BRACE'GIR'DLE, ANNE ( ?i 603-174S ) . An English actress. She was said to have been brought up by Mr. and Mrs. Betterton, and to have appeared as a child in The Orphan, at Dorset Garden, but her early history is not well known. She took the part of Lucia in Shad well's Squire of Alsatia at the Theatre Royal in 1688, and from that time is frequently on record.
In 1693 she played Araminta in Congreve's Old Bachelor. In 1695 she joined Betterton, Mrs. Barry, and the other seceders to Lincoln's ]mu Fields, and played Angelica in Love for Love. She was Belinda in Vanbrugh's Provoked Wife, and the same year (1697) Abneria in Congreve's Mourning Bride. Among her characters were several tragic parts, but she was thought at her best in comedy. Her personal attractions were famous. Cihber says of her: "Never was any woman in suelt general favor of her speetators. which to the last scene of her dramatic life she maintained by not being unguarded in her private character." The last curious phrase has been much quoted, and met with some debate. Airs.
Bracegirdle's reputation for a virtue then not too common upon the stage seems. however, to have been well sustained. Site was the innocent cause of the death of Mountfort. who was killed by a jealous Captain Hill and Lord Alohun. Cib ber adds. an audience saw her that were less than half of them lovers, without a sus pected favorite among them." It was half believed. nevertheless, that she was privately married to Congreve. A purse of £800 was once given her by Lord Halifax and some friends as testimonial to her charaeter. She was noted 'besides for her charity to the poor. Mier re tirement from the stage, in 1707. was owing to jealousy of the popularity of Anne Oldfield, and she played thereafter but once, at Betterton's Lenefit in 1709. Consult: Doran. Annats of the .Stage. ed. Lowe (London, 1888) ; Russell. resentatice Actors (London. 1875) ; Baker, Eng lish Actors (New York, 1879) ; and Cibber. Apology, chap. v., ed. Bellehambers (London, 1822).