mime
did good service to all concerned. Besides, if people of position and
taste could, if so minded, leave before the nonsense commenced--an
opportunity they do not seem to have embraced since Booth reminded the
opponents of Pantomime how Italian opera had drawn the nobility and
gentry away from the play-houses, as appeared by the melancholy
testimony of their receipts, until Pantomime came to the rescue when pit
and gallery were better filled, and the boxes too put on a nobler
appearance."

CHAPTER XV.

John Rich and his Pantomimes--Rich's Miming---Garrick, Walpole,
Foote--Anecdotes of Rich--Pope--The dance of infernals in "Harlequin
Sorcerer"--Drury Lane--Colley Cibber--Henry Fielding, the
Novelist--Contemporary Writers' opinion of Pantomime--Woodward, the
Harlequin--The meaning of the word Actor--Harlequins--"Dr. Faustus," a
description--William Rufus Chetwood--Accidents--Vandermere, the
Harlequin--"Orpheus and Eurydice" at Covent Garden--A description--Sam.
Hoole, the machinist--Prejudice against Pantomime--Mrs. Oldfield--Robert
Wilks--Macklin--Riot at Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre--Death of Rich.

It was in 1717 that Rich devised this new form of entertainment, though
it was not till 1724, when "The Necromancer, or History of Dr. Faustus"
was produced by Rich, which took the town by storm, that Pantomime
became such a rage. It has been stated that what induced Rich to turn
his attention to Pantomime was the bringing over of a German, named
Swartz, who had two performing dogs that could dance. They were engaged
at L10 a night; and brought full houses. However, be this as it may, in
the "Daily Courant," of December 20, 1717, we find him, advertising for
his "Italian Mimic Scenes"--as he, for long enough, so termed his
Pantomimes--as follows:--

"Harlequin Executed: a new Italian Mimic Scene between a
Scaramouch, a Harlequin, a Country Farmer, his Wife, and
others."

Of Rich and his early Pantomimes, Davies observes:--

John Rich was the son of Christopher Rich, formerly patentee of Drury
Lane Theatre, and he imbibed from his father a _dislike of people with
whom he was obliged to live and converse_. His father wished to acquire
wealth by French dancers and Italian singers, than by the united skill
of the most accomplished comedians. The son inherited the same taste,
and when he came into the patent, with his brother Christopher, of Drury
Lane, and after having ineffectually tried h