ROBERT GOUGHE. We e are able to furnish some particulars regarding Goughe and his family, beyond the brief notice of him by Malone and Chalmers. The former says, "I suppose he was the father of Alexander Goughe;" but there is not the slightest doubt on the point, as we shall show presently: Alexander Goughe, who was an actor until the closing of the theatres, and who published "The Widow" (by Ben Jonson, Fletcher, and Middleton) in 1652, was the son of Robert Goughe, who, having played Aspasia in Tarlton's "Second Part of the Seven Deadly Sins" before 1588, was unquestionably one of the original actors in Shakespeare's plays. We may conclude that Robert Goughe was young in 1588, from his having taken (as far as we can judge) a female part; but he must have outgrown that class of characters long before 1611 (the date assigned by Malone) when he was the usurping tyrant in "The Second Maiden's Tragedy," because he was married early in the spring of 1603, as appears by the subsequent extract from the register of St. Saviour's, Southwark: Married: 1602, Feb. 13, Robert Gough and Elizabeth The clerk did not know the surname of the wife, but we can supply it from other sources. She was sister to Augustine Phillips, mentioned in her brother's will, in 1605, as Elizabeth Goughe, while her husband was one of the witnesses to it.2 In 1 The name was spelt indifferently, Gough, or Goffe it is Goughe in the list of "the principal actors in all these plays," prefixed to the folio of 1623. 2 See this vol., pp. 86. 88. 1603 Thomas Pope had left to him and John Edmonds (another actor)" all his arms and all his wearing apparel, to be equally divided between them." On the foundation of this bequest Chalmers states, that Robert Goughe had "probably been bred by Thomas Pope," meaning educated by him for the stage; but there is no other existing evidence on the point, and this will hardly be deemed sufficient. Robert Goughe seems to have resided in Southwark, and we never hear of any connexion between him and any other company but the King's players, occupying the Globe and the Blackfriars theatres. The token-books preserved at St. Saviour's show that he was living in Hill's Rents in 1604, in Samson's Rents in 1605 and 1606; but in 1612 he had removed to Austin's Rents; and as he continued there in 1622, there is little doubt that he did not change his abode until his death, three years afterwards. We meet with the following entries at St. Saviour's, regarding the baptisms and burials of his children: Baptized: 1605, 30 May, Elizabeth Gough, daughter of Robert, a player. Baptized: 1608, 24 Nov., Nicholas Goffe, sonne of Robert, a player. Baptized: 1610, Feb. 10, Dorathye Goffe, daughter of Robert, a player. Buried: 1612, Jan. 12, Dorathy Goffe, a child. Baptized: 1614, Aug. 7, Alexander Goffe, sonne of Robert, a player. This last was, of course, Alexander Goughe, "the womanactor of the Blackfriars,” as Wright calls him, who afterwards flourished for many years on the stage, who, when he was only twelve years old, was " Cænis, Vespasian's concubine," in Massinger's "Roman Actor," and three years afterwards Acanthe, in the same dramatist's "Picture." Alexander was the youngest and last child of his parents, as far as we are able to learn from the registers. With the exception stated on the preceding page, we have no means of deciding what parts Robert Goughe filled in the productions of Shakespeare or of other poets: his name is not appended to the dramatis personæ of any plays by Ben Jonson, or Beaumont and Fletcher; and, as he died early in 1625, he had no opportunity of appearing in the works of later writers. The probability certainly is, that he sustained female characters in some of the earlier plays of our great dramatist; but we have not the slightest clue to any of them, and we need not indulge in conjectures which our readers can now form as well for themselves. Neither Malone nor Chalmers knew anything of the marriage, family, or death of Goughe: we find the last event thus recorded in the bound register-book, made out from the monthly accounts at St. Saviour's: Buried: 1624, Feb. 19, Robert Goffe, a man, which might apply to any other Robert Goughe besides our actor; but in the monthly account, from which the registerbook was certainly copied, the "quality" of the "man” is thus distinguished : 19 Feb., 1624, Robert Goffe, a player, buried. Why the person who transcribed the book substituted "man" for "player" does not appear; but this is another circumstance which shows the superior value of the more ancient, and often more particular and explanatory, records. RICHARD ROBINSON. This player may have been an original actor in some of Shakespeare's later dramas, and he just outlived the complete and final suppression of the stage. Of his death, and of the date at which it occurred, which have been matters of dispute, we shall speak in due course. His earliest appearance in any list of actors is at the end of Ben Jonson's "Catiline," first represented "by the King's Majesty's servants," in 1611. Robinson was probably the youngest performer in the company: he is certainly the only member of whom we do not hear before, and we may conclude that he sustained one of the four female characters. He had most likely been adopted into the association as a representative of parts of that kind. Ben Jonson divides the "principal tragedians" in his "Catiline" into two columns, and places Robinson at the bottom of the first, and Ecclestone at the bottom of the second. Such seems to have been the class of characters Robinson usually performed early in his career, but Gifford tells us, that he "undoubtedly played the part of Wittipol " in Ben Jonson's "Devil is an Ass," which was produced in 1616 Wittipol is "a young gallant," and might very well have been placed in Robinson's hands, though we have no distinct proof that it was assigned to him. In this very play Ben Jonson speaks of Robinson in terms of extraordinary eulogy, as an actor of female characters: it occurs in act ii., scene viii., of the earliest edition of 1631; but Gifford makes it the third scene of the second act, and changes "Dick Robinson," the familiar name by which he was known among 1 Ben Jonson's Works, v. 73. his fellows, into "Dickey Robinson:" it will be observed that in the following quotation Ben Jonson twice calls him Dick Robinson: Engine. Why, sir, your best will be one o' the players. Merecraft. No; there's no trusting them. They'll talk on't, And tell their poets. Engine. What if they do? the jest Will brook the stage. But there be some of 'em Are very honest lads. There is Dick Robinson, A very pretty fellow, and comes often To a gentleman's chamber, a friend of mine: we had The merriest supper of it there, one night. The gentleman's landlady invited him To a gossip's feast: now, he, sir, brought Dick Robinson, (I lent him clothes) but to see him behave it, And then talk bawdy, and send frolics! O! Merecraft. They say he's an ingenious youth. Engine. O, sir! and dresses himself the best! beyond Forty o' your ladies! Did you ne'er see him? Merecraft. No: I do seldom see those toys. But think you That we may have him? Engine. Sir, the young gentleman, I tell you of can command him. This, it will be remembered, was acted in 1616, five years after we first hear of Robinson, and when he had established himself in public estimation in the line adverted to. The only female character he is known to have filled is the lady of Govianus in "The Second Maiden's Tragedy," but at what date is uncertain: neither do we know at what period he began to represent male characters. He acted in Beaumont and Fletcher's "Bonduca," "Double Marriage," "Wife for a Month," and "Wild Goose Chase:" the last (published, as we |