"Their Majesties' Servants." Annals of the English Stage (Volume 1 of 3)Doran, Dr. (John)
History
"Their Majesties' Servants." Annals of the English Stage (Volume 1 of 3)
Doran, Dr. (John)
Actors -- Great Britain; Theater -- Great Britain -- History
In Orrery's "Mustapha" and "Tryphon," the theme is all love and
honour, without variation. Orrery's "Mr. Anthony" is a five-act
farce, in ridicule of the manners and morals of the Puritans. Therein
the noble author rolls in the mire for the gratification of the
pure-minded cavaliers. Over Orrery's "Black Prince," even vigilant
Mr. Pepys himself fell asleep, in spite of the stately dances.
Perhaps he was confused by the author's illustration of genealogical
history; for in this play, Joan, the wife of the Black Prince, is
described as the widow of Edmund, Earl of Kent--_her father!_ But
what mattered it to the writer whose only teaching to the audience
was, that if they did not fear God, they must take care to honour
the King? Orrery's "Altemira" was not produced till long after
his death. It is a roar of passion, love (or what passed for it),
jealousy, despair, and murder. In the concluding scene the slaughter
is terrific. It all takes place in presence of an unobtrusive
individual, who carries the doctrine of non-intervention to its
extreme limit. When the persons of the drama have made an end of one
another, the quietly delighted gentleman steps forward, and blandly
remarks, that there was so much virtue, love, and honour in it all,
that he could not find it in his heart to interfere, though his own
son was one of the victims!
A contemporary of Orrery, young Henry Carey, Viscount Falkland, son
of the immortal soldier who fell at Newbury, wrote one piece, the
"Marriage Night," of which I know nothing, save that it was played
in the Lent of 1664; but I do know that the author had wit, for when
some one remarked, as Carey took his seat in the House of Commons for
the first time, that he looked as if he had not sown his wild oats,
he replied, that he had come to the place where there were geese
enough to pick them up!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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