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Learn iOS 11 Programming with Swift 4
Second Edition

Learn the fundamentals of iOS app development with Swift 4 and

Xcode 9

Craig Clayton

BIRMINGHAM - MUMBAI
Learn iOS 11 Programming with
Swift 4 Second Edition
Copyright © 2018 Packt Publishing

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher,
except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews.

Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy of the information
presented. However, the information contained in this book is sold without warranty, either express
or implied. Neither the author, nor Packt Publishing or its dealers and distributors, will be held liable
for any damages caused or alleged to have been caused directly or indirectly by this book.

Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all of the companies and
products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals. However, Packt Publishing cannot
guarantee the accuracy of this information.

Acquisition Editor: Reshma Raman

Content Development Editor: Vikas Tiwari
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First published: December 2016

Second edition: January 2018

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Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.

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B3 2PB, UK.

ISBN 978-1-78839-075-0

www.packtpub.com
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Contributors
About the author
Craig Clayton is a self-taught, senior iOS engineer at Adept Mobile
specializing in building mobile experiences for NBA and NFL teams. He
also volunteers as the organizer of the Suncoast iOS meetup group in the
Tampa/St. Petersburg area, and prepares presentations and hands-on talks
for this group and other groups in the community. He has also launched
Cocoa Academy online, which specializes in bringing a diverse list of iOS
courses ranging from building apps to games for all programming levels.
About the reviewer
Cecil Costa, also known as Eduardo Campos in Latin countries, is a Euro-
Brazilian freelance developer. He has been giving onsite courses for
companies such as Ericsson, Roche, TVE (a Spanish TV channel), and
others. He has also worked for different companies, including IBM,
Qualcomm, Spanish Lottery, and Dia. He is also the author of Swift
Cookbook, Swift 2 Blueprints, Reactive Programming with Swift, and a
video course called Building iOS 10 Applications with Swift, by Packt
Publishing.
Packt is searching for authors
like you
If you're interested in becoming an author for Packt, please visit authors.pac
ktpub.com and apply today. We have worked with thousands of developers
and tech professionals, just like you, to help them share their insight with
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Table of Contents
Preface
Who this book is for
What this book covers
To get the most out of this book
Download the example code files
Download the color images
Conventions used
Get in touch
Reviews
1. Getting Familiar with Xcode
Getting started
The Xcode interface
Navigator panel
Standard editor
Utilities panel
Debug panel
Toolbar
Generic iOS device
iOS device
Connecting wirelessly
Window pane controls
Summary
2. Building a Foundation with Swift
Playgrounds – an interactive coding environment
Data types – where it all starts
String
Integer data type
Floating-point numbers
Booleans
Variables and constants – where data is held
Creating a variable with a string
Creating a variable with an integer (Int)
Debug and print() – detecting your bugs
Adding floating-point numbers
 Creating a Boolean
Hungarian notation
Why constants versus variables?
Comments – leaving yourself notes or reminders
Type safety and type inference
Concatenating strings
String interpolation
Operations with our integers
Increment and decrement
Comparison operators
Summary
3. Building on the Swift Foundation
Creating a Playground project
The if statements – having fun with logic statements
Optionals and optional bindings
Why optionals?
Functions
Summary
4. Digging Deeper
Creating a Playground project
Ranges
Closed range
Half-closed range
Control flow
The for...in loop
One-sided range
The while loop
The repeat...while loop
Summary
5. Digging into Collections
Arrays
Creating an empty array
Creating an array with initial values
Creating a mutable array
Adding items to an array
Checking the number of elements in an array
Checking for an empty array
 Retrieving a value from an array
Iterating over an array
Removing items from an array
Dictionaries
Creating a dictionary
Adding and updating dictionary elements
Accessing an item in a dictionary
Iterating over dictionary values
Iterating over dictionary keys
Iterating over dictionary keys and values
Checking the number of items in a dictionary
Removing items from a dictionary
Sets
Creating an empty set
Creating a set with an array literal
Creating a mutable set
Adding items into a set
Checking if a set contains an item
Iterating over a set
Intersecting two sets
Joining two sets
Removing items from a set
Summary
6. Starting the UI Setup
Useful terms
View Controller
Table View Controller
Collection View Controller
Navigation Controller
Tab Bar Controller
Storyboard
Segue
Auto Layout
Model View Controller (MVC)
App tour
Explore tab
Locations
 Restaurant listings
Restaurant detail
Map tab
Project setup
Creating a new project
Summary
7. Setting Up the Basic Structure
Starting from scratch
Storyboard setup
Adding our app assets
Storyboards
Creating our launch screen
Adding a Navigation Controller
Summary
8. Building Our App Structure in Storyboard
Adding a Collection View Controller
Hooking up our outlets
Creating a custom color
Setting up our cell
Section header
Updating the grid
Adding a modal
Updating Bar Button Items
Unwinding our Cancel button
Adding our first Table View
Summary
9. Finishing Up Our App Structure in Storyboard
Adding our Restaurant List View
Hooking up our outlets
Setting up our cell
Adding Reviews View
Viewing reviews
Map Kit View
Summary
10. Designing Cells
Setting up the Explore header
Adding Auto Layout to the Explore header
 Setting up the Explore cell
Adding Auto Layout to the Explore cell
Setting up the Restaurant cell
Adding Auto Layout to the Restaurant cell
Location cell
Summary
11. Designing Static Tables
Setting up cells
Creating our section headers
Creating our address section
Adding Auto Layout to the headers
Photos section
Adding Auto Layout to the photos section
Reviews section
Adding Auto Layout to the Review cells
Updating the reservation times cells
Reservation information
Reservation header
Summary
12. Designing a Photo Filter and Review Form
Setting up our View Controllers
Adding our Photo Filter View
Adding Auto Layout for the Photo Filter View
Creating the Photo Filter View cell
Adding Auto Layout to our Photo Filter cell
Creating reviews
Setting up the Review storyboard
Creating a Review form
Updating the Review cells
Updating our first cell
Positioning UI elements
Adding Auto Layout for creating reviews
Refactoring the storyboard
Creating a new storyboard for the Map tab
Creating a new storyboard for the Explore tab
Summary
13. Getting Started with the Grid
 Understanding the Model View Controller architecture
Getting familiar with the setup
Classes and structures
Controllers and classes
Creating our controller
Understanding Collection View controllers and Collection View
cells
Getting data into Collection View
Understanding the data source
Summary
14. Getting Data into Our Grid
Model
ExploreData.plist
ExploreItem.swift
ExploreDataManager.swift
Getting data
Connecting to our cell
Hooking up our UI with IBOutlets
Restaurant listing
Summary
15. Getting Started with the List
Creating our Location View Controller class
Connecting our Table View with our Location View Controller
Digging into our Table View code
Adding the data source and delegate
Adding locations to our Table View
Creating our first property list (plist)
Adding data to our property list
Creating our location data manager
Working with our data manager
Creating folders
Summary
16. Where Are We?
Setting up map annotations
What is an MKAnnotation?
Creating a restaurant annotation
Creating our Map Data Manager
 Creating a base class
Refactoring code
Refactoring ExploreDataManager
Creating and adding annotations
Creating our Map View Controller
Creating custom annotations
Map to restaurant detail
Creating a storyboard reference
Map to restaurant detail
Passing data to restaurant detail
Organizing your code
Refactoring ExploreViewController
Using the MARK comment
Refactoring RestaurantViewController
Refactoring MapViewController
Summary
17. Working with an API
Creating an API Manager
What is an API?
Understanding a JSON file
Exploring the API Manager file
Location list
Selecting a location
Adding a Header view
Passing a selected location back to Explore View
Unwinding our Done button
Getting the last selected location
Passing location and cuisine to the restaurant list
Creating our restaurant cell class
Setting up restaurant list cell outlets
Creating a restaurant data manager
Handling no data
Summary
18. Displaying Data in Restaurant Detail
Adding a navigation button
Displaying data in our static Table View
Summary
19. Foodie Reviews
Getting started with reviews
Displaying ratings in our custom UIControl
Adding our touch events
Setting up the unwind segues
Setting up our rating control
Creating our review form controller
Summary
20. Working with Photo Filters
Understanding filters
Creating our filter scroller
Creating a filter cell
Creating our apply filter view controller
Getting permission
Summary
21. Understanding Core Data
What is Core Data?
Creating a data model
Entity auto-generation
Restaurant Photo Entity
Review item
Core Data manager
Summary
22. Saving Reviews
Saving reviews
Saving photos
Setting up the cell UI
Adding Auto Layout
Adding an overall rating
Summary
23. Universal
Explore
Location listing
Restaurant listing
Updating restaurant details
Summary
24. iMessages
 Understanding iMessages
Creating our extension
Updating our assets
Implementing our Messages UI
Adding Auto Layout to our cell
Creating a framework
Connecting our message cell
Showing restaurants
iMessage crashing
Sending reservations
Summary
25. Notifications
Starting with the basics
Getting permission
Setting up notifications
Showing notifications
Customizing our notifications
Embedding images
Adding buttons
Custom UI in notifications
Summary
26. Just a Peek
Adding 3D Touch quick actions
Adding favorites
Creating a new model object
Updating our Core Data manager
Summary
27. Drag and Drop
Accepting drag from other apps
Dragging and dropping filter items
Summary
28. SiriKit
Understanding SiriKit
Supported intents
Enable Siri capabilities
Creating users
Updating our intent handler
 Testing Siri
Summary
29. Beta and Store Submission
Creating a bundle identifier
Creating a certificate signing request
Creating production and development certificates
Creating a production provisioning profile
Creating a Development Provisioning Profile
Creating an App Store listing
Creating an archive build
Internal and external testing
Internal testing
External testing
Summary
Other Books You May Enjoy
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Preface
In this book, we will build a restaurant reservation app called Let's Eat. We
will start the book off by exploring Xcode, our programming environment,
which is also known as Interface Development Environment (IDE). Next,
you will start learning the foundations of Swift, the programming language
used in iOS apps. Once we are comfortable with the basics of Swift, we will
dig deeper to build a more solid foundation.

After we have a solid foundation of using Swift, we will start creating the
visual aspects of our Let's Eat app. During this process, we will work with
storyboards and connect our app's structure together using segues. With our
UI complete, we will go over the different ways in which we can display
data. To display our data in a grid, we will use Collection Views, and to
display our data in a list, we will use Table Views.

We will also look at how to add basic and custom annotations on to a map.
Finally, it's time to get real data; we will look at what an Application
Programming Interface (API) is and how we can get real restaurant data
into our Collection Views, Table Views, and Map.

We now have a complete app, but how about adding some bells and
whistles? The first place we can add a feature will be on the restaurant
detail page where we can add restaurant reviews. Here, users will be able to
take or choose a picture and apply a filter on to their picture. They will also
be able to give the restaurant a rating as well as a review. When they are
done, we will save this data using Core Data.

Since we built our app to work on both iPhone and iPad, we should add the
ability to make our app support iPad Multitasking. Doing this will allow our
app to be open alongside another app at the same time.

If we want to be able to send our reservation to a friend, we can create a

custom UI for iMessages, which will send them the details for the
reservation along with the app it came from. The one thing missing from
our app is the ability to notify the user with a custom notification to alert
when they have an upcoming reservation.

Finally, let's create a quick access for our app using 3D touch where, by
tapping our app icon, the user can quickly jump to their reservations. Now
that we have added some bells and whistles, let's get this app to our friends
using TestFlight,
and finally get it into the App Store.
Who this book is for
This book is for beginners who want to be able to create iOS applications. If
you have some programming experience, this book is a great way to get a
full understanding of how to create an iOS application from scratch and
submit it to the App Store. You do not need any knowledge of Swift or any
prior programming experience.
What this book covers
Chapter 1, Getting Familiar with Xcode, takes you through a tour of Xcode
and talks about all the different panels that we will use throughout the book.

Chapter 2, Building a Foundation with Swift, deals with the basics of Swift.

Chapter 3,Building on the Swift Foundation, teaches us to build on our

Swift foundation and learn some more basics of Swift.

Chapter 4, Digging Deeper, talks about ranges and control flow.

Chapter 5,Digging into Collections, talks about the different types of

Collections.

Chapter 6,Starting the UI Setup, is about building the Let's Eat app. We will
focus on getting our structure set up using storyboards.

Chapter 7, Setting Up the Basic Structure, deals with working on our Let's
Eat app in a storyboard.

Chapter 8, Building Our App Structure in Storyboard, is about adding more

to our app structure in the storyboard

Chapter 9, Finishing Up Our App Structure in Storyboard, finishes up our

app structure in the storyboard

Chapter 10, Designing Cells, is about designing the table and collection view
cells in storyboard.

Chapter 11, Designing Static Tables, teaches how to work with a static table
view.

Chapter 12,Designing a Photo Filter and Review Form, teaches you how to
design a basic form.
Chapter 13,
Getting Started with the Grid, is about working with Collection
Views and how we can use them to display a grid of items.

Chapter 14, Getting Data into Our Grid, is about getting data into our
Collection Views.

Chapter 15,Getting Started with the List, teaches us to work with Table
View and takes a deep look at dynamic Table Views.

Chapter 16,Where Are We?, deals with working with MapKit and learning
how to add annotations to a map. We will also create custom annotations for
our map.

Chapter 17, Working with an API, is about learning how to use a JSON API
within our app.

Chapter 18, Displaying Data in Restaurant Detail, teaches you how to pass
data using segues.

Chapter 19, Foodie Reviews, talks about working with the phone's camera
and library.

Chapter 20,Working with Photo Filters, takes a look at how to apply filters
to our photos.

Chapter 21, Understanding Core Data, teaches us the basics of using Core
Data.

Chapter 22, Saving Reviews, wraps up Reviews by saving them using Core
Data.

Chapter 23,Universal, deals with multitasking on the iPad, and how we can
get an update to be supported on all devices.

Chapter 24, iMessages, is about building a custom message app UI. We will
also create a framework to share data between both apps.
Chapter 25, Notifications, provides learning on how to build basic
notifications. Then, we will look at embedding images into our notifications
as well as building a custom UI.

Chapter 26, Drag and Drop, is about learning how to add drag and drop both
within the app and accepting drag and drop from other apps.

Chapter 27, Just a Peek, looks at 3D touch and how to add quick actions to
our app. We will also look at how we can add peek and pop to our
restaurant list.

Chapter 28, SiriKit, teaches how to use Siri to create money requests.

Chapter 29, Beta and Store Submission, is about how to submit apps for
testing as well as submitting apps to the App Store.
To get the most out of this book
You need to have Xcode 9 installed in your system. To download Xcode 9
visit https://developer.apple.com/xcode/.
Download the example code
files
You can download the example code files for this book from your account
at www.packtpub.com. If you purchased this book elsewhere, you can visit www.
packtpub.com/support and register to have the files emailed directly to you.

You can download the code files by following these steps:

1. Log in or register at www.packtpub.com.

2. Select the SUPPORT tab.
3. Click on Code Downloads & Errata.
4. Enter the name of the book in the Search box and follow the onscreen
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folder using the latest version of:

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Zipeg/iZip/UnRarX for Mac
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The code bundle for the book is also hosted on GitHub at https://github.co
m/PacktPublishing/Learn-iOS-11-Programming-with-Swift-4-Second-Edition. We
also have other code bundles from our rich catalog of books and videos
available at https://github.com/PacktPublishing/. Check them out!
Exploring the Variety of Random
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his character by his title. We should entertain a very high opinion of
Mrs. Pritchard, even had she left us nothing but the face in her
portraits. She seems to have been a really great genius, equally
capable of the highest and lowest parts. The fault objected to her
was, that her figure was not genteel; and we can imagine this well
enough in an actress who could pass from Lady Macbeth to Doll
Common. She seems to have thrown herself into the arms of
sincerity and passion, not, perhaps, the most refined, but as tragic
and comic as need be. As Churchill says,

"Before such merits all objections fly,

Pritchard's genteel, and Garrick six feet high."

Clive was an admirable comic actress, of the wilful and fantastic

order, and a wit and virago in private life. She became the neighbour
and intimate of Horace Walpole, and always seems to us to have
been the man of the two. Mrs. Woffington was an actress of all
work, but of greater talents than the phrase generally implies.
Davies says she was the handsomest woman that ever appeared on
the stage, and that Garrick was at one time in doubt whether he
should not marry her. She was famous for performing in male attire,
and openly preferred the conversation of men to women—the latter
she said, talking of "nothing but silks and scandal." She was the only
woman admitted into one of the beef-steak clubs, and is said to
have been president of it. These humours, perhaps, though Davies
praises her for feminine manners, as contrasted with her antagonist
Mrs. Clive, frightened Garrick out of his matrimony.
We now pass at once to Covent Garden Theatre, which lies close by.
Many old play-goers who are in the habit of associating the two
theatres in their fancy, like twins, will be surprised to hear that the
Covent Garden establishment is very young, compared with her
sister, being little more than a hundred years old. It was first built by
Rich, the harlequin, and opened in 1733 under the patent granted to
the Duke's company. The Covent Garden company may therefore be
considered as the representatives of the old companies of Davenant
and Betterton; while those at Drury Lane are the successors of
Killigrew, and more emphatically the King's actors. Indeed, they
exclusively designate themselves as "his Majesty's servants;" and,
we believe, claim some privileges on that account. Covent Garden
theatre was partly rebuilt in 1772, and wholly so in 1809, having
undergone the usual death by conflagration. The new edifice was a
structure in classical taste, by Mr. Smirke, the portico being a copy
from the Parthenon of Athens.[269]
Actors have seldom been confined to any one house; and those
whom we are about to mention performed at Drury Lane as well as
Covent Garden; but as they were rivals or opponents of Garrick, and
may be supposed to have made the greatest efforts when they acted
on a different stage, we shall speak of them apart under the present
head. The first of them is Barry, who at one time almost divided the
favour of of the town with Garrick, and in some characters is said to
have excelled him, especially in love parts. How far this was owing
to superiority of figure, and to a reputation for gallantry, it is
impossible to say; and never were judgments more discordant than
those which have been left us on the subject of Barry's merits. For
instance, his character is thus summed up by Davies:—
"Of all the tragic actors who have trod the English stage
for these last fifty years, Mr. Barry was unquestionably the
most pleasing. Since Booth and Wilks, no actor had shown
the public a just idea of the hero or the lover; Barry gave
dignity to the one and passion to the other: in his person
he was tall without awkwardness; in his countenance,
handsome without effeminacy; in his uttering of passion,
the language of nature alone was communicated to the
feelings of an audience."
Davies proceeds to tell us, that Barry could not perform such
characters as Richard and Macbeth, though he made a capital
Alexander. "He charmed the ladies by the soft melody of his love-
complaints, and the noble ardour of his courtship. There was no
passion of the tender kind so truly pathetic and forcible in any actor
as in Barry, except in Mrs. Cibber, who, indeed, excelled, in the
expression of love, grief, tenderness, and jealous rage, all I ever
knew. Happy it was for the frequenters of the theatre, when these
two genuine children of nature united their efforts to charm an
attentive audience. Mrs. Cibber, indeed, might be styled the
daughter or sister of Mr. Garrick, but could be only the mistress or
wife of Barry."[270] Our author afterwards calls him the "Mark Antony
of the stage," whether his amorous disposition was considered, or
his love of expense. He delighted in giving magnificent
entertainments, and treated Mr. Pelham, who once invited himself to
sup with him, in a style so princely, that the Minister rebuked him for
it; which was not very civil. An actor has surely as much right to do
absurd things as a statesman.
Now, as a contrast to this romantic portrait by Davies, take the
following from the severer but masterly hand of Churchill:—
 "In person taller than the common size,
Behold where Barry draws admiring eyes;
When lab'ring passions in his bosom pent,
Convulsive rage, and struggling heave for vent,
Spectators, with imagined terrors warm,
Anxious expect the bursting of the storm:
But, all unfit in such a pile to dwell,
His voice comes forth like Echo from her cell;
To swell the tempest needful aid denies,
And all a-down the stage in feeble murmur dies.
What man, like Barry, with such pains, can err
In elocution, action, character?
What man could give, if Barry was not here,
Such well-applauded tenderness to Lear?
Who else can speak so very, very fine,
That sense may kindly end with every line?
Some dozen lines, before the ghost is there,
Behold him for the solemn scene prepare.
See how he frames his eyes, poises each limb,
Puts the whole body into proper trim,—
From whence we learn, with no great stretch of art,
Five lines hence comes a ghost, and lo! a start.
When he appears most perfect, still we find
Something which jars upon and hurts the mind.
Whatever lights upon a part are thrown,
We see too plainly they are not his own:
No flame from nature ever yet he caught,
Nor knew a feeling which he was not taught;
He raised his trophies on the base of art,
And conn'd his passions, as he conn'd his part."[271]

The probability, we fear, is that Barry was one of the old artificial
school, who made his way more by person than by genius. Davies,
who was a better gossip than critic, though he affected literature,
was an actor himself of the mouthing order, if we are to believe
Churchill; and his criticisms show him enough inclined to lean
favourably to that side.
We have spoken of Quin, who acted much at this house in
opposition to Garrick. It was here that he delivered the prologue to
the memory of his friend Thomson; and affected the audience by
shedding real tears.[272]
Macklin was celebrated in Shylock; and in some other sarcastic
parts, particularly that of Sir Archy, in his comedy of "Love-à-la-
Mode." We take him to have been one of those actors whose
performances are confined to the reflection of their own personal
peculiarities. The merits of Shuter, Edwin, Quick, and others who
succeeded one another as buffoons, were perhaps a good deal of
this sort; but pleasant humours are rare and acceptable. Macklin was
a clever satirist in his writing, and embroiled himself, not so cleverly,
with a variety of his acquaintances. He foolishly attempted to run
down Garrick; and once, in a sudden quarrel, poked out a man's eye
with his stick and killed him; for which he narrowly escaped hanging.
However, he was sorry for it; and he is spoken of, by the stage
historians, as kind in his private relations, and liberal of his purse. A
curious specimen of his latter moments we reserve for our mention
of the house where he died.
Woodward seems to have been a caricature anticipation of Lewis,
and was a capital harlequin. But nobody in harlequins beat Rich, the
manager of this theatre. His pantomimes and spectacles produced a
re-action against Garrick, when nothing else could; and Covent
Garden ever since has been reckoned the superior house in that kind
of merit,—"the wit," as Mr. Ludlow Holt called it, "of goods and
chattels." However, a considerable degree of fancy and observation
may be developed in pantomime: it is the triumph of animal spirits
at Christmas, for the little children; and for the men there is
occasionally some excellent satire on the times, reminding one, in its
spirit, of what we read of the comic buffoonery of the ancients.
Grimaldi, in his broad and fugitive sketches, often showed himself a
shrewder observer than many a comic actor who can repeat only
what is set down for him. Covent Garden has, perhaps, been
superior also in music, at least since the existence of the two houses
together: for Purcell was before its time. Many of Arne's pieces came
out here; and the famous Beard, a singer as manly as his name, the
delight both of public and private life, was one of the managers.
Among the Covent Garden actors must not be forgotten Cooke, who
came out there in Richard III. For some time he was the greatest
performer of this and a few other characters. He was a new kind of
Macklin, and like him, excelled in Shylock and Sir Archy M'Sarcasm; a
confined actor, and a wayward man, but highly impressive in what
he could do. His artful villains have been found fault with for looking
too artful and villanous; but men of that stamp are apt to look so.
The art of hiding is a considerable one; but habit will betray it after
all, and stand foremost in the countenance. They who think
otherwise are only too dull to see it. Besides, Cooke had generally to
represent bold-faced, aspiring art; and to hug himself in its triumph.
This he did with such a gloating countenance, as if villany was pure
luxury in him, and with such a soft inward retreating of his voice—a
wrapping up of himself, as it were, in velvet—so different from his
ordinary rough way, that sometimes one could almost have wished
to abuse him.
John Kemble, who, like the whole respectable family of that name,
contributed much to maintain the rising character of the profession,
may be considered the last popular actor of the declamatory school.
His sister was a far greater performer, a true theatrical genius,
especially for the stately and dominant; and had a great effect in
raising the character of the profession. The growth of liberal opinion
is nowhere more visible than in the different estimation in which
actors and actresses are now held, compared with what it was.
Individuals, it is true, always made their way into society by dint of
the interest they excited; but still they were upon sufferance.
Anybody could insult an actor, could even beat him, without its being
dreamt that he had a right to retaliate; and the most amiable and
lady-like actresses were thought unfit for wives, as we have seen in
the case of Mrs. Oldfield. Things are now upon a different footing.
Talent is allowed its just pretensions, whether coming from author or
performer, and actresses have taken such a step, in ascension, that
nobility almost seems to look out for a wife among them, as in a
school that will inevitably furnish it with some kind of grace and
intellect. The famous Lord Peterborough, who was the first
nobleman that married an actress, kept the union concealed as long
as he could, and only owned it just before his death. The Duke of
Bolton, who married Miss Fenton, the Polly of Gay's opera, had first
had several children by her as his mistress; so that this is hardly a
case in point; and the marriage of Beard, the singer, with a lady of
the Waldegrave family, though he was one of the most excellent of
men, was looked upon as such a degradation, that they have
contrived to omit the circumstance in the peerage-books to this day!
Martin Folkes's marriage with Mrs. Bradshaw probably made the
world consider the case a little more rationally, as he was a clever
man; but Lord Derby's marriage with Miss Farren, who was
eminently the gentlewoman, as well as of spotless character, seems
to have been the first that rendered such unions compatible with
public opinion. Lord Craven's with Miss Brunton followed, though at
a considerable interval; and since that time, the town are so far from
being surprised at the marriages of actresses with people of rank or
fashion, that they seem to look for them. Lord Thurlow, not long
afterwards, married Miss Bolton; another noble lord was lately the
husband of an eminent singer; and several other favourites of the
town, Miss Tree, Miss O'Neill, &c., have become the wives of men of
fortune. We remember even a dancer, Miss Searle (but she was of
great elegance, and had an air of delicate self-possession), who
married into a family of rank.
The whole entertainment of a theatre has been rising in point of
accommodation and propriety for the last fifty years. The scenery is
better, the music better—we mean the orchestra—and last, not least,
the audiences are better. They are better behaved. Garrick put an
end to one great nuisance—the occupation, by the audience, of part
of the stage. Till his time, people often sat about a stage as at the
sides of a room, and the actor had to make his way among them,
sometimes with the chance of being insulted; and scuffles took place
among themselves. Dr. Johnson, at Lichfield, is said to have pushed
a man into the orchestra who had taken possession of his chair. The
pit, also, from about Garrick's time, seems to have left to the
galleries the vulgarity attributed to it by Pope. There still remains,
says he—

—— "to mortify a wit,

The many-headed monster of the pit,
A senseless, worthless, and unhonoured crowd,
Who, to disturb their betters mighty proud,
Clattering their sticks before ten lines are spoke,
Call for the farce, the bear, or the black-joke."

This would now be hardly a fair description of the galleries; and yet
modern audiences are not reckoned to be of quite so high a cast as
they used, in point of rank and wealth; so that this is another
evidence of the general improvement of manners. Boswell, in an
ebullition of vivacity, while sitting one night in the pit by his friend
Dr. Blair, gave an extempore imitation of a cow! The house
applauded, and he ventured upon some attempts of the same kind
which did not succeed. Blair advised him in future to "stick to the
cow." No gentleman now-a-days would think of a freak like this.
There is one thing, however, in which the pit have much to amend.
Their destitution of gallantry is extraordinary, especially for a body so
ready to accept the clap-traps of the stage, in praise of their "manly
hearts," and their "guardianship of the fair." Nothing is more
common than to see women standing at the sides of the pit
benches, while no one thinks of offering them a seat. Room even is
not made, though it often might be. Nay, we have heard women
rebuked for coming without securing a seat, while the reprover
complimented himself on his better wisdom, and the hearers
laughed. On the other hand, a considerate gentleman one night,
who went out to stretch his legs, told a lady in our hearing that she
might occupy his seat "till he returned!"
A friend of ours knew a lady who remembered Dr. Johnson in the pit
taking snuff out of his waistcoat pocket. He used to go into the
green-room to his friend Garrick, till he honestly confessed that the
actresses excited too much of his admiration. Garrick did not much
like to be seen by him when playing any buffoonery. It is said that
the actor once complained to his friend that he talked too loud in the
stage box, and interrupted his feelings: upon which the doctor said,
"Feelings! Punch has no feelings." It was Johnson's opinion
(speaking of a common cant of critics), that an actor who really
"took himself" for Richard III., deserved to be hanged; and it is easy
enough to agree with him; except that an actor who did so would be
out of his senses. Too great a sensibility seems almost as hurtful to
acting as too little. It would soon wear out the performer. There
must be a quickness of conception, sufficient to seize the truth of
the character, with a coolness of judgment to take all advantages;
but as the actor is to represent as well as conceive, and to be the
character in his own person, he could not with impunity give way to
his emotions in any degree equal to what the spectators suppose. At
least, if he did, he would fall into fits, or run his head against the
wall. As to the amount of talent requisite to make a great actor, we
must not enter upon a discussion which would lead us too far from
our main object; but we shall merely express our opinion, that there
is a great deal more of it among the community than they are
aware.
Goldsmith was a frequenter of the theatre: Fielding and Smollett,
Sterne, but particularly Churchill. "His observatory," says Davies,
"was generally the first row of the pit, next the orchestra." His
"Rosciad," a criticism on the most known performers of the day,
made a great sensation among a body of persons who, as they are
in the habit of receiving applause to their faces, and in the most
victorious manner, may be allowed a greater stock of self-love than
most people—a circumstance which renders an unexacting member
of their profession doubly delightful. "The writer," says Davies, "very
warmly, as well as justly, celebrated the various and peculiar
excellencies of Mrs. Pritchard, Mrs. Cibber, and Clive; but no one
has, except Garrick, escaped his satirical lash." Poor Davies is glad to
say this, because of the well-known passage in which he himself is
mentioned:—

"With him came mighty Davies! On my life

That Davies hath a very pretty wife."

We will make one more quotation from this poem, because it

describes a class of actors, who are now extinct, and who carried
the artificial school to its height:—
 "Mossop, attached to military plan,
Still kept his eye fixed on his right-hand man.
Whilst the mouth measures words with seeming skill,
The right hand labours, and the left lies still;
For he resolved on scripture grounds to go,
What the right doth, the left hand shall not know.
With studied impropriety of speech,
He soars beyond the hackney critic's reach;
To epithets allots emphatic state,
Whilst principals, ungraced, like lackeys, wait;
In ways first trodden by himself excels,
And stands alone in indeclinables;
Conjunction, preposition, adverb join,
To stamp new vigour on the nervous line:
In monosyllables his thunders roll;
He, she, it, and we, ye, they, fright the soul."

Mr. Barrymore (of whom we have no unpleasing recollection) had

something of this manner with him; but the extremity of the style is
now quite gone out.
The only capital performers we remember, that are now dead and
gone, with the exception of two or three already mentioned, were
Mrs. Jordan, a charming cordial actress, on the homely side of the
agreeable, with a delightful voice; and Suett, who was the very
personification of weak whimsicality, with a laugh like a peal of
giggles. Mathews gives him to the life.
We shall conclude this chapter with some delightful play-going
recollections of the best theatrical critic now living[273]—the best,
indeed, as far as we know, that this country ever saw. He is one who
does not respect criticism a jot too much, nor any of the feelings
connected with humanity, or the imitation of it, too little. We here
have him giving us an account of the impression made upon him by
the first sight of a play, and concluding with a good hint to those
older children, who, because they have cut their drums open, think
nothing remains in life to be pleased with. A child may like a theatre,
because he is not thoroughly acquainted with it; but if he become a
wise man, he will find reason to like it, because he is.
Life always flows with a certain freshness in these quarters; nor, with
all their drawbacks, have we more agreeable impressions from any
neighbourhood in London, than what we receive from the district
containing the great theatres. It is one of the most social and the
least sordid.
"At the north end of Cross Court," says Mr. Lamb, "there
yet stands a portal, of some architectural pretensions,
though reduced to humble use, serving at present for an
entrance to a printing-office. This old door-way, if you are
young, reader, you may not know was the identical pit
entrance to old Drury—Garrick's Drury—all of it that is left.
I never pass it without shaking some forty years from off
my shoulders, recurring to the evening when I passed
through it to see my first play. The afternoon had been
wet, and the condition of our going (the elder folks and
myself) was, that the rain should cease. With what a
beating heart did I watch from the window the puddles,
from the stillness of which I was taught to prognosticate
the desired cessation. I seem to remember the last spurt,
and the glee with which I ran to announce it.

"In those days were pit orders. Beshrew the

uncomfortable manager who abolished them!—with one of
these we went. I remember the waiting at the door—not
that which is left—but between that and an inner door, in
shelter. Oh, when shall I be such an expectant again!—
with the cry of nonpareils, an indispensable playhouse
accompaniment in those days. As near as I can recollect,
the fashionable pronunciation of the theatrical fruiteresses
was, 'chase some oranges, chase some nonpareils, chase
a bill of the play:' chase pro chuse. But when we got in
and I beheld the green curtain that veiled a heaven to my
imagination, which was soon to be disclosed—the
breathless anticipations I endured! I had seen something
like it in the plate prefixed to 'Troilus and Cressida,' in
Rowe's 'Shakspeare,'—the tent scene with Diomede; and a
sight of that plate can always bring back, in a measure,
the feeling of that evening. The boxes at that time full of
well-dressed women of quality, projected over the pit; and
the pilasters, reaching down, were adorned with a
glittering substance (I know not what) under glass (as it
seemed), resembling—a homely fancy—but I judged it to
be sugar-candy—yet, to my raised imagination, divested of
its homelier qualities, it appeared a glorified candy! The
orchestra lights at length arose, those 'fair Auroras!' Once
the bell sounded. It was to ring out yet once again; and,
incapable of the anticipation, I reposed my shut eyes in a
sort of resignation upon the maternal lap. It rang the
second time. The curtain drew up—I was not past six
years old—and the play was 'Artaxerxes!'
"I had dabbled a little in the 'Universal History'-the ancient
part of it—and here was the court of Persia. It was being
admitted to a sight of the past. I took no proper interest
in the action going on, for I understood not its import; but
I heard the word Darius, and I was in the midst of Daniel.
All feeling was absorbed in vision. Gorgeous vests,
gardens, palaces, princes, passed before me—I knew not
players. I was in Persepolis for the time, and the burning
idol of their devotion almost converted me into a
worshipper. I was awe-struck, and believed those
significations to be something more than elemental fires.
It was all enchantment and a dream. No such pleasure
has ever since visited me but in dreams. Harlequin's
invasion followed; where, I remember, the transformation
of the magistrates into reverend beldames seemed to me
a piece of grave historic justice, and the tailor carrying his
own head to be as sober a verity as the legend of St.
Denys.
"The next play to which I was taken, was the 'Lady of the
Manor,' of which, with the exception of some scenery, very
faint traces are left in my memory. It was followed by a
pantomime called 'Lun's Ghost'—a satiric touch, I
apprehend, upon Rich, not long since dead—but to my
apprehension (too sincere for satire) Lun was as remote a
piece of antiquity as Lud—the father of a line of harlequins
—transmitting his dagger of lath (the wooden sceptre)
through countless ages. I saw the primeval Motley come
from his silent tomb in a ghastly vest of white patch-work,
like the apparition of a dead rainbow. So harlequins
(thought I) look when they are dead.
"My third play followed in quick succession. It was 'The
Way of the World.' I think I must have sat at it as grave as
a judge; for, I remember, the hysteric affectations of good
Lady Wishfort affected me like some solemn tragic
passion. 'Robinson Crusoe' followed, in which Crusoe, Man
Friday, and the Parrot were as good and authentic as in
the story. The clownery and pantaloonery of these
pantomimes have clean passed out of my head. I believe I
no more laughed at them, than at the same age I should
have been disposed to laugh at the grotesque gothic
heads (seeming to me then replete with devout meaning)
that gape and grin, in stone, around the inside of the old
round church (my church) of the Templars.
"I saw these plays in the season of 1781-2, when I was
from six to seven years old. After the intervention of six or
seven years (for at school all play-going was inhibited) I
again entered the doors of a theatre. That old Artaxerxes'
evening had never done ringing in my fancy. I expected
the same feelings to come again with the same occasion.
But we differ from ourselves less at sixty and sixteen, than
the latter does from six. In that interval what had I not
lost! At the first period I knew nothing, understood
nothing, discriminated nothing. I felt all, loved all,
wondered all—

'Was nourished I could not tell how.'

I had left the temple a devotee, and was returned a

rationalist. The same things were there materially; but the
emblem, the reverence was gone! The green curtain was
no longer a veil drawn between two worlds, the unfolding
of which was to bring back past ages, to present a 'royal
ghost,' but a certain quantity of green baize, which was to
separate the audience for a given time from certain of
their fellow-men who were to come forward and pretend
those parts. The lights—the orchestra lights—came up, a
clumsy machinery. The first ring, and the second ring, was
now but a trick of the prompter's bell, which had been like
the note of the cuckoo, a phantom of a voice, no hand
seen or guessed at, which ministered to its warning. The
actors were men and women painted. I thought the fault
was in them; but it was in myself, and the alteration which
those many centuries—of six short twelvemonths—had
wrought in me. Perhaps it was fortunate for me that the
play of the evening was but an indifferent comedy, as it
gave me time to crop some unreasonable expectations,
which might have interfered with the genuine emotions
with which I was soon after enabled to enter upon the
first appearance, to me, of Mrs. Siddons in Isabella.
Comparison and retrospection soon yielded to the present
attraction of the scene; and the theatre became to me,
upon a new stock, the most delightful of recreations."—
Elia, p. 221.

ENTRANCE DOOR, OLD COVENT GARDEN.

 CHAPTER VIII.
COVENT GARDEN CONTINUED AND LEICESTER
SQUARE.
Bow Street once the Bond Street of London—Fashions at that time—
Infamous frolic of Sir Charles Sedley and others—Wycherly and
the Countess of Drogheda—Tonson the Bookseller—Fielding—
Russell Street—Dryden beaten by hired ruffians in Rose Street—
His Presidency at Will's Coffee-House—Character of that Place—
Addison and Button's Coffee-House—Pope, Philips, and Garth—
Armstrong—Boswell's introduction to Johnson—The Hummums—
Ghost Story there—Covent Garden—The Church—Car, Earl of
Somerset—Butler, Southern, Eastcourt, Sir Robert Strange—
Macklin—Curious Dialogue with him when past a century—Dr.
Walcot—Covent Garden Market—Story of Lord Sandwich,
Hackman, and Miss Ray—Henrietta Street—Mrs. Clive—James
Street—Partridge, the almanack-maker—Mysterious lady—King
Street—Arne and his Father—The four Indian Kings—Southampton
Row—Maiden Lane—Voltaire—Long Acre and its Mug-Houses—
Prior's resort there—Newport Street—St. Martin's Lane, and
Leicester Square—Sir Joshua Reynolds—Hogarth—Sir Isaac
Newton.
B ow Street was once the Bond Street of London. Mrs.
Bracegirdle began an epilogue of Dryden's with saying—
 "I've had to-day a dozen billet-doux
From fops, and wits, and cits, and Bow-street beaux;
Some from Whitehall, but from the Temple more:
A Covent-garden porter brought me four."

Sir Walter Scott says, in a note on the passage, "With a slight

alteration in spelling, a modern poet would have written Bond Street
beaux. A billet-doux from Bow Street would now be more alarming
than flattering."[274]
Mrs. Bracegirdle spoke this epilogue at Drury Lane. There was no
Covent Garden theatre then. People of fashion occupied the houses
in Bow Street, and mantuas floated up and down the pavement. This
was towards the end of the Stuart's reign, and the beginning of the
next century—the times of Dryden, Wycherly, and the Spectator. The
beau of Charles's time is well-known. He wore, when in full flower, a
peruke to imitate the flowing locks of youth, a Spanish hat, clothes
of slashed silk or velvet, the slashes tied with ribands, a coat
resembling a vest rather than the modern coat, and silk stockings,
with roses in his shoes. The Spanish was afterwards changed for the
cocked hat, the flowing peruke for one more compact; the coat
began to stiffen into the modern shape, and when in full dress, the
beau wore his hat under his arm. His grimaces have been described
by Dryden—
 "His various modes from various fathers follow;
One taught the toss, and one the new French wallow;
His sword-knot this, his cravat that designed;
And this the yard-long snake that twirls behind.
From one the sacred periwig he gained,
Which wind ne'er blew, nor touch of hat profaned.
Another's diving bow he did adore,
Which with a shog casts all the hair before,
Till he, with full decorum, brings it back,
And rises with a water-spaniel shake."[275]

One of these perukes would sometimes cost forty or fifty pounds.

The fair sex at this time waxed and waned through all the varieties
of dishabilles, hoop-petticoats, and stomachers. We must not enter
upon this boundless sphere, especially as we have to treat upon it
from time to time. We shall content ourselves with describing a set
of lady's clothes, advertised as stolen in the year 1709, and which
would appear to have belonged to a belle resolved to strike even
Bow Street with astonishment. They consisted of "a black silk
petticoat, with a red-and-white calico border; cherry-coloured stays,
trimmed with blue and silver; a red and dove-coloured damask
gown, flowered with large trees; a yellow satin apron, trimmed with
white Persian; muslin head-cloths, with crowfoot edging; double
ruffles with fine edging; a black silk furbelowed scarf, and a spotted
hood!"[276] It is probable, however, the lady did not wear all these
colours at once.
A tavern in Bow Street, the Cock, became notorious for a frolic of Sir
Charles Sedley, Lord Buckhurst, and others, frequently mentioned in
the biographies, but too disgusting to be told. There was an account
of it in Pepys' manuscript, but it was obliged to be omitted in the
printing. Anthony à Wood found it out, and first gave it to the public.
It was not commonly dissolute, there was a filthiness in it, which
would have been incredible if told of any other period than that of
the fine gentlemen of the court of Charles. What can be repeated
has been told by Johnson in his life of Sackville, Lord Dorset.
"Sackville, who was then Lord Buckhurst, with Sir Charles
Sedley, and Sir Thomas Ogle, got drunk at the Cock, in
Bow Street, by Covent Garden, and going into the balcony,
exposed themselves to the company in very indecent
postures. At last, as they grew warmer, Sedley stood forth
naked, and harangued the populace in such profane
language, that the public indignation was awakened; the
crowd attempted to force the door, and being repulsed,
drove in the performers with stones, and broke the
windows of the house. For this misdemeanour they were
indicted, and Sedley was fined five hundred pounds; what
was the sentence of the others is not known. Sedley
employed Killegrew and another to procure a remission of
the King, but (mark the friendship of the dissolute!) they
begged the fine for themselves, and exacted it to the last
groat."
Opposite this tavern lived Wycherly, with his wife, the Countess of
Drogheda. Charles paid him a visit there, before Wycherly knew the
lady; and showed him a kindness which his marriage is said to have
interrupted. The story begins and ends with Bow Street, and, as far
as concerns the lady, is curious.
"Mr. Wycherly," says the biographer, "happened to be ill of
a fever at his lodgings in Bow Street, Covent Garden:
during his sickness, the King did him the honour of a visit:
when, finding his fever indeed abated, but his body
extremely weakened, and his spirits miserably shattered,
he commanded him to take a journey to the south of
France, believing that nothing could contribute more to
the restoring his former state of health than the gentle air
of Montpelier during the winter season: at the same time,
the King assured him, that as soon as he was able to
undertake the journey, he would order five hundred
pounds to be paid him to defray the expenses of it.
"Mr. Wycherly accordingly went to France, and returned to
England the latter end of the spring following, with his
health entirely restored. The King received him with the
utmost marks of esteem, and shortly after told him he had
a son, who he resolved should be educated like the son of
a king, and that he could make choice of no man so
proper to be his governor as Mr. Wycherly; and that, for
this service, he should have fifteen hundred pounds a-year
allotted to him; the King also added, that when the time
came that his office should cease, he would take care to
make such a provision for him as should set him above
the malice of the world and fortune. These were golden
prospects for Mr. Wycherly, but they were soon by a cross
accident dashed to pieces.
"Soon after this promise of his Majesty's, Mr. Dennis tells
us that Mr. Wycherly went down to Tunbridge, to take
either the benefit of the waters or the diversions of the
place, when, walking one day upon the Wells-walk with
his friend, Mr. Fairbeard, of Gray's Inn, just as he came up
to the bookseller's, the Countess of Drogheda, a young
widow, rich, noble, and beautiful, came up to the
bookseller and inquired for the 'Plain Dealer.' 'Madam,'
says Mr. Fairbeard, 'since you are for the "Plain Dealer,"
there he is for you,' pushing Mr. Wycherly towards her.
'Yes,' says Mr. Wycherly, 'this lady can bear plain-dealing,
for she appears to be so accomplished, that what would
be a compliment to others, when said to her would be
plain-dealing.' 'No, truly, sir,' said the lady, 'I am not
without my faults more than the rest of my sex: and yet,
notwithstanding all my faults, I love plain-dealing, and am
never more fond of it than when it tells me of a fault.'
'Then, Madam,' says Mr. Fairbeard, 'you and the plain
 dealer seem designed by heaven for each other.' In short,
Mr. Wycherly accompanied her upon the walks, waited
upon her home, visited her daily at her lodgings whilst she
stayed at Tunbridge; and after she went to London, at her
lodgings in Hatton Garden: where, in a little time, he
obtained her consent to marry her. This he did, by his
father's command, without acquainting the King; for it was
reasonably supposed, that the lady's having a great
independent estate, and noble and powerful relations, the
acquainting the King with the intended match would be
the likeliest way to prevent it. As soon as the news was
known at court, it was looked upon as an affront to the
King, and a contempt of his Majesty's orders; and Mr.
Wycherly's conduct after marrying made the resentment
fall heavier upon him: for being conscious he had given
offence, and seldom going near the court, his absence
was construed into ingratitude.
"The Countess, though a splendid wife, was not formed to
make a husband happy; she was in her nature extremely
jealous; and indulged in it to such a degree, that she
could not endure her husband should be one moment out
of her sight. Their lodgings were in Bow Street, Covent
Garden, over against the Cock Tavern, whither, if Mr.
Wycherly at any time went, he was obliged to leave the
windows open, that his lady might see there was no
woman in the company."[277]
"The Countess," says another writer, "made him some amends by
dying in a reasonable time." His title to her fortune, however, was
disputed, and his circumstances, though he had property, were
always constrained. He was rich enough however to marry a young
woman a few days before he died, in order to disappoint a
troublesome heir. In his old age he became acquainted with Pope,
then a youth, who vexed him by taking him at his word, when asked
to correct his poetry. Wycherly showed a candid horror at growing
old, natural enough to a man who had been one of the gayest of the
gay, very handsome, and a "Captain." He was captain in the
regiment of which Buckingham was colonel. We have mentioned the
Duchess of Cleveland's visits to him when a student in the Temple.
Wycherly is the greatest of all our comic dramatists for truth of
detection in what is ill, as Congreve is the greatest painter of
artificial life, and Farquhar and Hoadley the best discoverers of what
is pleasant and good-humoured. When the profligacy of writers like
Wycherly is spoken of, we should not forget that much of it is not
only confined to certain characters, but that the detection of these
characters leaves an impression on the mind highly favourable to
genuine morals. A modern critic, as excellent in his remarks on the
drama as the one quoted at the conclusion of our last chapter is
upon the stage, says on this point, speaking of the comedy of the
"Plain Dealer,"—"The character of Manly is violent, repulsive, and
uncouth, which is a fault, though one that seems to have been
intended for the sake of contrast; for the portrait of consummate,
artful hypocrisy in Olivia, is, perhaps, rendered more striking by it.
The indignation excited against this odious and pernicious quality by
the masterly exposure to which it is here subjected, is 'a discipline of
humanity.' No one can read this play attentively without being the
better for it as long as he lives. It penetrates to the core; it shows
the immorality and hateful effects of duplicity, by showing it fixing its
harpy fangs in the heart of an honest and worthy man. It is worth
ten volumes of sermons. The scenes between Manly, after his
return, Olivia, Plausible, and Norel, are instructive examples of
unblushing impudence, of shallow pretensions to principle, and of
the most mortifying reflections on his own situation, and bitter sense
of female injustice and ingratitude on the part of Manly. The devil of
hypocrisy and hardened assurance seems worked up to the highest
pitch of conceivable effrontery in Olivia, when, after confiding to her
cousin the story of her infamy, she, in a moment, turns round upon
her for some sudden purpose, and affecting not to know the
meaning of the other's allusions to what she had just told her,
reproaches her with forging insinuations to the prejudice of her
character, and in violation of their friendship. 'Go! you're a
censorious woman.' This is more trying to the patience than
anything in the Tartuffe."
Tonson, the great bookseller of his time, had a private house in Bow
Street. Rowe, in an amusing parody of Horace's dialogue with Lydia,
has left an account of old Jacob's visitors here, and of his style of
language.
Tonson got rich, but he was penurious; and his want of generosity
towards Dryden (to say the least of it) has done him no honour with
posterity. It may be said that he cared little for posterity or for
anything else, provided he got his money; but a man who cares for
money (unless he is a pure miser) only cares for power and
consideration in another shape; and no man chooses to be disliked
by his fellow-creatures, living, or to come. In the correspondence
between Tonson and Dryden, we see the usual painful picture (when
the bookseller is of this description) of the tradesman taking all the
advantages, and the author made to suffer for being a gentleman
and a man of delicacy. This is the common, and, perhaps, the
natural order of things, till society see better throughout; though
there have been, and still are, some handsome exceptions, as in the
instances of Dodsley, the late Mr. Johnson, and others. The
bookseller generally behaves well, in proportion to his intelligence;
nothing being so eager to catch all petty advantages as the
consciousness of having no other ground to go upon. It may be
answered that Dryden's patience with Tonson sometimes got
exhausted, and he became "captious and irritable:" and it is always
to be remembered that the bookseller need not pretend to be
anything more than a tradesman seeking his allowed profits; but he
should not on every occasion retreat into the strongholds of trade,
and yet claim the merit of acting otherwise; and Tonson, who
undertook to be the familiar friend of Rowe and Congreve, ought not
to have been able to insult the man whom they both respected,
because he was not so well off as they. The following passage of
mingled amusement and painfulness is out of Sir Walter Scott:—
"Dryden," says Sir Walter, in his life of the poet, "seems to
have been particularly affronted at a presumptuous plan
of that publisher (a keen whig, and Secretary to the Kit-
Cat Club) to drive him into inscribing the translation of
'Virgil' to King William. With this view Tonson had an
especial care to make the engraver aggravate the nose of
Eneas in the plates into a sufficient resemblance of the
hooked promontory of the Deliverer's countenance, and
foreseeing Dryden's repugnance to his favourite plan, he
had recourse, it would seem, to more unjustifiable means
to further it; for the poet expresses himself as convinced
that, through Tonson's means, his correspondence with
his sons, then at Rome, was intercepted. I suppose Jacob,
having fairly laid siege to his author's conscience, had no
scruple to intercept all foreign supplies, which might have
confirmed him in his pertinacity. But Dryden, although
thus closely beleagured, held fast his integrity; and no
prospect of personal advantage, or importunity on the
part of Tonson, could induce him to take a step
inconsistent with his religious and political sentiments. It
was probably during the course of these bickerings with
his publisher, that Dryden, incensed at some refusal of
accommodation on the part of Tonson, sent him three
well-known coarse and forcible satirical lines descriptive of
his personal appearance:—

'With leering looks, bull-faced, and freckled fair,

With two left legs, and Judas-coloured hair,
And frouzy pores, that taint the ambient air.'

"'Tell the dog,' said the poet to the messenger, 'that he

who wrote these can write more.' But Tonson, perfectly
satisfied with this single triplet, hastened to comply with
the author's request, without requiring any further
specimen of his poetical powers. It would seem, on the
 other hand, that when Dryden neglected his stipulated
labour, Tonson possessed powers of animadversion,
which, though exercised in plain prose, were not a little
dreaded by the poet. Lord Bolingbroke, already a votary of
the Muses, and admitted to visit their high-priest, was
wont to relate, that one day he heard another person
enter the house. 'This,' said Dryden, 'is Tonson; you will
take care not to depart before he goes away, for I have
not completed the sheet which I promised him; and if you
leave me unprotected, I shall suffer all the rudeness to
which his resentment can prompt his tongue.'"[278]
Fielding lived some time in Bow Street, probably during his
magistracy.
We turn out of Bow Street into Russell Street, so called from the
noble family of that name, who possess great property in this
quarter. It is pleasant to think that the name is accordant with the
reputation of the place, for we are more than ever in the thick of
wits and men of letters, especially of a race which was long peculiar
to this country, literary politicians. At the north-east corner of the
two streets was the famous Will's coffee-house, formerly the Rose,
where Dryden presided over the literature of the town; and on the
other side of the way, on a part of the site of the present
Hummums, stood Button's coffee-house, no less celebrated as the
resort of the wits and poets of the time of Queen Anne.
Dryden is identified with the neighbourhood of Covent Garden. He
presided in the chair at Russell Street; his plays came out in the
theatre at the other end of it; he lived in Gerrard Street, which is not
far off; and, alas! for the anti-climax! he was beaten by hired bravos
in Rose Street, now called Rose Alley. Great men come down to
posterity with their proper aspects of calmness and dignity; and we
do not easily fancy that they received anything from their
contemporaries but the grateful homage which is paid them by
ourselves. "But the life of a wit," says Steele, "is a warfare upon
earth." Sir Walter Scott, speaking of the beautiful description given
by Dryden of the Attic nights he enjoyed with Sir Charles Sedley and
others, observes, "He had not yet experienced the disadvantages
attendant on such society, or learned how soon literary eminence
becomes the object of detraction, of envy, of injury, even from those
who can best feel its merit, if they are discouraged by dissipated
habits from emulating its flight, or hardened by perverted feeling
against loving its possessors."[279]
The outrage perpetrated upon the sacred shoulders of the poet was
the work of Lord Rochester, and originated in a mistake not
creditable to that would-be great man and dastardly debauchee. The
following is Sir Walter's account of the matter.
"The 'Essay on Satire' (by Lord Mulgrave, afterwards Duke
of Buckinghamshire), though written, as appears from the
title-page of the last edition, in 1675, was not made public
until 1679, with this observation:—I have sent you
herewith a libel, in which my own share is not the least.
The king having perused it, is no way dissatisfied with his.
The author is apparently Mr. Dr[yden], his patron Lord
M[ulgrave], having a panegyric in the midst. From hence it
is evident that Dryden obtained the reputation of being
the author; in consequence of which, Rochester meditated
the base and cowardly revenge which he afterwards
executed; and he thus coolly expressed his intention in
another of his letters:—'You write me word that I am out
of favour with a certain poet, whom I have admired for
the disproportion of him and his attributes. He is a rarity
which I cannot but be fond of, as one would be of a hog
that could fiddle, or a singing owl. If he falls on me at the
blunt, which is his very good weapon in wit, I will forgive
him if you please, and leave the repartee to black Will
with a cudgel.'
"In pursuance of this infamous resolution, upon the night
of the 18th December, 1679, Dryden was waylaid by hired
ruffians, and severely beaten, as he passed through Rose
Street, Covent Garden, returning from Will's coffee-house
to his own house in Gerrard Street. A reward of fifty
pounds was in vain offered in the 'London Gazette' and
other newspapers, for the discoverers of the perpetrators
of this outrage. The town was, however, at no loss to
pitch upon Rochester as the employer of the bravos, with
whom the public suspicion joined the Duchess of
Portsmouth, equally concerned in the supposed affront
thus avenged. In our time, were a nobleman to have
recourse to hired bravos to avenge his personal quarrels
against any one, more especially a person holding the
rank of a gentleman, he might lay his account with being
hunted out of society. But in the age of Charles, the
ancient high and chivalrous sense of honour was
esteemed Quixotic, and the civil war had left traces of
ferocity in the manners and sentiments of the people.
Encounters, where the assailants took all advantages of
number and weapons, were as frequent, and held as
honourable, as regular duels. Some of these approached
closely to assassination; as in the famous case of Sir John
Coventry, who was waylaid and had his nose slit by some
young men of rank, for a reflection upon the King's
theatrical amours. This occasioned the famous statute
against maiming and wounding, called the Coventry Act,
an Act highly necessary, for so far did our ancestors' ideas
of manly forbearance differ from ours, that Killegrew
introduces the hero of one of his comedies, a cavalier, and
the fine gentleman of the piece, lying in wait for, and
slashing the face of a poor courtezan, who had cheated
him.
"It will certainly be admitted, that a man, surprised in the
dark, and beaten by ruffians, loses no honour by such a
misfortune. But if Dryden had received the same discipline
from Rochester's own hand, without resenting it, his
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