Note 172 — No. 71. [Steele.
Reading edition
Thomas Betterton was born in Westminster about 1635, and was apprenticed to a bookseller. There are various accounts of how he came to go on to the stage, but in 1661 he joined Sir William Davenant's company at Lincoln's Inn Fields. Davenant's son afterwards gave Betterton a share in the management, and the company ("the Duke's") moved to Dorset Garden. In 1682 this company united with the King's company. Betterton lost all his savings in a speculation in 1692. Soon afterwards the patentee of the theatre quarrelled with the actors about their salaries, and Betterton and his friends obtained a licence to set up a theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields. Betterton does not seem to have been a good manager, and he was often in straitened circumstances. In April 1709 the benefit described in No. 1 of the Tatler was arranged for his benefit; on that occasion Betterton, though over seventy, acted the youthful part of Valentine in "Love for Love." The performance brought Betterton £500. Writing on the occasion of his death, Steele paid a high tribute to the actor's powers in No. 167.
It is interesting to note what Zachary Baggs, treasurer at Drury Lane, stated to be the salary paid to, and the amount made by benefits by, the principal performers. I quote from a rare quarto paper of two leaves, issued by Baggs in July 1709 upon the threatened secession of the actors. He says that during the season, October 1708 to June 1709, 135 days—
£. s. d.
Wilks was paid by salary 168 6 8
By his benefit play 90 14 9
Betterton was paid, by his salary £4 a week, and £1 a week for his wife, although she does not act 112 10 0
By a benefit, besides what he got by high prices and guineas 76 4 5
Estcourt was paid at £5 a week salary 112 10 0
By his benefit play 51 8 6
Cibber was paid at £5 a week salary 112 10 0
By his benefit play 51 0 10
Mills was paid £4 a week salary, and £1 for his wife, for little or nothing 112 10 0
By his benefit play (not including hers) 58 1 4
Mrs. Oldfield had £4 a week salary, making for fourteen weeks and a day 56 13 4
She was also paid for costumes 2 10 7
And by her benefit play she had 62 7 8
In all £1077 3 8
But Baggs adds that at each benefit performance the actor gained much by the special prices paid for seats, and estimating those extra profits at the benefits above mentioned at £880, he arrives at the conclusion that the six actors named earned £1957 in all during the season, though it was broken in upon by the death of Prince George, and brought to a premature close in June.