THE LATER DRAMA.
The Progress of the Drama. Garrick. Foote. Cumberland. Sheridan. George
Colman. George Colman, the Younger. Other Dramatists and Humorists.
Other Writers on Various Subjects.
THE PROGRESS OF THE DRAMA.
The latter half of the eighteenth century, so marked, as we have seen, for
manifold literary activity, is, in one phase of its history, distinctly
represented by the drama. It was a very peculiar epoch in English annals.
The accession of George III., in 1760, gave promise, from the character of
the king and of his consort, of an exemplary reign. George III. was the
first monarch of the house of Hanover who may be justly called an English
king in interest and taste. He and his queen were virtuous and honest; and
their influence was at once felt by a people in whom virtue and honesty
are inherent, and whose consciences and tastes had been violated by the
evil examples of the former reigns.
In 1762 George Augustus Frederick, Prince of Wales, was born; and as soon
as he approached manhood, he displayed the worst features of his ancestral
house: he was extravagant and debauched; he threw himself into a violent
opposition to his father: with this view he was at first a Whig, but
afterwards became a Tory. He had also peculiar opportunities for exerting
authority during the temporary fits of insanity which attacked the king in
1764, in 1788, and in 1804. At last, in 1810, the king was so disabled
from attending to his duties that the prince became regent, and assumed
the reins of government, not to resign them again during his life.
In speaking of the drama of this period, we should hardly, therefore, be
wrong in calling it the Drama of the Regency. It held, however, by
historic links, following the order of historic events, to the earlier
drama. Shakspeare and his contemporaries had established the dramatic art
on a firm basis. The frown of puritanism, in the polemic period, had
checked its progress: with the restoration of Charles II, it had returned
to rival the French stage in wicked plots and prurient scenes. With the
better morals of the Revolution, and the popular progress which was made
at the accession of the house of Hanover, the drama was modified: the
older plays were revived in their original freshness; a new and better
taste was to be catered to; and what of immorality remained was chiefly
due to the influence of the Prince of Wales. Actors, so long despised,
rose to importance as great artists. Garrick and Foote, and, later,
Kemble, Kean, and Mrs. Siddons, were social personages in England. Peers
married actresses, and enduring reputation was won by those who could
display the passions and the affections to the life, giving flesh and
blood and mind and heart to the inimitable creations of Shakspeare.
It must be allowed that this power of presentment marks the age more
powerfully than any claims of dramatic authorship. The new play-writers
did not approach Shakspeare; but they represented their age, and
repudiated the vices, in part at least, of their immediate predecessors.
In them, too, is to be observed the change from the artificial to the
romantic and natural, The scenes and persons in their plays are taken from
the life around them, and appealed to the very models from which they were
drawn.
DAVID GARRICK.--First among these purifiers of the drama is David Garrick,
who was born in Lichfield, in 1716. He was a pupil of Dr. Johnson, and
came up with that distinguished man to London, in 1735. The son of a
captain in the Royal army, but thrown upon his own exertions, he first
tried to gain a livelihood as a wine merchant; but his fondness for the
stage led him to become an actor, and in taking this step he found his
true position. A man of respectable parts and scholarship, he wrote many
agreeable pieces for the stage; which, however, owed their success more to
his accurate knowledge of the _mise en scene_, and to his own
representation of the principal characters, than to their intrinsic
merits. His mimetic powers were great: he acted splendidly in all casts,
excelling, perhaps, in tragedy; and he, more than any actor before or
since, has made the world thoroughly acquainted with Shakspeare. Dramatic
authors courted him; for his appearance in any new piece was almost an
assurance of its success.
Besides many graceful prologues, epigrams, and songs, he wrote, or
altered, forty plays. Among these the following have the greatest merit:
_The Lying Valet_, a farce founded on an old English comedy; _The
Clandestine Marriage_, in which he was aided by the elder Colman; (the
character of _Lord Ogleby_ he wrote for himself to personate;) _Miss in
her Teens_, a very clever and amusing farce. He was charmingly natural in
his acting; but he was accused of being theatrical when off the stage. In
the words of Goldsmith:
On the stage he was natural, simple, affecting;
'Twas only that when he was off, he was acting.
Garrick married a dancer, who made him an excellent wife. By his own
exertions he won a highly respectable social position, and an easy fortune
of £140,000, upon which he retired from the stage. He died in London in
1779.
In 1831-2 his _Private Correspondence with the Most Celebrated Persons of
his Time_ was published, and opened a rich field to the social historian.
Among his correspondents were Dr. Johnson, Boswell, Goldsmith, Gibber,
Sheridan, Burke, Wilkes, Junius, and Dr. Franklin. Thus Garrick catered
largely to the history of his period, as an actor and dramatic author,
illustrating the stage; as a reviver of Shakspeare, and as a correspondent
of history.
SAMUEL FOOTE.--Among the many English actors who have been distinguished
for great powers of versatility in voice, feature, and manner, there is
none superior to Foote. Bold and self-reliant, he was a comedian in
every-day life; and his ready wit and humor subdued Dr. Johnson, who had
determined to dislike him. He was born in 1722, at Truro, and educated at
Oxford: he studied law, but his peculiar aptitudes soon led him to the
stage, where he became famous as a comic actor. Among his original pieces
are _The Patron_, _The Devil on Two Stilts_, _The Diversions of the
Morning_, _Lindamira_, and _The Slanderer_. But his best play, which is a
popular burlesque on parliamentary elections, is _The Mayor of Garrat_. He
died in 1777, at Dover, while on his way to France for the benefit of his
health. His plays present the comic phase of English history in his day.
RICHARD CUMBERLAND.--This accomplished man, who, in the words of Walter
Scott, has given us "many powerful sketches of the age which has passed
away," was born in 1732, and lived to the ripe age of seventy-nine, dying
in 1811. After receiving his education at Cambridge, he became secretary
to Lord Halifax. His versatile pen produced, besides dramatic pieces,
novels and theological treatises, illustrating the principal topics of the
time. In his plays there is less of immorality than in those of his
contemporaries. _The West Indian_, which was first put upon the stage in
1771, and which is still occasionally presented, is chiefly noticeable in
that an Irishman and a West Indian are the principal characters, and that
he has not brought them into ridicule, as was common at the time, but has
exalted them by their merits. The best of his other plays are _The Jew,
The Wheel of Fortune_, and _The Fashionable Lover_. Goldsmith, in his poem
_Retaliation_, says of Cumberland, referring to his greater morality and
his human sympathy,
Here Cumberland lies, having acted his parts,
The Terence of England, the mender of hearts;
A flattering painter, who made it his care
To draw men as they ought to be, not as they are.
RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN.--No man represents the Regency so completely as
Sheridan. He was a statesman, a legislator, an orator, and a dramatist;
and in social life a wit, a gamester, a spendthrift, and a debauchee. His
manifold nature seemed to be always in violent ebullition. He was born in
September, 1751, and was the son of Thomas Sheridan, the actor and
lexicographer, His mother, Frances Sheridan, was also a writer of plays
and novels. Educated at Harrow, he was there considered a dunce; and when
he grew to manhood, he plunged into dissipation, and soon made a stir in
the London world by making a runaway match with Miss Linley, a singer, who
was noted as one of the handsomest women of the day. A duel with one of
her former admirers was the result.
As a dramatist, he began by presenting _A Trip to Scarborough_, which was
altered from Vanbrugh's _Relapse_; but his fame was at once assured by his
production, in 1775, of _The Duenna_ and _The Rivals_. The former is
called an opera, but is really a comedy containing many songs: the plot is
varied and entertaining; but it is far inferior to _The Rivals_, which is
based upon his own adventures, and is brimming with wit and humor. Mrs.
Malaprop, Bob Acres, Sir Lucius O'Trigger, and the Absolutes, father and
son, have been prime favorites upon the stage ever since.
In 1777 he produced _The School for Scandal_, a caustic satire on London
society, which has no superior in genteel comedy. It has been said that
the characters of Charles and Joseph Surface were suggested by the Tom
Jones and Blifil of Fielding; but, if this be true, the handling is so
original and natural, that they are in no sense a plagiarism. Without the
rippling brilliancy of _The Rivals, The School for Scandal_ is better
sustained in scene and colloquy; and in spite of some indelicacy, which is
due to the age, the moral lesson is far more valuable. The satire is
strong and instructive, and marks the great advance in social decorum over
the former age.
In 1779 appeared _The Critic_, a literary satire, in which the chief
character is that of Sir Fretful Plagiary.
Sheridan sat in parliament as member for Stafford. His first effort in
oratory was a failure; but by study he became one of the most effective
popular orators of his day. His speeches lose by reading: he abounded in
gaudy figures, and is not without bombast; but his wonderful flow of words
and his impassioned action dazzled his audience and kept it spellbound.
His oratory, whatever its faults, gained also the unstinted praise of his
colleagues and rivals in the art. Of his great speech in the trial of
Warren Hastings, in 1788, Fox declared that "all he had ever heard, all he
had ever read, when compared with it, dwindled into nothing, and vanished
like vapor before the sun." Burke called it "the most astonishing effort
of eloquence, argument, and wit united, of which there was any record or
tradition;" and Pitt said "that it surpassed all the eloquence of ancient
or modern times."
Sheridan was for some time the friend and comrade of the Prince Regent, in
wild courses which were to the taste of both; but this friendship was
dissolved, and the famous dramatist and orator sank gradually in the
social scale, until he had sounded the depths of human misery. He was
deeply in debt; he obtained money under mean and false pretences; he was
drunken and debauched; and even death did not bring rest. He died in July,
1816. His corpse was arrested for debt, and could not be buried until the
debt was paid. In his varied brilliancy and in his fatal debauchery, his
character stands forth as the completest type of the period of the
Regency. Many memoirs have been written, among which those of his friend
Moore, and his granddaughter the Hon. Mrs. Norton, although they unduly
palliate his faults, are the best.
GEORGE COLMAN.--Among the respectable dramatists of this period who
exerted an influence in leading the public taste away from the witty and
artificial schools of the Restoration, the two Colmans deserve mention.
George Colman, the elder, was born in Florence in 1733, but began his
education at Westminster School, from which he was removed to Oxford.
After receiving his degree he studied law; but soon abandoned graver study
to court the comic muse. His first piece, _Polly Honeycomb_, was produced
in 1760; but his reputation was established by _The Jealous Wife_,
suggested by a scene in Fielding's _Tom Jones_. Besides many humorous
miscellanies, most of which appeared in _The St. James' Chronicle_,--a
magazine of which he was the proprietor,--he translated Terence, and
produced more than thirty dramatic pieces, some of which are still
presented upon the stage. The best of these is _The Clandestine Marriage_,
which was the joint production of Garrick and himself. Of this play,
Davies says "that no dramatic piece, since the days of Beaumont and
Fletcher, had been written by two authors, in which wit, fancy, and humor
were so happily blended." In 1768 he became one of the proprietors of the
Covent Garden Theatre: in 1789 his mind became affected, and he remained a
mental invalid until his death in 1794.
GEORGE COLMAN. THE YOUNGER.--This writer was the son of George Colman, and
was born in 1762. Like his father, he was educated at Westminster and
Oxford; but he was removed from the university before receiving his
degree, and was graduated at King's College, Aberdeen. He inherited an
enthusiasm for the drama and considerable skill as a dramatic author. In
1787 he produced _Inkle and Yarico_, founded upon the pathetic story of
Addison, in _The Spectator_. In 1796 appeared _The Iron Chest_; this was
followed, in 1797,. by _The Heir at Law_ and _John Bull_. To him the world
is indebted for a large number of stock pieces which still appear at our
theatres. In 1802 he published a volume entitled _Broad Grins_, which was
an expansion of a previous volume of comic scraps. This is full of frolic
and humor: among the verses in the style of Peter Pindar are the
well-known sketches _The Newcastle Apothecary_, (who gave the direction
with his medicine, "When taken, to be well shaken,") and _Lodgings for
Single Gentlemen_.
The author's fault is his tendency to farce, which robs his comedies of
dignity. He assumed the cognomen _the younger_ because, he said, he did
not wish his father's memory to suffer for his faults. He died in 1836.
OTHER HUMORISTS AND DRAMATISTS OF THE PERIOD.
_John Wolcot_, 1738-1819: his pseudonym was _Peter Pindar_. He was a
satirist as well as a humorist, and was bold in lampooning the prominent
men of his time, not even sparing the king. The world of literature knows
him best by his humorous poetical sketches, _The Apple-Dumplings and the
King, The Razor-Seller, The Pilgrims and the Peas_, and many others.
_Hannah More_, 1745-1833: this lady had a flowing, agreeable style, but
produced no great work. She wrote for her age and pleased it; but
posterity disregards what she has written. Her principal plays are:
_Percy_, presented in 1777, and a tragedy entitled _The Fatal Falsehood_.
She was a poet and a novelist also; but in neither part did she rise above
mediocrity. In 1782 appeared her volume of _Sacred Dramas_. Her best novel
is entitled _Cælebs in Search of a Wife, comprehending Observations on
Domestic Habits and Manners, Religion and Morals_. Her greatest merit is
that she always inculcated pure morals and religion, and thus aided in
improving the society of her age. Something of her fame is also due to the
rare appearance, up to this time, of women in the fields of literature; so
that her merits are indulgently exaggerated.
_Joanna Baillie_, 1762-1851: this lady, the daughter of a Presbyterian
divine, wrote graceful verses, but is principally known by her numerous
plays. Among these, which include thirteen _Plays on the Passions_, and
thirteen _Miscellaneous Plays_, those best known are _De Montfort_ and
_Basil_--both tragedies, which have received high praise from Sir Walter
Scott. Her _Ballads_ and _Metrical Legends_ are all spirited and
excellent; and her _Hymns_ breathe the very spirit of devotion. Very
popular during her life, and still highly estimated by literary critics,
her works have given place to newer and more favorite authors, and have
already lost interest with the great world of readers.
OTHER WRITERS ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS.
_Thomas Warton_, 1728-1790: he was Professor of Poetry and of Ancient
History at Oxford, and, for the last five years of his life,
poet-laureate. The student of English Literature is greatly indebted to
him for his _History of English Poetry_, which he brings down to the early
part of the seventeenth century. No one before him had attempted such a
task; and, although his work is rather a rare mass of valuable materials
than a well articulated history, it is of great value for its collected
facts, and for its suggestions as to where the scholar may pursue his
studies farther.
_Joseph Warton_, 1722-1800: a brother of Thomas Warton; he published
translations and essays and poems. Among the translations was that of the
_Eclogues and Georgics of Virgil_, which is valued for its exactness and
perspicuity.
_Frances Burney_, (Madame D'Arblay,) 1752-1840: the daughter of Dr.
Burney, a musical composer. While yet a young girl, she astonished herself
and the world by her novel of _Evelina_, which at once took rank among the
standard fictions of the day. It is in the style of Richardson, but more
truthful in the delineation of existing manners, and in the expression of
sentiment. She afterwards published _Cecilia_ and several other tales,
which, although excellent, were not as good as the first. She led an
almost menial life, as one of the ladies in waiting upon Queen Charlotte;
but the genuine fame achieved by her writings in some degree relieved the
sense of thraldom, from which she happily escaped with a pension. The
novels of Madame D'Arblay are the intermediate step between the novels of
Richardson, Fielding, and Smollett, and the Waverly novels of Walter
Scott. They are entirely free from any taint of immorality; and they were
among the first feminine efforts that were received with enthusiasm: thus
it is that, without being of the first order of merit, they mark a
distinct era in English letters.
_Edmund Burke_, 1730-1797: he was born in Dublin, and educated at Trinity
College. He studied law, but soon found his proper sphere in public life.
He had brilliant literary gifts; but his fame is more that of a statesman
and an orator, than an author. Prominent in parliament, he took noble
ground in favor of American liberty in our contest with the mother
country, and uttered speeches which have remained as models of forensic
eloquence. His greatest oratorical efforts were his famous speeches as one
of the committee of impeachment in the case of Warren Hastings,
Governor-General of India. Whatever may be thought of Hastings and his
administration, the famous trial has given to English oratory some of its
noblest specimens; and the people of England learned more of their empire
in India from the learned, brilliant, and exhaustive speeches of Burke,
than they could have learned in any other way. The greatest of his written
works is: _Reflections on the Revolution in France_, written to warn
England to avoid the causes of such colossal evil. In 1756 he had
published his _Inquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and
Beautiful_. This has been variously criticized; and, although written with
vigor of thought and brilliancy of style, has now taken its place among
the speculations of theory, and not as establishing permanent canons of
æsthetical science. His work entitled _The Vindication of Natural Society,
by a late noble writer_, is a successful attempt to overthrow the infidel
system of Lord Bolingbroke, by applying it to civil society, and thus
showing that it proved too much--"that if the abuses of or evils sometimes
connected with religion invalidate its authority, then every institution,
however beneficial, must be abandoned." Burke's style is peculiar, and, in
another writer, would be considered pompous and pedantic; but it so
expresses the grandeur and dignity of the man, that it escapes this
criticism. His learning, his private worth, his high aims and
incorruptible faith in public station, the dignity of his statesmanship,
and the power of his oratory, constitute Mr. Burke as one of the noblest
characters of any English period; and, although his literary reputation is
not equal to his political fame, his accomplishments in the field of
letters are worthy of admiration and honorable mention.
_Hugh Blair_, 1718-1800: a Presbyterian divine in Edinburgh, Dr. Blair
deserves special mention for his lectures on _Rhetoric and
Belles-Lettres_, which for a long time constituted the principal text-book
on those subjects in our schools and colleges. A better understanding of
the true scope of rhetoric as a science has caused this work to be
superseded by later text-books. Blair's lectures treat principally of
style and literary criticism, and are excellent for their analysis of some
of the best authors, and for happy illustrations from their works. Blair
wrote many eloquent sermons, which were published, and was one of the
strong champions of Macpherson, in the controversy concerning the poems of
Ossian. He occupied a high place as a literary critic during his life.
_William Paley_, 1743-1805: a clergyman of the Established Church, he rose
to the dignity of Archdeacon and Chancellor of Carlisle. At first
thoughtless and idle, he was roused from his unprofitable life by the
earnest warnings of a companion, and became a severe student and a
vigorous writer on moral and religious subjects. Among his numerous
writings, those principally valuable are: _Horæ Paulinæ_, and _A View of
the Evidences of Christianity_--the former setting forth the life and
character of St. Paul, and the latter being a clear exposition of the
truth of Christianity, which has long served as a manual of academic
instruction. His treatise on _Natural Theology_ is, in the words of Sir
James Mackintosh, "the wonderful work of a man who, after sixty, had
studied anatomy in order to write it." Later investigations of science
have discarded some of his _facts_; but the handling of the subject and
the array of arguments are the work of a skilful and powerful hand. He
wrote, besides, a work on _Moral and Political Philosophy_, and numerous
sermons. His theory of morals is, that whatever is expedient is right; and
thus he bases our sense of duty upon the ground of the production of the
greatest amount of happiness. This low view has been successfully refuted
by later writers on moral science.