accurate chronicler of passing events, one of the Searchers of the Customs, in the room of Thomas Walker. Dates are necessary landmarks; and though, as it has been said with truth, they may be left to inferior minds, yet it is not for genius to neglect such minute particulars as have been provided for their adoption by the humble pioneers of biographical history. A trifling error in time may destroy a whole chain of reasoning; a difference of a year, suggest a new train of thought; and if dates are given, they should be given correctly, for it is not every work that will stand, like the Lives of Johnson, on the knowledge they exhibit of human life, in spite of all their writer's inaccuracies, and the frequent error and ill taste of his criticism; or, like Hume's History, upon its philosophy and language. A few dates have overthrown the famous Summary of Sir William Blackstone, in his well-known paper of Addison v. Pope.

"It is reasonable curiosity that prompts men to inquire into the history of works that afford them pleasure; to hear what others think of them, and to learn the story of their first reception. We could not know too much of the sale of ‘Paradise Lost,' what critics at coffee-houses said, or ladies thought—if they thought at all; and with what interest should we ponder over a series of newspaper paragraphs, that told us how 'Hamlet' and 'Othello,' 'The Tempest' and 'Richard III.,' 'The Alchemist' and 'The Fox,' were received by the gallants that crowded the stage and boxes at Blackfriars, the Globe, the Curtain, or the Rose. Something of this interest extends to the plays before us; they have stood beyond their century, and are among the classic comedies of our country. Irreverence or ignorance alone will affect to slight them, while the true relisher of English wit and native humour will always admire their racy richness. We wish that Mr. Hunt had entered a little more into this subject; it is of but few of the plays, unfortunately, that there is anything to tell, but what there is should have been told; and he has missed the history of Congreve's Double Dealer,' as it is related by a first-rate witness :-'Congreve's Double Dealer is much censured,' writes Dryden to Walsh, by the greater part of the town, and is defended only by the best judges, who, you know, are commonly the fewest. Yet it gains ground daily, and has already been acted eight times. The women think he has exposed and the gentlemen are offended with him for the discovery of their follies, and the way of their intrigue under the notions of friendship to their ladies' husbands.'

"Among the Curiosities of Literature, D'Israeli has an entertaining chapter on the 'Ignorance of the Learned; he might have extended his essay to instances illustrative of writers who fly to hidden sources for information, and gather little there, while they overlook the commoner and better books that would have supplied them with much of the material they had fruitlessly sought in neglected writers. Every biographer of Vanbrugh gives the history of his house,

and quotes the caustic and amusing verses of Swift, but all omit to tell us wnat Vanbrugh thought of the merriment at his expense, though told in so common a book as his Journal to Stella. I dined to-day,' he writes, 7th November, 1710, at Sir Richard Temple's, with Congreve, Vanbrugh, &c. Vanbrugh, I believe I told you, had a long quarrel with me about those verses on his house, but we were very civil and cold. Lord Marlborough used to teaze him with them, which had made him angry, though he be a good-natured fellow.' Had this occurred to Mr. Hunt, we are sure it would have found a place, and received a comment, in his memoir.

"Farquhar's plays had been the making of Wilks; and that Wilks was neglectful of the trust reposed in him, is the belief of Mr. Hunt, who is, we think, unjust throughout his work to the memory of that excellent actor. Let us inquire into this: Wilks was in Dublin when Farquhar's first play appeared in London; he could not, therefore, have acted in it, or by declining to venture in a part untried and of which the success was uncertain, have exhibited any portion of that worldly prudence of which Mr. Hunt accuses him; and, curious enough, it is pretty well ascertained that Roebuck, in Love in a Bottle,' was the character in which Wilks made his first appearance before a London audience. Through the intercession of Wilks, a benefit was obtained (25th of May, 1708) for the poet's widow; and the following document will show that after the lapse of many years he had not forgotten Farquhar's bequest:

""GEORGE R.

"Whereas on Our present Establishment of Pensions payable by you, there is inserted one annuity or early pension of Twenty Pounds payable to Edmund Chaloner for Farquhar's Children, which said Edmund Chaloner being lately dead, Our Will and Pleasure is, and We do hereby direct, authorise, and command you

to pay the said annual pension of Twenty Pounds and all arrears thereof unto Robert Wilks, of King-street, Covent-garden, for the use of the said children. And for so doing this shall be your Warrant. Given at our

Court at Herenhausen, the 9th of September, 1719, O.S., in the sixth year of our Reign.

"By His Majesty's Command,

"To our trusty and well-beloved Walter Chetwynd, Esq.'

،، SUNDERLAND.
“J. AISLABIE.
"GEO, BAILLIE.'

"Their names were Anne Margueritte and Mary. The younger was alive in 1742, the elder in 1764, and in the receipt of her own and her sister's portion of the pension.

"Farquhar's last play was The Stratagem,' or as it is printed The Beaux' Stratagem,' of which he did not live to enjoy the full success. The story is a painful one. Farquhar's life had been a struggle against Fortune; his marriage increased the struggle, for he was in debt. It was at this time he applied to the Duke of Ormond, whose encouragement of The Recruiting Officer,' he acknowledges, in his dedication, as a powerful help to its good fortune on the stage. The Duke advised him to sell his commission in the army, and pay his debts, and promised him a Captaincy then vacant in his own regiment. Farquhar sold his commission, but the Duke either forgot, or was unable to fulfil his promise. It was in this state of affliction that he was found, after severa' days' absence, by his old friend Wilks. Wilks, it is told, advised him to write, and depend altogether pon authorship for subsistence: Is it possible,' said Farquhar, starting from his chair, that a man can write common sense who is heart-broken and without a shilling?' Wilks, with the noblest generosity, gave him twenty guineas from his own pocket. This circumstance has escaped the observation of Mr. Hunt. But to continue: The Stratagem' was the work of six weeks, produced in illhealth-in disappointment-in want. Yet such was his reputation, that Lintot doubled (27th of January, 1706-7) the copy-money from 157., his usual price for a play, to 301., and paid it in advance. This kindness was to little purpose Farquhar felt the hand of death upon him before he had finished the second act, and spoke of his own life as of shorter duration than the run of his play. Nor was he wrong: The Stratagem ' appeared at the Haymarket on Saturday, 8th of March, 1707, found considerable favour, lived a third night for the author's benefit, and long enough to allow of an extra benefit on Tuesday the 29th of April. But on that day Farquhar died. Wycherley had retired from the stage before Farquhar was born, and yet Wycherley survived him.

'Oh! why has worth so short a date?'

will be the exclamation of many who read the memoirs before us.

"In discovering the details of Farquhar's life, in reconciling dates, and adjusting minute events, Mr. Hunt, as we have said before, has not been successful. He has made, however, an agreeable addition to our collection of Farquhar's works, and freed him from a charge of plagiarism, made by men who know more of catalogues, title-pages, and editions, than the contents of the books they talk about. But what Mr. Hunt has failed in doing, we have the means before us of assisting to adjust. Farquhar's first play was, as Mr. Hunt says, well received; but he has omitted to mention what Farquhar himself complains of in a letter to Mrs. Cockburn, that it had been scandalously abused for affronting the ladies. Collier's book was then newly out, and the ladies were alive to find fault with smaller aspersions than they had before endured. The Twin Rivals ' appeared in 1705, says Mr. Hunt, who follows the received authorities; but how, let us ask, is this to be reconciled with the date attached to the Dedication, 23rd of December, 1702, and with the fact that the Preface speaks of its success on the stage? But, to proceed, we discover from the papers of the day, that the first night of 'The Recruiting Officer' was Monday the 8th of April, 1706, and from Lintot's account of Copies when Purchased, we learn the rewards that Farquhar received for his literary labours. On the 3rd of July, 1701, Lintot paid him 3l. 48. 6d., or three guineas of the then money, for his letters, (the volume entitled Love and Business'); on the 22nd of December, 1702 (the day previous to the dedication), he paid him 15l. for The Twin Rivals;' and on the 12th of February, 1705-6, fifteen guineas, or 161. 2s. 6d., for The Recruiting Officer.' These, in our opinion, are interesting facts in Farquhar's life; fifteen guineas was then the usual price of plays, though thirty pounds was, as we have seen, the sum paid for The Beaux' Stratagem,' and the amount received by Dryden in 1692, from Tonson, for his Cleomenes.""

་

THE

DRAMATIC WORKS

OF

WILLIAM WYCHERLEY.

As long as men are false and women vain,
Whilst gold continues to be virtue's bane,
In pointed satire WYCHERLEY shall reign.

EVELYN,

LOVE IN A WOOD; OR, ST. JAMES'S PARK.

A Comedy.

Excludit sanos Helicone poetas
Democritus.-HOKAT.

TO HER GRACE

THE DUCHESS OF CLEVELAND.

MADAM,-All authors whatever in their dedication are poets; but I am now to write to a lady who stands as little in need of flattery, as her beauty of art; otherwise I should prove as ill a poet to her in my dedication, as to my reader in my play. I can do your Grace no honour, nor make you more admirers than you have already; yet I can do myself the honour to let the world know I am the greatest you have. You will pardon me, Madam, for you know it is very hard for a new author, and poet too, to govern his ambition: for poets, let them pass in the world ever so much for modest, honest men, but begin praise to others which concludes in themselves; and are like rooks, who lend people money but to win it back again, and so leave them in debt to 'em for nothing; they offer laurel and incense to their heroes, but wear it themselves, and perfume themselves. This is true, Madam, upon the honest word of an author who never yet writ dedication. Yet though I cannot lie like them, I am as vain as they; and cannot but publicly give your Grace my humble acknowledgments for the favours I have received from you:-this, I say, is the poet's gratitude, which, in plain English, is only pride and ambition; and that the world might know your Grace did me the honour to see my play twice together. Yet, perhaps, my enviers of your favour will suggest 'twas in Lent, and therefore for your mortification. Then, as a jealous author, I am concerned not to have your Grace's favours lessened, or rather my reputation; and to let them know, you were pleased, after that, to command a copy from me of this play;-the only way, without beauty and wit, to win a poor poet's heart. 'Tis a sign your Grace understands nothing better than obliging all the world after the best and most proper manner. But, Madam, to be obliging to that excess as you are (pardon me, if I tell you, out of my extreme concern and service for your Grace) is a dangerous quality, and may be very Incommode to you; for civility makes poets as troublesome, as charity makes beggars; and your Grace will be hereafter as much pestered with such scurvy offerings as this, poems, panegyrics, and the like, as you are now with petitions: and, Madam, take it from me, no man with papers in 's hand is more dreadful than a poet; no, not a lawyer with his declarations. Your Grace sure did not well consider what ye did, in sending for my play: you little thought I would have had the confidence to send you a dedication too. But, Madam, you find I am as unreasonable, and have as little conscience, as if I had driven the poetic trade longer than I have, and ne'er consider you had enough of the play. But (having suffered now so severely) I beseech your Grace, have a care for the future; take my counsel, and be (if you can possible) as proud and ill-natured as other people of quality, since your quiet is so much concerned, and since you have more reason than any to value yourself:-for you have that perfection of beauty (without thinking it so) which others of your sex but think they have; that generosity in your actions which others of your quality have only in their promises; that spirit, wit and judgment, and all other qualifications which fit heroes to command, and would make any but your Grace proud. I begin now, elevated by my subject, to write with the emotion and fury of a poet, yet the integrity of an historian; and I could never be weary-nay, sure this were my only way to make m readers never weary too, though they were a more impatient generation of people than they are. In fine, speaking thus of your Grace, I should please all the world but you; therefore I must once observe and obey you against my will, and say no more, than that I am, Madam, your Grace's most obliged, and most humble servant,