The Case of Mrs. Clive

The Case of Mrs. Clive

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Title: The Case of Mrs. Clive
Author: Catherine Clive
Release Date: October 27, 2004 [EBook #13881]
Language: English
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 THE AUGUSTAN REPRINT SOCIETY
CATHERINE CLIVE
THE CASE OF Mrs. CLIVE (1744)

Introduction by RICHARD C. FRUSHELL

To
H.T. Swedenberg, Junior
_founder, protector, friend_
He that delights to Plant and Set, Makes After-Ages in his Debt.

Where could they find another formed so fit, To poise, with solid sense,
a sprightly wit? Were these both wanting, as they both abound, Where
could so firm integrity be found?
The verse and emblem are from George Wither, _A Collection of
Emblems, Ancient and Modern_ (London, 1635), illustration xxxv,
page 35.
The lines of poetry (123-126) are from "To My Honoured Kinsman
John Driden," in John Dryden, The Works of John Dryden, ed. Sir
Walter Scott, rev. and corr. George Saintsbury (Edinburgh: William
Patterson, 1885), xi, 78.
* * * * *
GENERAL EDITORS
William E. Conway, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library George
Robert Guffey, University of California, Los Angeles Maximillian E.
Novak, University of California, Los Angeles David S. Rodes,
University of California, Los Angeles
ADVISORY EDITORS
Richard C. Boys, University of Michigan James L. Clifford, Columbia
University Ralph Cohen, University of Virginia Vinton A. Dearing,
University of California, Los Angeles Arthur Friedman, University of
Chicago Louis A. Landa, Princeton University Earl Miner, Princeton
University Samuel H. Monk, University of Minnesota Everett T. Moore,
University of California, Los Angeles Lawrence Clark Powell, William
Andrews Clark Memorial Library James Sutherland, University
College, London H.T. Swedenberg, Jr., University of California, Los
Angeles Robert Vosper, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library
Curt A. Zimansky, State University of Iowa
CORRESPONDING SECRETARY
Edna C. Davis, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library

EDITORIAL ASSISTANT
Jean T. Shebanek, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library
Typography by Wm. M. Cheney

INTRODUCTION
Among other things, the licensing act of 1737 stipulated that Covent
Garden and Drury Lane exclusively were the patented and licensed
theaters (respectively) in London, a fact directly related to the revolt of
prestigious players six years later. Although there were sporadic
performances of "legitimate" drama in unlicensed playhouses between
1737 and 1743, full-time professional actors and actresses were in
effect locked into the approved theaters during the regular theatrical
season. Suspecting a cartel directed against them personally and
professionally by the "Bashas" Rich at Covent Garden and Fleetwood
at Drury Lane,[1] the players from Drury Lane in the summer of 1743
banded together and refused to perform the next season until salaries
and playing conditions improved. Tardy and partial payment of salary
was the surface sore point, unprincipled and unwarranted manipulation
by the managers the underlying one. As the Macklin-Garrick quarrel
attests,[2] the conflict was not only between labor and management;
but the latter confrontation is central to the conflict in 1743 and the
subject of _The Case of Mrs. Clive Submitted to the Publick_,
published in October, 1744, by which time Catherine (Kitty) Clive had
established herself as not only first lady of comedy but also as
somewhat of a patriot of the acting profession and the Drury Lane
company.
Coming to Drury Lane in 1728 while still in her teens, Kitty Rafter
(1711-1785) quickly became a favorite of the town by virtue of her
singing voice, vivacity, and gift for mimicry. Admired first as a singing
actress, Miss Rafter in 1731 gave unequivocal notice of her
considerable talent as a comic actress in the role of Nell in Coffey's The
Devil to Pay, one of several hundred she mastered. Her specialties:
Flora in The Wonder, Lady Bab in High Life Below Stairs, Lappet in
The Miser, Catherine in Catherine and Petruchio, Mrs. Heidelberg in

The Clandestine Marriage, and the Fine Lady in Lethe. Mrs. Clive's (on
4 Oct. 1733, Miss Rafter married George Clive, a barrister) popularity
as comedienne and performer of prologues and epilogues is indicated
by the frequency of her performances and long tenure at Drury Lane
(she retired in 1769) and documented by the panegyrics of Fielding,
Murphy, Churchill, Garrick, Dr. Johnson, Horace Walpole, Goldsmith,
fellow players, contemporary memoir writers, and audiences who
admired her.[3] Dr. Johnson, I feel, gives the most balanced, just
contemporary appraisal of Mrs. Clive the actress: "What Clive did best,
she did better than Garrick; but could