The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-01-01
Actors and Actresses Now at Rest in
Westminster Abbey,
London.
(London Mail.l


London Mail)
The number Of names which have
been rendered immortal in the history
/ Of England by reason Of their tri-
| umphs upon the stage is by no means
| a short one. Quite a large proportion,
moreover. Of these have found a last
resting place somewhere or other with
| in the precincts Of our historic abbey.
This will come as a surprise TO many
who are perhaps only familiar In this
| connection with the well known and
not wholly effective statue Of Garrick.
| which stands in the south transept,
and possibly also that Of the famous
/ Mrs. S!ddons, which occupies a rather
! less prominent position in the chapel
i of St Andrew. AS a matter of fact.
! the greater proportion Of the actors and
actresses whose names are thus asso-
| ciated with Westminster abbey lie
within the beautiful cloisters.
~ IA Fellow of Infinite Jests''~ -
AS soon as you have entered through
the west cloister gate you naturally
! make your way along what is termed
| the west walk" of the great cloisters
| and toward the door leading into the
nave of the church In doing this you
/ pass over nameless grave Of the
! great comedian, 1.-THE Dog" who, &C
] eOAAIAS ~ IL 1Ol1nSOA4s NdS ~ very
! comical-no, sir, he was irresistible"
! Foote's greatest gift lay in mimicry,
and it was his delight to please the
! public by means Of an invitation to
! chocolate or tea at the Haymarket
! when, under the pretense Of training
pupils for the stage. he and his troupe
| would initiate the peculiarities Of vari-
! Gus public characters. Not unnatur-
/ ally such proceedings did not tend to
/ procure friends for poor Samuel, and
! he is said to have died of a broken
| heart. lie was buried in this place by
| torchlight on Oct. q, 1777.
! Instead of making our way straight
| into the abbey, we turn along the
| north walk of the great cloisters, and
! here we are passing over historic dust
| indeed. Spranger Barry, Garrick's
great rival, has found a last resting
place here, while beside him, in the
! same grave, there lies his second wife
| and former pupil, Anne Crawford. who
! in her own day attained to the highest
reputation as a tragedienne The trial
| of skill between the two rival actors
! seems TO have mortified Garrick not a
| little; in fact, after Barry's success as
! Romeo he proceeded forthwith to erase
| that part from his repertory The RI
| valry between the two was quantity
! expressed by a set Of doggerel verses
which rang through London at one
| time:
The town has found out different ways
To praise its different Lears;
| To Barry 1t gives loud huzzas,
To Garrick only tears.
| "a king, aye, every inch king,
! Such Barry doth appear:
But Garrick's quite another thing
! He's every inch King Lear
| 1t must be mentioned, however that
when fortune ceased to shine upon
/ TricIy haI- -.
| generous fashion, allowing to him and
| his wife salary Of e1.500, together
with certain other privileges.
Tragedy Died With Her."-
But we must pass on to another yet
more famous personality, whose grave
is situated close to that of Barry and
Anne Crawford, her funeral taking
place privately in January, 1865:
"Cibber? Then tragedy has died with
her. Barry and remain, but tragedy
is dead on one side" Such was Gar
rick's exclamation Of grief when he
first heard the news of Mrs. Cfbber's
death. 1t is not generally known that
this highly gifted tragedienne was a
sister Of DR.. Arne, 80 famous in his
own day as a composer. OF. music. and,
moreover, that she herself was bIest
with musical gifts of no mean order.
| She made her debut at the opera, and
| She was so great a faVOrite of the
mighty Handel himself that he actual
| " wrote the contraIto solos in the
! Messiah" and also the part of Micah
/ in Samson" on purpose for her. Su-
! sannah Maria Arne married the ugly
/ and unsatisfactory son Of the celebrated
dramatic manager and actor old Colley
| Cibber. OF Mrs. Cibber's portrayal of
| the pare OF OpheHa it was said that
no eIoqusnce could paint her distracted
| look, her fine acting, in the mad scene"
Another part which was played by her
/ in an even more fascinating manner
was that of Constance in king John"
| The scream of agony with which she
used to utter the words 80 Lord, my
! boy." after hearing of Arthurs cap
| ture, used to ring in the ears of those
who heard it for many a day.
| In the least walk of the cloisters
there are three most interesting graves,
| those Of Thomas Betterton and his
/ wife, better known as Bess Saunder-
son, and the fascinating Mrs.
| BracegfrdIe. OF all the people who lie
within these hallowed walls it may
safely be said that Betterton has the
! best claim Of all to this privilege. No
small measure Of praise must be &C
| corded to this gifted actor for the fact
/ that he almost more than anyone else
was responsible for the resuscitation Of
the English drama after the stern re-
! gime Of the Puritans. Mrs. Braceardle
was either adopted by Betterton or
! placed under his care, and she very
soon took all hearts in London by
storm. She achieved her greatest sue
! cesses in acting in Congreve's plays.
/ Her artistic career, however, was a
/ comparatively short one, for Mrs.
! Bracegirdle retired from the stage in
| dudgeon when Anne Oldfeld first be-
came her dangerous rival She lived
/ on in honorable retirement, and be-
/ loved by all, high and low, far and
| near, until the year 174S when she was
buried here beside her old friends. the
| Bettertons.
A Queen of Comedy.
| Oily one actress has ever been ac-
| corded the privilege Of a burial within
! the Abbey itself. This, curiously
enough, was this same Anne OldfieId-
/ in spite, moreover, of the fact that she
/ possessed a reputation by no means of
| the highest. She began life as a humble