Constant Couple or, A Trip to the Jubilee , livre ebook

Pub One Info - George Farquhar

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59 pages

English

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pubOne.info present you this wonderfully illustrated edition. George Farquhar, the author of this comedy, was the son of a clergyman in the north of Ireland. He was born in the year 1678, discovered an early taste for literature, and wrote poetic stanzas at ten years of age.

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Publié par	Pub One Info
Date de parution	06 novembre 2010
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9782819946700
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0050€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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REMARKS.
George Farquhar, the author of this comedy, was theson of a clergyman in the north of Ireland. He was born in the year1678, discovered an early taste for literature, and wrote poeticstanzas at ten years of age.
In 1694 he was sent to Trinity College, Dublin, andthere made such progress in his studies as to acquire considerablereputation. But he was volatile and poor— the first misfortune ledhim to expense; the second, to devise means how to support hisextravagance.
The theatre has peculiar charms for men of letters.Whether as a subject of admiration or animadversion, it is still asource of high amusement; and here Farquhar fixed his choice of aprofession, in the united expectations of pleasure and of profit—he appeared on the stage as an actor, and was disappointed ofboth.
The author of this licentious comedy is said to havepossessed the advantages of person, manners, and elocution, toqualify him for an actor; but that he could never overcome hisnatural timidity. Courage is a whimsical virtue. It acts upon oneman so as to make him expose his whole body to danger, whilst hedares not venture into the slightest peril one sentiment of hismind. Such is often the soldier's valour. — Another trembles toexpose his person either to a wound or to the eye of criticism, andyet will dare to publish every thought that ever found entranceinto his imagination. Such is often the valour of a poet.
Farquhar, abashed on exhibiting his person upon thestage, sent boldly thither his most indecorous thoughts, and wasrewarded for his audacity.
In the year 1700 he brought out this comedy of “TheConstant Couple; or, A Trip to the Jubilee. ” It was then theJubilee year at Rome, and the author took advantage of thatoccurrence to render the title of his drama popular; for whichcause alone it must be supposed he made any thing in his play referto that festival, as no one material point is in any shapeconnected with it.
At the time Farquhar was a performer, a sincerefriendship was formed between him and Wilks, the celebrated finegentleman of the stage— for him, Farquhar wrote the character ofSir Harry Wildair; and Wilks, by the very admirable manner in whichhe supported the part, divided with the author those honours whichthe first appearance of the work obtained him.
As a proof that this famed actor's abilities, in therepresentation of the fine gentlemen of his day, were notover-rated, no actor, since he quitted the stage, has been whollysuccessful in the performance of this character; and, from Wilksdown to the present time, the part has only been supported, withcelebrity, by women.
The noted Mrs. Woffington was highly extolled in SirHarry; and Mrs. Jordan has been no less admired and attractive.
But it must be considered as a disgrace to thememory of the men of fashion, of the period in which Wildair wasbrought on the stage, that he has ever since been justlypersonated, by no other than the female sex. In this particular, atleast, the present race of fashionable beaux cannot be said to havedegenerated; for, happily, they can be represented by men.
The love story of Standard and Lurewell, in thisplay, is interesting to the reader, though, in action, an audiencescarcely think of either of them; or of any one in the drama, withwhom the hero is not positively concerned. Yet these two lovers, itwould seem, love with all the usual ardour and constancy ofgallants and mistresses in plays and novels— unfortunately, withthe same short memories too! Authors, and some who do not generallydeal in wonders, often make persons, the most tenderly attached toeach other, so easily forget the shape, the air, the every featureof the dear beloved, as to pass, after a few years separation,whole days together, without the least conjecture that each is thevery object of the other's search! Whilst all this surprisingforgetfulness possesses them, as to the figure, face, and mind ofhim or her whom they still adore, show either of them but a ring, abracelet, a mole, a scar, and here remembrance instantly occupiesits place, and both are immediately inspired with every sensationwhich first testified their mutual passion. Still the sober criticmust arraign the strength of this love with the shortness of itsrecollection; and charge the renewal of affection for objects thatno longer appear the same, to fickleness rather than toconstancy.
The biographers of Farquhar, who differ in somearticles concerning him, all agree that he was married, in the year1704, to a lady, who was so violently in love with him, that,despairing to win him by her own attractions, she contrived a vastscheme of imposition, by which she allured him into wedlock, withthe full conviction that he had married a woman of immensefortune.
The same biographers all bestow the highest praiseupon poor Farquhar for having treated this wife with kindness;humanely forgiving the fault which had deprived him of that libertyhe was known peculiarly to prize, and reduced him to the utmostpoverty, in order to support her and her children.
This woman, whose pretended love was of such fatalimport to its object, not long enjoyed her selfish happiness— herhusband's health gradually declined, and he died four years afterhis marriage. It is related that he met death with fortitude andcheerfulness. He could scarcely do otherwise, when life had becomea burden to him. He had, however, some objects of affection toleave behind, as appears by the following letter, which he wrote afew days before his decease, and directed to his friend Wilks:—
"Dear Bob,
"I have not any thing to leave you to perpetuate mymemory, except two helpless girls; look upon them sometimes, andthink of him that was, to the last moment of his life, thine,
“George Farquhar. ”
Wilks protected the children— their mother died inextreme indigence.
DRAMATIS PERSONÆ.
DRURY LANE.
COVENT GARDEN.
Sir Harry Wildair
Mr. Elliston.
Mr. Lewis.
Alderm. Smuggler
Mr. Dowton.
Mr. Quick.
Colonel Standard
Mr. Barrymore.
Mr. Farren.
Clincher, Jun.
Mr. Collins.
Mr. Blanchard.
Beau Clincher
Mr. Bannister.
Mr. Cubitt.
Vizard
Mr. Holland.
Mr. Macready.
Tom Errand
Mr. Wewitzer.
Mr. Powell.
Dicky
Mr. Purser.
Mr. Simmons.
Constable
Mr. Maddocks.
Mr. Thompson.
Servants
Mr. Fisher, and c.
Lady Lurewell
Mrs. Powell.
Miss Chapman.
Lady Darling
Miss Tidswell.
Miss Platt.
Angelica
Miss Mellon.
Mrs. Mountain.
Parly
Mrs. Scott.
Miss Stuart.
Tom Errand's Wife
Mrs. Maddocks.
SCENE— London.
ACT THE FIRST.
SCENE I
The Park
Enter Vizard with a Letter, his Servant following .
Vizard. Angelica send it back unopened! sayyou?
Serv. As you see, sir?
Vizard. The pride of these virtuous women ismore insufferable than the immodesty of prostitutes— After all myencouragement, to slight me thus!
Serv. She said, sir, that imagining yourmorals sincere, she gave you access to her conversation; but thatyour late behaviour in her company has convinced her that your loveand religion are both hypocrisy, and that she believes your letter,like yourself, fair on the outside, and foul within; so sent itback unopened.
Vizard. May obstinacy guard her beauty tillwrinkles bury it. — I'll be revenged the very first opportunity. —— Saw you the old Lady Darling, her mother?
Serv. Yes, sir, and she was pleased to saymuch in your commendation.
Vizard. That's my cue— — An esteem grafted inold age is hardly rooted out; years stiffen their opinions withtheir bodies, and old zeal is only to be cozened by younghypocrisy. [ Aside. ] Run to the LadyLurewell's, and know of her maid whether her ladyship will be athome this evening. Her beauty is sufficient cure for Angelica'sscorn.
[ Exit Servant. Vizard pulls out a Book,reads,
and walks about .
Enter Smuggler.
Smug. Ay, there's a pattern for the young meno' th' times; at his meditation so early; some book of piousejaculations, I'm sure.
Vizard. This Hobbes is an excellent fellow! [ Aside. ] Oh, uncle Smuggler! To find you atthis end o' th' town is a miracle.
Smug. I have seen a miracle this morningindeed, cousin Vizard.
Vizard. What is it, pray, sir?
Smug. A man at his devotion so near thecourt— I'm very glad, boy, that you keep your sanctity untainted inthis infectious place; the very air of this park is heathenish, andevery man's breath I meet scents of atheism.
Vizard. Surely, sir, some great concern mustbring you to this unsanctified end of the town.
Smug. A very unsanctified concern, truly,cousin.
Vizard. What is it?
Smug. A lawsuit, boy— Shall I tell you? — Myship, the Swan, is newly arrived from St. Sebastian, laden withPortugal wines: now the impudent rogue of a tide-waiter has theface to affirm it is French wines in Spanish casks, and hasindicted me upon the statute— — Oh, conscience! conscience! thesetide-waiters and surveyors plague us more than the war— Ay, there'sanother plague of the nation—
Enter Colonel Standard.
A red coat and cockade.
Vizard. Colonel Standard, I'm your humbleservant.
Colonel S. May be not, sir.
Vizard. Why so?
Colonel S. Because— — I'm disbanded.
Vizard. How! Broke?
Colonel S. This very morning, in Hyde-Park,my brave regiment, a thousand men, that looked like lionsyesterday, were scattered, and looked as poor and simple as theherd of deer that grazed beside them.
Smug. Tal, al deral. [ Singing. ] I'll have a bonfire this night as high as themonument.
Colonel S. A bonfire! Thou dry, withered,ill-nature; had not those brave fellows' swords defended you, yourhouse had been a bonfire ere this, about your ears. — — Did we notventure our lives, sir?
Smug. And did we not pay for your lives, sir?— Venture your lives! I'm sure we ventured our money, and that'slife and soul to me. — — Sir, we'll maintain you no longer.
Colonel S. Then your wives shall, old Actæon.There are five and thirty strapping officers gone this morning tolive upon free quarter in the city.
S