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Female Prologues and Epilogues in English Plays

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2020

Autrey Nell Wiley
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Extract

The orator in petticoats often launched her plays with such audacity that she eclipsed the glory of the Prologue-monsieur and established the vogue of a particular kind of stage-oration which the poets called “She-Prologues” or “Female Prologues and Epilogues.” For her, Lyly, Shakespeare, Jonson, Beaumont and Fletcher, Suckling, Dryden, Congreve, and many lesser playwrights wrote feminine orations; and as she pleaded her customary theme, “for my sake,” she made herself mistress of an art that won applause for As You Like It, Love for Love, The Way of the World, Cato, and more than two hundred other plays before 1714. A tall woman of her tongue was the She-Prologue; yet no one, I believe, has told the history of her addresses, the history of a particular type of playhouse-discourse with a vogue that touches upon the great change in the theatre resulting from the employment of actresses. Witty, saucy, beautiful, she and her playhouse-sisters with a gift for oratory harangued the pit and gallery for more than half a century: Nell 'neath a big hat, like a bug under a leaf; Mrs. Barry and Mrs. Bracegirdle, true friends to Betterton; yes, more than twenty other women—prattling sometimes, sometimes discoursing—circumscribed the matter and manner of the female prologue or epilogue, an address by a female orator of the stage.

Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 48 , Issue 4 , December 1933 , pp. 1060 - 1079
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1933

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References

1 This statement is based upon a study of more than 1100 plays written before 1714.

2 In the sixteenth century, as well as the early seventeenth, the speaker was a man, or a boy, personating a woman; but after 1660 he yielded his place almost entirely to the actresses. Usually, an actress spoke in feminine character; but occasionally, reversing the manner of the sixteenth century, the female orator personated a man. In these impersonations, whether by men acting as women or women acting as men, there is always discoverable a feminine note.

3 Everie Woman in her Humor (1609), A Collection of Old English Plays, ed. A. H. Bullen, iv, 303, written before 1600 (Felix E. Schelling, Elizabethan Drama, ii, 563).

4 Felix E. Schelling, Elizabethan Drama (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1908), ii, 43, n. 2: Licensed as by Shirley in 1635 and printed as Fletcher's in 1640.

5 Thomas Randolph, Poems with the Muses Looking-Glasses: and Amyntas, 1638.

6 James Shirley, Poems (1646); Fifty Comedies and Tragedies by Beaumont and Fletcher (1679).

7 Allardyce Nicoll, A History of Restoration Drama, 2d. ed. (Cambridge: At the University Press, 1928), p. 82, n. 2.

8 Ibid., p. 306.

9 Following classical tradition, the speaker is a goddess, Ate with “condemned soul,” who tells the story of the play. In Greek drama, of course, prologues and epilogues were often solemn addresses by gods and goddesses, who spoke as sacred or mysterious figures. See An Excursus on the Ritual Forms Preserved in Greek Tragedy, by Gilbert Murray, in Jane Ellen Harrison's Themis (Cambridge: At the University Press, 1912), pp. 359–363.

10 Nicoli, op. cit., p. 70.

11 Mr. Nicoli, op. cit., pp. 70–71, says the tradition of boy-actors was not broken at once. In October, 1660, women were mentioned in a petition by the Red Bull players. On December 8, 1660, a woman acted in Othello, and Jordan wrote “A Prologue to introduce the first Woman who came to Act on the Stage in the Tragedy, call'd The Moor of Venice.” This prologue is in his Royal Arbor of Loyal Poesie.

12 Thomas Jordan, A Royal Arbor of Loyal Poesie (1664), Illustrations of Old English Literature, ed. J. P. Collier (1866), iii, 23.

13 The play was presented in August, 1663.

14 Sir William D'Avenant, Works, 1673.

15 Injur'd Love (1711), Epilogue.

17 Everte Woman in her Humor (1609), Prologue.

18 Thomas D'Urfey, Sir Barnaby Whigg (1681), Epilogue.

19 Thomas Otway, Don Carlos (1704), Epilogue.

20 Thomas D'Urfey, Sir Barnaby Whigg (1681), Epilogue.

21 John Dennis, A Plot and No Plot (1697), Epilogue.

22 Mrs. Susannah Centlivre, The Stolen Heiress (1703), Prologue.

23 Injur'd Love (1711), Epilogue.

24 Sir John Vanbrugh, The Provok'd Wife (1697), Epilogue, closing:

You know the Time, and we appoint this place;
Where, if you please, we'll meet and sign the Peace.

25 In 1680, Mrs. Barry won great applause acting Monimia in Otway's The Orphan.

26 Dr. Doran, Annals of the English Stage (London, 1888), ed. R. W. Lowe, i, 156.

27 Mrs. Barry's name appears with the prologues to Mrs. Behn's The City Heiress (1682), Rochester's Valentinian (1685) [Note that this prologue was “Intended, to be spoken” by Mrs. Barry, who was prepared for the stage by Rochester, who died before his play was performed.], Southerne's The Maid's Last Prayer (1693), Dogget's The Country-Wake (1696), Ravenscroft's The Anatomist (1697), and Ravenscroft's The London Cuckolds (1708). For life, see D.N.B. and Genest, Some Account of the English Stage, ii, 462–467.

28 Mrs. Barry's name appears with the epilogues to Otway's Friendship in Fashion (1678), Leanerd's The Counterfeits (1679), Maidwell's The Loving Enemies (1680), Otway's Caius Marius (1680), Shadwell's The Woman-Captain (1680), Tate's The Loyal General (1680), Shadwell's The Lancashire Witches (1681), Mrs. Behn's The Second Part of the Rover (1681), Mrs. Behn's The False Count (1682), Mrs. Behn's The Young King (1683), Tate's King Lear (1687), Southerne's The Wives Excuse (1692), Congreve's The Old Batchelour (1693), Mrs. Trotter's The Fatal Friendship (1698), Southerne's The Fate of Capua (1700), Burnaby's Love Betray'd (1703), Vanbrugh's The Confederacy (1705), and Congreve's Love for Love (1709: Benefit for Betterton).

29 Thomas D'Urfey, The Marriage-Hater Match'd (1693), Prologue.

30 Shadwell's The Amorous Bigotte (1690), Southerne's Sir Anthony Love (1691), Dryden's Amphitryon (1691), Congreve's The Old Batchelour (1693), D'Urfey's The Marriage-Hater Match'd (1693), Congreve's The Double Dealer (1694), Southerne's The Fatal Marriage (1694), Congreve's Love for Love (1695), Vanbrugh's The Provok'd Wife (1697). For life, see D. N. B. and Genest, op. cit., ii, 375–380.

31 Bancroft's King Edward the Third (1691), Dryden's King Arthur (1691) and Cleomenes (1692), Brady's The Rape (1692), Southerne's The Maids Last Prayer (1693), Congreve's Love for Love (1695), Lansdowne's The She-Gallants (1696), Congreve's The Mourning Bride (1697), Motteux's Beauty in Distress (1698), H. Smith's The Princess of Parma (1699), Congreve's The Way of The World (1700), Rowe's The Ambitious Step-Mother (1702) and The Fair Penitent (1703), Vanbrugh and Congreve's Squire Trelooby (1704), Rowe's Ulysses (1706), Mrs. Centlivre's A Platonick Lady (1707), Trapp's Abra-Mule (1708), two plays published by Mountfort, who disclaimed authorship: Edward III (Attributed to Bancroft, 1691) and Henry II (Attributed to Bancroft, 1693). These last two epilogues are with the plays in the second volume of Six Plays written by Mr. Mountfort, 1720. In A Collection and Selection of English Prologues and Epilogues an epilogue to The Loves of Ergasto (1705), on the opening of the Haymarket theatre, is included in Vol. II, pp. 274–275.

32 The benefit performance of Love for Love.

33 The Prologues to Mrs. Pix's Ibrahim (1696), D'Urfey's The Comical History of Don Quixote, Part iii (1696: With Horden), Scott's The Mock-Marriage (1696), Vanbrugh's The Relapse (1697), and Gildon's Phaeton (1698: With others); the epilogues to Cibber's Loves Last Shift (1696), Mrs. Manley's The Lost Lover (1696), Cibber's The Womans Wit (1697), and Walker's The Victorious Love (1698). For life, see Genest, op. cit., iii, 153–154.

34 The prologues to Powell's The Treacherous Brothers (1690) and Settle's The Ambitious Slave (1694); the epilogues to Powell's Alphonso (1691), Settle's Distressed Innocence (1691), Powell's A Very Good Wife (1693), and Scott's The Mock-Marriage (1696). For life, see Genest, op. cit., iii, 151–153.

35 The prologue to Dryden's Don Sebastian (1689); the epilogues to Shadwell's The Squire of Alsatia (1688) and Bury Fair (1689), Dryden's Amphitryon (1691), Wright's The Female Virtuoso's (1693), Congreve's The Double Dealer (1694). As Mrs. Verbruggen, she spoke the prologue for the Third Day to Vanbrugh's The Relapse (1697); the epilogues to Southerne's The Fatal Marriage (1694) and Oroonoko (1696), Mrs. Pix's The Spanish Wives (1696), and Mrs. Trotter's Agnes de Castro (1696). For life, see Genest, op. cit., ii, 277–278.

36 The prologues to Mrs. Centlivre's The Perjur'd Husband (1700), Mrs. Trotter's The Unhappy Penitent (1701); the epilogues to Vanbrugh's The False Friend (1702), Swiny's Camilla (1706), Cibber's Perolla and Izadora (1706), Rowe's The Royal Convert (1708), E. Smith's Phaedra and Hippolitus (1709), Mrs. Centlivre's The Man's Bewitch'd (1710), Mrs. Centlivre's The Perplex'd Lovers (1712: Intended to be spoken), Philips's The Distrest Mother (1712), Rowe's The Tragedy of Jane Shore (1714). For life, see Genest, op. cit., ii, 375–376; iii, 260–265.

37 The prologue to Walker's Marry or Do Worse (1704); the epilogues to Mrs. Pix's Queen Catharine (1698), Manning's The Generous Choice (1700), Gildon's Loves Victim (1701), Orrery's Altemira (1702), Mrs. Pix's The Different Widows (1703), D'Urfey's The Modern Prophets (1707), Goring's Irene (1708), Addison's Cato (1713). For life, see Genest, op. cit., iv, 43–17.

38 The Diary of Samuel Pepys (ed. 1914), ii, 453.—For life see Genest. op. cit., i, 237–238.

39 The prologues to Jonson's Catiline (1674: Revived), Banks's The Destruction of Troy (1679), Dryden's The Conquest of Granada (1672); the epilogues to Howard's The Great Favourite (1668: with Mrs. Knepp), Porter's The Villain (1670), Dryden's Tyrannick Love (1670), Jonson's Catiline (1674: Revived), Mrs. Behn's Sir Patient Fancy (1678). For life, see Genest, op. cit., i, 380–387.

40 The epilogues to Dennis's A Plot and No Plot (1697) and Gildon's The Roman Brides Revenge (1697).

41 The prologue to Pordage's The Siege of Babylon (1678). For life, see Genest, op. cit., ii, 59–61.

42 The epilogues to Johnson's The Force of Friendship (1710) and D'Urfey's The Modern Prophets (1707: With Mrs. Porter). For life, see D. N. B. and Genest, op. cit., iii, 114–115.

43 The prologue to She Ventures and He Wins (1696); the epilogues to Hopkins's Boadicea (1697) and Mountfort's Zelmane (1705).

44 The prologues to T. Walker's The Wit of a Woman (1705: Second Prologue) and D'Urfey's The Modern Prophets (1707); the epilogues to Baker's The Fine Lady's Airs (1709) and Johnson's The Generous Husband (1711). Genest, op. cit., ii, 543, says she spoke a prologue to Royal Mischief in 1696. For Life, see D. N. B. and Genest, op. cit., ii, 543–544.

45 The prologues to Romulus (1683) and Shadwell's The Amorous Bigotte (1690); the epilogues to Mrs. Behn's The City-Heiress (1682), Southerne's Sir Anthony Love (1691), and D'Urfey's Love for Money (1696: With Mountfort).

46 The epilogue to D'Urfey's The Famous History and Fall of Massaniello, the Second Part (1699).

47 The epilogues to Powell's Bonduca (1696) and Settle's The World in the Moon (1697).

48 The Second Prologue to Rochester's Valentinian (1685); the epilogues to Tate's Richard II (1681), Dryden and Lee's The Duke of Guise (1683), Lee's Constantine (1684), and Mrs. Behn's The Emperor of the Moon (1687).

49 The prologues to Mrs. Behn's Feign'd Curtizans (1679) and Ravenscroft's Dame Dobson (1684); the epilogue to D'Urfey's Squire Oldsapp (1697).

50 The prologue to Crowne's Calisto (1675): Dialogue.

51 The epilogue to Farquhar's The Twin-Rivals (1703).

52 Three prologues to Settle's The Empress of Morocco (1673: At Court).

53 The epilogues to Dilke's The Lovers Luck (1696) and The City Lady (1697).

54 The epilogues to Otway's Titus and Berenice (1677), Romulus (1683), and Otway's Alcibiades (1687). For life, see D. N. B. and Genest, op. cit., i, 449.

55 The prologue to Mrs. Centlivre's The Stolen Heiress (1703) and the epilogue to Burnaby's The Ladies Visiting Day (1701).

56 The prologue to Lee's Gloriana (1676).

57 The epilogues to Settle's The Ambitious Slave (1694), The Triumphs of Virtue (1697), D'Urfey's The Famous History of the Rise and Fall of Massaniello, the First Part (1700), and Motteux's The Island Princess (1701: With Penkethman). For life, see Genest, op. cit., ii, 655–658.

58 The epilogue to Hill's Elfrid (1709). For life, see Genest, op. cit., iii, 375.

59 John Lyly, Gallathea, Epilogue, Sixe Court Comedies (1632).

60 Thomas Wright, The Female Vertuoso's (1693), Epilogue.

61 The Covent Garden Drolery (1672), ed. the Rev. Montague Summers (London: The Fortune Press, 1927), p. 62, has this notation as a title for the poem: “Prologue to Horace, Spoken by the Dutches of Munmouth, at Court.” Langbaine says, in An Account of the English Dramatick Poets (1691), p. 404: “This Play was acted at Court, by Persons of Quality; the Duke of Monmouth speaking the Prologue.”

62 Mr. Nicoli, op. cit., p. 371, refers to two issues in 1673. The date of the first presentation at Whitehall is not definitely known, but it was probably late in 1669 or early in 1670. See F. C. Brown, Elkanah Settle (1910), p. 13.

63 Through an error in pagination, this piece appears on page 178, which should be 168.

64 The Works of John Dryden, ed. George Saintsbury (Edinburgh, 1885), x, 332–333.

65 The Works of John Dryden, ed. George Saintsbury (Edinburgh, 1885), x, 351–353. The edition of this play (1695) contains a prologue “propos'd to be spoken by Mrs. Bracegirdle in Man's Cloaths”; the poem was sent by an unknown hand.

66 The Tatler, April 12, 1709:

On Thursday last was acted, for the Benefit of Mr. Betterton, the Celebrated Comedy, call'd Love for Love. Those excellent Players, Mrs. Barry, Mrs. Bracegirdle, and Mr. Doggett, tho' not at present concern'd in the House, acted on that Occasion. There has not been known so great a Concourse of Persons of Distinction, the Stage it self was cover'd with Gentlemen and Ladies, and when the Curtain was drawn, there appear'd also a very splendid Audience.

67 Robert W. Lowe, Thomas Betterton (Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co.: London, 1891), p. 180.

68 “Epilogue spoken by Mrs. Barry, at the Theatre-Royal in Drury-Lane, April the 7th, 1709, at her Playing in Love for Love with Mrs. Bracegirdle, for the Benefit of Mr. Betterton,” Poems on Several Occasions (Third edition; London: E. Curii, 1714), ii, 25–27.

69 George Powell, Bonduca (1696), Epilogue.

70 George Powell, The Treacherous Brothers (1690), Epilogue.

71 Compare the epilogues to Nathaniel Lee's Lucius Junius Brutus (1681) and Mrs Mary Pix's The Czar of Muscovy (1701).

72 When she spoke the epilogue to Powell's Bonduca in 1695, Miss Dennis Chock was six. Settle's opera was presented in 1697.

73 It may be observed, at this point, that frequently prologues and epilogues were spoken by women dressed as men. The trick with dancers pleased Pepys, who referred to Miss Davis and Miss Nell, whom he had seen dance in boy's clothes. In February, 1662/3, he was “most pleased to see the little girl dance in boy's apparel, she having very fine legs, only bends in the hams, as I perceive all women do” (The Diary of Samuel Pepys, ed. 1914, i, 342). Some examples of prologues and epilogues spoken by women in man's apparel may be cited: Mrs. Boutell in the prologue written by Dryden for the performance of The Maiden Queen entirely by women; Mrs. Reeves in the epilogue to the same play; the speaker of the epilogue to Corye's The Generous Enemies; Miss Santlow in the epilogue to Valentinian; Mrs. Bracegirdle in the Second Prologue to Don Sebastian; Miss Howard in the epilogue to The Lover's Luck; Mrs. Bracegirdle with Mr. Monford in the prologue to The Marriage-Hater Match'd; Mrs. Bradshaw in the epilogue to Johnson's The Generous Husband; and Mrs. Bowman in the prologue to She Ventures and He Wins. A reference to Mrs. Mountfort's skill in acting as a man occurs in the epilogue to Southerne's Sir Anthony Love (1691), spoken by Mrs. Botelar.

74 Nahum Tate, The Loyal General (1680), Epilogue:

You know how oft, like preaching Sisters, we
Have from the Stage Lectur'd your Vanity.

75 This epilogue was designed for Mrs. Oldfield, but not spoken.

76 William Mountfort, Zelmane (1705), Epilogue.

77 Mrs. Susannah Centlivre, The Perplex'd Lovers (1712), Preface.

78 A Collection and Selection of English Prologues and Epilogues (1779), i, vii.

79 Ibid., i, vii.

80 Sir William D'Avenant, The Wits (1636), Epilogue.

81 The Spectator, March 28, 1712.

82 Ibid., April 1, 1712.

83 The Spectator, April 1, 1712.

84 John Dryden, Tyrannick Love (1670), Epilogue.

85 George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, The Rehearsal (1687), v, i.

86 Samuel Pordage, The Siege of Babylon (1678), Epilogue.

87 Nahum Tate, The Loyal General (1680), Epilogue.

88 John Dryden, Cleomenes (1692), Epilogue.—See Cibber's account in An Apology for the Life of Mr. Colley Cibber (London, 1740), p. 141: “But her Youth, and lively Aspect, threw out such a Glow of Health, and Chearfulness, that, on the State, few Spectators that were not past it, could behold her without Desire. It was even a Fashion among the Gay, and Young, to have a Taste or Tendre for Mrs. Bracegirdle.”

89 Thomas Southerne, Oroonoko (1696), Epilogue.

90 The Spectator, April 1, 1712.

91 Ibid., March 28, 1712.

92 The Spectator, April 1, 1712.

93 Joseph Warton, The Genius and Writings of Pope (London, 1806), i, 267–268.

94 William Congreve, The Mourning Bride (1679), Epilogue.

95 Letter to Mr. Congreve on His Pretended Amendments (1698), p. 18.