in the State of the Stage. The Beginning of its better Days, under the Triumvirate of be Stage, in its higheft Profperity. The Me- nagers not without Errors. Of what Kind. Cato first acted. What brought it to the Stage. The Company go to Oxford. Their Succefs, and different Auditors there. Booth made a Sharer. Dogget objects to him. Quits the Stage upon his Admittance. That not his Sir Richard Steele fucceeds Collier, in the Theatre-Royal. Lincolns-Inn Fields House rebuilt. The patent reftored. Eight Actors at once defert from the King's Company. Why. A new Patent obtain'd by Sir Richard Steele, and affign'd in Shares, to the menaging Ac- tors of Drury-Lane. Of modern Pantomimes. The Rife of them. Vanity invincible, and a- The Author Steps out of his Way. cal Anecdotes in former Reigns Minifters, and Menagers always cenfured The Dif- ficulty of applying the Stage, with good Aε- tors, confider'd Courtiers, and Comedians ace, the ΑΝ pag On a Marble Fablet in Latimer Church this inscmption was placed by William Juke of Devonshire Requies at hie Pars mortatio Maria Anno Campion Supra cetatem sagax venetaest Inter scenicos ludos in quibus aliquandiu verecunda et intemerata Postquatuor mensium languorem Forti pectore, et Xtiana pietate subuit. (Se qued mentem mortalia tangent) Flebilis Amicis hew flebilion I lectipimis religing Sacmim ΑΝ APOLOGY FOR THE LIFE of Mr. COLLEY CIBBER, &c. CHAP. I. The Introduction. The Author's Birth. Various Fortune at School. Not lik'd by thofe he lov'd there. Why. A Digreffion upon Raillery. The Ufe and Abufe of it. The Comforts of Folly. Vanity of Greatness. Laughing, no bad Philofophy. Y OU know, Sir, I have often told you, that one time or other I should give the Publick fome Memoirs of my own Life; at which you have never fail'd to laugh, like a Friend, without faying a word to diffuade me from it; concluding, I fuppofe, that fuch a wild Thought could not poffibly require a serious Answer. But B you fee I was my I was in earnest. And now you will fay, the World will find me, under my own Hand, a weaker Man than perhaps I may have pass'd for, even among my Enemies. With all Heart! my Enemies will then read me with Pleasure, and you, perhaps, with Envy, when you find that Follies, without the Reproach of Guilt upon them, are not inconfiftent with Happiness. -But why make my Follies publick? Why not? I have pafs'd my Time very pleasantly with them, and I don't recollect that they have ever been hurtful to any other Man living. Even admitting they were injudiciously chofen, would it not be Vanity in me to take Shame to myself for not being found a Wife Man? Really, Sir, my Appetites were in too much hafte to be happy, to throw away my Time in pursuit of a Name I was fure I could never arrive at. Now the Follies I frankly confess, I look upon as, in fome measure, difcharged; while those I conceal are still keeping the Account open between me and my Confcience. To me the Fatigue of being upon a continual Guard to hide them, is more than the Reputation of being without them can repay. If this be Weakness, defendit numerus, I have fuch comfortable Numbers on my fide, that were all Men to blush, that are not Wise, I am afraid, in Ten, Nine Parts of the World ought to be out of Countenance: But fince that fort of Modefty is what they don't care to come into, why should I be afraid of being star'd at, for not |