Diggery. Ah, Miss Pumkin! Miss Pumkin! [Kneels by the side-scene, and pulls the napkin out of his pocket; As for you, Miss Kitty, do you come with me; the folks will be all here presently. [Sir Gilbert puts her arm under his; she seizes Charles's hand, and Kitty. "Do not tear him from me." Isn't that right, Charles? Charles. Astonishing! Sir Gilbert. What the devil's the matter now? Kitty. [Sings.] "Oh, oh, ray! oh, Ambora ! Oh, Oh!" Act 2. Sc. 3. A COMIC OPERA, BY CHARLES DIBDIN THE ELder. THE Continual disagreements which existed between Garrick and the author of this entertainment, appear to have rendered the latter hopeless of bringing it on the stage by his own influence; and he therefore disposed of it to Brereton, the actor, for seventy pounds, though he states that the ordinary price for such a piece was an hundred. Garrick considered it impossible to succeed; but it was at length brought out at Drury-Lane, October 7th, 1777, and was received with such applause as to be performed 16 nights the first season, and become an established favourite. The contemporary criticisms rightly observe of this Opera that few pieces have had more musical merit, though the literary composition is certainly of the most trifling order. The piece was strongly cast, and is reported to have been excellently performed: Vernon acting Lubin, Parsons Solomon, Miss Walpole Gillian, Mrs. Wrighten Floretta, and Bannister Steady; the last of whom sang "The Lads of Village" with a degree of taste and judgement seldom to be met with. On the modern stage Incledon's Quaker, C. Taylor's Lubin, Liston's Solomon, and Miss Bolton's Gillian, have been the most eminent performances in this Opera. But though Garrick had no previous expectation that The Quaker would be successful, the season following it's first appearance he bought it of Brereton for £100: not, as the author affirms in his Professional Life, with a view to perform it,—for it did not make it's second appearance until after the Theatre had passed into other hands,—but to make use of the story in a design of his own; as he copied much of it into his entertainment written to bring out Miss Abrams, called May-Day, or The Little Gypsey. There must, nevertheless, be some unaccountable error in this statement; since the latter piece was first acted October 28th, 1775, and it's asserted original not until nearly two years afterward. Any one who peruses the two pieces, however, will find that the amount of this premeditated imitation is, that in both a marriage-portion is to be given on May-Day; which cannot be considered a very uncommon or original thought. Garrick's Roger Dozey, in his formal manners and occasional use of proverbs, may, when these circumstances are known, be fancied slightly to resemble Dibdin's Solomon; but the consanguinity, if it exist at all, is in the most distant degree imaginable. Dibdin, however, was prepared to retaliate upon Garrick in a kind of dramatic satire called May-Day, or the Little Chimney-Sweeper; which, happily for his fame and his character, he never brought before the public. 333-33 PERCY: A TRAGEDY, BY HANNAH MOORE. WHEN this deeply-affecting drama was originally produced, Garrick had but very recently retired from the stage, and being still alive and attentive to it's fame and it's interests, as well as from having previously read and approved of Percy, he recommended it to Harris, was present at it's rehearsals, wrote for it an extremely lively Prologue and Epilogue, and is said to have even assisted in it's composition. It was brought out at Covent-Garden, December 10th, 1777, and received so much applause, that it was performed twenty nights the first seasor. The principal original actors were Wroughton as Douglas, Aickin as Raby, Hull as Sir Hubert, Lewis as Percy, and Mrs. Barry as Elwina. The scene of this drama is Raby Castle, Durham, and the time of action appears to be about one day; but it is difficult to ascertain to what period of English History the events belong. The fathers of Douglas and Percy are stated to have been the heros of the fatal hunting in Chevy-Chase; but the date of that famous conflict has never yet been accurately fixed. It is also stated, that the soldiers of a Crusade, including the King of England, are hourly expected, and arrive, during Act ii. of the Tragedy, and that they have taken Palestine from the infidels. The only Crusade, however, which was joined by an English Sovereign, was the Third, when Richard I. went to Palestine. Jerusalem was taken by the Christians in 1099, but in 1187 it was re-conquered by Saladin; the Crusaders won back only Acre, Jaffa, and Cæsarea; and King Richard did not return with the English troops, but remained upwards of a twelvemonth in captivity in Austria. It is nevertheless probable, that the historical period of Percy was intended for the time of Richard's return in 1194. In the author's advertisement prefixed to this Tragedy, it is stated that some circumstances in the early part of it were suggested by Pierre Laurent De Buirette Belloy's drama of Gabrielle de Vergy. That piece was founded on the famous French story of Raoul Châtelain de Coucy, whose Esquire, when conveying his heart to the Lady of Fayel, whom he loved, was surprised and captured by her husband: upon which event was founded the taking of Harcourt, in Act ii. of the present drama. The language of Percy is accurate, the events are highly wrought up, and the whole has great pathos and sensibility. Davies observes that the interview of Elwina and Percy in Act iv. is but little inferior to the celebrated parting of Castalio and Monimia in the last act of The Orphan. Elwina. [Smiling.] Oh! 'twas a cordial draught-I drank it all. Percy. Then, ere thou goest, if we indeed must part, To soothe the horrors of eternal exile, Say but-thou pity'st me! Elwina, [Weeps.] O Percy-pity thee! Imperious honour;-surely I may pity him. For thou hast still the liberty to weep, In thee 'twill be no crime: thy tears are guiltless, For they infringe no duty, stain no honour, Are drops of shame which wash the cheek of guilt, Act 4. Sc. 2. |