Early American Plays Part 12

MEAD,----.

WALL STREET; OR, TEN MINUTES BEFORE THREE. A Farce. New York, 1819.

18mo, pp. 34.

Third edition.

Immortalized by Halleck in the lines:

And who would now the Athenian dramas read, When he can get "Wall Street," by Mr. Mead.

MEGIA, F.

LAFAYETTE EN MOUNT VERNON EN 17 DE OCTUBRE, 1824. Drama in Two Actos. Filadelfia, Stavely Y. Bringhurst, 1825. 16mo, pp. 30.

MINSHULL, JOHN

A COMIC OPERA, ENt.i.tLED RURAL FELICITY, WITH THE HUMOUR OF PATRICK AND THE MARRIAGE OF SHELTY. New York, 1801. Portrait. 8vo, pp.

68.

A COMEDY ENt.i.tLED: THE SPRIGHTLY WIDOW, WITH THE FROLICS OF YOUTH; OR, A SPEEDY WAY OF UNITING THE s.e.xES BY HONOURABLE MARRIAGE.

New York, 1803. Portrait of author. 8vo, pp. 64.

HE STOOPS TO CONQUER; OR, THE VIRGIN TRIUMPHANT. A Comedy in Three Acts. New York, 1804. 8vo, pp. 34.

Pp. 31-34 contain Littleton's Sixth Letter, with note by Minshull.

A COMEDY ENt.i.tLED, THE MERRY DAMES; OR, THE HUMOURIST'S TRIUMPH OVER THE POET IN PETTICOATS, AND THE GALLANT EXPLOITS OF THE KNIGHT OF THE COMB. A Comedy in Three Acts. New York, 1805. 8vo, pp.

30.

MUNFORD, ROBERT

COLONEL ROBERT MUNFORD was a distinguished patriot of the Revolution.

His poems and plays were collected and published by his son William, noticed below.

THE CANDIDATE. THE PATRIOTS.

The above plays were published in a volume of _Minor Poems_ at Petersburg, Va., 1798. 8vo, pp. 206.

MUNFORD, WILLIAM

WILLIAM MUNFORD, son of the above, was born in Mecklenburg County, Va., in 1775, and died in Richmond, Va., June 21, 1825. At the age of twenty-one he was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates. He was afterwards a senator from his district, was elected a member of the Privy Council of State, and continued in that office up to the time of his death. His chief literary work was a _Translation of Homer's Iliad_ in blank verse, which was not published during his life-time.

ALMORAN AND HAMET. A Tragedy. Published in a volume of _Poems and Compositions in Prose on several occasions._ Richmond, 1798.

8vo, pp. 189, [1].

MURDOCK, J.

THE TRIUMPHS OF LOVE; OR, HAPPY RECONCILIATIONS. A Comedy.

Philadelphia, 1795. (Plate.) 12mo, pp. 83.

THE POLITICIANS; OR, A STATE OF THINGS. A Dramatic Piece. Written by an American and a Citizen of Philadelphia. Philadelphia, 1798.

8vo, pp. 37, and printed note.

NEAL, JOHN

JOHN NEAL, born in Portland, Me., August 25, 1793, died there June 21, 1876. He was entirely self-educated, and, after a few years of business occupation in Baltimore, he was admitted to the Maryland Bar in 1819. He had already begun to have some popularity as a writer of stories, and in 1823 he was led to make a trip to England, in consequence of the popularity which his novels had acquired there.

While in England he wrote several articles on America for the _Quarterly Review_, and enjoyed an intimacy with British men of letters, particularly Jeremy Bentham. On his return in 1828 he established _The Yankee_, and was an active journalist for half a century. To his energy is attributed the agitation of woman's suffrage, and the establishment of gymnasiums. He was Poe's first encourager. His _Recollections_ were published in 1869.

OTHO. A Tragedy in Five Acts. Boston, 1819. 16mo, pp. 120.

This play was written for Edmond Kean. It was entirely rewritten in _The Yankee_ for 1828.

NOAH, MORDECAI MANUEL

MORDECAI MANUEL NOAH, born in Philadelphia, July 19, 1785, died in New York, May 22, 1851, was a journalist and a lawyer. He went into politics when quite young, and was appointed United States Consul to Morocco in 1813; came to New York about 1820, and edited _The National Advocate_. He afterwards established _The New York Enquirer_, _The Evening Star_, and other papers. He published also a volume of travels. He was at one time appointed sheriff of the county. An estimate of his character and popularity is thus given by a contemporary: "He told the best story, rounded the best sentence, and wrote the best play of all his contemporaries.... As editor, critic, and author, he was looked up to as an oracle."

THE FORTRESS OF SORRENTO. A Pet.i.t Historical Drama, in Two Acts. New York, 1808. 16mo, pp. 28.

Taken from the French opera of _Leonora_.

SHE WOULD BE A SOLDIER; OR, THE PLAINS OF CHIPPEWA. An Historical Drama in Three Acts. New York, 1819. 18mo, pp. 73.

This piece was written for the benefit of Miss Leesugg. It was finished in three days, and first played in Philadelphia in 1813.

It was performed at the Park Theatre, New York, June 21, 1819.

THE WANDERING BOYS; OR, THE CASTLE OF OLIVAL. A Melodrama in Two Acts. Boston, 1821. 16mo, pp. 44.

This was also played under the name of _Paul and Alexis; or The Orphans of the Rhine_. It was written for Mrs. Young's benefit, and played at Charleston in 1812.

MARION; OR, THE HERO OF LAKE GEORGE. A Drama, founded on the events of the Revolutionary War, in Three Acts. New York, 1822. 16mo.

Played at the Park Theatre, New York, November 26, 1821.

THE GRECIAN CAPTIVE; OR, THE FALL OF ATHENS. A Drama. New York, 1822. 18mo, pp. iv.-48.

Played at the Park Theatre, New York, June 17, 1822.

NORVAL, JAMES