DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.53268#0069
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« rage, tendernefs, and jealoufy, were all reprefented by her with equal (kill,
« and equal effeCL In the play of the Orphan, when, on leaving Caftalio,
« in the laid aCt, (he burft out into that affeCting exclamation, ‘ O poor
“ Caftalio I’ (he never failed to (bed tears herfelf, nor was it poffible for
<e the audience to reftrain from correfpondent lamentations. Betterton bore
<< this teftimony to the perfection of this eminent aCtrefs: that (he often
i! fo greatly exerted her art in an indifferent character, that her aCting
“ had given fuccefs to plays that would difguft the mod patient reader.”
Her performance ofMonimia, Belvidera, and Ifabella in the Fatal Mar-
riage, “ gained her,” as old Downes, in his Rofcius Anglicanus, informs us,
“ the name of Famous Mrs. Barry, both at Court and City; for whenever
fine aCted any of thofe three parts, (he forced tears from the eyes of her
« auditory, efpecially thofe who have any fenfe of pity for the diftreffed.”
Between the years 1704 and 1706, Dryden’s All for Love, and Shak-
fpeare’s Merry Wives of Windfor, were commanded to be aCted at St.
James’s 5 in which plays Mrs. Barry performed the very diffimilar parts of
Cleopatra and Mrs. Page.
The laft new character (he appeared in was Phcedra, in Smith’s tragedy
of Phcedra and Hippolitus, in 1707.
Mrs. Barry is faid to have been extremely beautiful, and to have poffeffed
a very fuperior degree of underftanding to that of mod of her female thea-
trical contemporaries; Lord Pvochefter was not only captivated by her
perfonal attractions ; but, the more he converted with her, found her miftrefs
of more exquilite charms.
The cuftom of benefit plays originated with this admirable aCtrefs : (lie
having, for her extraordinary merit, been firft complimented with one about
the year 1687 : which indulgence was repeated annually, and confined folely
to her for feveral fucceffive feafons: it is therefore to be prefumed that,
with her fettled appointment of falary, which muft have been confiderable,
and the profits of her benefits, which, no doubt, were great 5 (he became
what, for her rank in life, may be termed wealthy. But,
“--all that Beauty, all that Wealth e’er gave,.
Await alike th’ inevitable hour!”
« rage, tendernefs, and jealoufy, were all reprefented by her with equal (kill,
« and equal effeCL In the play of the Orphan, when, on leaving Caftalio,
« in the laid aCt, (he burft out into that affeCting exclamation, ‘ O poor
“ Caftalio I’ (he never failed to (bed tears herfelf, nor was it poffible for
<e the audience to reftrain from correfpondent lamentations. Betterton bore
<< this teftimony to the perfection of this eminent aCtrefs: that (he often
i! fo greatly exerted her art in an indifferent character, that her aCting
“ had given fuccefs to plays that would difguft the mod patient reader.”
Her performance ofMonimia, Belvidera, and Ifabella in the Fatal Mar-
riage, “ gained her,” as old Downes, in his Rofcius Anglicanus, informs us,
“ the name of Famous Mrs. Barry, both at Court and City; for whenever
fine aCted any of thofe three parts, (he forced tears from the eyes of her
« auditory, efpecially thofe who have any fenfe of pity for the diftreffed.”
Between the years 1704 and 1706, Dryden’s All for Love, and Shak-
fpeare’s Merry Wives of Windfor, were commanded to be aCted at St.
James’s 5 in which plays Mrs. Barry performed the very diffimilar parts of
Cleopatra and Mrs. Page.
The laft new character (he appeared in was Phcedra, in Smith’s tragedy
of Phcedra and Hippolitus, in 1707.
Mrs. Barry is faid to have been extremely beautiful, and to have poffeffed
a very fuperior degree of underftanding to that of mod of her female thea-
trical contemporaries; Lord Pvochefter was not only captivated by her
perfonal attractions ; but, the more he converted with her, found her miftrefs
of more exquilite charms.
The cuftom of benefit plays originated with this admirable aCtrefs : (lie
having, for her extraordinary merit, been firft complimented with one about
the year 1687 : which indulgence was repeated annually, and confined folely
to her for feveral fucceffive feafons: it is therefore to be prefumed that,
with her fettled appointment of falary, which muft have been confiderable,
and the profits of her benefits, which, no doubt, were great 5 (he became
what, for her rank in life, may be termed wealthy. But,
“--all that Beauty, all that Wealth e’er gave,.
Await alike th’ inevitable hour!”