I have said that the managers relied on the actors and not on the poets. In return, the actors exerted themselves to the very utmost. Mrs. Cibber was as much stirred by Miss Bellamy as Barry by Garrick, and the reverse. In "Jane Shore," for instance, Mrs. Cibber, who played Alicia to the Jane of pretty and modest Miss Macklin, seemed, on the 25th of October especially, to be inspired "with something more than mortal." Though Alicia had always been looked on as one of her very best characters, yet this night's performance she never equalled, before nor since. In this season, Barry acted Romeo twelve, Garrick only six times; but the latter introduced a new opposition to his formidable rival, in the persons of Mossop and Ross, both from Ireland. Mossop first appeared in Richard, which he repeated seven times with great applause. His Zanga was still more successful; indeed, he has never been excelled in that character. Six times he played Horatio to Garrick's Lothario, and charmed the town more frequently by his grand Theseus to Mrs. Pritchard's Phædra. In Macbeth, Othello, Wolsey, and Orestes, he also displayed great powers. Ross, a gentlemanlike actor, made his _début_ in Young Bevil, by Garrick's advice, and acted Lord Townley, Altamont, and Castalio,--the latter to Garrick's Chamont, with great effect. Garrick, no doubt, would have reluctantly seen himself eclipsed by either of those players; but because inferior actors sought to flatter him by calling Mossop a ranter, and Ross a sniveller, and epigrammatists declared indifference to both, it is not conclusive that the flattery pleased or the sneer delighted him. Garrick had his own peculiar triumphs. His Kitely, to Woodward's Bobadil, Yates's Brainworm, Shuter's Master Stephen, Ross's Young Knowell, and Palmer's Wellbred, gave new life to Ben Johnson's comedy of character. Thenceforward was associated the name of Captain Bobadil with that of the scholar from Merchant Tailors'--Harry Woodward. But this has brought us into a new half-century, Let us pause and look back at the audiences of that which has gone by. [Illustration: Mrs. Yates as Lady Macbeth.] FOOTNOTES: [48] Should be October 4. [49] Delane was not at Covent Garden. He did not leave Drury Lane till next season. [50] Dr. Doran has reversed the cast of these two plays. Garrick played Lothario and Iago; Barry, Horatio and Othello. [51] This is a most extraordinary statement. It was acted nineteen times. [52] He lived for nearly a year. "Merope" was produced April 1749: Hill died February 1750. [53] It is a character named Arnold who joins the French for love of Marianne. Dr. Doran has misread a somewhat obscure sentence in Genest's description of the plot. [54] 1731. [55] Probably the "Mourning Bride"--(Zara by Mrs. Pritchard)--is meant. "Zara" does not seem to have been played. [Illustration: WOODWARD IN "EVERY MAN IN HIS HUMOUR."] CHAPTER IX. THE AUDIENCES OF 1700-1750.