ΜΑΙ 56. THE MAID OF THE OAKS. Dramatic Entertainment, by John Burgoyne. Acted at Drury Lane. 8vo. 1774. The style of this performance is less offensively affect ed than that of certain proclamations, which induced the Americans to style our author The Chrononhotonthologos of War. The Maid of the Oaks, in short, is a piece that confers no honour, and brings no disgrace, on its parent. A few bold touches from Mr. Garrick's pen are supposed to have sent it with additional force on the stage. As the work of a patriot, a patriot manager may revive it; but perhaps few audiences will thank him. for his zeal, or (to use a Burgoynian phrase) applaud his scale of talent in the direction of a theatre, and declare that he consults the public inclination to a charm. This piece was occasioned by the Féte Champêtre given at the Oaks in Kent, on the marriage of the Earl of Derby and Lady Betty Hamilton, June 9, 1774. In the year 1782, this piece was reduced to a farce, and, by means of Mrs. Abington's excellent performance, was successfully represented. 57. THE MAID OF THE VALE. Comic Opera, translated and altered from La Buona Figliuola. Dublin, 1775. 58. THE MAID'S LAST PRAYER; or, Any rather than fail. Com. by Thomas Southern. Acted at the Theatre Royal. 4to. 1693. Scene, London. There is a song, by Congreve, in this play. 59. THE MAID'S METAMORPHOSIS. Com. by John Lyly. 4to. 1600. This play was frequently acted by the children of Paul's, and is one of those pieces in which the author has attempted to refine the English language. The greatest part of the play, and particu ΜΑΙ larly the whole first act, is written in verse. 60. THE MAID'S REVENGE. Trag. by Ja. Shirley. Acted at the private house, Drury Lane. 4to. 1639. The plot is taken from Reynolds's God's Revenge against Murder, book ii. hist. 7. and the scene lies at Lisbon. In the dedication, this is said to have been the second play that Shirley wrote; and it is certainly not one of his best. 61. THE MAID'S TRAGedy. By Beaumont and Fletcher. Acted at the Black Friars. 4t 1619; 4to. 1022; 4to. 1630; 4to. 1638; 4to. 1641; 4to. 1650; 4to. 1661; 8vo. 1778. This play is an exceedingly good one, and always met with universal approbation. It has not, however, been introduced to any of our audiences for some years past. Scene, Rhodes. 62. THE MAID'S TRAGEDY. By Edm. Waller. 8vo. 1690. See the preceding article. In this play the catastrophe is rendered fortunate. Mr. Fenton observes, that Langbaine mistook in affirming that King Charles the Second would not suffer this play to appear on the stage; being assured by Mr. Southern, that in the latter end of that reign he had seen it acted at the Theatre Royal, as originally written, but never with Waller's alterations. 63. THE MAID THE MISTRESS. Com. by W. Taverner. Acted at the Theatre Royal. 4to. 1708; 12mo. 1732. The running-title to the 4to. edition is, THE DISAPPOINTMENT; or, The Maid the Mistress. 64. THE MAID THE MISTRESS. Burletta. Acted at Covent Garden, 1783. Not printed. This was no other than La Serva Padrona translated, and a few altera MAL tions made in it, by Mr. O'Keeffe, for Signora Sestini's benefit. 65. MAIDS; or, The Nuns of Glossenbury. Farce, in one act, translated from Les Dragons et les Benedictines of M. Le Brun, by James Wild. 12mo. 1804. 66. MAIDS AND BACHELORS; or, My Heart for Yours. C. by Lumley St. George Skeffington. Acted at Covent Garden, June 6, 1906, for the benefit of Mrs. Mattocks and Mr. Farley. This was merely an alteration of The High Road to Marriage; the names of all the characters being changed, and various alterations made in the con duct of the piece. Scene, Manfredonia. Not printed. 67. MAJESTY MISLED; or, The Overthrow of Evil Ministers. Trag. 8vo. 1734. The title-page says it was intended to be acted at one of the theatres, but was refused for certain reasons. This play is on the story of Edward II. and the Spencers, and intended as an attack on favouritism. It was reprinted in 8vo. 1770, as applicable to that period. The original dedication was to Alderman Barber. The present edition is dedicated to the freeholders of Middlesex; and, as we have heard, by Mr. John Wilkes. 68. MAJESTY MISLED. Trag. 8vo. 1770. See the preceding article. 69. MAKE A NOISE TOM. Far. occasioned by the lighting of a loyal bonfire, with that brush of iniquity Mr. B. -y, who was burnt in effigy at the town of Wakefield, in Yorkshire. 8vo. 1718. This piece seems to be both local and temporary, and is therefore at present unintelligible. Scene, Wakefield. 70. MALCOLM. Trag. by Miss Roberts. 8vo. 1779. This tragedy MÀ L was never acted. The time of the action is, when Edgar Atheling fled into Scotland from William the Conqueror. 71. MALCOLM KING OF SCOTS. Play, by Charles Massey. Acted in 1602. Not printed. 72. THE MAL CONTENT. Trag. Com. by John Marston. Acted by the King's servants. 4to. 1604. D. C. 1780. Of this play, there are two editions in the same year. To one of the copies are added an induction, a new character, and other particulars, by John Webster. It is dedicated, in the warmest and most complimentary manner possible, to Ben Jonson; yet so fickle and uncertain a thing is friendship, especially among poets, whose interests, both in fame and fortune, are frequently apt to clash with each other, that we find this very author, two years afterwards, in the epistle prefixed to his Sophonista, casting very harsh and severe, though oblique reflections, on the Sejanus and Catiline of the writer whom he at this time addressed as the most exalted genius of the age he lived in. Some of Marston's enemies represented this play as designed to strike at particular characters; but Langbaine endeavours to vindicate the author from that charge, calling it" an "honest general satire." 73. THE MALE COQUETTE; or, Seventeen Hundred Fifty-seven. Farce, by David Garrick. Acted at Drury Lane. 8vo. 1757. This little. piece was planned, written, and acted, in less than a month. It first appeared at Mr. Woodward's benefit, and is intended to expose a kind of character no less frequent about this town than either the Flashes or Fribbles, but much more pernicious than both, and which the author has distin MAM guished by the title of Daffodils; a species of men, who, without hearts capable of sensibility, or even manhood enough to relish, or wish for, enjoyment with the sex, yet, from a desire of being considered as gallants, make court to every woman indiscriminately; whose reputation is certain to be ruined from the instant these insects have been observed to settle near her; their sole aim being to obtain the credit of an amour, without ever once reflecting on the fatal consequences that may attend thereon in the destruction of private peace and domestic happiness. This character, although a very common one, seems to be new to the stage, and is, in the importance to the world of rendering it detestable to society, undoubtedly worthy of an able pen. The author of this farce has taken as broad steps towards this point as the extent of so small a work would give scope for; yet his catastrophe is somewhat unnatural, and his hero's disgrace not rendered public enough to answer the end entirely. As to the second title of it, there seems no apparent reason for the annexing it, unless it was to afford occasion for a humorous prologue, written and spoken by Mr. Garrick, the author of the piece. 74. THE MALL; or, The Modish Lovers. Com. by J. D. Acted at the Theatre Royal. 4to. 1674. This play has been ascribed to Dryden; but its style and manner bear little resemblance to those of that author; and therefore it is reasonable to imagine it the work of some more obscure writer. 75. MALVINA. Trag. 8vo. 1786. Anon. Printed at Glasgow. 76. MAMAMOUCHI; or, The Citizen turn'd Gentleman. C. by Edw. Ravenscroft. 4to. 1675. This play MAN is wholly borrowed, and that even without the least acknowledgment of the theft, f.om the Mons. Pourceaugnac and the Bourgeois Gentilhomme of Moliere. It was printed under the latter title only, 4to. 1672, and was acted at the Duke's Theatre. At the end is a prologue, spoken at the Middle Temple; by which it appears that the author was a student there. 77. MANAGEMENT. Com. by Frederic Reynolds. Acted with success at Covent Garden. 8vo. 1799. A pleasing mixture of the amusing and pathetic. 78. THE MANAGER AN ACTOR IN SPITE OF HIMSELF. Int. by Charles Bonnor. Acted at Covent Garden, June 1784. Not printed. This lively piece was founded on La Fete de Campagne; ou, L'Intendant Comédien malgre lui, Comédie Episodique. Par M. Dorvigny. First performed at Paris, in 1784. It was well calculated to show the great versatility of talent possessed by Mr. Bonnor, who successively personated nine different characters, with very great humour and effect. 79. THE MANAGER IN DISTRESS. Prelude, by George ColActed at the Haymarket. 8vo. 1780. This piece has considerable merit. man. 83. MANGORA, KING OF THE TIMBUSIANS; or, The Faithful Couple. Tragedy, by Sir Thomas Moore. 4to. 1718. This play was brought on the stage at the Theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields. It is, with respect to plot, language, and every other essential of dramatic writing, a most contemptible piece; though it was acted four nights. 84. THE MAN HATER. Com. by Ozell. This is only a translation from The Misanthrope of Moliere. S5. THE MAN HATER. Com. translated from the French, and printed in Foote's Comic Theatre, vol. v. 12mo. 1762. 86. MANHOOD AND WISDOME: A Masque of muche Instructione. Anonymous. 4to. 1563. For this date and description we have only Chetwood's authority, who is never to be trusted. The piece was so rare above an hundred years ago, that it appears never to have been seen by Kirkman. 87. THE MANIAC; or, Swiss Banditti. Serio-Comic Opera, by S. J. Arnold. Acted by the Drury Lane Company, at the Lyceum, 1810. Not printed. This was a heavy and tedious performance; the principal character being a sort of female counterpart of Octavian, in The Mountaineers. It was, however, by the aid of some pretty MAN music, by Bishop, and good scenery, made to run several nights. 88. THE MANIAC MAID; or, Euphemia's Flights. Mus. Interl. by J. P. Roberdeau. Acted at the Portsmouth Theatre, 1804. It was a simple, but pathetic tale, framed for the purpose of displaying a female singer in Ophelia's melodies, and several other airs of the same cast. Not printed. 89. THE MAN IN THE MOON. Dramatic Sketch, in one act. Advertised for the opening of the Haymarket Theatre, 1799, but withdrawn. We believe this piece was written by Mr. Brewer. 90. MANLIUS CAPITOLINUS. Tragedy, by Ozell. 12mo. 1715. This is a translation, in blank verse, from the French of Mons. de la Fosse. We believe it was never intended for the English stage, but was acted at Paris threescore nights successively, at the time that the Earl of Portland was ambassador at the French court. The subject of it is from history, and is to be found in the 6th book of Livy's 1st decade. The translator observes, that La Fosse studied some time at the University of Oxford. 91. THE MAN MILLINER. Mus. Farce, by John O'Keeffe, Acted at Covent Garden, 1787. Printed in his works. 8vo. 1798. It was unsuccessful on the stage. 92. THE MAN OF BUSINESS. Co. by George Colman. Acted at Covent Garden. 8vo. 1774. This performance was attended with moderate success. Plautus, Terence, and Marmontel, have contributed, says the author, to enrich this play. The Deux Amis of Monsieur Beaumarchais also suggested some hints of the fable; but the traces of them in this comedy are so little apparent, that it might be questioned if that au 93. THE MAN OF ENTERPRISE. Farce, by Charles Shillito. Acted at the Norwich Theatre, and, as we understand, with success. Printed at Colchester, in 8vo. 1789. It is a diverting performance. 94. THE MAN OF FAMILY. A Sentimental Comedy, by Charles Jenner. Svo. 1771; 12mo. 1771, Dublin. Dedicated to Mr. Garrick, and taken from Diderot's Père de Famille. 95. THE MAN OF HONOUR. Co. by Francis Lynch. At what time this play was written or published we do not exactly know, but imagine it must have been about 1730, or between that time and 1740, as The Independent Patriol, by the same author, came out in 1737. 96. THE MAN OF HONOUR. Com. by Wm. Davies. 8vo. 1786. Never acted. 97. THE MAN OF MODE; or, Sir Fopling Flutter. Com. by Sir George Etherege. Acted at the Duke's Theatre. 4to. 1676; 1684; 1693. This is an admirable play; the characters in it are strongly marked, the plot is agreeably conducted, and the dialogue truly polite and elegant. The character of Dorimant is perhaps the only completely fine gentleman that has ever yet been brought on the English stage; at the same time that in that of Sir Fopling (designed from Beau Hewitt) may be MAN traced the groundwork of almost all the Foppingtons and Petit Maitres which appeared in the succeeding comedies of that period. It is said, that Sir George (who is supposed to have drawn young Bellair from his own character) intended the part of Dorimant as a compliment to the famous Earl of Rochester, designing in that character to form a portrait of his Lordship, wherein all the good qualities he possessed (which were not a few) were set forth in the most conspicuous light; and a veil thrown over his foibles, or at least such a gloss laid on them as to make them almost appear so many perfections. Sir Richard Steele, in The Spectator, No. 65, censures this play with some severity, and concludes his strictures on it in these words: "To speak plain"ly of this whole work, I think nothing but being lost to a "sense of innocence and virtue "can make any one see this co"medy, without observing more "frequent occasion to move sor"row and indignation, than mirth "and laughter. At the same "time I allow it to be nature, "but it is nature in its utmost "corruption and degeneracy." It has, however, been defended by the celebrated John Dennis, and Lord Orford; the latter of whom, speaking of the licentious indecency of the stage when this play was written, says, "The same age produced almost the best come"dy we have, though liable to "the same reprehension. The "Man of Mode shines as our first genteel comedy; the touches are natural and delicate, and 66 |