Indeed, it was long after the time when the chance of an
overplus had become systematised as a means of paying authors, that it
occurred to anyone that actors might also be remunerated in a similar
way. In olden days the actor's profession was not favourably regarded
by the general public; his social position was particularly insecure;
he was looked upon as of close kin to the rogue and the vagabond, and
with degrading possibilities in connection with the stocks and
whipping-post never wholly remote from his professional career. An
Elizabethan player, presuming to submit his personal claims and merits
to the consideration of the audience, with a view to his own
individual profit, apart from the general company of which he was a
member and the manager whom he served, would probably have been deemed
guilty of a most unpardonable impertinence. Gradually, however, the
status of the actor improved; people began to concede that he was not
necessarily or invariably a mountebank, and that certain of the
qualities and dignities of an art might attach now and then to his
achievements.
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