Book Review: John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera and Other Eighteenth-Century Plays

• Title: John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera and Other Eighteenth-Century Plays (Everyman’s Library 818 Poetry & Drama)
• Editor: John Hampden
• Published: London: J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd., 1962. Hardcover 408-pages.

This book is a natural segue from the last book I read, Garrick and His Circle. Hampden has selected seven plays that he says were “chosen as representative of the most important forms of eighteenth- century drama.” In his introduction, he states there are better plays that were left out of this selection, but these were chosen to help the reader understand the transition and development of the stage during this period. The plays are presented in chronological order as they were released on the stage.

The Prologue written by Dr. Samuel Johnson and spoken by David Garrick at the reopening of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in 1747, is an excellent choice to open the presentation of the seven plays.  I particularly love the line:

“Ah! Let not Censure term our fate our choice;
The stage but echoes back the publick voice;
The drama’s laws, the drama’s patrons give,
For we that live to please, must please to live.”

In other words, we should not blame the actors and writers who are trying to earn a living, they are just presenting what the public is paying to see.

The first play is Cato (1713) by Joseph Addison (1672-1719).  Addison is well known for writing with Richard Steele in The Tatler and in The Spectator. He was also Secretary of State. The play contains five acts with a prologue and an epilogue.  It is the dialogue, not the characters that shine in this pseudo-classic tragedy. It was successful on the continent and Voltaire called it a masterpiece. It appealed to both the Whigs and the Tories.  The former saw Cato as a defender against French tyranny and the latter saw Marlborough as an approaching Caesar with his military victories that might threaten English liberty.[1] The story revolves around the stoic Cato and his sons Portius and Marcus.  There are a couple of love affairs and some political backstabbing.  Julius Caesar is approaching Rome, and Cato would rather commit suicide than lose the freedom of the Republic.  It is not historically accurate, of course, but it is interesting to note that the audience at Drury Lane would know the characters and history and be able to appreciate the analogy to their own time.

The second play is The Tragedy of Jane Shore (1714) by Nicholas Rowe (1674-1718).  Rowe was a Poet Laureate and is well known as the first systematic editor and biographer of Shakespeare.  He starts the work out with a Dedication to the Duke of Queensbury, followed by the Prologue and concludes with an Epilogue.  The work itself is five acts. The vindictiveness of Alicia and the sorrow for Jane make this a very sad tale.  I am sure that it was a tear jerker.  Duke of Gloster became King Richard III.  Jane Shore was the mistress of King Edward IV.

The third play is The Beggar’s Opera (1728) by John Gay (1685-1732). This is a musical of thieves and highwaymen and a satire of Sir Robert Walpole.  It has three acts and an introduction performed by the characters Beggar and Player. The main character is Macheath, a highwayman and a lady’s man.  There is a lot of shady characters and Macheath’s gang consists of such names as Jemmy Twitcher, Crook-fingered Jack, Wat Dreary, Robin of Bagshot, Nimming Ned, Harry Paddington, Mat of the Mint, and Ben Budge.  The women of the town are Mrs. Coaxer, Dolly Trull, Mrs. Vixen, Betty Doxy, Jenny Diver, Mrs. Slammekin, Suky Tawdry, and Molly Brazen.  It is easy to see from these names where this play is going.  It was very popular for a long time.

The fourth play is The Tragedies of Tragedies; or Tom Thumb the Great (1731) by Henry Fielding (1707-1754).  Sir Walter Scott called Fielding the “Father of the English novel.”[2] Fielding’s most popular work is The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, which I really enjoyed reading and recommend. Tom Thumb is a burlesque of the heroic and pseudo-classic tragedies.  Characters include Tom Thumb the Great (a noble diminutive fellow who slays giants and is in love with Huncamunca), King Arthur (Husband to Dollallolla, father to Huncamunca, in love with Glumdalca), Lord Grizzle (antagonist of Tom, and in love with Huncamunca), Merlin (yes, that Merlin), Queen Dollallolla (wife to Arthur, mother to Huncamunca, in love with Tom Thumb), Princess Huncamunca (in love with both Tom Thumb and Lord Grizzle), Glumdalca (a captive giant queen in love with Tom Thumb), Noodle, Doodle, Foodle, and a few more.  With a list like that and my added descriptors, one can easily see there is mayhem afoot.  The fate of Tom Thumb was noted as the second time in Jonathan Swift’s life that he ever laughed.  What is interesting about this play, among other things, is that it is the only play in this collection that is heavily annotated.  I suggest reading the play first and then going back with the second reading to read the footnotes.  I think you could have a whole class dedicated to just this play.

The fifth play is The London Merchant: or The History of George Barnwell (1731) by George Lillo (1693-1739).  This play of five acts has a dedication to Sir John Eyles, a prologue and an epilogue.  It is a domestic tragedy of English middle-class life.  The main character, Gorge Barnwell, is a naïve young man of the middle class who is seduced and manipulated to rob his master and kill his own uncle.  The ending scenes with Millwood (the seductress) is very noteworthy.  Lillo really captures the heart of the issue.  It is a moral tale.

The sixth play is The Clandestine Marriage, a Comedy (1766) by George Colman the Elder (1732-1794) and David Garrick (1717-1779).  The play has five acts and has a prologue and epilogue.  Two lovers, Fanny and Lovewell, were secretly married several months ago and it is the eve of Fanny’s elder sister’s, Miss Sterling, wedding to Sir John Melvil, who decides at the last minute that he really wants to marry  Fanny.  Lord Ogleby, the uncle of Sir John and a lecherous old man, also falls in love with Fanny and wants to marry her.  Several embarrassing scenes occur and eventually the truth comes out.

The final play is The West Indian: A Comedy (1771) by Richard Cumberland (1732-1811).  Hampden writes, “To the usual moral purpose of sentimental comedy, Cumberland added another, that of presenting on the stage in a favourable light people of nationalities which were generally ridiculed: Jews, Irishmen, Scotsmen and West Indians.”  The play consists of five acts, a prologue, and an epilogue.  The characters are Stockwell (the father of Belcour, but Belcour does not know this), Belcour (the West Indian who is newly arrived in London, naïve, and falls victim to love at first sight to Louisa), Captain Dudley, Charles and Louisa (the Dudley family),  Major O’Flaherty (an Irishman with a good sense of honor and gusto), Fulmer and Mrs. Fulmer (scoundrels who cause a lot of trouble), Lady Rusport (a miserly, obnoxious woman), Charlotte Rusport (in love with Charles and very virtuous), and a few others.  There is almost a duel, tensions rise, but it all works out in the end.

So concludes my tour through this book.  It has piqued my interest to learn even more.  I enjoyed putting this together and I think I honestly got more out of the book by taking the time to write this short essay.

Bibliography

The New Encyclopaedia Britannica. 13th ed. 30 vols. Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1983.

[1] Bond, Donald F., Addison, Joseph, in The New Encyclopaedia Britannica 15^th Ed. Macropaedia Bk. 1, (1983) 83-5

[2] Allen, Walter E., Fielding, Henry, in The New Encyclopaedia Britannica 15^th Ed. Macropaedia Bk. 7, (1983) 291-3