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    Fontainbleau
    Fontainbleau
    Fontainbleau
    Ebook139 pages1 hour

    Fontainbleau

    By Mrs. Inchbald and John O'Keeffe

    ()

    Read preview
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArchive Classics
    Release dateNov 27, 2013
    Fontainbleau

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      Book preview

      Fontainbleau - Mrs. Inchbald

      The Project Gutenberg EBook of Fontainbleau, by John O'Keeffe

      This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with

      almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or

      re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included

      with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org

      Title: Fontainbleau

      Author: John O'Keeffe

      Commentator: Elizabeth Inchbald

      Release Date: March 28, 2011 [EBook #35699]

      Language: English

      *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FONTAINBLEAU ***

      Produced by Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed

      Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

      FONTAINBLEAU

      MRS CASEY—HERE YOUR HONOR HERE'S YOUR HONOR'S BILL.

      ACT III                                                                         SCENE I

      PUBLISHD BY LONGMAN & CO.

      FONTAINBLEAU;

      A COMIC OPERA.

      IN THREE ACTS;

      By JOHN O'KEEFFE, Esq.

      AS PERFORMED AT THE

      THEATRE ROYAL COVENT, GARDEN.

      PRINTED UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF THE MANAGERS

      FROM THE PROMPT BOOK.

      WITH REMARKS

      BY MRS. INCHBALD.

      LONDON:

      PRINTED FOR LONGMAN, HURST, REES, AND ORME,

      PATERNOSTER ROW.

      WILLIAM SAVAGE, PRINTER,

      LONDON.

      REMARKS.

      The title of this play gives a sensation of both pain and pleasure.—Fontainbleau was a favourite residence of a number of the French kings, and the spot where the princes of the blood resorted, with all the nobility of the land, when the sports of the field, or the course, were the particular objects of their pastime. Pastime is a word no longer used in the vocabulary of the court of France—Every moment has now its impending cares, and teems with the fate of empires!

      At the time this opera was written, (in 1784) the late Duke of Orleans frequently visited England, and was remarkable for his passionate attachment to British modes and manners. The character of Colonel Epaulette, in this drama, was supposed to be founded on this, his highness's extravagant partiality. There is that trait, indeed, of the duke's propensity, in Epaulette; but in all other respects, the colonel neither soars, nor grovels, with his royal archetype, in any one action of notoriety.

      The author would not take the liberty to characterise a foreigner, without dealing, at the same time, equally free with one of his own countrymen. The part of Lackland was taken more exactly from life, than that of Epaulette, from a gentleman well known abroad by every English traveller; and whose real name is so very like the fictitious one here adopted, that a single letter removed, would make the spelling just the same.

      The reader will observe in this Lackland, so much of debased nature, and of whimsical art; so much of what he has probably met with upon journeys, or amongst common intruders at home, that he will regret, that the author, in his delineation, swerves now and then from that standard of truth, to which he, possibly, at first meant to adhere; and for the sake of dramatic effect, has made this hero, in effrontery, proceed somewhat too far beyond its usual limits.

      The family of the Bulls, especially Miss Bull and her father, are likewise portraits rather too bold; but they are humorous pictures, and, no doubt, perfect copies of such citizens, as inhabited London a few centuries past.

      Squire Tallyho gives, like them, some idea of former times; for his manners do not exactly correspond with those of the modern gentlemen of the turf.

      Lapoche is, perhaps, an exact Frenchman of the time in which he was drawn; and, as such, the most agreeable object for an Englishman's ridicule. The mistakes which occur, to both Mr. and Mrs. Bull, in respect to this insignificant, and that pompous man, Epaulette, are incidents of very rich humour, though they place the opera more in that class of the drama, which is called farce, than in that of comedy. Such is the incident, but more excellent in its kind, of Lackland's courtship of Miss Dolly, and her equal affection for her three suitors.

      The real lovers, in this piece, would all be extremely insipid, but that they all sing; and music is called, the voice of love.

      When music had fewer charms for the British nation, operas were required to possess more of interesting fable than at present is necessary—for now, so rapturous is the enjoyment derived from this enchanting art, even by the vulgar, that plot, events, and characters of genuine worth, would be cast away in a production, where music had a share in bestowing delight.

      DRAMATIS PERSONÆ.

      FONTAINBLEAU.

      ACT THE FIRST.

      SCENE I.

      A Town.—Sign on one Side, the Lily of France, on the other, the British Lion.

      Bells ring.—Enter Mrs. Casey and First Waiter.

      Mrs. Casey. Come, Bob, what are you about, boy? The company tumble in upon us like smoke; quick, all the cooks at work, do you hear me now?

      [Bell rings.

      1 Waiter. Yes, ma'am. Coming, coming.

      [Exit.

      Lackland. [Within.] You scoundrel, I'll teach you to talk to a gentleman!

      2 Waiter. [Within.] Oh, very well, very well, sir.

      Mrs. Casey. Hey day!

      Enter Second Waiter, stumbling in.

      What's the matter now?

      2 Waiter. Only Mr. Lackland, ma'am; you know you ordered me to keep the Globe for the large company; there, he takes possession of it; and though I told him it was bespoke, he would dine no where else:—orders a bottle of champagne, and because I didn't fly with it, kicked me down stairs, though I cried coming up, sir.

      Mrs. Casey. Champagne, and not a Louis in his pocket!—d'ye hear, tell

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