ABSTRACT
Extracts from An Apology for the Life of Colley Cibber (1740), ch. 5, ‘The Theatrical Characters of the Principal Actors, in the Year 1690’. Cibber (1671–1757) was educated at Grantham, took arms in the Revolution of 1688, and became an actor in 1690. He eventually shared the management of Drury Lane, and in 1730 was appointed poet laureate. The actors he recalls here were Edward Kynaston, who began acting after the Restoration and made a reputation in women’s parts (‘the loveliest lady that ever I saw in my Life’; Pepys, Diary, 18 August 1660); and Mrs Mountford, ‘mistress of more variety of humour,’ (says Cibber), ‘than I ever knew in any one woman actress.’
