Produced by Judith Boss
The Contrast
by
Royall Tyler
A Comedy
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY THOMAS J. McKEE
INTRODUCTION.
THE 'Contrast' was the first American play ever performed in public by
a company of professional actors. Several plays by native authors had
been previously published, the more noteworthy being the 'Prince of
Parthia,' a tragedy by Thomas Godfrey of Philadelphia, which was
probably written, and was offered to Hallam's company in 1759 (but not
produced), and was printed in 1765, two years after the author's
death.[1]
A comedy called the 'Mercenary Match,' by one Barnabas Bidwell, is said
to have been performed by the students at Yale College, under the
auspices of the Rev. Dr. Ezra Styles, President of the College. Dunlap
speaks of having heard it read, but does not mention whether it was
from a manuscript or printed copy. It was printed at New Haven in
1785. The 'Contrast,' however, was the first to meet successfully the
critical judgment and approval of a professional manager. This fact
alone should redeem it from the neglect and inattention it has
heretofore met with. Besides, it possesses considerable intrinsic
merit, and as an acting play will compare favorably with many of the
English comedies of the period; and though, perhaps, meager in plot and
incident, it is bright, humorous, and natural; the dialogue is
sparkling with genuine wit; and its satire aimed at the evils and
follies of the time is keen and incisive. The contrast between the
plain and simple honesty of purpose and breeding of our American home
life and the tinseled though polished hypocrisy and knavery of foreign
fashionable society is finely delineated, and no doubt suggested the
name of the play. Thoroughly natural in its plan and characters, it
was a bold venture of a young writer in a new literary domain.
The character of Jonathan is a thoroughly original conception; nothing
of the typical Yankee, since so familiar and popular, had as yet
appeared, either on the stage or in print.
The 'Contrast' was first performed[2] at the John Street Theater,
New-York City, on the 16th of April, 1787, and undoubtedly met with the
approval of the public, as it was repeated on the 18th of April, the 2d
and 12th of May the same season, and was reproduced with success later
at Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Boston. It was, as far as can be
learned, the first literary effort of its author, a most remarkable
genius, and one of the pioneers in several branches of our literature,
who, up to within a few weeks of its production, had never attended a
theatrical performance.
Royall Tyler, the author of the 'Contrast,' was born at Boston, Mass.,
July 18, 1758, and belonged to one of the wealthiest and most
influential families of New England. He received his early education
at the Latin School, in his native city, graduated at Harvard, and
during the Revolutionary War, and afterward in Shay's Rebellion, acted
as aid-de-camp with the rank of Major on the staff of General Benjamin
Lincoln. It was owing to the latter event that he came to New-York,
being sent here by Governor Bowdoin on a diplomatic mission with
reference to the capture of Shay, who had crossed the border line from
Massachusetts into this State. This was the first time that Tyler had
left his native New England, and the first time he could have seen the
inside of a regular theater, thus confirming the statements made in the
preface of the play as to the author's inexperience in the rules of the
drama, and as to the short time within which it was written, as his
arrival in New-York was within but a few weeks of its first performance.
Tyler was apparently immediately attracted to the theater, for he
became a constant visitor before and behind the curtain, and rapidly
gained the friendship of all the performers, particularly that of
Wignell, the low comedian of the company. He gave Wignell the
manuscript of the 'Contrast,' and on the 19th of May, the same year,
produced for that actor's benefit his second play, 'May-day in Town, or
New-York in an Uproar,' a comic opera in two acts. He shortly
afterward returned to his home at Boston, where, several years later
(1797) another play from his pen, called 'A Good Spec, or Land in the
Moon,' was produced. I have been unable to ascertain whether either
'Mayday' or 'A Good Spec' was ever printed or not.
Tyler's modesty or indifference as to his literary reputation, as
evidenced in his treatment of his plays, characterized his conduct
throughout life with respect to his other works; so that, of the many
productions of his pen that have been printed, the only one that bears
his name upon the title-page is a set of Vermont Law Reports. And
though early in life he acquired among literary circles a reputation as
a witty and graceful writer of poetry and prose, it is doubtful whether
he benefited much by his writings, either pecuniarily or in popularity,
as an author. They were undoubtedly the recreation of his leisure
moments, and though they were thrown off from time to time without
apparent effort, they bear internal evidence of being the result of
deep reflection and much reading.[3]
Tyler adopted the legal profession, married, settled in Vermont, became
celebrated as a successful advocate, was elected a Judge, and later,
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Vermont, and died at Brattleboro,
in that State, August 16, 1826.
The success of the 'Contrast' was one of the powerful influences which
aided in bringing about in this country a complete revolution of
sentiment with respect to the drama and theatrical amusements. Up to
the time it first appeared, the drama here had met with few friends,
and but little favor.
A single company of English players, the so-called first "American
Company," after a long and bitter struggle with the intolerance and
prejudices of the Puritan and Quakers, had attained some slight favor
in New-York, Philadelphia, and some of the Southern cities; but in New
England the prohibitory laws against all theatrical amusements were
still in force and were rigidly executed. The Continental Congress,
while not absolutely suppressing,[4] had set its seal of condemnation
against the theater, so that the most reputable and law-abiding of our
people were kept away from all theatrical amusements, if not from
inclination, at least by the fear of deviating from the plain path of
their duty. But immediately after the production of the 'Contrast,' a
radical change of opinion in respect to the drama is apparent.
Plays by American authors followed in rapid succession, the stigma
against the theater gradually and completely faded away; and when the
first citizen of the United States, the immortal Washington, attended
in state as President to witness a first-night performance of an
American play, the revolution was complete. At Boston a number of the
most prominent, intelligent, and influential citizens assembled in town
meetings, and passed resolutions instructing their representatives to
demand of the Legislature an immediate repeal of the laws against
theatrical amusements, and upon such repeal being refused, they
subscribed the necessary funds to erect a theater and invited the
American Company to visit Boston to give a series of performances
there, which invitation was accepted. There was some interference on
the part of the authorities, but the new theater was erected and
performances publicly given there, while the prohibitory law became a
dead letter.
It will be noticed that the frontispiece is from a drawing by Dunlap,
which must have been done by him shortly after his return from England,
where he had been studying art as a pupil under Benjamin West. It was
evidently intended to represent the portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Morris,
Mr. Henry, Mr. Wignell, and Mr. Harper, in their respective characters
in this play, with the scenery as given in the last act at the John
Street Theater, the first season, but the inferior work of the engraver
had made it of little value as likenesses.
The illustration to the song of Alknomook is from music published
contemporaneously with the play. This song had long the popularity of
a national air and was familiar in every drawing-room in the early part
of the century. Its authorship has been accredited both to Philip
Freneau and to Mrs. Hunter, the wife of the celebrated English
physician, John Hunter. It was published as by Freneau in the American
Museum, where it appears (with slight changes from the version in the
'Contrast') in vol. I., page 77. But Freneau never claimed to have
written it, and never placed it among his own collections of his poems,
several editions of which he made long after the 'Contrast' was
published. Mrs. Hunter's poems were not printed till 1806, and the
version of the song there printed is an exact copy as given in the
play. This song also appeared in a play, entitled, 'New Spain, or Love
in Mexico,' published at Dublin in 1740. After considerable research,
I have become convinced that Alknomook is the offspring of Tyler's
genius.
THOMAS J. MCKEE
THE
CONTRAST
A COMEDY;
IN FIVE ACTS:
WRITTEN BY A
CITIZEN OF THE UNITED STATES;
Primus ego in patriam
Aonio--deduxi vertice Musas.
VIRGIL
(Imitated)
First on our shores I try THALIA'S powers,
And bid the laughing, useful Maid be ours.
THE CONTRAST
(BEING THE FIRST ESSAY OF *AMERICAN* GENIUS IN DRAMATIC ART)
IS MOST RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED
TO
THE PRESIDENT AND MEMBERS OF THE
Dramatic Association,
BY
THEIR MOST OBLIGED
AND
MOST GRATEFUL SERVANT,
THOMAS WIGNELL
PHILADELPHIA,
1 January, 1790
PROLOGUE
WRITTEN BY A YOUNG GENTLEMAN OF NEW-YORK, AND SPOKEN BY MR. WIGNELL
EXULT, each patriot heart!--this night is shewn
A piece, which we may fairly call our own;
Where the proud titles of "My Lord! Your Grace!"
To humble Mr. and plain Sir give place.
Our Author pictures not from foreign climes
The fashions or the follies of the times;
But has confin'd the subject of his work
To the gay scenes--the circles of New-York.
On native themes his Muse displays her pow'rs;
If ours the faults, the virtues too are ours.
Why should our thoughts to distant countries roam,
When each refinement may be found at home?
Who travels now to ape the rich or great,
To deck an equipage and roll in state;
To court the graces, or to dance with ease,
Or by hypocrisy to strive to please?
Our free-born ancestors such arts despis'd;
Genuine sincerity alone they pris'd;
Their minds, with honest emulation fir'd;
To solid good--not ornament--aspir'd;
Or, if ambition rous'd a bolder flame,
Stern virtue throve, where indolence was shame.
But modern youths, with imitative sense,
Deem taste in dress the proof of excellence;
And spurn the meanness of your homespun arts,
Since homespun habits would obscure their parts;
Whilst all, which aims at splendour and parade,
Must come from Europe, and be ready made.
Strange! We should thus our native worth disclaim,
And check the progress of our rising fame.
Yet one, whilst imitation bears the sway,
Aspires to nobler heights, and points the way.
Be rous'd, my friends! his bold example view;
Let your own Bards be proud to copy you!
Should rigid critics reprobate our play,
At least the patriotic heart will say,
"Glorious our fall, since in a noble cause.
"The bold attempt alone demands applause."
Still may the wisdom of the Comic Muse
Exalt your merits, or your faults accuse.
But think not, tis her aim to be severe;--
We all are mortals, and as mortals err.
If candour pleases, we are truly blest;
Vice trembles, when compell'd to stand confess'd.
Let not light Censure on your faults offend,
Which aims not to expose them, but amend.
Thus does our Author to your candour trust;
Conscious, the free are generous, as just.
Characters
New-York Maryland
Col. MANLY, Mr Henry. Mr Hallam.
DIMPLE, Mr Hallam. Mr Harper.
VANROUGH, Mr Morris. Mr Morris.
JESSAMY, Mr Harper. Mr Biddle.
JONATHAN, Mr Wignell. Mr Wignell.
CHARLOTTE, Mrs Morris. Mrs Morris.
MARIA, Mrs Harper. Mrs Harper.
LETITIA, Mrs Kenna. Mrs Williamson.
JENNY, Miss Tuke. Miss W. Tuke.
SERVANTS
SCENE, NEW-YORK.
The Contrast.
----------
ACT I.
Scene, an Apartment at CHARLOTTE'S.
CHARLOTTE and LETITIA discovered.
LETITIA
AND so, Charlotte, you really think the pocket-hoop unbecoming.
CHARLOTTE
No, I don't say so. It may be very becoming to saunter round the house
of a rainy day; to visit my grand-mamma, or to go to Quakers' meeting:
but to swim in a minuet, with the eyes of fifty well-dressed beaux upon
me, to trip it in the Mall, or walk on the battery, give me the
luxurious, jaunty, flowing, bell-hoop. It would have delighted you to
have seen me the last evening, my charming girl! I was dangling o'er
the battery with Billy Dimple; a knot of young fellows were upon the
platform; as I passed them I faultered with one of the most bewitching
false steps you ever saw, and then recovered myself with such a pretty
confusion, flirting my hoop to discover a jet black shoe and brilliant
buckle. Gad! how my little heart thrilled to hear the confused
raptures of--"Demme, Jack, what a delicate foot!" "Ha! General, what
a well-turned--"
LETITIA
Fie! fie! Charlotte [stopping her mouth], I protest you are quite a
libertine.
CHARLOTTE
Why, my dear little prude, are we not all such libertines? Do you
think, when I sat tortured two hours under the hands of my friseur, and
an hour more at my toilet, that I had any thoughts of my aunt Susan, or
my cousin Betsey? though they are both allowed to be critical judges of
dress.
LETITIA
Why, who should we dress to please, but those are judges of its merit?
CHARLOTTE
Why, a creature who does not know Buffon from Souflee--Man!--my
Letitia--Man! for whom we dress, walk, dance, talk, lisp, languish, and
smile. Does not the grave Spectator assure us that even our much
bepraised diffidence, modesty, and blushes are all directed to make
ourselves good wives and mothers as fast as we can? Why, I'll
undertake with one flirt of this hoop to bring more beaux to my feet in
one week than the grave Maria, and her sentimental circle, can do, by
sighing sentiment till their hairs are grey.
LETITIA
Well, I won't argue with you; you always out-talk me; let us change the
subject. I hear that Mr. Dimple and Maria are soon to be married.
CHARLOTTE
You hear true. I was consulted in the choice of the wedding clothes.
She is to be married in a delicate white sattin, and has a monstrous
pretty brocaded lutestring for the second day. It would have done you
good to have seen with what an affected indifference the dear
sentimentalist turned over a thousand pretty things, just as if her
heart did not palpitate with her approaching happiness, and at last
made her choice and arranged her dress with such apathy as if she did
not know that plain white sattin and a simple blond lace would shew her
clear skin and dark hair to the greatest advantage.
LETITIA
But they say her indifference to dress, and even to the gentleman
himself, is not entirely affected.
CHARLOTTE
How?
LETITIA
It is whispered that if Maria gives her hand to Mr. Dimple, it will be
without her heart.
CHARLOTTE
Though the giving the heart is one of the last of all laughable
considerations in the marriage of a girl of spirit, yet I should like
to hear what antiquated notions the dear little piece of old-fashioned
prudery has got in her head.
LETITIA
Why, you know that old Mr.
John-Richard-Robert-Jacob-Isaac-Abraham-Cornelius Van Dumpling, Billy
Dimple's father (for he has thought fit to soften his name, as well as
manners, during his English tour), was the most intimate friend of
Maria's father. The old folks, about a year before Mr. Van Dumpling's
death, proposed this match: the young folks were accordingly
introduced, and told they must love one another. Billy was then a
good-natured, decent-dressing young fellow, with a little dash of the
coxcomb, such as our young fellows of fortune usually have. At this
time, I really believe she thought she loved him; and had they been
married, I doubt not they might have jogged on, to the end of the
chapter, a good kind of a sing-song lack-a-daysaical life, as other
honest married folks do.
CHARLOTTE
Why did they not then marry?
LETITIA
Upon the death of his father, Billy went to England to see the world
and rub off a little of the patroon rust. During his absence, Maria,
like a good girl, to keep herself constant to her nown true-love,
avoided company, and betook herself, for her amusement, to her books,
and her dear Billy's letters. But, alas! how many ways has the
mischievous demon of inconstancy of stealing into a woman's heart! Her
love was destroyed by the very means she took to support it.
CHARLOTTE
How?--Oh! I have it--some likely young beau found the way to her study.
LETITIA
Be patient, Charlotte; your head so runs upon beaux. Why, she read Sir
Charles Grandison, Clarissa Harlow, Shenstone, and the Sentimental
Journey; and between whiles, as I said, Billy's letters. But, as her
taste improved, her love declined. The contrast was so striking
betwixt the good sense of her books and the flimsiness of her
love-letters, that she discovered she had unthinkingly engaged her hand
without her heart; and then the whole transaction, managed by the old
folks, now appeared so unsentimental, and looked so like bargaining for
a bale of goods, that she found she ought to have rejected, according
to every rule of romance, even the man of her choice, if imposed upon
her in that manner. Clary Harlow would have scorned such a match.
CHARLOTTE
Well, how was it on Mr. Dimple's return? Did he meet a more favourable
reception than his letters?
LETITIA
Much the same. She spoke of him with respect abroad, and with contempt
in her closet. She watched his conduct and conversation, and found
that he had by travelling, acquired the wickedness of Lovelace without
his wit, and the politeness of Sir Charles Grandison without his
generosity. The ruddy youth, who washed his face at the cistern every
morning, and swore and looked eternal love and constancy, was now
metamorphosed into a flippant, palid, polite beau, who devotes the
morning to his toilet, reads a few pages of Chesterfield's letters, and
then minces out, to put the infamous principles in practice upon every
woman he meets.
CHARLOTTE
But, if she is so apt at conjuring up these sentimental bugbears, why
does she not discard him at once?
LETITIA
Why, she thinks her word too sacred to be trifled with. Besides, her
father, who has a great respect for the memory of his deceased friend,
is ever telling her how he shall renew his years in their union, and
repeating the dying injunctions of old Van Dumpling.
CHARLOTTE
A mighty pretty story! And so you would make me believe that the
sensible Maria would give up Dumpling manor, and the all-accomplished
Dimple as a husband, for the absurd, ridiculous reason, forsooth,
because she despises and abhors him. Just as if a lady could not be
privileged to spend a man's fortune, ride in his carriage, be called
after his name, and call him her nown dear lovee when she wants money,
without loving and respecting the great he-creature. Oh! my dear
girl, you are a monstrous prude.
LETITIA
I don't say what I would do; I only intimate how I suppose she wishes
to act.
CHARLOTTE
No, no, no! A fig for sentiment. If she breaks, or wishes to break,
with Mr. Dimple, depend upon it, she has some other man in her eye. A
woman rarely discards one lover until she is sure of another. Letitia
little thinks what a clue I have to Dimple's conduct. The generous man
submits to render himself disgusting to Maria, in order that she may
leave him at liberty to address me. I must change the subject.
[Aside, and rings a bell.
Enter SERVANT.
Frank, order the horses to.--Talking of marriage, did you hear that
Sally Bloomsbury is going to be married next week to Mr. Indigo, the
rich Carolinian?
LETITIA
Sally Bloomsbury married!--why, she is not yet in her teens.
CHARLOTTE
I do not know how that is, but you may depend upon it, 'tis a done
affair. I have it from the best authority. There is my aunt Wyerly's
Hannah. You know Hannah; though a black, she is a wench that was never
caught in a lie in her life. Now, Hannah has a brother who courts
Sarah, Mrs. Catgut the milliner's girl, and she told Hannah's brother,
and Hannah, who, as I said before, is a girl of undoubted veracity,
told it directly to me, that Mrs. Catgut was making a new cap for Miss
Bloomsbury, which, as it was very dressy, it is very probable is
designed for a wedding cap. Now, as she is to be married, who can it
be to but to Mr. Indigo? Why, there is no other gentleman that visits
at her papa's.
LETITIA
Say not a word more, Charlotte. Your intelligence is so direct and
well grounded, it is almost a pity that it is not a piece of scandal.
CHARLOTTE
Oh! I am the pink of prudence. Though I cannot charge myself with
ever having discredited a tea-party by my silence, yet I take care
never to report any thing of my acquaintance, especially if it is to
their credit,--discredit, I mean,--until I have searched to the bottom
of it. It is true, there is infinite pleasure in this charitable
pursuit. Oh! how delicious to go and condole with the friends of some
backsliding sister, or to retire with some old dowager or maiden aunt
of the family, who love scandal so well that they cannot forbear
gratifying their appetite at the expense of the reputation of their
nearest relations! And then to return full fraught with a rich
collection of circumstances, to retail to the next circle of our
acquaintance under the strongest injunctions of secrecy,--ha, ha,
ha!--interlarding the melancholy tale with so many doleful shakes of
the head, and more doleful "Ah! who would have thought it! so amiable,
so prudent a young lady, as we all thought her, what a monstrous pity!
well, I have nothing to charge myself with; I acted the part of a
friend, I warned her of the principles of that rake, I told her what
would be the consequence; I told her so, I told her so."--Ha, ha, ha!
LETITIA
Ha, ha, ha! Well, but, Charlotte, you don't tell me what you think of
Miss Bloomsbury's match.
CHARLOTTE
Think! why I think it is probable she cried for a plaything, and they
have given her a husband. Well, well, well, the puling chit shall not
be deprived of her plaything: 'tis only exchanging London dolls for
American babies.--Apropos, of babies, have you heard what Mrs.
Affable's high-flying notions of delicacy have come to?
LETITIA
Who, she that was Miss Lovely?
CHARLOTTE
The same; she married Bob Affable of Schenectady. Don't you remember?
Enter SERVANT.
SERVANT.
Madam, the carriage is ready.
LETITIA
Shall we go to the stores first, or visiting?
CHARLOTTE
I should think it rather too early to visit, especially Mrs. Prim; you
know she is so particular.
LETITIA
Well, but what of Mrs. Affable?
CHARLOTTE
Oh, I'll tell you as we go; come, come, let us hasten. I hear Mrs.
Catgut has some of the prettiest caps arrived you ever saw. I shall
die if I have not the first sight of them. [Exeunt.
[page intentionally blank]
[illustration omitted]