orford, then Lord Walpole, had taken her off the stage with the concurrence of her parents, to whom he gave a bond by which he engaged to marry her as soon as his wife should die! His wife, however, happily outlived him. Horace Walpole, writing to Mann from Houghton, in 1743, says:—"Lord Walpole has taken a dozen pictures to Stanno, a small house, about four miles from hence, where he lives with my Lady Walpole's vicegerent. You may imagine that her deputies are no fitter than she is to come where there is a modest, unmarried girl." This girl was Maria Walpole, daughter of Sir Robert, and subsequently the wife of Colonel Churchill, one of Mrs. Oldfield's sons.
Six-and-thirty years had Mrs. Horton been on the stage (1714-1750), and in all that time she was the original representative of only one character, Mariana, in the "Miser."
And now we come to the famous Romeo and Juliet season, that of 1750-51, in which Garrick and Barry were the rival Romeos, Miss Bellamy and Mrs. Cibber the opposing Juliets. Barry, by passing to Covent Garden, was enabled to play with Quin, in "Othello," the "Orphan," "Jane Shore," "Henry V.," "Julius Cæsar," "Distressed Mother," "Fair Penitent," "Tamerlane," and "King John." In these, Barry's Faulconbridge was alone a failure, and Quin held his own so well that his terms for the season were £1000, the largest sum ever yet received by English actor; but his Richard was as little a success as Barry's Faulconbridge. Garrick, Mrs. Pritchard, and Miss Bellamy appeared together in "Zara;" at the other house,[55] Barry, Mrs. Cibber, and Mrs. Woffington, in the "Conscious Lovers." Mrs. Cibber, as Indiana, made a great point by her delivery of such simple words as these: "Sir, if you will pay the money to a servant, it will do as well!" Barry and Mrs. Woffington in Lord and Lady Townley, and Quin and Mrs. Woffington in "Macbeth," were among the attractions of Covent Garden, added to which was Rich's Harlequin; but for that also Garrick found a rival in Woodward, who played the motley hero as he played everything, with care and effect.
But all these matters were as nothing when compared with the rival Romeos and Juliets. They appeared on the same night, at their respective houses, the 28th of September, 1750. At Covent Garden, the public had Romeo, Barry; Mercutio, Macklin; Juliet, Mrs. Cibber. At Drury, Romeo, Garrick; Mercutio, Woodward; Juliet, Miss Bellamy. On the first night Barry spoke a poor prologue, in which it was insinuated that the arrogance and selfishness of Garrick had driven him and Mrs. Cibber from Covent Garden. Garrick, ready to repel assault, answered in a lively, good-natured epilogue, delivered saucily by Mrs. Clive.
It was considered a wonderful circumstance that this play ran for twelve nights successively; Garrick played it thirteen, to show that he was not beaten from the field! At that period the Londoners, who were constant playgoers, demanded a frequent change of performance; and the few country folk then in town felt aggrieved that one play should keep the stage during the whole fortnight they were in London. Thence the well-known epigram:—
"'Well, what's to-night?' says angry Ned,
As up from bed he rouses;
'Romeo again!' he shakes his head:
'A plague on both your houses!'"