Sure John Rich could read: but could Lun dance?

It has been said of John Rich (1692-1761) Among the most successful of the entertainments Rich incorporated into his offerings were those that featured harlequinades in which Rich himself, under the stage name Lun after 1717, performed the mute role of Harlequin. Rich was not alone in tapping into the noteworthy popularity of harlequinade entertainments, commonly referred to as pantomimes by modern scholars: the managers of the Drury Lane company were quick to respond in kind. No other manager, however, was as actively engaged in the actual performance of pantomimes as was Rich, and his performances continued to great applause well after his company’s move to the newly constructed Covent Garden theatre in 1733. Pantomime productions in London during the 17-teens, -twenties and -thirties were often referred to as “dances” in the popular and critical presses. From surviving cast lists it is clear that many of the leading professional dancers of the day participated, and the evidence suggests that they danced in both serious and comic styles with great skill. In his review of some of the famous English dancers of his time and the recent past, for example, John Essex remarked in 1728 that “the Performers upon both Stages [Drury Lane and Lincoln’s Inn Fields] at this Time are very eminent in Serious as well as Comic.” And while a pantomime almost always featured sung items, often located within scene units not dedicated to mimed and dance action, the decision to sometimes call the whole show “a dance” is certainly understandable: movement (of several varieties) accompanied by music was a dominant component. It is hardly surprising that John Rich has come to be regarded in recent scholarship as a great dancer. Was he? Some of the surviving pictorial evidence might lead one to conclude that Lun was a dancer of considerable prowess. Perhaps the most frequently reproduced depiction of John Rich as a dancer is an engraving from the collection of the Garrick Club in London (see Illustration 1 below). It has recently been uncovered as a counterfeit. The source engraving is a seventeenth-century French Harlequin by Nicholas Bonnart, newly transposed onto a selection of background scenes from one of Lun’s most famous roles in The Necromancer, or Harlequin Doctor Faustus, first performed in late 1723. Clear evidence of the forgery can be seen in the half-mask this Harlequin wears: Lun and other Harlequinade performers in England, on the other hand, wore full masks when they wore them at all, as does Lun in this second depiction, dating from 1753 (see Illustration 2). Depictions such as these are idealized, presenting a figure abstracted from any stage action, but possessing the mechanics and look of a professional dancer. The only image (known to me) of Lun that contextualizes him in pantomime performance, again in The Necromancer, is one from the collection of the British Museum, and here he looks like an actor, not a dancer (see Illustration 3 below). In this scene, from early in the entertainment, Richard Leveridge as the Infernal Spirit tries to convince Doctor Faustus to sign a pact with the Devil to acquire magic powers. Leveridge was a singer, who in fact had just sung, or perhaps was about to sing the aria “Arise ye subtle Forms” (Furies, performed by professional dancers). But neither Leveridge nor Lun danced here. Moreover, Lun is not masked, although the checkerboard pattern of his Harlequin costume is clearly visible, even if partially concealed by a long cloak that drapes over his left shoulder. The cloak, along with his floppy, wide hat, are probably intended to project the other …