Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 24.djvu/17

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death he was engaged in supplying the minor theatres of the metropolis with innumerable melodramas of the ‘blood-and-thunder’ type, which were mostly successful. His sea-plays gave full scope to the energies of T. P. Cooke [q. v.] His ‘My Poll and my Partner Joe,’ a nautical drama in three acts, produced at the Surrey Theatre on 7 Sept. 1835, yielded a profit of 4,000l. Haines occasionally acted in his own pieces. He died at Stockwell, Surrey, on 18 May 1843, aged 44, being at the time stage-manager of the English Opera House (Gent. Mag. 1843, pt. ii. p. 103). His more popular plays are: 1. ‘The Idiot Witness; or a Tale of Blood,’ a melodrama in two acts (Coburg Theatre, 1823). 2. ‘Jacob Faithful; or the Life of a Thames Waterman,’ a domestic local drama in three acts (Surrey Theatre, 14 Dec. 1834). 3. ‘Richard Plantagenet,’ an historical drama in three acts (Victoria Theatre, 1836). 4. ‘The Ocean of Life; or Every Inch a Sailor,’ a nautical drama in three acts (Surrey Theatre, 4 April 1836). 5. ‘Maidens Beware!’ an original burletta in one act (Victoria Theatre, January 1837). 6. ‘Breakers Ahead! or a Seaman's Log,’ a nautical drama in three acts (Victoria Theatre, 10 April 1837). 7. ‘Angeline Le Lis,’ an original drama in one act (St. James's Theatre, 29 Sept. 1837). 8. ‘The Charming Polly; or Lucky or Unlucky Days,’ a drama in two acts (Surrey Theatre, 29 June 1838). 9. ‘Alice Grey, the Suspected One; or the Moral Brand,’ a domestic drama in three acts (Surrey Theatre, 1 April 1839). 10. ‘Nick of the Woods; or the Altar of Revenge,’ a melodrama (Victoria Theatre, 1839). 11. ‘The Wizard of the Wave; or the Ship of the Avenger,’ a legendary nautical drama in three acts (Victoria Theatre, 2 Sept. 1840). 12. ‘The Yew Tree Ruins; or the Wreck, the Miser, and the Mines,’ a domestic drama in three acts (11 Jan. 1841). 13. ‘Ruth; or the Lass that Loves a Sailor,’ a nautical and domestic drama in three acts (Victoria Theatre, 23 Jan. 1843). 14. ‘Austerlitz; or the Soldier's Bride,’ a melodrama in three acts (Queen's Theatre). 15. ‘Amilie; or the Love Test,’ an opera in three acts. 16. ‘The Wraith of the Lake; or the Brownie's Brig,’ a melodrama in three acts. 17. ‘Rattlin the Reefer; or the Tiger of the Sea,’ a nautical drama in three acts. Haines also adapted and arranged from the French of Scribe and St. Georges the songs, duets, quartettes, recitatives, and choruses in the opera of ‘Queen for a Day,’ which, set to music by Adolphe Adam, was first performed at the Surrey Theatre on 14 June 1841.

[Lacy's, Duncombe's, Cumberland's, and Webster's Collections of Plays.]

G. G.

HAINES or HAYNES, JOSEPH (d. 1701), sometimes called Count Haines, actor, was educated at the school of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, London, and was sent, at the expense of some gentlemen who were struck by his quickness and capacity, to Queen's College, Oxford. Here he attracted the attention of Joseph (afterwards Sir Joseph) Williamson, a fellow of the college, who, on being appointed secretary of state, took Haines as his Latin secretary. Dismissed on account of his want of discretion, Haines went with an introduction from his late employer to Cambridge, and joined a company of comedians at Stourbridge fair. After some experience as a dancer (Aston, Brief Supplement, p. 20), he found his way to the Theatre Royal, where Pepys saw him, 7 May 1668, and spoke of him as the incomparable dancer. He says that Haines had recently joined from the Nursery (in Golden Lane, Moorfields). After the Theatre Royal was burnt in January 1671–1672 he was sent to Paris by Hart and Killigrew to examine the machinery used in the French operas (Malone, Historical Account of the English Stage, p. 345). His useless expenditure during this expedition embroiled him with Hart. His first recorded part is Benito in Dryden's ‘Assignation,’ a comic servant, who is an unintentional Marplot. This character Dryden is supposed to have written expressly for Haines, who in 1672, as is believed, was the original exponent. In 1673 he was the original Sparkish in Wycherley's ‘Country Wife,’ and in 1674 the first Lord Plausible in the ‘Plain Dealer.’ The original parts he took previous to the junction of the two companies in 1682 included Visconti in Fane's ‘Love in the Dark,’ 1675, Gregory Dwindle in Leanard's ‘Country Innocence,’ Harlequin in Ravenscroft's ‘Scaramouch a Philosopher,’ Sir Simon Credulous in ‘Wits led by the Nose’ in 1677, Whiffler in the ‘Man of Newmarket,’ by the Hon. E. Howard, and Launce in ‘Trick for Trick,’ D'Urfey's adaptation of ‘Monsieur Thomas,’ in 1678. In 1684 he played Bullfinch in the revival of Broome's ‘Northern Lass,’ in 1685 was the original Bramble in Tate's ‘Cuckold's Haven,’ and Hazard in ‘Commonwealth of Women,’ D'Urfey's alteration of Fletcher's ‘Sea Voyage.’

Meanwhile the reputation of Haines for writing and speaking prologues and epilogues had greatly risen. In 1675 a new prologue and epilogue to ‘Every Man out of his Humour,’ written by Duffett, was spoken by Haines (Langbaine, English Dramatic Poets, p. 291). The original epilogue to the ‘Island Queens’ of Banks was written by Haines, and was intended to be spoken by him, 1684. It contained