"Their Majesties' Servants." Annals of the English Stage (Volume 2 of 3)Doran, Dr. (John)
History
"Their Majesties' Servants." Annals of the English Stage (Volume 2 of 3)
Doran, Dr. (John)
Actors -- Great Britain; Theater -- Great Britain -- History
Of this marriage, Mrs. Woffington lived to see five of the nine
children born. One of these, married to Sir William Bellingham,
Bart., carried the Woffington blood back to one of the oldest
families in Ireland. Another of Margaret Woffington's nieces was Maid
of Honour to the Princess of Wales; who, when driving with her royal
mistress through Leatherhead, in 1806, was killed by the upsetting of
the carriage. Mary Woffington (the Hon. Mrs. Cholmondeley) survived
till 1811.
To see Margaret Woffington and Smith in Sylvia and Plume was an
ecstasy, _he_ being so graceful and vivacious, while _she_ charmed
her audiences in both the dresses worn by Sylvia, rendering, says the
_Dramatic Censor_, "even absurdities pleasing by the elegance of her
appearance and the vivacity of her expression." Mrs. Bellamy was so
overcome by her acting Jocasta in that awful drama of "OEdipus," that
she fainted on the stage when playing Eurydice to her. Some persons
set this down to affectation; but George Anne was not a lady likely
to affect a swoon for the sake of complimenting a rival actress.[74]
Mrs. Woffington was the only player who acted Sir Harry Wildair with
the spirit and elegance of the original--Wilks, to whom Garrick
and Woodward were, in this part, inferior. She was excellent in
Lady Plyant, and admirable in the representation of females in high
rank and of dignified elegance. Millamant, Lady Townley, Lady Betty
Modish, and Maria, in the "Nonjuror," were exhibited by her with
that happy ease and gaiety, and with such powerful attraction, that
the excesses of these characters appeared not only pardonable, but
agreeable.
Her Jane Shore did not admit of competition with Mrs. Oldfield's; but
that and Hermione were full of merit notwithstanding. In male attire
the elegance of her figure was most striking; but I cannot suppose
that her Lady Randolph, of which she was the original representative
in London, in any one point approached that of Mrs. Crawford (Barry),
or of Mrs. Siddons. Indeed her voice unfitted her for tragic parts.
She called it her "bad voice!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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