VN 2257 Dzs UC-NRLF B 3 571 D71 ./&■ This is one of an edition of two hundred and sixty copies printed from type for the, Dunlap Society in the month of May, 1896. , (3^(0^^^^^^*^ ^^^ MAY 2 7 1953 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY flt-U^^ J FIRST THEATER IN AMERICA t^///ry/ y////r/r /■////^•■\ }/'//■-. 4' / / f '/^'//////i"// '• ■^/r when no New York company existed, or any other on the continent." The last sentence, " when no New York company existed, or any other on the continent," is not by Burke, but by Dunlap, which led me to suppose that Burke agreed with Dunlap that the drama was first introduced in America by Hallam. Burke refers to Kean & Murray's company, who played in New York from the 6th of March to the 30th of April, 1750, and in the subse- quent part of the year may have gone to Williamsburg, Virginia, and obtained permission to erect a theater there as stated by Burke.* Dunlap afterward acknowledged his error in a manu- script note to his copy of his history, now in the possession of Thomas J. McKee, Esq., of the city of New York. Burke's "History of Virginia," Vols, i and ii. Harpers, 1832. fit^t Cijcatcr in 511nicrica, 3 "next door to the Play-House." * This reference is all that has been found respecting it; but in the month of February, 1750, more than two years before the ar- rival of Hallam, a regular company of actors, under the joint management of Thomas Kean and of a Mr. Murray, came to this city from Philadelphia, and ap- plied to Admiral George Clinton, then the governor of the Province of New York, for permission to act. Governor Clinton was a man of rank, the son of an earl, and had previously held a distinguished position as commander of the English fleet in the Mediter- ranean, while his wife. Lady CHnton, was a woman of great personal attractions and very agreeable manners, who had moved in the first circles of London society. To these cultivated persons there was nothing objec- tionable in the establishment of a theater, and per- mission was accordingly granted, though, from the spirit afterward exhibited by the local magistrates in this and other places, it would probably have been re- fused had the city authorities been applied to. It was announced through the columns of the " Weekly Post Boy " that the company intended to perform as long as the season lasted, provided they met with suitable encouragement, and upon obtaining the consent of * The advertisement is as follows : " To be Sold at reasonable Rates, All Sorts of Household Goods, viz., Beds, Chairs, Tables, Chests of Drawers, Looking Glasses, Andirons, and Pictures as also several sorts of Druggs and Medicines, also a Negro Girl about 16 years of age, has had the Small-pox and is fit for Town or Country. Enquire of George Talbol, next Door to the Play- House." — "New York Gazette," Octolier 15, 1733. 4 fit^t €i)catcr in ^llnictica, the governor they hired a large room in a building in Nassau street, belonging to the estate of Rip Van Dam, formerly president of the Provincial Council, and converted it into a theater; and here, on March 5, 1750, they produced Shakespeare's historical play of " Richard III.," as altered by CoUey Gibber, in which the part of Richard was performed by Mr. Kean. The performance was announced to begin precisely at half-past seven o'clock, and the public were informed that no person would be admitted be- hind the scenes — an important reform, as it had been the practice in London from Shakespeare's time to allow the purchasers of box tickets free access to the stage; a custom which led to many abuses and immorahties. CAPACITY OF THE THEATER. THE room which had been converted into a theater must have been a very capacious one, as it was arranged with pit and gallery, and afterward boxes were added. The price of admission to the boxes was eight shillings, to the pit five shillings, and to the gallery three shillings. The exact capacity of this theater is known from the following circumstances: Upon the occasion of Mr. Kean's benefit, who was the leading tragedian, he was honored by a crowded house in his favorite part of Richard III., and great fit^t Zf^cattt in 3lmmca. s complaint having been made that more tickets had been sold than the house could hold, Kean published a card in the " Post Boy," which was accompanied by a certificate of Parker, the publisher, to the effect that he had printed in all i6i pit tickets, lo box, and 121 gallery tickets, declaring that as great a number had been in the house before. Kean in his card informs the public that it had been determined not to receive any money at the door, but that it was impossible to carry out that intention without giving great offense, and that the purchasers of tickets who had come after the house was filled had had their money returned. It may be inferred from this circumstance that the players found " satisfactory encouragement." " Rich- ard III." appears to have been a favorite piece, and on March 12, 1750, it was announced that it would be acted for the last time, together with the farce of " The Beau in the Suds," and that on the following Saturday Dryden's play of "The Spanish Frinr" would be represented. They continued to play on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday from the 5th of March to the 30th of April, 1750, when the sea- son closed, and that the experiment was successful may be inferred from the fact that they opened the theater again for another season on the 30th of De- cember, 1750, and continued to play three times a week until the 17th of June, 175 1, closing with a succession of benefits, when the company went to Virginia. f ir^t Cfjcatcr in ^tnicrica. CHANGE OF MANAGEMENT. BEFORE the close of the season, Kean, the joint manager, withdrew, announcing in a formal card to the public that he had resolved to quit the stage, by the advice of several gentlemen in town who were his friends, and follow his employment of writing; that his co-manager, Mr. Murray, had agreed to give him a night clear of all expenses for his half of the clothes and scenery of the playhouse, and that by his Ex- cellency the Governor's permission he would, on the following Monday evening, enact the part of King Richard III. for his benefit, being the last time of his appearance upon the stage. On the Monday follow- ing, April 29, 1 75 1, the performance for his benefit was changed to "The Busybody" and "The Virgin Unmasked," and in announcing the change he in- forms the public, as an additional attraction, that there will be singing by Mr. Woodham, and particularly the celebrated ode called "Britons' Charter," closing with this appeal : " As this will positively be the last time of Mr. Kean's appearing upon the stage, he honestly hopes all gentlemen and ladies, and others who are his well wishers, will be so kind as to favor him with their company." fit^t Ctjcatcr in ^tnicrica* PLAYS PRODUCED. HOW this company were collected, or where they originally came from, it is probably now no longer possible to ascertain. As they were announced, upon their first appearance in New York, as a company of comedians who had come from Philadelphia, it is highly probable that they had played before in the Southern cities, and that they came originally from the West Indies, where, especially in Jamaica, theatrical companies from England had been in the habit of per- forming for some years previously. During the two seasons of the company in New York the following plays were given: "Richard III."; Otway's "Orphan"; Dryden's " Spanish Friar " ; Farquhar's " Sir Harry Wildair," being the sequel to the " Trip to the Jubi- lee " ; " Recruiting Officer " and " Beaux' Stratagem "; " George Barnwell " ; " The Beggar's Opera " ; " The Distressed Mother" ; Congreve's " Love for Love" and the "Bold Stroke for a Wife"; with the following farces: "The Beau in the Suds," "The Mock Doc- tor," "The Devil to Pay," "The Walking Statue," "The Old Man Taught Wisdom," " Damon and Phil- lida," " Hob in the Well," and " Miss in Her Teens." The names of the dramatis persona, were not printed in the play-bills, for the reason, probably, that the same actor had to play different parts in the same piece, but from references made to individual performers, the fol- lowing persons are known to have been members of the company : Kean and Murray, the joint managers ; 8 f ic^t €l)catcr in ^Unictica. Messrs. Taylor, Woodham, Tremaine, Jago, Scott, Moore, Marks, and Master Dickey Murray, the man- ager's son; Miss Nancy George, Miss Osborne, Mrs. Taylor, Mrs. Davis, and Mrs. Osborne. Kean, Tre- maine, and Jago played in tragic parts. Murray and Taylor were comedians. Miss Nancy George and Miss Osborne were the chief ladies in comedy and tragedy. Woodham and Mrs. Taylor were comedians and vo- calists, and Kean, like his more distinguished name- sake, Edmund Kean, appears to have possessed some musical talent, for on the occasion of his first benefit he announces that he will sing " an oratorio." Master Dickey Murray would seem to have been a favorite of the public. The other actors performed in subordinate parts. CURIOUS ANNOUNCEMENTS. DURING the second season, which lasted for six months, they had repeated the same plays many times, and probably having nothing new or more at- tractive to offer for another season, they determined to try their fortunes elsewhere. They closed with a series of benefits, and some of the appeals made respecting them are sufficiently curious to be noticed. Mrs. Da- vis announces that a benefit is given to her to enable her to buy off her time, and she hopes that all ladies and gentlemen who are charitably inclined will favor fit^t €\^catct in America. it, closing in legal phraseology, "and their luunble pe- titioner, as in duty bound, will ever pray." It was the constant practice at that time for masters of vessels to bring out passengers to New York upon the condition that they should be sold immediately upon their arrival as servants to any person who would pay their passage- money. They were sold for a definite period of time and were called Redemptioners, of which class Mrs. Davis, from her earnest appeal, appears to have been one. Mr. Jago humbly begs that all gentlemen and ladies will be so kind as to favor him with their company, as he never liad a benefit before, and is just come out of prison; and Mrs. Osborne appropriately selects the play of " The Distressed Mother," with the announce- ment that it is the first time this poor widow has had a benefit, and having met with divers late hardships and misfortunes she appeals to the benevolent and others. It is stated in Clapp's " Records " that Otway's " Orphan " was played in Boston, in the Coffee House in State street, in the early part of 1750, by two young Englishmen, assisted by some volunteer comrades of the town ; and as this is about the period when Murray & Kean's company began to perform in New York, this may possibly have been an initiatory attempt on the part of some of the members of that company to introduce dramatic amusements among the people of New England. Whether it was so or not, it Avas im- mediately followed by the passage of an act by the General Court of Massachusetts, in March, 1750, pro- hibiting stage plays and theatrical entertainments of any kind. lo f ir^t <2r()catcr in 5llnicrifa. A NEW COMPANY IN 1751. IN the winter of 1 75 1 another company came to New Yorkj and opened the theater in Nassau street on December 23, 1751, with " Othello" and the farce of " Lethe." The company was under the management of a Mr. Upton, and in all probability came from Ja- maica, in a vessel which had arrived a short time be- fore. The company were either inferior to the former, or the public had become indifferent, for the manager, after performing three weeks, announced that, to his great disappointment, he had not met with encourage- ment enough to support the company for the season, and that he would bring it to an end by giving a few benefits. Some doubt of the merits of the new per- formers seems to have prevailed, as he assured the pub- lic in a card that the company " were perfect, and hope to perform to satisfaction." It was the custom then for the actors to wait upon all the principal inhabitants and solicit their patronage, and fearing that he had been held accountable for some remissness of duty in this particular, he begs the public to remember that " he is an absolute stranger in the city, and if in his appHcation he has omitted any gentlemen or ladies' house or lodging, he humbly hopes that they will im- pute it to his want of information, and not to want of respect." But though he produced several pieces not yet played in New York, such as " The Fair Penitent," " Venice Preserved," " The Provoked Husband/' and " Othello," it was of no avail. A few benefits were fit^t €l)catcr in 5Cmcrifa» given, one for a Mr. Leigh, another one for the poor widow Osborne, who, with Mr. Tremaine of the former company, had become attached to this one; and on March 27, 1752, the last performance took place for the benefit of the manager's wife, Mrs. Up- ton. Upton deHvered a farewell epilogue, and a few days after he left in a vessel for London. THE DRAMA IN VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. THE prior company, after performing in Virginia, went to Annapolis, the capital of Maryland, and erected a small theater there, which they opened on June 22, 1752, with "The Beggar's Opera," and the farce of " The Lying Valet." Annapolis was at this period a place of considerable trade and commerce, with a thriving population, including many wealthy merchants, and being the capital of the province, was the residence of the leading officials, and a general place of resort for opulent planters and their families. There was among the people a great deal of refine- ment and cultivation. They were much more dis- posed to enjoy the recreation of the theater than the mixed English, French, and Dutch population of New York, and consequently the theater there was a per- manent institution, and continued to be so for many 12 fit^t €t)catct in ^llniccica. years. The company represented the same plays which they had before acted in New York, with the addition of " Cato " and " The Busybody " ; and after playing for a season they gave representations in other parts of Maryland. Some new names appear among the members, such as Eyrarson, Wynell, and Herbert, while many of the old members had left, a circum- stance warranting the supposition that there was either another company then performing in the South, or that these actors had returned to England or to the West Indies. Among the remaining members were Murray, Scott, and Miss Osborne ; and Kean, despite his formal farewell in New York, and declaration of his intention to resume his original occupation of a writing-master, was again among them, representing principal parts. All that has been here narrated occurred before Hal- lam came to this country and gave his first representa- tion at Williamsburg, Virginia, in the autumn of 1752. He afterward went to Annapolis, and in the summer of 1753 he came with his company to New York. Finding the old theater in Nassau street inadequate to his purpose, he took the building down and erected upon the same spot what the newspaper of the day, Parker's " Gazette," describes " as a very fine, large, and commodious new theater," which he opened on September 17, 1753, with Steele's comedy of "The Conscious Lovers " and the farce of " Damon and Phillida." Dunlap says that it was erected on the spot afterward occupied by the old Dutch Church (the present post-office). In this he was also mistaken, for the church was on the place where the building fic^t €f^catct in 3llmcricn. 13 now stands in 1729. The theater which Hallam built, and the one before it, were on the east side of Nassau street, between Maiden lane and John street. HALLAM'S THEATER IN NASSAU STREET. HALLAM'S company was far superior to any that preceded it. Mrs. Hallam was not only a beau- tiful woman, but she was an actress of no ordinary merit. Dunlap in his youth heard old ladies speak in raptures of her beauty, grace, and pathos. Hallam was himself an excellent comedian, and two other members of the company, Rigby and Malone, were actors of established reputation upon the London boards. The arrival of a complete company like this, who were not only practised in their art but amply provided before their departure with dresses, and all that was necessary for effective dramatic representa- tion, was something too formidable to contend against. They seem, therefore, to have entirely supplanted the earlier pioneers, of whom nothing further is known ex- cept that some of their number, Murray, Tremaine, Scott, and Miss Osborne, played in Hallam's original company afterward, when it was under the manage- ment of Douglass. After performing in New York for the winter, Hal- lam went with his company to Philadelphia in April, '4 ipir^t ^fjcatcr in ^tmcrica. 1754, and from there to the West Indies, where he died. In 1758 the company returned to New York, under the management of Douglass, who had married Hallam's widow. During the four years that they had been absent the theater remained unoccupied, and a short time before their arrival a congregation of Ger- man Calvinists had ben formed, and being in want of a place of worship they purchased the theater in Nas- sau street for $1250, and fitted it up as a church, which they continued to occupy until 1765, when the building, which had not been a very substantial one, becoming decayed, they took it down and erected, upon the spot, another edifice, which was standing fifteen years ago, and was familiarly known as Gos- ling's Eating House, Nos. 64 and 66 Nassau street. Finding that the theater had been converted into a church, Douglass built another one upon Cruger's Wharf, a large pier, with houses upon it, which at that time extended from Pearl street into the East River, between Old and Coenties slips. In the following year, 1759, Douglass went to Philadelphia, where he erected a small theater, and from there to Annapolis, where he built a very fine one of brick, capable of accommodating between five and six hundred people, which he opened March 3, 1760. fit^t Zf^cata ill ?llmcnca. 15 THE BEEKMAN STREET THEATER. IN 1761 Douglass returned to New York, ami aban- doning the theater ujjon Cruger's Wharf, erected one in Beekman street, a few doors below Nassau street. This was torn down in a riot in 1764. Three years after, the theater in John street, between Nassau street and Broadway, was built, which continued to be the principal one until the erection of the old Park Theater in 1797.* * It was in 1766 and not in 1764 that this theater in Beekman street, or, as it was then called, Chapel street, was torn down in a riot growing out of the Stamp Act. The bill for the perform- ance that night was " May 5, 1 766, at the theatre in Chapel Street, a comedy called the 'Twin Rivals,' with a Song in praise of liberty and the King and the Miller of Mansfield. " N. B. As the packet is arrived and has been the messenger of good news relative to the Repeal it is hoped the public has no objection to the above performance " — a hope that was not fulfilled. Gabriel Furman, in a manuscript history of the New York stage, says, " about the year 1761 Phil Miller, well-known in the city for a plodding, active, managing man, obtained permission of Governor Colden to build a theatre and act plays, which he did in Beekman Street, a little below Nassau Street. This was a wooden building, in poor condition, with paper scenery and a wretched wardrobe. The whole was destroyed by a mob, created by the Stamp Act. Phil Miller lost his house and company. He was a jocose fellow and played Justice Gattle with great humor." i6 f ir^t €j)catcr in ^Imcfica* SUrPLKMENT. VERY early information respecting the drama in North America is found in a letter by Chief Jus- tice Samuel Sewall of Massachusetts, dated March 2, 1714, in which he protests against the acting of a play in the Council Chamber at Boston, affirming that even the Romans, fond as they were of plays, were not "so far set upon them as to turn their Senate House into a Play-House." " Let not Christian Boston," he con- tinues, " goe beyond Heathen Rome in the practice of Shamefull Vanities." Some account of this early opponent of the Ameri- can drama may not be out of place here, as he was an interesting character. He was born in England and came to New England with his parents, who settled in Newbury, Massachusetts. After graduating at Har- vard College he entered the ministry, which vocation he left after a short time and took charge of the print- ing-press in Boston, which was under his management for three years. He had also other public trusts. He was a member of the Council, a judge of the Court of Probates, and afterward became Chief Justice of Mas- sachusetts. As a judge he took part in what is known as the Salem Witchcraft Trials, and is said to have been the only one of the judges who publicly confessed his error. In 1697, five years after these trials, he pre- pared a written confession, which was read to the con- gregation of the old South Church in Boston by the fit^t <2rt)cntcr in ^Cmcrifa. n minister, the judge, during the reading, standing up in his place, and during the remaining thirty-one years ot liis Hfe he spent one day annually in fasting, medi- tation, and prayer, to keep in mind a sense of the enormity of his offense. This public exhibition of re- morse was what might be expected on the part of a truly conscientious man, for the drama to which he was so much opposed has not often been used for the ficti- tious representation of scenes more harrowing than those he witnessed and took part in in Salem ; scenes that find their counterpart to-day only among the superstitious savages of Western Africa. The minister of the church in the village of Salem, who had had a bitter strife with a portion of his con- gregation, got up this accusation of witchcraft, as a means of vengeance in which he was both accuser and witness, prompting the answers of other witnesses and acting as recorder to the magistrates, in which he was supported throughout by Cotton Mather. Within less than two months twenty persons were tried, con- demned, and hanged, among them five women of blameless lives, all declaring their innocence. A min- ister was hanged as a witch for declaring that there could be no such thing as witchcraft, " an opinion," says Bancroft, that " wounded the self-love of the judges, for it made them the accusers and judicial murderers of the innocent." Fifty-five persons were tortured or terrified into confession. " With accusa- tions," continues the historian, " confessions increased, and with confessions new accusations." The jails were full. No one that confessed after condemnation was i8 first CJcatcc in ^tmcrica, hanged, but those who retracted after confession were. A minister of the gospel is recorded as saying : " There hang eight firebrands of hell ! " pointing to the bodies swinging on the gallows,* and the writer of a produc- tion which exposed the whole proceeding to ridicule, and was chiefly instrumental in putting an end to it, was denounced as " a coal from hell " by Cotton Mather, who, through religious vanity, credulity, self- righteousness, ambition, or all combined, while he ceased subsequently to repeat the statements or ac- cusations, unlike Sewall, made no acknowledgment thereafter of his error. This striking example of judicial conscientiousness on the part of Sewall was not a single characteristic of this Puritan chief justice, for in addition to being an able man, he was also a benevolent one, whose warm- est sympathies were with the down-trodden and op- pressed. In 1700 he published a tract entitled "The Selling of Joseph," in which he advocated the rights of the slaves in the Colonies, and to that extent may be regarded as one of the pioneers in this country in the long struggle for negro emancipation. He was the author of several publications upon religious subjects, and of one upon the Kennebec Indians, but at the pres- ent day is chiefly known for a diary published by the Massachusetts Historical Society that he kept during the larger part of his life, which, in addition to being entertaining, sheds much light upon the manners, habits, and social state of New England at that period. * 3 Bancroft's " History," n. s., chap. 19. fit^t Cljcatcr in 5llmcirica. 19 It may fairly be assumed that wliat he protested against did not take place^ for if the play had been acted in the Council Chamber some account of it or reference to it would, in all probability, have come down to us. While preparing my former paper I met with certain statements that satisfied me that English actors had been in the West Indies by whom plays had been per- formed there, but at how early a period, or whether they or any of them had come to the North American colonies and had been members of the companies re- ferred to in the paper, I had not been able to ascertain, but I afterwards found that it appears by a Barbadoes newspaper of March i8, 1731, that in 1728 some gendemen in Barbadoes acted plays, the names of Mr. Vaughan and Mr. Rice being given ; the former of whom delivered a prologue and the latter an epilogue; I was also disposed to think that in 1732 they had a theater there, for it appeared by a news- paper of that year that on August 16, 1732, "The Royal Consort " was acted, that the prologue was spoken by a Mr. John Snow, and the epilogue would appear by a Miss Whiten, who are referred to as new comers to the island.* Mr. Thomas J. McKee, of the city of New York, however, possesses a small quarto volume, now ex- tremely rare, published in the eighteenth century by Anthony Aston, or, as he was generally known, Tony Aston, who had been an actor in the West Indies and * " Caribbeana," Vol i, p. 380. London, 1741. 20 fit^t €jjcatcr in ^llmctica. afterward came to Virginia and New York, who, ac- cording to his own statement, acted in the city of New York in 1702. He may have been one of those who were to act the play referred to by Chief Justice Sewall in the Boston Council Chamber in 17 14, but it will not be necessary to dwell further here upon this information or indulge in any conjectures respecting it, as Mr. McKee has written a paper upon Aston and his career, which is to be published by the Dunlap Society. The first representation, in North America, of a play, as far as known, occurred in 17 18 in Williamsburg, then the capital of Virginia. It is mentioned in a letter by Governor Spottiswood dated June 24, 17 18. Spottis- wood was governor of Virginia from 17 10 to 1722, and though popular with the people is described as " imperi- ous and contemptuous," characteristics which, no doubt, led to what he details in the letter in which he refers to this theatrical performance, characteristics which may have beenjustifiedif, ashesaid in oneof his letters, "the people had elected to the House of Burgesses a set of representatives whom Heaven has not generally en- doAved with the ordinary qualifications requisite in legislators, and who placed at the head of standing committees men who could neither spell English, nor write common sense." In this letter of June 24, 1718, he refers to eight members of the House of Assembly, who slighted an invitation to his house at an entertainment that he gave. He could not prevail upon any one of them to pay him " the common compliment of a visit, when," he writes, jfir^t €l)catcr in 3llmcrica. 21 " in order to the solemnizing His Majesty's birthday, 1 gave a public entertainment at my house, and all gen- tlemen that would come were admitted, these eight committeemen would neither come to my house nor go to the play which was acted on the occasion" but on the contrary, he says, " these eight committeemen got together all the turbulent and disappointed burghers to an entertainment of their own in the House of Bur- gesses, and invited the mob, and plentifully supplied it with liquor, to drink the same health as was drunk in the governor's house, taking no more notice of the gov- ernor than if there had been none in the place."* What this play was or when it was performed does not appear, but where it was acted may be conjectured, as will subsequently appear. Graham in his " History of the United States of North America," published in London in 1736,1 in describing Williamsburg, the capital of Virginia, in the early part of the eighteenth century, says that " it con- tained a theater for dramatic performances, the first institution of the kind in the British colonies." He does not state from what source he obtained this infor- mation, but as he quotes a passage from a work enti- tled " The Present State of Virginia," by Hugh Jones, published in London in 1 724, " the substance of which," he states, " is embraced in the second volume of Oldmixon's British Colonies," he probably knew noth- * Spottiswood's Letters, collections of tlie Virginia Historical Society, Vol. ii, p. 284. t " History of the United States of North America," Vol. iii, p. 146, 147 : London, 1836. 22 fit^t Z^catct in 3llmtTica» ing respecting this theater except what he found in 01 d- mixon. Rich, the bibHographer, says that Jones's work is one of the rarest books relating to Virginia that was pubhshed in the eighteenth century. In 1865, the late bookseller Sabin, of New York, reprinted a few copies of it in facsimile, and this reprint has suppHed the in- formation that warrants Graham's statement that this was the first theater erected in North America. Jones was a fellow of William and Mary College in Williamsburg, Virginia, afterward a professor of mathematics in this college, and, as appears from the title-page of his book, was also chaplain of the House of Burgesses of Virginia and minister of the Episcopal church at Jamestown, which was in close proximity to Williamsburg, the capital. The work contains a chapter wholly devoted to that capital, in which, after describing the situation and plan of the town, William and Mary College, the State House, the church, which he says "is adorned as the best church in London," he continues as follows: " Next there is a large octagon Tower which is the Magazine or Repository of Arms and Ammunition, standing far from any house except Jamestown Court House, for the town is half in Jamestown County and half in York County. Not far from hence is a large area for a Market Place, near which is a T'/ay House and good Bowling Green." The play-house, from the manner in which he refers to it, was evidently regarded by him as one of the prominent things of the town, and as such worthy of being enumerated with the other public structures. f ir^t Cljcatcr in 5tnicnrn. 23 such as the College, the State House, and the Govern- or's House, which Graham says was then " accounted the most magnificent structure in North America." But there is nothing furtlier resi)ecting the play-house, except the fact that it was in existence in 1722, for Jones had been but two years away from Virginia when he published his book in London in 1724. That nothing more should be found respecting it is not re- markable, for in that early colonial period local occur- rences were seldom mentioned in the small-sized jour- nals that existed, for the simple reason that they were generally known to all the inhabitants of the town or place, and were not, therefore, news like intelligence from London or Boston. There was, moreover, no newspaper in Virginia until 1732, when the Virginia " Gazette," which is described as a small dingy sheet with few items of news was published.* In fact, there was not at this time a printing-press in the colony, nor, until many years thereafter, even a bookseller's shop, although there were then in Boston five printing- presses and many booksellers.t Mr. Edward Eggleston, in an interesting paper, en- titled " Social Life in the Colonies," contributed to "The Century Magazine " of July, 1883, says that mention is made of a play on the King's birthday at Williams- burg, in 1 7 18, which I suppose refers to the one men- tioned in Governor Spottiswood's letter. Theodore L. Chase, in an article in one of the pub- * Cookes " History of the People of Virginia," Boston, 1890. t Graham's" History of the United States of North America," Vol. i, p. 145, and note i : London, 1836. 24 fiv^t Cljcatcr in 51inifrifa. lie journals, after calling attention to Jones's work of 1724, "The Present State of Virginia," says that he finds in the Virginia " Gazette " of September 10, 1736, a statement that the young gentlemen of William and Mary College were to enact that evening the tragedy of " Cato," and that therefore, at the hour stated, the comedies of " The Busybody," " The Recruiting Offi- cer," and " The Beaux' Stratagem " were to be enacted by the company, from which he infers that the play- house mentioned by Jones was still in existence, and that the " company " who were to enact the comedies mentioned were not, as I understand him, the students of the college, but an organized theatrical company, who were then performing in Williamsburg, where a theater had been built. It would be out of the ordinary course of things that a play-house like this, close to the market-place, should have been erected for occasional performances by amateurs. A hall in the college would have suf- ficed for such a purpose, as the halls in old mansions and other structures in England were used for such incidental occasions. It is more probable that it was an ordinary theater, where plays were performed by professional actors. There are many circumstances that lead to that con- clusion. The Virginians were a very different people from the Puritans of New England, and had none of the repugnance to stage plays that prevailed among the latter. They had not, like the Puritans, fled to the wilds of America that they might enjoy unmolested their religious behefs, and carry out their own ideas of fit^t €()cntcr in America. 25 religion and civil government, but persons who had gone to Virginia simply to better their condition. As Bancroft has described them, they were " a continua- tion of English society, who were attached to the monarchy, with a deep reverence for the English church, and a love for England and English institu- tions." Upon the overthrow of Charles I., the loyal- ists in considerable numbers emigrated to Virginia, many of whom, as the same writer says, brought to the colony the culture and education that belonged to the English gentry of that day. The descendants of these cavalier emigrants were, at the time to which this inquiry relates, — the early portion of the eighteenth century, — the dominant class, politically and socially, in the colony. They lived upon large plantations, isolated from each other, sparsely spread over a wide territory, so that each plantation might have the advantage of close proxim- ity to water for the transportation of tobacco, which was the chief product raised by them for export. In this respect the province was particularly well adapted for settlement in this way, as it was traversed not only by long rivers, but had flowing into their main arteries innumerable creeks and short streams, which were navigable for vessels of moderate draught, so that they had not to leave their plantations to ship or dispose of their produce, but could load it at the doors of their own warehouses.* The facilities which the physical features of the * Graham, p. 146. 26 5ric^t CJjcatcc in ^titicrica* country afforded for easy transportation by water, rendered it unnecessary, as in New England, to settle largely in towns or villages, for the plantations, being large and well peopled, especially after slaves had been introduced from Africa to cultivate them, a plantation had the ordinary facilities of a village or town ; and as the proprietor and his family were not required to labor, there was much intercourse among the planters, with the enjoyment of sports and amusements, for which they had alike the leisure and the disposition. It was a state of things that in time brought about a landed aristoc- racy, that divided society into two classes, the land- owners or gentry, and their dependants or servants. It was customary then, especially in London, for men as well as women who had lost reputation to emigrate to Virginia, where, by a life of industry, they might retrieve their character and improve their worldly condition, as a life of industry there brought with it no reproach, which was not the case in London, where, at that time, to labor for subsistence involved the loss of caste. Others were transported thither as a punishment for crime, a class described by Jones as " the poorest, idlest, worst of mankind," but insig- nificant in number when compared with the shoal of slaves from Africa, by whom the hardest amount of the labor was performed. Jones, describing the white population of the Colony at this period says : " They were, for the most part, comely, handsome persons, of good features and fine complexions, wearing the best of clothes according to their stations and sometimes beyond their circum- 5f ir^t Cljcatcr in 5llmcrica» 27 stances." He further describes them as " bright and of excellent sense, speaking good English, without any idiom, sharp in trade, conversing with ease upon com- mon subjects, and though of excellent natural capacity diverted by business or inclination from profound study or prying into the depth of things ; more incUned to read men by business and conversation than to dive into books ; desirous only of learning what was abso- lutely necessary and in the shortest way ; who, through their quick apprehension, had, though it was superfi- cial, a sufficiency of knowledge and fluency of tongue." He describes the planters generally as " indolent and hospitable, leading easy lives, and not much admiring labor or any manly exercise except horse rac- ing, nor any diversion except cock fighting." Fi- nally, he says : " The habits of life, customs, etc., of the inhabitants were much the same as about London, which they esteem their home, with a contempt for every other part of Great Britain." After long struggles and many serious trials Vir- ginia was then in a very flourishing condition. " This country," says Jones in the introduction to his book, " has altered wonderfully, and far more advanced and improved in all respects in late years than in the whole century before," and this prosperity was especially felt in Williamsburg, which, though small in respect to resident population, was the only town, for Rich- mond and Petersburgh were not laid out until 1733, and was the capital of a widely extended province; it was where the Governor resided, where the twelve Councillors or upper house and the House of Burgesses 28 fit^t Cljcatct in 5limccica» assembled for legislative purposes, where the Law Courts were held, and where what might be called the gentry went, as Jones states, for pleasure. He says that " they had balls and assemblies at the Governor's House, with as fine an entertainment as he had seen anywhere ; " that the public buildings, the chief of which was the College, were excelled by few of their kind in England ; that the stores in the town were stocked with all sorts of rich goods; that they had a number of artificers and convenient ordinaries or inns for the accommodation of strangers; that the dwelling- houses, some of which were of brick, but chiefly of wood, were large and commodious, lasting and dry, so that they were warm in winter and cool in summer; that the town was laid out in square lots, each one large enough for a house and garden, so that they had not to build their houses close together as in other towns, thus affording a free circulation of air and diminishing in case of fire the danger of destruction. Several of what he calls good families resided permanently in the capital, and others during what he calls the " public time." They live, he says, " in the same neat manner, dress after the same modes, and behave them- selves exactly as the gentry of London ; most families of any note having their coach, chariot, Berlin or chaise, and dwelling, as he finally says, " comfortably, genteelly, pleasantly, and plentifully in this delightful, healthful, and (I hope) thriving city of Williamsburg." Cooke, in his " History of the People of Virginia," describes Williamsburg at about the middle of the last century in the winter as the scene of much that was fit^t ^^mct ill America. 29 brilliant and attractive in Virginia society. " It was," he says, " the habit of the planters to go there with their families at this season, to enjoy the pleasures of the Capital, and one of the highways, Gloucester, was an animated spectacle of coaches and four, con- taining the nabobs and their dames; of maidens in silk and lace, with high healed-shoes and clocked stock- ings. All these people were engaged in attending the assemblies at the palace, in dancing at the Appolo, in snatching the pleasures of the moment and enjoying life under a regime that seemed mad for enjoy- ment." , . . The violins seemed to be ever playing for the diversion of the youths and maidens; cocks were fighting, horsemen riding, students mingled in the throng in their academic dress, and his Serene Excellency went to open the House of Burgesses in his coach, drawn by six milk-white horses. It was a scene full of gaiety and abandon, and Williamsburg was never more brilliant than at this period.* I have been thus particular in describing the place and its inhabitants to show that it was just the kind of capital that had alike the taste and the means to erect and support a theater, if not regularly, at least for a certain period of the year, or what, in theatrical parlance, is called a " season." Although, according to another writer, it had only about eighty houses and consequently but a small resident population, there must have been a considerable influx of visitors for business or pleasure, and this is the class upon which * Part III, ch. 6. 3° fit^t €t)catcr in 5£mmca» a theater is chiefly dependent for support. Mr. Gais- ford, in his historical sketch of " The Drama in New Orleans," after remarking that perhaps in no city of the world of such a limited population were there so many edifices for dramatic purposes as in New Orleans, — not temporary structures, but for the most part solid, substantial buildings, — accounts for this circum- stance by the fact that in the winter months the Cres- cent City was a great rendezvous for strangers, young men attracted there by the prospect of commercial employment ; skilful mechanics who were largely re- munerated ; and an immense number of transient per- sons with ample means and good incomes who, being without acquaintances or at least without friends, could not enjoy themselves in so rational a manner as in a well conducted theater, who, he says, " could always be re- lied upon and were the main support of such establish- ments."* Something of this kind would then, neces- sarily, exist in Williamsburg, as the social, political, and business center of Virginia. The people had, as Jones remarks, the habits and tastes of the British me- tropolis, and in London, at that time, no taste was more general or widely diffused than a taste for the drama. Some of the most renowned of English players were then upon the stage, such as CoUey Cibber, Wilks, Barton Booth, Johnson, Bullock, Quin, Macklin, Mrs. Porter, and Mrs. Oldfield, and Betterton; Doggett, Mrs. Barry, and Mrs. Bracegirdle had but recently left it. *"The Drama in New Orleans," by John Gaisford, etc., pp. 7, 8. New Orleans, 1849. fir^eft Ctjcatcr in 5tnicrica» 31 The licentiousness that had prevailed alike in the com- position and representation of plays was rapidly pass- ing away and a better class of persons went to the theater. Addison, writing at this period, says: "I cannot be of the opinion of the reformers of manners in their severity toward plays; but must allow that a good play, acted before a well-bred audience, must raise very proper incitement to good behaviour, and be the most quick and the most prevailing method of giving young people a turn of sense and breeding. " When," he continues, " the character drawn by a judicious poet is presented by the person, the manner, the look, and the motion of an accomplished player, what may not be brought to pass by seeing generous things performed before our eyes ? The stage is the best mirror of human life ; let me therefore recom- mend the oft use of a theatre as the most agreeable and easy method of making a polite and moral gentry, which would end in rendering the rest of the people regular in their behaviour and ambitious of laudable undertakings." * The stage was then approximating to what Addison would have it. In the reign of Queen Anne an act was passed forbidding anything to be represented upon it that was derogatory to religion under the penalty of being deprived of the right to act, and at no period, before or since, did the stage exercise so much influence over all classes of society in London. It was the standard or model for dress and manners, * Davies, " Dramatic Miscellanies," Vol. iii, ch. 17. 32 f ir^t Zf^cata in ^nicnca* for dress and manners were matters of much more im- portance socially then than they are now; and these social habits and tastes were transported across the Atlantic, at least to Virginia, as appears from the ac- count which Jones gives of the people of Williamsljurg, and we know from other sources that among the bet- ter classes, not only in Virginia but in many of the other colonies, great attention was paid to dress, to the cultivation of manners, and to the art of conversation. A comparatively small expenditure was all that was necessary for erecting a suitable theater, or convert- ing a warehouse or other building into one. Theaters in English towns were then, as they are at the present day in the small towns in Germany, humble and inex- pensive structures. The compensation of actors, save in exceptionable instances, was then very small. It supplied little more than a subsistence, and even that was precarious. It was small even in London. Bet- terton, who has been called the greatest actor, except Garrick, the English stage has ever known, — who. Col- ley Gibber says, " was, as an actor, what Shakespeare was as an author, without a competitor," — never re- ceived more than four pounds a week, and though a man of economical habits and exemplary life, died, after a career upon the stage of half a century, in limited cir- cumstances. Yet, notwithstanding the smallness of their pecuniary reward, players were never wanting; the stage has such a fascination for those who have an aptitude for it and occasionally for those who have but little, that a life of laborious diligence and pecuniary struggle is willingly undergone for the nightly pleasure f ir^t ^Ijcatcc in 3llmccica» 33 of ai)pcaring before the footlights and sliaring in tlie mimic scene. It may not unreasonably be supposed, then, that at an early period members of this ill-requited profession made their way to Virginia, like others with whom the world had gone hard, and found among a people of London habits and London tastes sufficient induce- ment to get a company together, and open a theater in a capital that then contained the most aristocratic and cultivated society in the colonies. I stated in the paper here reprinted that it appeared l)y an advertisement in Bradford's "Gazette," in 1733, that a play-house existed in New York in that year, and that this reference was all that I had found respecting it. Some years afterward Mr. T. F. De Voe, to whom I have before referred, and who is more generally known as the author of the " Market Book," informed me by letter that he had found in the " New England and Boston Gazette" of January i, 1733, under the head of New York News of December 11, 1732, the fol- lowing account of the opening of this theater in 1732. " On the 6th instant, the ATew Theatre in the build- ing of the Hon. Rip Van Dam, Esq., was opened with the comedy of the Recruiting Officer, the part of Worthy acted by the ingenious Mr. Thos. Heady, Barber and Peruque maker to his Honor." That it is referred to in this paragraph as the New Theater would seem to imply that there had been a previous one, or some building or place where dramatic performances were given. Governor Burnet, who had 5 34 fit^t €f)catcr in ^Hmcrica. been the governor of the Colony from 1720 to 1728, was a highly cultivated man. He is described by Smith, the first historian of New York, as " a man of sense and of polite breeding, a well-read scholar, sprightly, and of a social disposition. Being devoted to his books, he abstained from all those excesses into which his pleasurable relish would have otherwise plunged him. He studied the art of recommending himself to the people, had nothing of the moroseness of a scholar, was gay and condescending, affected no pomp, visited every family of reputation, and often diverted himself in open converse with the ladies, by whom he was very much admired ; " to which he adds that he was very fond of New York, his marriage there having connected him with a numerous family besides an unusual acquaintance, and that he left it with reluc- tance.* By such a man the drama might be looked upon as favorably as it was at that period by Addison, and it may be that during the eight years of his ad- ministration dramatic performances were given in the city, which was the capital of the province. Rip Van Dam, who was the owner of the building in which the New Theater was opened, was the acting governor from the time of Burnet's departure until the arrival of Governor Cosby in 1732, a few months before the New Theater was opened, and was obviously the personage denominated " his honor," to whom " the ingenious Mr. Thomas Heady," who acted the part of Worthy, * Smith's " History of New York " with a continuation, pp. 239, 240, 271 : Albany, 1814. fit^t Zfymct in 5llmcrica. 35 stood in the important relation, in his own eyes, of barber and peruque maker. The New Theater, as stated in the advertisement, was in the building belonging to Rip Van Dam, and as Kean & Murray's Company, who came to New York eighteen months afterward, — that is, in February, 1750, — hired, as stated in my former paper, "a large room in the building on Nassau street, belonging to the estate of Rip Van Dam, the two theaters, that of 1732 and 1750, were probably in the same building, now generally referred to as the Nassau Street Theater. The comedy with which the New Theater was opened in 1732, "The Recruiting Officer," is the earliest play known to have been acted in North America, for though, as has been stated, there was a play-house in Williamsburg ten years before, it is not known what plays were acted there until 1736, when four are re- ferred to, and " The Recruiting Officer " was one of them, which had the attraction for Virginia that the Colony was referred to in it. It was a popular play in the early part of the last century, and continued to be acted frequently for nearly a century and a half Much of its wit and sprightliness is in language that would not be tolerated now on any stage, as also some of the minor incidents of the plotj but its raciness in this re- spect was no doubt, at that time, a part of its attraction, and then its leading parts have been enacted by great players. It was written by George Farquhar, one of four dramatists — Wycherley, Congreve, Vanbrugh, and himself — who are generally referred to as the leading comic dramatists of the Restoration ; and of 36 fit^t Zf^tatct in ?llmcrica» the four, this production of Farquhar was the one that continued the longest upon the stage. Leigh Hunt, a very competent critic, considered " The Re- cruiting Officer" one of the very best of Farquhar's plays. Every character, he says, of any importance, is a genuine transcript from nature; that there is a charm of gaiety and good humor throughout it, and the fresh, clear air of a ruddy-making remote Eng- lish town neighborhooded by ample elegance. It was performed in New York in 1843, and was revived Feb- ruary 8, 1885, in the same city, by Mr. Augustin Daly, who has done so much to enable the present gen- eration to see what these witty and sprightly old com- edies are when represented on the stage, so far as it can be done, by detaching from them what would be ob- jectionable in the present age, and which, in the revival of " The Recruiting Officer," he did by reducing its five acts to three. It will not, I think, be out of place to show what was the result by inserting two clever criti- cisms that appeared in two of the New York journals on the morning after this revival, by writers who were not only excellent dramatic critics, but also evidently thoroughly well acquainted with the dramatic literature of the period when " The Recruiting Officer" was writ- ten, and the correctness of whose account of the per- formance on that evening I am able to corroborate, having been myself one of the audience on that occasion. There is a freshness and vividness more- over in an account of the performance of a play writ- ten immediately after seeing it, which can rarely be imparted afterwards. fit^t €gcatcr m ^Cnicrica, 37 This is one of the articles : "THE RECRUITING OFFICER. Captain Plume Mr. Drew Captain Brazen Mr. Parkes Justice Balance Mr. Fisher Sergeant Kite Mr. Lewis Mr. IVorthy Mr. Skinner Bullock Mr. Gilbert Appletree Mr. Bond Feanuan Mr. WiLKS Balance's Stei.va7-d Mr. Beekman Mistress Melinda Miss VIRGINIA Dreher Rose Miss May Fielding Lucy Miss MAY Irwin Sylvia Miss Ada Rehan " I am called Captain, sir, by all the drawers and groom-porters in London," said Miss Ada Rehan at Daly's Theater last night. And bravely she wore her red coat and sword, the martial twist in her cravat, the fierce knot in her periwig, the cane upon her button, and the dice in her pocket. The audience were in ec- stasies. It was a revival of " The Recruiting Officer," by George Farquhar. The manners of Queen Anne's day were reproduced on Mr. Daly's stage. Captain Flume and Sergeant Kite were enlisting the country lads and paying court to the country lasses. Justice Balance was keeping watch over the morals of his daughter Sylvia. Sprightly Mistress Melitida was intriguing for the hand of young Worthy. Brazen was bragging of his service in Flanders against the French and in Hun- gary against the Turks. The atmosphere was charged with love, and the stage resounded with the tap of the drum. The audience was in a curious and observant mood. The doings on the stage were of a wholly unfamiliar kind. The language sounded strangely fantastic to 38 fit^t €()catcr in 3limmca. modern ears. Ladies held their breath at the bygone sentiment of the play. Men met in groups between the acts and wondered what was the secret of its origi- nal success. Its secret was tolerably simple. It was written at the time of Marlborough's earlier victories. Blenheim had just been won. A military fever pos- sessed the country. Rustics went marching round the fields with ribbons in their caps. The recruiting offi- cer was seen in every town. The popular song of the hour was : Over the hills and over the main To Flanders, Portugal and Spain : The Queen commands and we'll obey; Over the hills and far away. Moreover, there was a steady flow of indecency in the comedy.- The town had been growing dull. Con- greve had retired into the intimacy of the Duchess of Marlborough. VVycherley was writing feeble poems under the tutorship of that rising young man, Alexan- der Pope. Vanbrugh was giving his attention to ar- chitecture. Jeremy Collier and his moral tractate had exorcised the merry devils off the stage, and the pit mourned their departure. So "The Recruiting Offi- cer," with its broad jests, was particularly welcome. Captain F/ume, with his amorous devices, became the ideal of the army, and pretty Rose, with her chickens, furnished laughter for the mess-room and coffee-houses. Human nature has not much changed. Mr. Daly's audience last night was as fashionable an au- dience as could be gathered in the city. Yet the few suggestive lines which he has left in the piece excited the loudest laugh. Americans are not squeamish with these old plays. They know that the comedies of the Restoration were not models of propriety. They know that George Farquhar, the rollicking Irish captain, was not a preacher of morality. And if the piece hung fire at times, if it seemed a trifle heavy and monotonous. fit^t Z^mct in ^Cnictica. 39 it was because the spectators had been crechted with a prudery which they did not seem to possess. The company was a Httle out of its element. Mr. Drew, in particular, should have been livelier and airier, conducting his love affairs with as light a touch as Charles Mathews might have conducted them in other days, or Mr. Wallack to-day. Mr. Fisher, too, pressed with too heavy a hand on such niceties of character as have been discovered in Justice Balance ; and Mr. James Lewis, though discreet and refined in his humor, extracted none of the exuberant fun from Sergeant Kite with which critics of the past have sup- posed that unscrupulous personage to overflow. Mr. Skinner was a dignified young lover, and Mr. Parkes amused as Brazen. But the honors of the evening rested with Miss Virginia Dreher, who looked radi- diantly beautiful in a web of lace and gold, and with Miss Ada Rehan, who had the bold step, the rakish toss and the impudent air of your true military gallant. She was not Peg Wofiington, perhaps, but she was a charming woman in disguise, and the town will be curious to see her. This is the other : "THE RECRUITING OFFICER." Another " first night " in Mr. Daly's comfortable theater, and the same assemblage of well-dressed people, with faces one knows by sight on every side, and pleasurable expectancy the predominating sensa- tion. " Love on Crutches "has ambled gracefully out of sight, and instead of the fresh daintiness of the modern play there were to come rollicking humor, the buoyant spirits, the intrigue and broad wit of old English comedy. No longer the New York fine lady, Miss Rehan was to depict the healthy English maiden 40 fit^t €j)catci: in 3llnicrica, of nearly two centuries ago, and to masquerade as well in the character of Ja^k IVil/ul ; Mr. Drew, who had so cleverly portrayed the young New Yorker of the last quarter of the nineteenth century, was to assume the becoming uniform, the rakish air, and the frolic- some manners of a IJritish officer in the first c[uarter of the eighteenth ; instead of a meek and virtuous family physician, Mr. Lewis was to be seen as a rattling and repreliensible recruiting sergeant. In other words, George Farquhar's bright and witty comedy, " The Recruiting Officer," was to be revealed to a generation of playgoers who scarcely remembered even its title, so long had it been left upon the shelf. Pleasurable expectations of the ])roduction were in many respects realized. The comedy was tastefully mounted, though without extravagance, the costumes were handsome and appropriate to the time represented, and conse- quently the stage pictures revealed were both hand- some and quaint. That the old-time flavor was fully preserved in the action it would be folly to say. An intelligent performance of Farquhar's comedy was given, however, with much of the original text, and everybody present interested in the history and litera- ture of the EngHsh stage found abundant entertain- ment. Mr. Daly has compressed the five acts of Farquhar into three, slightly altering the sequence of some of the scenes, expunging lines of dubious mean- ing, and many not at all dubious, and quickening the denouement. While " The Recruiting Officer," is not so ingeniously constructed as " The Beaux' Stratagem," its dialogue bristles with repartee, every character is clearly defined, and the plot is clever though slight. The scene is laid at Shrewsbury, and the personages are simple townsfolk and military men. There is a quartet of lovers, a wise father, a noisy braggart, the Sergeant, who fills the position of intriguing valet to the hero, a designing lady's maid, a knowing market f ir^t €()catcc in 311nicrifa. 41 girl, and a trio of bumpkins. The heroine, being sent away by her father to avoid her lover, returns in male attire to test the hero's affections, and after some strange experiences weds him. 'I'he play, of course, has famous associations. Peg Woffington jjlayed Sylvia when the veteran Quin was Justice Balance ; Elliston played Captain Flutne, and in later years this was one of Charles Kemble's favorite parts ; Munden and Knight were the original representatives of the two recruits, Pearmain and Appletree* and Irish Johnstone was Seri:^eant Kite. In that cast Ann Oldfield was Svlvia, Gibber Brazoi, and Wilks, Farquhar's nearest friend. Captain Plume. It was a fancy of Farquhar's friends that Plume was a portrait of himself. He had been a dashing officer during his brief and eventful career, as well as actor and dramatist. Farquhar's life was a sad one, in spite of the legacy of merriment he left to the world in his works. He left college to go upon the stage, which, after accidentally wounding a brother actor in a fencing combat, he abandoned for the army. He died at the age of thirty, leaving no fortune for his family, although within a decade he had written seven successful comedies, " Love and a Botde," " The Constant Couple," " The Inconstant ; or, Wine Works Wonders," " The Stage Coach," " The Re- cruiting Officer," and " The Beaux' Stratagem," during the run of which he expired, in the Spring of 1707. Farquhar was a man of genius, a keen observer, and, like most of his kind, a stanch foe to all pretense. His low-comedy characters were true to nature in their conceits and frailties, as well as in their manner of speech ; his high-bred dames were not always circum- spect in their behavior, while his young gentlemen were devil-may-care fellows, glib of tongue, affable, generous, but not exacdy proper. He belonged to his * This is an error in the writer, they were Norris and Fair- bank, and the original Sergeant Kite was Estcourt. 6 42 fit^t Zf^ma in ^Hmcrica. age, and, compared with the work of some of his con- temporaries and immediate predecessors, his writings were purity itself. With the exception of " The In- constant " we do not remember that any of his come- dies had been performed here in recent years, until " The Recruiting Officer " was seen last evening. They demand of actors dashing manners, freedom and breadth of style, which few performers of the present day possess. The charm of last evening's representa- tion lay in the portrayal of Sylvia by Miss Rehan. Indeed this was the only individual piece of work that could be said to have any charm, and although Sylvia is the heroine the part is scarcely more important than at least two of the others. Miss Rehan was not only successful in catching the spirit of the piece, and trans- mitting it to the audience, so far as her own part was concerned, but she invested the character with wo- manly tenderness and delicacy, and put more meaning into a few important lines of the text than appears on the surface. As Sylvia herself, she was the affection- ate and dutiful daughter, who felt more sorrow for her brother's death, doubtless, than the author intended; as Master Jack Wilful, and his alter ego, Captain Finc/i, who took snuff with a pinch, and in short, could do anything at a pinch, her imitation of the foppish man- ners and languid nonchalance of the London buck was dehciously droll and seemed not a bit incongruous, though it is not likely that it was so pronounced as Mistress Ann Oldfield's treatment of the same passages. Miss Rehan, in short, was thoroughly at home in the old comedy. If her work was not strictly in keeping with traditions, it was still delightful and artistic. She interpreted Farquhar in her own way, but without missing his meaning, except where his meaning would not be tasteful to a modern audience. Her treatment of the scenes with Rose, for instance, was admirable ; and the tact and refinement of the actress were needed fit^t €()catcc in Kiiicrica* 43 in these in sj)ite of careful " editing " and expunging. It is needless to say that Miss Rehan presented a handsome picture in the fine raiment o{ Master Wilful, and the well-setting uniform of the gay Captain. Mr. Charles Fisher handled the character of old Balance in his accustomed manner; the mode of old comedy is familiar to this veteran, for he was educated to it, and was a rising actor wlien Farquhar's comedy was last given at the old " Park," forty-two years ago. Miss Dreher spoke the lines of languid Aliss Melinda in the riglit spirit, and was a fine lady to the life, but the part is of little interest. Mr. Drew bore himself well in his uniform, and his acting was extremely good at some points, notably, in the combat with Brazen. But he lacks the joyous, rattling style essential to the proper rendering of such a character. No one, for in- stance, would ever take Captain Flume, as played by Mr. Drew, for a portrait of George Farquhar. Mr. Lewis, as Kite, was Mr. Lewis; Mr. Skinner, as Wor- thy, was Guy Roverly dressed for a masquerade ; Braze?i, in the hands of Mr. Parkes, should be re- named Wooden; Bullock was made by Mr. Gilbert, an ill-fed fellow, dry instead of unctuous, and tlie two recruits were colorless sketches. Miss Fielding was pretty and interesting as the chicken girl, and Miss Irwin amusing as Melinda' s maid. At times the per- formance dragged when Miss Rehan was off the stage, but Mr. Daly is to be thanked for the revival all the same, which, as we have intimated, is well worth seeing. Which ends this second writer's notice of the revival. The first representation of the play was at Drury Lane in 1706. The original Sylvia was Mrs. Oldfield, 44 fit^t €t^catct in ^llmcrica. a tall, beautiful, finely formed woman, with an ex- quisite, clear, and powerful voice, that made her as impressive in tragedy as she was fascinating in comedy. Fielding, the novelist, says that her " ravishing per- fection made her the admiration of every eye and every ear"; and Colley Gibber and other contemporaries unite in giving her the most unstinted praise. Such an actress, in such a part as Sylvia, the most interesting character in the play, must have been very attractive, especially in that portion of it where Sylvia appears in male attire, dressed as a young officer. It was to her that Pope referred, according to Warton, in the well- known lines, descriptive of a feminine wish at the clos- ing moment of life : " Odious ! in woollen ! 'twould a saint provoke " (Were the last words that poor Narcissa spoke). " No, let a charming chintz and Brussels lace Wrap my cold limbs and shade my lifeless face. One would not, sure, be frightful when one's dead And — Betty — give this cheek a little Red." The original Captain Plume, the recruiting officer^ was Wilks, the most distinguished actor at that time on the English stage, and this part continued for a long time thereafter to be a favorite one with actors who had the advantages of a handsome face, a fine person, and the temperament to impart to it that vivacity and airiness that the character requires. The original Kite, the recruiting sergeant, a part that affords great scope for the powers of a low comedian, was Estcourt, a famous mimic, of whom Colley Cibber says : " This man was so amazing and extraordinary a mimic that ipit^t Cljcatcr in 5Cniccica, 45 no man or woman from the coquette to the privy councillor ever moved or spoke before him but he could carry their voice, look, mien, and motion in- stantly into another company," and he adds, " even to the manner of thinking of an eminent pleader of the bar with every, the least article and singularity of his utterance so perfectly imitated that he was the very alter ipse, scarcely to be distinguished from his origi- nal." ' Farquhar, the author of the comedy, schooled him for this particular part, his performance of which has been highly praised. "Witness" says Dowse, "his Sergeant Kite ; he is not only excellent in it, but a superlative mimic." " Mr. Estcourt," says Chet- wood, " the original Sergeant Kite, every night of performance entertained the audience with a variety of little catches and flights of humor that pleased all but his critics." This allusion to his critics refers to Gibber and some others who, whilst admitting his great powers as a mimic, declared that he was but an indifferent actor, an opinion in which others who were equally com- petent to judge did not concur, and which on Gibber's part was attributed to his desire to play leading parts, to which he could not succeed during Estcourt's life. Estcourt may by his imitations of their acting or pecu- liarities have offended actors and others, who, how- ever much they might enjoy such a representation of others, may have looked very differently upon a like representation of themselves, a good illustration of 1 Life of Gibber, by Bell, Chambers ed., 105, 106. 46 fir^t €j)catct in ICnicrica, which is found in an anecdote of Estcourt and Sir Godfrey Kneller, the celebrated portrait i)ainter of that period. Secretary Craggs, when a young man, in company with some of his friends, went with Estcourt to Sir God- frey Kneller's, and whispered to him that a gentleman present was able to give such a representation of many among his most principal j)atrons as would occasion the greatest surprise. Estcourt accordingly, at the artist's earnest desire, mimicked Lords Somers, Hali- fax, Godolphin, and others so exactly that Kneller was delighted and laughed heartily at the imitation. Craggs gave a signal as previously concerted, and Estcourt immediately imitated Kneller himself, who cried out in a transport of ungovernable conviction, " Nay, there you are out, man. By G , that 's not me!" In the colonial society, or " people of figure," as they were then called in New York, where so much de- pended upon manners, well-arranged apparel and a flowing wig, a peruke maker was, at least in his own estimation, a person of consequence, as appears from the manner in which Mr. Heady is referred to in the paragraph that has been quoted, and also from an announcement that appeared in the " New York Weekly Post Boy" of March 5, 1750, about three weeks after the opening of the Nassau Street Theater by Kean & Murray's company, as mentioned in my former paper, which announcement is as follows : " This is to acquaint the public that there is lately arrived from London the Wotider of the World, fk^t CJjcatcr in 3Cmccica» 47 (7// honest Barber and Peruke Maker, who might have worked for the King if his Majesty would have em- ployed him ; it was not for the want of money that he came here, for he had enough of that at Home; nor for the want of Business that he advertises himself; but to acquaint the gentlemen and ladies that such a Person is now in Town living near Rosemary Lane, where Gentlemen and Ladies may be supplied with Goods as follows, viz. : Tyes, Full Bottoms, Myers, Spencers, Fox-Tails, RamiUes, Tucks, Cut kinds of head coverings and adornments, and bob Perukes ; also Ladies' Talemalongues and Towers, after the Manner that is now wore at Court. By their humble and obedient Servant, "John Still." The hibernicism that he did not put in the advertise- ment for the want of business, nor to make money, of which he had plenty, but merely to apprise the ladies and gentlemen that such a person was then in town, was, if genuine, an exhibition of enormous self-import- ance, or it was what is more probable, a comic effort to attract attention to his calling by one who was something of an adept in that way, who may have been a member of the theatrical company that were then performing, and who followed the three pursuits of a barber, a peruke maker, and an actor. It would appear that there was a second opening of a theater in New York seven years afterwards. All that I know respecting it is that there is a manuscript volume in the possession of Mr. William Nelson, of 48 fix^t Cljcntcr in America. Paterson, New Jersey, liandsomely engrossed with ornamental lettering, entitled : POEMS ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS liY Archibald Home, Esq., Late Secretary and One of His Majesties Council for the province of New Jersey North America, which was purchased by Mr. Nelson from a London dealer in 1890, and that one of these poems is entitled PROLOGUE, INTENDED FOR THE SECOND OPENING OF THE THEATRE AT NEW YORK, ANNO 1 739, which is as follows : Encourag'd by th' Indulgence you have shown, Again we strive to entertain the Town, This gen'rous Town which nurs'd our infant Stage And cast a Shelter o'er its tender Age, It's young Attempts beyond their Merits prais'd Fond of the little Bantling she had rais'd Go on to cherish to a Stronger Size This Spur to Virtue, this keen Scourge to Vice ! Ye Faultless Fair, lend all your influence here! O Patronize the Child, you cannot Fear. Oft when the Serious Admonition Fails O'er the lov'd Fault the Comick Mask prevails ; Safe From the Bar, the Pulpit, and the Throne, Vice blushing yields to ridicule alone. fiv^t Cljcatcr m 3tnicnca. 49 This ancient Greece this the Great Romans knew, They held th' instructive Mirrour Fair to view; That each his own Deformities might trace And smooth his features by the Faithful Glass. When Arts and Sciences began to Smile, And shed their Lustre on our Parent Isle, Attendant on their Steps the Drama came, Like theirs th' Imjirovement of Mankind her Aim; Intent on this with them she journeys West, To our New World, a wisli'd, a welcome Guest; Here pleas'd she sees her Stage erect its head, Her Children honour'd, & her Servants Fed ; Prophetick views in you her second Rome And swells her Breast with Empire yet to come.* The researches of the writer of an article in " The New-York Times" of December the 15th, 1895, has brought to hght some information hitherto unknown of these early American theaters. He has examined the newspaper files of the Library Society in Charles- *A MS. volume, small 4°, Pp. (xvii), I-CXXX; Appendix, pp. XVI. Handsomely engrossed, with ornamental or fancy lettering for the title, the whole apparently the work of a pro- fessional clerk. Bound in old mottled calf, with gilt border, stamped back once gilt and lettered. POEMS By A. H. ESQR MS. Bought from a London dealer in 1890, by William Nelson, of Paterson, New Jersey. 7 50 fit^t *Cl)catcr in 5tnicrica» ton, South Carolina, from 1732, and finds, on the 24th of January, 1735, that a play was acted in Charles Town, as the name was then written, and he gives this advertisement of it in the " South Carolina Gazette," dated, as was then customary, from Jan. 18, 1734-35 : On Friday, the 24th inst., in the Court Room, will be at- tempted a tradgedy called " The Orphan, or The Unhappy Marriage." Tickets will be delivered out on Tuesday next, at Mr. Shep- heard's, at 40s. each. Forty shillings would seem to be a high price at that time to pay for a ticket to a dramatic entertainment. But what the value of a shilling was then in South Carolina compared to the value of a pound sterling, I do not know. The price of a box ticket at Kean & Murray's theater in Nassau street fifteen years after- wards was five shillings New York currency, which was about the value of two dollars at the present day, and if the value of the South Carolina currency at that day was anything near that of New York, this high price for admission would imply either that the Court House where the performance of Otway's Orphan took place did not afford room for many spectators or that the number of persons who were expected to pa- tronize the entertainment was small, so that a high price of admission was necessary to meet the expenses and afford some remuneration to the players, who, I infer, were a regular theatrical company, as a charge was made for admission, and the performances were con- tinued once a week, from the 24th of January to March fit^t Cgcatcc in 3lmcrica. s^ 23, 1735-36, during which tragedies, comedies, farces, and other entertainments were given. The writer in the " Times " says that the play an- nounced in the advertisement, Otway's " Orphan," was ])erformed, though the next " Gazette " took no no- tice of it, the "local" being of the briefest character; but the numl)er of the " Gazette" of February, 1736, ])ublished the Prologue spoken on the opening night, which has at least the merit of easy versification and of being appropriate to such an occasion : He gives it as follows : PROLOGUE. When first Columbus touch'd this distant shore, And vainly hoped his Fears and Dangers o'er. One boundless Wilderness in view appear'd No Champain Plains or rising Cities cheer'd His wearied Eye. Monsters unknown travers'd the hideous Waste, And men more savage than the Beasts they chased. But mark ! How soon these gloomy Prospects clear, And the new World's late Horrors disappear. The Soil obedient to the industrious swains. What happy Harvests crown their honest Pains, And Peace and Plenty triumph o'er the Plains. What various products float on every Tide ? What numerous Navies in our Harbors ride ? Tillage and Trade conjoin their friendly Aid, T' enrich, the thriving Boy and lovely Maid, Hispania, 'tis true, her precious mines engross'd, And bore her shining Entrails to its Coast. Britannia more humane supplies her wants. The British sense and British beauty plants. 52 fit^t €|)catcr in 3iimcrica. The aged Sire beholds with sweet surprise In foreign climes a numerous offspring rise, Sense, Virtue, Worth, and Honour stand confest In each brave male, his prosperous hands have blessed. While the admiring Eye improved may trace. The Mother's Charms in each chaste Virgin's Face. Hence we presume to usher in those Arts Which oft have warm'd the best and bravest Hearts. Faint our Endeavours, wide are our Essays, We strive to please, but can't pretend to Praise; Forgiving Smiles o'er pay the grateful task, Those all we hope and all we humbly ask. The further information that this interesting article contains it will be more satisfactory to give in the au- thor's own words : " The Orphan " was repeated January 28, and again February 4, with the addition of " a new Pantomime Entertainment in Grotesque Characters, called, ' The Adventures of Harlequin and Scaramouch, with the Burgo-Master Trick'd.' " After this run of three nights it was necessary to change the programme, and so the " Gazette " for Feb- ruary 18, 1734-35, announces '"The Opera of Flora; or, Hob in the Well,' with the Dance of the two Pier- rots and a new Pantomime Entertainment, etc., to be- gin at 6 o'clock precisely." On Tuesday, March 25, they played the comedy called "The Spanish Fryar; or. The Double Discov- ery," and on Thursday of the same week the play was repeated " for the benefit of Monimia." Who was Monimia ? fic^t CJjcater in 511mcrica, 53 This benefit seems to have closed the season, but the people must have been pleased, for on May 3 the following advertisement appears : Any gentlemen that are disposed to encourage the exhibition of plays next Winter, may have the sight of the proposals for a subscription at Mr. Shepheard's in Broad Street. And any per- sons that are desirous of having a share in the performance thereof, upon application to Mr. Shepheard shall receive a satis- factory answer. N. B. — The subscription will be closed the last day of this month. There is not another word in " The Gazette " con- cerning theatrical affairs until January 24, 1735-36, when the proposals appear to have borne fruit, for it is announced that — On Thursday, the 12th of February, will be opened the new theatre in Dock Street, in which will be performed the comedy called "The Recruiting Officer." Tickets for the pitt and boxes will be delivered at Mr. Charles Shepheard's, on Thursday, the 5th of February. Boxes, 30s ; pitt, 20s ; and tickets for the gallery, 15s, which will be delivered at the theatre the day of playing. N. B. — The doors will be opened all the afternoon. The sub- scribers are desired to send to the stage door in the forenoon to bespeak places, otherwise it will be too late. Dunlap evidently had never heard of the "new theatre in Dock Street," for he says that " in 1773 the first theater was built in Charleston, S. C, David Douglass having gained permission from the magis- trates, and being invited by the inhabitants. In Sep- tember he went thither and the company followed him. They played fifty-one nights in that city, closing the 54 fit^t Zf^catct in 5limctica, campaign in June, 1774. On October 24, 1774, the first Congress agreed to discountenance gaming, cock fighting, exhibition of shows, plays, and other expen- sive diversions and entertainments," The Charles Town " Gazette " does not notice so im- portant an event as the opening of the first theater in the South, and probably on this continent, in its news columns, but the advertisements announce that on February 23 Otway's " Orphan " was played, and the next " Gazette" announces: By desire of the officers of the Troop and Foot Companies, at the new theatre, Queen street, will be acted on Tuesday next, a comedy called the " Recruiting Officer," with several entertain- ments as will be expressed in the great bills. Tickets to be had at Mr. Charles Shepheard's and at the theatre. Charles Town was at that time a rapidly growing town, and plebeian " Dock " street, as shown by the advertisements, had been changed to " Queen " street, as it is still known. Once a week seems to have been the rule for the plays, but the next piece, George Lillo's famous " The London Merchant, or the History of George Barnwell," was not put upon the boards until March 9. Seven days later it was repeated " for the last time," with the addition of a farce, " The Devil to Pay, or the Wives Metamorphosed." This was Coffey's celebrated work, whose " female character Nell * * * made the for- tunes of several actresses." The season seems to have closed with the perennial fit^t €()catcr in ^tincrica. 55 " Orphan " and the above-named farce, which were phiyed March 23, 1735-36. This is all that can be gleaned from the " Gazette " as to the plays and theater, but the new venture seems to have very soon come to grief. The "Gazette" for May 22-29 con- tains this epigram : ON THE SALE OF THE THEATRE. How cruel Fortune, and how fickle, too, To crop the Method made for making you ! Changes tho' common, yet when great they prove, Make men distrust the care of Mighty Jove; Half made in thought (though not in fact) we find You bought and sold, but left poor H. behind. P. S. — Since so it is ne'er mind the silly trick, The pair will please, when Pierrot makes you sick. Who sold and who bought is a mystery, but the transaction did not change the theater to other uses, for the " Gazette " announces : *' A ball at the play- house in Queen street on February 3 next. To begin at 6 o'clock." In the paper for January 8-15, 1737, and in May of the same year : " At the request of the Ancient and Honorable Society of Free and Accepted Masons, at the theatre in Queen Street, on Thursday next, the 26th instant, will be performed a comedy, called ' The Recruiting Officer,' with a prologue, epi- logue and song suitable to the occasion, to which will be added a new dance called ' Harlequin,' and the clown and the song, ' Mad Tom ' in proper habili- ments, by a person that has never yet appeared upon the stage." 56 jfic^t CJcatcc in 3tmcrica» This performance seems to have been a great suc- cess, for the next " Gazette " accords it this most ex- tended notice : Charlestown, May 28. On Thursday night last " Tlie Recruiting Officer " was acted for the entertainment of the ancient and honorable society of Free and Accepted Masons, who came to the Play House about 7 o'clock, in the usual manner, and made a very decent and solemn appearance; there was a fuller house on this occasion than ever had been known in this place, and the entered appren- tice and masters songs, sung upon the stage, which were joined in chorus by the Masons in the pitt to the satisfaction and enter- tainment of the whole audience. After the play the Masons returned to the lodge at Mr. Shep- heard's, in the same order observed in coming to the Play House. Mad Tom's song must have been taken from " King Lear," and, if so, is the first recorded instance of the production of any of Shakespeare's works on this con- tinent. The most careful search has failed to find any men- tion of plays for some years, but a map of Charlestown dated 1738 marks the site of the theater on the south side of Queen, a little west of Church street, on the lot of land now occupied by the rear portion of the old Planters' Hotel, within less than a hundred yards of the Huguenot and St. Philip's Churches, and in Octo- ber, 1743, a ball is advertised to take place at the theater in Queen street. A similar notice appears in the paper for November 19, 1774, and the next link is an advertisement in the " Gazette," October 3, 1748, of a school ''over against the Play House," and the following extract from first €t)cntcr in America. 57 " an exhortation to the hihabitants of South Carolina," written by a Quakeress, Sophia Hume, in 1748, and published in London in 1752. The good lady, after setting forth the sins of the people of the province, says : " You have no masquer- ades nor music gardens to entertain you, neither are theatrical entertainments frequent among you," which implies that they took place sometimes. May her shade grant pardon for the use of her book in an article on the play-house. But Sophia Hume exhorted in vain, for the " Ga- zette," in its issue for October 3, 1754, contains this rather contradictory advertisement : " At the New Theatre on Monday next, (by a com- pany of comedians from London,) a tragedy called the ' Fair Penitent.' Tickets to be had of Mr. John Remington and at the printer's. Price, stage box 50s.; front and side boxes, 40s. ; pitt, 30s., and gallery, 20s." The " Gazette " dramatic reporter says of the play: " Last Monday evening the New Theatre in this town was opened, when a company of comedians performed the tragedy called the ' Fair Penitent,' much to the satisfaction of the audience." The theatrical history of Charleston from this time on, however, is familiar.* In the paucity of information about the drama in America at this early period, it may be admissible to refer to what fiction has attempted respecting it in a novel by John Esten Cooke, entitled " The Virginia *" New- York Times," Sunday, December 15, 1895. 58 fit^t €l)catcc in ^Lnicrica* Comedians," in which he describes the WilHamsburg theater, and the representation in it of a play of Shake- speare's. As Shakespeare expressed it, " imagination bodies forth the form of things unknown," and men of genius, hke Sir Walter Scott and the elder Dumas, could, in the exercise of this faculty, represent scenes and in- cidents of the past more vividly and apparently as truth- fully as can be derived from the scant material usually left for the historian — an illustration of which will be found in Dumas's account of the trial and execution of Charles I., in his sequel to "The Three Musketeers," " Twenty Years After " ; and in Scott's novels there are many like illustrations. " This history," says Field- ing, in the preface to his celebrated novel which he calls " The History of Tom Jones," " differs firom other his- tories in this, that in other histories nothing is true but the names, whilst in this everything is true but the names"; and the author of" The Virginia Comedians," though not ranking with the great masters of fiction that have been referred to, appears to have been well informed respecting Colonial Virginia, and may be ac- cepted as having given what is probably a fair picture of a night in the Williamsburg theater during the Colo- nial period.* One of the principal characters in the novel is a young Virginian, Mr. Effingham, who, after a visit and some stay at Oxford and in London, has returned to the paternal home, Effingham Hall, in Virginia, and whilst riding on horseback to visit a manorial estate on * Dunlap, p. l6. fk^t Cfjcatcr in 311mcrica, 59 a plantation known as Riverhead, of a gentleman called Lee, the father of two very attractive daughters, draws up suddenly in the road, seeing a young lady on horse- back in the center of it apparently awaiting his ap- proach, w'ho is thus described : The lady was mounted on a tall white horse, which stood perfectly quiet in the middle of the road, and seemed to be docility itself, though the fiery eyes con- tradicted the first impression. Rather would one ac- quainted with the singular character of horses have said that this animal was subdued by the gentle hand of the rider, and so laid aside, from pure affection, all his waywardness. The rider was a young girl about eighteen, and of rare and extraordinary beauty. Her hair — so much of it as was visible beneath her hood — seemed to be dark chestnut, and her complexion was dazzling. The eyes were large, full, and dark — instinct with fire and softness, feminine modesty and collected firmness, the firmness, however, predominating. But the lips were different. They were the lips of a child — soft, guile- less, tender, and confiding; they were purity and inno- cence itself, and seemed to say that however much the brain might become hard and worldly, the heart of this young woman never could be other than the tender and delicately sensitive heart of a child. She was clad in a riding-dress of pearl color, and from the uniformity of this tint, it seemed to be a fa- vorite with her. The hood was of silk, and the deli- cately gloved hand held a little ivory-handled riding- 6o fit^t Cfjcatcc in 3tnictica» whip, which now dangled at her side. The other gloved hand supported her cheek ; and in this position the unknown lady calmly awaited Mr. Effingham's ap- proach still nearer, though he was already near touch- ing her. Mr. Effingham took off his hat and bowed with ele- gant courtesy. The lady returned the inclination by a graceful movement of the head. " Would you be kind enough to point out the road to the town of Williamsburg, sir ? " she said, in a calm and clear voice. " With great pleasure, madam," replied Mr. Effing- ham. " You have lost your way ? " " Yes, sir, and very strangely ; and as evening drew on I was afraid of being benighted," " You have but to follow the road until you reach Effingham Hall, madam," he said, — " the house in the distance yonder; then turn to the left, and you are in the highway to town." " Thanks, sir," tlie young girl said, with another calm inclination of her head, and she touched her horse with the whip. " But cannot I accompany you?" asked Mr. Effing- ham, whose curiosity was greatly aroused, and found his eyes, he knew not why, riveted to the rare beauty of his companion's face; "do you not need me as a guide ? " " Indeed, I think not, sir," she said, with the same calmness. " Your direction is very plain, and I am accustomed to ride by myself." " But, really," began Mr. Effingham, somewhat fit^t CJcatfi: in 3l!mcrica. ^i piqued, " I know it is intrusive — I know I have not the honor — " She interrupted him with her immovable cahnness. " You would say you do not know me, and that your offer is intrusive. I believe, sir, I do not consider it so — it is very kind; but I am not a fearful girl, and need not trouble you at all." And so bowed. "One moment, madam," said Mr. Effingham; "I am really dying with curiosity to know you. 'T is very rude to say so, of course — but I am acquainted with every lady in the neighborhood, and I do not recall any former occasion upon which I had the pleasure — " " It is very easily explained, sir," the young girl said. " Madam ! " " I do not live in the neighborhood." " Ah ! no ? " " And I am not a lady, sir. Does not that explain it?" Mr. Effingham scarcely believed his ears. These astounding words were uttered with such perfect calm- ness that there was no possible room to suppose that they were meant for a jest. " You are surprised, sir," the young girl said quite simply and gravely. "Upon my word, madam, — never have I, — really — " " Your surj)rise will not last long, sir." " How, madam ? " " Do you ever visit the town of Williamsburg ? " " Frequently." 62 fit^t Ctjcatcr in 3tmcrica» "Well, sir, I think you will see me again. Now I must continue my way, having returned my sincere thanks for your kindness." With which words, uttered in that wondrous voice of immovable calmness, the young girl again inclined her head, touched her white horse with the whip, and slowly rode out of sight. The young man continued his journey to Riverhead; arrived there, and after an animated conversation with the two attractive young ladies, he encountered the father, a fine, portly old gentleman, who met him. " Good morning, glad to see you." Effingham bowed and said : " The morning was so fine that I thought I could not spend it more agreeably than in a ride to River- head, sir." " DeHghtful ! These August days are excellent for the com ; what news ? " " Nothing, sir. I have not seen the ' Gazette.' " " Oh, the ' Gazette ' never contains any inteUigence; sometimes, it is true, we hear what is going on in Parlia- ment, but it never condescends to afford us any news from Virginia. The tobacco on the south side may be all gone to the devil for anything you read in the 'Gazette.' Here it is — an abominable sheet! Ah, I see we are to have a theatrical performance in Wil- liamsburg next week," added the old gentleman, on glancing over the paper. " Mr. Hallam and his Vir- ginia company of comedians — very politic that addi- tion of Virginia — are to perform 'The Merchant of Venice,' by permission of his worship, the Mayor, at fit^t Cljcatcr in 5tnicrica« 63 tlic i)/i/ theater near the capital, he announces. Truly we are improving, really becoming civilized, in this barbarous /erra incognita." Mr. Effingham winced; he had more than once ex- pressed a similar opinion of Virginia in good faith, not ironically, and the good old gentleman's words seemed directed to himself. A moment's reflection, however, persuaded him that this could not be the case; He had not visited Riverhead a dozen times since his arrival from Oxford and London, and on these occa- sions he never touched upon the subject of Virginia and its dreadful deficiencies. "A play," he said; " that is really good news; but the ' Merchant of Venice,' that is not one of my acquain- tances." " Ah ! you young men are wrong in giving up Will. Shakespeare for the Steeles, Addisons, and Vanbrughs. Mr. Addison's essays are very pleasant and entertain- ing reading, and surely there never was a finer gentle- man than Sir Roger; but in the drama Will. Shakespeare distances him all to nothing." " Let us go to the play," said Henrietta. " Oh, yes," said Clara. The old gentleman tenderly smoothed the bright golden hair. " Certainly, if you wish it," he said. " And may I request permission to accompany the party, ladies," said Mr. Effingham, languidly. "How modest," said Henrietta, laughing; "cer- tainly you may go, sir. You will tell us when to hiss or applaud, you know, as you are just from London." 64 fit^t Cljcatcc in 3Lmcnca« " What a quick tongue she has," said Mr. Lte, fondly; well, we will all go, and see what the Virginia company of comedians is like; not much I fear." At the appointed day the young man appears at Mr. Lee's mansion and the young ladies come down to meet him, the elder, Henrietta, being described as " radi- ant in a dress of surpassing elegance — flowered satin, yellow lace, jewels, powdered hair, with pendants and rich furbelows, — the bright beauty of her laughing face assorting well with her flashing and glittering cos- tume," while the costume of the younger sister was more subdued, as her manner was more quiet. A lively conversation follows, the subject of which ends with an inquiry on the part of the young man to the elder sister. " Do you anticipate much pleasure ? " referring to the play, to which the other replies : "Oh, it will be delightful." Then to the younger, " And you. Cousin Clara, do you think that these Vir- ginia Comedians, as they call themselves, will afford you a very pleasant entertainment ? " " Oh, yes — I am sure I shall be pleased — you know I have never seen a play." " But read a plenty ? " "Oh, yes; and I like the 'Merchant of Venice.' The character of Portia is so delicate and noble." " Quite true ; an excellent criticism ; better than any- thing in Congreve I think, though I should hesitate to advance such an opinion in London." "Who will act Portia?" fit^t €j)catcr m 5llnicrica» 65 " I don't know, but can tell you without much dif- ficulty. Here is a play-bill that I sent to town for yesterday." And Mr. Effingham drew daintily from his coat pocket a small, roughly printed hand-bill, which he spread out before the eyes of Clara. " ' Virginia Company of Comedians,' " he read, "'by permission of his worship the Mayor — in the old theatre near the capitol, on Thursday evening — a tragedy called ' The Merchant of Venice,' by Mr. William Shakespeare, boxes seven shillings sixpence' — ' Vivat Rex et Regina ' — here it is, ' Shylock, Mr. Rigby; Portia, Miss Beatrice Hallam.' The part of Portia is to be performed by Miss Beatrice Hallam — I have never seen or heard of her." "Which means," said Henrietta, laughing," that Miss Beatrice cannot be very well worth seeing, as Mr. Champ Effingham, just from London, and conversant with all the celebrities there, has never heard of her existence." " My dear Cousin Henrietta," said Mr. Effingham, languidly, " you really seem to sit in judgment on my wearisome conversation. I do not profess to know anything about celebrities. True, I very frequently lounged into the theater in London, but I assure you took very little interest in the plays or performers. Life itself is enough of a comedy for me, and I want nothing more. I know nothing of Miss Hallam. She may be a witch of Endor, or as beautiful as Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt, for all that I know. That I have not heard her proves nothing. The best actors and ac- tresses are often treated with neglect and indiflference." 9 66 fit^t €J)catcr in "^Hmcrica. " Well," said Clara, smiling, " we soon sliall see for ourselves, for there is papa coming, all ready dressed to go, and I hear the wheels of the chariot." Upon which they go to the play-house, which the novelist thus describes : The " old theatre near the capitol," discoursed of in the manifesto issued by Mr. Manager Hallam, was so far old that the walls were well browned by time, and the shutters to the windows of a pleasant neutral tint between rust and dust color. The building had, no doubt, been used for the present purpose in bygone times, before the days of the " Virginia Gazette," which is our authority for many of the facts here stated, and in relation to the " Virginia Company of Comedians " — but of the former companies of " players," as my Lord Hamlet calls them, and their successes and misfortunes, printed words tell us nothing, as far as the researches of the present " Chronicle " extend. That there had been such companies before, however, we repeat, there is some reason to believe ; else why that addition " old" apphed to the " theatre near the capitol." Within, the play-house presented a somewhat more attractive appearance. There was " box," " pit," and " gallery," as in our own day ; and the relative prices were arranged in much the same manner. The common mortals — gentlemen and ladies — were forced to oc- cupy the boxes raised slightly above the level of the stage and hemmed in by velvet-cushioned railings — in front a flower-decorated panel extending all around fit^t Cljcatcr in 3Cmcrica. 67 the house — and for this position they were moreover compelled to pay an admission fee of seven shilHngs and sixpence. The demigods — so to speak — occupied a more eligible portion in the " pit," from which they could procure a highly excellent view of the actors' feet and ankles, just on a level with their noses ; to con- ciliate the demigods this superior advantage had been offered, and the price for them was further still reduced to five shillings. But "the gods," in truth, were the real favorites of the manager. To attract them he ar- ranged the high upper " gallery " and left it untouched, unencumbered by railing, velvet cushions, or any other device ; all was free space and liberal as the air ; there were no troublesome seats for " the gods," and three shillings and ninepence all that the manager would demand. The honor of their presence was enough. From the boxes a stairway led down to the stage, and some rude scenes, visible at the edges of the cur- tain, completed the outfit. When Mr. Lee and his daughters entered the box, which had been reserved for them next to the stage, the house was nearly full, and the neatness of the edi- fice was lost sight of in the sea of brilliant ladies' faces and showy forms of cavaliers which extended, like a sea of glittering foam, around the semicircle of the boxes. The pit was occupied by well-dressed men of the lower class, as the times had it, and from the gallery pro- ceeded hoarse murmurs and the unforgotten slang of London. Many smiles and bows were interchanged between the parties in the different boxes and the young gal- 68 fit^t €l)catct: in 3Ilmcrita» lants, following the fashion of the day, gathered at each end of the stage, and often walked across, to ex- change some polite speech with the smiling dames in the boxes nearest. Mr. Champ Effingham was, upon the whole, much the most notable fop present, and his elegant /^/// mai/re air as he strutted across the stage attracted many- remarks, not invariably favorable. It was observed, however, that when the Virginia-bred youths, with honest plainness, called him " ridiculous," the young ladies, their companions, took Mr. Effingham's part, and defended him with great enthusiasm ; but when they returned home he was more unmercifully criti- cized than he would otherwise have been. A little bell rang, and the orchestra, represented by three or four foreign-looking gentlemen, bearded and moustached, entered with trumpet and violins. The trumpet made the roof shake indifferently in honor of the Prince of Morocco, or King Richard, or any other worthy whose entrance was marked in the play-book " with a flourish." But before the orchestra ravished the ears of every one, the manager came forward in the costume of Bassanio, and made a low bow. Mr. Hallam was a fat little man, of fifty or fifty-five, with a rubicund and somewhat sensual face, and he ex- pressed extraordinary delight at meeting so many of the " noble aristocracy of the great and noble colony of Virginia " assembled to witness his very humble representation. " It would be the chief and sole am- bition of his life," he said, " to please the gentry who so kindly patronized their servants — himself and his associates " — and then the smiling worthy concluded by bowing lower than before. Much applause from the pit and gallery and murmurs of approbation from the well-bred boxes greeted the address, and the or- chestra having struck up, the curtain slowly rolled aloft, the young gallants scattered to the corner of the stage, seating themselves on stools or chairs or stand- ing, and the " Merchant of Venice " commenced. Bassanio, having assumed a dignified and lofty part, embraced Gratiano with courteous and lordly art, his friend Antonio offered him his fortune with grand mag- nanimity in a loud, singing voice, worthy the utmost commendation, and the first act proceeded on its way in triumph. The first act ends, the scene between Portia and Nerissa being omitted, the audience being highly pleased, and the actors receiving a " grateful guerdon of applause." What transpires between the inmates of the box occupied by Effingham's father and the Squire, as he is called, is manifest, consisting mainly of the conversation between the Squire and the local parson that the Squire had invited to witness the play, who sits on the front seat beside the Squire with solemn gravity and rubicund nose, surveying from his respect- able position the agitated pit. " Not so bad as you predicted, eh, parson ? " says the Squire. " I don't think that fellow Antonio acts so badly." " Very well — very well," is the latter's response. " The audience seems delighted. Look at the scamp of a son of mine, strutting up to friend Lee's box 70 fit^t €l)catcr in ^llmcrica, and smoothing those enormous ruffles like a turkey cock." Effingham leaves the companions with whom he had been seated on the stage, interchanging remarks during the performance to the great disgust of the pit, and approaching Miss Clara, who sits nearest the stage, looking very beautiful and radiant with pleasure, asks : "And how does my fair cousin relish the per- formance ? " " Oh, I was never more pleased with anything. And how do you like it ? " " Tolerably. But I never had a great relish for these things." " Because, to wit, life itself is a comedy," said Henrietta, laughing. " Yes," replied Effingham, " and a very brilliant one it would be if all the world were Miss Henriettas. I hope, my dear cousin, the compliment is sufficiently broad." " Thank you, sir. I know how to take your fine speeches. Don't think they deceive me." " I 'm rather a poor hand at compliments," replied Effingham; "but, really, it is hard to do you the in- justice, my fair cousin, of withholding them. Come, no reply, for I see my Cousin Clara is going to say something more flattering than what you are about to utter." " Oh, no," says Clara, slightly blushing ; " I was only going to say that Shylock really frightened me." " It was very well done; much like Shuter at Castle fit^t