of whole scenes that he judged to be vicious or immoral. He had
constituted himself a _Censor Morum_; a character in which the modern
Licenser of Plays still commends himself to our notice.

Moreover, the Chamberlain had arrogated to himself the right of
interfering in dramatic affairs upon all occasions that he judged
fitting. Upon his authority the theatres were closed at any moment,
even for a period of six weeks, in the case of the death of the
sovereign. If any disputes occurred between managers and actors, even
in relation to so small a matter as the privileges of the latter, the
Chamberlain interfered to arrange the difficulty according to his own
notion of justice. No actor could quit the company of one patent
theatre, to join the forces of the other, without the permission of
the Chamberlain, in addition to the formal discharge of his manager.
Powell, the actor, even suffered imprisonment on this account,
although it was thought as well, after a day or two, to abandon the
proceedings that had been taken against him. "Upon this occasion,"
says Cibber, with a mysterious air, and in very involved terms,
"behind the scenes at Drury Lane, a person of great quality, in my
hearing, inquiring of Powell into the nature of his offence ... told
him, that if he had patience, or spirit enough to have stayed in his
confinement till he had given him notice of it, he would have found
him a handsomer way of coming out of it!" Of the same actor, Powell,
it is recorded that he once, at Will's Coffee House, "in a dispute
about playhouse affairs, struck a gentleman whose family had been some
time masters of it." A complaint of the actor's violence was lodged at
the Chamberlain's office, and Powell having a part in the play
announced for performance upon the following day, an order was sent to
silence the whole company, and to close the theatre, although it was
admitted that the managers had been without cognisance of their
actor's misconduct! "However," Cibber narrates, "this order was
obeyed, and remained in force for two or three days, till the same
authority was pleased, or advised, to revoke it. From the measures
this injured gentleman took for his redress, it may be judged how far
it was taken for granted that a Lord Chamberlain had an absolute power
over the theatre." An attempt, however, upon the authority of the
Chamberlain to imprison Dogget, the actor, for breach of his
engagement with the patentees of Drury Lane Theatr