Hildebrand Horden was a London actor who died in 1696, at an early age. The date of his birth is not known. He joined the United Company in 1694, just before it split in two as the senior actors, headed by Thomas Betterton, walked out and set up a cooperative company in Lincoln's Inn Fields

Lincoln's Inn Fields

Lincoln's Inn Fields is the largest public square in London, UK. It was laid out in the 1630s under the initiative of the speculative builder and contractor William Newton, "the first in a long series of entrepreneurs who took a hand in developing London", as Sir Nikolaus Pevsner observes...

. As he was young and untried, it is unlikely that Horden was invited to join them; at any rate, he remained with the United Company, where he rose into favour with audiences, speaking more than half of the recorded play prologues (a sign of success and prestige). On May 18, 1696, he was killed in a tavern brawl by Elizeus Burges.

Colley Cibber

Colley Cibber

Colley Cibber was an English actor-manager, playwright and Poet Laureate. His colourful memoir Apology for the Life of Colley Cibber describes his life in a personal, anecdotal and even rambling style...

, who worked at the company at the same time, describes Horden in his autobiography:

"This young man had almost every natural gift that could promise an excellent actor; he had besides a good deal of table-wit and humour, with a handsome person, and was every day rising into public favour. Before he was buried, it was observable that two or three days together several of the fair sex, well dressed, came in masks (then frequently worn) and some in their own coaches, to visit this theatrical hero in his shroud."

See also The Relapse

The Relapse

The Relapse, or, Virtue in Danger is a Restoration comedy from 1696 written by John Vanbrugh. The play is a sequel to Colley Cibber's Love's Last Shift, or, Virtue Rewarded....

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