UNITED STATES (LITERATURE). 



751 



medical character of the country as high as any part 

 of its general intellectual character. 



7. Theatre. The early settlers of any country 

 are little likely to resort to theatrical amusements ; 

 still less the early settlers of a country a great part 

 of which was colonized by persons who came to it 

 for the sake of enjoying, in stern freedom, the ex- 

 ercise of their religious opinions. And, in fact, the 

 wants of the American colonists every where, and 

 their scrupulous severity at the north, long kept 

 out all dramatic entertainments. It was, however, 

 in Boston, the centre of Puritanism, that they first 

 appeared. In 1750, two young Englishmen, as- 

 sisted by volunteers from the town, acted privately 

 Otway's Orphan, at the coffee-house in State (then 

 King's) street. But some disturbances took place 

 about the door, from the anxiety of the crowd to 

 get admission. The whole affair became matter of 

 discussion and inquiry, and all such exhibitions were 

 immediately prohibited by a law, which was re- 

 newed by successive legislatures, till public opinion 

 was changed, and a theatre regularly established. 

 At about the same period, a strolling company, 

 called the American company of comedians, under 

 the management of David Douglass, a Scotchman, 

 came from England, and occasionally gave repre- 

 sentations, both on the continent and in the West 

 Indies. In 1758, they acted first in New York in 

 a sail loft ; and, in 1762, performed at Providence 

 the first play that was publicly represented in New 

 England. During the revolution, while the British 

 troops were in possession of Boston and New 

 York, the officers, especially at the latter place, 

 performed plays in amateur companies, and in one 

 or two instances wrote farces ridiculing the Ameri- 

 cans, one of which was printed. But there was no 

 regular theatre any where until after the war of 

 the revolution. The first was established in New 

 York, the next in Boston, in 1793, and the third 

 in Philadelphia. They have since been established 

 in all the principal cities, and are now fast increas- 

 ing. The first play written in the United 

 States was probably the Prince of Parthia, by 

 Thomas Godfrey, son of the inventor of the quad- 

 rant called by the name of Hadley. This young 

 man died in 1765, and his Poems, including the 

 tragedy above mentioned, were published the year 

 after his death. It was never acted, and, though 

 it shows some talent, discovers so little skill in the 

 construction and style, that it cannot be looked 

 upon as any thing better than the forlorn hope of 

 the coming drama. The next play was probably a 

 comic opera, in ridicule of an opinion prevalent, in 

 the middle of the last century, among the common 

 people, that the Buccaneers had hidden treasure 

 along the coast. It is called Disappointment, or 

 the Force of Credulity, and was written by John 

 Leecock, of Philadelphia, and printed in 1767 and 

 1796, but was never acted, though by no means 

 without spirit and humour. At Boston, during the 

 revolution and previously, several farces and plays 

 were written and printed by the patriots, and pro- 

 bably some of them were acted. The best of them 

 was the Adulateur, a Tragedy, as it is now acted 

 in Upper Servia (1773), a composition by no means ; 

 without poetical merit, and expressing very strongly ' 

 the feeling that prevailed in New England after the 

 massacre of March 5, and before the final outbreak 

 of hostilities at Lexington and Bunker hill. It was 

 written by Mrs M. Warren. Of less value were 

 the Group (1775, also by Mrs Warren), in ridicule ! 

 of the tories ; the Blockheads, or the Affrighted ' 



Officers (1776), in ridicule of the British troops, 

 and the Motley Assembly, also in ridicule of the 

 tories. Such expressions of public feeling, of 

 course, disappeared with the causes that produced 

 them ; and when a regular theatre was established, 

 a different class of dramas came to supply their 

 place. The first regular author appeared in New 

 York with the first theatre : this was William 

 Dunlap, who, beginning, in 1788, with a comedy 

 called the Father of an Only Child, wrote and 

 translated successively between forty and fifty 

 pieces, among which was the Archers (1796), a 

 tragedy on the story of major Andre (1798), and a 

 good many pieces for public occasions and celebra- 

 tions, which had much success. He was the 

 manager of the theatre, and may be considered as 

 the only person who has done much in America to 

 support the public drama by the means that sus- 

 tain it in Europe, though in his latter years he 

 abandoned it, and became an historical painter of 

 some local reputation. Mr. Dunlap published 

 a History of the American Theatre (New York, 

 1832). It is not worth while to go into a minute 

 account of authors and pieces which have no per- 

 manent value. Mrs Warren, who wrote the Adu- 

 lateur and the Group, above mentioned, and a 

 History of the Revolution, published (1790) two 

 tragedies, the Sack of Rome, and the Ladies of 

 Castile; Thomas P. Lathy published (1800) Re- 

 paration, or the School for Libertines, a comedy ; 

 David Everett published (1800) Daranzel; C. J. 

 Ingersoll, now an eminent lawyer, published (1801) 

 Edwy and Elgiva, and (1831) Julian, a tragedy; W. 

 Jones (1801), Independence ; W. C. White (1810), 

 two pieces, the Clergyman's Daughter, and the Poor 

 Lodger. James N. Baker (between 1807 and 

 1817) wrote often for the stage; and his Marmion 

 and Superstition are much praised for poetical 

 talent. Some others have occasionally furnished 

 pieces to the acting theatre, which have received a 

 share of transient applause. In general, however, 

 the American theatre has been supplied with plays 

 from the English theatre. 



8. Romantic Fiction. Compared with the other 

 departments of elegant literature, romantic fiction 

 is of recent origin. It is the only form of the belles- 

 lettres which is absolutely due to modern inven- 

 tion, and has reached or approached its perfection 

 only in our time. At the period when America 

 was colonized, the domestic form of romance that 

 which rests on private manners and character for 

 success was unknown in the world ; nor, except- 

 ing Don Quixote, had a single work of romantic 

 fiction been produced which is still read, except 

 from curiosity. It is not, therefore, remarkable, 

 that works of prose fiction should have been the 

 last that appeared in America ; for there was cer- 

 tainly nothing in the severe theology of the Eastern 

 States, or in the anxiety and wants that were every 

 where encountered by the early settlers, to give 

 birth to those light and fanciful forms of literature, 

 which had not yet taken their final character even 

 amidst the refinements of the English and French 

 courts. Up to the period of the American revolu- 

 tion, therefore, no symptom of it appeared on the 

 other side of the Atlantic. The first work of prose 

 fiction which appeared in the Um'ted States seems 

 to have been the Foresters, which was originally 

 published in the Columbian Magazine at Philadel- 

 phia, in 1787 88, but was printed separately in 

 1792, and again in 1796. It was written by doctor 

 Belknap, of Boston, author of a History of New 



