The Case of Mrs. Clive | Page 5

always at the labouring Oar, and
at constant Expence, while the rest are serv'd up once or twice in a
Week each, as very fine Dishes," one of whom, he says, is Mrs. Clive,
an "avaritious" person whom he is confident "has found, and feels, her
Error by this Time."[17] The writer then details the particular hardships
of Mrs. Roberts, Mrs. Horton, and Mr. Mills, hardships caused by such
greedy principals as Clive. B.Y. obviously chose to ignore the
compassion of Mrs. Clive for the low-salaried players expressed in her
Case.
Evidence that Mrs. Clive was in no position to be avaricious and that a
debilitating cartel in fact existed is found in her own essay. When the
defected players returned to Drury Lane (except Macklin, whom
Fleetwood considered the cause of the theater's troubles) late in 1743,
Fleetwood offered Mrs. Clive a salary incompatible with her talent and
lower than his previous "agreements" with her. Clive says, "They were
such as I was advis'd not to accept, because it was known they were
proposed for no reason but to insult me, and make me seek for better at
the other Theatre; for I knew it had been settled, by some dark
Agreement, that Part of the Actors were to go to Covent-Garden
Theatre, and others to Drury-Lane."
Led to believe that she would find comfort and acceptance at Covent
Garden based on previous encouragement by Rich to have her join his
company,[18] Mrs. Clive realized that the dark agreement was a fact,
for "When I apply'd to him, he offered me exactly the same which I had
refused at the other Theatre." She managed a bit more salary, however,
and out of necessity agreed to play. More rankling to Mrs. Clive than
basic salary was her being forced to pay for her benefit. The extant
Clive-Garrick correspondence points to the pride she took in not only a
"clear" benefit but one held during that part of the month she dictated.
As is the case with salary, the basis for this complaint was
unreasonable manipulation by the managers, loss of freedom, and an
unjustified break with tradition: "I had had one [a benefit] clear of all
Expence for Nine Years before; an Advantage the first Performers had

been thought to merit for near Thirty Years, and had grown into a
Custom."
Mrs. Clive did not regularly play for Rich until December 1743, from
which time she "determined to stay there," doing all in her power to
please her audiences and him. Yet she "found, by his Behaviour to me,
it was designed I should not continue with him." Clive's specific
exposition of Rich's mistreatment of her is a portrait of an actress aware
of her worth and of a manager at his worst. Fired from Covent
Garden--against custom and justice--at the end of the season without
being told, Mrs. Clive could not arrange to play in Ireland, where she
was a great favorite,[19] for Rich's cheat did not become clear to her
until summer was too far advanced. Clive says it all when she observes
"it is unlawful to act any where but with them." Fleetwood was the only
alternative for the next season, and he still owed her £160. 12s. At the
time of Clive's Case (October, 1744) Fleetwood had not yet contacted
her for engagement at Drury Lane even though he could not "but know
I am disengag'd from the other Theatre." Nor could have Clive
expected much of a salary from him even if he did call on her since the
last season he offered her "not near half as much as he afterwards
agreed to give another Performer, and less than he then gave to some
others in his Company." Mrs. Clive could not but conclude that the
managers were in league to distress her.[20] In the final third of her
essay, Mrs. Clive presents a rather touching account of the personal
costs of a piece of legislation which was itself manipulated and
"interpreted in the narrow sense of forming the legal safeguard to the
patent monopoly."[21]
The "Ladies" who had promised their protection to Mrs. Clive
obviously were influential in convincing Rich to re-hire her, for less
than one month after the appearance of Clive's Case the Prince of
Wales and his Princess sponsored at the Haymarket a concert for her
benefit,[22] and her name is regularly listed in the Covent Garden
playbills soon after. The absence of publicity from Mrs. Clive, or about
her, suggests that her second short year at Covent Garden was fairly
acceptable to all concerned, although Portia in The Merchant of Venice
was hardly her forte.
The next season finds her back at Drury Lane, where she reigns
uncontested queen of comedy for more than twenty years. In addition

to the return