Dr. Arne and Rule, BritanniaCummings, William Hayman
History
Dr. Arne and Rule, Britannia
Cummings, William Hayman
Arne, Thomas Augustine, 1710-1778
Duke of Cumberland attended the second performance; the Prince of
Wales, the sixth, and the younger Princesses the eighth. Arne's next
composition was an experiment in another branch of stage work; a Masque
with Harlequinade entitled, "Dido and Æneas." He was now regularly
employed at Drury Lane Theatre as composer. His sister, Susannah Maria,
had acquired considerable fame both as singer and actress, and in
April, 1734, she married Theophilus Cibber, who became notorious as an
evil-doer. He was the son of Colley Cibber, and for about three years
husband and wife lived together; they had two children, who died in
infancy. The profligate husband had a friend, a Mr. Sloper, who with
ample means frequently relieved Cibber of pecuniary embarrassments,
but in 1738 the latter absconded to France, and his wife placed
herself under the protection of Mr. Sloper, who resided at Burnham in
Buckinghamshire. On returning to England, Cibber brought an action
for adultery, laying the damages at £5,000; the verdict in his favour
gave him £10. He then brought a fresh action, claiming £10,000 for the
loss of his wife's professional services, and obtained a verdict for
£500. It appeared that Cibber[5] had forcibly broken into his wife's
residence, abstracted her jewellery, and carried her off to the Bull's
Head tavern, Clare Market, where he had locked her in an apartment from
which she was rescued by her brother, Thomas Arne.
In 1736, Arne, in the twenty-sixth year of his age, married Cecilia
Young, the charming singer who had appeared with his sister at the
performances in the new theatre in the Haymarket, in 1732. She was the
daughter of Charles Young, a performer of good repute and organist of
All Hallows' Church, Barking. Of three accomplished sisters she was
the most gifted; her natural soprano voice had been well trained by
Geminiani, and was of unusual compass and flexibility, ranging up to
E in alt. She was also greatly admired on account of the accuracy and
perfection with which she executed trills and shakes. Dr. Burney said,
"her style of singing was infinitely superior to that of any other
English woman of her time."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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