Jane Shore

“ Enter Jane Shore. Sure, or I read her visage much amiss, Or grief besets her hard. Save you, fair lady, The blessings of the cheerful morn be on you, And greet your beauty with its opening sweets. Jane S. My gentle neighbour! your good wishes still Pursue my hapless fortunes; ah! good Belmour! How few, like thee, inquire the wretched out, And court the offices of soft humanity. Like thee, reserve their raiment for the naked, Reach out their bread to feed the crying orphan, Or mix their pitying tears with those that weep. ”

“ Jane Shore having surrendered up her chastity to the king, pleased with the glittering of a court, and endeared by a monarch's love, was admired by the vulgar, towards whom she behaved in a most courteous manner.
Her power was so great with the king that when his courtiers dared not intercede for the poor and miserable that lay under his displeasure, she with her wit, would so abate his anger, that she saved the lives of many, both poor and rich. ”

“ Why do we think more of Jane Shore than of Alice Perrers? Why, out of the long list of frail beauties about the court of Charles II., do we fix our eyes upon Nell Gwynne and neglect the rest? Certain it is that, not only in her own lifetime but also long afterwards, Jane Shore was remembered with kindliness and pity. Everybody knows her story: she was the wife of a London citizen, a goldsmith; she attracted the attention of the man who is commonly believed to have been the handsomest man in the country, as he was certainly the most dissolute. ”

“ With any old history book staring them in the face, they treated Jane Shore precisely as though she were the heroine of a dime novel. They had no qualms. They lopped great wads from her past, and huge excrescences from her present, and by the time that she had reached the last act, the audience sat dazed at the delicate beauty of her character. No masculine playwright could have done as much. Possibly if the purifiers of Lady Jane Shore elected to dramatize the career of Messalina, they would make of her a combination of Joan of Arc and Dorothy Vernon of Haddon Hall. ”

“ Unfortunately for the decorum of the dining-room, as the star looked at him he lowered the paper and spied over the top of it at Jane Shore with an air of watching her from ambush. All the actor's rage at the stage director instantly focused on this peeping Tom. And his rage was reinforced by policy; he wished to do something to put Jane Shore under grateful obligation to him. He crossed at once to the table and struck down the paper, with an oath. In doing so he uncovered the proportions of a man whom he would never have challenged if he had seen him first. ”

“ On that I build: this paper meets his doubts, And marks my hated rival as the cause Of Hastings' zeal for his dead master's sons. Oh, jealousy! thou bane of pleasing friendship, How does thy rancour poison all our softness, And turn our gentle natures into bitterness! See, where she comes! once my heart's dearest blessing, Now my chang'd eyes are blasted with her beauty, Loath that known face, and sicken to behold her. Enter Jane Shore. Jane S. O my Alicia! Alic. What new grief is this? What unforeseen misfortune has surpris'd thee, That racks thy tender heart thus? ”

“ Hoffman's Theater, New York City.—Who's Who.
1
IT is not easy to do any sort of truthful portrait of Jane Shore. We are all, no doubt, different with different people, and at different times, but Jane Shore is wilfully so, particularly when she sees that she is being watched. It is difficult to choose any incidents from her life that seem wholly characteristic. ”

“ Life and Character of Jane Shore, 1714, p. 4) to have been the only child of Thomas Wainstead, ‘a mercer of a good figure and reputation in Cheapside, London.’ She was born in London and ‘honestly brought up.’ Her father chose for her husband William Shore (Gairdner, Richard III, p. 90) , a goldsmith who resided in Lombard Street, and was, to quote the cautious words of Jane's anonymous biographer, ‘a man of a very fair character both for religion and morals.’ Possibly he was related to Richard Shore, who was an alderman in 1505. ”

“ Lord H. How fierce a fiend is passion! With what wildness, What tyranny, untam'd it reigns in woman! Unhappy sex! whose easy, yielding, temper Gives way to ev'ry appetite alike: And love in their weak bosoms is a rage As terrible as hate, and as destructive. But soft ye now—for here comes one, disclaims Strife and her wrangling train; of equal elements, Without one jarring atom, was she form'd, And gentleness and joy make up her being. Enter Jane Shore. Forgive me, fair one, if officious friendship Intrudes on your repose, and comes thus late To greet you with the tidings of success. ”

“ Even one so fallen and so low as poor Jane Shore, was, through the might of fidelity and affection, of more avail than all his doughty partizans, who, in the hour of need, were scattered and forgetful. ”

“ There Thomas Lynom, the king’s solicitor, was smitten with her, and wished to make her his wife, but was apparently dissuaded. Jane Shore survived till 1527; in her last days she had to “beg a living of many that had begged if she had not been.” ”

“ Edward and Richard, and several daughters, all lawfully begotten, by the Queen, quarrelled with Lord Hastings, who after the death of the King, had taken Jane Shore for his concubine, as now free, because he would not assist him in his wicked project of making away with his two nephews, whom he afterwards caused to be murdered in the tower, alledging that the Queen and Shore’s wife had bewitched him, shewing his withered arm, which all knew had been so from his cradle. ”

“ At one time I had a dozen photographs of her tacked up together over a writing-desk; and invariably the stranger would say: "Who are all the good-looking girls? I recognize Jane Shore, but who are the others?"
Take, for example, the earliest anecdote about her that I have. It is the story of how, at the age of six, she rode her pony into a corner drug-store and demanded of the soda-fountain clerk that he serve her and her Shetland with ice-cream soda. ”

“ It is Fritz Hoffman who has made possible her whole later career. She will probably marry him. She will have to if he has ever sense enough to say, "I'll leave you, if you don't." And in the purely practical world in which Jane Shore has to live—the world of the theater—it would be the best thing that she could do. ”

“ The author was busy rewriting again in order to make a star part for Jane Shore. The stage director was helping by beating his breast like a gorilla and howling for more mother-love. A young leading man, in answer to a wire from Jane Shore, was coming from Washington to rehearse the part in which the star had fallen down. A New York manager had agreed to take the Atlantic City theater off their hands for the latter part of the week. And the producer was leaving for Broadway and the booking-offices, to arrange for an out-of-town opening for Jane Shore in "a new American drama" within the month. ”

“ To-morrow I promise myself still more satisfaction from Jane Shore, as the character is more worthy of her talents. Adieu, Dear Madam. Inform me that the beginning of the winter has not affected your health. Whatever may be the state of my namesake, I hope at Christmas to bring you a sound body, and a mind not dissatisfied with external things, because it is not dissatisfied with itself. ”

“ It explains why Jane Shore has never married. Her suitors, she thinks, have not been in love with her; they have been in love with Shakespeare's Juliet, or Shaw's Patricia Beauchamp, or Barrie's Grizel, or some other ideal that is not Fanny Widgen. And they bore her. She will not marry an actor. "I won't marry one," she says, "for the same reason that I won't co-star with one. There isn't room for two of our egos in one house." A manager wanted to marry her, and she explained her rejection of him by saying in a Bowery voice, "I'm not goin' to be no man's white slave." ”

“ This Lord being chamberlain to Edward the fourth, having frequently his ear, and finding he was much inclined to lady Elizabeth Gray, took an opportunity to tell him of Jane’s beauty, extolling her wit above her features, which made the King hearken, to this new adventure, and he resolved to go to Shore’s shop in disguise to see her.
The King whose thoughts still run on his intended mistress, delayed not long to pay her a visit ”

“ The King had no sooner departed, but Jane asked her husband, Who that gentleman was, that had been so liberal to her? he told her, he said he was a merchant, but he knew him not. Ah! said she, I rather take him for some Lord in disguise; therefore, dear husband, if he should come again, tell him that I am sick, or anything you can feign to disappoint him Mr. Shore was greatly pleased at her conduct and more discourse had passed, but people coming into the shop about business, she retired. ”

“ And indeed she was so respectable that whenever any one attacked the moral conditions on our stage, Mrs. Fiske, in replying, never failed to refer to the immaculate record and reputation of Jane Shore. With whatever abandon she played Juliet or the proposal scene in Shaw's "Satan's Advocate," she was always primly chaperoned, off the stage, by the inhibitions of her Calvinistic and Quaker ancestors. The nearest she ever came to scandal—
12 It was quite recently, at Madame Bernhardt's professional matinée, in the Empire Theater, on her last tour. ”

“ One of Edward’s Mistresses was Jane Shore, who has had a play written about her, but it is a tragedy and therefore not worth reading. ”

“ Broadway 's always strong for its mother. Its wife's a joke. But its mother! Oh, boy! It's sure fire. We've got to have it. It's mother-love, I tell you. It's mother-love." And he struck his breast argumentatively every time he said "mother-love"—to indicate the seat of the appeal. And every time he struck his breast the producer nodded solemnly.
It was evident that Jane Shore had chosen the right scene to steal. "I knew it," she laughed. "I knew they'd never let him take that away from me." She had seen the producer's face, as I had seen it, contorted with emotion. ”

“ They were not stage people. Far from it. Her real name is Fanny Widgen. Her father was Mathew Widgen, a Philadelphia business man, a rice importer, of Quaker descent. Her mother was the daughter of a Calvinist minister, of an old Huguenot family. And unless you blame the French blood of a great-grandmother, there is no inheritance to account for temperament, artistry, and the stage.
2 Jane Shore herself gives a curious explanation of the origin of her career—more curious than credible. She says that just before her birth her mother developed an unaccountable passion for the theater ”

“ Their nurse is very good-humoured to them. She is certainly not a beauty, but they like her as well as if she were a Venus. Never were little souls so easily managed, or so little troublesome.”
The great actress would boast with more pride of the effect she produced on a little girl during the performance of Jane Shore, than of her greatest triumphs. ”

“ Bel. He has; but see—— He comes, unlike to that Dumont you knew, For now he wears your better angel's form, And comes to visit you with peace and pardon. Enter Shore. Jane S. Speak, tell me! Which is he? ”

“ This is the sorcery of Edward's wife, Who, in conjunction with that harlot Shore, And other like confed'rate midnight hags, By force of potent spells, of bloody characters, And conjurations horrible to hear, Call fiends and spectres from the yawning deep, And set the ministers of hell at work, To torture and despoil me of my life. ”

“ So when some other healths had passed, the King asked if there was not a mistress to so fair a house? otherwise he could help him to a wife, rich and beautiful.
For this offer, Shore thanked him, but told him he was already married to such a one as he described, whom he loved extremely. This discourse made the King more desirous to see her ere he departed, and asked if he could not have a sight of her. Shore little thinking that was intended for his ruin, and proud of his wife’s beauty, soon yielded to his request, and ordered her to be called down ”

“ It has been observed, that Rowe seldom moves either pity or terror, but often elevates the sentiments; he seldom pierces the breast, but always delights the ear, and often improves the understanding. This excellent tragedy is always acted with great applause, and will, in one instance at least, prove the author's power to excite a powerful effect: consisting chiefly of domestic scenes and private distress, the play before us is an affecting appeal to pity, especially in the parting of Alicia and Hastings, the interview between Jane Shore and Alicia, and in the catastrophe. ”

“ Hastings smiling, immediately said, Take no care, for this shall be easy to your Highness, there is one Mrs Blague, your lace woman, has a house pretty near Shore’s, and is very intimate with his wife—this woman is very fond of money, to such a degree that it would make her do any thing. Her will I engage in this matter, and trust me she will soon bring it to pass to your satisfaction—The King liked this advance, and it was agreed that he should see her at this Mrs Blague’s and have freedom to court her ”

“ Jane Shore is mentioned as a play visited by citizens in The Knight of the Burning Pestle (1607) , ind. 57, and ‘the well-frequented play of Shore’ in Pimlyco or Runne Redcap (1609) . A play, apparently on the same subject, was performed by English actors at Graz on 19 Nov. 1607 (Herz, 98) .
Every Woman in Her Humour. 1607–8?
1609. Everie Woman in her Humor. E. A. for Thomas Archer. [Prologue.]
Editions by A. H. Bullen (1885, O. E. P. iv) and J. S. Farmer (1913, S. F. T.) .—Dissertation: J. Q. Adams, E. W. I. and The Dumb Knight (1913, M. P. x. 413) .
Fleay, ii. ”