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P1155
Prints: P1155
Title
Mr Liston as Maw-Worm in 'The Hypocrite'
Subject
Artist
Ingrey and Madeley
Date
1825
Other materials
Hand coloured etching
Provenance
Formerly in the collection of Professor Jim Davis, acquired by the Garrick Club in 2024
Other number
E0162
This print depicts the comic actor John Liston in the role of the preacher Maw-Worm from Isaac Bickerstaffe's play 'The Hypocrite'. It depicts Maw-Worm, a religious fanatic, behind a make shift pulpit (in the play this is made out of a clothes-horse), here it is made out of a screen decorated with prints of Liston in his other popular roles.
Charles Mathews in his memoirs credits himself as the writer of the preacher's sermon which he inserted in 1809, after being dissatisfied with the small role. The line which refers to a Spencer, is making a joke out of a recent fashion created by lord Spencer for a short coat without tails. After an accident in 1814 which left Charles Mathews with a limp, Liston asked whether he could take on the role of Maw-Worm. His depiction of the character (said to have been based on a Scotish Preacher Edward Irving) became legendary espescially after a performance on the 1st of December 1823 at Drury Lane, when George IV asked for an encore of the sermon and roared with laughter throughout the play. This created a fashion for the encore of this spoken dialoge.
Charles Mathews in his memoirs credits himself as the writer of the preacher's sermon which he inserted in 1809, after being dissatisfied with the small role. The line which refers to a Spencer, is making a joke out of a recent fashion created by lord Spencer for a short coat without tails. After an accident in 1814 which left Charles Mathews with a limp, Liston asked whether he could take on the role of Maw-Worm. His depiction of the character (said to have been based on a Scotish Preacher Edward Irving) became legendary espescially after a performance on the 1st of December 1823 at Drury Lane, when George IV asked for an encore of the sermon and roared with laughter throughout the play. This created a fashion for the encore of this spoken dialoge.
