A Biographical Dictionary of the Celebrated Women of Every Age and Country/Pritchard, (Mrs.)
PRITCHARD (MRS.)
This celebrated English actress was, when very young, recommended to Mr. Booth, the manager, who was exceedingly pleased with her manner of reciting; and though then little connected with the theatre, he encouraged her to apply to some other governing person of the stage.
Her first appearance was, it is said, in one of Fielding's pieces, at the Little Theatre, in the Haymarket; then in Goodman's fields; and soon after in Bartholomew Fair, where she gained the applause of the public, by her easy, unaffected manner of speaking.
She was a candidate for theatrical fame in 1733, when the principal actors of Drury-lane revolted from Mr. Highmore, and opened the play-house in the Haymarket. To them she applied for employment; they very gladly embraced so promising an addition to their company. Her genteel person, for she was then young and slender; her attractive countenance, which, in the phrase of Shakespeare, beat an alarm to love; her expressive, yet simple manner; her unembarrassed deportment, and proper action; charmed all the spectators, who congratulated themselves on a rising genius, capable of consoling them for the loss of their favourite Oldfield, then lately deceased.
Mr. Fleetwood, who united the two companies, engaged her; but is said, either from pique or prejudice, to have thrust her into characters unworthy of so great a genius. But, by degrees, she convinced the patentee, that it was his interest to have her often seen in parts of importance. Her delivery of dialogue, whether of humour, wit, or mere sprightliness, was never surpassed, if equalled. Not confined to any one walk in acting, she ranged through them all; and, what is singular, discovered a large degree of merit in every distinct class. Her tragic power was eminent, but particularly in characters which required force of expression, and dignity of figure.
She excelled in the Queen-mother of Hamlet, Zara in the Mourning Bride, Merope, Creüsa, and more especially in Queen Katherine, wife of Henry VIII. She gave to all those parts importance by her action, as well as speaking. Her few defects, in tragedy, proceeded from a too loud and profuse expression of grief, and want of grace in her manner: but a natural ease of deportment, and grandeur of person, generally hid this defect from the common spectator. Her great force, in comedy, lay in a middle path between parts of superior life, and those of humour in a lower class; but neither her person nor manners were sufficiently elegant and graceful for the high-bred woman of fashion. In Beatrice, Berinthia, Mrs. Sullen, and all such parts as are thrown into situations of intrigue, gaiety, and mirth, with diversity of humour, wit, and pleasantry, she was inimitably charming. Notwithstanding the fullness of her person, and her advanced age, the town was charmed to the last with her representation of Congreve's delightful portrait of wit, affectation, and good-nature, in Millamant. Her disengaged and easy manner in speaking and action, supplied the want of an elegant form and a youthful countenance. In the course of conversation, upon the most trifling topics, she had an unaccountable method of charming the ear: she uttered her words, as the great poet advises the actor, smoothly and trippingly upon the tongue; and, however voluble in enunciation her part might require her to be, not a syllable of articulation was lost.
Her unblemished conduct in private life justly rendered her the great favourite of the people: few actresses were ever so sincerely beloved, and powerfully patronized, as Mrs. Pritchard.
When she took leave of the public, Garrick, out of respect, gave them, for the last time, his masterly character of Macbeth, which was acted for her benefit. Her action, before and after the commission of the horrid deed, was strongly characteristic: when she snatched the daggers from the remorseful and irresolute Macbeth, despising the agitations of a mind unaccustomed to guilt, and alarmed at the terrors of conscience, she presented to the audience a picture of the most consummate intrepidity in mischief. In the banquet scene, when the guilty king, full of horrors, after the murder of Banquo, by his alarming terrors betrays himself to his guests; her art, in endeavouring to engage the attention of the company, and draw them from the observation of Macbeth's feelings, equalled any thing that was ever seen in the art of acting.
She spoke the epilogue, which was written by Mr. Garrick, with many sobs and tears, which were increased by the generous feelings of a numerous and splendid audience. She retired to Bath, and died there, about four months after, of a mortification in her foot.
If it be a sign of genius to imitate the most exalted parts of nature in description, it surely is no less so, to catch the poet's fire, and exemplify his ideas in elegant recitation and action.