Atticle, viz. a plain and palpable fimplicity of Nature, which was fo utterly his own, that he was often as unaccountably diverting in his com mon fpeech, as on the Stage. I faw him once, giving an Account of fome Table-talk, to another Actor behind the Scenes, which a Man of Quali ty accidentally liftening to, was fo deceived by his Manner, that he ask'd him, if that was a new Play, he was reheafing? It seems almost amazing that this fimplicity, fo eafy to Nokes, fhould never be caught by any one of his Succeffors. Leigh and Underhill have been well copied, tho not equall'd by others. But not all the mimical Skill of Eftcourt (fam'd as he was for it) tho' he had often seen Nokes, could scarce give us an Idea of him. But Nokes was fo fingular a fpecies, and was fo form'd by Nature for the Stage, that I queftion if (beyond the trouble of getting Words by Heart) if ever coft him an Hour's Labour to arrive at that high Reputation he had, and deferved. The Characters he particularly fhone in, were Sir Martin Marr-al, Gomez in the Spanish Friar, Sir Nicholas Cully in Love in a Tub, Barnaby Brittle in the Wanton Wife, Sir Davy Dunce in the Soldier's Fortune, Sofia in Amphytrion, &c. &c. &c. To tell you how he acted them, is beyond the reach of Criticifm: But to tell you what Effect his Action had upon the Spectator, is not impoffible: This then is all you will expect from me, and from hence I must leave you to guess at him. He fcarce ever made his firft Entrance in a Play, but he was received with an involuntary Applaufe, not of Hands only, for thofe may be, and have often been partially prostituted, and be spoken poken; but by a General Laughter, which the very fight of him provoked, and Nature cou'd not refift; yet the louder the Laugh, the graver was his Look upon it; and fute, the ridiculous Solemnity of his Features were enough to have fet a whole Bench of Bishops into a Titter, cou'd he have been honour'd (may it be no Offence to fuppofe it) with fuch grave and right reverend Auditors. In the ludicrous Diftreffes, which by the Laws of Comedy, Folly is often involv'd in; he funk into fuch a mixture of piteous Pufillanimity, and Confternation fo ruefully ridiculous and inconfolab'e, that when he had hook you, to a Fatigue of Laughter, it became a moot point, whether you ought not to have pity'd him. When he debated any matter by himself, he would fhut up his Mouth with a dumb ftudious Powt, and roll his full Eye into fuch a vacant Amazment, fuch a palpable Ignorance of what to think of it, that his filent Perplexity (which would fometimes hold him feveral Minutes) gave your Imagination as full Content, as the moft abfurd thing he could fay upon it. In the Character of Sir Martin Marr-all, who is always committing Blunders to the Prejueice of his own Intereft, when he had brought himself to a Dilemma in his Affairs, by vainly proceeding upon his own Head, and was, afterwards afraid to look his governing Servant and Counfellor in the Face; what a copious, and diftrefsful Harrangue have I feen him make with his look (while the Houfe has been in one continued Roar, for feveral Minutes) before he could prevail with his Courage to speak a Word to him? Then might you have, at once, read in his Face Vexation that his own Meafures which he hadpiqued himfelf upon, had fail'd. Envy of his Servants's fuperior Wit Diftrefs Diftrefs---to retrieve, the Occafion he had loft, Shame---to confefs his Folly; and yet a fullen Defire, to be reconciled and better advised, for the future! What Tragedy ever fhew'd us fuch a Tumult of Paffion, rifing at once, in one Bofom? or what buskin'd Heroe ftanding under the Load of them, could have more effectually, mov'd his Spectators, by the most pathetick Speech, than poor miferable Nokes did, by this filent Eloquence, and piteous Plight of his Features? His Perfon was of the middle fize, his Voice clear and Audible; his natural Countenance grave and fober: but the Moment he fpoke, the fettled ferioufnefs of his Features was utterly dif charg'd, and a dry, drolling, or laughing Levity took fuch full Poffeffion of him, that I can only refer the Idea of him to your Imagination. In fome of his low Characters, that became it, he had a fhuffling Shamble in his Gait, with fo contended an Ignorance in his Afpect, and an aukward Abfurdity in his Gesture, that had you not known him, you would not have believ'd, that naturally he could have had a Grain of common Senfe. In a Word, I am tempted to fum up the Character of Nokes, as a Comedian, in a parodie of what Shakespeare's Mark Antony says of Brutus as a Hero. His Life was Laughter, and the Ludicrous Mr. LEIGH's Character. MR. Leigh was of the mercurial kind, and though not fo ftrict an Obferver of Nature, yet never fo wanton in his Performance, as to be wholly out of her fight. In Humour, he lov'd to take a full Career, but was careful enough to ftop fhort, when just upon the Precipice: He had great Variety, in his manner, and was famous in very different Characters: In the canting, grave, Hypocrify of the Spanish Friar, he frecht the Veil of Piety fo thinkly over him, that in every Look, Word, and Motion, you faw a palpable, wicked Slynefs fhine through it--Here he kept his Vivacity demurely confin'd, till the pretended Duty of his Function demanded it ; and then he exerted it, with a cholerick facredotal Infolence. But the Friar is a Character of such glaring Vice, and fo ftrongly drawn, that a very indifferent Actor cannot but hit upon the broad Jefts, that are remarkable, in every Scene of it. Though I have never yet feen any one, that has fill'd them with half the Truth and Spirit of Leigh --Leigh rais'd the Character as much above the Poet's Imagination, as the Character has fometimes raised other Actors above themselves; and I do not doubt, but the Poet's Knowledge of Leigh's Genius help'd him to many a pleasant Stroke of Nature, which without that Knowledge never might have enter'd into his Conception. Leigh was fo eminent in this Character, that the late Earl of Dorfet (who was equally an Admirer, and a Judge of Theatrical Merit) Merit) had a whole Length of him, in the Friar's Habit, drawn by Kneller: The whole Portrait is highly painted, and extremely like him. But no wonder Leigh arriv'd to fuch Fame in what was fo compleatly written for him; when Characters that would make the Reader yawn, in the Clofet, have by the Strength of his Action, been lifted into the loudeft Laughter, on the Stage. Of this kind was the Scrivener's great boobily Son in the Villain; Ralph, a ftupid, ftaring, Underfervant, in Sir Solomon Single. Quite oppofite to those were Sir Jolly Jumble, in the Soldier's Fortune, and his old Belfond in the Squire of Alfatia. In Sir Jolly he was all Life, and laughing Humour; and when Nokes acted with him in the fame Play, they returned the Ball fo dextrously upon one another, that every scene between them, feem'd but one continued Reft of Excellence-But alas! when thofe Actors were gone, that Comedy, and many others, for the fame Reason, were rarely known to ftand upon their own Legs; by feeing no more of Leigh or Nokes in them, the Characters were quite funk, and alter'd. In his Sir William Belfond, Leigh fhew'd a more fpirited Variety than ever I faw in an Actor, in any one Character come up to : The Poet, 'tis true, had here, exactly chalked for him the Out-Lines of Nature; but the high Colouring, the ftrong Lights and Shades of Humour that enliven'd the whole, and ftruck our Admiration with Surprife and Delight, where wholly owing to the Actor. The eafy Reader might perhaps, have been pleased with the Author without difcompofing a Feature; but the Spectator must have heartily held his fides, or the Actor would have heartily made them ach for it. |