a sham, from Kitty’s side to win a respectable name while shielding her earnings from any husband, from George’s side to disguise his passionate interest in men; George Clive went on to live with an older barrister who left him a considerable inheritance. In 1734 the Molière translator James Miller supplanted Fielding as Drury Lane’s writer of Clive vehicles. Miller’s respect for Clive’s onstage brilliance materialized in his brittle French-sourced parts and witty epilogues for her; these included The Coffee House (1738, after Jean-Baptiste Rousseau), whose ‘Life of a Beau’ – Carey wrote the music, Miller the words – became one of Clive’s, and the era’s, most celebrated songs. In November 1736 Clive again opposed Theophilus Cibber, who wished to give to his new wife Susannah (house composer Thomas Arne’s sister) roles understood to belong to Clive, starting with Polly in The Beggar’s Opera. For weeks Clive fought Cibber in the press; an ad hominem stage burlesque of the conflict was published, in two versions to keep up with unfolding events. Clive ultimately prevailed, winning over a hostile Drury Lane audience on 31 December 1736 with an extemporized stage speech, an event which testifies to her compelling presence as a performer. From 1738 to 1743 Clive was at the zenith of her stardom as Britain’s first songster. Her music and vehicles circulated nationally in print. Comus (1738) – a vehicle for Clive, Susannah Cibber, and Irish tragedienne James Quin – took London by storm, and also Dublin on summer tour in 1741. While in Dublin Clive trained up a song in Irish Gaelic, and subsequently delivered the first-ever performance of this then-forbidden language on a licensed British stage. In London, from 1738 Clive established herself as a leading Shakespearean comedienne (often with song) in revivals often instigated by the Shakespeare Ladies Club. Clive’s Portia opposite Charles Macklin’s Shylock in The Merchant of Venice (14 February 1741) entered stage lore. Handel gifted Clive an air for her 1740 season benefit – the only such composition of his career – setting for her ‘Love’s but a Frailty’ from Congreve’s The Way of the World. Handel then engaged Clive to lead his 1743 oratorio company. Handel wrote the role of Delilah in Samson to Clive’s stage line and reputation, and gave her a brief bespoke solo in Messiah. These evoked Clive’s most renowned sung parts: as Euphrosyne, Goddess of Mirth, in Comus, and