Shakspere to Sheridan; a book about the theatre of yesterday and to-day . red and scored yet againupon many stages — at Drury Lane and Covent Garden,in Scotland, Ireland, and France — and that he was backat the Haymarket in 1760 and 1762. Four years later afashionable company, of which the Duke of York wasone, played upon his vanity and dared him to ride ahigh-spirited horse. He was thrown, and lost a leg inconsequence, but through the Dukes influence he wascompensated for this misfortune by the gift of a patentwhich allowed him to play each year from the middle ofMay to the middle of Septembe
Shakspere to Sheridan; a book about the theatre of yesterday and to-day . red and scored yet againupon many stages — at Drury Lane and Covent Garden,in Scotland, Ireland, and France — and that he was backat the Haymarket in 1760 and 1762. Four years later afashionable company, of which the Duke of York wasone, played upon his vanity and dared him to ride ahigh-spirited horse. He was thrown, and lost a leg inconsequence, but through the Dukes influence he wascompensated for this misfortune by the gift of a patentwhich allowed him to play each year from the middle ofMay to the middle of September. In 1767, therefore,Foote reopened the Little Haymarket with all the pompand circumstance warranted by official favor and theprodigious improvements he had made in the then, during the next year, he made a small fortuneout of his Devil upon Two Sticks^ and here his brilliant butthoroughly unscrupulous wit and his unrivalled mimicry ^ I, 235. 2 See below, pp. 148-149. 3 Cooke, Memoirs of Samuel Foote, 1805, I, 47 fF., 139 ff., 233; Genest, V,113, 137ff-. THE MANAGERS 137 continued to win him unmeasured applause, but alsocordial execration. But Foote was so reckless a gamblerand spendthrift that he lost fortunes rather faster thanhe could earn them. In 1777, finally, he was glad to retire,having sold his patent to the elder Colman for an annuityof £1,600.^ As it turned out, the new manager had to pay but halfa years instalment of this annuity, — and the early deathof Foote was but one of many circumstances which madeColmans regime at the Haymarket far more fortunateand profitable than his Covent Garden experience hadbeen. Henderson, Edwin, and other new actors got theirfirst real hearing in his theatre and contributed largely tohis success. So, too, did a long series of well-written plays,his own work and that of his son. During the greaterpart of his career, George Colman the Younger — authorof John Bull and of many a play and ballad besides —was, as his
Size: 1437px × 1738px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, bookpublisheretcet, bookyear1922
