Shakspere to Sheridan; a book about the theatre of yesterday and to-day . do what they liked, andat Lincolns Inn Fields confusion became worse con-founded at such a rate that in November, 1700, his lord-ship, as the guardian of the stage, was compelled to issuean edict which commanded Betterton to take upon him-self the sole management of the company, and strictlyenjoined the actors to obey him.^ Lowe suggests that while in Bettertons companyevery one had been willing to play the captain and no-body the private soldier, the Drury Lane company wasunder better control. The actors, he says, were
Shakspere to Sheridan; a book about the theatre of yesterday and to-day . do what they liked, andat Lincolns Inn Fields confusion became worse con-founded at such a rate that in November, 1700, his lord-ship, as the guardian of the stage, was compelled to issuean edict which commanded Betterton to take upon him-self the sole management of the company, and strictlyenjoined the actors to obey him.^ Lowe suggests that while in Bettertons companyevery one had been willing to play the captain and no-body the private soldier, the Drury Lane company wasunder better control. The actors, he says, were ruledwith a rod of iron by . . the active intriguer who hadby this time contrived to obtain a practical monopoly ofthe power of the patent, Christopher Rich. * On thispoint Mr. Lowe is not altogether in accord with ColleyCibber, who was working under Rich at the time, and 1 Apology, I, 91; patent in Lowes ed., I, lix-lx. 2 Apology, I, 228; cf. Lowe, Betterton, p. 157. Apology, I, 228 ff.; II, 17 ff.; I, 315 (Lowes note); Lowe, Betterton, p. 157- * Betterton, T^. ) THE MANAGERS 115 who reports that Rich gave the actors more Liberty,and fewer Days Pay, than any of his Predecessors. ^Doubtless the Drury Lane company was less troubled byinsubordination and general headlessness than its rival,for Rich, whatever his faults, was a shrewder managerthan Betterton; but that he also had his troubles appearsfrom the very fact that first Betterton and his fellows, —and later Cibber, Wilks, and the rest, — rebelled andestablished themselves independently. Cibber, on look-ing back at these events, ascribed the success achieved byhis partners and himself largely to their reformation ofthe many false Measures, Absurdities, and Abuses oftheir predecessors. They rewarded actors who did goodwork, they kept their subordinates busy, and they main-tained order. Industry, says Colley, we knew was theLife of our Business; that it not only conceald Faults,but was of equal Value to greater Tale
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