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  • Feb. 1, 1798
  • Page 62
  • PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS.
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The Freemasons' Magazine, Feb. 1, 1798: Page 62

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Page 62

Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

Public Amusements.

PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS .

THEATRE ROYAL , DRURY-LANE . Jan . 25 . A NEW Comedy was produced this evening , under the title of il KNAVE OR NOT , said to be written by Mr . Holcroft , author of several dramatic pieces . The plot of this play is shortly as follows : AdmiralRowland , on his death-bed ,

appointed two executors and guardians of his infant daughter , Amelia . They resolve to divide her fortune , and bring up the orphan in obscurity . The play . opens when she is twenty years of age , and when she is received into the family of one of her treacherous guardians , now become SirJob-. Ferment , a humble companion to Lady Ferment . A son of Sir Job , by a former marriage , becomes enamoured of Aurelia , and their affection is reciprocal . Harry Monrose , who calls himself Count , and who is the tutor of Jonasthe

favou-, rite son of Sir Job and the present Lady Ferment , discovers the iniquity . of the guardians , and resolves to turn it to his own account ; and he brings to town his sister , Susan Monrose , to assist , him in his design , —This girl , an ingenious , simple-hearted creature , will not abet any thing like roguery , and he is counteracted by her virtue . The plot , however , proceeds , " and is artfully managed . Sir Guy , the brother of the other guardian , is also a man of inflexible honour , though of whimsical manners , and his house is the asylum

of Aurelia , when she flies from that of Sir Job . —Jonas , the darling son of Lady Ferment , a youth of the Tony Lumpkin school , falls in love with Susan Monrose ; and the piece concludes , of " course , with the exposure of the villany of the executors , and the happiness of the lovers . In the conduct of the fable there is very considerable dramatic art . If we were to regard only the regularity of the plan , and the skill with which the materials are made to tend progressively to one point ; the incidents to

support each other ; and the integrity with which the distinct characters are preserved , we should say that the authormust be very conversant with the drama , and an adept in stage composition ; but if we were to view it on tiie side of the indiscreet mixture of abstract doctrines with which the dialogue is charged , we should attribute it to some young and ardent writer , who having read the bold licence of the theatre , in the manly times of the British drama , had caught its fervour , and determined to lash our vices as our forefathers used to lash them . Some expressions of Sir Guy , even in the second a _ f . rnnsc-d the ouick sensibilirv of a Jealous audience an . ! t-h . . no-1 . < - ! ... ; ,-,.,- „ tvui 1

_ — - . , j - . _ . ' . . . . . .- , ,, ., ^ jiwu y soon melted into the most pathetic tenderness , the shock was given to suspicion , and it eagerly watched , criticised , and even tortured every subsequent sentence . It is certain , however , that many passages were hi ghly injudicious . A dramatic writer has no business , in Comedy , with any thing but the follies and the foibles of the age ; its crimes must be corrected andits " character vindicated in a more solemn tribunal . The passages , however , to which we allude are few ; they make no part of the genuine texture of the fable and are not

, even features of any one of its characfers . The' charafter of Susan Monrose is new to the Stage ; and it was represented by Mrs . Jordan with such force and simplicity as to be irresistible in its effect upon the heart . None of the other characters had the recommendation of novelty ; but they were well employed ; and though the Comedy has nothing striking in its wit or epigram , yet it is not debased by that vile substitute for spirit , buffoonery . '

“The Freemasons' Magazine: 1798-02-01, Page 62” Masonic Periodicals Online, Library and Museum of Freemasonry, 9 June 2025, django:8000/periodicals/fmm/issues/fmm_01021798/page/62/.
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Title Category Page
Untitled Article 1
Untitled Article 2
LONDON: Article 2
TO CORRESPONDENTS, &c. Article 3
ACCOUNT OF KIEN-LONG, EMPEROR OF CHINA. Article 4
NOTICE OF SIR ANDREW DOUGLAS. Article 6
A RETROSPECTIVE VIEW OF THE LITERATURE OF 1797. Article 7
WISDOM AND FOLLY: A VISION. Article 12
THE LIFE OF XIMENES, ARCHBISHOP OF TOLEDO. Article 18
COMPARISON BETWEEN THE ANCIENTS AND MODERNS IN SCIENCE AND LITERATURE. Article 30
A COLLECTION OF CHINESE PROVERBS AND APOTHEGMS, Article 36
AN HISTORICAL ESSAY ON LONGEVITY. Article 41
COLONEL TITUS's LETTER TO OLIVER CROMWELL. Article 43
THE COLLECTOR. Article 45
REVIEW OF NEW PUBLICATIONS: Article 50
POETRY. Article 58
PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS. Article 62
MONTHLY CHRONICLE. Article 66
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Page 62

Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

Public Amusements.

PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS .

THEATRE ROYAL , DRURY-LANE . Jan . 25 . A NEW Comedy was produced this evening , under the title of il KNAVE OR NOT , said to be written by Mr . Holcroft , author of several dramatic pieces . The plot of this play is shortly as follows : AdmiralRowland , on his death-bed ,

appointed two executors and guardians of his infant daughter , Amelia . They resolve to divide her fortune , and bring up the orphan in obscurity . The play . opens when she is twenty years of age , and when she is received into the family of one of her treacherous guardians , now become SirJob-. Ferment , a humble companion to Lady Ferment . A son of Sir Job , by a former marriage , becomes enamoured of Aurelia , and their affection is reciprocal . Harry Monrose , who calls himself Count , and who is the tutor of Jonasthe

favou-, rite son of Sir Job and the present Lady Ferment , discovers the iniquity . of the guardians , and resolves to turn it to his own account ; and he brings to town his sister , Susan Monrose , to assist , him in his design , —This girl , an ingenious , simple-hearted creature , will not abet any thing like roguery , and he is counteracted by her virtue . The plot , however , proceeds , " and is artfully managed . Sir Guy , the brother of the other guardian , is also a man of inflexible honour , though of whimsical manners , and his house is the asylum

of Aurelia , when she flies from that of Sir Job . —Jonas , the darling son of Lady Ferment , a youth of the Tony Lumpkin school , falls in love with Susan Monrose ; and the piece concludes , of " course , with the exposure of the villany of the executors , and the happiness of the lovers . In the conduct of the fable there is very considerable dramatic art . If we were to regard only the regularity of the plan , and the skill with which the materials are made to tend progressively to one point ; the incidents to

support each other ; and the integrity with which the distinct characters are preserved , we should say that the authormust be very conversant with the drama , and an adept in stage composition ; but if we were to view it on tiie side of the indiscreet mixture of abstract doctrines with which the dialogue is charged , we should attribute it to some young and ardent writer , who having read the bold licence of the theatre , in the manly times of the British drama , had caught its fervour , and determined to lash our vices as our forefathers used to lash them . Some expressions of Sir Guy , even in the second a _ f . rnnsc-d the ouick sensibilirv of a Jealous audience an . ! t-h . . no-1 . < - ! ... ; ,-,.,- „ tvui 1

_ — - . , j - . _ . ' . . . . . .- , ,, ., ^ jiwu y soon melted into the most pathetic tenderness , the shock was given to suspicion , and it eagerly watched , criticised , and even tortured every subsequent sentence . It is certain , however , that many passages were hi ghly injudicious . A dramatic writer has no business , in Comedy , with any thing but the follies and the foibles of the age ; its crimes must be corrected andits " character vindicated in a more solemn tribunal . The passages , however , to which we allude are few ; they make no part of the genuine texture of the fable and are not

, even features of any one of its characfers . The' charafter of Susan Monrose is new to the Stage ; and it was represented by Mrs . Jordan with such force and simplicity as to be irresistible in its effect upon the heart . None of the other characters had the recommendation of novelty ; but they were well employed ; and though the Comedy has nothing striking in its wit or epigram , yet it is not debased by that vile substitute for spirit , buffoonery . '

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