They found it among prize-
fighters, when Byron was young, and extremely conscious of the fact
that he was a lord. Moreover there were no women on the stage to
distract the attention of the gallants. The players, says Asinius
Lupus, in Jonson's Poetaster, "corrupt young gentry very much, I know
it." I take the quotation from Mr. Greenwood. {106a} They could not
corrupt the young gentry, if they were not pretty intimate with them.
From Ben's Poetaster, which bristles with envy of the players, Mr.
Greenwood also quotes a railing address by a copper captain to
Histrio, a poor actor, "There are some of you players honest,
gentlemanlike scoundrels, and suspected to ha' some wit, as well as
your poets, both at drinking and breaking of jests; AND ARE
COMPANIONS FOR GALLANTS. A man may skelder ye, now and then, of half
a dozen shillings or so." {107a} We think of Nigel Olifaunt in The
Fortunes of Nigel; but better gallants might choose to have some
acquaintance with Shakespeare.
To suppose that young men of position would not form a playhouse
acquaintanceship with an amusing and interesting actor seems to me to
show misunderstanding of human nature. The players were, when
unprotected by men of rank, "vagabonds." The citizens of London,
mainly Puritans, hated them mortally, but the young gallants were not
Puritans. The Court patronised the actors who performed Masques in
palaces and great houses.
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