1695



//**Theater & the News **//
 * 1695 **
 * //Examined through // **

=**TABLE OF CONTENTS:**= =//**Success:**//= Background:Congreve, his play //Love for Love//, and his star, Anne Bracegirdle Lincoln's Inn Fields (the theater) William Congreve's writing and his 1695 hit play, //Love for Love// Summary of //Love for Love//, with character list and themes =**//Scandal://**= =**//War://**= England in 1695 //Post Boy// (1695 Newspaper)
 * //Love for Love// is a smash hit for William Congreve**
 * Congreve was linked to Anne Bracegirdle, actress who played Angelica in //Love for Love,// through rumor.**

SUCCESS =//Love for Love// is a Smash Hit for William Congreve =

== =**Background:** **Congreve, his play //Love for Love,// and his lead actress, Anne Bracegirdle**:=

**William Congreve** was the son of a King's loyalist who fought for the King in the English Civil War. His family settled in Ireland after the Restoration, where Congreve went to college with Jonathan Swift (well known Anglo-Irish satirist). At age 23, in March 1693, he put on his first play, //The Old Bachelor//, at **Drury Lane Theater**, with the part of Araminta played by actress **Anne Bracegirdle.** Congreve's contemporary wit and playwright **Dryden** said he had never read such a good first play, and it was he who encouraged Congreve to put it on. But Anne's and Drury Lane's reputation had taken a hit for scandal (involving a fight by two passionate admirers of Anne's, ending in a death). Her role in //The Old Bachelor// was not as successful in recouping her popularity as her later role that year, in a musical. She played the role of Fulvia in //The Richmond Heiress//, perhaps becoming the first singing actress of the period. (Previously, singing parts were done by professional singers who were not given an acting role.) Admirers of her acting then grew, and among them was Congreve's fellow playwright **Dryden**. By 1694, Bracegirdle was a leading actor in her group, and Congreve and other playwrights were writing roles for Bracegirdle. "Her skill as a high comedienne was being recognized" (Highfill, Kalman, and Langhan).

But her Royal acting group (United Company) had been taken over by Christopher Rich, who turned off many of the elder actors with his management. He gave some roles of the more mature players (like **Thomas Betterton**) to a younger male actor, and tried to give the roles of a more mature female player to Anne Bracegirdle, but she sensibly declined. During a break in performances in December 1694 (during an illness that ultimately caused Queen Mary's death,) Betterton persuaded a Lord Chamberlain to persuade the King (William) to grant him a separate theater. By March 1695, Betterton had gotten together his company, hired a venue (previously a tennis court; also the site of the Duke's Theatre 1660-1674) and started renovations. Anne Bracegirdle was even in on the meeting with the King to grant the theater a permit.

The role of Angelica in //Love for Love// was written specifically for Anne Bracegirdle, to cater to her talents. Congreve also wrote the role of "Millimant" for Anne in his 1700 hit play, //The Way of the World.//

[A Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Actresses, Musicians ..., Volume 10 By Philip H. Highfill, Kalman A. Burnim, Edward A. Langhan]



=Lincoln's Inn Fields= =(Theater):= **//Love for Love//** premiered as the opening play for actor **Betterton's** new (reopened) theater, **Lincoln's Inn Fields.** Lincoln's Inns Fields had a previous life. It had opened at the commencement of the Restoration in 1660, on Portugal Street, as the **"Duke's Theater"** by Sir William Davenant (converted from a tennis court). It was purported to be the first modern theater in England with both a proscenium arch and movable scenery. When the Duke's and King's theaters combined in 1674, it fell into disuse as a theater and reverted to a tennis court until 1695, when actor Betterton led fellow actors to reopen the theater. His company ran for ten more years before being taken over by competitors. By 1728, Lincoln's Inn Fields was renovated and installed seating for 1400 to stage the very successful **John Gay’s //The Beggar’s Opera//**. (The building was finally demolished after 1794.)

["Lost (Legal) London...Extracts from novel Lost London by Richard Guard." Wildy & Sons Ltd — The World’s Legal Bookshop : Antiquarian & Second-Hand. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 July 2014. .]



This picture to the left is the interior of the Duke's Theatre, an engraved reproduction of a 17th-century print, made in the late 18th century. ["17th-Century Theatre." Victoria and Albert Museum The World’s Greatest Museum of Art and Design. Victoria and Albert Museum, n.d. Web. 9 July 2014.]
 * It //"depicts the 'Duke's House' (later Duke's Theatre) where the Duke of York's players performed from 1661. It was at the Duke's Theatre that the first 'scenic' production of 'Hamlet' was staged, with Thomas Betterton as the Prince.The picture gives us an idea of the interior of the theatre. A large, richly decorated proscenium frames the stage. Above is a small room with a curtained opening, presumably used by the musicians. The actors are shown performing the 'The Empress of Morocco', presented at that theatre in 1673."//

= William Congreve's writing and his 1695 hit play "//Love for Love//" =

Congreve wrote comedies of manners, cynically depicting the artificial existence of people "of nobility and fashion, to whom manners, especially gallantry, are more important than morals....His characters are constantly engaged in complicated intrigues, usually centering around money, which involve mistaken identities, the signing or not signing of legal documents, weddings in masquerade, etc. His plays are particularly famous for their brilliance of language; for verbal mastery and wit they have perhaps been equaled only by the comedies of Oscar Wilde." [The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. [|http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/people/congreve-william.html#ixzz37JnJh9TF]]



**Thomas Dogget**, (pictured here to the **left**,) was an Irish actor and comedian. He first performed in 1691's //Love for Money// by D'Urfey, and became popular in Lincoln's Inn Fields' 1695 //Love for Love//. Congreve wrote the part of "Ben" for him.

[A Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Actresses, Musicians ..., Volume 10 By Philip H. Highfill, Kalman A. Burnim, Edward A. Langhan]

**Mrs. Abington as Miss Prue in "Love for Love," 1771 Painting (Right)**
[Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, Google Art Project] Although //Love for Love// was more popular among contemporaries (and staged at least up into the late 18th century, as pictured right,) Congreve's (slightly less popular) later play //The Way of the World// (1700) "has come to be regarded as one of the great comedies in the English language." [The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. [|http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/people/congreve-william.html#ixzz37JnJh9TF]]

=Summary of //Love for Love//:=

**Background/ Prologue**: Many earlier Restoration comedies provided biting satire, but by 1695, before critic Collier's scathing moral critiques, and before these comedies fell from fashion, Congreve's works represented some of the best of the last gas of Restoration comedies. In fact, Congreve's prologue to //Love for Love// comments that satire "has grown so mild" since Wycherley's 1676 play //The Plain Dealer.// Congreve writes that no one around "dares" to pen "bit[ing]" satire in this day and age of exposure to audiences with the power to boo speakers off stage [Congreve, from Prologue, //Love for Love//] Like earlier Restoration comedies, the play starts with a problem and a scheme. **Problem:** Valentine is about to be disinherited by his father, Sir Sampson, so that his favored son can inherit (Ben, who has been at sea). Valentine has fallen out with his father due to his extravagant lifestyle. He is currently in debt and constantly harassed by creditors. He also loves the beautiful Angelica who declares her aims for security in a marriage (and therefore inheritance to add to her own inheritance) but does not give a hint whether she will yield to Valentine's suit. Thus, Valentine's impending disinheritance seems to portent bad luck with courting Angelica.
 * Summary: **

However, Valentine has a resourceful servant and some ideas for **schemes.** Angelica has her own idea for a scheme, as well.

**Valentine:** Sir Sampson Legend's oldest son, whom his father wants to disinherit because of his extravagance. He is in love with Angelica. **Ben:** Sir Sampson Legend's younger son, who spends most of his time at sea. Sir Sampson and Mr. Foresight desire him to marry Miss Prue (Foresight's daughter). **Jeremy:** Valentine's clever servant. **Sir Sampson Legend**: father to Val and Ben. Offers his son Val 4000 pounds (only enough to pay his debts) if he will sign a bond making over his right of inheritance as oldest male to his brother, Ben. (Valentine signs it to escape from embarrassment of creditors). **Mr. Foresight:** a superstitious, gullible astrologer, uncle to Angelica. **Scandal:** Valentine's outspoken friend. **Angelica:** niece to Foresight, has a fortune already. **Mrs. Foresight**: second wife to Foresight, sister to Mrs. Frail. **Miss Prue:** is Foresight's simple country daughter who, having been seduced and left by a foppish half-witted rake rake, Tattle, is eager for more and wants a husband. **Tattle:** is foppish half-witted rake and deceiver, who designs to trick Angelica into marriage for her fortune. But instead he finds himself tricked in turn by Valentine, Scandal, Jeremy, and Angelica, and married instead to Mrs. Frail, a lady of easy virtue he has already been with. **Mrs. Frail:** Mrs. Foresight's sister, tries to trick Valentine into marrying her (for his potential fortune,) instead ends up stuck with Tattle. **Nurse:** to Miss Prue **Jenny**: Maid to Angelica
 * Characters: **

**Events:** Sir Sampson arranges a match between his younger son Ben, who is just now arriving from a voyage at see, and Miss Prue, Mr. Foresight's awkward young daughter from the country. Valentine understands that by signing the bond to pay his debts but forgo his future inheritance, he has signed for his ruin. He tries to appeal to his father, but when he fails, he stalls for time. He decides to scheme by pretending to go mad so he is apparently unable to sign the final paper giving his inheritance to his brother Ben. He, Scandal, and Jeremy also scheme to get Tattle and Mrs. Frail out of the way of trying to marry for inheritance by tricking them into marrying each other.

Angelica also schemes unbeknownst to Val, Scandal, and Jeremy. She pretends to Val and Jeremy, etc., to believe Val has indeed gone mad. She also meets with Sir Sampson with the purported purpose of pretending to get engaged to him. This, she says, will draw out Val's admission of feigning madness and secure Sampson's fortune for Ben. He likes the idea of marrying her himself and getting revenge on his //two// sons (one for his extravagance and deception and the other for disobeying his desire Ben should marry Prue). She gets Sampson to propose to her, and then she is able to get her hands on that fateful financial bond that her suitor Val was forced to sign.

Valentine is in despair and disbelief, after hearing from Angelica herself she is marrying his father. So he agrees to sign the final paper giving his inheritance away, since his only hope for happiness would have been Angelica, and that hope is lost. She is touched he passed her test, satisfied of his generous, faithful passion. She tears up the bond, and declares her love for Val.

**Themes:** **Sentimentalism/ Virtue Rewarded:** Like plays that were to follow in the 18th century, some elements of sentimental comedy is seen when Angelica gives Valentine a trial of virtue, and he passes and is rewarded. And Sir Sampson's faults are punished. (However, interestingly, Valentine is not entirely virtuous; though romantic, he is still a rake through and through and pretty callous about it. When a nurse comes with one of his bastard children (in Act I) to ask for money, he decries the "whore" mother for not having "overlaid," or smothered, his infant).

**Contract, Sexual Negotiation:** Like in his later //Way of the World//, Congreve also in //Love for Love// already touches on themes of contract, negotiation of sexual conquest, deceiving appearances (duplicity in his society,) gossip, hypocrisy, (especially through the character "Tattle,") etc.

**Political Satire:** Through Valentine's take on his situation being no different from the negotiations of great men of state, Congreve portrays politicians behaving essentially like gentlemen debtors. And through Valentine's feigned madness in Act 4, politicians' brutal submission of the **mixture of religion and politics** of the day is satirized.

**Satire itself:** Congreve also decries the dulling of satire of late and the need for bringing back the lost art of sharp satire, through his prologue spoken by Valentine and through Scandal's chiding.

**Older men marrying too young:** Also, older men of fortunes are made the object of ridicule for their vanity and their diverting from the natural order of inheritance in families. Everyone teases old Foresight that he is possibly being cuckolded by his second wife. And when Sir Sampson thinks he actually has a chance with his son's lover, he behaves foolishly and vainly.

**Comedy of Manners:** Prue like Margery in Wycherley's //The Country Wife//, is so unaware of social customs of marriage that when she breaks them, she provides comic relief. She tells her father she loves her one-time lover Tattle and wants to marry him. When he brags he's marrying someone else, frustrated and rejected, Prue demands her father allow to be able to marry a man, any man, even the butler. Mrs. Foresight responds by having the nurse lock her up.

**English Anxiety about Catholic Rebellion**: Angelica (in Act II) teases her old Uncle Foresight to lend her his coach, and he doesn't want to (because of a bad prophesy connected to all the women of the house being absent at once). Angelica further teases him that if he won't lend her his coach, she will publicly "declare" how he "prophesied popery was coming, only because the butler had mislaid some of the apostle spoons, and thought they were lost. Away went religion and spoon-meat together." She continues, she'll "indite" him for a "wizard." A footnote ( // Norton // version) explains "apostle spoons" were old-fashioned spoons whose handles end in figures of the apostles, and "spoon-meat" was broth, and that "Angelica is playing on the idea that some English people still feared a Catholic rebellion."

**Autobiographical Elements**: He also autobiographically places Valentine in **Will's Coffee house**, getting abused by wits and endeavoring to abuse them back (to write). Will's Coffee house was where Congreve, Dryden, and other big contemporary literary figures used to hang out.

SCANDAL =Congreve was linked to Anne Bracegirdle, actress who played Angelica in //Love for Love//, through rumor. = =But was Bracegirdle just a famous actress who happened to be an early victim of tabloid speculation?= Anne Bracegirdle (c. 1674-1748) was an English actress who helped fellow actor Thomas Betterton run their theater company, started in 1695 with Congreve's play. //"Her private life was the subject of much discussion."// Colley Cibber accused her of having the merit of //"not being unguarded in her private character." "She was certainly the object of the adoration of many men, and she was the innocent cause of the killing of the actor William Mountfort, whom Captain Hill and Lord Mohun regarded as a rival for her affections...//  //During her lifetime she was suspected of being secretly married to Congreve, whose mistress she is also said to have been. He was at least always her intimate friend, and left her a legacy. Rightly or wrongly, her reputation for virtue was remarkably high, and Lord Halifax headed a subscription list of 800 guineas, presented to her as a tribute to her virtue//..." It was publicly well known she gave to charity for the poor in Clare Market and around Drury Lane. [excerpted from an article originally published in Encyclopedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, Volume IV. Anonymous. Cambridge: University Press, 1910. p. 358-9.]

Three years after Bracegirdle helped found Betterton's acting company, other actors started lodging complaints about the acting company Betterton started, with fellow actors Anne Bracegirdle and Elizabeth Barry who co-lead the group and allegedly were profiting while the business was going further and further into debt.

In 1703 when Tom Brown wrote his scathing Letters from the Dead, he included a letter addressed to Bracegirdle, who had been touted as "the virgin actress." In it, Brown assures his readers at the very least the deceased Mountfort (killed by a competing suitor for Bracegirdle) was one of her lovers.

Congreve surely had developed a great attraction for Bracegirdle by 1693 when she started acting for him in his very first plays. Contemporary actor and playwright **Cibber** and critic **Collier** among others noted Congreve courted Bragegirdle with his pen, and Tom Brown and many others continued to write they were having an affair. But publicly, Bracegirdle remained aloof, and may have been just a famous actress who happened to be a very early victim of tabloid speculation. Other admirers courted her openly, and some left money in their wills for her, including Congreve (as noted above).

In the end, she stopped acting in 1709 and spent her last 39 years in a quiet retirement (that her public seems to have respected). [A Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Actresses, Musicians ..., Volume 10 By Philip H. Highfill, Kalman A. Burnim, Edward A. Langhan]



WAR =The Nine-Year War against Louis XIV Rages on in Europe =

England in 1695

Events:

**January** - **Princess Anne** (**left**) returns to court to act as royal hostess, after the death of **Queen Mary II (right)** on December 28, 1684. Mary was William's wife (and first cousin) and joint sovereign of England. (Princess Anne becomes Queen Anne in 1702 when William die s from a fall off of his horse.) **April** - Parliament does not renew the "**Licensing Order of 1643**" which had required press licensing and official censorship (HUGE news for playwrights).
 * **August** - French troops attack Brussels as part of the **Nine Year's War.**
 * **September** - France surrenders Namur in the Spanish Netherlands to
 * forces of the **"Grand Alliance"** led by England's **King William III (right)**.


 * [[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5e/Ren%C3%A9-Antoine_Houasse_-_Retrato_equestre_de_Lu%C3%ADs_XIV%2C_Rei_de_Fran%C3%A7a.jpg/170px-Ren%C3%A9-Antoine_Houasse_-_Retrato_equestre_de_Lu%C3%ADs_XIV%2C_Rei_de_Fran%C3%A7a.jpg width="148" height="187" align="left"]]**The Nine-Year's War (1688-1697)** was fought against the domineering "Sun-King" monarch of France, **King Louis XIV (left)** by a "**Grand Alliance**" led by King William, including Spain and the Holy Roman Empire.


 * **King William's (right)** life aim was to contain Louis XIV.

=**Newspaper: //Post Boy//** (1695)=

Restoration Newspapers  Following the restoration of Charles II to the throne in 1660, control over the press  (which had been relatively lax during the previous 20 years) was reasserted. The  Printing Act of 1662 specified that every work must be licensed before it could be  printed. The Oxford Gazette was established as a government newsbook in 1665, and  succeeded by the London Gazette in 1666. Its format as a single sheet, printed on both  sides, earned it a description as the first English newspaper.7  Although the Printing <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 1.5;">Act could not be strictly enforced, it did act as a deterrent to the publication of new <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> titles. When it lapsed between 1679 and 1685, several unlicensed newspapers <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> appeared. When it lapsed again in 1695, and was not renewed, the effect on the press <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> was marked. The number of new titles again increased, and several successful and <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> long-lasting newspapers were established. Where the earlier newsbooks had been <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> weekly, and the London Gazette appeared twice a week, these morning posts were <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> published three times a week – reflecting the public appetite for news and comment. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Among them were the Post Boy (1695-1728) and the Post Man (1695-1730).

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">The bookseller Abel Roper (1665-1726) began the //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px;"> Post Boy Foreign and Domestick //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">in May 1695, as a rival to the //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">Flying Post. //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px;"> The newspaper quickly ran through a number of different subtitles becoming, at the end of September 1695, simply the //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px;"> Post Boy. //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">By 1706 the banner heading included woodcuts to either side of the title, showing a <span class="hitHighlite" style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #ff0000; font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">post boy <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">on his horse and an angel blowing a trumpet. Roper employed the journalist Abel Boyer (1667?-1729) to write for the //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px;"> Post Boy, //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">but the two men quarrelled in 1709 and Boyer left to begin a rival //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px;"> Post Boy //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">(soon renamed the //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">True Post Boy ). //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">Throughout its life, the original //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px;"> Post Boy //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">was printed on a single half-folio sheet, with brief news reports on the front (continuing to the back when necessary) and a few advertisements at the end of the text. It appeared three times a week. Roper was still closely associated with the //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px;"> Post Boy //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">in 1711, when his support for peace with France as an end to the War of the Spanish Succession got him into trouble with the authorities. He had left the newspaper by 1714. The //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px;"> Post Boy //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">ceased publication in 1728.