313:, the historian of the stage, Spiller ‘acted the old man in a comedy taken from Crispin Medicine with such a nice degree of perfection as one could expect in no player who had not had forty years' experience. … I made no doubt of his being an old comedian, who, instructed by long practice and assisted by the weight of years, had performed the part so naturally; but how great was my surprise when I learnt that he was a young man about the age of twenty-six! … The wrinkles of his face, his sunk eyes, and his loose yellow cheeks, were incontestable proofs against what they said to me. I was credibly informed that the actor, to fit himself for the part of the old man, spent an hour in dressing himself, and disguised his face so nicely and painted so artificially a part of his eyebrows and eyelids that at the distance of six paces it was impossible not to be deceived’ (cf. Victor, Hist. of the Theatre, ii. 70).
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every morning and ask when they shall be paid. He continues: ‘Wicked good company have brought me into this imitation of grandeur. I loved my friend and my jest too well to get rich; in short, Sir John, wit is my blind side.’ On this letter
Nichols, the editor, noted that Spiller was ‘a comedian of great excellence, who may be considered as the Shuter of his day … a man of dissipated and irregular life; always in difficulties, and by these means lost the advantages of considerable talents.’ Nichols also says that he had but one eye, the loss being probably due to smallpox, of which he had a bad attack. Such of Spiller's jokes as are preserved are not very brilliant. They were collected in ‘Spiller's Jests, or the Life and Pleasant Adventures of the late celebrated Comedian, Mr. James Spiller,’ &c., London, n. d. , 8vo (the chief recommendation of the volume is its scarcity).
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experiments as
Alexander the Great and Mithridates were essayed by him. His genuine gifts were, however, soon recognised. From the outset he displayed the recklessness and intemperance which were the bane of his career, and had to resort to various shifts, and even to quit his engagements and run, in order to avoid arrest. At Drury Lane, whither he drifted, he is first heard of under
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301:'s ‘Rape of Proserpina,’ Spiller had an apoplectic seizure, and died on 7 February following. He was buried, at the expense of Rich, in the churchyard of St. Clement's. An epitaph on him, written by a butcher in Clare Market, is quoted in his biography of 1729. It concludes: He was an inoffensive, merry fellow, When sober hipp'd, blithe as a bird when mellow.
187:,’ to Mrs. Spiller's Laura Lucretia. On 21 April 1716, after a fashion of the day, he recited an epilogue seated on a donkey. Spiller was in the habit, for his benefit, of giving various entertainments, and on 13 April 1717 he announced ‘a new comi-tragi-mechanical prologue in the gay style, written and to be spoken by Spiller.’
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Market, held by an ex-deputy-keeper of the
Marshalsea, which he frequented, obtained much vogue. Its original title, the ‘Bull and Butcher,’ was changed about three months before his death into the ‘Spiller's Head,’ a sign presenting the actor's portrait having been painted and given to the proprietor by a Mr. Legar.
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His wife's name stands opposite some important parts, including Lady Anne in ‘Richard III.’ Spiller separated from her, however, and formed other ties. Spiller is credited with ‘performing all his parts excellently well in an unfashionable theatre, and to thin audiences.’ He had remarkable skill in
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on 6 December 1709, when he played the Porter in Crowne's ‘Country Wit.’ Harlequin followed on the 27th. On 9 January 1710 he was the original
Corporal Cuttum in Aaron Hill's farce, ‘The Walking Statue;’ on 27 March the First Boatswain in Mrs. Centlivre's ‘A Bickerstaffe's Burying, or Work for the
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Steele, in the ‘Anti-Theatre’ on 29 March 1720 (No. 13), published a letter signed ‘James
Spiller,’ and addressed to the worshipful Sir John Falstaff, knight, in which Spiller advertises his benefit, which took place on the 31st. He talks humorously about his creditors, who pay their compliments
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Spiller was the son of ‘the’ Gloucester carrier, was born in 1692, and apprenticed to a landscape-painter named Ross. He obtained some proficiency, but, soon wearying of his occupation, joined a company of strolling players, of which, as low comedian, he became the principal support. Such absurd
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In consequence of his extravagance in living, Spiller had in early days to take refuge in the
Southwark sanctuary, the Mint. After the abolition of this, he was from time to time confined in the Marshalsea. He was in high estimation with a certain world of fashion, and a public house near Clare
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His original characters were fairly numerous, but not as a rule important. Among them were James
Spoilem, so named after James Spiller in Bullock's ‘Perjurer,’ 12 Dec. (Spiller, in the prologue, says, ‘In these short scenes my character is shown’); Periwinkle in Mrs. Centlivre's
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Upholders,’ in which Mrs. Spiller (Mrs. Elizabeth
Thompson) appeared as Lucy. On the junction of the companies at the Haymarket, Spiller, who had to undergo formidable rivalry, especially from
143:, and Leigh, seceded from Drury Lane, and joined Rich in his new venture. At Lincoln's Inn Fields Spiller remained for the rest of his life. He was on 3 February 1715 the original Roger in
309:,’ is said to have completely deceived his special patron the Duke of Argyll, who, taking him for a new hand, recommended him to Rich as deserving encouragement. According to
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in Mrs. Behn's piece so named, and was on 14 June the original
Captain Debonair in Griffin's ‘Love in a Sack.’ In the following season he played Gomez in the ‘
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112:,’ and was on 5 June 1712 the original Ananias in Hamilton's ‘Petticoat Plotter.’ On 6 January 1713 he was the first Smart in Taverner's ‘
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The characters subsequently assigned to
Spiller included, with many others, Hob in the ‘Country Wake,’ Bottom, Ben in ‘
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transforming himself into whatever character he represented, and one night, as Stockwell in the ‘
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108:.’ He was in 1711–12 back at Drury Lane, where he played Captain Anvil in Brome's ‘
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When the new theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields was opened by
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120:'s ‘Humours of the Army,’ and Foist (a lawyer) in the ‘
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78:(1692 – 7 February 1730) was a British comedian.
353:. Vol. 53. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
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297:On 31 January 1730, while performing in
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147:'s ‘Slip,’ taken from Middleton's ‘
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396:18th-century British male actors
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350:Dictionary of National Biography
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155:.’ He played Harlequin in the ‘
122:Apparition, or the Sham Wedding
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289:"Benefit Ticket for Spiller"
258:,’ Sir Politick Wouldbe in ‘
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276:Every Man in his Humour
149:A Mad World, my Masters
401:British male comedians
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272:Bold Stroke for a Wife
262:,’ and Spruce in the ‘
228:Merry Wives of Windsor
206:,’ First Murderer in ‘
198:,’ Lord Froth in the ‘
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18:James Spiller (actor)
372:at Wikimedia Commons
236:Troilus and Cressida
179:,’ Appetite in the ‘
171:,’ Spitfire in the ‘
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250:,’ Foigard in the ‘
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102:Confederacy
58:Nationality
380:Categories
321:References
210:’ and in ‘
181:Sea Voyage
89:Aaron Hill
66:Occupation
339:(1898). "
129:John Rich
98:Busy Body
82:Biography
248:Oronooko
232:Pandarus
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