DEDICATION
To J. P. HARLEY, ESQ.
MY DEAR SIR,
My dramatic bantlings are no sooner born, than you father them. You have made my ‘Strange Gentleman’ exclusively your own; you have adopted Martin Stokes with equal readiness; and you still profess your willingness to do the same kind office for all future scions of the same stock.
I dedicate to you the first play I ever published; and you made for the me the first play I ever produced:—the balance is in your favour, and I am afraid it will remain so.
That you may long contribute to the amusement of the public, and long be spared to shed a lustre, by the honour and integrity of your public life, on the profession which for many years you have done so much to uphold, is the sincere and earnest wish of, my dear Sir,
Yours most faithfully,
CHARLES DICKENS.
December 15th, 1836.
PREFACE
‘Either the Honourable Gentleman is in the right, or he is not,’ is a phrase in very common use within the walls of Parliament. This drama may have a plot, or it may not; and the songs may be poetry, or they may not; and the whole affair, from beginning to end, may be great nonsense, or it may not, just as the honourable gentleman or lady who reads it may happen to think. So, retaining his own private and particular opinion upon the subject (an opinion which he formed upwards of a year ago, when he wrote the piece), the Author leaves every such gentleman or lady, to form his or hers, as he or she may think proper, without saying one word to influence or conciliate them.
All he wishes to say is this; That he hopes MR. BRAHAM, and all the performers who assisted in the representation of this opera, will accept his warmest thanks for the interest they evinced in it, from its very first rehearsal, and for their zealous efforts in his behalf—efforts which have crowned it with a degree of success far exceeding his most sanguine anticipations; and of which no form of words could speak his acknowledgment.
It is needless to add that the libretto of an opera must be, to a certain extent, a mere vehicle for the music; and that it is scarcely fair or reasonable to judge it by those strict rules of criticism which would be justly applicable to a five-act tragedy, or a finished comedy.
DRAMATIS PERSONÆ
SQUIRE NORTON (Played by MR. BRAHAM).
THE HON. SPARKINS FLAM (his friend) (Played by MR. M. BARNETT).
OLD BENSON (a small farmer) (Played by MR. STRICKLAND).
MR. MARTIN STOKES (a very small farmer with a very large circle of particular friends) (Played by MR. HARLEY).
GEORGE EDMUNDS (betrothed to Lucy) (Played by MR. BENNETT).
YOUNG BENSON (Played by MR. J. PARRY).
JOHN MADDOX (attached to Rose) (Played by MR. GARDNER).
LUCY BENSON (Played by MISS RAINFORTH).
ROSE (her cousin) (Played by MISS J. SMITH).
PERIOD. THE AUTUMN of 1729.
SCENE. AN ENGLISH VILLAGE.
THE VILLAGE COQUETTES
ACT I
SCENE I.—A Rick-yard, with a cart laden with corn-sheaves. JOHN MADDOX, and labourers, unloading it. Implements of husbandry, etc., lie scattered about. A gate on one side. JOHN MADDOX is in the cart, and dismounts at the conclusion of the Chorus.
Round.
Hail to the merry Autumn days, when yellow cornfields shine,
Far brighter than the costly cup that holds the monarch’s wine!
Hail to the merry harvest time, the gayest of the year,
The time of rich and bounteous crops, rejoicing, and good cheer!
’Tis pleasant on a fine Spring morn to see the buds expand,
’Tis pleasant in the Summer time to view the teeming land;
’Tis pleasant on a Winter’s night to crouch around the blaze,—
But what are joys like these, my boys, to Autumn’s merry days!
Then hail to merry Autumn days, when yellow corn-fields shine,
Far brighter than the costly cup that holds the monarch’s wine!
And hail to merry harvest time, the gayest of the year,
The time of rich and bounteous crops, rejoicing, and good cheer!
JOHN. Well done, my lads; a good day’s work, and a warm one. Here, Tom (to Villager), run into the house, and ask Miss Rose to send out some beer for the men, and a jug for Master Maddox; and d’ye hear, Tom, tell Miss Rose it’s a fine evening, and that if she’ll step out herself, it’ll do her good, and do me good into the bargain.