Upon the humble application of certain persons who have made heroic figures in Mr. Bickerstaff's narrations, notice is hereby given, that no such shall ever be mentioned for the future, except those who have sent menaces, and not submitted to admonition.
FOOTNOTES:
[169] No. 67.
[170] See No. 62.
[171] Printed in Swift's Works.
[172] Thomas Betterton was born in Westminster about 1635, and was apprenticed to a bookseller. There are various accounts of how he came to go on to the stage, but in 1661 he joined Sir William Davenant's company at Lincoln's Inn Fields. Davenant's son afterwards gave Betterton a share in the management, and the company ("the Duke's") moved to Dorset Garden. In 1682 this company united with the King's company. Betterton lost all his savings in a speculation in 1692. Soon afterwards the patentee of the theatre quarrelled with the actors about their salaries, and Betterton and his friends obtained a licence to set up a theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields. Betterton does not seem to have been a good manager, and he was often in straitened circumstances. In April 1709 the benefit described in No. 1 of the Tatler was arranged for his benefit; on that occasion Betterton, though over seventy, acted the youthful part of Valentine in "Love for Love." The performance brought Betterton £500. Writing on the occasion of his death, Steele paid a high tribute to the actor's powers in No. 167.
It is interesting to note what Zachary Baggs, treasurer at Drury Lane, stated to be the salary paid to, and the amount made by benefits by, the principal performers. I quote from a rare quarto paper of two leaves, issued by Baggs in July 1709 upon the threatened secession of the actors. He says that during the season, October 1708 to June 1709, 135 days—
| £. | s. | d. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wilks was paid by salary | 168 | 6 | 8 |
| By his benefit play | 90 | 14 | 9 |
| Betterton was paid, by his salary £4 a week, and £1 a week for his wife, although she does not act | 112 | 10 | 0 |
| By a benefit, besides what he got by high prices and guineas | 76 | 4 | 5 |
| Estcourt was paid at £5 a week salary | 112 | 10 | 0 |
| By his benefit play | 51 | 8 | 6 |
| Cibber was paid at £5 a week salary | 112 | 10 | 0 |
| By his benefit play | 51 | 0 | 10 |
| Mills was paid £4 a week salary, and £1 for his wife, for little or nothing | 112 | 10 | 0 |
| By his benefit play (not including hers) | 58 | 1 | 4 |
| Mrs. Oldfield had £4 a week salary, making for fourteen weeks and a day | 56 | 13 | 4 |
| She was also paid for costumes | 2 | 10 | 7 |
| And by her benefit play she had | 62 | 7 | 8 |
| In all | £1077 | 3 | 8 |