It was feared that the Tories were conspiring to reinstate the male line of Stuart the moment Queen Anne should take herself to another world, and the friends of the Hanoverian succession grew sorely anxious.

They were filled with delight, therefore, on hearing that Addison had, peacefully slumbering in his desk, a drama which, as Maynwaring explained, was written not for the love scenes, "but to support the old Roman and English public spirit."[A] Here was a chance to inspire the people with a passion for liberty; the story of Cato, served up in all the elegance of French style, should point a moral against the claims of the Pretender, and pure politics might thus be taught from the rostrum of a theatre! [Footnote A: Those who _affected_ to think liberty in danger, and had _affected_ likewise to think that a stage play might preserve it .-- DR.
JOHNSON.] So it came about that one fine day the company at Drury Lane began the rehearsal of "Cato," under circumstances, however, which hardly pointed to a successful production.

There appears to have been some difficulty in the assignment of parts, and it is easy to imagine that at first the players exercised their prerogative of growling--a prerogative not calculated to dispel the doubts fast assailing Addison as to the outcome of the performance.

Nance Oldfield made no fuss at playing Marcia, Cato's daughter, for she was ever disposed to be tractable; but when it came to casting the noble Roman himself the trouble began.

The story runs that the part was first offered to Cibber, and that he sensibly refused it.