Thomas Betterton was the son of one of the cooks of King Charles I.
He was born in Tothill Street, Westminster, about 1635, eighteen
years after the death of Burbage. He seems to have received a fair
education; indeed, but for the disturbing effect of the Civil War, he
would probably have been brought up to one of the liberal professions.
He was, however, apprenticed to a bookseller, who, fortunately
for Betterton, took to theatrical management. Betterton was about
twenty-four years old when he began his dramatic career. For upwards
of fifty years he seems to have held his position as the foremost
actor of the day. It was fortunate, indeed, for the interests of the
Drama that so great an actor arose at the very time when dramatic art
had, as it were, to be resuscitated. Directly the Puritans (who hated
the stage and every one connected with it as heartily as they
hated their Cavalier neighbors) came into power, they abolished the
theatres, as they did every other form of intellectual amusement;
and for many years the Drama only existed in the form of a few vulgar
"Drolls." It must have been, indeed, a dismal time for the people of
England; with all the horrors of civil war fresh in their memory, the
more than paternal government allowed its subjects no other amusement
than that of consigning their neighbors to eternal damnation, and of
selecting for themselves--by anticipation--all the best reserved seats
in heaven. When the Restoration took place, the inevitable reaction
followed: society, having been condemned to a lengthened period of an
involuntary piety--which sat anything but easily on it--rushed into
the other extreme; all who wanted to be in the fashion professed but
little morality, and it is to be feared that, for once in a way, their
practice did not come short of their profession. Now was the time
when, instead of "poor players," "fine gentlemen" condescended to
write for the stage; and it may be remarked that as long as the
literary interests of the theatre were in their keeping, the tone of