The Palmy Days of Nance Oldfield

The Palmy Days of Nance
Oldfield

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Edward Robins
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Title: The Palmy Days of Nance Oldfield
Author: Edward Robins
Release Date: March 25, 2004 [eBook #11717]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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PALMY DAYS OF NANCE OLDFIELD***
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THE PALMY DAYS OF NANCE OLDFIELD
BY
EDWARD ROBINS
WITH PORTRAITS
1898

[Illustration: Mrs. Oldfield the celebrated Comedian]

CONTENTS
I. FROM TAVERN TO THEATRE II. AN ENTRE-ACTE III. A
BELLE OF METTLE IV. MANAGERIAL WICKEDNESS V. A

DEAD HERO VI. IN TRAGIC PATHS VII. NANCE AT HOME VIII.
THE MIMIC WORLD IX. "GRIEF À LA MODE" X. THE BARTON
BOOTHS XI. THE FADING OF A STAR APPENDIX

PORTRAITS
Frontispiece: Mrs. Anne Oldfield
Title-page: Mrs. Oldfield in the Character of Fair Rosamond
Colley Cibber in the Character of Sir Novelty Fashion
Robert Wilks
William Congreve
Mrs. Anne Bracegirdle
Mrs. Bracegirdle as the "Sultaness"
Joseph Addison
Mrs. Anne Oldfield
Mr. Mills, Mrs. Porter, Mr. Cibber
Sir John Vanbrugh
Sir Richard Steele
Barton Booth

THE PALMY DAYS OF NANCE OLDFIELD

CHAPTER I
FROM TAVERN TO THEATRE
"Out of question, you were born in a merry hour," says Don Pedro to
the blithesome heroine of "Much Ado About Nothing."
"No, sure, my lord," answers Beatrice. "My mother cried; but then
there was a star danced, and under that was I born."
Surely a star, possibly Venus, must have danced gaily on a certain night
in the year of grace 1683, when the wife of Captain Oldfield,
gentleman by birth and Royal Guardsman by profession, brought into
the busy, unfeeling world of London a pretty mite of a girl. 'Twas a
year of grace indeed, for the little stranger happened to be none other
than Anne Oldfield, whose elegance of manner, charm of voice and

action and loveliness of face would in time make her the most
delightful comedienne of her day. Perhaps she found no instant
welcome, this diminutive maiden who came smiling into existence
laden with a message from the sunshine; her father was richer in
ancestry than guineas, and the arrival of another daughter may have
seemed an honour hardly worth the bestowal.[A] But Thalia laughed,
as well she might, and even the stern features of Melpomene relaxed a
little in witnessing the birth of one who would prove almost as
wondrous in tragedy, when she so minded, as she was fascinating in the
gentler phases of her art.
[Footnote A: According to Edmund Bellchambers, Anne Oldfield
"would have possessed a tolerable fortune, had not her father, a captain
in the army, expended it at a very early period."]
Yet the laughter of Thalia and the unbending of her sister Muse were
hardly likely to make much impression in the Oldfield household,
where money had more admirers than mythology, and so we are not
surprised to learn that, with the death of the gallant captain, this
"incomparable sweet girl," who would ere long reconcile even a
supercilious Frenchman to the English stage, had to seek her living as a
seamstress. How she sewed a bodice or hemmed a petticoat we know
not, nor do we care; it is far more interesting to be told that, though
only in her early teens, the toiler with the needle found her greatest
recreation in reading Beaumont and Fletcher's plays. The modern
young woman, be her station high or low, would take no pleasure in
such a literary occupation, but in the days of Nance Oldfield to con the
pages of Beaumont and Fletcher was considered a privilege rather than
a duty. Then, again, the little seamstress had a soul above threads and
thimbles; her heart was with the players, and we can imagine her
running off some idle afternoon to peep slyly into Drury Lane Theatre,
or perhaps walk over into Lincoln's Inn Fields, where the noble
Betterton and his companions had formed a rival company. The
performance over, she hurries to the Mitre Tavern, in St. James's
Market, and here she is sure of a warm welcome, as is but natural, since
the Mrs. Voss who rules the destinies of the hostelry is Anne's elder
sister[A]. Here the girl loves to spend those rare moments of leisure,

reading aloud the comedies of long ago and dreaming of the future; and
here, too, it is that dashing Captain Farquhar listens in amazement as
she recites the "Scornful Lady."
[Footnote A: According to