Note 445 — Chapter XXV · THE DRAMA.

Totally unfit, from illness, to act, he had resort to violent remedies to enable him to go through his part, which he did, with his gouty foot in a slipper, but the exertion killed him. A great favourite of Charles II., that king not only sent him to Paris, to see and report on the French theatres, but appointed him to teach the nobility for court theatricals, whilst his wife tutored the future queens Mary and Anne—in fact, the latter settled a pension of 100l. per annum upon her, after her husband's death. Pepys describes him as 'the best actor in the world,' and so he undoubtedly was—in his age. Aston[445] describes him thus: 'He had little Eyes, and a broad Face, a little Pock fretten, a Corpulent Body, and thick Legs, with large Feet.... His Voice was low and grumbling; yet he could Tune it by an artful Climax, which enforc'd universal Attention, even from the Fops and Orange Girls. He was incapable of dancing even in a Country Dance.'