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He would be a Soldier, a Comedy in five acts, was performed at Covent Garden in 1786, with great applause. I remember to have read it soon after it came out, but cannot say any thing of its merits at this distance of time, and with so very different a view of the objects of the stage to what I had at that period.

The profits arising from the success of this piece were not adequate to the wants of our author; there were deductions for money which had been long before advanced, and his former prosecutor re-commenced his lawsuit, and he was obliged to retire to France. During his absence affairs were accommodated by his friends, and he returned to England, when he married Miss Drury of Kingston in 1787, and died January 17, 1788. He was buried at Lambeth.

It is said that at his death he had almost finished a Comedy called The Ward of Chancery, which Mr. Harris purchased of his widow, and had it completed by Mr. O'Keefe, and which was brought out, in the year 1789, under the title of The Toy; or, Hampton Court Frolics: It has been since reduced into three acts by Mr. O'Keefe, under the title of The Lie of the Day; or, A Party at Hampton Court, acted at Covent Garden in

1796.

With respect to the private character of Pilon, it must be acknowledged that many of his years were spent in the pursuit of dissipation. Those who subsist by precarious resources are often tempted to anticipate what may not afterwards be realized: thus he frequently experi enced the want of that half guinea which had been given to the luxury of the preceding day; and his attachment to venison and turbot has often compelled the omission of a more necessary meal. His dissipation, however,

was not of that kind which Johnson has ascribed to Savage-lonely, self-gratifying, and obscure. And, though he loved the luxuries and the festivity of the table; yet he would subdue his ruling passion at the call of either friendship or necessity, and cheerfully deny himself the gratification he had intended. His conversation was not distinguished by many coruscations of wit, or brilliant

effusions of the fancy; but his reasoning was clear, and his diction copious and argumentative. His knowledge of the world rendered him an agreeable companion, while the gentleness of his heart made him no less acceptable as a friend.

The attention of the Editor was first excited to consider whether the Farce of BARATARIA; OR, SANCHO TURNED GOVERNOR, was a proper piece for his Collection, by seeing, in the third chapter of that very entertaining and highly-useful little work, THE HISTORY OF Betty THOMSON, AND HER FAMILY AND NEIGHBOURS; being the First Part of A Practical Commentary on the Reports of the Society for bettering the Condition of the Poor, that the story "of the Spanish labourer, Sancho "Pança;-who got the government of an island for "nothing; and after governing it for eight days, and "having been hard worked, and sadly starved, found "the island not worth governing, and went back con"tented to his cottage.",-was one of those stories which Mrs. Jones told to the children of her sister Betty Thomson for their amusement and instruction. I then remembered to have seen the Farce many years ago (I believe at Christmas 1794-5) when commanded by his Majesty at Covent-Garden Theatre. The reader will recollect the state of political opinions and parties at that time, how much those in power were traduced, and the lowest were aspiring to the stations of the highest. Probably this piece was selected by his Majesty as a useful and good-humoured lesson to his subjects, that the office of a Governor is not so free from cares and vexations, nor so easily to be filled, nor so much to be coveted, as some might suppose. But, be this at it may, the Farce must ever be both amusing and instructive.<

GILPIN, in his Dialogues on the Amusements of Clergymen, proposes that there should be different theatres for the higher and the lower classes, an idea in which I have ventured to differ from him, for reasons stated in my Discourses on the Stage, Notes, p. 187.

He considers Farces, when represented after regular plays, as unnatural excrescences, and would have them banished to his second theatre. "The style of all its "compositions should be somewhat in this way. But "they should all certainly have a moral tendency." (p. 127. Edn. 1796.) He is, however, for having even comedy rather farcical: "it is impossible for the pulpit "to represent vice and folly in so strong a light as the "stage. One addresses our reason, the other our "imagination; and we know which receives commonly "the more forcible impression. There should always "however be a little dash of the caricature to give a zest 66 to character. But nature and probability should be

strictly observed. I remember-I believe it is now "thirty years ago-seeing a play acted (I forget its "title) in which an old fellow is represented dallying "with a coquettish girl. It was an admirable picture "from nature. The sprightly actions of youth imitated "by the ridiculous gesticulations of age, struck my memory so forcibly, that the picture is yet as fresh, as "if it had been painted yesterday." (Do. p. 117.)

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As I do not agree with Mr. G. in separating the lower from the higher classes so widely in their amusements; so, neither, do I agree with him in banishing Farces from the amusements of the higher classes, but rather wish that plays and farces should be associated with more consideration than they sometimes are. Barataria is a highly amusing farce, but I have no wish to see it after a Tragedy, or a pathetic or elegant Comedy, when my feelings are refined, and when some simple piece would better accord with them: but after such a play as The Goodnatur'd Man, or The Clandestine Marriage, I could enter into the humour of Sancho with great pleasure: And I think this to be the feeling of the greater part of the audience.

This Farce, as the author informs us in his own Address To the Public, is taken from D'Urfey's Don Quixote, which I have not had an opportunity of consulting; but it is one of those pieces which was so much, and so deservedly, censured by Collier in his book against

the Stage. The portion of The History of Don Quixote on which it is founded is to be seen in the Second Volume of Shelton's translation, edited by Capt. Stevens, in 1706, Chapters XLII. to LIII. From this I have made some few alterations and additions in the following piece. The author has certainly made a very amusing farce; but he might, I think, have given us more of Sancho, without fear of satiety, and, in some respects, have adhered closer to the original: I think an audience could have borne at least three, if not five, acts of Sancho; a whole act might have been given to his decisions. The question referred to him, respecting the bridge and the passenger, in Ch. 41., is at least equal to any of the other cases. In The History neither Sancho's wife nor daughter are with him during his government; but stage-prescription, I suppose, required that females should be introduced in the scene.

The edition used in printing is one Printed for W. Lowndes in 1793, the only copy I have seen. This Farce is not in Mrs. Inchbald's edition.

Clare Hall, March 2, 1812.

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of the following Farce is taken from the of D'Urfey's DON QUIXOTE. Three scenes original have been retained; and even these necessary to materially alter, and enrich ns to give them a modern, a novel complexion. 1 with every veneration for the genius of the present writer has adhered to him as he nature of dramatic writing would admit; the fame of that celebrated wit protect Sancho , the Author of BARATARIA need not wish successful.

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