The tale of _Oroonoko, the Royal Slave_ is indisputedly Mrs. Behn's
masterpiece in prose. Its originality and power have singled it out for
a permanence and popularity none of her other works attained. It is
vivid, realistic, pregnant with pathos, beauty, and truth, and not only
has it so impressed itself upon the readers of more than two centuries,
but further, it surely struck a new note in English literature and one
which was re-echoed far and wide. It has been said that '_Oroonoko_ is
the first emancipation novel', and there is no little acumen in this
remark. Certainly we may absolve Mrs. Behn from having directly written
with a purpose such as animated Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe's _Uncle
Tom's Cabin_; but none the less her sympathy with the oppressed blacks,
her deep emotions of pity for outraged humanity, her anger at the
cruelties of the slave-driver aye ready with knout or knife, are
manifest in every line. Beyond the intense interest of the pure
narrative we have passages of a rhythm that is lyric, exquisitely
descriptive of the picturesque tropical scenery and exotic vegetations,
fragrant and luxuriant; there are intimate accounts of adventuring and
primitive life; there are personal touches which lend a colour only
personal touches can, as Aphara tells her prose-epic of her Superman,
Caesar the slave, Oroonoko the prince.
It is not difficult to trace the influence of _Oroonoko_. We can
see it in many an English author; in Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, in
Chateaubriand. Her idyllic romance has inspired writers who perhaps but
dimly remember even her name and her genius.
It was often reprinted separately from the rest. There is a little 12mo
_Oroonoko_, 'the ninth edition corrected', published at Doncaster, 1759,
'for C. Plummer', which is rarely seen save in a torn and well-thumbed
state.[1]
In 1777 the sentimental and highly proper Mrs. Elizabeth Griffith
included _Oroonoko_ in her three volume _Collection of Novels selected
and revised._ _Oroonoko_, 'written originally by Mrs. Behn and revised
by Mrs. Griffith'[2], was also issued separately, 'price sixpence'[3],
in 1800, frontispieced by a very crude picture of a black-a-moor about
to attack a tiger.
As early as 1709 we find _Lebens und Liebes-Geschichte des Koeniglichen
Sclaven Oroonoko in West-Indien_, a German translation published at
Hamburg, with a portrait of 'Die Sinnreiche Engellaenderin Mrs. Afra
Behn.'
In 1745 _Oroonoko_ was 'traduit de l'Anglois de Madame Behn,' with the
motto from Lucan 'Quo fata trahunt virtus secura sequetur.' There is a
rhymed dedication 'A Madame La M. P. D'l . . .' (35 lines), signed
D. L.****, i.e., Pierre-Antoine de la Place, a fecund but mediocre
writer of the eighteenth century (1707-93), who also translated, _Venice
Preserv'd_, _The Fatal Marriage_, _Tom Jones_, and other English
masterpieces. There is another edition of de la Place's version with
fine plates engraved by C. Baron after Marillier, Londres, 1769.
In 1696 Southerne's great tragedy, founded upon Mrs. Behn's novel, was
produced at Drury Lane. Oroonoko was created by Verbruggen, Powell acted
Aboan, and the beautiful Mrs. Rogers Imoinda. The play has some
magnificent passages, and long kept the stage. Southerne had further
added an excellent comic underplot, full of humour and the truest _vis
comica_. It is perhaps worth noting that the intrigues of Lucy and
Charlotte and the Lackitt _menage_ were dished up as a short slap-bang
farce by themselves with, curiously enough, two or three scenes _in
extenso_ from Fletcher's _Monsieur Thomas_ (III, iii, and V, ii). This
hotch potch entitled _The Sexes Mis-match'd; or, A New Way to get a
Husband_ is printed in _The Strollers' Pacquet open'd_. (12mo, 1741.) On
1 December, 1759, there was brought out at Drury Lane a most insipid
alteration of _Oroonoko_ by Dr. Hawkesworth, who omitted all Southerne's
lighter fare and inserted serious nonsense of his own. Garrick was the
Oroonoko and Mrs. Cibber Imoinda. Although Hawkesworth's version was not
tolerated, the underplot was none the less pruned in later productions
to such an extent that it perforce lost nearly all its pristine wit and
fun. There is another adaption of Southerne: '_Oroonoko_ altered from
the original play . . . to which the editor has added near six hundred
lines in place of the comic scenes, together with an addition of two new
characters, intended for one of the theatres.' (8vo, 1760.) The two new
characters are Maria, sister to the Lieutenant-Governor and contracted
to Blandford, and one Heartwell; both thoroughly tiresome individuals.
In the same year Frank Gentleman, a provincial actor, produced his idea
of _Oroonoko_ 'as it was acted at Edinburgh.' (12mo, 1760.) There is yet
a fourth bastard: _The Prince of Angola_, by one J. Ferriar, 'a tragedy
altered from the play of _Oroonoko_ and adapted to the circumstances of
the present times.'[4] (Manchester, 1788.) It must be confessed that all
this tinkering with an original, which does not require from any point
of view the slightest alteration or omission, is most uncalled for,
crude, and unsuccessful.
In 1698 William Walker, a lad nineteen years old, the son of a wealthy
Barbadoes planter, wrote in three weeks a tragedy entitled _Victorious
Love_ (4to, 1698), which is confessedly a close imitation of Southerne's
theme. It was produced at Drury Lane in June, 1698, with the author
himself as Dafila, a youth, and young Mrs. Cross as the heroine Zaraida,
'an European Shipwrack'd an Infant at Gualata'. Possibly Verbruggen
acted Barnagasso, the captive king who corresponds to Oroonoko. The
scene is laid in the Banze, or Palace of Tombut, whose Emperor, Jamoan,
is Barnagasso's rival in Zaraida's love. There is a villain, Zanhaga,
who after various more or less successful iniquities, poisons the
Emperor; whereon hero and heroine are happily united. _Victorious Love_
is far from being entirely a bad play; it is, however, very reminiscent
of the heroic tragedies of two decades before.
Southerne's _Oroonoko_ was (with some alterations) translated into
German. This version is prose and probably either the work of W. H. von
Dalberg or von Eisenthal. It has little merit, but proved popular and
was printed in 1789 with a somewhat grotesque frontispiece of Oroonoko
and Imoinda, both of whom are black 'as pitch or as the cole'.
[Footnote 1: There were also many chap-books on similar themes
which enjoyed no small popularity, e.g., _The Royal African; or,
The Memoirs of the Young Prince of Annamaboe_ (circa 1750), the
romantic narrative of a negro prince, who became a slave in
Barbadoes, from whence he was redeemed and brought to England.]
[Footnote 2: Mis-spelt 'Griffiths' in the 1800 edition.]
[Footnote 3: There was 'a superior edition on a fine wove paper,
Hot-pressed, with Proof Impressions of the Plates. Price only
Nine-pence.']
[Footnote 4: The Agitation for the Abolition of the Slave Trade.]
Epistle Dedicatory.