hearing in 1726 before Sir Joseph Jekyll, Master of the Rolls. Cibber pleaded his case in person, and obtained the applause of all who heard him, and what, perhaps, he scarcely valued as much, a verdict in his favour. The triumph was the more flattering as the two opposite counsel were both men of note, who each afterwards successively rose to be Lord Chancellor of England.
In 1728, "The Beggar's Opera," written in ridicule of the Italian opera, and the effect of which was popularly said to make Rich gay and Gay rich, was brought out at Lincoln's Inn Fields. The play had been offered to Cibber, but by an oversight, committed occasionally by shrewd men of experience, he had declined it. The hint of the piece had been given by Swift, but Congreve, Pope, and Swift all doubted whether it would fail or succeed. During the first act they were still hesitating, when they heard the Duke of Argyll, who was in the next box, exclaim: "It will do, it must do, I see it in the eyes of them." Presently a burst of applause approved the keenness of the Duke's perception, and the enthusiasm increased till the fall of the curtain. The mania this piece excited throughout the country is incomprehensible. Ladies learnt the songs; scenes from it were painted on their fans, and adorned the walls of their houses, and the Italian opera was for a while exploded.
From this period Drury Lane declined. Steele died in the following year; Mrs. Oldfield in 1730. Booth fell ill; and in 1731 Wilks, too, died. These accumulated misfortunes so affected the reputation and efficiency of the theatre, that, though it made a vigorous effort, it never recovered its position until Garrick, some years afterwards, brought new powers into the field, and resuscitated the system that Cibber had so prosperously carried out. In 1732 the patent expired, and Cibber without much trouble obtained its renewal for twenty-one years, in behalf of
