In this dress the deceased actress received such honour
as actress never received before, nor has ever received since. The
lady lay in state in the Jerusalem Chamber. Had she been really a
queen the public could not have thronged more eagerly to the
spectacle; and after the lying in state there was a funeral of as
much ceremony as has been observed at the obsequies of many a queen.
There were anthems and prayers and a sermon; and Dr. Parker, who
officiated, remarked, when all was over, to a few particular friends,
and with some equivocation, as it seems to me, that he 'buried her
very willingly, and with much satisfaction.'"
Yet even in England players had need of [80] powerful protectors.
"Wit," said Chesterfield, opposing an unjust licensing Act, "Wit, my
lords! is the property of those who have it, and too often the only
property they have to depend on." Wit, indeed, with the other gifts
that make good company, has largely gone with theatrical talents, too
often little to the benefit of the gifted persons. Theatrical
society, rather than the theatre, has made the lives of actors as we
see them in these volumes, in many cases so tragic, even sordidly
tragic.
If misery and madness abound in stage life, so also does an
indomitable cheerfulness, always at least a cheerful countenance.
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