Part 28 (2/2)
When the Restoration removed the oppressive weight of fanaticism from the public spirit, it rebounded as far above a healthy pitch as it had been formerly depressed below it. An immediate revolution took place in the manners and habits of the people. The theatres, which had been closed by the Puritans, were at once reopened, and the populace abandoned themselves to pleasurable excesses with an eagerness proportionate to the restraint which had been imposed on them. This license would, in time, have been checked by reflection, had not the impulse been supplied from the quarter where a repressive influence should have been exercised. The Merry Monarch and his court led the race in this national carnival, and the examples which they set only served to stimulate the public appet.i.te for debauchery. Indeed, the court of Charles was little better than a public brothel, and the wit with which its orgies were embellished only served to increase the dangers arising from its conspicuous position, and its power over men's minds as the centre from which all rank and consideration flowed. The conduct of the courtiers was strictly modeled on that of their royal master, and their social accomplishments only imperfectly varnished over the gross features of a coa.r.s.e sensuality. Women were flattered and caressed, but not respected, and the homage paid them was such as no decent woman in our time would consent to receive.
The most faithful portraiture of the manners of this epoch is to be found in its dramatic literature. The staple incidents of the pieces represented at the theatres consisted of love intrigues, seductions, and rapes. The fop of the play never elicited such hearty applause as when he recounted his exploits in the ruin of female virtue among the citizens' wives.
The theatre not only fostered lewdness by depicting it in glowing and attractive colors, but its actors spread abroad the corruption which it was their business to delineate. Their personal character corresponded, in too many instances, with the parts which they performed, and they re-enacted in private the debaucheries which they presented on the stage.
The theatre itself became a central rendezvous for immoral characters, and the place where a.s.signations were most conveniently fixed. Lively wenches, under the pretense of selling oranges to the spectators, frequented the pit, and took their places in the front row, with their backs to the stage. It was well understood that they were as ready to sell favors as fruit, and, in fact, that they had come from the neighboring brothels for that express purpose.
Deep drinking was another characteristic feature of the times, and baccha.n.a.lian orgies were freely indulged in by all cla.s.ses, from the king to the beggar, differing little in the extremes to which they were pushed.
Conversation, even in what was called the best society, was disfigured by the grossest obscenity and blasphemy, and _bon ton_ consisted in the extravagance to which this vicious conduct was extended.
Even the peasantry endeavored to imitate the costumes and carriage of the courtiers, and country women were to be seen in flaunting dresses cut so as to expose as much as possible of the person.
Up to this period no female had ever appeared upon the English stage; where women were introduced, their parts had been filled by boys. Neither was it customary for a monarch to show himself at a public representation of a play; but, when they were enacted for his amus.e.m.e.nt, the performance took place in some apartment of the royal palace. In Charles's reign, women for the first time appeared on the stage, and performed the parts allotted to the heroines of the drama.
The king and queen became regular frequenters of the theatre, and encouraged by their presence the _double entendre_ and broad indecencies of the pieces in vogue. We may remark, parenthetically, that unmarried actresses usually adopted the t.i.tle Mistress before their names, the word Miss, as then applied, signifying that she who bore it was a concubine. In modern days it is the habit to reverse this practice, as the marriage state is considered to divest the actress of half her attractions.
There were but two theatres in London at this period: the King's Theatre, where the celebrated Nell Gwynne and Mrs. Rebecca Marshall were the chief actresses, and the Duke's, where another company performed. One day the reigning favorites at the King's Theatre had a violent quarrel, and Mrs.
Marshall called Nell ”Lord Buckhurst's mistress.” Nell contented herself with rejoining that she was but one man's mistress, though brought up in a brothel, while Mrs. Marshall bore the same relation to three or four, notwithstanding she was the daughter of a Presbyterian. Their own accounts of each other leave no doubt as to their morality.
The pieces represented in the London theatres in the time of Charles II.
were, as we have before stated, filled with indecent allusions, and their interest with the public turned on the number and intensity of these prurient pa.s.sages. The ladies never attended the first representation of a comedy except in masks; and when the dames of the court, with their established reputations for gallantry, were apprehensive of being seen at them, some idea may be formed of the licentious character of the pieces most in favor.
But many of these plays are still in evidence to speak for themselves. It will be seen that in the majority the plot is so framed as to admit the greatest license in libidinous allusions. The distinguis.h.i.+ng feature of them is that the most immodest pa.s.sages are put into the mouths of women, and, indeed, we know that that actress was the most successful who took the greatest liberties with the text, and most improved upon its lewdness of expression.
As a specimen of the general character of these plays, we may name ”All Mistaken, or the Mad Couple,” quite a favorite with the public in its day.
The hero is importuned by six clamorous unfortunates whose ruin he has effected, and dunned in addition by the nurses of their illegitimate offspring for wages owing to them. The delectable superstructure of obscene dialogue which is raised on this foundation may be better imagined than described.
The usual hour at which the theatres opened their doors was four in the afternoon, and after the close of the performances the audience generally repaired to some garden or other place of public amus.e.m.e.nt. Here scenes were enacted which proved a fit sequel to those witnessed on the stage.
The orange-girls had a superior known as ”Orange Moll,” who occupied a position somewhat a.n.a.logous to that of the modern brothel-keeper. She attended the girls to the theatre, and superintended and directed their operations there. During the _entreactes_ lewd conversations were carried on between the orange-girls and the gallants, which were interspersed with obscene jokes, and highly relished by the audience. The custom of interpellating the gay women who frequented the theatre was continued to a period comparatively recent. Every one has heard the story of Peg Plunket and the Duke of Rutland, in the days when the G.o.ds of the Dublin theatre were esteemed the most discriminating, though boisterous and rollicking audience of the three kingdoms.
Charles selected several of his mistresses from the stage, for which he had a pa.s.sionate fondness. Miss Davis literally sang and danced her way into his affections. Her conquest of the king was consummated by the manner in which she sang the popular ballad ”My lodging is on the cold ground.” Charles thought she was deserving of warmer quarters, and raised her to his own bed. He established her in a splendid residence, and lavished on her the most extravagant gifts.
The queen at first resented the open and undisguised infidelities of the king, and publicly manifested her sense of them on one occasion by quitting the theatre when Miss Davis made her appearance on the stage; but, finding it impossible to reclaim him from his vicious propensities, she abandoned all hopes of restricting his libertinism, or even of keeping him within the bounds of conventional decency.
The Countess of Castlemaine (afterward created d.u.c.h.ess of Cleveland) was of a more jealous temperament than the queen, and took a more characteristic revenge on Charles for his frailties. She took another lover, and went to reside at his house, very much to the comfort of her royal patron, who had a kingly dislike of trouble.
After quarreling with Lord Buckhurst, Nell Gwynne returned to the stage, but had not long resumed her profession when it was rumored that she had made a conquest of the king. These reports were apparently contradicted by her continued appearance at the theatre, and the progress she made in her art, which could only be the result of careful study. A tragedy by Dryden was advertised, the princ.i.p.al character to be performed by Nell; but, before the night of its first representation arrived, it was found necessary to postpone the performance, owing to Nell's not being in a condition to appear. From this time her connection with Charles no longer remained a secret.
Nell, like her predecessors, was not long suffered to maintain uncontested her supremacy over the king's affections. When the d.u.c.h.esse d'Orleans, the sister of Charles, paid a visit to the English court in 1670, she had in her train a handsome maid, who was admired for her simple and childish style of beauty. Whether instigated by the courtiers who accompanied her mistress, whose visit was a political one, or prompted by her own sagacity, she made her acquiescence in the king's desires conditional upon his executing the shameful treaty which gave France such important advantages, and rendered Charles a mere tributary to the French king. This girl, Louise de Querouaille, became the rival of Nell Gwynne, and had a child by Charles, who was created Duke of Richmond.
So scandalously public had the relations of Charles with the loose women who surrounded him become, and so flagrant and unblus.h.i.+ng was the conduct of the latter, that the queen could no longer reside in the palace of Whitehall, and accordingly removed to Somerset House in the Strand. This feeling of indignation on the part of her majesty soon extended to the virtuously disposed part of the public. Efforts were made to apply a remedy to the disorder which threatened to corrupt the whole framework of English society. In Parliament it was proposed to levy a tax on the play-houses, which had become undisguised nests of prost.i.tution. The debate which ensued elicited a witticism which led to serious consequences to the gentleman who uttered it. On Sir John Birkenhead's remarking that ”the players were the king's servants and part of his pleasures,” Sir John Coventry was imprudent enough to inquire ”whether the king's pleasures lay among the men that acted or the women.” For this offense to Charles he was waylaid by some of the courtiers, who slit his nose, and otherwise maltreated him.
It is impossible, however, to deny that this very license of manners rendered the king popular with a certain cla.s.s of his subjects. The only exception taken by them to his conduct was the selection of a foreigner as one of his mistresses, and even this would have pa.s.sed without comment but for the political consequences of the connection. It was generally understood among the people that Mademoiselle de Querouaille, or Mrs.
Carwell, as she was commonly called, was an agent used for the purpose of securing the ascendency of French interests. This brought upon her the hostility of the populace, who availed themselves of every opportunity of manifesting their dislike to her.
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