The English expression "to give a Roland for an Oliver", meaning either to offer a or to give as good as one gets, recalls the Chanson de Roland and Roland's companion Oliver.
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In The Slave, 8vo, 1816, Covent Garden, 12 Nov. 1816, a musical drama in three acts, Macready played Gambia, the slave. A Roland for an Oliver, 8vo, 1819, produced at Covent Garden 29 April 1819, was a two-act musical farce.
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In 1865 he moved to Liverpool, and after two years there as an actor he became manager of the Alexandra Theatre in December 1867, and remained as manager until his death on 29 March 1883. On 16 February 1874 he married Emily O'Brien (1847–1912), an actress who had joined the company of the Alexandra Theatre in 1872. Her stage name was Marie O'Berne, and she was known as a comedian. After their marriage, they first appeared together at the Alexandra in Thomas Morton's farce A Roland for an Oliver, opening on 2 March 1874.
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As Giles in The Miller's Maid, and Lovegold in The Miser, Downe made, 18 April 1843, at the Lyceum Theatre, his first appearance in London. He was engaged by Henry Wallack for Covent Garden, and appeared there 19 October 1843 as Fixture in A Roland for an Oliver. Here, it is said, a thwarted stage carpenter attempted his murder. In 1844 he was at the Lyceum under Robert and Mary Ann Keeley, and established his reputation.In such parts as Jonas Chuzzlewit, Will Fern in the ‘Chimes,’ Peery-bingle in the ‘Cricket on the Hearth,’ and Antony Latour in the ‘Creole’ of Shirley Brooks.
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He wrote about 25 plays, several of which had great popularity, among them Columbus, or a World Discovered (1792); Children in the Wood (1793); Zorinski (1795); The Way to Get Married (1796); A Cure for the Heart Ache (1797); Speed the Plough (1798); Secrets Worth Knowing (1798); The Blind Girl, or A Receipt for Beauty (1801); The School of Reform, or How to Rule a Husband (1805); Town and Country, or Which Is Best? (1807); The Knight of Snowdown (1811); Education (1813); The Slave (1816); Methinks I See My Father (1818); A Roland for an Oliver (1819); Henri Quatre (1820); School for Grown Children (1826); and The Invincibles (1828). The name of one of the characters in Speed the Plough, Mrs Grundy, has entered the English language as a synonym for "prude".
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It is the earliest surviving of the chansons de geste or epic poems of medieval France in the langue d'oïl, in what would become the French language. Together with the Knights of the Round Table in Britain, the story of Roland and the paladins have become the archetypal icons of chivalry in Europe; greatly influencing knightly culture and inspiring many Christian warriors that came after. During the Battle of Hastings in 1066, knights and soldiers under William the Conqueror, chanted the poem to inspire themselves before their fight with the Anglo-Saxons. The English expression, "to give a Roland for an Oliver", meaning either to offer a quid pro quo or to give as good as one gets, which is referenced directly from the companionship of Roland and Oliver during the battle.
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