THE PALMY DAYS OF NANCE OLDFIELD BY EDWARD ROBINS WITH PORTRAITS 1898 [Illustration: Mrs. Oldfield the celebrated Comedian] CONTENTS I. FROM TAVERN TO THEATRE II. AN ENTRE-ACTE III. A BELLE OF METTLE IV. MANAGERIAL WICKEDNESS V. A DEAD HERO VI. IN TRAGIC PATHS VII. NANCE AT HOME VIII. THE MIMIC WORLD IX. "GRIEF À LA MODE" X. THE BARTON BOOTHS XI. THE FADING OF A STAR APPENDIX PORTRAITS Frontispiece: Mrs. Anne Oldfield Title-page: Mrs. Oldfield in the Character of Fair Rosamond Colley Cibber in the Character of Sir Novelty Fashion Robert Wilks William Congreve Mrs. Anne Bracegirdle Mrs. Bracegirdle as the "Sultaness" Joseph Addison Mrs. Anne Oldfield Mr. Mills, Mrs. Porter, Mr. Cibber Sir John Vanbrugh Sir Richard Steele Barton Booth THE PALMY DAYS OF NANCE OLDFIELD CHAPTER I FROM TAVERN TO THEATRE "Out of question, you were born in a merry hour," says Don Pedro to the blithesome heroine of "Much Ado About Nothing." "No, sure, my lord," answers Beatrice. "My mother cried; but then there was a star danced, and under that was I born." Surely a star, possibly Venus, must have danced gaily on a certain night in the year of grace 1683, when the wife of Captain Oldfield, gentleman by birth and Royal Guardsman by profession, brought into the busy, unfeeling world of London a pretty mite of a girl. 'Twas a year of grace indeed, for the little stranger happened to be none other than Anne Oldfield, whose elegance of manner, charm of voice and action and loveliness of face would in time make her the most delightful comedienne of her day. Perhaps she found no instant welcome, this diminutive maiden who came smiling into existence laden with a message from the sunshine; her father was richer in ancestry than guineas, and the arrival of another daughter may have seemed an honour hardly worth the bestowal.[A] But Thalia laughed, as well she might, and even the stern features of Melpomene relaxed a little in witnessing the birth of one who would prove almost as wondrous in tragedy, when she so minded, as she was fascinating in the gentler phases of her art. [Footnote A: According to Edmund Bellchambers, Anne Oldfield "would have possessed a tolerable fortune, had not her father, a captain in the army, expended it at a very early period."]